All Episodes

June 27, 2023 11 mins

Melissa gets a letter from the last person she ever wants to talk to again – her dad.

Writer & Director - Kristen Torres

Cast:
Kristen Torres

Anna Lamadrid

Fred Munoz

Lucy

 

Creator & Showrunner - James Kim

Executive Producer - Taylor Chicoine

Editor & Producer - Cameron Kell

Head of Post & Sound Designer - Diego Perez

Sound Mixer - Daniel Martinez

Photographer - Julian Park

Score - Robert Garrova & Ryo Baum

Artwork - Tony D’Amato

Typography - Ben Tousley

Interviewer - Shaneisha Martin

Special thanks to Andrea Torres.

 

Thank you to our sponsors at Sennheiser.

You Feeling This is a production of iHeartRadio and Overtones Media. Find out more at http://www.youfeelingthis.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You feeling.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
This is our production of iHeart Ladio and Overtones Media.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Fern, come on, it's time for our walk. I know
I'm excited too, Mama. All right, hold on, let me
get you Leishan ready good, I know I'm excited. Okay, keys, phone, earbuds, water, Okay,
let's go. Oh actually, you know what. I want to

(00:56):
check the nail really quick. Hold on, wait one second,
check and make sure that I have My check is
not here yet?

Speaker 3 (01:14):
What?

Speaker 1 (01:17):
How do you get my address?

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (01:25):
It's Burn?

Speaker 5 (01:26):
Hey body?

Speaker 1 (01:28):
What kind of dog is she?

Speaker 5 (01:29):
Again?

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Burn? She's like a doxy Terrier mixed or something, right right?

Speaker 4 (01:35):
You told me that?

Speaker 3 (01:36):
So you know.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
I was at a dinner party the other night with
my friends and we were talking about getting a dog
and what he.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Was to do.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Hey, yeah, no, we it's time for her walk. We're
gonna head out now, good single se alright by Fern Fern.
We're gonna need to go for a longer walk today.

Speaker 6 (02:14):
Hey, oh my god, I was just thinking about you, Soul.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Oh my god, I am so glad you've picked up.
That's kidding.

Speaker 6 (02:23):
I'm gonna wait for my phone right now and do it, sirically.
Don't leave a message after the beat.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Beat Hayful the nineties called they want their voicemail joke back.
This is kind of random, but have you heard from
Dad recently? I got this letter from him in the mail,
and I don't even know what to do with this, Like,
first of all, for starters, how does he even know
where I live?

Speaker 5 (02:52):
Man?

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Just my freaking look Erne is taking a huge poop
right now and I'm straight up out of poop bags.
Hold on, hold on, you know what. Actually, I have
a brilliant idea. We're just gonna use this freaking latter
to pick up her poop. Also, in the slightest chance
that you've listened to this voice message, could you please

(03:15):
give me a call back as soon as possible. Okay,
I love you, Bye, Fern. How do you suggest we
pick up this poop? Come on, come drink some water?

(03:45):
Good Fern, I know it's not today, very good. Okay,
let me put this away. Haseel, What up? Pizar? Did

(04:12):
you listen to my message?

Speaker 7 (04:14):
Okay? No, it should go more like hello, my favorite
big sister and the whole entire world. How are you?
How's your day? How does work? Oh? Melissa? You're the
best little sister. I'm so glad that you asked. That's
how you do it.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Okay, damn, I'm sorry, sis. How are you? How was
your day? What you have for lunch today? Was it
a soup? A salad?

Speaker 4 (04:36):
How?

Speaker 1 (04:37):
I have protons with your salad? Oh? My god? Did
you listen to my voice message?

Speaker 7 (04:41):
Shut up? I'm just messing with you. No, I obviously
didn't listen to your message.

Speaker 5 (04:46):
Stupid.

Speaker 7 (04:47):
What's going on? Is everything okay?

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Well not really. Actually, before I stepped out on my
walk with Fern, I checked my mailbox and I got
a letter from the last person I expected to hear from.

Speaker 7 (05:00):
Oh cute, did you find me? Hear back from the
Blue Man Group?

