We’re just over halfway through the year, so Nick and Alastair have prepared a mid year review instead of a regular episodes. This is completely because we love taking stock and not because we have holidays.

First up, Alastair counts down his top 6 films he’s seen on the big screen so far this year (because it was too hard to choose 5) and then he offers some thoughts on what we have to look forward to for the rest of the year.

Then Nick and special guest Julianne Benford, discuss interesting development on the small screen. They talk over TV shows of 2018 that we haven’t covered so far on the podcast. Some good, some confusing and some that maybe should have ended a season ago or two ago.

You can find more information Julianne Benford here!

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Nick and Alastair return to the mean streets of the Netflix-Marvel Defenderverse this episode, as they stride into Luke Cage season 2.

But first, Nick’s talking about The Handmaid’s Tale season 2 moving beyond the Margaret Atwood novel, while Alastair cheats on his own pop culture podcast with Slate’s Decoder Ring.

And then it’s time to head back into Harlem, as Nick and Alastair tackle Luke Cage (8:50) for the first time, ready to find out if they’ve finally picked up the pace. No real spoilers for this season but some discussion of major events in Defenders and the previous run of Cage.

Our related question looks at the memorable sense of place in this show, with the eternal dilemma: Can you take Luke Cage out of Harlem? (26:35)

Download the podcast directly in mp3 here!

Listen on YouTube over a static image here!

Subscribe on iTunes! Reviews welcome!

Listen on Stitcher! Reviews also welcome!

Subscribe in multiple Android podcast apps here!