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Welcome back to Meta Station, where IT’S TIME TO CRY ABOUT MOMS! Lyra finally finds a family, we learn a lot more about daemons, some Dramatic Backstory is revealed, a show finally presents a suicide storyline responsibly, and we have a LOT of thoughts about white male patriarchy. Also, the alethiometer finally works, Ma Costa is our new favorite character, and Fleabag’s Hot Priest has joined the cast which means this show officially has everything. _________________________________________ 0:00 - Thank Goodness for the Gyptians, Adults Lyra Can Actually Trust 0:17 – How This Episode Gets Suicide-As-Plot/Character-Development Right 0:37 – Daemon Discussion Redux: Farder Coram Edition 0:41 – Lyra's Journey to Trust, Belonging, and a Working Alethiometer 0:53 – [Sidebar to Cry About Lyra and Ma Costa, the Ur-Mom] 1:11 – The Gyptians, the Magisterium, and the Value of Children 1:19 – Smash the Patriarchy, Part I: Who’s Outside the Machinery of Power, and Why It Matters That Boreal and the Master Are Black Men 1:33 – Smash the Patriarchy, Part II: Male Shame, the Complicity of White Women, and the Show’s Refreshing Decision Not to Woobify Mrs. Coulter 1:56 – No New Episode Next Week for Gay Reasons, But We’ll Be Back After American Thanksgiving!

Welcome back to Meta Station! Sadly for you, several of our BEST jokes this week happened before we started recording, and we apologize to our longtime fans for depriving them of the newest installment of our ongoing “vases vs. botulism” debate. (You had to be there.) Fortunately, this still ended up being one of our favorite conversations, because there is SO! MUCH! TO SAY! about Mrs. Coulter: from using femininity as a weapon to wield power over men, to the complicated relationship between women and anger, to why it matters that her (male) daemon has been silenced. We also talked Magisterium theology, Boreal’s dimension-hopping, and how relieved we are that our pure sons Roger and Billy finally found each other. P.S. Rather predictably, we have already completely abandoned any attempt to remain spoiler-free for people who haven’t read the books, for reasons that will become very clear in the Mrs. Coulter section. If you are aggressively trying to avoid any plot details from the books, you might want to bookmark this one and come back to it after the end of the season. -------------------------------------------------- 0:00 – Lyra and the Apartment: Art Deco Design Porn, Abuse Dynamics, and Gilded Cages 0:10 – The Interior Life of Marisa Coulter: Weaponized Femininity, Suppressed Emotions, a Daemon That Doesn’t Speak, AND A COUPLE OF REALLY BIG SPOILERS 1:01 – Mrs. Coulter: Severing Ties, Emotionally and Literally 1:11 – Boreal, Other Worlds, and Novel Versus TV Plot Pacing 1:24 – Fighting for Ideas . . . of North, and Other Things 1:31 – Claire's Catholicism Corner: What Does "Oblation" Mean? And What Does It Tell Us About Mrs. Coulter? 1:42 - The Magisterium's Cold-Blooded Daemons 1:47 - The Most On-Brand Moment Ever: Claire Ships All the Parents NOTE: We apologize for some very mild sound issues on this one; Claire’s computer, like herself, has a very flexible relationship with the concept of Time, and froze up for a second before reviving so the whole middle of one sentence just disappeared, which is mostly upsetting because it was MILF flailing and we know that’s important to you guys. Also, Erin’s sound recording software was picking up the computer mic instead of her podcasting mic, so there are handful of places where she cuts out for a split-second as well. We edited around it as best we could, but hopefully it won’t be too distracting.

Welcome to Meta Station’s first recap of “His Dark Materials,” the perfect show for a podcast hosted by an atheist English professor and a Catholic playwright. Join us for a deep dive into the transformation of the books from page to screen, with side quests into climate change, Vatican II, “Paradise Lost,” gender fluidity, and Galileo. Plus, we lay out a careful plan about avoiding spoilers and then forget it immediately, of COURSE Erin knows the Milton quote Philip Pullman got the series title from, and Claire hops in the wayback machine to reminisce about being a youth minister when these books first blew up in the U.S. Grab your alethiometer and your bottle of secret crypt wine, we’re going on an adventure! * * * * * * * * * * * * 0:00 – Hello, New Listeners, and Welcome Back, Old Friends! 0:02 – Page to Screen Adaptation, Part I: Asriel, Lyra and Narrative Perspective 0:21 – We Stan a Relatable 11-Year-Old Who Is Sometimes a Butthead 0:27 – Page to Screen Adaptation, Part II: Dramatic Irony, Pacing Big Reveals for Television, and How Ruth Wilson Almost Convinced Us, Too 0:44 – The Gyptian Daemon Ceremony: Our Need for Ritual, the Magisterium’s Dehumanization of Religion, and the Return of Claire’s Catholicism Corner 1:10 – Pan-Daemonium 1:34 – Galileo, Climate Change, and Dust: The Politics of Scientific Knowledge 1:55 – The Magisterium, the Master, and the Moral Bankruptcy of Incentivizing Ignorance 2:02 – Erin Rambles On About Miltonian Cosmology, and All Is Right With Meta Station

