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The Authoritarian Heroes of Game of Thrones

Parker Richards The Atlantic
As with many epic fantasies, the show’s heroes are framed as liberators and defenders of the common people—despite holding absolute power.

A Marxist guide to crime drama

Sofie Mason Counterfire
At its best, crime drama does not simply try to terrify us with pure unblinking evil but gives us studies of dysfunctional human beings mangled by capitalism, argues Sofie Mason

Veep’s Final Season Ponders a Horrifying Thought

Spencer Kornhaber The Atlantic
Veep has, always, been chock-full of other apparent sociopaths—which is what makes the show’s resemblance to America’s actual political reality so troubling.

The Radical Sincerity of The OA

Sophie Gilbert The Atlantic
With San Francisco, The OA has a locale that embodies all the fractures of the current moment: the dichotomy between rich and poor, the ongoing disruptions in the way people experience reality.

Netflix’s Secret City Shows How Technology Is Changing Spycraft

Samantha Nelson The Verge
Another update to the standard thriller formula is Secret City’s unabashedly feminist bent. Starting with gender-flipping Uhlmann and Lewis’ protagonist, Secret City’s writers made all of the story’s biggest power players women.

What Can ‘True Detective’ Tell Us About Race?

Micah Peters The Ringer
The casting of Mahershala Ali provided an opportunity for the HBO show to explore new themes it its third season, but in the end it all felt a little vague and perfunctory

Warp-speed Capitalism

Yiannis Baboulias New Humanist
The sci-fi series The Expanse imagines what society will look like if we colonise space – a universe in which might is right and there are no good guys.

Netflix's 'Sex Education' Nails A Crucial Aspect of Sex Positivity

Proma Khosla Mashable
As television continues to expand its world of stories, we find inclusivity extending; Sex Education’s diversity includes race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, gender, and a skillful study of sexuality and sex drive itself.