Congratulations, Dear Stranger does something that I rarely see nowadays — it fully, completely embraces the tragedy that it is.
Everything about this production was a delight. The characters are all compelling and the performance is fantastic. The skill of the actor playing Demi is particularly strong, balancing the smooth AI voice that they were programmed with with deep running emotion without making me forget who they are. The music is heartbreaking. The sound design as a whole is fantastic.
Of course, the story is where the production really shines. The worldbuilding absolutely fascinates me (perhaps as a space nerd and a writer, this isn’t surprising :) ). The concept of creating planets like this and just forgetting where it is? Of making all this life and losing track of it? The thematic resonance of that with the meat of the story is incredibly written.
You should absolutely give this a listen. Kudos to Mel for writing this and to everyone else who made this show happen!
Some spoilers below for more thoughts.
A story of a mission that fails so quickly and so completely is something anyone who has ever worked for years at something to watch it break will be hurt by. The story doesn’t try and wrench out “meaning” from their sacrifice, despite how desperately the different characters try and find it. It is a tragic accident that made four people suffer and gain almost nothing.
I am utterly intrigued by how ill prepared they were for this mission and how it speaks to the world they come from. The fact nobody on this ship is a technician or a doctor? That a 2 to 1 vote can decide that they take the most absurd risk that brought such pain to the systems engineer in my heart? I believe Miles mentions they weren’t properly trained for this, and it makes me just want to know more about the world that would send them on this mission, to let it end the way it does. What kind of uncaring world creates life, sends others to find it, and doesn’t care what happens? Boluwatife’s story is cut off so abruptly it made me furious and yearning for more, but tragedy is like that.
Kiri, their world, and how they interact and think about it is also incredibly intriguing. They’re written as a tragedy out of the box, but you still root for them to be okay. Listening to them and Demi grow closer is an absolute delight. Their perspectives bring needed levity to the story, and yet are constantly undercut with “they are going to die.”
There are of course some things the show leaves us without that I wish we had — more detail of Boluwatife and Miles’s relationship (they were friends, but how close of friends? How well did they know each other? Was her death simply a shock to Miles despite them not being that close? Was it deeper than that because they were very close?), the status of AI in society and how well it’s known (Demetris is very advanced, and the way she discusses her fears for her future and where she came from suggests AIs are very poorly treated. Yet Miles seems to know very little about them, which makes me unclear if Demi is an exception or the rule with AIs in society), but I think my desire for more runs mostly in how much I loved the show and how much I wanted more.
I could talk for hours about this experience, but I will leave it here :) if you read this all without listening, first, I warned you about spoilers, second, what are you waiting for?? Go listen!!
