June 17, 2025 • 40 mins
This week, Donovan begins the non-spoiler section with a brief review of 'The Phoenician Scheme,' Wes Anderson's latest (1:11). Then Blaine and Donovan discuss some non-spoiler thoughts on 'Stick' and where it is on Apple TV+ (6:14). Donovan gives his overview of 'Andor,' the Star Wars spinoff, now that it is complete (8:14). Finally to end the non-spoiler segment, Blaine and Donovan discuss the dark world of 'Dept. Q' (12:25).
After the break, it's only 'Dept. Q' on Netflix and the focus is where it lands as far as crime thrillers go: does it go beyond the genre (19:28)?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome to thepodcast Taking It Down.
This is the working Class TVand streaming podcast for those who
don't hear their own voicesreflected to them in any other sort
of podcast of this genre.
I'm the weekly host.
My name is Blaine.
I'm the editor in chief of theAlabama Take as well.
Pretty soon I'll be joined by Donovan.
Adam, our other co host is outthis week, but he'll be back next
(00:20):
week.
Coverage this week for us willbe some brief and spoiler free thoughts
on the Phoenician Scheme whichis in theaters.
We usually don't do theatertype things, but I just had a few
questions for Donovan.
That's the new Wes Anderson film.
We'll also do some spoilerfree mentions of the series stick
on Apple tv plus a very shortbit on andor from Disney plus it
(00:44):
has ended its run.
And finally we'll get into theheart of our show this week which
will be non spoiler and laterspoiler thoughts on early episodes
of the Netflix seriesDepartment Q.
We talk about the first threeepisodes very generally and then
with some detail after a break.
So stick around.
Al, take projection.
(01:09):
As mentioned, here he is.
It's joining me is Donovan.
He's got a.
He had an early chance ormaybe just a regular normal person
chance to see the Wes Andersonfilm the Phoenician Scheme.
It is.
Or I did Blaine and it's amovie that dares to ask the question
do you like to laugh?
(01:30):
Wow.
Insightful stuff.
No.
Yeah.
I've liked Anderson before,especially Rushmore and the Royal
Tenen Bombs.
In fact, the Royal Tenen Bombsis one of my favorites.
It would probably be a top 10movie for me and I enjoyed the short
Netflix films he did in 2024last year.
I guess I may be one of thefew who liked Moonrise Kingdom well
(01:51):
enough.
You know, everybody hatesMoonrise Kingdom.
I actually think it's really good.
I thought it was okay.
It's one of my favorite ones.
That was kind of cute.
It's cute.
I like that it's set kind ofup in New England area.
Mm.
I like the bit when the dog dies.
So that's sad.
But there's a great bit wherethey're like, they come up on the
dog that's been killed andthey're like, was he a good dog?
(02:12):
And the kid just looks downand he's like, who's to say it's
so good.
I say that all the time.
Like who's to say?
But overall, I don't feel theexcitement as much as his fan base
does upon seeing trailers ofhis movies.
So.
And I've asked this before,what am I missing?
I always feel like I'm missingsomething with his movies.
I don't necessarily find themfunny unless it's somebody like you
(02:35):
who recounts it to me.
But in the theater, I'm not chuckling.
Like, I think I saw this witha room full of people who mostly
liked it.
They didn't seem like mad orno one left early or whatever, but
like, that theater was deathly silent.
Like, except for.
Except for me laughing.
That theater was me.
(02:56):
Because that's the way I feelabout his films.
Except for, like I said, Ithink I laugh during Royal Tenenbaubs.
Maybe it's.
I'm not smart.
I don't know if that's.
That's it.
And also, I would say thatthis one, tonally, you know, they
all have a sort of style, butit's much closer to, say, Grand Budapest
(03:17):
Hotel, which is another one ofmy favorites, but than Royal Tenenbaums.
See, I didn't like GrandBudapest Hotel very much.
How can you not like it?
It's about the twin evils offascism and communism overtaking
Eastern Europe and.
And, you know, it's real sad.
And Ray Font does all he can.
He's so good.
He is great.
Like, there's a.
There's a delight in the sortof, like, particularity and precision
(03:39):
his film.
And like the, you know, the artificiality.
Yes.
That highlights, but it makes,like, hyper real the characters,
interactions.
There's a delight in that.
And I think, at least for hislanguage, some people don't like
it, but I think there's adelight in the silliness of our discourse.
Yeah.
The way we talk past, talk totalk past and talk around each other.
(04:02):
Interesting.
I don't know.
That's just off the top of my head.
No, I appreciate that.
That's good.
Okay.
So the Phoenician scheme.
Yeah.
Now that we got that out ofthe way, brief, non spoiler set of
thoughts on Venetian scheme.
Just.
I know you enjoyed it, but isthere anything you could add to that
that wouldn't spoil anythingother than, you know, you laughed.
(04:22):
Go for the Benicio Del Toro.
Yeah.
Stay for the Michael Cera.
Okay.
What was the headline I sawrecently that said, a billionaire
gets his way in the New WestAnderson and he doesn't deserve it
or something?
Is that the case?
So it's.
That might be spoiler stuff.
Not really.
I mean, so it's the.
(04:43):
That's a spoiler Headline, youknow, that.
Is a spoiler head.
And I would, I would arguewith it.
Would you, Would you wave yourfinger at that writer?
I would.
Tut tut.
I would tut tut, sir.
But it is about Benicio DelToro does play this billionaire who's
constantly.
People are constantly tryingto assassinate and he's putting into
(05:04):
motion some grand schemecalled the Phoenician scheme.
And basically, and we're not.
It's a little unclear as towhat it actually is.
Okay.
