Warning: This article contains spoilers for Limetown Season 2 and the prequel novel. Check out our Season 1 review here.
After a drawn out wait, Limetown Season 2 has finally aired – and boy is it disappointing. So disappointing, in fact, that not only did it warrant a full PlotCast podcast review, but it also became our first written review, simply because we couldn’t get all of our thoughts out in a single podcast episode.
Listen to our full audio review from the PlotCast podcast below, or continue reading for the written review.
Let’s jump into the positives about the show itself, first, shall we? It is very well produced – the audio quality is fantastic, just like Season 1, with some twists and turns, anxiety-filled moments, and an interesting story. For the first few episodes, they had me hooked. And if I’m being honest, I downright enjoyed episodes one through four. However, when you look at the show in more detail, the cracks start to show.
As any good storyteller will do, you want to build tension as you move to the climax of a show. You want to then quell that tension through a satisfying, fitting ending. Limetown did not do that.
The tension of Charlie’s kidnapper finally being revealed as Emile was a good one. Most people probably did not see it coming, and they assumed she was being held by Daniel. Once we hear Daniel speak in episode four, however, we can assume that the kidnapper is Emile. And then things took a turn for the worse…
In a second surprise twist, it turns out that Charlie has been the one manipulating Emile the entire time through the use of false memories, as well as potentially-fake audio recordings. She is an unreliable narrator in the best way, as we learn that none (or all) of what she’s been saying is the truth. But, to get to this point, we have to take a detour into one of the biggest plot holes of the show – the fact that Emile is now, somehow, clueless about the people of Limetown.
In this final episode, Emile, a mind reader, and one of the few people in the world with a super power, is taken advantage of by a woman who is “very good at her job.” Which, okay, fine, I can get behind that. What I cannot get behind, is the fact that Charlie’s whole lie revolves around her having a sister who lived in Limetown, which becomes the big secret that Emile was trying to use to force the truth out of her.
So, you’re telling me that a mind reader, in a town of only 300, who was connected to every single one of them in a bond that let him feel their deaths, didn’t know that Charlie’s sister wasn’t real?
I don’t buy it.
Seriously, though – Emile would have known if the girl existed. Emile would have known if the girl had a sister (Charlie).
There are some additional plot holes, as well. For instance, the fact that Daniel has supposedly been killing people for 10 years, when the timeline later explains that he was on the Bridge until 7 years ago. So was he killing people for 10 or 7 years?
And let’s not just ignore the fact that Daniel sounded differently in his initial introduction compared to his speaking voice in episode four. (Although this could be done on purpose.)
But, to make matters much, much worse, the final few seconds of the last episode reveal that Lia Haddock is alive and being held in a facility where she is asked about her dreams. Why? What does this ending explain? Well, purchase the Limetown prequel novel to find out.
Um. Excuse me?
Let me break it down for those who haven’t read it (lucky you…) In the prequel novel, it’s revealed that Lia, and her mother, both have the ability to see the future through their dreams. Important information, huh?
So yeah. If you didn’t read the novel, you didn’t know that. And if you did, you were equally, if not more appalled by the final twist – Everything we just listened to, all of the events with Charlie, Emile, Daniel, the stories, etc. was a dream.
Not only is the entire sequence fake, and thus carries no consequence, we never actually got anything answered. So why use the #WhereIsLiaHaddock as a promotional tool, if we never really learn? And that brings me to the real world frustration surrounding Limetown.
Now, normally I don’t condone including facts outside of the show when it comes to reviewing. I think that part of our review process should be judging the audio drama on its own, without taking into account the creators, news surrounding it, or other outside elements. (Except for the case of Terry Miles…) But, I believe that you can’t properly review Limetown Season 2 without looking at all everything related to Limetown.
So let me set the scene: Two film students have an idea for a show/movie and pitch it to studios, who turn it down. So, they decide to independently create Limetown Season 1, which, while not a huge success at first, grows over the next two years to become one of the more popular audio dramas. In fact, it was our favorite show at the time and actually spurred the creation of our very first audio drama review.
During that time, the creators look to expand their show through other avenues – and good for them, really. I am all for bringing Limetown to new audiences through a prequel book, a TV show, or even a Limetown-brand shoe (probably coming soon). The problem – and my bad joke – arises when the expansion of the show is not handled properly.
Not only did the prequel novel completely undermine the first season of the Limetown podcast (I mean, if we read the novel first, we aren’t surprised when it’s revealed that Emile had a super power…), but it also includes spelling and grammar mistakes in a final, published, incredibly aggressively pushed on us book.
And that Limetown TV show that I mentioned? Oh. It’s Facebook TV. (What in the hell is Facebook TV?) And it’s a complete re-imagining of Limetown Season 1, which will probably retcon just as much information as Two-Up did for Season 2 of the podcast. (Oh, did I not mention that?)
Yep; during the development of Season 2, some information from Season 1 was removed from the audio files, and then re-uploaded. That’s just poor planning.
Not to mention that the writers of the new season were not writers from Season 1, nor were they involved in the planning – and it shows.
It seems like, to me and many of the community members, that the whole of Season 2 just felt different than Season 1. It wasn’t the same show that we fell in love with – and honestly, I predicted it in our Season 2 predictions podcast.
With the three-year delay between seasons, only to hand it off to different writers and completely undermine almost everything we loved about Season 1, it just feels like a slap in the face to fans. And we’re not the only ones to feel that way. Tons of other articles, and the very vocal subreddit have been on top of the show since the finale premiered.
Word to the wise: If you ever promote a show using a hashtag (#WhereIsLiaHaddock), you should probably answer that question.
Looking forward to Limetown cereal brand, coming 2022.
This is all just so disappointing! I tried listening to season two but even the names of the episodes annoyed me so I just couldn’t get into it.