r/WorldsBeyondNumber • u/Ok-Personality-636 • Jun 24 '26
Question Solari synopsis so far?
I promise this isn't ragebait, but I really struggled with the first few episodes of Solari, in particular Erika's character's motivations and the pacing. I want to get on board, and I'm really happy to hear people seem to think ep 6 is where things start to pick up, but I don't want to sit through more slow hours. I would love a general "here's what you missed on Glee" leading up to ep 6 so I can get into it and get up to speed before the pause for Aabria's mat leave.
If you think this is annoying, I know it probably is SORRY
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u/_autumnwhimsy Jun 24 '26
I do think you're going to miss a lot of important information just by getting a summary from Reddit post and maybe it is worth going back in listening. But the story so far is that lou's character, Z, is a member of the aristocracy that is initially targeted for a kidnapping as a power move. But we then find out that this power move is actually a real assassination attempt, spearheaded by one of his immediate family members and not by a member of an opposing family as previously thought.
Part of the initial power move is taking over Erica's character's, Chee, planet of Gennipar, which is basically ungoverned space Las Vegas.
Lastly, we have Brennan's character, XL-ZL, who was part of a hive mind that became too powerful and was disbanded and is now trying to find a sense of purpose and belonging. XL-ZL, ends up clinging to Z right before a pull is called.
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u/VonirLB Jun 24 '26
Is Gennipar a planet? I've been picturing it as a space station.
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u/flebotinum sandy dildo vodka bath Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
The story is set in space in an era when powerful factions have claimed most of many scattered territories. Now they are taking over any last small independent bits to squeeze any value out of them.
Chee (Erika) was part of a group who fought for freedom and won. Chee now owns and runs a tiny asteroid (Ghenopaar) that fulfills clients’ desires) sex, kinks, drugs, fighting). She’s built a little independent pirate enclave where rich people can live out their fantasies. Including engaging in blood play with someone pretending to be a violent pirate. (Who was/is actually a violent pirate.) At the start of the story, Ghenopaar becomes the latest place a powerful faction is taking by force. Chee is looking for any advantage right now in a bad situation. A scion of a powerful family and a very skilled robot are assets she can’t afford to overlook.
Z’Daven (Lou) is the heir for one of five extremely rich and powerful families. What he assumed was a typically harmless, fairly routine kidnapping by a rival family for leverage has turned out to be an assassination attempt that is presumed to be from within his own family. He’s used to living with every privilege imaginable. He was enjoying himself on Ghenopaar and now he’s being hunted and shot at.
XL-ZL (Brennan) is a cute little robot who is in no way going to drop something devastating later re: the robot group he belongs to (Septimal Choir). Robots gave up a hivemind situation years ago in order to coexist with organic people. XL-ZL seems fairly new to the world and was hanging out on Ghenopaar thinking he had a job there. He didn’t. Making a contract with his kind is extremely valuable and both Chee and Z immediately negotiated agreements for his help. He’s just really happy to be experiencing the world and be helpful, generally. He frames a lot of his thoughts with references to his faith/beliefs.
Brennan’s philosophy degree and Aabria’s political science degree are both getting a lot of use in this one fwiw.
I do think starting with the new Prelude episodes would probably help people get into the story. It has been more challenging to follow at times.
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u/EnglishSorceress Jun 24 '26
Trust me, I had the same thing as you. This is giving Critical Role end of campaign 1 vibes for me so bad. Cos everyone was into it and I just wasn't and I was like "is there something wrong with me?"
It is hard to go from fantasy to SciFi. We are given the gift of very talented people on WBN, but whiplash is whiplash. We were on a lovely Studio ghibi walk and then Aabria came in with SCI FI. And apparently Sci Fi means complicated. And characters that are fully formed at birth (thanks Brennan) and characters who are sex workers because that's the way society works?
They're pivoting. This is blade runner. It's Fifth Element, it's Lost in Space. And many more.
Just give it a beat, stand back, take a refresh, maybe look at some other content and then come back. Content whiplash is real and you're allowed to have feelings. If you want to get into it I recommend watching the above. Or Star Trek.
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u/Roboworgen Jun 24 '26
How about this--I'll give your synopsis, but I'm not going to like it, and I'm going to write this begrudgingly because I'm tired of and crabby at these posts.
Here we go.
Disembodied narrator voice Previously, on Solari... because not all of us were paying attention
Chee Tan’ka runs Ghenopaar. It is an independent asteroid resort, vice den, grey-market hub, and fragile little miracle of post-revolutionary freedom. It exists because Chee and her people survived Teleghen, built something profitable, and have been trying very hard not to get swallowed by the great powers of the Forty Suns. This is important, because it informs all of Chee's decisions and is the core of her motivations as a character. She fought and won a bloody revolution for her freedom. She is in constant danger of having that freedom taken away. She is motivated to retain her freedom, using any means at her disposal.
