Review: “Give Me Away” Part 2 by Mac Rogers
Mac Rogers is back with the second half of his science fiction epic, Give Me Away. Now, before I proceed, it goes without saying that this review will contain significant spoilers for the first half of the series so if you are not caught up, I suggest coming back to this review after you’ve listened to part one. Now, after a truly fantastic start, Rogers returns with a second-half that is even more complex and compelling than the last.
Leaving off with the main character, Graham (Sean Williams) getting his own alien inside his head, part two picks up right there. Something has gone wrong and they accidentally put the wrong alien in Graham’s head. This one is aggressive and not cooperative. He’s self-absorbed and you get the sense that in his previous life he was someone to be feared. While the two of them are trying to get along, the political landscape of this world is also beginning to crumble many republican senators and military personnel are not for the alien rescue mission and are trying to use both political power and the media/press to stop it.
The relationships in this half are what make the story really work. The contrast of Graham and Joshua (the alien inside Graham) make it really compelling to listen to the two of them try and exist in the same body. Graham’s relationship with his children is also kicked up a notch in the second half. Graham’s daughter Jamie has snuck her way onto the alien spaceship where the test is done in the hopes of rescuing her dad and discovers a calling of her own. Even Joshua and Dierde have a past relationship that is challenged.
Once again, the voice acting is top-notch in this series Williams as Graham/Joshua, Lori Elizabeth as Brooke/Dierdre, and Diana Oh as Jamie stand out particularly well. There is a lot of sci-fi terminology and dialogue that they have to jumble through but they do so in a way that feels believable and that makes sense for the audience. We also feel Graham’s struggle to deal with this new person in his body and how that affects his interactions. Both Sean Williams and Rogers do a great job in crafting this character as an honest everyman just trying to do something good, despite having many of his own reasons for it that he won’t admit. Director, Jordana Williams continues to take Rogers's incredibly vast and complicated story and craft a tale that will have us all on the edge of our seats.
What Rogers does really well that continues to shine here, is make outlandish things feel believable and realistic. Somehow, this story that involves alien prisons and people housing aliens in their minds feels incredibly grounded in reality. I really believe that Rogers sat for a while and mapped out exactly what would happen if this happened in our reality. Every step that characters make feels exactly as it would go. There’s none of that “Well, this is cool but if this actually happened people would do this.”
The second part of “Give Me Away” is even better than the first with everything great about part one elevated to new heights. The addition of Jonathan is one of the best of these. I don’t know if there is any more coming in this story or in this world but it feels as though this creative team has left themselves with a rich enough story to make anything possible. And I will be eagerly waiting for it.
“Give Me Away” was presented by Gideon Media and written by Mac Rogers.
It was directed by Jordana Williams
Sound designed by Bart Fasbender
Music composed by Adam Blau,
Assistant directed by Marty McGuire
Produced by Cara Ehlenfeldt.
Cover art by Kate Kosma
Featuring: Hanna Cheek, Sean Williams, Diana Oh, Dani Martineck, Jorge Cordova, Kevin R. Free, Nat Cassidy, Rebecca Comtois, Alba Ponce De Leon, Lori Elizabeth Parquet, Stephanie Willing, Ato Essandoh, Hennessy Winkler, Brian Silliman, Christopher Wilson, Neimah Djourabachi, Matthew Trumbull, and Maya Armstrong.