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Can we ever escape our narrative expectations? Can a hero’s defeat ever feel satisfying? This chapter foreshadows an eight-season / seven-book arc for Arya Stark that cannot come to pass. We are forced to challenge our conception of heroes and unshakeable desire for happy endings. At the same time, this story’s central binary of life and death is transgressed and complicated half a dozen times. All of our big ideas and theories just got thrown into the blender. Let’s see what the smoothie tastes like!
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Cam and Tristan go deep on one of the greatest love stories and television miniseries of our time, Normal People. Topics include: narrative two-handers, literary depth, onscreen masculinity, epic structure, viewing habits, the language of color, and the uncertain prospect of a sequel.
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The king is dead, long live the king. Joffrey’s ascension surprises us by eerily mirroring Jon Snow’s induction into the Night’s Watch. Maggie tracks some color theory to reveal the power dynamics of the throne room coup. We stop to consider Ned Stark and all of his various principles, shortcomings, and tragedies. When does he lose? Why does he lose? And more importantly, why do the Lannisters allow him to survive past this pivotal chapter?
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The Venom movies are not good or bad, they are fun -- and that's something worth celebrating / discussing. Topics include: Tom Hardy's indelible chemistry with Tom Hardy, comic book pacing, Woody Harrelson's commitment, the ongoing misuse of Reid Scott, and Eddie / Venom shippers. Oh and somewhere in there we take a look at Venom: The Last Dance, which is very not good.
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Oh look, even more evidence that Jon is the Prince That Was Promised. Maggie’s got a blockbuster theory that unites all of our outstanding prophecies around Jon Snow in an avalanche of fire and blood imagery. Cam examines this chapter as a complex restaging of the Prologue that elevates the series’ preoccupation with death to new heights.
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The apt comparison when discussing the first expansion of Diablo IV has to be the first expansion for Diablo III, and let's just say this -- Vessel of Hatred is no Reaper of Souls. In this episode, we'll break down this comparison in terms of aesthetic and plot before diving into the new class offered by each expansion. We also discuss some unfortunate technical bugs, the game's sudden hostility to couch co-op, and the more general state of the game in October 2024. Finally, we close with a meditation on the 'fun factor' of this disappointing release, and consider the future of Diablo IV.
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00:00 Introduction / Outline
01:20 The Shadow of Reaper of Souls
02:42 Aesthetic (VOH / ROS)
10:21 Plots (VOH / ROS)
17:36 New Class (VOH / ROS)
25:03 Theory: Choice Paralysis
30:43 Is Spiritborn a New Experience?
35:42 Updated Class Ranking
37:17 Technical Bugs
42:38 State of the Game
46:34 Fun Factor / Closing Thoughts
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Happy Halloween! This chapter is a ghost story. Cam analyzes the death of King Robert in concert with Viserys Targaryen’s death in the last chapter. What sets apart these two failed conquerors who died without an heir? We build to a broader discussion of what defines a character in this series – their memorable deaths or their fateful decisions? Maggie deepens the analysis with a discussion on Ned’s haunted dreams and the many ‘promises’ weighing him down. We close with the next phase of our ‘Prince That Was Promised’ theory crafting.
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Cam revisits one of his very favorite works of science fiction, Halo: Combat Evolved, only to find that the game has changed. This is a conversation about rose-tinted nostalgia, art direction, the heresy of video game remasters, and the enduring magic of Master Chief.
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The fifth Targaryen checkpoint is a cornucopia of prophetic symbolism. The Macbeth allusions of the Winterfell era cross-pollinate into Dany’s story. The seeds are planted for a golden Lannister coup. More than one fateful prince is introduced. None of these things are what they seem – and if you ask Cam, somehow all of it is about Dune.
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This is cause for celebration: indie darling Art the Clown has the #1 movie in America, with an unrated, unhinged, and unbelievably great Christmas slasher. After our first impressions, we break down the franchise thesis statement that is the movie’s opening scene, Art’s ever evolving slapstick physical comedy, the overwhelming heart and humanity of this story, and all the wry, innovative nods to classic horror along the way. Cam takes a moment to discuss the fact that Art is officially a demon and do some Faustus analysis. We close by looking ahead to the future of the franchise and theorizing about conspicuously absent characters, suspicious deaths, and Art’s endgame.
