"A Very Fatal Murder" Podcast and Why it’s Stupidly Brilliant

Make it Ridiculous, Make it Silly, But Make it True

I think it is important to look at genres because I went into this thinking that it is 100% based on fact and truth so lo and behold I was stunned when the podcast host asked the sobbing mother of the murdered to read a fucking ad mid-cry.

I should’ve picked up on this earlier in the podcast [much much earlier— I listened to a good chunk of the first two episodes bewildered and wondering about this egocentric bastard’s motivation] because 1.) he says the most unhinged things with a deadpan voice and B.) it’s produced by the fucking Onion.

Context matters kids!

Each episode is ridiculously short and filled with so many plot holes, it makes Swiss cheese look solid, BUT

What a fun podcast. It revels in its nonsensical storytelling and it’s just short of absolute ridiculousness that there are moments where you have to question if the bizarre moments could actually, potentially, possibly be true.

I’d actually liken it to an epic Homeric tale told by a third-grader: they have a good grasp of the English language (sort of) and they’re trying their darndest to tell you how their day went but they go off on tangents, talk about their poop, and call Jessica their classmate an absolute bitch for not sharing her Crayons.

It’s fun entertainment but you realistically have no idea what the fuck is going on.

A Very Fatal Murder is that third-grade story if you threw in a little murder and debauchery and mild undertones of unrealized homosexuality.

David Pascall, the host, is trying to ride off the success of true crime and horror podcasts that has gripped the nation and is searching for the most interesting, bestest, most terrible murder in Midwest America to talk about.

He settles on the violent and ever-changing murder of 17-year-old Hayley Price. Pascall sets up a mocking tone for how the rise in popularity for the gore and unsettling stories of true crime has led him to this small, backwards town, yet finds himself attracted to it because of the allure of fame.

An absolute spoof on the genre itself (and very specifically Brian Reed’s S-Town which is a phenomenal podcast), Pascall sets up a murder he is desperate to solve, for all the wrong reasons.

Complete with musical cues, ridiculous advertisement breaks, random cliffhangers, and a podcast host so detached from the story as to be writing his own in the middle of this one, A Very Fatal Murder is a fun way to spend an afternoon if you literally have nothing else to do with yourself.

Yet, what gets me the most is how self-aware Pascall is throughout the entire process. Yes he is making fun of the genre and the auditory tropes we have developed with the rise of podcasting and the true crime genre, but he has one foot in heavy, critical satire and the other foot mired in the absurd quirkiness of exploiting murders for personal gain.

He is never not acknowledging this as a podcast and a means to an end, so much so that he forgets about us and has a massive time-skip in the middle of the episodes.

But the real pièce de résistance is the ending, the self-awareness slab Pascall wears as a hat and the discovery he makes about Hayley’s murder.

Realistically I was only half-listening the entire time, having to rewind if I missed something important that happened (which was often because there seemed to be no real cause-and-effect, random shit happening and then disappearing and then more random shit exploding in the distance to draw Pascall’s attention away from the task at hand— which keeps you confused yet intrigued…) but the final episode had me hooked.

Not in an edge-of-my-seat, biting-my-nails kind of hooked. More like the rubbernecking that goes on when you see a minor car crash during rush hour and you have nothing better to do while you sit in your car, baking in the unforgivable sunset and goddamn traffic.

You listen to get the ending. You listen because Pascall begins dropping the real bombshells. And while nothing ties together and every story thread established continues to flap in the wind by the conclusion, it all makes sense.

He reveals a plot twist we should’ve seen coming a mile away, considering his stance from the beginning of the podcast, to his nonchalance throughout, to the red herrings of all the randomness we get hit with constantly.

By the end of the podcast, Pascall finishes the thesis statement he set up from the very first episode with a bow on top.

It’s irksome how accurate Pascall is at the end, but I have to tip my hat off to him for convincing me to listen to this silly story for 7 mini episodes.

As eccentric as he seems, there is a method to his madness.

I literally had this scene replaying in my head the entire time I was listening to this podcast mainly because it’s so silly but it fits the podcast vibe exactly.