On their own this week, John and Danielle are ready to tackle The Americans Season 5 Episode 12 “The World Council of Churches.” Will Danielle’s dream of the end (of a sort) of Pastor Tim finally come true? It looks like it! Organizing their conversation around the concept of resignation, your hosts take up what Oleg, Stan and Aderholt, Paige, Philip and Elizabeth, and even Tuan are resigned to in their situations, missions, and lives more generally. They consider how Pastor Tim’s new assignment shines a light on what the different members of the Jennings family are resigned to, and how Henry complicates their potential options. Before moving on to the segments, they take up Tuan’s behavior and the cliffhanger end of the episode. In the Dossier, Danielle offers some thoughts on Pasha, the return to Russia, and Oleg before Glas sees a brief chat on Mischa, among some further thoughts on Henry as well as Pastor Tim (Danielle cannot wait for this to be done). In the Cave, John offers some solid takes on The Civil War in France, the latest entry for Marx SZN, and your hosts give you some solid TheoryShips. Come for (Danielle hopes) the last Pastor Tim sighting, stay for John’s stellar TheoryShips.

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Danielle and John are joined by friend of the pod Michaela Rife to discuss The Americans Season 5 Episode 11, “Dyatkovo” (a word Danielle is definitely great at pronouncing, and a word John is actually great at pronouncing). Michaela offers up homecoming and the relationship to home as a banger of a theme, and together your hosts consider Henry’s HOMEwork, Philip’s reveries of home, the question of defending a homeland, and what it really means to have a home to go back to - a recurring question for MANY of our characters. Danielle offers some Stan-centric tinfoil hat theories in the Dossier, and in Glas, your hosts give Michaela some runway to give her thoughts on the wedding from the previous episode, and to show off her art historian expertise at breaking down the tableaux of the dramatic final scene. They also check in on Tuan’s sad McDonalds scene and ask whether Henry’s "investigative" "journalism" "skills" are priming a future FBI career. After a few comments on different 80s ‘fits and Henry’s handwritten report, it’s time to descend back into the Cave for more Marx SZN - this time with (drumroll please) The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. Come for the solid thematic discussion but stay for the Theoryships and another installment of everyone’s favorite, Marx SZN!

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Back on their own this week, Danielle and John descend into the basement to talk about The Americans Season 5 Episode 10, “Darkroom,” and BOY, is THIS an EPISODE!?! Your hosts unpack a series of scenes that center Paige, from her snooping to her interactions with her parents to the final darkroom scene. Don’t worry, it’s not all-Paige-all-the-time - they sprinkle in time to chat about the orthodox marriage ceremony and the Morozovs. From there, Danielle offers some wild tinfoil hat theories in the Dossier, including reflecting on whether or not anyone actually got Pastor Tim a job (!). In Glas, John reflects on some of the smaller choices including the handwriting situation over at EST, and of course some camerawork quips. Your hosts touch on what’s going on with Oleg as well as what Stan and Aderholt are up to with regards to Sofia before lightening the mood by talking about the 80s fits that we get in this episode. And of course, the episode ends with a descent into the Cave for more Marx SZN - this time, featuring Class Struggles in France. It’s a double-descent kind of episode.

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This week, John and Danielle are joined by one of their favorite recurring guests in the NQGB (Zencastr) studio, Lilly Goren! Together, they tackle The Americans 5x9, “IHOP.” They consider the developments in this ep and the season more generally through the idea of ‘the return of the repressed’ - this helps highlight the connections between Henry’s demands, Martha’s encounter with Gabriel, everything with Tuan, and more. Your hosts unpack who is the repressed and what the implications of their return are in each of the different beats of the ep. Of course, Danielle dons her tinfoil hat in the Dossier to chat about Tuan, and Lilly and John indulge her here. In Glas, there’s a lot of spycraft, some set design notes about Martha’s Moskva apartment, and Father Andrei. Lilly gets her first dose of Marx SZN with the Communist Manifesto, and offers some awesome anecdotes to accompany the trip into the Cave. Your hosts end with a robust round of TheoryShips. Enjoy!

