Strawberry Spring

1,431

Fiction #64, Drama #27

Based on the short story by Stephen King, Strawberry Spring is a scripted podcast set against the backdrop of the sixties revolution on the campus of New Sharon College. We follow a generation of students who don't trust authority, the futile efforts of the local police, and a young, determined reporter as he chases the bloody trail of Springheel Jack, an unrelenting, modern-day Jack the Ripper. After vanishing and leaving his murders unsolved, Jack is back - along with a new Strawberry Spring, a weather pattern with an unusual fog bank that rolls in every eight years. Using the fog to hide his tracks, he taunts New Sharon with fresh kills, each murder more violent than the last. The 8-episode season stars Garrett Hedlund, Milo Ventimiglia, Sydney Sweeney, Herizen Guardiola, Al Madrigal, Ken Marino, and Brec Bassinger.

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Recent Reviews

C.G. P

Confusing and just okay

Stephen King is amazing. There is a good story in here. But this podcast didn’t do it justice. I felt the acting was just super cheesy. Characters sounded too similar. The background foley work was horrendously jarring and loud. The time jumps forward and back were so confusing. And the unsatisfactory loose ends were annoying. Just read the book or listen to the audiobook.
GlassManArtist

DONT READ REVIEWS

Just listen to it. Too many reviewers are just idiots posting spoilers. So annoying.
Mrs. Podcast Critic

Amazing!!!

Absolutely chilling! I love it! This is the 7th time I’ve heard this!
mrynsa

👍

I am a big fan of Stephen King. On this story somehow I knew it! Henry was going to be the killer.
Kit-Cat😽❤️

Good story, bad ads

Is a good and interest story (like all of Stephen king’s stuff). I like it overall, despite some weak parts in the dialogue/acting in the main 2 women especially, but overall it wasn’t a big hang up. The biggest downside is that the ads are crazy. There are probably 6-9 minutes of ads per podcast in like 3 ad spots conservatively. It’s kinda insane especially with how short the episodes are. Otherwise it’s a good podcast (the twist is predictable though).
Jenn804

Background music too loud!

I can’t hear certain parts of the story because the background music is sooo loud! There doesn’t need to be music in the background of so many scenes.
KristiDawnG

More to come?

I loved it! Are there more to come?
Gina972!

Good story

I like all Of King’s stories. This was no different. I wish there weren’t so many interruptions with commercials. I expect some, but way too many.
Comics?

Unbelievably bad

‘Strawberry Spring’? A better title would’ve been ‘Cheesy Cringe’. Terrible “acting” by the 2 valley girls (Rachel & Ann) and the lead guy - master of the pregnant pause. “I thought I would……come see you…” “How could I ever…..make it up to you…”. Etc and on and on. Awful.
Fix pix !

Dumb

The transition between times was confusing. And Henry’s the killer. Save your time. This story is lame
Shayflakes

It’s just not good

I’ve heard Stephen King is a phenomenal author but this just isn’t good. It isn’t a unique or captivating plot. The characters aren’t interesting. Maybe it’s just this adaptation. I lost interest before chapter 3. And I don’t usually mind ads but the amount of them here is crazy excessive.
Rachel Raner

Good but confusing

Good listen while on a long car ride but like other reviews, the time jumps were hard to follow. King’s dialogue was a bit cheesy and i guessed the killer 3 episodes in. Overall was a good listen.
MilesPage

Almost incomprehensible

The time jumps are super confusing. The character of Rachel seems to just be reading the script aloud. Poor adaptation.
carrington420

Okay

Confusing to follow at times, predicted the ending very early on
kirk_farris

Would listen if they did another

Pretty good. Transitions between timelines were hard to follow. It was a good use of my afternoon
Lmere23

Not worth the time

I want to give this a better review but with big names on this it seems there should’ve been better audio. Some of the characters sound like they’re in tubes when they talk…? And the voice fry with most of the female actors doesn’t jive with the timeframe of the 70s. Ending was predictable unfortunately.
aCrabRangoon

Regretfully peer pressured

I was not charmed by the main VA performances and guessed the twist very early on. I thought perhaps it was a trick to mislead you and another twist, but no. I listened at the request of a friend who thought I'd love it, as a King fan. This is definitely not way King writes stories or scripts. Hard pass.
Chubby Cheeks Quilter

Strawberry Spring

Disappointing. Time jumps are very confusing, the character voices cloying and seems over-acting is the norm here.
et ultor

Too many ads

Not good
bobduvall

Time jumps hard to follow

I’m a Steven King fan and this story was a pretty good adaptation of his work. The time jumps were very confusing at times which led to a good amount of predictability. By episode three it’s pretty obvious what’s going on.
E. Slue

Keeps you listening

Overall I think it is good and would love to see more short stories adapted this way. Voice acting was pretty good for most of it only thing I dislike is those kind of endings.
JaneBerlinH

Half commercials

I kid you not there is just as much time playing commercials as there is on the story. And they are the same ones over and over. At the beginning, a couple of times throughout the story and at the end too.
Kazskiiii

Story good, acting bad

It reminds me of “The Californians” on SNL. Vocal fry galore, except not funny just annoying. I guess it’s better than a poorly executed New England accent? Unfortunately, the most prominent fry comes from the Ann character. That breathy fry does not convince me it’s 1968-1976.
rusty echols

Soooooo many ads

Great story and performances but three full ad sets per each 30 minute episode.
dylybean

When is this show coming back?! It was so good!

