The Vela Episodes 4-7 Review: High Highs And Low Lows

As of this writing, we have just one last episode of the 10-episode season of The Vela, a written and audio production from the folks over at Serial Box. In case you’re unfamiliar, each week, they release a new episode that takes around 45 minutes to read or 75 to 90 minutes to listen to. But these aren’t simple audio productions. They come complete with ambient sound and sound effects, which helps make the experience that much more engrossing.

However, while the overall production value for The Vela continues to be solid, I’d be lying if I said the story didn’t come with some major flaws. To be frank, I’ve had a difficult time getting motivated to dive in on a week by week basis for Episodes 4 through 7. The story and characters are interesting enough to follow when you’re already in the story, but I never found myself interested enough to where I simply HAVE to check out the next episode the day of its release (this is in contrast to another one of Serial Box‘s shows, Ninth Step Station, which is glorious).

In all honesty, I think part of the problem may have to do with the format. For example, the end of Episode 3 saw our heroes Niko and Asala boarding a ship off a planet with a whole bunch of refugees, and I was ready to see how they affected the mission and status quo of the show so far. However, instead, at the beginning of the next episode, most of those refugees are dead and we get the whole thing played out in an incredibly short and somewhat confusing flashback.

The explanation for what happened is short, and our heroes continue on with their journey. It made me realize just how much the story was concerned with just keeping the momentum of the plot going. There seemed to be no time to deal with anything that wasn’t moving things forward, and the result has been a continued shallow sort of experience. Rather than take time to dig into one planet, the politics, the characters, and struggles, it all makes way for the overarching story. While this is good in some respects — it keeps my attention span in the moment — the characters do really suffer.

RELATED – The Vela Episode 3 Review: The Death-Cold

Yes, Niko and Asala do spend some time getting to know each other. Those moments between them are great. However, both are also shrouded in so much secrecy that we never really get to know much about them outside of what is relevant to the mission. It’s as if there’s sort of a layer of bedrock keeping us from knowing what’s really making them tick beneath the surface.

Another issue is that the writers don’t seem to be sufficient descriptions of the planets where they land. I’m all for keeping things going, but there is a point where it starts to feel like there is little to differentiate the planets they’re one, and it’s almost as if the characters are occupying a vacuum of sorts, as nothing interesting or unique really seems to be happening, outside of maybe the characters telling us every now and then.

I know, I’m being pretty hard on this, and while I am being honest about these criticisms, there are some strengths as well.

Ironically enough, while the pacing is what keeps this story from being anything more than a disposable experience, it’s also what helps allow me to jump right into things, as there is little to remember outside of the relatively easy to follow core plot. I also appreciate the twists and turns between Niko and Asala. Both seem to be good people at their core, but their own experiences have shaped them into being very different people. I’m interested to see how this pans out, and wish they’d spent more time just letting the two hash things out.

All in all, I found these four episodes to be a mixed bag. To me, there were a lot of highs and a lot of lows. I’ll be keeping up with the last three episodes, but in all honesty, it’s been a bit of a chore to keep up on a week to week basis.

Grade: C-

+ Narration
+ Production
+ Quick-moving plot
– Plot moves quickly to a fault
– Surface-level characterization
– Episodic format feels constraining
– Shallow scenery description

You can check out The Vela for yourself by CLICKING HERE!

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