Latest Love // The Bright Sessions

Latest Love is a series of posts where I talk about a recent obsession. This could be a bookish obsession or otherwise - anything that has been making me happy recently that I feel like sharing. The important thing about this feature is that it isn't a review. This is just a way of me expressing a few reasons why I like something, and maybe find some more people to talk about it with. 😊

The Bright Sessions

This summer I have been obsessing over podcasts. I've been a big fan of podcasts for a while now, with some of my favourites being Welcome to Night Vale, Dear Hank and John, and Serial. But when I started my gym membership back in July, I found myself catching up on all my regular listens very quickly. I figured it was time to branch out!

I had quite a few podcasts that had been sitting on my list for a while, unlistened to, so I can't remember how The Bright Sessions first came to my attention. But it was one of the only fiction podcasts I had heard of, and knowing little other than the synopsis being "therapy for the strange and unusual", I was excited to give it a try.

Created by Lauren Shippen, The Bright Sessions is a science fiction podcast following a group of therapy patients. Each of them possesses a supernatural ability that they try to come to terms with throughout the course of their sessions, and learn to control. The show explores their individual struggles with their powers as well as mental illness, but through their sessions, the patients also begin to uncover larger conspiracies about the nature of 'atypicals', and begin questioning the motivations of their therapist, Dr. Bright.

What instantly drew me in about this story were its characters. Despite the audio format, I could visualise them all incredibly clearly. Their voices manage to bring to life their mannerisms, and the fact of not being able to see the characters meant that I felt an even stronger connection to their emotions and experiences, being able to fill in the visual gaps for myself. When watching films, I find that the appearance of characters does a lot of the storytelling for them. They don't require a distinct voice or subtle behavioural differences for the audience feel like they understand them. But with the visuals absent, more work is put into creating a voice that feels genuine. As a result, I found myself having an even stronger connection to these characters than I have had with most other forms of storytelling before.

The first season focuses on four primary characters.

• Dr. Bright is a psychologist who specialises in therapy for atypicals. She is mysterious and very private, but the powers of some of her patients begin to bring forth secrets about her past and her connection to these super-powered individuals.
• Sam is Dr. Bright's newest patient who has the ability to time travel. She suffers from anxiety, causing panic attacks that cause her to disappear into the past. By learning to cope with her anxiety, Dr. Bright hopes that Sam will gain a stronger control of her already very powerful ability.
• Caleb is a teenager who struggles with empathetic abilities. The intensity of other people's emotions causes his own to be overwhelmed and for him to react negatively. But he finds himself particularly thrown by a boy in his class, whose emotions seem to overwhelm and balance out his own.
• Chloe is a young artist who can read the minds of others. Initially believing the voices in her head to be that of angels, her mother, also an atypical, hopes that Dr. Bright will help Chloe manage her ability. Recklessly optimistic and determined to help others, Chloe isn't interesting in changing.

As the show progresses, more and more characters are introduced. They are all incredibly distinct and have their own individual struggles, making them really easy to relate to. A lot of care is taken into doing justice to the themes of mental illness, and the show advocates beautifully the importance of getting help for whatever you're struggling with.

There are also several canonly Queer characters, with the words Gay, Bisexual, and Asexual being used by the characters to identify themselves. I love how The Bright Sessions is set in our world, but these identities feel so normalised and unquestioned. Instead of the focus being on sexualities and coming out storylines, it's clear that these identities are just a part of who these characters are, which is so pleasant to be seeing more of in this genre.

The restricted format of tape recordings makes the whole listening experience feel more intimate, and surrounds Dr. Bright and her past in a way that is thrilling to uncover. What starts off as a story about four characters builds up into a vast narrative of secret organisations and government conspiracies. Although the original run of the series has ended, I can't wait to see what else the world of The Bright Sessions has to offer.

You can listen to The Bright Sessions on any podcast app, and can learn more about the show and the people behind it on their website, http://www.thebrightsessions.com/

Are you a fan of podcasts? What are some of your favourites? Are you a fan of The Bright Sessions too? Excited for the YA book spinoffs? Who are your favourite characters?