Introduction

On this week’s show, Jamelle Bouie (Opinion columnist at The New York Times) sits in for Julia Turner. The hosts first begin with a trip to Ennis, a fictional Alaskan town at the heart of True Detective: Night Country, and review the fourth installment of the HBO Max anthology series. There’s a new showrunner at the helm, Issa López, who brings a desperately needed fresh take on the Lovecraftian True Detective format, along with the series’ two leads, played by Jodie Foster and Kali Reis. Then, the three dissect Origin, director Ava DuVernay’s ambitious feature film adapted from the nonfiction book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by the American journalist Isabel Wilkerson. In the film, we accompany Wilkerson (played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) as she develops her theory of formalized subordination based on race in America through the lens of the caste system. Finally, Pitchfork, the rockstar’s digital paradise and essential music review site, announced that it would be laying off most of its senior staff and be folded into fellow Condé Nast publication, GQ. What does that mean for both Pitchfork and the future of music criticism? Slate’s music critic, Carl Wilson, joins to discuss. 

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, it’s the 25th anniversary of The Sopranos, and the panel discusses the series’ incredible legacy along with what it means for the stories of Tony, Dr. Melfi, Carmela, and more, to hit a quarter of a century. 

Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 

Outro music: “Ruins” by Origo.

Endorsements:

Dana: Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech by Brian Merchant, a nonfiction book about the “all-but-forgotten class struggle that brought nineteenth-century England to its knees.”

Jamelle: G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, historian Beverly Gage’s biography of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

Steve: Two reviews of Elon Musk, Walter Isaacson’s biography of the SpaceX/Tesla CEO: “Ultra Hardcore” by Ben Tarnoff for The New York Review and “Very Ordinary Men” by Sam Kriss for The Point. 

Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on the Culture Gabfest. Sign up now at Slate.com/cultureplus to help support our work.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices