It Was an Animal Attack

Spin-off! Your hosts talk boy bands of the '90s and 2010s, the storied career of Sebastian Stan, and Franchesca Ramsey's musical takedown of bigots. Also: comics Captain America's gay best friend, music genre revival, and a looot of Game of Thrones. Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of homophobia and queer erasure, Nazism and supremacist ideals, pedophilia (and epheboph...

All in the family! Fadzai and Sandile peer into the reunion of The Mikaelson siblings, aka The Originals. Introduced over seasons 2 and 3 of The Vampire Diaries, the Originals are the children of Esther (a witch from 10th-century Norway) and Mikael (her Viking husband), who brought them to far-back America in hopes of a better life. After their youngest sibling dies in an accidental werewolf attac...

Fadzai and Sandile embrace immortal family dysfunction with The Mikaelson siblings, aka The Originals. Introduced over seasons 2 and 3 of The Vampire Diaries, the Originals are the children of Esther (a witch from 10th-century Norway) and Mikael (her Viking husband), who brought them to far-back America in hopes of a better life. After their youngest sibling dies in an accidental werewolf attack,...

Spin-off! Your hosts talk The Substance, Hollywood ageism and body standards, selling Superman and Clark Kent, and Doctor Who and its treatment of Martha Jones. Also: Korrasami discourse, South African villains on The Flash, the casting of Scream 7, and She-Hulk's most iconic episodes. Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of ageism, body image, homophobia, racism, and violence aga...

Hold on tight! Sandile and Fadzai careen into a distant and different future with Caroline Forbes. A main character of The Vampire Diaries, Caroline is introduced as one of Elena Gilbert's best friends, though slightly removed from her as compared to Bonnie Bennett. Her time in the show's first season largely deals with her insecurity around Elena, and with others' opinions of her, as...

Loved and lost! Sandile and Fadzai experience the years of significant change with Caroline Forbes. A main character of The Vampire Diaries, Caroline is introduced as one of Elena Gilbert's best friends, though slightly removed from her as compared to Bonnie Bennett. Her time in the show's first season largely deals with her insecurity around Elena, and with others' opinions of her, as...

Spin-off! Having resisted for some time, Sandile has recently watched "13 Going on 30", so your hosts chat coming-of-age, early 00's romcoms, the typecasting of Judy Greer, and the loss of fun in movies (Fadzai also dishes on some actor drama from the early days of Grey's Anatomy). Additionally - Glee conflicts, reality television, and various Spider-Man fails. Content Warning: Thi...

Small victories! Sandile and Fadzai smile in the face of adversity as they return to form with Caroline Forbes. A main character of The Vampire Diaries, Caroline is introduced as one of Elena Gilbert's best friends, though slightly removed from her as compared to Bonnie Bennett. Her time in the show's first season largely deals with her insecurity around Elena, and with others' opinion...

Sandile and Fadzai shine bright with their first choice, Caroline Forbes. A main character of The Vampire Diaries, Caroline is introduced as one of Elena Gilbert's best friends, though slightly removed from her as compared to Bonnie Bennett. Her time in the show's first season largely deals with her insecurity around Elena, and with others' opinions of her, as well as her pursuit of ro...

Spin-off! Sandile and Fadzai play six degrees of separation with CW shows and actors, get into Kaos and its untimely cancellation, and opine on the casting of Wiccan and Hulkling after the end of Agatha All Along. They also duke it out over the website TV Tropes, and its impact on media critique. Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of racism and ethnic erasure in media. Questions, qu...

Spin-off! Fadzai has finally seen Interview with the Vampire S2, so your hosts download on Armand All Along, unreliable narration, the future of the Immortal Universe, and the vampire genre in visual media (Sandile also recounts the bizarre case of "Swifties v de Lioncourt, 2024"). Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of domestic abuse, gaslighting, grief and loss, manipulatio...

The myth, the legend, the queen of mildly inexplicable return. Fadzai and Sandile meander down the road to hell with Katherine Pierce, aka Katerina Petrova. A key figure in the first season of The Vampire Diaries (though only making a physical appearance in its final episode), Katherine is introduced in flashbacks to 1864, the last year of Stefan and Damon Salvatore's human lives. As a guest i...