I loved this show I was so obsessed with it I hope it comes back soon!
BJ2180

Ummm

Echoing some others — the time jumps are impossible to make sense of, and the voice acting is cringe-worthy all around, but especially for the female journalist.
shd345

????

The time jumps are impossible to follow.
Warrior5610

Great Story

Loved it however it was pretty easy to guess the twist. Still keeps you interested enough to finish the book!
Agentbean007

Love it, but couldn’t hear some of it

I’d be really into it and then the commercials would butt in and get me very confused because after them it would be another story line at times. At some points I couldn’t hear what they were saying because of the music, and the ending just seemed so rushed compared to it all. I loved all of it, I just wish I could have heard it a lot better
Suddenlybees

Worst actors are the leads.

Main dude sounds like an emotionless attempt at a noir detective cliche. Main girl sounds like a heavily medicated modern day teen. And these are supposed to be serious investigative journalists? In the 60’s/70’s? Nah. At least everyone else can hold their own, even if they can’t make up for the cardboard performances of the two leads. Plus the story itself is predictable. King is really going for quantity over quality at this point. Overproduced and underwhelming. Bummer. The Newt Gingrich ad was just the cherry on top.
MiMi.328xi

Episode one...10mins in...

I wanted to like this but it’s only 10 mins into the 1st episode and I don’t think I’m going to make it through the entire series. The pregnant female role is the absolute worst reading of a script on a podcast ever. The voice that represents the journalists mind/thoughts sounds almost like a robot and there’s already been 2 cycles of advertising. First episode...10 mins in? No thank you.
Girliker61

Way too many commercials

Couldn’t even finish the first chapter. Too bad as I was so looking forward to it.
activestar100

Fantastic

I really enjoyed this podcast! I was able to clearly follow the storytelling and actually enjoyed the parallels and the jumping both forward and backwards in time. The reliving of the events was a nice touch too, as it related greatly to what a real human experiences. The dramatic voice acting and audio cues to flashbacks brought the story to life as well! Not to mention the plot took me by great surprise. Overall, very well done.
QueenBeckyBook

I wanted to like this

I turned this on with excitement, to then be fluky annoyed by tons of commercials. These are 30 minute episodes. The 2 minutes of commercials at the beginning was fine. The next 2 minutes of commercials 10 minutes in was excessive. I get there are bills to pay, but this is too much to even want to continue. It disrupted any sense of tension and ruined the chance of me continuing.
Jimmy33009

Pretty good but confusing

I’m so confused about how it’s 8 years later and also not. Maybe I’m stupid but it’s really confusing to me. Nothing clear telling you when things are taking place.
alinmyhead

Just waiting

Trying to decide if I should listen from the beginning for the third time because im patiently waiting for more Will there be more?
Little Grandma. 2.0

Springhill jack

Where is he ? I would like to have more episodes. More episodes means more stars Do you read these text. ?
empopop

Mid story, Terrible Production.

Production was terrible, added music and noises ruined it, would’ve been much better as an audio book with a single narrator.
Austin Guitar Repair

Great show, bad sponsorship

Any show sponsored by Ortho world killing chemicals gets a bad review👎 If you’re using weed killer chemicals for a dumb uniform lawn, please reconsider
skullpunch

Loved it

Loved it
VirgoEm

Average

I enjoyed the story. And I don’t mind the ads, the transition to ads and back to the show is nice and gives you a heads up instead of jump cutting. At times I found the back and forth between the narrator’s present and past a bit difficult to follow. I think the biggest downfall of this podcast is that, you don’t really feel a strong connection to any of the characters. They feel like very surface level characters without nuance.
kevintudball

Fun, but predictable

This was well acted, compelling and enjoyable. I really did like it, however, I found it predictable and the climax fell a little flat.
Gracee Dewy

Decent

I knew I heard Sydney Sweeney. Can’t believe how bland & honestly bad she is in this
ShannonC 08

It was good until the end

I did like this. The back and forth was a lot. The ending was frustrating, I like an ending to be fully wrapped up and it wasn’t. But It kept my attention and I enjoyed it.
toritea

Just really bad acting…

I couldn’t make it through the 2nd chapter. The acting sounds so forced for some characters and monotone for the main one.
DavidSI

Finished it. Not sure why.

Listened to all 8. Not sure why. The voice talent was awful could be the fault of the writing, people didn’t speak that way in the 60s. Sound mixing was overdone. Production felt rushed.
MiaMarche

Terrible acting!

You’d have to try to be this horrible. The story line doesn’t even catch you. I wanted to like this.
polisciwhiz

Why change a good story?

If you have read the story in Night Shift, then you know it was one of the best in the volume. I understand that they wanted to add to it to flesh it out to eight episodes, but why change that perfect ending of the written story?
i❤HK

No Inflection 😕

Who ever plays Ann & Rachel doesn’t know the meaning of the word “inflection”. Totally boring personality.
LeTyson

Unpleasantly surprised

The voice acting isn’t great and the way they give context is weird; it’s just awkwardly placed flashbacks. The dialog also feels choppy and forced.