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Think you know Elon Musk? Think again. |
The Making of Musk brings the world's wealthiest man down to scale |
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| The Making of Musk, the new season of Understood, takes us from Elon Musk’s past in Pretoria to his future plans for Planet B. (Illustration by Sami Wittwer/Good Tape) |
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By Fabiola Melendez Carletti |
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Okay, I’ll say it: I didn’t think I wanted to hear anything more about the omnipresent Elon Musk. Don’t I know plenty about that guy? Isn’t it enough that his shenanigans drove me off my once-beloved Twitter?
But then I listened to The Making of Musk — the latest four-parter from our deep-dive explainer series Understood — and I thought: damn. As it turns out, the future that Musk envisions (and is very actively engineering) is deeply tied to his lesser-known personal and family history.
I now know this larger-than-life figure in new ways: as the boy who perplexed childhood friends by naming all his video game characters after himself. And the grandson who perhaps borrowed many of his edgiest ideas from his technocratic grandfather. And the father who inspired his estranged daughter to declare, "I am not about to let this b---- come for me."
It's hard to wrap your head around Musk’s superlatives: world’s richest man, the potential first trillionaire, the aspiring Mars colonizer. But by bringing him down to human scale, host Jacob Silverman shows us the man behind the curtain.
You tell me if you’re impressed. |
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NEW & NOTEWORTHY EPISODES |
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In the first episode of Love Me’s new season, Xander lets us into her tender journey with facial feminization surgery. (Submitted by Xander Adams) |
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Starting off strong with two new seasons and a series highlight … - If I’ve persuaded you to check out The Making of Musk, start right away with Ep. 1: Escape from Pretoria. Where did Elon Musk’s epic ambitions begin? We return to his boyhood in apartheid South Africa for clues …
- Love Me is back, and as beautifully messy and human as ever. The award-winning narrative non-fiction series begins with a trans woman’s quest for a “safer and prettier” face, and a grieving son’s encounter with his dead mother’s Italian lover. “If this guy had been 10% more charming, I might not exist …”
- The Supreme Court ruled in Leticia’s “best interests” when she was a child – but the grown woman at the heart of this landmark Indigenous child custody case now has her own thoughts to share. Don’t miss this deeply layered three-part series, first shared by See You in Court on National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.
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And if you’re a “wait ‘til it’s bingeable” type, here are two acclaimed series ready when you are … |
- All five episodes of Dirtbag Climber are now live. Don’t miss Steven Chua’s Tribeca-selected investigation into a very complex murder victim: an American fugitive killed in the Canadian wilderness; one with multiple enemies connected to multiple lives.
- I still remember when I first heard Kaitlin Prest’s raw and riveting series NO in 2017 — a series that forced me to confront my own “'no's that sounded like a 'yes’s.” Eight years after the height of #MeToo, the queen of fearless vulnerability revisits her disruptive reflection on consent, via Personally. What have we learned, or failed to learn, since then?
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Tomorrow is World Mental Health Day, so we’ve got one more noteworthy pick ... |
- The latest season of Other People's Problems offers an unprecedented look at psychedelic psychotherapy. Dr. Hillary McBride not only takes us into real, unscripted sessions with her clients, but also opens up about her own traumatic pregnancy loss and near-death experience. It’s powerful, eye-opening stuff.
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THE CONVERSATION STARTER |
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You have until the Super Bowl to learn the Baddest Bunny’s language. (Saturday Night Live.) |
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Sabes qué? October is Latin American/Hispanic Heritage Month, and that’s all the reason this Salvadoreña needs to share my favourite Spanish-language podcast rrrreccomendations. (That’s not a typo, okay? It’s me rolling my Rs.) - Want to get more existential with your abuela? I started listening to El Topo to improve my philosophical Spanish and free myself from the shackles of small talk. Host Miguel Reyes interviews people who think and live differently — all manner of eccentrics, contrarians, outsiders. I now regularly text my unflappable papi to ask what certain phrases mean, and you know what? Sometimes he is flapped.
- On a similar note, I love the taboo-busting courage of De eso no se habla (We don’t talk about that). Isabel Cadenas Cañón’s genre-defying ode to the silences that define us — both personally and culturally — has often left me speechless. (These lockdown recordings for instance. Goosebumps.)
- So, what don’t I talk to my family about? Easy. Nayib Bukele, my country's polarizing millennial president and self-described “world’s coolest dictator.” He has, no doubt, reshaped our tiny country of El Salvador but his influence has rippled far beyond it. “Bukele: el señor de Los sueños” (Central from Radio Ambulante Studios) explores why many other Latin American countries are on the search for their own charismatic saviour/authoritarian (depending on who you ask). I don’t yet have the words in either language to unpack this one.
- Latin American heritage stretches far beyond Spanish (shout out to Portuguese-speaking Brazilians, the rich tapestry of Indigenous language speakers, and more). If you want to hang in English as a compromise, here are some of my favourite bilingual series: Anything for Selena (Quintanilla, of course), La Brega (Bad Bunny would approve) and El Chupacabras (perfect for espooky season). And if this Latino love story (from Love Me) messes you up in a good way, we can be friends.
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Hasta la próxima, -Fabiolita |