Speaker 1 (05:03):
You were so annoying that. First of all, you know
that was years ago. And secondly, you know I sent
it in a self tape audition for Stomp. Oh my god, you.

Speaker 7 (05:14):
Were so annoying, banging everything in the house.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
I thought I thought I was pretty good.

Speaker 5 (05:20):
You know.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
That's besides the point. I got a letter in the
mail from Dad. Wait, what, No way, yes way, I
almost just use the letter to pick up Fern's poop.

Speaker 7 (05:34):
You were on a walk without a poop. Back again, girl,
you gotta get your life together.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
I know, I know, I know. At least it's like
biodegradable or whatever. Soul, for ills I need to know.
Did you give Dad my address?

Speaker 7 (05:50):
Why do you think I would do that?

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Well, you're the only one in the family who still
kind of keeps in touch with him.

Speaker 7 (05:58):
Well as the oldest. You know. It is the burden, eyebear,
that he tapped on everyone some lork. This might come
as a surprise to you, but we're all still fucked
up from that failed intervention. It's not just you, Okay.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
Dad made a very clear choice that day. We gave
him every chance to fix things, to make things better,
to make a goddamn effort for once. But instead, what
did he do?

Speaker 7 (06:26):
He stormed out, like he always.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Does when things get hard.

Speaker 5 (06:31):
I know.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
So I actually have moved on so much so that
I don't even think about the man anymore. Well, actually
up until today when somehow, mysteriously I have a letter
from him in my mailbox. Soul, what did I tell
you that day.

Speaker 7 (06:54):
That you didn't want anything to do with him anymore?

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Right? So I get to choose if and when he
comes back into my life. I don't let him have
the ability to just waltz in here like that.

Speaker 7 (07:10):
Okay, well you should know Dad wrote me a letter too.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Wait, so you did give him my address.

Speaker 7 (07:21):
I'm sorry, but look also like I'm.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
Not sorry, soul dude, you straight up went behind my back.
Why would you do that?

Speaker 7 (07:28):
Because I am worried about you.

Speaker 6 (07:31):
Anytime I try to bring up Dad, you immediately shut down.
It's not fair that I have to do all the
work in this. It just really makes me wonder. Have
you moved on like you say you have.

Speaker 5 (07:40):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
Oh, you can't be serious right now.

Speaker 7 (07:45):
You deserve peace now. Besides, I knew he was only
going to send you a letter, Like what did you
really think he was gonna do a greyhound from New
Mexico and show up to your door and be like, hey,
I'm ready to celebrate Father's Day if you come on
his dad.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
No, no, no, don't even joke around like that. I hate
you so much right now.

Speaker 7 (08:03):
Well, you were always by his side trying to fix him. Okay,
ever since you were a little kid. I just don't
want you to live your life holding on to all
of this because it's not yours to care.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
It's not Wait, your signals starting to break up hate
if you can still hear.

Speaker 7 (08:19):
Me, or for anybody for our stuff.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Okay, So I'm so pissed at your dumbass what. We're
gonna have a long talk about boundaries later, but I'll
call you back when I get home. I love you.
No bye, Come on, friend, Let's go sit in the
shady spot, good girl.

Speaker 5 (08:46):
Come on.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
Okay, damn, look at this view made it all the
way to the top.

Speaker 5 (09:00):
Huh.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
I don't even know what to do with this. What
do you think for an huh? I think I think

(09:37):
Soul is right about one thing. It's time for me
to start moving on, to start healing.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Mm.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
The letter was written and directed by Kristin Torres, with
editorial and directing support from Fred Munios. Melissa is performed
by Kristin Torres. Soul is performed by Anna La Madrid.
Neighbor was performed by Fred Munios and introducing Lucy as Fern.

(10:26):
Special thanks to Fred Munos, James Kim and Andrea Torres.
The editor and producer is Cameron kel On set sound
mixer is Daniel Martinez. Sound design and head of podcast
production is Diego Perez. Creator and showrunner is James Kim
On set photographer.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Is Julian Park.

Speaker 4 (10:48):
Score by Robert Garova and Ryobaum you Feeling.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
This is a production of iHeartRadio and Overtones Media.

Speaker 4 (10:57):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeart re
You app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

The Burden

The Burden

The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.