Guests: Sheena Wellington , Ruth Perry, Singer Lady Maisery
podcast
Bodkin review: An off-kilter, funny riff on true-crime hackery
In Netflix’s comedic thriller, Will Forte and Siobhán Cullen seek journalistic absolution and find a whole lot of trouble.
By Jarrod Jones
True-crime podcasts have just as many fans as haters, and there’s a chance that Bodkin, the Netflix series from Jez Scharf that premieres May 9 about a trio of bickering podcasters, will appeal to both.
In a sense, Scharf’s mystery series, set in a beautiful, isolated Irish village, is optimal content for the Netflix binging model. It shares the protracted rhythms of typical true crime in that it’s brimming with detail while stashing its most salacious revelations for the end of each episode, almost as if it’s daring its audience not to hit play on the next one. Episodes are inundated with tin-eared true-crime clichés, but it’s done winkingly by Will Forte, who drops lines like “the more you learn, the less you know” and other such inanities. Its score, by Paul Leonard-Morgan, evokes the plinky earworm themes from investigative podcasts like Serial, a creative choice that seems almost Pavlovian in its design. Bodkin knows what it is, and thanks to this self-cognizance, it becomes more.
Yet, as good as Bodkin is, no amount of quality character work or engrossing mystery can kick enough dirt over how dumb it is to hear the word “podcast” repeated again and again. That might explain one of the show’s better recurring jokes: Gilbert (Forte), a Chicago-based podcaster eager to both please and impress, frequently tells folks from the provincial Irish village which gives the show its title that he’s doing a podcast. The retort we often hear, delivered in that politely barbed manner the Irish tend to excel at, is priceless: “And will people listen to it?”
The humor in Bodkin is, to put it mildly, droll. It sets a mood as much as the dramatic elements of Scharf’s story, and that blend of wit and melancholy mostly clicks. It makes much of the events that transpire in this fictional town feel both conceivable and ridiculous at the same time, even if those barbs are eventually sanded down by kindness and virtue before the end—an inevitability, perhaps, considering Bodkin is produced by Higher Ground executives Barack and Michelle Obama. Still, the series’ off-kilter approach is successful, by and large, and puts steam behind the many intrigues that uncoil during its seven-hour runtime.
GasLit Nation: How to Contain MAGA (And Why the New York Times Wants Trump to Win)
Congratulations, New York Times! Trump is the GOP nominee. Russian mafia expert Olga Lautman and Monique Camarra of the Kremlin File podcast join Andrea to discuss why the New York Times wants Trump to win, with coverage and an editorial board that normalizes his fascism.
The conversation includes a plan to defeat MAGA, the Bannon Strategy and what the Left can learn from it (without turning into a cult!), why we’re glad that Nikki Haley isn’t the GOP nominee either (she uses genocidal rhetoric against LGBTQ+ people!), and where our advantage is in 2024 and how to leverage it to protect democracy this election and beyond.
Fight for your mind! To get inspired to make art and bring your projects across the finish line, join us for the Gaslit Nation LIVE Make Art Workshop on April 11 at 7pm EST – be sure to be subscribed at the Truth-teller level or higher to get your ticket to the event!
Source: GasLit Nation
Read more: GasLit Nation: How to Contain MAGA (And Why the New York Times Wants Trump to Win)GasLit Nation: Can the Reagan Revolution Be Undone?
December 13, 2023
GASLIT NATION WITH ANDREA CHALUPA
The Reagan Revolution and “greed is good” remain in full swing, ushering in a level of wealth inequality that surpasses the Gilded Age.
“Progressives, especially, must recognize that preserving constitutional freedoms depends on winning the fight for economic liberties. Treating them as separate goals will ultimately mean losing out on both,” writes Caroline Fredrickson, the former president of the American Constitution Society, the Democrats’ answer to Leonard Leo’s Federalist Society and his $1.6 billion war chest. You’ve probably never heard of the American Constitution Society, because they haven’t been as effective.
In September, Fredrickson wrote a damning piece for The Atlantic explaining why, taking herself and other Democrats to task for packing our courts with corporate-friendly judges under recent Democratic administrations, including the current one. It seemed enough for Democrats that a judge was a woman, nonwhite, and cared about protecting reproductive healthcare. As a result, for decades, our courts have become a rubber stamp for rolling back regulations and defying antitrust laws. Even the Biden-appointed antitrust Elizabeth Warren protégé Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, has been powerless against the corporate defenders packed on our courts.
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica, author of The Chicken Shit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives, explains that to undo the Reagan Revolution
prioritize appointing judges who will uphold antitrust laws and protect unions. To be true allies to women and nonwhite people, who are harder hit by economic downturns, fight for economic justice as the foundation for social justice. The Democrats need to get clear on that and respond with a robust judicial appointment strategy immediately, while there’s still time.
This week’s bonus show, available for our listeners at the Truth-tell level and higher, will feature questions and comments from our listeners at the Democracy Defender level and higher. Exclusively for our Patroen community at the Truth-teller level and higher, mark your calendars for the January 18th 8pm ET social media workshop to be held over Zoom–on how to kick our Twitter habit and use our social media voices for good in the world in 2024 and beyond–with organizer Rachel Brody of the movement to Replace Jay Jacobs, the disastrous chair of the New York state Democrats who cost us the House. We look forward to seeing you there! Thank you to everyone who supports the show — we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!
To join the conversation and get your questions answered, as well as receive all episodes, including bonus shows, ad-free, sign up at the Democracy Defender level or higher on Patreon.com/Gaslit!
Source: GasLit Nation
Read more: GasLit Nation: Can the Reagan Revolution Be Undone?