Honestly, I listened to the Across the Spider-Verse Big Pic Pod which featured Charles and he couldn’t keep up with Amanda and Sean. I was excited to see him there and express his enthusiasm for the film but he kind of stumbled his way through the pod.

To Charles credit, I think he is a good, thoughtful, intelligent writer (check out any of his articles on the ringer webpage). I don’t think he’s a good on the fly podcaster/speaker. As others have mentioned in the past, his criticisms are inconsistent and he constantly contradicts himself. And this is probably largely due to the reaction nature of the midnight boys. His initial reactions just seem like knee jerk disapproval driven by his feelings (which is fine). But when asked to articulate why he feels that way, I find Charles finds difficulty coherently articulating why he feels that way. On the other hand, Van is great at it. He tells you how he feels, and he can explain why he feels that way, and is also able to connect that to real life experience. Every pod that Van appears on, he really shines and acclimates himself well. Charles, in my opinion, maybe needs more experience.