Choose your faces wisely, because it’s time for Part II of “Good Omens,” where imagination is the greatest power of humankind, the kids are trying to figure out how to fix the world the grown-ups ruined, Madam Tracy finally gets takes center stage, Derek Jacobi pops in for a truly delightful cameo, and it turns out Crowley still thinks pretty highly of God. This one took us to some PLACES - we went deep on climate despair, youth-led protest movements, and the Horsemen as self-fulfilling prophecies, and then unpacked the theology of Aziraphale and Gabriel and got very real about when organized religion gets in the way of God. Hop on, this one’s a fun ride. Cheers, friends. TO THE WORLD! ---------------------------------------------- 0:00 – Welcome Back to “Good Omens,” Let’s Get This Apocalypse Show on the Road! 0:02 – We Are Now Ride-or-Die Lesley x Maud Shippers 0:05 – The Horsemen vs. the Them: Personification, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, and the Triumph of Youthful Imagination Over Adult Despair 0:32 – Pollution and Death in the Pratchett-Gaiman Extended Universe 0:40 – The Gospel of Aziraphale 0:52 – When Organized Religion Gets in the Way of God 1:13 – Imagination: The Secret Weapon of Armageddon 1:21 – Anathema: Living By the Book 1:30 – Adam vs. the Antichrist 1:39 – Love: The Other Secret Weapon of Armageddon (ft. Ineffable Husbands Flailing) 1:44 - (Madame Tracy's) Humanity Saves the Day (and Adam's Life) 1:50 – The Radical Egalitarian Skepticism of the 11-Year-Old Human from Tadfield: The Other Other Secret Weapon of Armageddon 2:03 – The Aftermath of the End of the World: Human Edition 2:10 – The Aftermath of the End of the World: The Great Crowley/Aziraphale Switcheroo 2:18 – Ten-Minute Sidebar to GUSH OVER THE AMAZING CAST 2:31 – One Last Moment of Ineffable Husbands 2:34 – COMING UP NEXT: “Russian Doll” Episodes 1-4! (Spoiler-Free, Because Claire Hasn't Watched It Yet!)

Hello, new friends! Welcome back, old friends! Meta Station is back and we've missed you, too! Summer is truly the best time of year for binge-watching television (some people will tell you it is the time of year for Going Outside and, like, Doing Stuff, in Nature, but those people are wrong and dangerous, stay in here with us where there's air conditioning and couches and snacks). So during July and August we're going to be podcasting on three different miniseries we love which we think you will enjoy too. First on deck is the delightful six-part Amazon Prime adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s 1991 apocalypse comedy GOOD OMENS, and we are here to tell you as fans of the book that the show gets just about everything right. Join us for a nerdy conversation covering everything from “Paradise Lost” to “Angels In America,” from Francis of Assisi to the end of the Cold War, from the holiness of sushi chefs to the dangers of dudes getting redpilled, with a whole lot of metaphysics, nature vs. nurture, and predestination thrown in. (Plus, obviously, shippy flails, because we can’t help ourselves.) Hop in your 1926 black Bentley, crank up that Velvet Underground (WHICH IS NOT BEBOP), and grab your flaming sword, because it’s time to stop the end of the world. You know what to do, do it with style. ------------------------------------------------------------ 0:00 – Welcome to Meta Station Summer Vacation! 0:02 – *Weary Sigh* No, GOOD OMENS Is Not "Anti-Religion," Calm Down Christians 0:13 – “Paradise Lost,” Angel Sex, and the Joy of Non-Canon Shipping 0:17 – Oh Right, We Should Probably Talk About the Plot 0:20 – "In the Beginning": Empathy, Ineffability, and Asking the Dangerous Questions 0:34 – Sushi Chefs, Francis of Assisi and Queen: Azirophale and Crowley's Attachment to the Human World 1:11 – A Brief Sidebar to Nerd Out About Craft: Acting, Casting, Adapting a Book for the Screen, and Why Everyone Loves Neil Gaiman 1:26 – 1991 In Cultural Context, Part I: Claire the Playwright on "Angels In America" and "Marisol" 1:36 – 1991 In Cultural Context, Part II: Erin the Academic on the End of the Cold War 1:49 – "Form Shapes Nature": Warlock, Adam and Dog 2:14 – Agnes, Anathema, and the Intersection of Prophecy and Free Will: or, FINALLY IT IS TIME TO TALK ABOUT SOME LADIES 2:33 – Shadwell, Pulsifer, and the Old Guard vs. the New 2:41 – A Brief Word on Horsemen 2:43 – Thanks For Joining Us! We’ll See You Next Week!

