Unreliable Narrators

Bram Stoker's Dracula hard launched the world's literary vampire obsession, but what makes the book such an enduring classic? Over a hundred years later, why do we still care so much about vampires? We talk a lot about Dracula in this episode...but we also get distracted and talk quite a bit about Twilight . Don't say we didn't warn you. Our next episode will be the 2026 film Project Hail Mary . S...

What makes a person wicked? Not only wicked, but positively horrendible? Raymond and Sophie dive into the recent film adaptation of the classic Stephen Schwartz musical Wicked, based on The Wizard of Oz. How does the musical re-imagine classic characters in a more nuanced and interesting way? How does Wicked force us to sympathize--and dislike--all the characters a little bit more ? Is the battlef...

Hot take: We don't think The Wizard of Oz is a very well-written movie. So what makes the 1939 film such an enduring classic? Does the movie present an atheistic worldview, or is there something deeper to the story? If you follow the red brick road, do you end up in Hell? We may spend a lot of time laughing in this episode, but don't worry! We promise that we get around to C.S. Lewis and T.S. Elio...

Raymond and Sophie return again to one of William Shakespeare's most mysterious and complex plays, The Merchant of Venice. Is this play a tragedy or a comedy? Why is Shylock's famous demand for a "pound of flesh" so interesting? Why do cycles of vengeance always escalate? Why is mercy necessary and true justice impossible? Once again, and most importantly: What could equal the value of a...

In this episode, Raymond and Sophie try to discuss Neon Gravestones by Twenty One Pilots and somehow end up discussing the entirety of the band's discography. What is the lore behind the 2018 album Trench ? Who is Clancy? Is selling out actually a good thing? All this and more in our love letter to Twenty One Pilots. Our next episode will be William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice . Support u...

Alec Benjamin insists that his single "Jesus in L.A." is not a religious song, but the Unreliable Narrators think otherwise. How is the song "Jesus in L.A." like a sequel to T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party"? Are Vienna and L.A. metaphors for Heaven and Hell? do you have to go through the inferno of L.A. to get to the paradise of Vienna? Can anything good come out of...

In their 2025 Christmas special, Raymond and Sophie discuss the Christmas classic with the least plot and most music: The Nutcracker . Along the way, we talk about the source of the odd story that inspired the ballet, the importance of imaginative play, and the nature of toys and love. Also, we somehow end up interpreting the ending of Jonah. Don't miss it! Our next episode will be the song Jesus...

" What sort of god might he be who dares not show his face ?" In our final episode of apocalypse season, Raymond and Sophie cover the second half of Till We Have Faces. In the second part of the book, Orual undergoes a radical transformation...but what exactly is transformed? And how does this transformation happen? Sophie and Raymond return to some of the deepest stories and practices i...

In this episode, Raymond and Sophie jump on the Kpop Demon Hunters bandwagon and discuss the 2025 phenomenon that nobody saw coming. Do people become demons because of what they do or who they are? How does a trio of K-pop singers deal with the problem of sin? How many times has Sophie REALLY seen this movie? All this and more in our latest episode. Our next episode will be Part 2 of C.S. Lewis's...

In this episode, Raymond and Sophie discuss the single most influential work of literature ever written (at least to the two of them): C.S. Lewis's final novel, Till We Have Faces . Listen to find out who the god of the mountain really is, how loving and devouring are secretly the same thing, and why Psyche has always longed for death. Or, you know, you could listen to find out why Raymond and Sop...

T.S. Eliot's famous post-war poem, "The Waste Land", revolutionized modern poetry and represented huge shifts in modern consciousness. And yet to this day, it is still one of the most difficult to understand. What is all this about "April is the cruelest month"? and "Fear death by water"? and "Who is the third who walks always beside you"? In this episode, S...

In this episode, Raymond and Sophie end Anime Month with a discussion of the hit anime Mob Psycho 100. We'd like to say that we covered all our bases by discussing the nature of adolescence, Mob's solution to the problem of suffering, and the theological implications of a world where evil spirits run rampant...but we pretty much only talked about Reigen Arataka, the most lovable conman of all time...

In this episode, Raymond learns that Sophie really, really likes the death game genre—and both of them try to figure out why. What does it mean to win a game without losing your soul? Are there any Christological figures in a world of murder? And what does any of this have to do with The Brothers Karamazov ? The unreliable podcasters are determined to find out! Our next episode will be the 2016-20...

