Barnes, Zardoe and crew take their time with the set up across the podcast’s first few episodes, and the concept benefits from being given the room to breathe. It also plays on your expectations, especially with Mark Antony and Gaius. The former is deeply cunning, cheerfully alcoholic, and pleasantly surprised he’s still alive. He knows enough to know he doesn’t know enough, and Amore is instantly interesting to listen to in a way Mark Antony often hasn’t been.
Mark’s journey is loosely similar to our own as listeners, finding his way in this new world and discovering that it’s not what we thought it was. Roebuck’s Gaius is great too, very much the Briefcase Wanker of the two but also aware of both that and what it gets him. The tension between them comes entirely from their different approaches: Mark is convinced the only thing that can kill him is the gods (or maybe Fulvia) and Gaius is aware everything can kill him unless he out-thinks it RIGHT NOW.
Contents
Cry Havoc! Ask Questions Later
Interstitials: Podcast recommendations
Playout: Electric de Chocobo from Limit Breaker: A Ska Tribute to Final Fantasy VII by Half Past Two