Welcome to META STATION SUMMER VACATION! We're spending July and August covering some of our favorite binge-worthy miniseries of 2019, kicking off this week with a discussion on episodes 1-3 of Amazon's fantastic adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's shippy apocalypse romp "Good Omens." To whet your appetite, if you've missed us, or to introduce ourselves to you if you're new here (welcome!!), here's a 25-minute teaser - a mini-meta, if you will - to tide you over until the full three hours of nerdery goes live Monday! In this excerpt, we discuss the war between Heaven and Hell in the context of the original publication of "Good Omens" in 1991. Erin has thoughts on the Cold War, Claire has thoughts on "Angels In America," we're both spicy about right-wing dumbs interpreting the story as anti-religion, and Erin shamelessly promotes Claire's book for new listeners. COME HANG OUT WITH US WE'VE MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH

Welcome back to Meta Station! Since last we recapped you, Erin finished her book, we went to a con, Claire's had the flu like three times, and Donald Trump Jr. is probably going to jail. WHAT'S NEW WITH YOU GUYS?? We split up this week’s 4-hour podcast in two parts, so pop on over to this link - https://soundcloud.com/meta-station/unity-days-2019 - if you’re looking for our recap of Unity Days, the funnest funfest in the history of fun, and then come back here when you’re ready for our thoughts on 513! Also, to avoid burying the lede, we wanted to announce at the beginning of the podcast that this will be the last of our regular week-to-week recaps of the show.(This episode is now a collector’s item!) While the show is running, despite the heroic assistance of our cherished Editkru, Meta Station is basically a part-time job, and – in the words of iconic Netflix star/cleaning guru Marie Kondo – we ultimately determined that dedicating that amount of time and effort to producing a weekly podcast no longer “sparks joy.” There were a lot of factors that went into this; some of them we’ll discuss at the end of the podcast, while others are more personal, but in the end it felt like the right time for us to step away from the kind of in-depth coverage we’ve been doing. The fact that our long, rambly, self-produced nerdfest has reached over 212,000 listens and downloads with over 750 regular subscribers remains INSANE to us, and we are overwhelmed and honored and grateful that so many of you have come along with us on this ride. We have so loved getting to spend all these nerdy hours with you, and goodbyes are always bittersweet, though we promise we aren’t quitting cold turkey; we still have a big stack of interviews on deck, we might pop back from time to time in future seasons if we find ourselves with things we just HAVE to flail about with you guys for three hours at a time, and if there’s a UD4 next year we’ll be there with bells on, we promise! We love you all with our entire nerdy hearts and we are so thankful for each and every listener. You guys have been the best part of this whole journey. May we meet again! --------------------------------------------- 0:00 – Hello, It Is Us Again! We Have Returned! Sorry This Intro Is Awkward Because We Chopped Out the Whole Hour About Unity Days! 0:03 – FINALE THINGS WE LIKED: The Jasper of It All! Miller’s Arc Sticking the Landing! Diyoza Calling Octavia’s Ass Out! The Blakes Still Care About Kane! Tiny Hints of Sunshine, Maybe! Bellamy and Madi and the Breaking of Cycles! 0:45 – As Emori’s Get-a-Grip Girlfriends, We Sincerely Hope She Has Not Wiped Murphy’s Slate Clean Just Yet, Because He Was a Real Asshole All Season 0:51 – If You Compare How Many Early Storylines Took Up Time and Ultimately Went Nowhere (Kara! Ethan! Worms!), With How Many Huge Emotional Setups This Season Never Got Real Payoffs Because the Finale Was So Rushed, You Will Go Insane 1:15 – Our Oft-Mentioned McCreary Problem Explodes to Astronomical Proportions and Torpedoes the Finale Endgame 1:37 – This Show Is Kind of Pro-Dictator In Some Peculiarly Unexamined Ways 1:55 – The “Why We’re Stopping” Conversation, Part I: Erin, Bellarke, and Reframing the Relationship You Have with a Show Once You Realize You and the Writers Want Different Things 2:14 – The “Why We’re Stopping” Conversation, Part II: Claire, Kane, and the Validity of Watching a Show For an Emotional Relationship With a Character or Ship 2:32 – Sometimes Analyzing Something For Three Hours Actually Makes It Less Fun, Instead of More 2:42 – “We’re Gonna Teach ‘Em How to Say Goodbye (One Last Time)”: or, There Is No Wrong Way to Watch a Show, No Wrong Way to Be a Fan, and No Wrong Reason to Walk Away 2:46 – In Which We Have a Lot of Feelings About How Much We Love You Guys and Everything This Podcast Has Given Us

We talked for so long about Unity Days 2019 that we pulled it out of the recap podcast to post on its own. Join us as we relive the magic, glory and wonder of the third (and maybe final?? unclear??? Sachin is VERY PERSUASIVE????) Unity Days convention in Vancouver B.C.! It was hands-down our favorite yet, with brand-new guests we'd never met before (hi Paige! hi Lola! hi Erica! hi Shannon! hi Tati!), lots of deep dives into the nerdery of television craft (from props design to acting craft) and tons and tons of laughs. Most of all, it was full of those amazing special moments of irreplaceable cast magic that make this con such a unique and wonderful event - from sharing deeply heartfelt stories about what acting means to them, to doing impressions of their coworkers as Fran Drescher or Yoda. (You had to be there.) Thanks so much to everyone at Unity Events Canada for their hard work and dedication! If UD3 is the last of these cons, it went out on a high note; if Sachin gets his way and there's a UD4, we'll see you there!

