Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

What do you get when a philosopher, an art historian, and a Greek mythology expert watch Emerald Fennell's new movie Saltburn? Three radically different but equally passionate experiences. In this episode, we work together to unpack the magic and mystery of this fantastic film. Topics include: the sexual subconscious, the reversal of the Greek hero, the Minotaur in the labyrinth, staggering visual symbolism, and a kaleidoscope of Shakespeare and Marlowe.

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Who wants to talk about death?? George sure does. Luckily, we are both sickos who just spent a year and a half talking about evil, so this chapter is actually sort of breezy. We've got corpses and executions, and a masterfully constructed, intricate tableaux of dead animals that contains prophecies, secrets, and revelations about the Stark family's tragic and complex future. We close with a discussion on Martin's style and unique approach to intimate 3rd-person perspective, especially in comparison to Tolkien and Sapkowski.

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We're tackling another heavyweight horror classic today. Cam's got a freewheeling theory that starts with Faustus and runs through Jane Austen, Thomas Hobbes, Nietzsche, The Exorcist, and The Dark Knight Returns. We believe that this is a story about the problem of evil, about the endless traumatic tension between the state of nature and the social contract. It's an enthusiastic discussion of philosophy, paradoxes, parenthood, and the slight of hand magic required to stage a stuffy comedy of manners with the Antichrist sitting in the corner the whole time.

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The day is finally here: our third adventure in long-form literary analysis has begun. The prologue of A Game of Thrones gives you everything you need to fall in love with Westeros: George R. R. Martin's immediate interest and unmatched skill for worldbuilding, conversational characterization, and a fearless, brutal, relatable preoccupation with death. His characters are afraid, his dramatic stakes are sky high, and we can't look away. Winter is here.

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This is a preview of our latest Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. In this clip, we discuss 1989 (Taylor's Version). To hear the rest of the episode, subscribe to our Patreon here!

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3,191 pages later, we've reached the end of our time with The Witcher. In this series-wide retrospective, we look back at our favorite and wildest running theories, from the problem of evil to the shadow of Yennefer, to the definition of "monster", femme fatales, butterfly effects, Sapkowski the investigative journalist, structural curveballs, Shakespeare, Tolkien – it's been two wonderful years of ideas and discussions. We also do little wind-sprint recaps of all eight books, and choose a word to characterize each one. Stay tuned until the very end for our grand official announcement of our next fantasy project, which premiers next Friday.

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Remember that feeling you got the first time you watched Dead Poets Society? What about the first time you watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Now imagine having both of those experiences at the same time. The Holdovers rides an impossibly fine line, to become the most honest and moving comedy drama of the year. In this discussion we're taking a closer look at the style of humor that makes this film so special, and the immaculate sense of setting that it creates.

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Discussion of Season of Storms, Ch. 16-Epilogue

The final Witcher book goes out with a bang – and by bang, we mean avalanche of echoes, questions, and titanic ideas. Is Season of Storms as a whole an epilogue to the series? Is destiny a metaphysical conspiracy or a matter of individual human nature? Why is Sapkowski dropping loads of early Tolkien references? And most importantly, what does that epilogue really mean? Dreams, illusions, resurrections, legends – we cover all this and more in this beefcake finale.

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Discussion of Season of Storms, Ch. 9-15

We've followed the witcher through short stories and novels, but this final book in the series really feels more like a play. In this middle section of Season of Storms, we're overwhelmed by echoes that double as callbacks and new moments of insight into Geralt's character. Sapkowski gives us the new final form of his femme fatale, and swaps his journalist press badge for a degree in comp lit. Mountains of subtext, sexual tension, and scheming wizards await.

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Sofia Coppola's Priscilla is a period piece biopic. David Fincher's The Killer is a stylish revenge thriller. But if you look under the hood, these films are playing with exactly the same uncomfortable idea: the shockingly dystopian and dispossessed state of modern America.

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Feedback & Theories: [email protected]