The Take
This is the Take. It's where you come to understand more about your favorite movies, shows and culture. Our video essays make the story worlds you enter richer and deeper. Think: Endings Explained, Character Studies, Hidden Messages and Symbols Revealed, Actor and Director Profiles, and more. We want to share our love of visual culture with the world. So here's our Take.
Episodes
October 7, 2025 • 11 mins
Thanks to Storyblocks for sponsoring this video! Get 2 extra months free with annual plans for a limited-time only: http://storyblocks.com/TheTake
K-Dramas have been growing in popularity across the world for decades now, but they’ve seen a particularly huge growth in interest in the 2020s. While some might just chalk this up to the success of Netflix’s Squid Game, it’s actually a lot deeper and wider ranging than that. So what i...
Mark as Played
September 30, 2025 • 11 mins
Get 50% off your first year at http://monarchmoney.com and use code THETAKE
Parks and Recreation’s April Ludgate is known for her cynical, sarcastic demeanor. But, underneath that moody exterior, she was actually a surprisingly positive thinker – it’s just that optimism looks a little different on April. Though it might not seem like it at first, April provides a really relatable example of how to figure out your sense of self an...
Mark as Played
Go to http://www.groundnews.com/take to make sure you're getting the full picture of every story. Subscribe through our link to get 40% off unlimited world wide coverage for less than the cost of a single movie ticket per month!
Everything from faking dating profiles to Netflix's Unknown Number: The High School Catfish and beyond has us questioning how we can *ever* really be sure who to trust online at this point... So let’s take...
Mark as Played
September 21, 2025 • 14 mins
Go to http://greenechef.com/50thetake and use code 50THETAKE to get fifty percent off your first month, then twenty percent off for two months with free shipping.
Abbott Elementary’s Principal Ava Coleman is many things: outlandish, vain, selfish, hilarious. Ava’s narcissistic nature has caused many problems over the course of the show, for herself and others (mostly others…) But as time has gone on, we’ve also gotten to see how,...
Mark as Played
September 19, 2025 • 16 mins
Get 50% off your first year at http://monarchmoney.com and use code THETAKE
Smash hit KPop Demon Hunters has surprised people in more ways than one. It’s an original story that manages to walk the line between fun and depth, hitting on real, relatable emotions without ever losing its edge or humor. The movie has become a mega hit for Netflix – not only is it now the streamer’s most watched film of all time, it’s also dominating t...
Mark as Played
September 19, 2025 • 12 mins
Sex and the City actually had the chance to make something really engaging and fresh with its reboot And Just Like That, but the show ended up being anything but... The lack of Samantha Jones was a big problem for fans from the jump, but her absence also highlights everything that the show was narratively and creatively lacking that kept it from recreating Sex and the City's magic. Now that it’s over, we can’t help but wonder… what...
Mark as Played
September 11, 2025 • 14 mins
We might one day soon have the option to live forever, but… is that even a good thing? And what would it really look like in practice? Let’s take a look at some examples from on screen, like Upload, Pantheon, The X-Files & more, and in real life to get a deeper understanding of the issue.
Humans have always had fantastical ideas about what might happen to us after we shuffle off of this mortal coil. In our modern era, technology ...
Mark as Played
August 29, 2025 • 14 mins
She’s brash, emotional, inconsiderate, and a little intense – she just "too much." Or, at least, that’s what everyone else tells her. From Too Much's Jessica and Girls' Hannah to The Office's Kelly Kapoor and Weeds' Nancy and beyond, "too much" women can't seem to escape their problems. Their inability to look at the big picture causes a lot of problems for them (and everyone else around them...) But there's also something so rela...
Mark as Played
August 27, 2025 • 35 mins
And Just Like That... after 3 seasons, the Sex and the City reboot has come to an end. So now that it’s officially over, where did the show leave these beloved characters in what may be their final ever run on screen? Let’s unpack where Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbes, Charlotte York, Samantha Jones and more ended up in the two part finale, and then we’ll dig into all of the reasons why the show’s ending was such a disappointment a...
