By Drew Grant and Noam Cohen 4/22 9:05am

Game of Thrones

Illustration by Alex Bedder

Five Essay Questions for Game of Thrones 3×4: ‘And Now His Watch Has Ended’

These questions regard last night’s episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from LAST NIGHT’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and sample responses.


1. The Spider has perhaps the greatest scene all season in this week’s episode, wherein he finally tells Tyrion (and the audience) how he lost his balls and why he hates magic. Real talk: since Varys was originally planning to tell Tyrion this story in season one, how often do you think he trots out his death box to make a point? Things to consider: that the moral of Varys’s story to Tyrion was “Revenge is a dish best served cold,” and the way more awesome points one could make if the climax of his tale was “And now … look what’s in my box”; Varys trying to persuade the Queen of Thorns to recognize Littlefinger as a threat. Read More

By Drew Grant, Noam Cohen and Alex Bedder 2/11 11:53am

Girls recaps

Illustration by Alex Bedder

Five Essay Prompts for Girls: ‘One Man’s Trash’


These questions regard last night’s episode of HBO’s Girls. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from LAST NIGHT’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and sample responses.

1. This is the first “bottle” episode of Girls we’ve seen, as it exists mainly between two characters in essentially one setting. But because this episode involves a new character and an unfamiliar environment, it seems less like an episode of Girls than a self-sustaining parallel universe created outside that of the show. Describe in detail the alternate world or multiverse that Hannah enters. What does it look like, smell like? How is beauty defined in this alternate world? What values are lauded? Who do the residents worship? Read More

By Noam Cohen and Drew Grant 10/02/12 9:00am

TV recaps

The face of completely normal, happy person Carrie Mathison (Showtime)

Five Essay Prompts About Homeland 2×1: ‘The Smile’

These questions regard the second season premiere  of Showtime’s Homeland. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from SUNDAY’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and example responses.

1.  The first season repeatedly suggested that Carrie’s mental illness is part of what made her a good CIA agent. But Carrie’s gleeful smile in her last scene in the season premiere seems to flip that around: is being a good CIA agent being portrayed here as good for her mental health? Or is it just that it is giving her a sense of purpose that gardening and teaching English couldn’t? Read More