Stars: 4/5
Grove, mosaic, trumpet — these words kick off the bi-weekly mystery horror podcast “SPINES,” narrated by Wren Jones. It recently embarked on its third and final season, finally delving further into the mystery of the narrator’s other half.
The show follows Wren, voiced by Wren Jones, a young woman with confusing memories who seeks the truth by chasing down people she believes she knows. She broadcasts everything in an attempt to reach the man she loves but does not know his name. She lost him while escaping the attic, the first place she remembers and the origin point of a series of disasters.
The creep factor makes itself known from about five minutes into episode one, as Wren finds herself tracking down her first mark by following his trail of living sculptures. So, not for the faint of heart.
After him, she searches for the seven others she remembers. They all have abilities, like the X-Men, but with more tendencies toward the ethereal or downright macabre.
Over the course of the eight-episode first season, she, in one way or another, discovers them all. Some want power, some want revenge and some just want to live in whatever strange peace they can build for themselves.
Along the way, listeners hear Wren come closer and closer to understanding just what occurred in the attic and what those three words mean. Men in tacky skulls generally aren’t very forthcoming about why they need eight people to fill a kitty pool with blood, and two more to sit in it like potato chunks in the worst kind of soup.
However, Wren discovers the last survivor too late. The man from the attic, Elliot, captures Ayesha first, and as revenge she unleashes an army of malevolent dreams into the city while he gloats.
Season two finds Wren working alongside a shadow organization, the Seekers, who seek the same end as Elliot by less violent means.
Through her work, she encounters Shan, a stunningly beautiful and genderless plant person whose circumstances are comparable to her own.
Together they traverse hostile landscapes and small towns and where humans are more villainous than the monsters they make. Alone, Wren returns to her old stomping grounds, and near the end of the season we hear someone besides Wren for the first time.
With season three underway, listeners finally get the chance to hear the other side of the story. The side of the Splinter. A scintillating mystery draws closer to its end, and I cannot wait to see how it all plays out.
