With the relatively recent publication date for the show’s entire second season, I decided to listen to the first season of “Case 63″ from Spotify. Little did I know the story would shake me to my core and make me question if time travel were indeed possible in real life.

The Writers were the Time Travelers All Along?

Okay, the opening paragraph may be a bit hyperbolic, but then again, so is everything on the Internet. The story itself didn’t make me question time travel being real. Instead there are coincidences in the story that somewhat match up with real events in 2023. The first season dropped in 2022. Either the writers knew about the increase in UFO news articles, or they are extremely lucky in predicting the future.

Up until the episode titled “History Exam,” a lot of the story didn’t much catch my interest. That’s to say nothing of the performances by Oscar Isaac and Julianne Moore. They are great in their scenes together. Let’s back up a bit. I haven’t even described the plot of “Case 63.”

Case 63: Bright Sessions meets Loki?

The plot of “Case 63” combines the therapy session gimmick with a bit more complicated version of time travel. In that sense, its Bright Sessions meets the Loki Disney+ show. With the Marvel Studios god of mischief finishing his character’s 12 year journey from villain to anti-hero (even after death), now’s a good a time as any to discuss the similarities between it’s view of time and time travel with Case 63.

Dropping terminology like parasitic timelines in a science fiction story is a tried and true method of making a story’s setting feel more real. A person can infer what that means, even when It’s not explained. As season one progressed, doubt started to creep in on whether Oscar Isaacs’ character (patient 63) was a time traveler. This gut feeling didn’t manifest itself until the penultimate episode where Julianne Moore’s character lists the reasons why patient 63 couldn’t be a time traveler. It’s a strange thing to pull off in what’s marketed as a science fiction story, working in almost the opposite way than we might expect. To believe time travel is real in a science fiction is an easy pill to swallow. Getting the audience to think it’s not when the premise implies it is, makes this audio drama a better example of subverting expectations well than “Batman: Unburied” tried to do with its story.

8.5/10- Stars