Slate's Spoiler Specials

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Slate’s Sam Adams is joined by Slate’s new staff writer Karen Han to spoil Freaky, the new body-switching slasher film. Think Friday the 13th meets Freaky Friday. Will high school outcast, Millie (played by Kathryn Newton), find her way back into her own body? Or will she be stuck in the body of a 6’5 serial killer (played by Vince Vaughn) forever?  You can read Karen Han’s review here. Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore. Email us at spoilers@slate.com. Podcast production by Morgan Flannery.  Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and access to exclusive shows like Dana Stevens’ classic movies podcast Flashback. Sign up now to listen and support our work. Hosts Sam Adams is an editor for Slate’s culture blog Brow Beat. Karen Han is a Slate staff writer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Slate’s Dana Stevens is joined by Slate’s Sam Adams to spoil Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Sacha Baron Cohen’s long awaited sequel to Borat. Can Borat find his way through America to deliver a very special gift to Vice President Mike Pence? How will Borat navigate COVID 19 in a foreign country? Is Borat still funny when nothing shocks us anymore in the year 2020?  You can hear Dana’s review on Culture Gabfest here. You can read Sam Adam’s review here. Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore. Email us at spoilers@slate.com. Podcast production by Morgan Flannery.  Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and access to exclusive shows like Dana Stevens’ classic movies podcast Flashback. Sign up now to listen and suppo

Slate staffers Sam Adams and Laura Miller spoil The Haunting of Bly Manor.  An American governess (Victoria Pedretti) signs on two care for two orphaned children in a remote English mansion. But she finds the house is haunted by a malevolent presence, and the children may be as well. Sam Adams and Laura Miller break down Netflix’s followup to The Haunting of Hill House, which takes its inspiration from Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw and his other classic ghost stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Slate’s Marissa Martinelli and Laura Miller spoil Enola Holmes.  Enola, who likes to remind people that her name spelled backwards is ‘alone,’ wakes up to find her mother missing. While Enola is determined to investigate her mother’s disappearance, it’s up to Mycroft and Sherlock to figure out what to do with their little sister. Can Enola outwit her intelligent brothers and break free from the stuffy, proper future Mycroft sets out for her?  Plus, Marissa and Laura delve into other, more transgressive, Holmes stories with female protagonists.  You can read Laura Miller’s review here. Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore. Email us at spoilers@slate.com. Podcast production by Rosemary Belson.  Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and access to exclusive shows like Dana Stevens’ classic movies podcast F

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail.  This week, Slate’s Sam Adams and Vox’s Film Critic Alissa Wilkinson spoil Tenet. Christopher Nolan’s time-bending thriller is visually spectacular yet incredibly confusing.  The main character, played by John David Washington, simply referred to as the Protagonist is a CIA operative who becomes entangled with Tenet, a secret organization that’s fighting a future that’s actively attempting to destroy the world. The Protagonist suddenly finds himself in a world where things, and even people, can be inverted to travel backwards through time. Can the Protagonist save the world before it’s too late? How does Nolan incorporate palindromes within the movie’s structure? And what parallels can be drawn to Bill & Ted?  Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore. Read Sam Adams’ review here.  Read Alissa Wilkinson’s review here.  Nee

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Slate’s Dana Stevens and Matthew Dessem spoil I’m Thinking of Ending Things. Charlie Kaufman starts the film following a young couple, Lucy (Jessie Buckley) and Jake (Jesse Plemons) driving on a snowy evening to meet and have dinner with Jake’s parents. Lucy is already second guessing the trip since she doesn’t know if she wants to stay with Jake, who oddly seems to physically react when she thinks about breaking things off with him. Kaufman intersects their journey with the experiences of a janitor at a high school. Things start to get weird when the couple arrives at Jake’s childhood home. As the movie progresses, the characters become untethered from time and the film calls into question if Lucy and Jake even exist. And what does the janitor have to do with anything? Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore. E

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Slate’s Television Critic Willa Paskin is joined by Vulture Staff Writer Angelica Jade Bastién to spoil I May Destroy You. Michaela Coel is at the heart of this series. Besides writing and producing the show, she directed many episodes and plays the main character, Arabella Essiedu. Coel covers consent, rape, friendship, and empathy, in a complex, yet compelling, way that really humanizes Arabella.  Arabella is a young writer and influencer working on her second book when her drink was drugged and raped while at a bar in London. The series follows her as she works through the aftermath of her assault. Does Arabella regain her full memories of her sexual assault? Will she be able to finish her book? Will she accept the help from another acquaintance who she believes to have raped her? How does she use fantasy to imagine a better resolution f

