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b'On this week\\u2019s show, the panel is first joined by Slate business and culture writer Nitish Pahwa to discuss Monkey Man, Dev Patel\\u2019s dazzling but muddled directorial debut. The ultra-violent action flick stars Patel as Kid, a young man who works his way into a secret brothel for the super rich, hell-bent on finding the police chief who murdered his mother and exacting his revenge. It\\u2019s clearly a political statement of a film, rife with references to real-world controversies and corrupt political, religious, and pedagogical practices (all of which Nitish covers in his piece for Slate, \\u201cMonkey Man Has a Bold New Vision\\u201d). Then, the three jump into Ripley, a new eight-part Netflix series based on Patricia Highsmith\\u2019s master novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, starring 47-year-old Andrew \\u201cHot Priest\\u201d Scott as the titular seductive psychopath. Directed by Steven Zaillian (The Night Of, Schindler\\u2019s List, All the King\\u2019s Men) and with cinematography by Robert Elswith (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Good Night, and Good Luck), the series is shot in spectacular black-and-white and co-stars Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood and Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf. Finally, Julia Louis-Dreyfus (of Veep, Saturday Night Live, and Seinfeld fame, obviously) has a podcast, Wiser Than Me, which just entered its second season. On it, she interviews iconic older women like Jane Fonda, Carol Burnett, Bonnie Raitt, and Sally Field about the wisdom they\\u2019ve accrued and asks the question: \\u201cWell, how should I live?\\u201d While the show doesn\\u2019t fully avoid the pitfalls of the celebrity interview, secrets and things emerge within the course of a conversation and the framework itself gets to the very core of human existence.\\xa0\\nIn the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel answers a fittingly existential question from listener Gretel: \\u201cWondering how you, high achievers all, balance ambition with contentment. Do you consider yourselves competitive or is your drive innate? I vacillate between pushing myself harder, striving to achieve more, and being grateful for what I have and where I am. Is contentment a noble endgame in your opinions?\\u201d\\nEmail us at culturefest@slate.com.\\xa0\\nOutro music: \\u201cBollywood Star\\u201d by Jhukane Bada.\\nEndorsements:\\nDana: Andrew Scott\\u2019s performance as Hamlet in 2017. (The full three-hour production can be watched on YouTube.)\\xa0\\nJulia: Worn: A People\\u2019s History of Clothing by Sofi Thanhauser. An absolutely beautiful and fascinating book about the centrality of textile production throughout history.\\xa0\\nStephen: \\u201cLowell, Plath, and Sexton in the Same Room\\u201d by Steve Moyer for the National Endowment for the Humanities (Spring 2024, Volume 45.)\\xa0\\nPodcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong.\\xa0\\nHosts\\nDana Stephens, Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'