I really like short forms – doesn’t matter if we’re talking about written fiction, screen media or, as it turns out, audio-dramas. Don’t get me wrong, I mostly listen to lengthy, elaborate and multi-layered dramas of 3+ seasons. I also do have a few things that I’d love to see continued somehow (If I go missing, the witches did it, I’m looking at you!). But when it comes down to it, I really do like stories that are shorter, yet complete.

One of these cases is definitely Broken Road from Recursor.TV. Set in the not-so-far future, in a fairly dystopian setting, where the megacorporations control even more significant part of our lives, and cybernetically augumented soldiers have been newly replaced by nanotech.

As you probably already suspect, our protagonist happens to be one of the former, a veteran of cyborgized wars, now obsolete and pushed to the brink of society, wandering in a search of another employer, another job, another day of sustenance, luckily bumping into an opportunity to employ his military training and equipment, while at the same time helping a bunch of villagers to defend against a terrible greed and its henchmen.

Does this sound familiar? It absolutely can! We’ve had this trope in Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, <add more examples> and a lot more. I absolutely don’t mean it as a negative, I don’t believe that every new thing we receive must be absolutely new and original, far from it. I really like new ways of telling old stories, and as such, I enjoyed Broken Road very much!

The story itself is really well written, voice acting is really, really good, and it’s overall well produced. It also does not bear the curse of so many stories of its type created in the US, and (aside from one episode, bonus in fact) doesn’t molest the listener with over-the-top glorification on The Goodest Army In The Free World™️, which is definitely a plus, especially considering that the protagonist is a veteran.

If you look for something well put together, entertaining and worth listening, but not revolutionary or full of surprises, Broken Road will be great to tune into, especially if you want to take a break from your favourite series, or just don’t have the time/energy to get invested into something Big and New.

You can find more about the Broken Road on Recursor’s website and the podcast itself on your podcatcher of choice 🙂