(We lost a few minutes of Lilly's audio and brilliant thoughts early in the episode, but only in the very beginning).

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Amy Schiller is back with John for a wide-ranging conversation about economies both sacred and profane. Together, they consider the May election of Pope Leo XIV as a pop culture phenomenon (2:36), the amor fati, unresolved moodiness, and audience responses to the third season of The White Lotus (13:34), and in true dialectical fashion strongly disagree about Celine Song's new film Materialists and its engagement with love, money, and height surgery (1:00:55).

Can you have a little materialism as a treat? How *would* you structure a shady AF $5 million cover-up transaction? Is being a Mike White simp a defensible lifestyle? Tune in to find out.

Amy's book The Price of Humanity: How Philanthropy Went Wrong and How to Fix It is available at Bookshop.org among other venues, and she writes The Schill newsletter on Substack.

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Danielle and John are back to chat all things The Americans 5x8, “Immersion”! Even though Philip and Elizabeth defiantly claim "We know what to think," your hosts ask whether ANY of the characters ACTUALLY know what to think. Unpacking the return of Claudia, Elizabeth training Paige, and the ongoing faux(?)-romantic entanglements with Ben and Deirdre, as well as checking in with Evgeniya, Tuan, and Oleg, John and Danielle do their best to evaluate if any of these characters actually knows what to think (or do) as their realities shift amidst an ever-changing political landscape. Of course, Danielle takes up Claudia's reappearance in the Dossier with the help of some probing questions from John (she literally couldn't resist), and in Glas, your hosts consider the FBI's museum antics and Renee's general vibes. Marx SZN continues in the Cave as John guides us through another dip into Capital. Your hosts have some fun with their TheoryShips this week - TL:DR, Hobbes is also back in action. Come for the Marx, but stay for your hosts *maybe* using Ben's correct name!

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Making his triumphant return, Jordan Cass is BACK, joining Danielle and John to chat all things The Americans 5x7, “Committee on Human Rights”! Once again impeccably prepared, Jordan guides the trio through an analysis of the episode around the theme of ‘enmeshment’. Together, they consider Gabriel’s final conversation with Philip, Paige’s search for autonomy and her break-up with Matthew, and the various attachment structures of the Jennings family. The trio questions what enmeshments are required in the life of a spy. But the real mark of triumph in this episode is when Jordan schools John and Danielle on the fact that Brad-not-Brent’s name is NOT Brad, but BEN. This reveal is an all-timer, and with it, Jordan cements his case for permanent third-chair on the pod. Somehow, your hosts recover, and journey together into the segments, with some questions in the Dossier, scrutiny over Paige’s bookshelf, and checking in about Renee and Stan. Your hosts return to Capital for another installment of Marx SZN, and round things out with another set of TheoryShips. Come for Jordan’s superb insights, stay for how he absolutely roasts your hosts, for everyone’s enjoyment!

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Gabriel might be leaving, but John and Danielle are here to stay, this week taking on The Americans 5x6, “Crossbreed.” They frame their discussion around ‘disclosure’, starting with Gabriel’s decision to leave (don’t worry, Danielle has THOUGHTS on this in the Dossier) before moving onto the lack of disclosure when it comes to Philip, and wrapping up with some musings on Oleg burning the tape. They consider what it means to introduce Paige to Gabriel in the broader context of the show, as well as in relation to the question of disclosure. In Glas, your hosts cannot help but overanalyze Elizabeth’s newly found mode of relaxation, Tai-Chi, and the parallels between Gabriel in DC and Oleg in Moscow. John and Danielle consider the 80s-ness of psychiatrist culture before meeting Marx once again in the Cave - this time chatting all things Capital! They make a case for the show hiring them as Marx-consultants (derogatory), which, of course, would make things much smoother for all involved! This would rectify some of the missteps - which are all still obviously Pastor Tim’s fault. Your hosts end the episode with some TheoryShips of Robyn Marasco and Foucault (sorry-not-sorry) to our beloved characters. Enjoy!

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