Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 342 with Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens with the audio player below.

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Go to slate.com/cultureplus to learn more about Slate Plus and join today. This week on Slate Plus, listen to Steve, Dana, and Julia hop in the way, way back machine to discuss the 2013 finale of Breaking Bad.

On this week’s Slate Culture Gabfest, the critics discuss Furious 7, the latest installment in the Fast and the Furious franchise. Why has this box-office smash enjoyed such wild success? Next up, can a casting director’s work change the shape of an industry? The gabbers discuss the New Yorker’s recent profile of casting director Allison Jones. Finally, Jon Ronson’s book, You’ve Been Publically Shamed, follows people whose transgressions have landed them at the center of public ire on the Internet. Have we been too cruel, or is the criticism well deserved?

Links to some of the things we discussed this week follow:

• Dana’s Fast Five review in Slate
• Wesley Morris’ piece about the Fast and the Furious franchise
• The Lethal Weapon movies
• Die Hard
• Roadhouse
• Point Break
• Tokyo Drifter
• “The Nerd Hunter,” a profile of Allison Jones in the New Yorker
• Casting By, a documentary featuring casting director Marion Dougherty
• The Office
• Freaks and Geeks
• Jon Ronson’s book, So You’ve Been Publically Shamed
• “How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life” by Jon Ronson
•  Daniel Engber’s piece about Jonah Lehrer in Slate
• Discipline and Punish
• Year of Outrage series on Slate

Endorsements:

Dana: Casting By on HBO Go and the scuttling crab emoji in Gmail

Julia: Better Call Saul

Steve “Sugar” by Maroon 5

Outro: “Sugar” by Maroon 5

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Joel Meyer. Our intern is Lindsey Albracht.

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