Mark as Played
August 16, 2025 • 11 mins
Weapons, the surprise hit new horror movie from writer/director Zach Cregger starring Julia Garner, didn’t end up being what anyone thought it was going to be – and it turns out that’s exactly what everyone loves about it! The film manages to combine horror and comedy with an exploration of some really deep themes, while constantly keeping you guessing. So, what is Weapons really about? And what does the ending actually represent? ...
Mark as Played
August 9, 2025 • 12 mins
Use code THETAKE at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year!
Why is it so hard to make friends as an adult now? There’s been lots of talk in recent years about the difficulty of making new friends in our modern era once you’re out of college, and about the loneliness epidemic at large. There are, of course, many causes for this, but one major one is actually financial. While money (or lack of it) affects so ...
Mark as Played
July 29, 2025 • 13 mins
The Big Bang Theory’s Penny and Friends’ Rachel Green actually had a lot in common, though one of their most surprising similarities is actually the way that their stories treated their growth – and, unfortunately, their endings. So let’s take a closer look at how both of these characters found their own ways out of the ‘sitcom ditzy hot blonde’ box, why their stories of growth were so important to their shows as a whole, why their...
Mark as Played
July 27, 2025 • 10 mins
The “Gen Z stare” has become a huge topic of conversation on TikTok and the internet at large, and the real problem is actually a lot deeper than you might expect! Gen Zers say it’s just a logical reaction to the illogical world they’re confronting, Millennials say there’s more to it than that. A large part of the issue stems from the fact that in many cases, people aren’t actually talking about the same thing. So what’s *really* b...
Mark as Played
July 25, 2025 • 12 mins
While so many of us might dream of building our lives around our creative passions, often the financial reality of being an artist can be a major hurdle. In film and television this isn’t always seen as a bad thing, however – often, struggling is in fact seen as proof of an artist’s true commitment to their craft. And indeed suffering has been so intertwined with the idea of creativity that it’s often seen as a necessary part of t...
Mark as Played
July 22, 2025 • 12 mins
From Sabrina Carpenter’s new album cover to Sydney Sweeney’s bathwater soap and beyond, a spate of recent controversies have some people questioning if pop culture is not only signaling but aiding in the backtracking of female empowerment. But while these recent issues might be new, this conversation certainly isn’t… So, why are people mad at Sydney and Sabrina? Where does it fit into the larger conversation? And is it all really a...
Mark as Played
July 15, 2025 • 12 mins
Go to http://greenchef.com/50thetake use code 50THETAKE to get fifty percent off your first month, then twenty percent off for two months with free shipping.
James Gunn’s new take on Superman was up against the odds from the beginning – and initial reviews weren’t very kind to it. But now that it’s been released to the public, it’s become a smash hit! While the film has already sparked a lot of discourse, the reasons that it’s co...
Mark as Played
June 21, 2025 • 11 mins
A recent viral TikTok of a woman who believed her grey couch was actually blue has people yet again thinking about how color plays a huge role in our lives, and how differently we can all see the same thing. Colorblindness and monochromatic-ness have long been used symbolically in film and TV as metaphors for larger ideas. And as we’ve all become more and more connected to visual mediums, many people are beginning to realize the im...
Mark as Played
Go to http://greenchef.com/50thetake use code 50THETAKE to get fifty percent off your first month, then twenty percent off for two months with free shipping.
Money has long equaled power – but does it also equal intelligence? Many people seem to think so, regardless of any evidence to the contrary… Both in movies and TV and in real life we’ve seen a number of recent examples of the problems big and small that can arise when immens...
Mark as Played
June 14, 2025 • 11 mins
While work has never necessarily been fun, recently the “grind” has been truly grinding us down – and, terrifyingly, trapping us in. As the world of employment has become ever more dire, we’ve begun to see this total imbalance between work and a healthy, safe life play out on screen in a variety of ways – from the psychological in Severance, to the physical in Mickey 17 and Paradise, and beyond. So, what do these kinds of stories t...
Mark as Played
June 12, 2025 • 14 mins
While Summer Roberts may have began The O.C. as a ditzy mean girl, she quickly became a beloved fan favorite (and even found the smart girl persona she had been forced to hide for so long!) In this video, we're unpacking how Summer went from a stereotypical side character to a multifaceted star!
The O.C.’s Summer first appeared on the show as a stereotypical mean rich girl ditz – she wasn’t even a part of the main cast but instead...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.