The Zeta Family is a humorous 2019 audio play by Gretchen Enders with a full voice cast (including Kevin Nealon as Zeta Doug) and sound effects. It's set on a ranch in upstate New York and involves a young woman named Katie, an aspiring journalist, infiltrating a cult known as the Zeta Family, whose leader Zeta Doug believes that everyone's souls are split between seven dimensions and seeks to reunite the souls of himself and his followers.
It's not long before Katie realizes that she's not the only one on the compound who doesn't belong there, recognizing one of the followers as Lyle, one of her older brothers' classmates from school. He initially denies it and claims that his name is Rick Deckard, only for Katie to call bullshit on that. He eventually admits that he's an undercover FBI agent investigating the cult. Katie is eager to partner up, since she herself sees the story as her ticket to fame.
The audio play includes the following tropes:
- Ass Shove: This is implied to be how Katie manages to smuggle a backup phone into the compound. Then again, it could just as easily be Victoria's Secret Compartment.
- False Friend: Katie's best friend and roommate Corinne is shown to be not much of a friend. She's entirely self-absorbed and doesn't seem to are about Katie at all beyond how she can use Katie as a source of income and as someone to talk about herself. She never seems interested in what Katie has to say, to the point where Katie is actually taken aback when Corinne asks how she's doing. She gets fired from her food delivery job for eating the merchandise (and, of course, thinks her boss overreacted) and expects Katie to cover the whole rent for the month. When Katie says to ask their landlord to let them slide for a month, Corinne says that he already did. Apparently, the money she gave Corinne the previous month were spent on something other than rent. And, being the narcissist she is, Corinne has the gall to shift the blame on Katie, claiming that she should've known not to trust her with money. Corinne suggests that Katie gets her brother Chris to loan her some money, only for Katie to refuse, since Chris is an asshole. Corinne then goes behind Katie's back and contacts Chris. They end up dating and move in together... kicking Katie out of her own apartment. It takes Lyle and Trace's perspective for Katie to realize that Corinne has never really been a friend to her.
- Flock of Wolves: It turns out that the only one on the ranch who's a true believer is Zeta Doug himself, and only because he's taken so much LSD that his mind is now warped. Most others have an agenda. Katie, Lyle, and the two Canadians, Logan and Emile, are investigating the cult (with the Canadians working for the RCMP). Trace is running a con. Darlene wants to sleep with Zeta Doug in order to complete her list of sexual conquests. Sasha and Russell are working on a documentary. And Zeta Doug's assistant Holly is only doing it because he saved her from drug addiction years earlier and has become a father figure to her. Subverted in the end when everyone but Holly decides to stay at the ranch after Zeta Doug's death, becoming a family.
- Intrepid Reporter: Katie believes herself to be one. But any time she mentions it to others she gets asked where she's been published. As it turns out, she hasn't been... yet. She's hoping that this will be her big break.
- Knight Templar: The Canadians' superior officer in the RCMP has a Berserk Button for cults, since his mother abandoned him as a child to join one. Thus, he will go to any lengths to destroy the Zeta Family, intending to turn it into another "Waco siege", despite the fact that the Mounties has no jurisdiction in the US. He's eventually arrested by his own people.
- Polyamory: At the end, Darlene wants to be with both Logan and Emile, and they don't seem to mind sharing.
- Shout-Out: Lyle's undercover name is Rick Deckard. When Katie confronts him about it, he claims that his mother liked Harrison Ford in Blade Runner. Katie calls bullshit on that.
- Spy Cam: Katie eventually finds a camera in her air vent. Lyle is even more outraged than her, likely because he's been doing some inappropriate things in his own room when he thought no on was looking. Any time they bring it up with other followers, they basically get a "duh, we're in a cult" reply. Except it turns out that the cameras are there for a documentary. Neither Zeta Doug nor his assistant knew anything about them.
- Too Much Information: This is often Katie's reaction to Darlene's many stories about her sexcapades.
- Undercover Cop Reveal: "Rich Deckard" turns out to be an FBI agent named Lyle, whom Katie recognizes as an old classmate of her brother's. He's investigating the Zeta Family. Logan and Emile also turn out to be agents of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on a similar assignment.
- Wham Line: Katie is shocked to learn that her mother is filing for divorce and has been seeing a friend from her book club.
