My Brother, My Captain, My Podcast

Succession (2023) Season 4 Episode 4: Honeymoon States   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) attends Logan's wake, which turns out to be a feudal battle over the Roy kingdom and fiefs! The familial heirs make a play by supporting the eldest son Kendall (err, sorry Con, would you like this castle in recompense?), while the vassals fight to ensure themselves a place of prominence unde...

Succession (2023) Season 4 Episode 3: Connor's Wedding   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) get pulled away from Con and Willa's wedding by a phone call from the f*cky-sucky brigade to let them know that Logan Roy is feeling ill! This momentous third episode allows us the opportunity to talk about television episodes and seasons in form and function, and how Armstrong and Mylod wer...

Succession (2023) Season 4 Episode 2: Rehearsal   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) terrifyingly mosey through the latest Succession episode as Logan gets more involved both at the office and with his family. Con is hoping Willa hasn't sunk to the bottom of the river ahead of their bum-fight wedding, and Kerry makes an audition tape which earns her a talking to from the human stri...

Succession (2023) Season 4 Episode 1: The Munsters   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) randomly show up at Logan Roy's birthday party with the gaudiest handbags imaginable! We dive into the kids trying to steal Pierce out from under father's nose, while the Disgusting Brothers Tom and Greg adjust to their new roles in the family. Hopefully Mondale remembers our smells! --- Become...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Part 20: Two Towers Wrap-Up   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) have fallen through Khazad-dûm, ridden with the Rohirrim and marched with the Ents, and are finally ready to look back at the great stories of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers! We start with the film's closing tune, Gollum's Song by Emiliana Torrini, before discussing...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Part 19: The Great Stories   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) believe there is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for! We come to the final scenes of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers with a focus on editing - how did the film handle it's disparate storylines and cut them together? After that, it's all feelings and mo...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Part 18: Helm's Deep Part Two   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) ride out and meet the Uruk-Hai as the Horn of Helm Hammerhand rings through the keep, one last time! We wrap up events at Helm's Deep, from the King's courageous ride to Gandalf's triumphant return, with a continuation of the military and narrative analyses we did in our...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Part 17: Osgiliath   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) are besieged along with the soldiers of Gondor at Osgiliath, the military outpost defending the river from Mordor. Orcs attack from the opposite shore (whichever shore that may be!) while a Nazgul sweeps in to city. But before we do that, we look at the horror influences on Peter Ja...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Part 16: Last March of the Ents   Hroom! Hroom! Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien )'s business is with Isengard tonight, with rock and stone! As the forests of Fangorn to Isengard come against, we look at the influence of William Shakespeare on your hosts as well as JRR Tolkien - then it's onto one of the most powerful scenes in all of ci...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Part 15: Helm's Deep Part 1   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) man the walls of the Hornburg as Saruman's army descends on Helm's Deep! The great battle of the film starts here with a detailed breakdown of the labor, writing, and craftwork that went into bringing it to life. But first, we talk about big battles on film and television a...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Part 15: The Entmoot   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) arrive for a gathering...but of what?! Something is about to happen that hasn't happened for an age, and we discuss the film's adaptation of the Entmoot, as well as popular historical and fictional moots!  --- Emily wrote a chapter in In One Woman's Life: Celebrating Mary Brooksba...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Part 15: Fortifying Helm's Deep   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) ride hard for Helm's Deep, only to encounter Saruman's army, ten thousand strong, heading the same direction! We take a tour of Helm's Deep with Theoden and Aragorn as we prepare for the oncoming battle. But first, we go big as we discuss the use of "bigatures" in the p...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Part 14: Henneth Annun Book Analysis   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) are Token Tolkien for an entire episode, here with the rangers of Ithilien. Faramir puts his hostages, Frodo and Sam, to question about their journey and their secret purpose, so far from their homes in The Shire. Faramir reveals himself to be a shrewd operator and...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Part 13: Henneth Annun   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) are led blindfolded into the guerilla outpost in Ithilien, the Window on the West. Faramir, Captain of Gondor, speaks to the doom of Men coming on two fronts before speaking to the two Hobbits, whose fates will govern the doom of Men. Meanwhile, Gollum goes fishing in a nearby,...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Part 13: Middle-Earth Intermission   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) head to the lobby to get their selves some treats! The middle of The Two Towers acts as an intermission for the film and the trilogy, so your hosts sing songs about their favorite theater going experiences and moments. Then we go around the board of Middle-Earth chec...

Andor (2022) Season One Discussion Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) sacrifice everything to bring you one last look at Andor season 1! We reminisce about our favorite moments and characters, answer listener questions, and finally dive into some of the broader political and cultural discourses that have sprung up around the hit show. There's only one way out, and it's listening to...

  This was our very first Patreon-exclusive released in October 2022 - as a special holiday treat, we are releasing it to the public! Patreon exclusive episodes are available to all $10 patrons and come out monthly! See link below to sign up!   Our very first Patreon episode! Emily and Manu take some time to just shoot the breeze, learning more about each other and fielding questions from some of...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Character analysis: Faramir and Eowyn   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) meet in the Houses of Healing to focus in on two of the newest additions to the cast in The Two Towers: Eowyn, shieldmaiden of Rohan and Faramir, captain of Gondor. We dive into their character histories, their thematic importance, and their adaptation to screen....

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Part 12: The Caravan to Helm's Deep   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) take time on their travels to Helm's Deep to think about "adaptation;" different approaches to adapting books to screen, where they succeed and where they fail, and then apply it to these Lord of the Rings films as well as Jane Austen's novels! But on the road, we a...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Part 11: Ithilien   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) are FAMISHED for some quality Lord of the Rings content, so we feast on the Jackson films for the first time in a long with with Sam, Frodo, and Gollum in the lands just west of Mordor. As Sam makes some stew, we talk over the foods of Middle-Earth and their real-world analogs. But b...

Andor (2022) Episode 12: Rix Road   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) are lifted by the dead as Maarva's funeral turns into a call to arms for the people of Ferrix. Our core cast descends on the scrapping town as everyone looks for Cass, Cass looks for Bix, and Luthen looks to put an end to Cass's life. We love this show more than anything it could ever do wrong. Happy 50th episod...

Andor (2022) Episode 11: Daughters of Ferrix   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) need to tell everyone about what's happening on Narkina 5 as Cass and Melshi finally get off planet. But it's what happening on Ferrix that drives this episode: the death of Maarva. As preparations are made for her funeral, both Empire and Rebels look to close in on our titular character there! --- Be...

Andor (2022) Episode 10: One Way Out   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) have only one way out of the prison facility on Narkina 5, a leap of faith towards freedom lead by Cass and most of all Kino Loy, as Andy Serkis delivers a performance for the ages. Elsewhere, Mon Mothma runs up against the traditions of her own Chandrilan people, and Luthen orates to the sunless place in his...

Andor (2022) Episode 9: Nobody's Listening   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) have gotten into the flow of things at table 5, but efficiency does not breed happiness as Cass and Kino learn about what happened to the prisoners on Level 2. Elsewhere, Mon Mothma's family continues to amaze, between Perrin's obliviousness and the arrival of Mon's cousin. And the King of Down Bad hims...

Andor (2022) Episode 8: Narkina 5   Manu ( @ManuclearBomb ) and Emily ( @JRRTweetien ) are sentenced to six years at Narkina 5, an Imperial Factory Facility where faces old and new ask Cassian about what's happening with the Rebellion. Lots, actually, as Mon Mothma, Luthen, Vel, Cinta, and even Maarva plan their next moves as the Empire's fist tightens! --- Become a Patron of My Brother, My Captai...