Magic or Manipulation?

Stephen, Dana, and Julia begin this week's show by talking about Locked Down, the rom-com heist movie starring Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor that's set during the early days of the pandemic. Then they discuss Derek DelGaudio's In & Of Itself, a Frank Oz directed stage performance that's part magic show and part meditation on personal identity. The filmed version is now available to stream on Hulu. For their third segment the hosts weigh in on a controversy in the film criticism world about a review of the movie Promising Young Woman, which they talked about in last week's show. In Slate Plus, the hosts chat about the pandemic's affect on casual friendships. Their inspiration was Amanda Mull's article in The Atlantic, titled The Pandemic Has Erased Entire Categories of Friendship. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Rachael Allen.