Episodes
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S3E3 - Prisoner of Agrabah or Whatever - Chapter 3
Harry is on his own, a lonesome man, unhoused, unhinged, unmoored, anchorless. Like a ship without a rudder, cast into the night. And then the freaking Magic School Bus picks him up and they learn about science.
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S3E2 - Prisoner of Agrabah or Whatever - Chapter Two
Strap yourselves in for a whole lot of discussion about theories of justice. Which is what I know you came here for.
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S3E1 - Prisoner of Agrabah or Whatever - Chapter One
Wherein Harry Potter sits around like a freaking emo kid the entire chapter. He chases around a book at one point, but even that isn't particularly interesting.
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S2E18 - Book 2 Chapter 18
Wherein the book comes to a thankful end. And I get all whiny about a bunch of stuff. This one's good, I swear. Please rate and subscribe. Alternatively, do not do those things. I'm not trying to tell you how to live your life. You can get mad at me via email at [email protected] You can get…
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S2E17 - Book 2 Chapter 17
Wherein a single sentence derails this entire project, Tom Riddle does a Rod Serling impression, and some other nonsense happens. The best practices of content creation in Capitalist America demand that I tell you to "be sure to like and subscribe and leave a five-star review." But you don't have...
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S2E16 - Book 2 Chapter 16
Wherein we finally find out who has been singing those Fury of Five covers (It's a snake). Some other stuff happens, too, but frankly I don't really remember anymore. Music by the Future Virgins (RIP) Subscribe and review because algorithms rule everything around us. Follow me on twitter at...
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S2E15 - Book 2 Chapter 15
Wherein the Hogwarts nursing staff is as incompetent as everyone else in the wizarding world; Harry and Ron sing Social Distortion songs with a spider king; and, really, what would this podcast be without a lengthy, pedantic discussion of narrative structure? Music by the Future Virgins (RIP)...
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S2E14 - Book 2 Chapter 14
Wherein we meet a Keebler Elf with a questionable sense of due process rights, Hogwarts undergoes some frankly much-needed personnel changes, and I discuss the role of humor in the book.
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S2E13 - Book 2 Chapter 13
Wherein Bossy Girl tries out the furry lifestyle, Harry Potter finds a book that doesn't have anything written on it and keeps it anyway, and Ginny hires a dwarf to beat up Harry Potter. There's also an extended discussion of the nature of evil with a, let's say, tangential relationship to the...
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S2E12 - Book 2 Chapter 12
Wherein Harry forgets to take off his shoes, figures out how to make a Buddhist Monk jealous, and learns about the Hogwarts to Azkaban Pipeline. Oh, and Ginny tries to understand “Darin Tries to Understand Harry Potter.”
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S2E11 - Book 2 Chapter 11
Wherein people don't like Harry Potter anymore; some guy named Justin takes a nap; and I wonder, when I sing along with you, if everything could ever feel this real forever.
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S2E10 - Book 2 Chapter 10
Wherein I had to cut out a whole section of this episode about my idea that Quidditch is just a figment of Harry's imagination because a) I didn't actually believe it; b)I discovered an even better conspiracy theory, and two seemed excessive; and c) I don't think anyone should have to listen to…
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S2E9 - Book 2 Chapter 9
Wherein Harry and the gang discover that the Chamber of Secrets has something to do with ethnic cleansing, the metaphysics of ghosts are as baffling and nonsensical as everything else in this book, and Bossy Girls prepares to ask some tough questions.
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S2E8 - Book 2 Chapter 8
Wherein Harry gets in trouble for tracking mud through the floor like he's freaking Marmaduke or something; some ghost has his birthday on Halloween because he's an attention-starved diva who can't be bothered to observe it a day later; and Harry and the gang listen to some New Jersey Hardcore.
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S2E7 - Book 2 Chapter 7
Wherein the racial politics of wizards and muggles is discussed at a length that borders on tedious, we get some fun celebrity cameos, and Darin tries to set the record straight about Nas's sophomore effort "It Was Written."
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S2E6 - Book 2 Chapter 6
Wherein the author has a lot of nothing to say about the nature of celebrity, some dork in a Mid-Atlantic accent comes in to ruin the book, and the Pixies put on a rowdy concert.
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S2E5 - Book 2 Chapter 5
Wherein Harry and Ron fly to Hogwarts, Harry and Ron get in trouble for flying to Hogwarts, and Darin blathers on about Weberian disenchantment for some reason.
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S2E4 - Book 2 Chapter 4
Wherein a whole bunch of people go shopping, and two grown men display some serious toxic masculinity.
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S2E3 - Book 2 Chapter 3
Wherein gnomes are thrown and lampshading abounds.
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S2E2 - Book 2 Chapter 2
Book 2 Chapter 2 Wherein Harry meets a masochistic slave elf, and I try to figure out how anyone could possibly enjoy the prose.
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S2E1 - Book 2 Chapter 1
Wherein Harry has a birthday, the narrator continues to be fatphobic, and the book is fascist.
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S1E17 - Chapter 17
Wherein the book ends.
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S1E16 - Chapter 16
Wherein Harry and the gang walk into a room. And then another room. And then another room. And then another room. And then anoth...
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S1E15 - Chapter 15
Wherein Hogwarts' disciplinary system is just as nonsensical as everything else about Hogwarts, and we are introduced to not one, not two, but three Centaurs.
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S1E14 - Chapter 14
Wherein there's a dragon, for some reason. Oh and we find out that wizards have the power to completely upend ontological foundations. So that's cool.
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S1E13 - Chapter 13
Wherein we find out who Nicolas Flamel is, we become insanely dissapointed by who Nicolas Flamel is, and I complain about how I don't like the villains.
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S1E12 - Chapter 12
Wherein some actually endearing and intriguing things happen for once.
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S1E11 - Chapter 11
Wherein Bossy Girl becomes not bossy, Bossy Girl sets a dude on fire, and Harry eats a ball that's also a bird.
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S1E10 - Chapter 10
Wherein the rules of Quidditch are discussed, and so is the bullshit concept of being a "natural."
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S1E9 - Chapter 9
Wherein I complain about the narrator, and about Harry's characterization, and about Hogwart's baffling pedagogy.
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S1E8 - Chapter 8
Wherein I decide I don't like any of the characters and then drone on and on about Erich Fromm's Escape from Freedom, and how that maybe relates to Harry's predicament.
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S1E7 - Chapter 7
Wherein Harry and, conveniently, everyone else we give a shit about all go to Gryffindor. And we have to pretend to be impressed by a singing hat.
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S1E6 - Chapter 6
Wherein we meet a bossy girl and some evil kid and some other kid. And the ideological implications of educational institutions are tediously discussed. Oh and I make fun of the prose.
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S1E5 - Chapter 5
Wherein Harry goes shopping, there's some bizarre sexual innuendo, and the narrator seems to exhibit some strange anti-semitism.
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S1E4 - Chapter 4
Wherein I struggle to figure out the allegorical significance of the muggle/wizard dichotomy.
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S1E3 - Chapter 3
Wherein Harry goes through extreme psychological torture, the Dursleys still completely baffle me, and the wizard school bureaucracy is totally inept.
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S1E2 - Chapter 2
Wherein I stumble upon some serious body shaming, toxic masculinity, and snakes on a plane. I didn't like this chapter very much :(
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S1E1 - Chapter 1
Wherein I try to figure out what a muggle is, and why there are all these dudes in weird robes, and whether I should care about the interior life of some guy named Dursley.
About this show
Darin reads the Harry Potter books for the first time, analyzes them from a vaguely leftist perspective, and makes fun of all the nonsense.
Hosted by
Darin Webb
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