PopaHALLics #130 "The Witch, The Killer ... & Emily in Paris"
Kate muses on the appeal—and fashion—of the Netflix hit "Emily in Paris," recently named by The New York Times as one to "hatewatch." (You dislike the show so much that you still watch it so you can ridicule it.) First, we look at "American Murder: Laci Peterson" and talk about three novels. Also: "The Lost Kitchen."

Streaming:

• "Emily in Paris," Netflix. As the fourth season begins, marketing executive Emily (Lily Collins) has even more romantic and professional dilemmas! Golly! Part one of this season premiered in August and part two drops Sept. 12.
• "American Murder: Laci Peterson," Netflix. This true-crime docuseries delves into the 2002 disappearance and murder of Peterson, who was eight months pregnant at the time.
• "The Lost Kitchen" and "Getting Lost," Max, Discovery, Magnolia. In these reality shows, self-taught chef Erin French uses local crops to whip up tasty dishes and connections to the family cooks who went before.

Books:

• "The Road from Belhaven," by Margot Livesey. The gift of second sight complicates the life of a young woman in late 19th-century Scotland.
• "Gone," by Chelsea Cain. In this thriller, Kick, a survivor of child pornography, looks for an abducted boy with the help of the enigmatic John Bishop.
• "The Paying Guests," by Sarah Waters. This novel set in 1920s south London weaves together a love story and a crime drama as a family trying to make ends meet takes in lodgers.

Click through to watch and read what we're talking about.

PopaHALLics #129 "Girls, Girls, Girls"
Girls and women dominate our pop culture choices this week, from a British teen trying to solve a murder to a black woman struggling with racial tensions in 1960s America. Sometimes they're good "girls" and sometimes, like "Abigail," they're very, very bad.

Streaming:

• "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder," Netflix. For her school project, a 17-year-old British girl investigates the murder of a high school student five years before. The limited series is based on Holly Jackson's YA mystery bestseller.
• "Abigail," Peacock. The makers of "Ready or Not" return with another black comedy horror movie. A group of kidnappers kidnap the right young girl, but boy oh boy does it go wrong.
• "The Decameron," Netflix. A comedy about the Black Death? In this limited series, a group of Italians flee the plague to a remote estate, bringing their foibles, lusts and problems with them. Tony Hale stars.
• "Lady in the Lake," Apple +. This mystery thriller follows the lives of two women on a collision course in 1960s Baltimore. Natalie Portman is a Jewish housewife seeking to reinvent herself as an investigative journalist, and Cleo Johnson (Moses Ingram) is a black woman struggling to provide for her family.

Books:

• "Night Watching," by Tracy Sierra. In this suspense thriller, Sierra's debut, a woman and her two young children are menaced by a home invader during a snowstorm ... or are they?

Music:
The Mavericks are classified as "Americana"—a catdh-all term for this Miami band that blends country, rock, Tex-Mex twang, Cuban rhythms, even Jamaican ska. Steve saw a recent concert and thoroughly enjoyed it. Check out their music, as well as by similar artists, on our latest playlist!

Click through the links to watch, read, and listen to what we're talking about.

PopaHALLics #128 "Four on the Floor"
Our podcast is four years old! We celebrate with a funny, more-or-less-true movie about profanity-laced letters, an animated noir Batman, an Alice Hoffman novel about the power of reading, and an influential "sensation" novel first published in 1859-60. Once again, we're on the cutting edge! [Joke.]

Streaming:

• "Wicked Little Letters," streaming services and rental. When residents of a small seaside town begin receiving profanity-laced letters in this black comedy mystery, suspicion falls on a foul-mouthed Irishwoman (Jessie Buckley). But did she do it? Also starring Olivia Coleman and Ajana Vasan.
• "Shardlake," Hulu. In this 4-part series based on C.J. Sansom's novels, a lawyer and his sidekick (Arthur Hughes and Anthony Boyle) investigate, on the orders of Thomas Cromwell (Sean Bean), a horrific murder at a monastery.
• "Batman: Caped Crusader," Prime. In this animated throwback noir series, Batman (voiced by Hamish Linklater) is a true detective using low-key methods and his fists to fight crime in Gotham City. More diversity and some interesting spins on Batman's longtime villains.
• "My Spy," Prime. A hardened CIA agent (Dave Bautista) meets his most challenging adversary yet, a 9-year-old girl (Chloe Coleman), whom he's supposed to be discreetly surveilling. She has other ideas in this cute 2020 action comedy also starring Kristen Schaal and Daniel Kim.
• "Leave No Trace," Disney+ and rental. In this slow-moving but involving drama from the Oscar-nominated writer and director of "Winter's Bone," a dad (Ben Foster) and his daughter (Thomasin McKenzie) live off the grid in Oregon until one small mistake tips them off to the authorities.

Books:

• "The Invisible Hour," by Alice Hoffman. This novel from the "queen of magical realism" celebrates the power of reading. A copy of "The Scarlet Letter" causes a young girl to question she and her mother's involvement in an oppressive cult.
• "The Woman in White," by Wilkie Collins. This story originally published in installments in 1859-1860 is often cited in 100-best-novels-of-all-time lists and was one of the first to use multiple narrators to advance the plot. Vivid characters, a mysterious woman in white, true love, scheming upper-crust types, involuntary confinement in an insane asylum—it's all here!