She's been in the biz since she was nine, she's fluent in French, she knows how to swordfight, and she loves "Fight Club." She's also twelve years old. We sat down with the fantastically delightful Lola Flanery on Sunday, for a super fun interview which then got eaten by Skype Recorder (*shakes fist at ALIE*), so we gave it a second try on Wednesday and had even MORE fun. Join us as we plot a prank war against Sachin and Bob, discuss Warrior Cats and My Little Ponies, get the scoop on stunt training and Trigedasleng, hear what it's like to be the kid on set in a room full of grownups, and learn what Lola loves most about playing Madi. TL;DR - THIS KID IS THE BEST AND WE'RE ADOPTING HER NOW

ERIN FOUND A KITTEN IN A PARKING LOT SO THAT WAS THE FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS TODAY Yes, the Lola interview will go up tomorrow, yes, we're eventually going to recap the finale, yes, we've still got Chris Larkin and William/Ivana interviews on deck, but for now, please enjoy this outtake that is literally just twenty minutes of Claire and Erin talking about cats. We missed you too.

Welcome back to Meta Station! [INSERT INAPPROPRIATE JOKE ABOUT MARCUS KANE LOOKING LIKE A SNACK HERE] LOTS of deaths this week, including Vinson, a whole bunch of redshirts, and the myth of Blodreina (and we’ll feel a lot better once we know Gaia and Kane are okay), but the fractured groups are finally beginning to coalesce back together, which is a HUGE relief. We know you all had strong feelings about this episode, and we did too; we clocked in at over four hours (don’t worry, this one is edited!) because there was so much to unpack. Initially Erin and Claire were a house divided regarding a few of the storylines, and met more in the middle on rewatch, but overall we’re feeling better at the end of this episode than we did at the end of the last one. We got hope! We got forgiveness! We got love! We got families! We got hugs! We got closure! We got new beginnings! We got another cryptic drive-by reference to Eligius III! In other words, we’re right where we should be as our heroes head into the finale. Come along with us on this EXTREME rollercoaster as we dig into the good (Bellamy and Indra are done with Octavia’s bullshit! Abby destroys the embodiment of her addiction! Murphy has been watching 70’s movies in space!), the bad (what an unsatisfying Princess Mechanic reunion! Why do people keep making deals with McCreary???) and the ugly (there is absolutely no justification for using a torture device on your child). T-minus 4 days until the finale! LET’S DO THIS THING --------------------------------------------------------------------- 0:02 - All of Blodreina's Assorted Chickens Come Home to Roost 0:19 - Okay, But in What Sense Does Bellamy "Want" Octavia to Die? 0:24 - Tragedy vs. Bummer: Why Octavia's (and the Blakes') Arc Is the Latter, Not the Former 0:34 - "Can I Just Say Something Real Gay for a Minute": Claire Is On-Brand 0:36 - We Really, Really Hope That There Are a LOT More Consequences to Come for Octavia 0:56 - Finally, a Glimpse Into Miller's State of Mind!!! And Finally, People Coming Together!!! IT FEELS LIKE HOPE 1:03 - Erin Has Two Boxes of Clarke Feelings: One Is Labeled "Plot Beefs," the Other Is Labeled "Bellarke Flails" 1:06 - That Shock Collar Scene Was Bad On, Like, Every Conceivable Level 1:35 - Clarke Character Crux: Is "Mama Bear" Clarke the Result of Motherhood, or Her 6-Year Isolation? 1:39 – Clarke Has Nowhere to Go For Counsel Except Into the Past 1:53 – Claire Keeps Forgetting That Clarke Thought Bellamy Was Dead LOL Whoops 1:55 – That Clarke and Echo Conversation Was SO MUCH 2:09 – CLARKE/BELLAMY PARALLELS, PART 1: Striking a Deal with the Devil and Leaving Someone You Love Behind 2:16 – CLARKE/BELLAMY PARALLELS, PART 2: Learning Healthy Family Emotional Boundaries 2:24 – Please God Let Us Get a Better Princess Mechanic Reunion Next Week 2:26 – The McCreary Problem: Clarke, Diyoza and Kane Get Stuck in a Massive Plot Hole Playing a Three-Person Game of Idiot Ball 2:37 – Uhhhhhhh IDK Who That Dude Was Who Just Handed His People Over for McCreary to Massacre Them But It Was NOT Marcus Kane 2:50 – Everyone Keeps Interpreting Abby’s Advice in the Most Violent Way Possible 2:53 – Vinson As the Human Personification of Abby’s Addiction Is One of the Most Brilliant Twists in This Entire Season 3:03 – Claire Gets Personal About Vinson’s Refusal to Let Abby Go 3:11 – WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME BUT WE CAN’T NOT TALK ABOUT KABBY

Has anyone else had "Sword of Damocles" from Rocky Horror stuck in their heads ever since they announced the title of the finale? We derailed on Rocky Horror/The 100 crossover possibilities for five solid minutes before we even managed to start talking about the episode this week, and gave ourselves stomach aches from laughing in the process! P.S. We are 1000% serious about the "Time Warp" in Trigedasleng thing. If someone translates it, we will MAKE THAT HAPPEN at Unity Days 3 in January!

