“Screenwriters today are being told directly to write with simpler arcs and less complex plots. The notes are explicit. Assume the audience is half watching. Assume they are looking at their phones.” - Christine Merser

In this episode I take a deep dive into  The Reluctant Fundamentalist , a film that should have been front-row center but never got its moment. I talk about Riz Ahmed’s extraordinary performance, the quiet brilliance of Mira Nair’s direction, the music that pulls you into another cultural syntax, and the way the film exposes America’s post-9/11 blind spots without shouting. It is a story about identity, belonging, and the small humiliations that shape a life. And maybe more than anything,...

Merser and Wilder could not wait to unpack Season Three of  The Diplomat , which Merser calls “the best of the three, by a diplomatic mile.” After a quick walk through Seasons One and Two, they dive into the complex and ingenious storytelling that defines this season. You cannot talk about  The Diplomat  without invoking  The West Wing  and Homeland , and Debora Cahn , who wrote for both, shows how to fuse the best of those worlds while making something singular in  The Diplomat . The plot is...