Missed Fortune
In 2010, an elderly, oddball millionaire named Forrest Fenn decided to hide a treasure chest full of gold and other jewels, estimated to be worth at least US$1 million, somewhere in North America’s Rocky Mountains.
Clues about the location of the chest were hidden in a poem Fenn had written and he thought the treasure hunt would be a fun activity for families to do together in the great outdoors.
But this new Apple Original series about the treasure hunt, hosted by journalist Peter Frick-Wright, tells a much darker story than that – it specifically examines some of the human costs of the hunt and Frick-Wright meets one treasure hunter in particular who’d become so obsessed with finding Fenn’s treasure that he lost his job and his home.
The narrative of Missed Fortune unfolds quite suspensefully, but it’s still worth a listen even if you already know the outcome of the Fenn treasure story: after all, the series is based on a 2015 magazine story by Frick-Wright, so it’s just as much about contemplative character observations as it is about the narrative (although Frick-Wright does verge on getting a little bit navel-gazey at times).
New episodes of Missed Fortune are out every Monday on all major podcast platforms.
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The narrative of Missed Fortune unfolds quite suspensefully, but it’s still worth a listen even if you already know the outcome of the Forrest Fenn treasure story
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The End Up
It’s quite exciting watching the realm of scripted fiction podcasts gather momentum, with big names being attached to projects that all clearly have a significant amount of investment behind them.
The End Up is one such project – it’s a new “cerebral thriller” executive produced by Mr Robot’s Sam Esmail and stars John Reynolds (Stranger Things), Himesh Patel (Station Eleven) and Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie).
The narrative is set in a not-too-distant future and follows protagonist Benji, a terminal cancer patient who must attend a week-long boot camp before getting access to assisted suicide.
While it sounds like a pretty gloomy premise, the series has been a riveting listen so far (largely because, surprise, surprise, the bootcamp isn’t exactly what it seems).
The series marks USG Audio’s first foray into narrative fiction – and they certainly haven’t skimped on production costs – each episode so far has been slickly put together, with impeccable voice acting and an immersive soundscape.
New episodes of The End Up come out every Tuesday, wherever you get your podcasts.
Did Titanic Sink?
There are an awful lot of bizarre conspiracy theories out there in the world, but I wasn’t familiar with the one claiming that the RMS Titanic didn’t actually sink, until I heard the first episode of this new comedy podcast from RNZ.
The idea for the show can be traced back to 2019, when the Kiwi comedian and podcaster Tim Batt was having a beer with his Aussie comedian mate Carlo Ritchie.
It was during this conversation that Ritchie claimed the prevailing narrative about the Titanic disaster is based on a lie, and ever since, Batt hasn’t been able to get the outlandish theory out of his head.
Over the course of six episodes, Ritchie explains to an incredulous-yet-fascinated Batt the ins and outs of what he thinks really happened on the night of April 14, 1912, and a smattering of familiar voices (including Rhys Darby, Jeremy Wells, Urzila Carlson and Kim Hill) make cameos along the way too.
It’s certainly a novel premise and while the first episode didn’t prompt too many laugh-out-loud moments for me personally, Batt and Ritchie’s natural chemistry has nevertheless left me curious for more.
Listen to new episodes every Tuesday on the RNZ website, or your preferred podcasting app.
