Criticism - Fansplaining

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Behind the Scenes

Lessons From a Heated Media Rivalry

How we learned that the New York Times has a Fansplaining account.

Production still featuring John and Hal looking upwards.

Recaps

Lanterns: The Last Manhunter

In episode 2, John has a surprising alien encounter while Hal continues his investigation in Rushville.

Illustration of a desert scene in shades of red, yellow, orange, and black, featuring the silhouettes of two riders on camels.

Criticism

Putting Away Childish Things

In The Book of Dust trilogy, Philip Pullman does what few authors for young readers ever attempt: he lets his protagonist grow up.

Production still featuring John and Hal walking down the center of a rural road, brown scrubby grass on either side.

Recaps

Lanterns: Are You Afraid?

In episode 1, Hal Jordan and his protégé, John Stewart, investigate a shooting in small-town Nebraska.

Personal Essays

What Spider-Man Can’t Save

In which our hero contemplates a career writing about superheroes and pop culture—and imagines an ending.

Production still featuring Lestat performing on a stage, his arm stretched upwards.

Recaps

The Vampire Lestat: The Long Table

In episode 7, “The Failures,” Louis has a gruesome reunion with Armand, while Lestat faces judgment from specters of his past.

Production still featuring Lestat and Louis sitting together on a bench, gazing into each others' eyes.

Recaps

The Vampire Lestat: Sparing the Ambiguity

In episode 6, “Montreal,” Louis and Lestat share a tumultuous night ahead of Lestat’s farewell show.

Production still of Lestat playing the violin for Akasha who is lying on her slab.

Recaps

The Vampire Lestat: The Queen of the Damned

In episode 5, “New York,” Lestat strips back his rock-star facade and confronts his memories of Akasha.

Image of Pasha the pirate captain, falling into a swirling sea.

Criticism

Be Gay, Do (Sea) Crimes: Pirate Tropes and Queer Resistance

As Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote, pirate stories thrive on “all the old romance, retold exactly in the ancient way.”

Production still featuring Lestat posing for selfies surrounded by a crowd of fans with their phones out.

Recaps

The Vampire Lestat: Hurtling Towards End Times

In episode 4, “The Devil’s Road,” Lestat’s reality begins to fracture as Armand returns with portents of doom.

Still from the episode featuring a line drawing of Lestat in a gilded frame, set on a table with a glass of wine and three burning candle

Recaps

The Vampire Lestat: You Have to Ask for It

In episode 3, “Toronto,” the show takes bold creative swings as Lestat tries (and fails) to rewrite his own sexual trauma.

Production still featuring Sam Reid as Lestat and Jennifer Ehle as Gabriella, both sitting at a piano, Gabriella smoking a cigarette and resting her head on Lestat's shoulder.

Recaps

The Vampire Lestat: The Oedipiphany

In episode 2, “Toledo,” Gabriella stars in a Freudian trip down memory lane, pairing flashbacks to Lestat’s youth with a sleazy mother/son date in Ohio.