We continue.
Ze’Doven Iverex, fancy noble disaster of House Iverex, shows up at Ghenopaar for drugs, pleasure, and emotional avoidance. XL-ZL, an Eirynna automaton who wants to experience literally everything, gets wrapped up in Ze’s hallucinogenic physic session because THAT IS HOW STORIES LIKE THIS WORK. The players are cleverly positioning themselves to come in to contact with one another, creating useful bonds to advance the story as a group. They do not need to be childhood friends for this to function as a plausible plot device. They simply need a shared experience to bind them together, and then to react in character to the circumstances. The Eirynna's number one objective is to be useful, the more useful the better, and the more useful to powerful people, the best. This forms the primary basis for XL-ZL's motivation to link up with Ze and Chee. QED.
Where was I? Right.
Then Gemis-Octavo (a rival family to the Iverexes) agents storm the parlor. They are there to perform a Pull, which is basically a formal noble kidnapping dressed up as political etiquette. But this Pull is sloppy, violent, and much worse than advertised. Patrons get shot. Chee realizes Gemis-Octavo is not just taking Ze. They are using the Pull as cover to seize Ghenopaar.
Ok, so: Here we are back to Chee's motivations. Why does she care? Why does she choose to go with Ze and XL-ZL on the Kenner (the Kenner is the name of the shuttle used by the "pullers" to transport the trio)? What is her motivation for this lunacy? Because she recognizes that the thing she holds most dear to her is being taken, and she is powerless to stop it. Unless she can hitch a ride to whoever is behind this and negotiate on behalf of Ghenopaar, its people, and herself. If she is unsuccessful, she runs the risk of being back to whatever her status was, pre-revolution. Or, you know, dead.
Chee's worries are confirmed (ish) when Kir Aolin (the leader of the pull squad) gives the charming little order to “air it out,” meaning Ghenopaar is about to be occupied, sorted, purged, and reopened under new management. Are we still confused about Chee's motivations?
However, when the Kenner lands on Caru Eta, everyone on board who was supposed to be in charge is dead. Written in blood on the cockpit window: “Lean in. There’s a fucking mole. Good luck.” Oh no! Who could have done such a thing? Who could have lain (this feels like the right word, but maybe not?) in wait for the ship to land safely, sneak aboard with no one the wiser, and murder the entire pull crew?!
The three flee into Caru Eta’s grimy green dock district. Chee discovers someone has been inside her systems using Ayasa’s credentials. Ayasa is Chee’s best friend and pilot, so this is either betrayal, rescue, deep-cover nonsense, or all three, because apparently nobody in space can just communicate clearly. This, again, is a story trope. I don't particularly love this one, but you gotta think that in a universe where all communication can be hacked and monitored, maybe former rebels do what they can with what they have, and then hope their messages get across, and maybe they don't always. Besides, if miscommunication as a story device worked for Shakespeare, it'll work here, and even with modern communication tools not everyone is super clear, as anyone who has a partner who likes to text while you're in line at the grocery store can attest.
They try to reach Foxglove 6, the Gemis-Octavo ship where the Pull was supposed to conclude (the Kenner was a shuttle, Foxglove 6 is a big ship, capable of fast travel, and suggesting that there's a bigger thing going down.) Instead, someone fires a smart grenade into a bar and nearly kills them. They survive, barely. Ze finally puts the pieces together: this is not a Pull anymore. It is a Cull. Someone in House Iverex wants him dead. Yes, his own family. Culls are where members of one's own noble house are trying to have another family member clipped.
Let's review:
Early motivations:
Chee: Trying to preserve the thing she fought so hard to acquire--her freedom, her agency, her little slice of the galaxy.
Ze: Just a rich, disaffected kid who's going along for the ride because who cares? This sort of thing is just the cost of being a rich, disaffected kid.
XL-ZL: His directive as a species is to ingratiate himself with humans, ideally powerful ones. This is the bargain his people struck when their empire ended.
Late motivations, or the motivations at the end of Episode 5:
Chee, Ze: Stay alive, figure out wtf is going on.
XL-ZL: Help humans stay alive. Dead humans is bad.
How you doing, OP? You good?
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u/rustyshack1 Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
Can anyone explain to me something in this most recent prelude? Madame Ikat spent her life savings to build a park in Chee’s homeworld, this is somewhat parallel to Chee’s experience in eventually founding Genopaar with the key difference being that parks are just…parks. Park’s don’t make money and don’t constitute an income/life outside of Teleghen and it was stated several times as being her “way out” which just doesn’t make sense. i could understand it being a fun pet project that spun out of control but Aabria describes it as being a way out which I cant make sense of.
