Limetown
Limetown is a podcast fiction series created by Two-Up Productions that debuted on July 29, 2015 and became the number one US podcast on iTunes less than two months later.[2] The show has drawn comparisons to the popular podcast Serial and the 1990s television show The X-Files.[3][4][5] The series was written and directed by Zack Akers and produced by Skip Bronkie. The second season debuted on October 30, 2018.
| Limetown | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Presentation | |
| Voices | Annie-Sage Whitehurst |
| Language | English |
| Production | |
| Production | Two-Up Productions |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 11 |
| Publication | |
| Original release | July 29, 2015 – present |
| Cited as | Vulture's Top 10 Podcasts of 2015[1] |
| Website | http://www.limetownstories.com/ |
Plot
Limetown is a fictional story told as a series of investigative reports by Lia Haddock (played by Annie-Sage Whitehurst), a journalist for American Public Radio (APR), detailing the disappearance of over 300 people at a neuroscience research facility in Tennessee.[2]
Episode listing
Although the creators planned seven episodes for the first season,[2] only six were produced:[6] Very short teasers were broadcast after some episodes.[7]
| No. | Title | Release date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "What We Know" | July 21, 2015 | |
| Ten years ago Limetown was a self-contained research facility with on-site staff housing. One day a vague 911 call brings the police to the front gates but security doesn't let them past and the first responders are ordered to stand down. After three days, the gates are opened but the site is completely devoid of any trace of people, save for what looks like the result of a pyre containing traces of the remains of Oscar Totem, one of the lead researchers. Lia Haddock, a reporter for American Public Radio, is drawn to the mystery due to her uncle Emile, a Limetown resident. Despite numerous investigations and Congressional inquiries, nothing was ever resolved. She goes through interviews with various people, including fellow reporters, the head financer's biographer, an FBI agent on the case, and even loved ones of the missing, to start a dedicated series to the missing people and all who remember them. But she ends the episode with a surprise call from an alleged survivor who wants to meet with her. | |||
| 2 | "Winona" | September 6, 2015 | |
| A woman who only goes by "Winona" contacts Lia claiming to be a Limetown survivor. Although she clearly has some sort of brain damage, she recounts living in Limetown with her husband and daughter Sylvia as well as an experience watching a man (whom she refers to as "The Man We Were All There For") experiment with some sort of telepathy. She refuses to answer most of Lia's questions, and seems to imply that she has been instructed on what to do and that Lia has a role to play. She refers to the last day of Limetown as "The Panic" and Lia surmises that The Man We Were All There For was Oscar Totem. She gives Lia a phone the next survivor will contact her on and smashes a teacup when presses for more questions. A man comes to Lia's motel room door late at night, repeatedly smashes his head against the door and tells her that it's her warning. | |||
| – | "A quick apology" | September 26, 2015 | |
| Lia gives a formal apology for releasing the recording of the manic man who threatened Lia at her door. The police investigated and found a fatal amount of blood, but the body was never found and resumed to have been moved. Lia justifies with her refusal to be afraid and her insistence the team will move forward, already contacting the next survivor and ready to report with a conversation with tem in the next episode. | |||
| 3 | "Napoleon" | October 12, 2015 | |
| Via the cell phone that Winona provided, Lia makes contact with another survivor who calls himself The Reverend, whose real name is revealed to be Dr. Warren Chambers and is also a motivational preacher to people who are dying. He recounts how he was a veterinarian and was part of an experiment where he and a pig named Napoleon were implanted with devices that can allow them to communicate mind to mind. After Napoleon becomes traumatized from a badly-timed emergency, The Reverend can't take it and decides to kill the pig and ends up experiencing Napoleon's death. The Reverend reveals the implant was advanced to further trials, laughing at how the public never knew, saying what he felt from Napoleon led him into devotion, an refused to say more out of fear despite Lia's insistence. The Reverend ends up being killed by a drunk driver the next day. Lia becomes suspicious, her suspicions furthered when she receives a threatening, taunting call from a strange man playing mobile music from the phone in her mother's house. When her mom reaches the phone, Lia repeatedly orders her to take everyone and leave to hide, to which her mother replies, "Is it happening" before hanging up. Lia regrets the damage done, and says emotionally she will continue despite even the threats to her family. | |||