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If Ned Stark is playing checkers, this chapter finally shows us who’s been beating him at chess. Cersei Lannister arrives on the scene, but she’s not quite the character we grew to love on HBO. By trying to read this character introduction with fresh eyes, we see her in a whole new light, like a lost Targaryen conqueror falling from the pages of Fire & Blood. Cam revisits the ghost of Ned Stark and the grey soup of immorality he drowned in. Maggie completes her seen & unseen analysis as the omens of good and ill rage in the sky. Also, someone in the book finally looks at the camera and says the title.
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French puppet vampires – if that's not enough to sell you on a horror movie, then I don't know what is! The Vourdalak is equally unnerving and delightful, and this discussion covers our first impressions of the film, the kaleidoscope of influences that it seems to pull from (Sleepy Hollow, Barry Lyndon, The VVitch, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and a deep dive into the miraculous puppetry / creature design.
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Ned’s pseudo-afterlife continues to unsettle us. George R. R. Martin seems to overlap Ned’s virtuous right-and-wrong morality system with Sansa’s (understandably) naïve moral binaries. Is this comparison a rebuke of the doomed Ned Stark or a validation of his idealism? In this episode, we’re teasing out hypotheticals, parsing moral frameworks, examining distillation echoes, and working together to lift the veil of metaphor and objectively interpret dreams.
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The Substance is an incredible surprise, a thrilling, ruthless, unflinching body horror satire that gave us the best theatrical experience of 2024. We start things off with a spoiler-free reflection / recommendation before diving into the grotesque smoothie of influences that shape this story. These include: The Picture of Dorian Gray, Cinderella, Black Swan, Tusk, Frankenstein, and -- most notably -- Cam's beloved Doctor Faustus. After that, we dissect all the delightful, inverted Kubrick echoes, from The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut, and a full-scale mirror image of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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Bittersweet doesn’t even begin to describe this brief moment of seeing Ned Stark on the Iron Throne. Maggie tracks the omens and bloody motifs nipping at Ned’s heels, while Cam tries to understand Ned’s principled defiance as a singular act of sacrificial heroism comparable to the finale of The Witcher series, and the Pilgrim’s ascension to Heaven in Dante’s Divine Comedy.
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What is Star Wars? This question lies at the heart of our discussion, and we think at the heart of every Star Wars project in any medium. Cam has a novel (and possible stupid) new answer to this question, and this episode tracks the cascade of epiphanies about the Star Wars franchise that were sparked by his recent playthrough of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. We’re talking about identity crises and some light color theory, and westerns and space fantasy, but more importantly, there’s a character in the game named Turgle who kinda looks like Maggie. Look it up.
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The friendship between Tyrion and Bronn is a fan favorite. In this episode we explore the roots of this relationship: Cam points to the transactional nature of every plot point in this chapter, exposing the bitter corruption and self-interest that plagues Westeros (and especially Bronn and Tyrion); while Maggie returns to her “court fool” theory from a few chapters back, arguing that Tyrion may not be the only fool in this story. Tolkien and Sapkowski come into the mix here, as do shadowcats, the problem of evil, and curious choices of meat.
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Get bonus episodes on Patreon! Final Fantasy XVI gave us something that we've been missing from modern fantasy -- sweeping, romantic, breathtaking heroism. In this episode, we start by introducing the Final Fantasy series and our history with fantasy games before drilling down on the elusive, magical parts of this world that really spoke to us. Topics include: a la carte storytelling, heroic scale, aspirational heroism, role playing, flow states, difficulty modifiers, and our evolving relationship with the fantasy genre.
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After just five chapters, Jon Snow has left a profound impression on us. His story is told differently than any other POV character, and in this episode we make the case that GRRM's sporadic, snapshot rendering of Jon gives him a heroic theatricality. Cam revisits the previous Jon chapters to analyze the character's escalating, revolving door of roles and companions. Is Jon meant to be a character we can believe in, or just another cautionary tale? Maggie elevates the discussion with some pointed Tolkien echoes and we work together to make sense of the relationship between Jon and Ghost as veiled hunters.
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Get bonus episodes on Patreon! Diablo IV is officially great. Last season overhauled the core systems and solidified the game's fun factor, but this season makes some equally vital investments in endgame content and class balancing. Barbarian is finally good! The art direction continues to be top tier! Gold finally matters! Discussion segments include: state of the game, campaign impressions, class update, wrap-up questions, and a reflective, bittersweet post-mortem of Destiny 2.
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![A Game of Thrones, Vol. 51 [Arya IV]](https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts115/v4/f9/d4/7e/f9d47e62-11be-9942-589c-e9e876c49099/mza_1087618135879670063.jpg/80x80bb.jpg)