Patrick Stewart, The “Genius” Myth, Tara Knowles (Sons of Anarchy)

Love Hate Relationship

Love: Patrick Stewart

For his Love this episode, Andy talks up one of the acting titans of the Sci-Fi, Comic, and Shakespearean Nerdoms, Sir Patrick Stewart. He discusses Stewart’s 60+ year career with everyone from the Royal Shakespeare Company to Star Trek to American Dad, and the special place that Jean-Luc Picard holds in his heart. Alex, meanwhile, mentions the sole version of Dr. Charles Xavier that doesn’t totally suck, and both of them fanboy on his activism and general adorableness.

Hate: The “Genius” Myth

Alex gets weedy with his Hate topic, all on the contemporary concept of “Genius.” He talks about how the term has evolved in Western culture, everything wrong with assuming some (usually well-off, privileged) people are just born smarter. Andy rightly points out how rare it is that the term gets applied to really any women, and not nearly enough time is spent shitting on Elon Musk.

Relationship: Tara Knowles

This episode’s Relationships.txt question has someone asking how to deal with her husband drunkenly hitting on her somewhat estranged, potentially murderous(?) mother. Alex reminds everyone that when kids are in the picture, some things you just don’t work out, Andy concurs with some ethical musing on what else could be happening, and everyone agrees that it’s pretty ludicrous when the potentially murderous mother is the least interesting part of the story.