Alice Isn’t Dead is free to download on your podcast app of choice.
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According to The New Consumer, podcast listening is noticeably on the decline ever since the COVID-19 pandemic forced many people indoors. It’s not so much that people have less time to listen to their favorite podcasts, but less incentive. Many of us are driving or commuting far less than we were just a month or two ago. When people want entertainment right now, they’re binging a good, long story, not ingesting weekly podcast episodes. But podcasts can be a medium for great fiction. And one of them in particular is perfect for anyone who’s tired of being cooped up and wants nothing more than to hit the open road: Alice Isn’t Dead.
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Alice Isn’t Dead is the brainchild of Welcome to Night Vale co-creator Joseph Fink. But whereas Welcome to Night Vale is presented as a sort of demented public access news show for a fictional, extremely haunted town, Alice Isn’t Dead is a more narrative-driven road trip series. The premise is that narrator Keisha (voiced by Jasika Nicole) is a truck driver who uses the job as an excuse to hunt for her missing wife Alice. Each episode brings Keisha to a different small town plagued by supernatural phenomena, all of which is relayed as Keisha rambles over her CB radio to anyone who happens to be listening.
The brilliance of Alice Isn’t Dead is in the way in which it combines the human drama of one woman’s desperate, probably futile hunt for her wife with a horror-tinged conspiracy worthy of The X-Files. The more Alice travels, the more she learns about the circumstances behind Alice’s disappearance and the literal monsters lurking in the empty roadways and abandoned buildings of the US. Listening to the series is a way of setting your mind free and following Alice on her strange odyssey. We can live vicariously through her as she encounters haunted ghost ships or a hamburger joint that exists in multiple places simultaneously.
In true X-Files fashion, the series features a mix of standalone spooky episodes and more plot-centric installments that advance the show’s central conspiracy. And at three 10-episode seasons, Alice Isn’t Dead provides a satisfying, meaty story that doesn’t overstay its welcome or grow bogged down in convoluted mythology.
In many ways, the music is the real star of the show. The series is produced and scored by Disparition, who provides a moody and often mesmerizing accompaniment to Alice’s winding journey. You can even buy the Season 1 soundtrack if you’re so inclined (and more than likely you will be).
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Even if you’re not the podcast type, there are other ways of experiencing Alice Isn’t Dead. The podcast was re-imagined as a novel in 2018 (which has a corresponding audiobook also narrated by Nicole). It’s even being adapted for television by Mr. Robot’s Kyle Bradstreet. However you choose to consume Alice Isn’t Dead, this is a road trip you don’t want to miss.
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Binge It! is IGN’s recommendation series. Movies, TV shows, books, comics, music… if you can binge it, we’re here to talk about it. In each installment of Binge It!, we’ll discuss a piece of content we’re passionate about — and why you should check it out.
Source: IGN.com Binge It! Alice Isn't Dead Is the Ultimate Mental Road Trip