The H&H Podcast

Rob Henderson joins me to discuss the Apple TV+ miniseries Black Bird, which is based on the true story of a convicted drug dealer named Jimmy Keene and how he was enlisted by the FBI to befriend and elicit a confession from alleged serial killer Larry Hall.

We talk about its portrayal of prison politics, or lack thereof, and how believable we find the characters and how they interact with one another. We discuss PC and aesthetic casting changes, in which they made one real life white prosecutor black, invented an attractive female FBI agent, and took a fat white sheriff and made him skinny. Rob and I are grateful for these last two changes at least.

The show ends with us talking about the merits of different streaming services, including the difference between Netflix and Apple TV+, and the prospects of DailyWire+ succeeding in this space.

Links:

CNN documentary.

Bill Burr talking about the Larry Hall story in 2016 while providing running commentary to a Dateline episode.

Listen here or watch on YouTube.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.richardhanania.com/subscribe

I talk to Chris Nicholson about the second-to-last episode of Better Call Saul. Much of our conversation centers around the way the show portrays “normies.” Chris thinks that the vision presented is most likely a negative one, while I argue that the show has a rare conservative realism that recognizes actual distinctions between individuals and groups. This involves a discussion regarding how criminals and upper class professionals are portrayed by way of contrast. Chris is happy that Better Call Saul still manages to pleasantly surprise us, as he sees a shift from its generally pessimistic outlook of human nature towards at least one redemptive story arc.

The normie question leads to some interesting places, including philosophical disagreements we have regarding what most people should or can be expected to be capable of, and a debate over Chris’ IQ, with him taking the perspective that it is low and me disagreeing.

For previous conversations on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, see

The Breaking Bad Universe

Better Call Saul: S6E7, Plan and Execution

Better Call Saul: S6E8, Point and Shoot

Better Call Saul: S6E9, Fun and Games

Nietzschean or Christian? Marc Andreessen on Breaking Bad and Saul

Better Call Saul: S6E10, Nippy

Better Call Saul: S6E11, Breaking Bad

Listen or watch the video here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.richardhanania.com/subscribe

I talk to Chris Nicholson about Better Call Saul: S6E11, Breaking Bad. We discuss the role of nostalgia in art, and I bring up a recent Freddie deBoer essay on the topic. While in the past we disagreed on where Saul was going, this week we find ourselves mostly in agreement on this question but differing in our judgments of the artistic merits of what the producers are doing.

Unfortunately, there is no video this week, but you can still listen on YouTube.

For previous conversations on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, see

The Breaking Bad Universe

Better Call Saul: S6E7, Plan and Execution

Better Call Saul: S6E8, Point and Shoot

Better Call Saul: S6E9, Fun and Games

Nietzschean or Christian? Marc Andreessen on Breaking Bad and Saul

Better Call Saul: S6E10, Nippy

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.richardhanania.com/subscribe

I discuss Better Call Saul: S6E10, Nippy, with Chris Nicholson. We remain almost as puzzled as we were last week about where the series is going, and lay out three possible paths for the final three episodes: tying up loose ends, a brand new story arch, or artsy experimentation.

For previous conversations on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, see

The Breaking Bad Universe

Better Call Saul: S6E7, Plan and Execution

Better Call Saul: S6E8, Point and Shoot

Better Call Saul: S6E9, Fun and Games

Nietzschean or Christian? Marc Andreessen on Breaking Bad and Saul

Listen or watch the video here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.richardhanania.com/subscribe

I talk to Marc Andreessen about the Breaking Bad universe. Marc explains why he thinks Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul have Nietzschean themes – or they at least give us the Nietzschean story we’re allowed to have – while I tend more towards the idea that these are Christian morality tales.

Other topics discussed include what makes individuals likable or not, why we would watch a Gus Fring origin story, and the relative absence of sex as a motivating force among the men in the show.

