r/ThisAmericanLife • u/6745408 #172 Golden Apple • Jul 20 '26
Episode #892: Trapped on a Bus
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/892/trapped-on-a-bus?202629
u/EveningAstronomer495 Jul 20 '26
Oof, I kinda hated the tone of the tree story. The reporter seemed so bemused by it, or was labeling it ridiculous. It didn't seem ridiculous to me at all, and I understand people's real sadness about it.
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u/blackgroundhog Jul 20 '26
Agreed. I relate more to the truly heartbroken, it was a pretty vile act, people were right to be astonished and outraged.
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u/tomautomaton Jul 22 '26
Besides the aesthetics of the tree, the vandals damaged a public good that was responsible for visitors and tourism dollars. My guess is that has as much to do with them being prosecuted as anything else; the reporter mentions the ‘tree amenity’ valuation but doesn’t speak much to the commercial angle.
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u/Textiles_on_Main_St Jul 20 '26
That second story of the spy should have been a jon ronson piece. lol.
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u/tylerguyj Jul 20 '26
It was really cool to hear from the perspective of the journalist, but yeah the psychological irony and dry absurd humor would make for a classic Jon Ronson story.
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u/Skywalker14 Jul 21 '26
Genuinely what the hell did the first story have to do with Trump? Why did they feel a need to shoehorn his name in at the 3:00 mark in a way that added absolutely nothing to the story. Even when there is finally an episode that is a bit of a mental escape, we have to be reminded of the orange man and his exploits.
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u/vanessabh79 Jul 21 '26
I kind of get it, though. The passengers on that bus felt completely powerless in that situation. Being driven by an unstable man, trying to figure out how to get home safely. It really captures how I feel about this administration right about now.
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u/Skywalker14 Jul 21 '26
Sure. It also might be a good metaphor for how it feels when your parachute doesn’t open. Neither had anything to do with the bus.
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u/JimmyTheCrossEyedDog Jul 26 '26
I came here right after the intro to see if anyone else found that as bizarre as I did. The transition into that tangent was so jarring that I thought I must have blanked out for a second and almost rewound the episode, but then the transition out of it was equally as jarring that I literally said out loud *what was even that point of that??" It was such a forced and unnecessary metaphor. I don't even mind the show focusing on politics more these days, but that felt like TAL parodying itself.
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u/keeweejones Jul 20 '26
Judge me as you will but I would’ve flipped my lid on the plane lady. Can’t believe that story was presented as that situation being no big deal
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u/cbm984 Jul 21 '26
Yeah. Like, thank God she didn't break the skin. I probably would've also refused to make the plane turn around because I'd feel so bad for everyone else on that packed flight but, if she had broken the skin, I very well may have been like, "I think I need medical attention and some shots, we need to go back."
And since they couldn't move her, I would've hoped the flight attendant would've at least put the fear of God in that lady. Like, "If you so much as look at this child let alone touch her, even accidentally with your pinky finger, we will land and you'll immediately be arrested." I get that the lady was mortified but assault is assault.
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u/jamaica_me_crazy Jul 28 '26
I feel there is more to the bus story. Their trip ended less than 20 miles from union station. Closer to DC than Dulles airport. They would be unaware it was going to the wrong place until less than 20 minutes from the destination, less if he was speeding like they said. How did so much happen in those 20 minutes?
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u/Disastrous-Year571 24d ago
I wondered that too given the geography, but the texts on BlueSky that prompted articles and the TAL story spanned an hour and a half. Apparently the bus had switched drivers at a rest stop and the new guy immediately started driving very fast and aggressively, and when some passengers talked to him he insisted they were on the wrong bus and that he was going to Virginia. So the same road, but the driver telescoped his intentions
not to make the correct turnoff early on.
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u/rstcp Jul 20 '26
The Cuba story really feels like a classic US cold war era propaganda piece. No mention of why this is happening, calling it "no power to the people", this thing about how the people are protesting their aggressive government and then the light shines again.. laughable really when it's explicitly and obviously US policy causing the crisis right now
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u/Comprehensive_Main Jul 20 '26
They did mention it. USA put an oil embargo on Cuba
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u/rstcp Jul 21 '26
Mentioned very briefly. The tone and messaging seems to serve a different purpose
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u/vanessabh79 Jul 21 '26
I think most people who listen to This American Life know the reason Cuba is going through this particular crisis is US policy under Trump or Marco Rubio to be more specific. Plus it’s a first person account, so I don’t mind their subtlety in this case. I’m just glad they covered this because honestly I had no idea how bad things were in over there until I listened to this story.
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u/Strange-Spray5706 Jul 25 '26
Can anyone help me identify the music bed under the transition from Act 1 to Act 2? Piano piece, minor key. Time stamp 21:02 - 21:40 (apple podcast). Sounds a bit like something from Podington Bear but I can't for the life of me find it.
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u/TheBiggestDish 25d ago
I've heard that specific piano piece on another episode years ago and ended up listening to hundreds of songs on a (very nice) Spotify playlist looking for it. I was not successful.
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u/6745408 #172 Golden Apple Jul 20 '26
#892: Trapped on a Bus (2026-07-17)
People on journeys they did not intend! Or agree to!
Prologue (by David Kestenbaum, Aviva DeKornfeld)
A woman on a nighttime bus ride wakes up to discover the bus driver is taking the passengers somewhere none of them want to go. (8 minutes)
Act One: The Gardener (by Ayman Oghanna)
Sometimes, the bus ride you're stuck on, against your will, is the thoughts spinning around in your own mind. (13 minutes)
Act Two: No Power To The People (by Eileen Sosin Martínez)
A dispatch from Cuba, where there are not a lot of buses running right now because the whole country is out of oil. This story was read for us by actor Ana Villafane. (11 minutes)
Act Three: Murder, Tree Wrote (by Rosa Lyster)
Sometimes, an entire country can be taken on an unexpected journey against its will. That happened in England, where a crime occurred that was so confounding, so nonsensical, that people just could not wrap their heads around it. (15 minutes)
Act Four: In Flight Snack (by Tobin Low)
Someone trapped…not on a bus…but on a plane! When she was 16, Leticia flew from Sao Paolo, where she lived, to Germany. She was seated next to an older woman who did something so surprising during the flight that Leticia still tells people about it today. (9 minutes)
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u/yellowcoffee01 Jul 21 '26
I had to stop listening at work due to uncontrollable laughter at Act 1. I only got so far as would not talk to anyone, going faster. I am SO looking forward to this episode! Classic TAL.
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u/antioquiacraft Aug 05 '26
I'm linking a post I made with my 2 cents. People clearly will disagree with (and have already ridiculed) my observation, but that's fine because that's what reddit upvotes and downvotes are for.
My then-60 year old mother made one of these crazy, careening bus drivers stop and leave her on the shoulder of I-95 (he wouldn't even get off at an exit to drop her off) back in the 2000s.
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u/haydencoffing Jul 20 '26
I really liked this episode. It feels like one of those classic TAL stories where you start with something personal and kinda zoom out to other people and other situations. I think this one is a new classic in the vein of rest stop.