Heated Rivalry: Episode 3, "Hunter"
A big frame shift brings with it big questions about plot structures, the closet, and smoothies.
Latest
Episodes Monday Rundown January 19–25 2026
This week: The Testament of Ann Lee, Die My Love, and a pair of comfort watches fit for a terrible week.
January mailbag!
This month: Oscars, Oscars, Oscars! Plus, meditative TV, tarot as a storytelling device, and more.
Heated Rivalry: Episode 2, "Olympians"
As Shane and Ilya go to the Sochi Olympics, Lily and Emily talk point-of-view, the things only queer romance can do, and how much the show actually cares about hockey.
Republicans think they know Minnesota better than Minnesotans. They’re wrong
Try as they might, there is no secret conservative side of Minneapolis that Republican violence can uncover.
Episodes Monday Rundown January 12–18 2026
This week: The Housemaid, The Bone Temple, and two very different fantasy novels.
Submit your January mailbag questions!
It's that time again!
Pluribus isn't an allegory for anything. It's smarter than that
Pluribus' superpower, and its best feature in a media landscape full of too-obvious themes, is its use of elastic metaphor.
The vibes aren't shifting
Why the right-wing effort to change the narrative is already flailing.
Heated Rivalry: Episode 1, "Rookies"
Our new recap series debuts with hot hockey boys, an innovative approach to narrative time, and Canada's own Leslie Feist.
Episodes Monday Rundown, January 5–11 2026
This week: No Other Choice, Resurrection, and some great video essays.
The only way to fix ICE is to get rid of it
The nation's traumatized response to 9/11 has spiraled utterly out of control.
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rundown
Episodes Monday Rundown December 22 2025–January 4 2026
This week: Hamnet, 2Topia, and more Little Women than you can even imagine.
emily rogers
How to make risotto
The cis recipe blogger version of Emily St. James from another timeline greets another year.
rundown
Episodes Monday Rundown December 15–21
This week: Wicked's unsolvable second act, Train Dreams' hallucinatory magic, and a whole bunch of Christmas stuff.
mailbag
December mailbag!
This month: Rob Reiner favorites, new Oscar categories, and holiday stories crying out for the Rankin-Bass treatment.
winter
Always winter, never Christmas: 21 snowy entertainments without a Santa in sight
Celebrate winter - and NOTHING ELSE - with our list of recommendations.
rundown
Episodes Monday Rundown December 8–14 2025
This week: Pluribus and the trauma plot, Disney and the YA-ification of everything, and 1985's strangest Christmas movie.
mailbag
Submit your December mailbag questions!
It's that time again!
preview
It takes an ex-believer to make a film as holy as Wake Up Dead Man (preview)
A preview of Emily St. James's essay on the third Benoit Blanc film
movies
It takes an ex-believer to make a film as holy as Wake Up Dead Man
The latest Benoit Blanc mystery offers a bracing look at what makes faith so necessary and so dangerous, writes Emily St. James.
rundown
Episodes Monday Rundown December 1–7 2025
This week: a somewhat lopsided Joachim Trier fan club meeting, a messy and interesting novel, and a nice helping of Christmas melancholy.
stranger things
Will Byers, queer power fantasies, and me
If it really wants to pull off its latest twist, Stranger Things needs to remember what keeps its characters grounded, writes Lily Osler.