pluribus

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.

narrative

The vibes aren't shifting

Why the right-wing effort to change the narrative is already flailing.

Heated Rivalry

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.

No Other Choice

Episodes Monday Rundown January 5–11 2026

This week: No Other Choice, Resurrection, and some great video essays.

trauma

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.

newsletter updates

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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 2025

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.