'Passenger List' is the gold standard for crime fiction podcasting
Courtesy of Medium
With a gripping storyline, dynamic character progression and occasional doses of emotional rawness, the true crime podcast “Passenger List” is an absolute treat to listen to. The podcast follows Kaitlin Le, a Vietnamese-American college student voiced by Kelly Marie Trần – known for playing Rose Tico in the Star Wars franchise – on her quest to unearth the truth surrounding the disappearance of a scheduled flight from London to New York, which her brother was a passenger on.
Among the podcast's other talents are Northern Irish stage actor Colin Morgan, television actor Rob Benedict and two-time Grammy winning musical actress Patti LuPone, known for her roles in “Les Misérables” and “Sweeney Todd.” “Passenger List” is hosted on Radiotopia, a podcast collective run by the Public Radio Exchange that allows podcast artists to have complete control over their work.
The podcast is formatted as a series of conversations, some held over the phone and others being presumably face-to-face interviews that Le conducts at coffee shops, offices and homes with claimed witnesses, sources, theorists and experts in order to better understand the various passengers on the plane, hence the podcast’s name. None feel like a tedious interview however, with each conversation flowing into the next, adding an additional layer to Le’s investigation into the flight’s disappearance.
Dialogue is interspersed beautifully with stellar sound work, adding a sense of audiological depth to the podcast with the sounds of heavy footsteps, exasperated sighs and car doors slamming shut. The podcast's creators, John Scott Dryden, Lauren Shippen and Mary Henry Phillips, draw listeners in, placing them in Le’s shoes as she runs around frantically from one location to another, making them lose track of time as they binge episode after episode. “Passenger List” also approaches advertisements in an impressive and unique way, disguising them to sound like in-flight announcements.
The podcast doesn’t venture too much into the technicalities of aircraft mechanics or avionics, despite Le’s frequent exploration of topics like airplane technology in her quest to uncover details about the missing flight. Le does speak to aviation pundits, but the information she receives isn’t jargon-heavy, making it easily digestible for the average listener.
At the same time, the podcast introduces interesting concepts and possibilities related to aircraft flight control systems, satellite navigation and cyberattacks. “Passenger List” occupies the sweet spot between an overly complex plot line and unoriginal predictability, keeping listeners on their toes without overwhelming them with ideas and abstractions that would go over their heads. Nonetheless, Le’s investigation takes her down many paths that turn out to be dead ends, which can be frustrating at times for listeners, yet it captures the realism within circumstances like those presented in “Passenger List,” which sometimes simply make no sense.
“Passenger List” also does a wonderful job highlighting the code-switching commonly found in bilingual households in the United States. Scenes at her parents’ home, scripted with the help of Vietnamese-American creative Khanh Aiden Nguyễn, depict Le and her parents alternating quickly between Vietnamese and English words, with the latter taking the spotlight when Le expresses intense emotions and the former when her parents do the same.
Such subtle attention to detail on the ways in which Asian diaspora communities use language serves as a beautiful touch to the authenticity of “Passenger List,” a breath of fresh air where the portrayal of a traditionally marginalized community rests on lived experiences and actual research rather than the inflated ethnic stereotypes characteristic of other white-dominated entertainment mediums like television or film. The podcast, likewise, touches on queerness within the Vietnamese American community in an elegant way, one that normalizes the characters rather than centralizing their identities as plot points. “Passenger List” is written not with gay characters, but rather with characters who happen to be gay, in mind.
Le’s character can be annoying at times, though this often seems intentional. Le’s parents are devout Christians, as the podcast confirms through a pre-meal prayer scene a few episodes in, with Le herself being presented as a patriotic American. These implications seem to rear their heads when she interviews the spouse of a Muslim passenger believed to have been on the disappeared plane and the imam of the mosque he used to visit, insinuating the possibility of him having been radicalized as an extremist simply due to his faith. These scenes were a sensitive yet poignant reminder of the Islamophobic currents which, from the American occupation of Vietnam to the modern-day capitalism which categorizes the American state, continue to influence society.
This podcast attests to the power of independent podcasters when they are given the freedom to operate outside the jurisdiction of large media corporations. “Passenger List” has a great story, well-written characters and incredible sound engineering. The series, which was recently renewed for a second season and will be remade into a television show by Weimaraner Republic Pictures, may very well be one of the best examples of podcast fiction to date.
