The following podcast contains explicit language.

I'm Stephen Metcalf and this is the Slate Culture Gab Fest, iconic staircase edition.

It's Wednesday, September 25th, 2019. On today's show,

Ad Astra is the latest from director James Gray. It stars Brad Pitt as an astronaut flying into deep

space to retrieve his wayward father. And then a band of HGTV All-Stars unites with the six

Brady kids to recreate the iconic, get used to that word sitcom house

in a very Brady renovation. And finally, the word and concept meritocracy is getting a workout

these days. We discuss a long piece in the Atlantic Monthly by the journalist George Packer.

Joining me today is the deputy managing editor of the LA Times. Of course, Julia Turner.

Hey, Julia. How's it going? Hello, hello. It's going well. Good, funding in from L.A., I should say. And then in the New York studio, we have Dana Stevens, who is the film critic for Slate.com. Hey, Dana. Hey, greetings. Shall we dig in? Please. Glorious. Ad Astra. At last, I thought, a movie in Latin.

Just kidding.

Takes place in what is only, I know terrible, is only identified as the near future in which Brad Pitt is astronaut Roy McBride, a stolid, solid bit player in the world of space travel, who's one real claim to fame is his father, played by Tommy Lee Jones.

He was a legendary pioneer of deep space, a man who was lost, or at least so the world believes, to the first man journey to Neptune that was a mission to discover if we could hear intelligent life elsewhere. It turns out McBride, Sr. may still be alive, and he's messing with us if he is. And so the U.S. government enlists Roy to go into space and find out the journey into the galactic void is counterposed throughout with a deep, edipole journey within.

Oh, yeah, boo-ya.

And by the way, we don't have a clip proper.

We do have the trailer.

Let's listen to that.

I do what I do because of my dad.

He gave his life through the pursuit of knowledge. Because up there is where our story is going to be told.

... This is a top secret psychological evaluation.

Please describe your current emotional state.

I'm steady, calm, ready to do my job to the best of my abilities.

...