WELP, CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE WHO BET MONEY THAT IT WOULD BE CANNIBALISM YOU WIN AN EXTREMELY GRIM AND DEPRESSING EPISODE Jump in our Way-Back Machine and return with us to a simpler time, where we can revisit our old friends Kara Cooper, brighter indoor lighting, and Kane's good hair! Enjoy this brief flash of a more-or-less sane Octavia before everything falls to shit again and life is The Worst! Claire now bitterly regrets ever having uttered the words “hey wouldn’t it be dope if Abby and Octavia ever had a storyline together” I’M SORRY GUYS THIS ONE’S ON ME I PUT IT OUT IN THE UNIVERSE AND I CAN’T TAKE IT BACK NOW (. . . kudos to Propkru, though. We're never eating Jell-O again.) Meanwhile, in the future, Jason grants our wish to finally get all three Griffin ladies in the same room, though shit's pretty bleak over there too. There’s lots to love (Abby gets cured! Bellamy speaks Trig! Murphy gets a giant gun! Diyoza wants Kabby reunited as much as we do! Raven and Shaw kiss! Echo is in charge and it’s hot af!) and lots to furrow our brows at in mild puzzlement (if Clarke kills McCreary, aren’t all their problems basically over? Does Madi have Clarke’s consciousness in her head, meaning there are now effectively two Clarke minds in play?). Plus, Professor Erin does both “Robinson Crusoe” and “Paradise Lost”, Claire thinks everyone’s reading that final Kane/Diyoza scene wrong, and we have LOTS of thoughts about Wonkru cannibal ethics. All right, take a deep breath and let's dive in! Trust us, there's not enough vegetable broth in the WORLD to make this bleak and stomach-turning hour of television go down any easier. (Thank God at least Raven is happy.) ------------------------------------------- 0:00 – Maybe the REAL Cannibalism Was the Friends We Made Along the Way 0:16 – The Sunk Cost Fallacy: Blodreina’s Power Thrives on Food Scarcity and Fear 0:30 – Mt. Weather vs. the Bunker: Dehumanization, Complicity, and Bodies as Resources 0:43 – “Marcus Is the Key” – The Patient on the Operating Table Abby Has to Save Is All of Wonkru 0:51 – Would It Have Been Possible For Octavia to Pull a S1 Abby By Telling Everyone the Truth? 1:08 – Survival vs. Deserving to Survive: The Origin of the Kane vs. Octavia Rift 1:15 – “Omon Gon Oson” As Both Propaganda and Devotional Practice 1:22 – Kane, Octavia, and Individual Ethics vs. Subsuming Yourself Into the Collective 1:30 – We Need to Unpack Octavia’s Hypocrisy In Burning the Farm 1:34 – Professor Erin Does “Paradise Lost” 1:40 – Is Season 6 Octavia the New Season 4 Jaha? 1:45 – We Just Have Like . . . Infinity Jillion Flame Questions, Guys 2:27 – Are We Just Circling Back Over and Over to a World Order We Already Dismantled, and Rehashing the Same War? 2:46 – Everything Is Broken and We Want to See These Characters BUILD Something Because We Don’t Think We Can Handle Another Season That’s Just About Destroying Things 2:52 – The Trauma of Madi’s Nightblood Childhood 2:59 – We’re Running Out of Time But Here Are Our Spacekru Thoughts In One Minute 3:00 – CLAIRE THINKS YOU’RE ALL WRONG ABOUT THAT LAST SCENE, DAD KANE DID NOT DOUBLE-CROSS HIS CHILDREN 3:06 - Diyoza Reminds Both Kane and Us That Abby Is Not a Villain (Though We're Bummed She Got Overruled By Clarke About Having to Cure McCreary)

Hello and welcome back to Meta Station! We are, again, unfortunately subjecting you to our unedited ramblings, as Erin is on her way out of town and Claire is at San Diego Comic-Con, so our schedules this weekend are a little crazy. Hooray, you get this week’s podcast a few days early! Boo, you have to listen to our unfiltered verbal chaos. But we have so much to scream about, starting with the fact that BILL CADOGAN KILLED BECCA PRAMHEDA OH MY GOD Y’ALL CAN WE SCREAM FOREVER ABOUT MONTY/BECCA, CADOGAN/OCTAVIA PARALLELS PLEASE AND THANK YOU But that wasn’t the only piece of delicious angst we were fed this week by the brilliant Benson sisters, oh no no my friends. Monty saves the day (for a minute), Madi goes rogue, Abby hits rock bottom, Indra is at peak Battle Mom, and there’s no coming back from this for the Blakes. Plus we finally find out why everyone’s so scared of Vinson, we’re beside ourselves with relief that nobody died in that pit (we were REAL worried about Gaia, fam), and we’re delighted that Abby, Clarke and Madi are all in the same room so we can really get this grimdark “Gilmore Girls” AU rolling. And director Henry Ian Cusick shows us he’s definitely got the goods, with fish-eye lenses and broken mirrors and Blake flashbacks and witch burnings and worm larvae and blood smears and a kick-ass fight sequence and SO MUCH FIRE! A LOT of shit went down, y’all, and we are most definitely NOT ready for “The Dark Year” next week. ---------------------------------- 0:00-0:52 – “The Flame Can Save Us All”: Cadogan Killed Becca, Madi Has a Head Full of Commanders, and Clarke Is Not Happy About Any of This Shit 0:52-1:23 – “I Know What It Feels Like to Need Something”: Ian Goes Behind the Camera and Shows Us Abby’s Perspective for the First Time, So We Finally Understand What It Feels Like to Be Her 1:23-2:02 – “First One Who Touches the Ground Loses”: Octavia Would Rather Burn the World to the Ground Than Let Go of Blodreina 2:02-2:51 – “Adam and Eve”: Monty and Harper Bring the Apples to Eden and Our Finale Endgame Predictions Begin to Take Shape