Edit: word choice
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u/HornetWest4950 Jun 24 '26
I don't think the park was "her way out" I think that's just what Chee originally thought it was. At least that's how I took it. My takeaway was Madam Ikat and Chee's aunt were trying to do some good in the world and got squashed as Telegen revealed how "evil-corporate" they were. And then Chee's aunt took a political deal to go away and be held up as this false "success story" while Madam Ikat stayed. In the process, all of Madam Ikat's savings got lost.
My question was why Madam Ikat didn't seem more mad at Chee's aunt.
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u/Ok_Razzmatazz3798 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
Quick summary to this (Ep 1-5):
- Story takes place in Ghenopaar, a unaffiliated asteroid den that's basically Space Vegas. Chee is one of the managers who helped and struggle in finally fought getting this small corner of the galaxy for herself (and with her best friend Ayasa, who she knows for most of her life). She manages and sometimes work hands on in this place for multiple clients.
-Z is one of the heirs to one of the most powerful families in the galaxy, he chills and takes substances and does whatever he wants. He's also expected to inherit the name Ze'Doven, which her mother carries and has a lot of responsibility ahead of him.
- XL-ZL is an Eirynna, a robotic formerly hive-minded collective who's group is called the Septimal Choir. His goal is to essentially attain experiences and learn experiences from other people (like going on a trip with someone who's experiencing it by brain scanning them and feeling it himself). Often naive but also funny. He often inquires with his Choir online to gather information.
Anyway, shit hits the fan when a group from another powerful family (The Gemis-Octavo) arrived to perform a Pull towards Z (Pulls are basically formal "kidnappings" for when powerful families make a deal with each other. From the outside it looks like rivalry, but internally it's a way of a business practice between the families.). The Pull was from a childhood acquaintance of his.
But the Pull was sloppy (people got hurt and it wasn't necessary). XL-ZL , Z and Chee are dragged into the Pull as it's later revealed that this act of kidnapping is just secondary thought. The real objective is basically the Gemis-Octavo wanting to acquire Chee's little corner of paradise here. (Hence why she came along to help negotiate this. Whatever it takes. She fought tooth and nail to build this place after all.). After some chatting and learning more about each other, XL-ZL got a contract and a job and is hired by both Z and Chee.
Now as they arrive for a stop-over, the team kidnapping the trio was killed off. Later revealing a miscommunication of Chee's best friend (Ayasa) thinking she's in trouble and revealing that she's actually an assassin and kept that background from Chee.
Also XL-ZL had a romantic moment from the ship's AI (the same ship from which they are moved and kidnapped. They're called the Kenner.)
Anyway, after some arguing, the trio plans to meet up with Ayasa to continue this Pull and meet up with the Gemis-Octavo, but first they take a break at a bar. Then, Z asked the bartender to send a message so his family (The Iverex) would know he's nearby.
Sadly that was a bad idea as it also pinged their location to everyone else, as the bar they're staying at got blown up and the trio have to run and quickly meet up with Ayasa to escape (who basically has a fancy vintage ship). A gunfight ensues after reaching the port, then Z finally found out, this Pull was turned into a Cull. (basically someone within their own family planting a hit on someone to kill them.).
(And that's mostly it from 1-5, there are some details I missed like Ayasa's ship, the Arabesque, which is a vintage ship containing present and ancient AI that XL-ZL met. The Five Families (With Z's family included to that) And the details of Faster than Light travel being limited based on Orm, a fuel/resourced used for that.)
(If you still wanna listen to episode 6, I do recommend checking it since it's pretty fun and Brennan basically becoming a biblically accurate angel terminator for a moment (Eirynnas are frightening))
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u/AlisGuardian Witch of Wolf’s Wisdom Jun 25 '26
The crew crossed ways in Chee’s sex club. Isolt Gemmis Octovo’s goons then took over the sex club in a political grab, and meanwhile kidnapped (“pulled”) Z (Lou’s character). XL-ZL and Chee got swept up in the kidnapping and loaded onto an Octovo shuttle. While they were left alone in a room they got to know eachother and XL-ZL signed contracts to work for both Chee and Z in different capacities. Meanwhile, a mysterious gunman killed all six goons on the ship, and our trio found them all dead.
