Show notes
An 86-year-old stranger arrives in the small Georgia town of Golden, buys all 92 pencil portraits hanging in a local coffee shop, and begins returning them to the people they depict. Full spoilers throughout.
Alex and Lindsey get into Theo’s governing idea that to love someone is to be curious about them, what happens to a novel when its protagonist arrives already fully formed, and whether the book’s explicitly Christian register is a barrier or beside the point. They also pick favorite bestowals (Tony the bookstore owner, and Kendrick) and talk about an ending they both braced for without guessing its shape.
A new cry count record, a dispute over whether choking up counts, and ratings at the end.