Very Bad Wizards

A darkly comic deep dive into Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, from Marion Crane’s desperate theft and paranoid drive to Norman Bates’ unsettling charm. The conversation explores Freudian guilt, misogynistic violence, voyeurism, maternal control, and the film’s shifting perspective. Along the way, it examines the shower scene, the Bates house, Norman’s fractured identity, and why the film still haunts horror cinema.

Odysseus and Penelope circle one another through elaborate lies, coded messages, and barely concealed recognition. Their marriage emerges as a rare partnership of equal cunning, while a scar, a purple cloak, and a dream sharpen the tension. Eurycleia discovers the truth, Athena intervenes, and Penelope’s bow contest quietly becomes the blueprint for revenge. The discussion also explores Homeric ambiguity and modern culture wars around translation and adaptation.

Odysseus returns to Ithaca disguised as a beggar, while Telemachus helps set a dangerous revenge plan in motion. The palace becomes a moral testing ground as the suitors reveal their cruelty, Penelope advances her own deception, and Athena stirs the tension. Along the way: Argos’s heartbreaking recognition, a staged brawl, and a debate over divine influence and human responsibility.

Paul Bloom, psychologist and author of acclaimed work on morality, empathy, and human nature, joins a lively ranking of psychology’s classic experiments. They weigh Milgram, false memories, the Invisible Gorilla, Stroop, conformity, learned helplessness, the Marshmallow Test, and more. Famous studies face tough questions about impact, replication, cleverness, and ethics, with Zimbardo and social priming taking serious hits.

Odysseus and Telemachus finally reunite, but recognition gives way to plotting. The discussion explores home, homelessness, belonging, and the moral risks of hospitality through Eumaeus, Theoclymenus, and Telemachus. Omens, deception, exile, grief, and Odysseus’s anxious suspicion all build toward a carefully staged reckoning with the suitors.

Odysseus reaches Ithaca, but homecoming proves stranger than expected. The discussion explores his paranoia, shifting identities, and competitive deception with Athena, alongside Poseidon’s grudge against the Phaeacians. Eumaeus emerges as the emotional center through his hospitality, loyalty, and overlooked labor, while Odysseus’s invented biography exposes the uneasy distance between surviving and truly coming home.

What does “crashing out” really mean, and why do people keep digging themselves deeper? The discussion explores emotional spirals, social-media blowups, relationship disasters, and even chatbots losing their cool. It then turns to baseball superstitions, Trobriand Island magic, and the human need for rituals when uncertainty makes control impossible.

Odysseus descends into the land of the dead, confronts grief, memory, and the shattered ideals of heroes like Achilles and Agamemnon. The discussion turns to the Sirens’ seductive promises, Scylla’s brutal helplessness, and a doomed voyage through divine danger, starvation, and mutiny. Homer’s psychological depth and the challenge of bringing this sprawling inner journey to film also come under scrutiny.

They dive into Books 9–10 of the Odyssey, spotlighting the Lotus Eaters' druglike lure and the lawless Cyclops whose cave scenes turn deadly. They unpack the Laestrygonians' giant attack and the tragic loss of ships. They retell Circe's sorcery that transforms men into pigs and the yearlong detour that follows. Themes of pride, risky choices, and a complicated hero recur throughout.

They debate whether analytic philosophy is narrow, pedantic, or secretly valuable for real-world issues like AI, consciousness, and animal welfare. They unpack Bernard Williams' defense of the field and Lily Hu's critique that philosophy claims a viewpoint-free stance. They also spar over the ethics and impact of academics monetizing Substack and the role of public-facing philosophical writing.