Princeton, New Jersey, February 1967. In a hauntingly reflective episode of The Passage, the Ferryman, with his deep, resonant voice provided by Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, The Walking Dead), welcomes a figure whose legacy is as massive and complex as the atom itself—J. Robert Oppenheimer, voiced by Bill Rogers, the father of the atomic bomb. The Ferryman arrives in a '67 Fairlane, a vehicle reminiscent of the ones that shuttled him under the watchful eyes of the FBI during the days of the Manhattan Project.
As the car's engine ticks and cools in the spectral silence of the afterlife, Oppenheimer rides in the backseat, his eyes holding the weight of a creation that forever altered the course of human history. The Ferryman listens intently as Oppenheimer confesses his feelings of profound guilt and his struggle to comprehend the full scope of the suffering inflicted by the atomic bomb—suffering he feels personally responsible for.
Throughout the journey, Oppenheimer wrestles with his desire for redemption. He reveals a startling wish: to endure the afterlife in a manner that mirrors the agony of each soul affected by his creation. But in the realm where the Ferryman guides the lost, desires are dangerous, and the path to atonement is fraught with unforeseen consequences.
Oppenheimer is forced to confront a haunting question: In seeking to share the suffering of his creation's victims, might he instead be bound to a fate far more terrible? The episode explores the delicate balance between guilt, responsibility, and the longing for redemption, set against the backdrop of one of humanity's most profound and troubling achievements.
In this episode of The Passage listeners are invited to journey through the heart of moral ambiguity, where the lines between right and wrong, guilt and atonement, are as blurred and complex as the quantum particles that Oppenheimer spent his life studying. Written by Steven Williams.
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