Is the human heart connected to the weather? The star-crossed lovers Hodaka in Hina in Mokoto Shinkai's Weathering with You discover this to be true in more ways than one. In this episode of anime month, Raymond and Sophie discuss the difference between archaic and Christian sacrifice, problems of utilitarian ethics, flood legends from Genesis and the Epic of Gilgamesh, and even...the secret of th...

Almost twenty years after its glory days, Raymond and Sophie finally get with the times and discuss the cultural phenomenon Death Note. What is the nature of justice in this story? What makes L such a good detective? And what do you do in a world where it's kill or be killed? All this and more in our latest episode! Our next episode will be the 2019 anime Weathering With You. Support us on Patreon...

Sophie and Raymond kick off Anime Month with a discussion of Studio Ghibli's 2001 film Spirited Away. How is Chihiro's journey a retelling of the Genesis story? What does it mean to remember your own name? Is the spirit No Face a metaphor for the artist? In their search for the answers, rest assured that both of your favorite unreliable podcasters come armed with many, many G.K. Chesterton quotes....

In this episode, Raymond reveals that we are in APOCALYPSE SEASON! In the art piece "Right?" artist Banu Cennetoğlu asks the question of how human rights can thrive in a world where the beliefs and narratives which once united us are breaking down. We discuss how René Girard and his theory of how human sacrifice evolves into ritual and ritual into the institution of law, and how this is...

Elijah Wood (aka Trinity Klomparens) joins Sophie and Raymond to discuss the Cartoon Network TV series Over the Garden Wall. How do the characters (Wert and Greg) wind up in a mysterious wood that seems to resemble Hell? What sins did they commit that got them there? Sophie and Raymond think this show has lots of profound parallels to Pilgrim's Progress and Dante's Inferno. Trinity is convinced th...

We are FINALLY back again (so sorry) after 4 months of nail-biting, painstaking silence (we know you missed us) to talk about William Golding's harrowing novel, Lord of the Flies. In Lord of the Flies, a group of English schoolboys survive a plane crash on a desert island. As they struggle to establish political order and cooperate, they are forced to discover the dark side of their own nature. Wh...

One Christmas night, in the little town of Bedford Falls, a man named George Bailey contemplates throwing away God's greatest gift...but through the prayers of those who love him dearest, George learns that he truly lived a wonderful life. In the meantime, the angel Clarence earns a pair of wings. This Christmas, Sophie and Raymond discuss one of the most beloved Christmas classics of all time, Fr...

In this episode, Sophie and Raymond discuss Taylor Swift's Anti-Hero LIVE at WhySpeak Speech Camp 2024. As Sophie tries to convince Raymond to become a Swiftie, our two favorite unreliable narrators also discuss Flannery O'Connor's moments of grace, the nature of confession, and...you guessed it...Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. All this and more in our latest episode! Support us on Patreon!...

Dive into the waters and the wild of fairies, selkies, and spirits in our pilot episode for Season 4, The Song of the Sea. Why have the fairies departed from the human world? Why is preserving these Celtic legends and myths so important? How is director Tom Moore using his art to remind us of the world of the child? Also, why does hair represent the oral tradition? In our next episode, we'll be sh...

In this episode, Sophie and Raymond discuss themes of suffering, loss, and death in Lulu Wang's 2019 film The Farewell. What are the differences between the western and eastern perspectives on death? What does it mean for the collective to carry the burden of suffering for the individual? And how much longer can Sophie keep coming up with excuses to talk about Fyodor Dostoevsky?? All this and more...

In Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", the mariner shoots an albatross...and must spend the rest of his life paying penance for his sin. What on earth does this albatross represent? Civilization? Tradition? Christendom? Or is it, as Coleridge would probably insist, just an albatross? In this episode, Sophie and Raymond discuss the Romantic poets' role in the history...

Sophie and Raymond are rejoined by special guest Anna Mason as they tackle the topic of surrealism through the lens of Salvador Dali's famous painting "The Persistence of Memory." Was Dali actually a surrealist? Why do all the clerks and navvies in the railway trains look so sad and tired? And is not being sick really the most poetical thing in the world? All this and more in this episod...