In episode 4, it the narrator starts off by playing a clip of her conversation with Dr. Strand during one of their meetings. During said clip, it can be perceived that someone says \u201cHe\u2019s not who you think\u201d. As she presents this message to Dr. Strand, he quickly dismisses this idea and reasons that we hear what we want to hear. Instead, he points out that it could have been one of the kids sitting next to them that day who accidentally hit record on her phone. In any case, by introducing the podcast in this fashion, it helps engage the listeners and creates suspense throughout the rest of the episode as they delve into this mysterious clip\u2019s true meaning and origin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the next scene, the narrator and Dr. Strand watch a video in which a 23-year-old woman named, Fiona, suddenly faints and dies due to a heart attack, which is unusual for her young age, after a woman in a black-hooded outfit walks by her. This leads Dr. Strand to explain the origin story of the Festival of the Upside Down Face which is essentially based on the Sarah Benning\u2019s murder of Catherine Williams. However, this wasn\u2019t just a normal murder. Not only was her throat slit open, but her face was also cut off and then stitched back on upside down. The retelling of this story, with sharp, almost piercing, and eerie music in the background, made me physically cringe at this image. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Dr. Strand and the narrator decide to go to the festival, more information is revealed regarding the death of Fiona, and it is supposed that her sister knows more about it. In this way, suspense is created through the narrator\u2019s own curiosity and uncertainty regarding Fiona\u2019s death who supposedly died of a heart attack. Even though the narrator wishes to talk to Fiona\u2019s sister, Dr. Strand immediately explains how the conversation can only end up two ways: the first being that her sister wants attention and, therefore, will try to claim that the ghost of Catherine Williams was associated with Fiona\u2019s death, or she\u2019ll simply explain that her sister died due to a heart attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dichotomy between the narrator\u2019s curiosity and openness to supernatural ideas and Dr. Strands logical and deductive reasoning creates an element to the podcast that enables the listeners to resonate with either side. Those who firmly do not believe in ghosts are able to side with Strand and those who do are able to support the narrator. By having characters that hold up beliefs on opposite sides of the spectrum, the podcast is able to develop a growing argument throughout the different stories that is able to gain backing for both positions. In this way, the structure of the podcast is able to entice a wide-variety of different listeners and maintain its identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The narrator decides to talk to Fiona\u2019s sister to find out some interesting details regarding her grandmother\u2019s past. It is revealed that her grandmother was involved in the taunting of Sarah Benning that caused her to eventually murder Catherine and that her grandmother, one day, supposedly saw Catherine and her upside-down face in her garden. However, it wasn\u2019t the ghost of Catherine that was standing there, but instead, it was Sarah Benning herself wearing Catherin\u2019s face upside down. As more information is revealed regarding this mysterious ghost figure, the podcast implements more suspense by adding a plot twist to the story. The suspense keeps the listeners on its toes and is heightened as we follow the narrator who knows as much as we do about the whole mystery. By viewing the different Black Tapes through the lenses of the narrator, the audience is able to get a fresh perspective as she uncovers the stories as if the listeners were investigating them with her. This is similar to how the readers feel when they read the Sherlock Holme\u2019s stories and follow the perspective of Watson, who generally doesn\u2019t know what is happening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of the episode, the podcast returns back to the discussion of Dr. Strand\u2019s true identity and character. The narrator brings up his past relationship with his missing and presumed to be dead wife and ends up calling the wife\u2019s parents. During their conversation, the parents are obviously upset her death and even believe that she could be alive and that Dr. Strand was involved in her disappearance. By analyzing Dr. Strand\u2019s character in several episodes, the podcast is able to tie together episodes and put together different facets about him to construct a clearer representation of his true identity while also creating suspense. Furthermore, by ending the episode inconclusively and adding extra information regarding the disappearance of Strand\u2019s wife, the podcast ends on a cliffhanger, causing the listeners to want to see what happens next.\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Word Count: 804<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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