Hello and welcome back to Meta Station! Our nightmare of biweekly hiatuses has come to an end and now we’re on a runaway train speeding downhill towards the finale, and BOY OH BOY are we excited. How are you guys holding up? Is everyone breathing? Eating? Getting enough sleep? Are we all stressed as fuck about how Abby’s only remaining friend is a serial killer, what the fuck went down during the Dark Year that turned Miller into a Blodreina zealot, how long it’s gonna be before Madi blows up at Clarke for her new “shoot first, ask questions later” parenting style, and whether there’s any chance in hell all three of those characters will somehow magically make it out of the fighting pit alive? Yeah, us too. In the meantime, though, Miranda Kwok hits it out of the park with a stunning hour of television where ALLLLLLLLL the shit that’s been simmering for the past eight episodes (or the past six years) (or the past five seasons) finally starts to explode all over the place, and the show continues to keep character and relationship at the heart of the plot. COME SCREAM WITH US ABOUT THIS EPIC SHIT --------------------------------------------------------------------- 0:00 – “Thus Always to Tyrants” Is Perhaps the Most Apt Title of the Season 0:05 – Yo, For Real, What Went Down During the Dark Year That Turned Miller and Niylah Into Creepy True Believers 0:16 – Chickens Coming Home to Roost, Part I: Clarke, Bellamy, Madi, the Flame, and a Perfectly-Realized Example of the Show’s “Both Sides Are Right, Both Sides Are Wrong” Dynamic 0:26 – Both Clarke and Bellamy Have Plans That Only Work If You Handwave Away Like Half a Dozen Major Problems 0:41 – Claire Gets Emotional About Lexa and Luna’s Moms, and the Psychological Trauma the Commander Cult Forces Onto Children 0:53 – Bellamy’s Delusion That Removing Leadership From Octavia’s Shoulders Will Bring Octavia Back 0:56 – If You’re Wondering Why the Plot Crescendos In Season 5 Land So Much Better Than They Did In Season 4, It’s Because Literally Every Single One Is Rooted in Relationships 1:05 – Chickens Coming Home to Roost, Part II: That Awkward Sense of Clarke and Bellamy Being in Stasis This Season Was 100% Deliberate 1:14 – That Madi/Gaia/Bellamy Scene: Let’s Unpack the Consent and Choice and Power and Coercion Issues Going On Here 1:19 – The Flame Has Lots of Story Possibilities as a Piece of Becca’s Technology (and a Way for Madi to Help Build a New Society) 1:32 – CONGRATULATIONS TO EMMY NOMINEE ADINA PORTER FOR ABSOLUTELY SLAYING THIS EPISODE 1:40 – Chickens Coming Home to Roost, Part III: Indra and Gaia Can No Longer Put Off Reckoning with the Monster They Created 1:48 – The Myth of Wonkru’s Unity Turns Out to Be a Beautiful Narrative Bait-and-Switch 1:52 – A Brief Digression to Just Yell About How Great This Season Is 1:57 – In Which the Show Takes a Second Run at the “I’m Gonna Chain You in a Boiler Room While I Endanger One of Your Family Members” Plot From 411, and This Time Sticks the Landing 2:00 – SPILL THE BEANS, MIRANDA, WHICH ONE OF YOU LIFTED THE ROCK-THROWING SCENE FROM CLAIRE’S BOOK 2:06 –Murphy Finally Finds a Crisis That Can Only Be Solved by Murphying, and Then Stays Behind to Save Abby From the Consequences of Said Murphying 0:16 – Echo Has the Biggest Spy Crush on Diyoza, Like GIRL SAME 2:20 – Chickens Coming Home to Roost, Part IV – HOLY MOTHERFORKING SHIRTBALLS, THAT MCCREARY/DIYOZA FIGHT SCENE 2:29 – Erin Does Not Like Abby’s Hair But Claire LOOOOOVES Her Outfit 2:32 – Shallow Valley Is Fighting a Civil War Over Who Gets Custody of Abby Griffin and Claire Is Back On Board With Her Storyline Again