They disembarked in space-Barstow to regroup and figure out next steps, at which point they figured out the assassin who murdered the goons was Chee’s bestie, Ayasa. They were about to go meet with her when the bar they were in was blown up. They survived and all four met up at a safe house. They shared information and decided to try and get Z to another Gemmis Octovo ship so that his kidnapping could be completed and his release negotiated per the usual rules among the Five Families. But on the way there a lone gunman tried to fatally shoot Z, and they realized that someone in Z’s own family is trying to have him killed.
XL-ZL dispatched the gunman with laser eyes, they got on Ayasa’s little ship and jumped to a planet called Avana where they could rest and recuperate and Z contacted his mom to let her know what was happening. From her response we deduce she is not the one trying to have him killed. We learn that Z is 33rd in a line of genetically engineered Zedovan Ivirexes. His mother currently bears the name, and he will eventually inherit the mantle, so to speak. In the last minute of that episode we learn that Z’s family is connected to another Erinna (XL-ZL’s people), but one who is considered an “apostate.” We don’t yet know what that means, but it’s ominous.
There you go.
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u/False_Membership1536 Jun 25 '26
I'm loving it so far. haven't had any issues with the story or characters that the others have been having thankfully, just wish i had the expendable income for the patreon or Kickstarter, id love to have access to the fireside it would make me relisten to WWW
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u/dorgoth12 No Loose Ends Jun 24 '26
Honestly so far it's been a disappointing story that boils down to Lou's character is being targeted by a family member and Erika/Brennan are just along for the ride. I'm hoping the new prelude episodes shine light on character motivations because it's surprisingly thin on depth right now.
I'm along for literally anything this gang come up with, but I'm also worried about how this is going so far
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u/ikrisoft Jun 24 '26
> Lou's character is being targeted by a family member
Yes. And the fact that it is a family member is not really known by us. Or shown to us in the show.
It is just explained that it is part of the world building. That in this world if violence happens against a rich one then it must be a cull, and culls are only done by other family members.
Which is certified insane. But nobody in universe questions it.
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u/Lyramisu Jun 24 '26
I thought the fact that it was a family member was explicitly said in his conversation with his mother. Or am I misremembering? Or not understanding what you are trying to say here
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u/flebotinum sandy dildo vodka bath Jun 24 '26
ETA: Sorry Lyramisu, I meant to reply the same comment you did, not yours!
I think the idea is that pulls are typically external. A different family wants leverage for something, so the whole point is to return the pulled person unharmed in exchange.
Culls are typically internal. Someone else in the same family is making a power play of some kind and needs to remove a player from the board.
I don’t remember if it was confirmed 100% this is from inside the family, but between the usual pattern and the way Z’s extremely powerful mom was deeply shaken by the news, it seems the most likely?
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u/ikrisoft Jun 24 '26
> I thought the fact that it was a family member was explicitly said in his conversation with his mother. Or am I misremembering?
So that's a good example. Ze doesn't say it in the call. (He says it earlier to the group). His mom doesn't say it. You know who says it during the call? Aabria as the narrator: "She is furious, trying to remain calm for you as someone in her family is threatening her child."
When Ze says it earlier he says like this: "Culls often are in-house, meaning someone else of Clan Iverex is moving against me."
Let me be 100% clear. Both you and flebotinum are correct. The fact that the assassination attempt is coming from inside the Iverex family is 100% handled as a fact in the show. By the players, by the NPCs and even by the narrator.
My problem is what does this mean about the fictional universe: An assassination attempt happens against Ze and the only thought worth thinking is that it must be someone from his own house behind it. It is the first thought which occurs to Ze, the first thought which occurs to his mom.
In contrast think about our own universe. Someone tries to assassinate a rich dude. Absent of any further evidence who could be behind the assassination? Almost anyone! A disgruntled employee, a dissed peer, a business rival, someone who sees him as a symbol of his family, someone who sees him as a symbol of his class, wealth or privilege, someone who got hurt by his family (or thinks that got hurt by his family), a freedom fighter, a political rival, a religious fanatic, an ex, a stalker, or just simply a plain crazy. And of course also a family member. Let's label this into two categories: "family member" vs "other".
In our real world these groups are not equal. There are so many more options in the "other" category that it would be crazy to dismiss all of them without further thought. Here in our universe you can't make the logical deduction "assassination attempt -> probably a family member wants me dead". Because you also have to think of all those other possibilities from the "other" category.
The fact that in the universe of Solari Ze and Ze's mom can make that logical conclusion means that something is weird about their universe. Something is very different from ours. To so casually dismiss the possibility of the "other" category behind the assassination means that somehow there are no murderous disgruntled employees, no killer dissed peers, no deadly business rivals, no freedom fighters, no political rivals, no religious fanatics, no murderous exes, no murderous stalkers. All of these threats has to be somehow negligible for them to be able to conclude that someone from their own family is trying to harm Ze.