For previous conversations on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, see

The Breaking Bad Universe

Better Call Saul: S6E7, Plan and Execution

Better Call Saul: S6E8, Point and Shoot

Better Call Saul: S6E9, Fun and Games

For articles alluded to in the conversation, see

Ann Coulter, “Breaking Bad’: A Christian Parable.”

Ross Douthat, “The Hero of ‘Breaking Bad.’”

You can listen here or watch the video on YouTube.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.richardhanania.com/subscribe

Chris Nicholson joins me to discuss the latest episode of Better Call Saul, Fun and Games. Where do the last four episodes go, given the limited number of loose ends that remain? We discuss the ways in which the Breaking Bad universe does a good job of showing “men being really into stuff,” and how we got the homosexual version of that here. Chris and I are on the same page in being confounded regarding where the show plans to go in the final few episodes, which is where we want to be as viewers.

For previous discussions on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, see

The Breaking Bad Universe

Better Call Saul: S6E7, Plan and Execution

Better Call Saul: S6E8, Point and Shoot

Watch the video here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.richardhanania.com/subscribe

I talked to Rob Henderson about Season 1 of Yellowjackets, episodes 7-10. See our discussion about previous episodes here. We begin by talking about Rob catching covid, the brain fog he is experiencing, and how our Twitter followers feel about our vaccination status.

We then move on to the show itself, and our conversation touches on how it navigates the line between natural and supernatural, character development, the time the girls spend in the woods as an anthropological study, representations of male and female nature, and where we think the show goes from here.

Rob and I both give the show our highest recommendation. Watch it if you haven’t!

You can listen to our conversation here, or watch on YouTube.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.richardhanania.com/subscribe

Chris Nicholson joins me to talk about Better Call Saul, Season 6: Episode 8, which is called Point and Shoot. We speculate on where the series will go in the last five episodes and discuss whether we would like to see yet another spinoff. Listen or watch the video here. As always, please leave any comments you have on the Substack page, not YouTube.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.richardhanania.com/subscribe

I spoke to Rob Henderson about Yellowjackets, Season 1, Episodes 1-6. We’ll release a discussion of Episodes 7-10 in the coming weeks (UPDATE: see here). Usually we do an entire season of a show at once, but this time we thought it would be better to split things up. Those of you who haven’t watched the show but want to follow along can therefore go back, watch the first 6 episodes, listen to this conversation, and then come back and be caught up to the end of Season 1 when we release our next discussion.

As it turns out, like most men, Rob and I rarely watch shows centered around a female cast. The only two I can remember watching are Sex and the City and Girls. A story with a mostly female cast can for me be interesting anthropologically, as those two shows were, but is also usually not very relatable. Having what could be a male story with a female cast most of the time doesn’t work, and I note to Rob the problem here with trying to have a female character represent a male archetype. Still, I’ve found Yellowjackets compelling thus far for the reasons discussed.

I explain to Rob how I generally don’t like art that cuts back and forth between different periods of time and puts them on an equal plane. Human experience flows chronologically, memories are fragmented and faint, and the future is uncertain. Flashbacks or glimpses into what is going to happen years later should be a small part of any show at most. Moreover, this show in particular would be much better if it simply stuck with the aftermath of the 1996 crash and ignored the more boring 2021 storyline.

Near the end, we get into reasons for thinking that we are past the peak of wokeness in TV and movies. In that context, we discuss Better Call Saul, The Northman, Midway, The Summer I Turned Pretty, Top Gun, White Lotus, and the Sonic the Hedgehog movies.

You can watch the video of our conversation below.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.richardhanania.com/subscribe

Richard Hanania and Rob Henderson discuss The Northman (2022). They both greatly enjoyed the film and debate the correct interpretation of its main conflict. Richard talks about how the movie can be seen as a feminist allegory. Near the end of the conversation, Richard and Rob speculate on what the movie’s lack of box office success can tell us about why remakes of popular franchises have conquered Hollywood. Watch the video and leave comments here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.richardhanania.com/subscribe