| – | "The 911 call" | October 31, 2015 | |
| Lia places a 911 call asking for police to come to a specific address, that of missing survivor Dr Max Finlayson, and saying she heard shots over the phone. The phone call was leaked to the news, and a report is played on the podcast. Lia refuses to answer until the next episode, citing it as "a complicated and perilous situation". | |||
| 4 | "DDoS" | November 2, 2015 | |
| Lia is contacted by Max Finlayson, the head neurologist at Limetown. He confirms that the purpose of the facility was to develop and test a cranial implant that would allow mind-to-mind communication. Removal of the implant causes severe brain damage, as was the case with Winona. The device was a success, and when Lia asks about The Man We Were All There For, Max refuses to name him and says he was the secret piece to the tech. But he reveals he saw an accordion folder with an embossed hummingbird in Oscar's office, believing that Oscar was secretly planning on selling the technology to a mysterious third party, likely relating to his murder. Max is extremely paranoid and keeps a gun nearby at all times and has his house equipped with a system that can interrupt the implants. He doesn't know or won't say who killed Oscar and gets personal when Lia accuses him of witholding. After Lia leaves, Max calls her and the sound of the sirens in the system are heard, Max implying multiple people in the house saying they have a message: "Don't try to run.", and then blasts are heard, fully revealing what prompted Lia to call 911. | |||
| – | "The central question" | November 17, 2015 | |
| Despite the clear danger involved, Lia and APR agree to continue the story and investigation. Lia plays a call to the tipline of the sister of Kenneth, a missing survivor, who insults them and threatens with lawsuits when she orders then to stay from him. Lia admits she was closing to stopping the production but she was convinced otherwise when she got a call from the next survivor wanting to tell their story: Deirdre Wells, the ex-wife of Finlayson. | |||
| 5 | "Scarecrow" | November 23, 2015 | |
| A paranoid Lia meets in an unnamed country with Max's ex-wife, Dierdra. She calls out Max for not telling the whole truth and explains her side of the story. She goes into their relationship and how Oscar came to his lectures before leaving a mock World Fair pin saying "I Have Heard the Future" and offering a partnership in Limetown, to which Deirdre reluctantly agreed to accompany him on after previously relentless opposition. No one new Limetown and the citizens were the experiment, making a group with implants in them and a control group without. When the success of the implants became clear, a rift grew between residents with the implant and the control group, who take on the name "The Old School" for themselves. Dierdra herself was without the implant while Max had it, causing them to grow apart. To try and rectify the situation, Max decides to secretly give her the implant, but in a concerning panic. When the Old School figures out what happens they riot. Medical supplements, a necessity for implant users to filter out most brainwaves, are destroyed. The implant users panic and the Old School riots which ends with the execution of Oscar Totem at the pyre in the middle of the town square. She recalls the Man sending subliminal messages through innate psychic abilities to connect with the citizens, but especially wen armed soldiers came and whisked the all away, it was barely working. She finally reveals to Lia that The Man We Were All There For was her uncle Emile who was the basis of the implants, saying she must already know being a part of everything and warning to not give in to the people trying to kill them before leaving. Lia, in shock tries to remember her uncle on her trip back, then goes to her attic looking for something to give her more. She finds her scarf from high school, and to add to her overwhelming confusion and high-tension, she finds the same pin Oscar left for Max attached to it. Tennessee Waltz by Patti Page closes the episode there. | |||
| – | "Answers" | December 8, 2015 | |
| APR receives a mysterious message offering all the answers to Limetown with a recording of the room at the time of the initial 911 call during the panic. The recording contains instructions on how and where Lia can meet the next survivor, the most prominent one is the interview must be broadcast live the day it is to happen. | |||
