I think that is one of the show’s strongest underlying themes. Yes, the Machiavellian machinations are so good to watch. But the thesis that runs throughout is that a shocking number of “Kingmakers” are really emperors with no clothes. Tom is a vapid bag of nothing. Kendall fails so many times it hurts. Shiv’s naivete…

Roman broke my heart. He’s been the abused child caught in that cycle for his whole life. His father mistreats him, and it makes him want to work all that harder to get into his good graces, only for him to be abused again. This felt like one final instance of Roman being locked in that cycle, where he could not stop…

I’m not sure Connor is capable of genuine love. Willa for her part was pretty consciously not saying love in response to Connor’s question. She acknowledged that there was safety and security in the money, and that she was happy. The specific lack of love was supposed to hang there like a cloud. 

I also find Connor very icky. All of the siblings are out of touch. They all use people and stab people in the back to get into their father’s good graces. But the way Connor uses people, particularly Willa, is so exploitative. And Connor has a level of self-centeredness that I’m not sure is matched in the other kids.…

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought the featurettes after The Last of Us were sort of vapid. They definitely didn’t add much. I was expecting more insight, like Mazin and his team did on Chernobyl. But that definitely didn’t happen for The Last of Us. I like the way you put it: it was a lot of patting themselves…

I’m not sure I would say that ASP is bored with the world of Mrs. Maisel, but she sure as shit is easily distracted. I’ve watched the first three episodes of this season, and one of the reasons why it’s pretty mediocre so far is that we’re spending SO much time with secondary characters who were quirky in season 1,…

I’ve always thought Mrs. Maisel was a good example of a longer-form TV writing team struggling with the transition to streaming. A TV show like Gilmore Girls had a familiar pace for TV writers—22 episodes spread throughout 3 seasons. I always felt like ASP and the rest of the team really struggled with how to pace a…

I had the same thought. I could think of a couple of Antiochs off the top of my head. I did not even know there was one in California. But I knew of the ones in Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan. I assume there are more. A simple “CA” in the lede after Antioch would have solved the problem.

This. Let’s be clear eyed about the situation many of these girls are in. Their options are not, shall we say, plentiful. My grandmother married at 17, and it wasn’t like she had much of a choice. She had left school after eighth grade to take care of her siblings after her mother died. He father wasn’t worth much and…

That’s true. Not everything can or should be salvaged. Apparently the old art deco theater that I mentioned in my comments on part 1 of this series would require a massive investment. The news articles all said the building was in good shape, but a friend of a friend told me other day that the building’s whole HVAC…

EDDIE FOURNIER! I was so hoping there would be discussion of Eddie Fournier. I mean, Stephen Root is a gay vampire. And he makes it strangely affecting. Eddie crops up a couple of times in flashbacks or dreams later on in the series, and every time it’s a treat. 

I’ve always thought this was the way forward for small indie theaters. I used to teach at a big state school in a very rural area. Basically, whenever the students return, the town doubles in size. And in the middle of the downtown area, just south of campus, is a shuttered old theater. It has amazing art deco style…

There is an indie theater in my city that works like this, and I think it’s how it manages to survive. (It’s also pretty good proof of concept that this can work even without a celebrity backer). The people at my local theater work hard to carve out this niche. They’ll have 1 or 2 first-run movies playing on the big…

Same here. Shopping at Walmart is one of the most singularly unpleasant experiences one can have, in my experience (and Target isn’t much better, honestly). I haven’t been inside a Walmart since covid, and I have only done in-store pickup from Target. It’s blissful. 

Yep. I think a lot of people are the omnishoppers that the article mentions. I know I am. 

Both of the grocery stores that I regularly do curbside pickup from undertook pretty large-scale renovations in 2020 or 2021 to accommodate the new curbside model. One completely blocked off their secondary entrance, which was into the pharmacy section of the store. They walled off that area and installed refrigerators…

This is why I’m the omnishopper mentioned above. I’ll do curbside for the dry goods and boxed stuff, but I’ll get to the store 20 minutes before my pickup window to shop inside for my produce and meats. I figure that’s a good trade off. I shop for two weeks’ worth of groceries at a time, a practice borne of the…

FUCK YOU FOR THIS. DAMN YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL.

If you’re hiring into a remote job, my best advice at this point is to get it in writing that your job is 100% remote, or 50% remote, or whatever the expectation is. Most of my friends who have gone remote haven’t been asked to change back to in-person (and they’re working for companies with fully distributed work…

My mother, a devout Catholic, and I, a lapsed Catholic/atheist, have gone a few rounds about Mother Teresa. My mom will hear none of it. To her, Mother Teresa is a saint who helped people—that’s how fully mythologized Mother Teresa has been by the Church and Catholic media (and even mainstream media). You can talk to…