Here's why season 2 of 'Wednesday' is actually for the parents

Watching

• Wednesday. Having saturated the Gen Z market, season 2 of this show feels like it’s working harder to entertain older viewers—particularly those of us who fondly remember ’90s pop culture. It worked for our critic! We also explain the ending of part one of the new season here.

• Alien: Earth. FX’s fantastic Alien: Earth—a prequel to Scott's movie that is also the first live-action Alien series—is a remarkable achievement. Here’s why.

• Moving. You can’t discuss the best K-dramas without including this one. At the height of superhero fatigue in 2023, Kang Full—adapting his 2015 webtoon—fashioned a fresh take by asking: What if super powers sucked? Read here for our favorite non-Netflix K-dramas.

Podcasts

• Normal Gossip. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know the subjects of the gossip, and in fact, that’s the best part. Read more about the show with the juiciest gossip about people you’ll never meet.

• Acquired. Considered by the Wall Street Journal to be “the business world’s favorite podcast,” Acquired has prioritized quality over quantity, releasing installments billed more as “conversational audiobooks” than episodes on a less frequent schedule. Read more.

• Decoder Ring. Since 2018, Slate critic Willa Paskin has explored bizarre and delightful cultural phenomena from “Baby Shark” to Chuck E. Cheese to try to understand what makes people obsessed with arbitrary touchstones. Read more.

Talking About

• “For my generation of teens, getting invited to Hooters was a life milestone,” writes Jay Deitcher. Deitcher mourns the loss of the “breastaurant” here.

• The new and unnecessary King of the Hill revival is “surprisingly satisfying” according to our critic. But Bobby was never meant to grow up.

• Not even Elvis would have been Elvis without Colonel Tom Parker. A new book shifts the narrative of their partnership.