Hank the Cowdog podcast episode 4 review: Lost in the Dark Unchanted Forest

The Hank the Cowdog podcast, a joint venture between QCODE and HTC, stars a variety of Hollywood talent in an adaptation of John Erickson’s children’s novel Lost in the Dark Unchanted Forest. 

Hank, as always, is voiced by Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club, Tropic Thunder, We Are Marshall), while Drover is voiced by Jesse Plemons (Battleship, Fargo, Friday Night Lights), with Plemons’ real-life wife Kirsten Dunst (Bring It On, Spider-Man, Wimbledon) as their less-than-enthusiastic human owner Sally May.

The first episode mainly set up life on the ranch and the daily expectations and routines, while bringing in a wrinkle with a new human baby. Hank’s boy, Little Alfred, who’s around three, isn’t a fan of having a little sister, so he runs away into the woods in the second episode.

Hank, being a good boy at heart even if he is inept and prideful and vain, goes into the woods to rescue Little Alfred in the third episode, where promptly gets lost and meets a friend in the owl Madame Moonshine, who speaks in a refined British accent.

Hank the Cowdog podcast episode 4 continues the storyline well.

Storyline

Hank the Cowdog podcast episode 4 begins with Rip and Snort the coyotes (brothers of Hank’s sometimes-girlfriend Missy) cornering Hank and Madame Moonshine in the middle of a tree.

Thanks to some quick thinking and improvising, Madame Moonshine’s magic (plus some rain) confuses the Australian-accented Rip and Snort (both Joel Edgerton) enough to get away.

In fact, her spell makes the coyotes hungry for cat (as in Sinister the bobcat) before settling down for a nap, but the troubles don’t end there…

Wallace and Junior the father and son buzzard pair, in addition to Sinister, have all found Little Alfred near the creek, and Wallace narrowly survives being eaten by Sinister before Madame Moonshine convinces Hank that he’s brave enough to handle this new, unforseen crisis as the episode comes to a close.

As always, this episode of the Hank the Cowdog podcast was sponsored by H-E-B grocery stores and Purple mattresses, and it was written and directed by Jeff Nichols.