For this podcast, I decided to listen in to two podcasts in the second season of The Bright Sessions. I chose two specific episodes involving one character that I had listened to before, and the other in a new format.
The first episode I listened to (Season 2 Episode 2), was another session with high school football player, Caleb, and his ability to feel others’ emotions. When therapist Dr. Bright and Caleb were discussing the past couple of weeks, Caleb mentioned a certain homeless guy and his symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. With feelings so strong and unusual to Caleb, he, at first, had difficulty processing the man’s situation but then quickly began to sympathize. As listeners, this is the first time we see the troubled patient reflecting on the situation and acknowledging that their problems with their “powers” may not compare to what other people have to face. He states that “…it would be nice to help people like him someday. Like, use my ability for something good.” Not only is this the first time we see positive thoughts towards the patient’s own supernatural ability, we also see positive emotion. In this case, Caleb steers away from his power and more about his relationships with other people. This specific podcast definitely appealed to pathos more than the others as we see how the patient feels about himself and towards other people. This case is unique in that Caleb is able to feel others’ emotions but now he’s focusing on his own and his emotions towards a boy named Adam, who he feels strongly for. This serves as a shift in the sessions, moving from an interview style session to a more intimate style conversation.
The second episode I chose to listen to was a “mini episode” and instead of a session with a patient, this podcast represented the voicemail of therapist Dr. Bright. Using sound effects, we are indirectly told that this podcast includes 5 voicemails left by 5 different patients. After hearing through the first few, I began to understand that this was a “weekly check-in” for any important updates or news. I think this served as a very important piece to include to The Bright Sessions for author Lauren Shippen because it expanded these sessions to outside of the therapy room setting and more into the lives of the patients. It allows us to hear their self-reflection and how they believe they’re progressing since their previous session. This shows a more vulnerable side to each of the patients as these voicemails are not necessarily required by Dr. Bright. Some of these patients use the voicemails as a place where they can rant and adds a new perspective as a listener to this podcast. Again, the end of the podcast leaves us with a cliff-hanger, as did the last few podcasts I listened to. We get no insight from Dr. Joan Bright and I believe this was an intentional choice by Lauren Shippen to really put us in the shoes of Dr. Joan Bright listening to her voicemail.
Word Count: 510 words
