{"id":740,"date":"2020-10-19T23:59:44","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T06:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/?p=740"},"modified":"2020-10-21T21:49:03","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T04:49:03","slug":"s-town-episode-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/2020\/10\/19\/s-town-episode-1\/","title":{"rendered":"S-Town, Episode 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In S-Town<\/em> host Brian Reed investigates an alleged murder and cover-up that occurred in Woodstock, Alabama. Reed learned about the murder from John B. McLemore, an eccentric resident of this \u201cshit-town,\u201d as he calls it. When Reed visits the town he learns, through McLemore, about the corruption and decay plaguing Woodstock, but also learns more about McLemore\u2019s compelling character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               The\nepisode opens with an intriguing hook that sets a tone of decay and loss for\nthe series: a veiled metaphor about an antique clock. Reed mentions, cryptically,\nthat when an antique clock breaks, it\u2019s difficult to fix because its unique\ncomplexity. So clock restorers must follow \u201cwitness marks\u201d left inside the\nclock\u2014clues for how the clock was built\u2014in order to fix it. Ostensibly, the\nanalogy relates because McLemore, an antique clock restorer, told Reed about these\nmarks. But the opening also hints to listeners a sense of uncovering something\nthat\u2019s lost. The metaphor becomes clearer later in the episode, as McLemore attempts\nto uncover the murder of Dylan Nicholls, only to learn it\u2019s been covered up. No\nnewspaper clippings, online or at the local library, and yet all the townspeople\nseem to know. John and the townspeople thus become the \u201cwitness marks\u201d in this broken\nclock of a town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hold that thought about the clock\nmetaphor. Because this episode seems, at first to be about a murder. But what\ndrew me in more was McLemore\u2019s compelling personality. Reed includes interviews\nwith McLemore throughout the episode, and he\u2019s a joy to listen to, a strong advantage\nof Reed\u2019s audio recordings. McLemore often rambles about his wide-ranging\ninterests\u2014botany, chemistry, global warming, astronomy, and the list goes on. He\ntalks also about his alienation in the decaying town, and once mentions, \u201cI\nshould\u2019ve got out of this [expletive] town in my 20s. I should\u2019ve done\nsomething useful with my life.\u201d In two sentences, McLemore connects deeply with\nlisteners. Because everyone\u2019s had a dream they\u2019ve lost one way or another. Reed\nis aware of this human connection, which is why he pays as much attention to\ndeveloping the murder investigation as he does to developing McLemore\u2019s\ncharacter. That\u2019s why Reed includes the conversations about McLemore\u2019s past. He\nwants to connect listeners with the tragedy behind Woodstock\u2019s decay through\nMcLemore\u2019s productive yet wasting life. Now we\u2019re invested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So despite the murder investigation,\nReed doesn\u2019t deal in suspense, he deals in themes. Reed is crafty with this\u2014the\nclock metaphor I mentioned earlier relates also to McLemore\u2019s character. He\u2019s\nold, jaded, and broken like an antique clock. Pieces are missing\u2014past dreams,\nperhaps\u2014which Reed recovers bit-by-bit through anecdotes, first through phone\ncalls and then as McLemore shows Reed through town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where does the murder come in? Reed\ndrops details about the investigation between long conversations with McLemore.\nAfter the clock analogy, Reed describes McLemore\u2019s email to him a few years\nprior, which describes Dylan Nicholls\u2019 murder and cover-up. Listeners then\nexperience Reed\u2019s phone calls with McLemore, which describe a witness account\nbut more heavily focus on Woodstock and McLemore himself. Reed thus introduces\nWoodstock and McLemore as characters in his narrative, mentioning the\ninvestigation just enough to drive along the plot. This continues when Reed\nvisits McLemore, mostly chilling with McLemore and just briefly investigating\nthe Nicholls at a library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last minute of the episode\nbrings Reed\u2019s narrative threads together. Townsperson Skyler Goodson\ncorroborates McLemore\u2019s account of the murder, and as Reed looks over at McLemore,\nhe notes there\u2019s \u201cJohn is calm, matter of fact. Like, what\u2019s the big surprise?\nIt\u2019s a shit-town. This is what I\u2019ve been telling you all along.\u201d There\u2019s the man,\nthe town, and the murder, all at once. Reed\u2019s brilliantly concise closing\nleaves listeners with a strong impression of S-Town<\/em> and a desire to hear\nmore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last minute of the episode brings Reed\u2019s narrative threads together. Townsperson Skyler Goodson corroborates McLemore\u2019s account of the murder, and as Reed looks over at McLemore, he notes there\u2019s \u201cJohn is calm, matter of fact. Like, what\u2019s the big surprise? It\u2019s a shit-town. This is what I\u2019ve been telling you all along.\u201d There\u2019s the man, the town, and the murder, all at once. Reed\u2019s brilliantly concise closing leaves listeners with a strong impression of S-Town<\/em> and a desire to hear more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(630)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In S-Town host Brian Reed investigates an alleged murder and cover-up that occurred in Woodstock, Alabama. Reed learned about the murder from John B. McLemore, an eccentric resident of this \u201cshit-town,\u201d as he calls it….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":743,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions\/743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}