Better you die than her! Fadzai and Sandile escape monsters by becoming them with Katherine Pierce, aka Katerina Petrova. A key figure in the first season of The Vampire Diaries (though only making a physical appearance in its final episode), Katherine is introduced in flashbacks to 1864, the last year of Stefan and Damon Salvatore's human lives. As a guest in their home, she begins a secret r...

Fadzai and Sandile double the trouble with Katherine Pierce, aka Katerina Petrova. A key figure in the first season of The Vampire Diaries (though only making a physical appearance in its final episode), Katherine is introduced in flashbacks to 1864, the last year of Stefan and Damon Salvatore's human lives. As a guest in their home, she begins a secret relationship with each of them, before r...

Introducing Spin-Offs! A series of bonus episodes that contain bits of discussion about shows, movies, books, and other media (whether on- or off-topic) that were cut from the main episodes of the podcast. These are unstructured, un-themed, and a little incoherent, so feel free to pick your poison from the chapters in the description of each episode. In this first instalment of the series, you&#39...

Burn that bridge! Sandile and Fadzai hop, skip, and jump through storylines as the show tries to finally make sense of Lorenzo "Enzo" St. John. Joining The Vampire Diaries halfway through its fifth season, Enzo is introduced as a vampire being held by Augustine when Damon is captured, having himself been there a decade already. After helping him get through years of medicalised torture, an...

Sandile and Fadzai carve a bloody place in the world with Lorenzo "Enzo" St. John. Joining The Vampire Diaries halfway through its fifth season, Enzo is introduced as a vampire being held by Augustine when Damon is captured, having himself been there a decade already. After helping him get through years of medicalised torture, and hatching a plan for their escape, Enzo is abandoned by Damo...

In the sixth instalment of the Gilbert Journals, your hosts pull out the town charter, because it's time to talk about the Founding Families. Important names in The Vampire Diaries, these are the families that founded Mystic Falls, were privy to the supernatural that lurked within it - and, for better or worse, have historically been charged with protecting the town from it. Content Warning: T...

In the third instalment of Killer Bites, Sandile and Fadzai protect and swerve with brief vampire hunter, Thomas Vincent Fell III - AKA Tripp Cooke. Introduced at the beginning of The Vampire Diaries' sixth season, Tripp has started up a community protection squad after a string of attacks and murders just outside Mystic Falls, though it appears he has more secret - and more sadistic - motivat...

In the second instalment of Killer Bites, Fadzai and Sandile pull some schemes with the surprising Nadia Petrova. Introduced as a player amidst the Traveler plotline, she is revealed to be the long-lost daughter of Katherine Pierce/Katerina Petrova, which - for better or worse - ties her inextricably to her mother's latest antics. Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of child aban...

Daggerwatch, baby! In the fifth instalment of the Gilbert Journals, your hosts track the daggers (those dipped in white oak ash to take down an Original vampire) and the consistency of their movements across time - or the lack thereof. Sandile and Fadzai cannot help but get into the weeds on a typical day, and certainly discussing the existence of this artifact is no different. Content Warning: A...

A lasting legacy! Fadzai and Sandile close out on now mournful widow, expecting father, Alaric Saltzman. Joining The Vampire Diaries halfway through its first season, Alaric comes to Mystic Falls in search of a vampire that killed his wife, but finds more than he bargained for in the supernatural goings-on of the town. He very quickly becomes a mainstay amongst the protagonists and, through his re...

Sins of the past! Fadzai and Sandile reckon with the life, death, and return of Alaric Saltzman. Joining The Vampire Diaries halfway through its first season, Alaric comes to Mystic Falls in search of a vampire that killed his wife, but finds more than he bargained for in the supernatural goings-on of the town. He very quickly becomes a mainstay amongst the protagonists and, through his relationsh...

Fadzai and Sandile explore history and hunt down vampires with Alaric Saltzman. Joining The Vampire Diaries halfway through its first season, Alaric comes to Mystic Falls in search of a vampire that killed his wife, but finds more than he bargained for in the supernatural goings-on of the town. He very quickly becomes a mainstay amongst the protagonists and, through his relationship with Jenna Som...

The old college try! Sandile and Fadzai close out with Elena Gilbert's last two years onscreen. The main character of The Vampire Diaries, Elena enters her junior year a few months after losing her parents, trying to reclaim her life. She meets and falls in love with Stefan Salvatore, the charming and mysterious new student, who turns out to be a vampire returned to Mystic Falls. When Stefan&#...