| 6 | "Cost-Benefit Analysis" | December 14, 2015 | |
| APR agrees to do a live interview with another survivor. Lia, wearing her scarf, is escorted by an Australian prostitute to an abandoned restaurant where the survivor opens a wine cellar door and offers her coming in to a room with a table, two chars, a light, and a gramophone. The survivor is a firm-hired consultant who currently calls herself "Lenore Doogle". Lenore was hired to be the city manager and all around troubleshooter. She spoke with Emile and worked with him through his testing. Secretly, she acted as a mole for a mysterious company who wanted the technology for military purposes. It was she who fed information to Oscar in order to convince him to sell out the town. She left the folder with the hummingbird ticker as a plan to ensure being provided a reward and asylum for selling the technology. When The Panic happened, Lenore contacted the Company who extracted all the implanted people via a network of limestone caves that ran under the town, killed the Old School, destroyed all evidence, and bribed and threatened the remaining survivors now all over the world into silence and solitude. As an added surprise and shock, Lenore reveals that she saved Winona's daughter Sylvia, even though she didn't have the implant, warning her over the air "They know, it's time." She finally reveals Emile is still alive and had contacted her to tell her side of the story, but he has since disappeared and now the Company wants him back. The only reason they let Emile lead Lia to talk to survivors was to use her as bait to draw Emile out. Lenore then takes a suicide pill and hands another to Lia before the door is busted down and armed men come running into the room, much to Lia's terror, but still saying "If you can hear my voice, don't let this end here, don't let them win" before the mic cuts off. | |||
| – | "A statement from American Public Radio" | December 15, 2015 | |
| APR's Gina Purri announces their decision to stop the investigation into Limetown due to the danger it caused and investiogations are under way, by APR. She reveals Lia has been missing since the final interview, and with an honorary dedication ends with imploring "Please, pray for Lia Haddock". | |||
| No. | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "London" | October 30, 2018 |
| 1.5 | "The Alison Recording" | November 5, 2018 |
| 2 | "Bordeaux" | November 12, 2018 |
| 2.5 | "The Majda Tape" | November 19, 2018 |
| 3 | "Halifax" | November 26, 2018 |
| 3.5 | "The Cortez KO" | December 3, 2018 |
| 4 | "The Bridge" | December 10, 2018 |
| 5 | "Limetown" | December 17, 2018 |
Other media
Prequel book
Two-Up Productions signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster to produce a prequel of Limetown in novel form. It was written by Cote Smith and released on November 13th, 2018.[8][9]
TV series
On October 8, 2018, it was announced that Jessica Biel would star as Lia Haddock for a 'Limetown TV series, to air on Facebook Watch.[10] Stanley Tucci was cast as Emile Haddock.[11] The first season run of 10 episodes premiered October 16, 2019.[12] The series was cancelled by Facebook Watch after its inaugural season.
References
- "The 10 Best Podcasts and 10 Best Podcast Episodes of 2015". Vulture. 2015-12-11. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
- "Limetown, a chilling new podcast, is your paranormal Serial replacement". Vox. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
- "Serial meets The X-Files in Limetown, a fictional podcast drawing raves after just one episode » Nieman Journalism Lab". Niemanlab.org. 2015-08-28. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
- Melissa Locker (2015-10-25). "Limetown: the podcast that bridges the gap between X-Files and Serial | Culture". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
- "Limetown podcast preview". Chicago Tribune. 2015-10-09. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
- "Limetown".
- "Limetown — Two-Up". Twoupproductions.com. 2017-05-12. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
- "An update from Two-Up". us11.campaign-archive2.com. Retrieved 2016-07-06.
- "Limetown Page". Two-Up. Retrieved Jul 14, 2019.
- Andreeva, Nellie; Andreeva, Nellie (October 8, 2018). "Jessica Biel To Star In 'Limetown' Facebook TV Series Based On Podcast". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved Jul 14, 2019.
- "'Limetown': Stanley Tucci, Marlee Matlin, Kelly Jenrette Join Facebook Watch Series". Deadline Hollywood. December 6, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
- Limetown. Facebook Watch. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
External links
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