"Jar of Rebuke" is a Midwestern gothic audio drama by Casper Oliver. It's narrated by Dr. Jared Hel, an amnesiac, immortal cryptozoologist who is trying to remember their forgotten past.
Each episode is in a somewhat slice-of-life format that takes a peak into Jared's life through audio journal entries and other kinds of recorded audio files. Some episodes follow other characters, but still are relevant to Jared's story.
podcast logo by Ashlee Craft.
Tropes in this podcast:
- Artificial Human: Jared is implied to not be human the first season. It is confirmed in the second season.
- Big Damn Reunion: In season two, Jared and Dax.
- Cast Full of Gay: This series is full of canonically LGBTQA+ characters.
- Character Blog: The series is partially told through Jared's audio journals.
- Close-Knit Community: The rural town of Wichton, Indiana, has a very close-knit community.
- Cool Old Lady: Both Ester and Laura, the elderly couple who own The Chronicle Inn.
- Dead Person Conversation: There are many conversations with ghosts throughout the series.
- Death as Comedy: Some of Jared's off-screen deaths are handled with a sense of comedy.
- Eldritch Location: The series' setting, the fictional town of Wichton, Indiana, seems to be a focal point for various fantasy and horror creatures that thrive there. Enough so that there's a research facility (the Enclosure) dedicated to studying the area.
- Evil, Inc.: The Enclosure seems to struggle with being this.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: This podcast takes place in an Indiana farm town where a wide range of real Midwestern United States folklore all reside. Everything from Black-Eyed Children, Not-Dear, Melonheads, river monsters, and more.
- Folk Horror: Jar of Rebuke definitely fits the bill, being set in the rural midwest with cryptids and other strange things at the focal point.
- Ghost Amnesia: Technically Jared, as he struggles to remember his life before 'the incident'.
- Good Parents: Darius Chapman's fathers both do their best to be good parents for Darius, as well as welcoming Jared into the family.
- LGBT Creators: Casper Oliver is a queer content creator, as are all of the writers for the series; most of the voice-over talent are members of the queer community.
- Monster Roommate: Jared and Dax, who is a shadow person living in Jared's home. Though, technically, neither of them are human.
- Narrator: Dr. Jared Hel is the narrator for most episodes, but some episodes are narrated by other members of The Enclosure, such as Dr. Gia Castillo
- Nonhuman Nonbinary: This podcast is full of non-human characters as well as nonbinary characters, the primary example of the overlap of this is Dr. Jared Hel, who over the course of the series is revealed to be inhuman and also nonbinary.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: There are many ghosts in this series, and they all interact with Jared fairly directly.
- Queer Romance: Wichton is full of many canonically queer couples, such as Ester and Laura who own The Chronicle Inn, as well as Jared and Darius Chapman.
- Signing Off Catchphrase: "This is Dr. Jared Hel, signing off."
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: This happens often at The Enclosure. Notably Jared and Dr. Gia Castillo being lab partners and clearly not liking one another, as well as Dr. Gia Castillo, Dr. Angela Daman, and Linda Zimmer all begrudgingly working together on investigating Jared
- Trans Tribulations: While Jared's nonbinary identity is overall accepted, there are many times that people at The Enclosure, notably Dr. Angela Daman and Linda Zimmer, seem to openly doubt Jared's identity. Jared has moments in multiple episodes where he expresses confusion or distress over being assumed to be a man.
- Unfazed Everyman: Jared seems to often be unfazed by the horrors they face in their cryptozoological work, finding themselves far more bothered by day-to-day stresses like public speaking and surprise parties.
