Would church be better off with no technology? Could Leah be a powerful dictator? Would people return to traditional authoritarian styles of leadership when the grid goes down? WE ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS AND MORE DEFINITIVELY. Charismatic versus inherited authority in the church. The worship leaders versus the pastor. Weberian analysis of the book of Judges.

We watch some episodes from the Jordan-Peele-hosted revival of The Twilight Zone and talk about the old series and the horror of being trapped. We ruminate on creepy doll horror like Talky Tina. Brian tries out the second joke from his stand-up routine. Leah tells the legend of the china doll.

SPECIAL EPISODE: This week we take you on location to the McMinnville UFO festival to watch the premier of the new documentary about Roswell whistleblower Bob Lazar. We talk about belief, how UFO communities are like churches, and the extent to which each of us believes and/or wants to believe. We meet in a dark back alley within the convention hall like Mulder and Scully, and end the day in a less-than-inspiring food tent.

What happens when a movie series becomes not just your favorite or your religion, but literally forms the basis for all of your thinking and imagination and everything for your ENTIRE LIFE! Such is the power of the Star Wars franchise. This week, we dive into the murky depths of Star Wars fandom through the documentary The People Vs. George Lucas to think about authorial intent, the biblical canon, who owns our imaginations, and what it means to truly love fictional characters.

Let’s talk about one of the most popular shows on Netflix: Stranger Things. Monsters, the 1980s, neon clothes, loaded memories of teenage drama, and a time when malls ruled supreme over the lives of adolescents. We talk about the Cold War and the child abduction fear craze in the 1980s and wonder: Why are we looking back on this era with fondness, exactly? Does Stranger Things re-enchant our secular world?

This week we sneakily keep the sci-fi theme going with a topic involving science and fiction: the embattled Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and her attempt to create—or rather, fake having created—a futuristic blood-testing system. We end up having a gender smackdown conversation about women-on-women violence in the workplace, discussing ancient female fertility figurines and matriarchal societies, and musing on whether Holmes intentionally tried to dress like a religious leader.

This week we’re going into the surreal world of David Lynch through Twin Peaks. Brian and Leah enter the Black Lodge. We consider why writers/artists would create obtuse art vs. on-the-nose art. We try to explain Twin Peaks. And we discuss unfortunately timely topics such as: Has the cause of good gone backward or forward in the world? Why does evil always make a comeback, making progress seem impossible?

This week we’re talking about the #1 most references TV by religious studies academics: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Leah the expert takes first-time-pilot view Brian through the nuances and rituals of the Buffyverse. We reflect on the notion of being chosen, Buffy’s feminist twists, top Buffy moments, and thinking about cosmic violence in high schools during the age of school shootings.

The Nazis are back, invading other dimensions and confusing us all over again in The Man in the High Castle. We discuss the perils of religious violence, Nazi influences on Biblical scholarship, and the historical Jesus.

We gush over the Netflix series Russian Doll and its themes of mid-life crisis, and discuss why Leah would not want to relive the day before her wedding, and why Brian will not be an NBA player.