Et Tu, Bro-té????? Welcome to our episode recap of “How We Get to Peace,” an episode that was far superior to its weirdly clunky title. But HOLY WORM EXPLOSIONS, BATMAN, what a ride! Apologies in advance that this one’s going up mostly unedited, because it was another weird schedule week, but we didn’t want to make you wait any longer for the chance to come flail with us about all the CRAZY SHIT THAT WENT DOWN. Kara Cooper gets the John-Hurt-in-“Alien” treatment, times a billion! McCreary is back to fuck shit up! Indra gets demoted! Kane is a godfather now! Echo and Raven are friends again! Emori is done being jerked around! Monty and Harper are PEACING OUT (literally)! Abby solves the medical mystery! Bellamy says “mama bear” out loud! Miller is kind of a dick! Vinson is kind of a bro! WORMS ARE EVERYWHERE! Teenage Diyoza used to make out under the bleachers! And Octavia finally gets outplayed at her own game when Big Brother does the one thing we all believed he’d never, ever do! EVERYTHING HAPPENS SO MUCH 0:00 – Marcus Kane and Charmaine Diyoza: In Which Diyoza Sees Herself Through Kane’s Eyes and Doesn’t Like It Much, Kane Shows Us a Glimpse of an Idyllic Future Jason Will Almost Certainly Ruin For Us, and the Writers Room Has Absolutely Been Reading Kabby Baby Fanfic 0:32 – Monty Green and Kara Cooper: In Which the Fertile Valley Means Life, the Barren Farm Means Death, Monty’s Algae Might Save Everyone, and Erin Gets Excited About the Georgics 1:03 – Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake: In Which the Ends Turn Out Not to Justify the Means, Octavia Says the Quiet Part Out Loud, Bellamy Hits His Breaking Point, There’s Still (Mercifully) No Sign of Love Triangle Stupidity, and Erin Has ALLLLLLLLL the Shippy Flails 1:44 – The Blakes: In Which Bellamy Won’t Swear Allegiance to Blodreina, Octavia Never Sees the Double-Cross Coming, the Childhood Nostalgia Breaks Our Hearts, and We Have No Idea What Happens to Their Relationship Next 2:08 – Emori, John Murphy, and “Graveyard” McCreary: In Which the Agent of Chaos Returns to Ruin Everything, Our Girl Finally Lays Down Some Healthy Emotional Boundaries, and Nobody Actually Wants War Except McCreary and Octavia 2:21 – Abby Griffin and Raven Reyes: In Which Our Doctor Mechanic Hearts Take the Biggest Hit of Their Lives, The Show Remembers Everyone’s Pre-Pilot Backstory, Lindsey and Paige Deserve Emmys, and Claire Would Like to Have Some Words About Framing Abby’s Addiction As a Story That’s Mostly About Everybody Else

First things first: Meta Station is raising money for RAICES Texas to help reunite and free immigrant detainee families! We started with a goal of raising $2500, which we BLEW OUT OF THE WATER in less than 24 hour thanks to the enormous generosity of Lola Flanery (Madi), Marie Avgeropoulos (Octavia), and 49 other amazing fans, so now we are just going to see how much money we can raise between now and August 7, when the season finale airs! You can donate to our fundraiser here: https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/meta-station-supports-refugee-kids/ Or, if you're outside North America, you can donate directly to RAICES here: https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/2086450 If you donate to RAICES directly and still want to be included in our fundraiser, you can DM us a screencap of your donation receipt (here or on Twitter or Tumblr). Crowdrise accepts offline donations, so we can still add you to our total and send you lots of love! ----------- We had LOOOOOOTS to say about this episode!! (*laughs nervously and looks an runtime*) Jasper and Monty! Clarke and Monty! Octavia and Indra! Kara Cooper going full-on war criminal! Blodreina using everyone else's hypocrisy to excuse her own amoral strategic choices! Kabby and Recho breaking ALL our hearts! SHAW AND DIYOZA BACKSTORY THAT WE WOULD TOTALLY WATCH AN ENTIRE TV SHOW EXPLORE SAY HOW'S THAT PREQUEL COMING JASON ROTHENBERG?!?! This was a fun one, fam! 3:00 - Make It Mean Something: Jasper, Monty, & The Letter (TW: lots of suicide mentions) 21:00 - How Jasper Breaks the Cycle of War 28:00 - Jonty and the Struggle to See Outside the Cycle 34:00 - Madi Kom Clarkekru, the One True Breaker of Cycles? 46:00 - Could Madi Save Octavia from Blodreina? 50:30 - Bellamy, Clarke, Blodreina, and Interrogating "I Do It For 'My People'" 54:30 - The Return of Heart Over Head Bellamy (Your Plans Suck, But We Still Love You) 1:00 - Power Vs Powerlessness and Inevitability Vs Choice 1:04 - Ecosystems Are Another Cycle Being Broken, Which Is...Probably Not Great? 1:07 - Chekhov's Algae: Is Monty the Key to Salvation This Season? 1:16:30 - "Let's talk about WOOORMMMSSS!" Claire Sings Through Her Nausea (But We Quickly Segue to Octavia and Indra Because Ewwwww Worms) 1:30 - The Myth of Skairipa Vs. the Myth of Blodreina: Pluralism Vs. Totalitarianism 1:37:15 - RAVEN AND ECHO ARE FRANDS ...Until They're Not And Our Hearts Get BROKEN 1:52 - We Are LIVING for This Shaw and Diyoza Backstory 2:01 - Speculation-palooza: The Many Exciting Ways the Show Could Shuffle the Decks, Loyalty-Wise 2:10:30 - STOP! Kabby Time! 2:40 - Baby, You're a Game Changer

