This week, Dana is joined by Slate’s books and culture columnist, Laura Miller, and senior editor Rebecca Onion (who are filling in for Julia and Stephen). The panel begins by unraveling Passages, the sexy but also, at times, repelling feature from director Ira Sachs about a complicated love triangle. The film received a controversial NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association. Then, they head to Detroit to discuss Justified: City Primeval, FX’s revival of the Raylan Givens cult classic that ran for six seasons. Finally, the three consider Michael Oher’s recent legal allegation that the Tuohy family (immortalized in the 2009 Oscar-winning movie The Blind Side) never really adopted him but instead, placed him in a conservatorship. It’s a scandal at the fascinating convergence of exploitation, fame, race, and adoption.

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel examines nature writing and their relationship to the form, inspired by Jonathan Franzen’s essay for The New Yorker, “The Problem with Nature Writing.”

Email us at culturefest@slate.com.

Endorsements:

Laura: Her quest for a new detective series (that isn’t stupid or cliché) is over: Laura endorses Deadloch, a Prime Video comedy set in Tasmania that’s equal parts genuine mystery and delicious social satire.

Rebecca: Anya Liftig’s memoir, Holler Rat, beautifully recounts her upbringing where she often felt caught between two worlds: the comfortable, upper-middle-class life in Connecticut where she lived, and the summers spent in Appalachia, her mother’s home.

Dana: A behind-the-scenes video for, what could potentially be the song of the summer, “I’m Just Ken” has just been released. In it, we see Ryan Gosling rehearsing and cameos from Greta Gerwig, Simu Liu and co-writer Mark Ronson, and it’s just super fun.

Outro music: “I Want a Change” by The Big Let Down.

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

This episode is sponsored by the podcast About the Journey. Learn more here: https://traveler.marriott.com/about-the-journey/

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A Deep Dive with Tom Vartanian Part 01