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Dana Stevens, Slate’s movie critic, is joined by Isaac Butler, writer, theater director, and co-host of Slate’s podcast Working, to spoil An American Pickle. Seth Rogen stars as Herschel Greenbaum, a man who wakes up after being preserved in pickle brine for a century, and Ben Greenbaum, Herschel’s only living descendant. Can Herschel adapt to the contemporary world? Will Ben and Herschel bond despite generational and value differences? How convincing is Seth Rogen as both of these men? You can read Marissa Martinelli’s interview with An American Pickle’s prop master here. You can read Matthew Dessem’s piece on pickle related catastrophes here.  Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore. Email us at spoilers@slate.com. Podcast production by Rosemary Belson. Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and access to

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Slate’s movie critic Dana Stevens is joined by Willa Paskin, Slate’s television critic, and Sam Adams, a senior editor at Slate and the editor of Slate’s culture blog, Brow Beat, to spoil Palm Springs. At first, Palm Springs seems like a fun wedding rom-com until Nyles (Andy Samberg) is shot with a bow and arrow while fooling around in the desert with Sarah (Cristin Milioti). Injured, he crawls into a nearby cave and tells Sarah not to follow him. She ignores his warning and is pulled into his infinite time loop. Will she follow Nyles’ lead and make peace with the situation? Why is Nyles being hunted? Why is Sarah so desperate to find a way out? And what is with those dinosaurs?  You can read Sam’s interview with the theoretical physicist who consulted on the movie here.  Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore.

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Dana Stevens, Slate’s movie critic, is joined by Sam Adams, a senior editor at Slate and the editor of Slate’s culture blog, Brow Beat, and Tom Scocca, Slate's politics editor. They dive into Jon Stewart’s comedy starring Steve Carell as an out-of-touch political operative who decides that a former marine would make a great Democratic candidate for mayor in Deerlaken, Wisconsin. It creates a proxy battleground in rural Wisconsin as Carell’s Republican counterpart, played by Rose Byrne, ups the ante. Stewart practically perfected political commentary woven with jokes during his time on The Daily Show. But can he harness that same nuance as a director? And how does the movie’s big twist affect Stewart’s message about unchecked money in politics?  You can read Sam Adams’ review here.  You can read Tom Scocca’s piece on the twist here.   Note:

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. For a very special LIVE episode of Spoiler Specials, Slate’s Dana Stevens was joined by Sam Adams, Rachelle Hampton and Rebecca Onion to spoil the Hamilton movie that’s streaming on Disney+. They discuss how well the show has aged, historical inaccuracies, colorblind casting, and even the ending scene that doesn’t appear on the album.  You can read Sam Adams’ dive into the ending here.  You can hear more analysis from Dana Stevens here.   You can even read Marissa Martinelli’s argument to not watch the film here. Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore. Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and access to exclusive shows like Dana Stevens’ classic movies podcast Flashback. Sign up now to listen and support our work. Email us at spoilers@slate.com. Podcast production by Rosemary Belson. A huge thank you to Faith Smith a

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Dana Stevens, Slate’s movie critic, is joined by Aisha Harris, writer and editor for The New York Times’ Opinion section to spoil Da 5 Bloods. Spike Lee’s newest film follows a group of Black Vietnam War veterans as they reunite years later. The group returns to Vietnam to find the remains of Stormin’ Norman, their commander who died during the war. While they are there, they try to retrieve a lost cache of CIA gold. At first the search seems easy–too easy. But soon familial tensions, lingering PTSD, and environmental hazards start complicating the mission. How many of the remaining Bloods will make it back out of the jungle? Plus: Dana and Aisha break down Spike Lee’s employment of numerous film techniques, including an innovative use of four different aspect ratios.  You can read Sam Adams’ review here.  You can read Matthew Dessem’s pi

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. We have a very special episode this week! Sam Adams is joined by Laura Miller to discuss the new Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Suzanne Collins’ new novel explores President Snow’s origin and descent into one dimensional villainy seen in the Hunger Games trilogy. The story departs from the YA dystopian genre that Collins’ trilogy helped shape. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a more sophisticated, philosophical examination of human nature and the battle of nature versus nurture. How does Coriolanus Snow regain the power and money his family lost during the war? What is his role in the spectacularization of the Hunger Games? What can The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes teach readers about the realities of living in a surveillance state?  You can read Laura Miller’s review here.  You can also read Lara Miller’s explanation

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Slate’s Sam Adams is joined by Willa Paskin and Rachelle Hampton to spoil The Lovebirds, a romantic comedy starring Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani. Leilani (Issa Rae) and Jibran (Kumail Nanjiani) are a couple on the brink of a break up when they find themselves caught up in a murder mystery.  You can read Sam Adam’s review here. You can read Rachelle Hampton’s investigation into how ripped Kumail was during The Lovebirds here. You can read Cornelia Channing’s milkshake investigation here.   Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore. Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and access to exclusive shows like Dana Stevens’ classic movies podcast Flashback. Sign up now to listen and support our work. Email us at spoilers@slate.com. Podcast production by Rosemary Belson.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Slate’s Sam Adams, Matthew Dessem, and Daniel Schroeder spoil Hollywood. Ryan Murphy and co-creator Ian Brennan reimagine a more inclusive golden-age of filmmaking. While the first couple episodes of the Netflix series stay relatively grounded in reality, the series takes a sharp right turn into self-serving fantasy by simplifying the fight for equality and progress within Hollywood.  You can read Sam Adam’s review here.  You can read Matthew Dessem’s Fact Versus Fiction here. Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore. Email us at spoilers@slate.com. Podcast production by Rosemary Belson. Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and access to exclusive shows like Dana Stevens’ classic movies podcast Flashback. Sign up now to listen and support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adcho

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Slate podcast producer Daniel Schroeder and Slate staff writer Rachelle Hampton discuss Netflix’s new reality dating show: Too Hot to Handle. Ten attractive contestants are thrown together on an island to compete over a $100,000 prize. To win the money, they need to form bonds that are more than skin deep. The catch is they can’t have any sexual contact - even with themselves - for the remainder of “the retreat.” For every sexual encounter, the group loses money out of the prize pot. Can the sexy singles restrain themselves, even when workshops and drama challenges their resolve?  You can read Rachelle Hampton’s review here. Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and access to exclusive shows like Dana Stevens’ classic movies podcast Flashback. Sign up now to listen and support our work. Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contain

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Sam Adams is joined by Slate’s Television Critic Willa Paskin to spoil Netflix’s hit documentary series Tiger King. The hit series is an increasingly sordid tale of wild characters conning each other out of zoos. The show’s standout character is Joe Exotic, whose charisma and personality are made for reality television. He has a long time feud with Carole Baskin, who runs the nonprofit Big Cat Rescue and is actively trying to shut private zoos down. Will Carole succeed? What happens when Joe tries to hire someone to murder Carole? And when will anyone focus on the questionable conditions forced on the big cats? You can read Sam Adams’ review here and his story about the artists behind Joe Exotic’s music here.  You can read Willa Paskin’s piece about Carole Baskin here.  Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore.

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Slate staffers Marissa Martinelli, Daniel Schroeder, and Megan Kallstrom spoil Star Trek: Picard, which picks up years after Admiral Jean-Luc Picard has separated from Starfleet over ideological differences. The Star Trek legend has retreated into retirement on Earth when the daughter of an old friend—the android Data—shows up, leading Picard to amass a new crew to track down her sister before sinister forces beat him to it. You can read Marissa Martinelli’s review here. You can read Megan Kallstrom’s piece here.  Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore. Email us at spoilers@slate.com. Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and access to exclusive shows like Dana Stevens’ classic movies podcast Flashback. Sign up now to listen and support our work. Podcast production by Rosemary Belson.  Learn more about you

Flashback is usually available only to Slate Plus members. Sign up now to listen to the archive and future episodes. In the new episode of Flashback, movie critics Dana Stevens and K. Austin Collins discuss the psychological drama What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), directed by Robert Aldrich. Other titles mentioned in the episode: Sunset Boulevard (1950), directed by Billy Wilder Limelight (1952), directed by Charlie Chaplin All About Eve (1950), directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz Singing in the Rain (1952), directed by Gene Kelly Gypsy (1962), directed by Mervin LeRoy Mommie Dearest (1981), directed by Frank Perry Feud (2017), created by Ryan Murphy Parachute Jumper (1933), directed by Alfred E. Green Sadie McKee (1934), directed by Clarence Brown Psycho (1960), directed by Alfred Hitchcock Witness for the Prosecution (1957), directed by Billy Wilder The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), directed by Orson Welles Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), directed by Robert Aldrich What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?

On the Spoiler Special podcast, Slate critics discuss movies, the occasional TV show, and, once in a blue moon, another podcast, in full spoiler-filled detail. This week, Slate Senior Editor Sam Adams is joined by Slate Staff Writer Rebecca Onion to spoil Contagion, Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 pandemic movie. Not dissimilar to the coronavirus, the fictional virus, MEV-1, started off transferring from infected animals to humans. MEV-1 infected Gwyneth Paltrow’s character on a work trip. Then she traveled back to the Midwest, spreading the virus. Can the institutions in charge find a vaccine before the virus decimates society?  You can read Rebecca Onion’s piece about the lessons to take from Contagion here. You can read Sam Adams’ interview with the screenwriter here.  Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore. Email us at spoilers@slate.com. Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and access to exclusive shows like Dana Stevens’ classic movies podcast Flashback. Sign up now to list