Starved for Kabby content since there’s no new episode tonight? WE GOT U, FAM! After many delays caused by travel, book deadlines, and the sheer nonstop vexation of attempting to edit out the background noise caused by recording in a Los Angeles Airbnb with woefully thin walls, THE KABBY ROUNDTABLE PODCAST IS FINALLY HERE! Claire is joined by returning Meta Station guests Brittany of The Afictionados (@brittania_, @theafictionados) and Samantha of TellTaleTV (@samcaseys, @TellTaleTV_) along with new guests Jenn (@abigriffins) and Emily (@ifollowedfires) for three hours of everything from plot analysis to high-pitched squee-flailing on every aspect of the glorious wonderfulness of Season 5 Kabby. We’ll get real about Abby’s addiction storyline, spin some conspiracy theories about weddings and babies, roast each other lovingly on the pronunciation of “Eligius,” and painstakingly catalog every Kabby hug, kiss and touch to unpack our emotions about it. COME JOIN US P.S. if you missed the Bellarke roundtable, hosted by Erin, check out the link here! https://soundcloud.com/meta-station/special-bellarke-roundtable-with-special-guests

Hey look! Our 506 pod is here for you on a THURSDAY!! That's because Erin is going to visit Claire tomorrow and Claire is on a work deadline, and therefore we had almost no time to edit, so--apologies in advance for all the ums and likes and that one time when Erin's dog experiences VERY LOUD bronchial distress causing Claire to completely forget what she was talking about. Grab up as much Swiss chard and apples as your arms can carry, because Blodreina is coming for your veggies! 0:00 - This Is EditKru Appreciation Week, Because Now You All Get To Hear What We Sound Like Without Them! 3:40 - Diyoza and McCreary and Kane, Oh My! 9:00 - Echo, Raven, and Shaw: Friends or Foes to Kane? 16:00 - This Is a War Over Power Masquerading As a War Over Resources 23:00 - This Episode Shuffles ALLLLLL the Decks When It Comes to Characters' Presumed Loyalies, and WE LOVE IT 27:30 - Et Tu, Niylah?? 31:30 - HOW MANY TIMES IN ONE EPISODE CAN OUR HEARTS BREAK FOR CLARKE GRIFFIN 34:30 - Clarke and Bellamy Run Smack Into Their Differing Priorities 42:00 - Octavia Blake: The Only Character Still Fighting for an Abstraction 46:00 - Gaia Has Been Carrying A Torch for The Old Ways (Ba-Dum-Tiss) 53:30 - WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH MADI, BLODREINA (and Gaia and Cooper) 1:00 - Is There a Way to Bring Octavia Back from "Blodreina"? 1:10 - We Love This New Healthy-Emotional-Boundaries Bellamy SO FREAKIN MUCH and We Are SO PROUD OF HIM 1:27 - Listen, "We've All Done Things We Shouldn't Be Forgiven For But Are" Is a HUUUUUUGE Character-Revealing Moment for Bellamy 1:40 - Soft Bearded Space Dad Bellamy Is the Same Badass Will-Do-Anything-For-His-Family Bellamy We Have Always Known & Loved 1:48 - Bellamy and Clarke Have Different Centers of Emotional Gravity Now, and Everyone Feels Weird About It 1:51:30 - A Brief Interlude for Canine Bronchial Distress 1:52:30 - Annnndddd Back to Business 1:57 - Bellamy Blake: Macrame Enthusiast 1:59 - You're Making It Real Hard for Us to Root For Memori, John 2:08 - Murphy, McCreary, and Murphy's Dark Night of the Soul? 2:12 - ECHO IS A SMART, SAVVY, SELFLESS BAMF AND WE LOVE HER WITH ALL OUR HEARTS, DON'T @ US (no, seriously, please don't @ us) 2:20:30 - Roan Is a Centaur Now 2:23:30 - Becho and Madi Anchor the Emotional Stakes of the Political Plot 2:28:45 - On Shipping, (Not) Multishipping, and Managing Emotions

Claire and Erin sat down for an interview with the wise, lovely and hilarious Luisa D'Oliveira and fell immediately and irrevocably in love with her. Join us for a conversation about artistic bravery, how science fiction helps us understand our humanity, the relationship between Emori and John Murphy, her experience playing a chipped version of herself, and how she keeps herself centered in an industry that's so full of constant negative feedback. We want her to be our new 4 a.m. phone call best friend, and after this interview, you will too.