Hi, this is Dana Stevens, Slate's movie critic, here with a spoiler special podcast on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the last installment of the eight-part Harry Potter series. And with me from the DC Slate Studios is Dan Cois. Dan writes on film for the Washington Post, the New York Times, The Village Voice, Slate on occasion, and other outlets far and near. So hi Dan.

Hey, Dana.

Who, of course, was faded. Destiny writ long ago that you would be in here, spoiling this last Harry Potter with me. I think we've done every Harry Potter movie that's come out since

I've been a movie critic. I believe that's correct. As long as there have been spoilers.

And Harry Potter, we have done all the movies, which I think at this point probably adds up to four or five.

Yeah, I've been here to explain what the hell is going on to you all along.

Absolutely.

Yeah, you're my Potter consultant because, well, do you want to give your credit as a Potter consultant?

I read all the books like seven zillion times, basically. You just wrote something for Slate that's a magnificent sweeping overview of the whole series, book and movie?

That's the headline, yeah.

I wrote something to accompany your review, which I'm very excited to read,

which is, yeah, an overview of the way that the Potter movies as a franchise have worked so well

and how they writeed themselves after seeming

at first to be just quite ordinary studio product to turn into something significantly

more interesting and special than that.

Where do you trace that?

You think it's with the third movie when Chris Columbus stepped out and Quaron stepped in

as a director?

Yeah, I mean, that's the argument I make. And, of course, quite a bit of it has to do when Chris Columbus stepped out and Quaron stepped in as a director?

Yeah, I mean, that's the argument I make.

And, of course, quite a bit of it has to do with Chris Columbus stepping down because he's not a great director.

He is a terrific producer, it seems, based on the output of the movies since then.

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