For a main topic, your hosts fire off the Spoiler Horn to talk about "Game of Thrones."

John is coming in hot this week, and Merlin is kind of struggling to keep up with him. Merlin tries to compensate by making up some lyrics, and John explains canary traps. Merlin forgets things.

John intērrogates the virality of podcast mispronunciations, and before long, the listener is subjected to a blinding fusillade of quips, japes, references, bits, and metacommentary that you will be forgiven for finding exhausting. John incepts Merlin, and Merlin regrets doubling-up on his 100-year words.

Merlin catches John up on his cat's costly health issues, and John has a nested solution for dealing with feline proprioception issues.

Then, they almost talk about the Japanese Moving Video, but they don't actually talk about it, so John says it still can't be in the show notes.

Apparently, people are drinking bleach, and Merlin's mouse starts to die.

In particular, they consider fan reactions to the final episode (including their own), but also want to explore why those reactions were so strong. Also, what is a rational response when a bit of media that you love breaks the rules that made you love it in the first place?

(Recorded on Tuesday, May 21, 2019.)

It's not just bad storytelling—it’s because the storytelling style changed from sociological to psychological