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Podcast / The Edge of Sleep

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Beware of the elephant...

It's not what I thought the end would look like. There are no bodies in the streets, no burning cars, no hordes of zombies picking off survivors. It's more like the world went to sleep and never woke up.

The Edge of Sleep is a podcast/episodic audio play following Dave the nightguard as he struggles to survive in a world where everyone who fell asleep died. It is made by QCODE and Wood Elf and stars Mark Fischbach as Dave.The podcast currently has 8 episodes and can be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, and Spotify.


This show provides examples of:

  • Alone with the Psycho: The plot of "The Maniac and the Moobles, Part 1". The Trespasser has Dave captured and he has to entertain him to stay alive.
  • Apocalypse How: A Class 3. All humans who fell asleep the night of July 4th, and all who fall asleep afterward die.
  • Arc Symbol: Black triangles.
  • Arc Words: "Beware of the elephant."
  • Asshole Victim: While Dave feels bad bout it, the Trespasser's numerous crimes makes him being used as a guinea pig to learn more about how people die in their sleep well deserved.
  • Body Snatcher: What happens to the humans who fell asleep.
  • Bluff the Impostor: Mateo figures out that the Trespasser is lying about being military by making him say that he trained at a camp that doesn't have Basic Training.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: After coming up short after their test with the Trespasser, Mateo sees this as his last resort, saying he might as well get fucked up if he's going to die anyway. This causes Dave to chew him out for giving up on them instead of attempting to find a way out of this mess.
  • Faux Affably Evil: The Trespasser is a rather charismatic man who speaks calmly even when he's preparing to do horrible things. All of it does nothing to reflect the vile, disgusting man underneath. He even strikes up conversation with Dave while preparing to castrate him.
  • Hate Sink:
    • Gus is a stupid, rude drug dealer who is friends with Dave and Katie. When Dave arrives at the party late, Gus has to be reminded of his name twice and later refuses to help Dave save Randy's life because he doesn't want to risk being arrested. Later it's revealed that he likely lied to Katie and gave her Speed instead of MDMA.
    • The Trespasser is a vile, sexist Serial Rapist with dozens of victims who he has raped and killed and a disturbingly casual way of referring to his crimes. He taunts his latest victim that her mother is likely dead when everybody starts dying in their sleep and looks over what is now "his world" with awe and sadistic glee at having no one to stop him from hurting others. He kidnaps Katie and later Dave, and intends to kill him slowly with medical tools. Even after Dave befriends him he decides to castrate Dave to keep him away from Katie, mockingly saying that he'll have to "enjoy a good book" while he's raping Katie. After Mateo and Dave stop him, he breaks down, saying that the girls were "junkies" whom he didn't hurt and pathetically begging to be let go. When the group straps him into an MRI to see what happens when a person dies in their sleep, any sympathy the audience may have for him goes away when he mocks Dave about the nightmares he'll have from witnessing his death.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: With the exception of episode 7, the episodes are named "The X" where X is an important event or item that occurred in the episode.
  • Insomnia Episode: The entire series is this, but the effects of the lack of sleep are most shown in episodes 7 and 8.
  • Mundanger: The Trespasser isn't related to the supernatural phenomenon that is afflicting those who died in their sleep. He's just a Serial Rapist who uses the opioid epidemic to get away with his crimes.
  • No Name Given: The Trespasser is never given a name.
  • Passed in Their Sleep: This seems to be what happened to everyone who fell asleep the night before. It ends up being something much worse.
  • Phony Veteran: The Trespasser tries to use this as an excuse, but the real vet Mateo asks if he went to BCT at a post that doesn't even have it. So when the Trespasser says he did, Mateo knows he's lying and calls him out.
  • Seen It All: Linda works as a nurse, so she's seen some pretty crazy stuff. While the situation at hand catches her off guard, she is able to adapt better than the other characters. Even the military vet Mateo.
  • Sleep Deprivation: Happens to the main characters as they try to fly to Papua New Guinea after over 72 hours awake.
  • Slept Through the Apocalypse: Inverted. The only surviving members of humanity are those who didn't go to sleep.
  • Thirsty Desert: What Dave experiences in his dream in Episode 6.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: When Mateo decides to drink his life away at the end instead of helping the group, Dave chews him out and calls him a coward for not even attempting to get anything done like the rest of them.

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