Buddy Cianci has a posse. |
From now on, I’m going to be discussing the
contents of Crimetown episodes, and
specifically, spoiling the episodes. So, if you still aren’t following along,
I’d recommend catching up on the past episodes. They’re usually in 30 minute
chunks, and I highly recommend them!
The awesome photo is from here.
Episode five
of Crimetown is a bit of a slower
boil or simmer, as compared to the past two episodes on vault heists and
mobsters at the zoo. Instead, we’re following Vincent “Buddy” Cianci and his
spiral downward, which was highly interesting to me but obviously not as much
of a puzzler as the previous episodes.
As usual,
the opening anecdote of the episode – Buddy using his aide’s hands as an ash
tray – was compelling and immediately hooked me in. Again, having audio from
the aide really helped to tell the story, and you can feel the decay of Buddy’s
moral. From there, we hear about Buddy being clobbered in the gubernatorial
race, the Republicans reneging on their job promise, and Buddy’s problems
trying to plug the budget holes in Providence.
How does
Buddy get out of his public relations hole? By getting deeper in with the Mob
and the sleaze, apparently, and mostly via grandstanding in a garbage strike.
Buddy’s theatrics help his popularity, but as the end of the episode reveals,
his efforts didn’t have a net positive on the budget woes of Providence.
As I said at
the top, this episode is more of a slow-burner, so you might be left wanting
more. Might I recommend Eric
Ducker’s piece on The Ringer about the show? It’s a good, long read on the
show itself, and the podcast as a medium for investigative journalism.
It also
brings to mind the one “complaint” I have with this show. The Providence
Journal is doing previews and reviews of each episode… But geez, why didn’t
they just go through with a podcast of their own? They have the reporting and
historical resources to do so, or even to produce a good “review” and
supplemental podcast. I’m curious to see if that develops as we go along, since
it seems like a slam dunk for some clicks.
I’ve written about podcasts here and there,
and this entry from 2014, after Serial finished, is still mostly valid. And hey, I
host a podcast! If you like pre-2000s video games, check out Your
Parents Basement.
Want to support Steve’s blogging? Then
purchase something via the Amazon clickthru link for Your Parents Basement, Steve’s other
project! To read all of Steve’s past Inexplicable Movie Reviews, click here! For Inexplicable TV Reviews, click here! For Inexplicable Video Game Reviews, click here! And for Inexplicable Book Reviews, go here!
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