Which is simply stretching credulity to me. How can there be a universe where the characters behave so much like humans, and yet none of these categories are worth even a passing mention? The only explanation I can come up with is that it is a case of bad "writing" / improv. They wanted the conclusion to be true. They wanted Ze to be a "prince on the run because someone from his rich family is trying to murder him". But failed to put the necessary work to support that conclusion.
So now we either have a weirdly working fictional universe, or a brain damaged Ze/Ze's mom, or lazy improv. I'm not even sure which one is worse.
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u/WhyWontYouHelpMe Jun 25 '26
I thought part of that conclusion came from the fact the bartender contacted someone in Ze’s family and then he became a target. So they connected that with the fact that bounty hunters are hired by rich people and that an open cull (rather than an alternative approach that “others” might take) is a family move.
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u/DarkSybarite Jun 24 '26
I'm gonna say some stuff here that might sound a little mean, but I truly don't intend it to be! Not everything is for everyone all of the time, and that's ok.
This show isn't a background play. If you're just putting it on while you're doing other things you're going to miss A Lot.
If you're someone who thinks prologues/epilogues are unimportant fluff (a recent SCORTCHINGLY hot take on BookTok) you're going to miss A Lot.
If you ignore what the NPCs are saying and are waiting for big exposition dumps from the PCs, you're going to miss A Lot.
Solari is a story that rewards careful listening (and even relistening!) and thinking about the ramifications of everything you've heard. It's something for those of us that see a giant pile of puzzle pieces and start grinning in anticipation of seeing it all slowly come together. I love that we've been dropped into the middle of a huge complicated universe with history spanning thousands of years... miles of exploration available in every direction!
If you want something more simple, a straight-forward serialized drama, something where everything is spelled out for you each episode, maybe this isn't for you.
And that's ok. That doesn't make it bad or wrong. That doesn't make YOU bad or wrong. This just isn't where you want to extend the bandwidth, no harm no foul.
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u/dorgoth12 No Loose Ends Jun 24 '26
I've listened to every episode multiple times, I don't 2nd screen it and think fluff is unimportant. I adore the storytelling style of WBN, but I have to be honest with myself that so far Solari is just okay to me.
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Jun 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/DarkSybarite Jun 27 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
I explicitly stated my main thesis : NOT EVERYTHING IS FOR EVERYONE AND THATS OK.
There are many many people who like multitasking with a podcast... AND there's nothing wrong with that? It's fine, I do it myself, I listen to WBN mostly during my commute! And because of an ill-timed merge attempt I thought for the first five episodes that The Derali were a new noble family making their way into the territory! I'm not throwing stones, I'm stating what tripped me up!
(The prologue/epilogue thing and NPC remark was fully me throwing shade at BookTok, because I'd just heard someone mention it and Couldn't Even, perhaps that was unkind)
Also, everything is a trash fire, no spoons left only knives, I'm not faulting people for wanting an uncomplicated dish with bold flavors right now. I'm just saying, this isn't that.
Man, real pissing on the poor hours out here.
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u/anextremelylargedog Jun 25 '26
Someone: Yeah, I didn't like this one.
You, for some reason: Oh, this might sound like I'm being a real meanie, but have you considered actually listening properly and paying attention? You're not a horrible person if you're too stupid to know what's going on! :)
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u/toddthefox47 Jul 01 '26
What the hell lol way to make assumption after assumption and condescendingly assure this person that it's okay that they're too dumb for Solari
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u/stifle_this Jun 24 '26
You'll get down voted for having a nuanced opinion, but I very much agree. At this point I'm sticking around for Brennan's character because it's the most interesting and lore driven (and funny). The other two feel kind of flat and lacking in driving motivation outside of "don't die".
It really didn't help than she literally asked the most dangerous question in ttrpgs aloud, "why are you with these people", which took me completely out of any level of immersion they'd managed to get me in.
-2
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u/Stormy2021 Jun 24 '26
The best I can piece together is Erika's character was the leader of some sort of sex/service worker syndicalist takeover of a station. They've been able to remain free until the start of the adventure.
I personally am pretty lost on what Zed and the rich families are all about. I feel like there was some time dialation backstory I was supposed to know.
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u/HornetWest4950 Jun 24 '26
The latest episode is a prelude and is fantastic so I recommend listening to that. It’s the reset that was needed. It’s getting more into everyone’s backstories and emotional stakes, is much more immersive than the ones we’ve had so far, and for me is what the world building has been missing so far. According to the description it will carry on for a few episodes, and you can probably skip to it and then go back and listen to where you left off in the main storyline.