And he kind of has to goaround and try and pull that off
while also attempting toreconnect with his daughter Liesel
Mia Threapleton, who is KateWinslet's daughter.
He's trying to connect with her.
(05:24):
And she is a nun or wants tobecome a nun.
And hilarity ensues.
Okay.
I think Grand Budapest isactually the more serious.
Even though I said they aretonally similar.
Grand Budapest I think is veryserious, deathly serious about its
topic matter.
This is I think like feels alittle less serious.
(05:45):
But there also is an interestin like following a man who will
do anything to get what hedeserves or what he wants.
I mean for example, he has, hehas nine sons and one daughter and
many of the sons are adoptedon the off chance they might be an
Einstein.
So he's just.
Because he's just playing theodds there.
So it's like someone who willdo anything.
Someone who will do anything.
(06:06):
Right.
He doesn't happen to make carsand send things to space.
Well, speaking of WesAnderson, I wanted to bring up the
Apple TV plus series Stickwhich has frequent Anderson star
Owen Wilson as a Anderson starbest friend.
Oh, they buddies.
Oh, they were, yeah.
Because he co wrote Rushmoreand maybe.
(06:27):
The Royal Tenen Bond bottlerocket too, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Owen Wilson worked on thatwith him Texas boys.
Right?
Texas boys.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Owen Wilton is washed upgolfer making an attempt to help
a kid with his entry into theworld of the game of golf.
It's likely the three of uswill delve into this next week as
(06:50):
a spoiler.
As a non spoiler section andspoiler section.
But just here this week, I'llsay for listeners, I'm still enjoying
it.
I.
I find it sometimes going intoo many directions at once.
Yeah, I see that.
It does continue a few tropeswhich is no big deal.
That's probably the least ofit since that said, Owen Wilson is
(07:11):
still a fun actor to watchwork if that's enough of a sell for
you.
And Mark Marion, Marc Maron'sGrumpiness doesn't hinder your viewing.
And you'll get.
I think you'll enjoy thisApple TV show.
Owen Wilson does such a goodjob of being a guy who.
He's kind of an asshole in ascrew up.
(07:31):
But like not really, if thatmakes any sense.
Yeah, he does bad stuff, butyou kind of like.
He's got a heart of gold.
You kind of like the guy.
The things Owen Wilson does inthis show that are bad are day to
day bad.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's not.
This is not Breaking Bad.
Yeah, he's not cooking meth or.
Right.
(07:52):
Yeah, this is normal stuff.
There's like a kind of likesweetness to him the whole time too.
He doesn't keep a clean house.
Who amongst us?
You know?
I mean, he.
He will.
He'll drop $100 on a bet.
You know, this is.
This is the Owen Wilson of stick.
Man's got parking tickets.
(08:12):
One other thing you'veleapfrogged on me is andor on Disney
plus, which I've yet to see at all.
Really.
Though I'm excited to getaround to it.
I keep thinking tonight's the night.
It never is.
You've seen the entirety of itof the second season.
But you won't spoil anything here.
I am curious how you feltabout the second season as a whole.
It asks the question, do youlike to cry?
(08:35):
No.
It's really good in a way thatI think the season works as a cohesive
whole.
Disney kept dropping it inthree episode chunks.
Yeah.
So I was watching sort of in chunks.
And so it is almost like youhave kind of like the first one.
Like you'll have like ministory arcs.
Yeah.
Throughout the series thatkind of make up a bigger whole.
(08:56):
And honestly I thought it wasvery good.
I wonder if Disney might havebeen trying to bury it a tiny bit
with those dumps.
Because I don't think it's acomplete coincidence that people
were out over the weekendgetting mad at the big man in the
White House with signs withquotes from Andor on it.
Really?
Yeah.
Saw one with my own eyes.
What did it say?
(09:16):
I have friends everywhere.
Huh.
I did love the.
The only thing I've honestlywatched Disney plus did me a favor
and probably a lot of others afavor and put a about a 12 minute
recap of season one.
And I've watched it probablytwice now thinking once I finish
this, I'll watch.
And then I'm like, oh, I'm tired.
Yeah, that's fair enough.
(09:38):
Almost like it's so good thatit kind of like it makes the stuff
that was good in Star wars,like better.
Yeah.
And it may.
And it makes the stuff that'sbad in Star wars seem even worse
because you're like, oh man,you could have.
I think the really good trick,same as with season one of taking
the world seriously withoutbeing silly, if that makes, I mean
(10:01):
there's a little bit, ofcourse, because you're in the Star
wars universe, but you know,it's, it's.
I think that's pretty impressive.
I don't think I could make aserious Star wars movie.
The Don Draper pitch would be,what if Star wars was for adults?
Yeah, exactly.
What if Star wars aged withits initial fan base?
Yeah.
(10:21):
But in the like in the sensethat like it's not just doing nostalgia
pandering.
Right.
Where it's like, remember whatit felt like to be eight again.
That's important.
I, I do think it's like, it islike in the best part of that, like,
hey, this thing that youenjoyed that when you were eight,
you're watching it now, you'rean adult.
Here are the things that werein the background that 8 year old
you might not have picked upon, but adult you can see and interact
(10:46):
with now.
That's exactly it.
Pretty much the greatest wayto do something.
It is.
This is the thing, you know,nine year old you missed or didn't
notice, didn't think aboutthematically even.
It's somewhat rare.
I think that media does this.
Well, it puts me in mind ofnow it's a fairly old book series,
(11:07):
but Ursula Le Guin's wizard ofEarthsea or the Earthsea books which
starts out with the wizard of Earthsea.
And then there's another onethat comes out pretty frequently
called the Tombs of Atuan.
And they're both great books,but they're also younger readers
books.
But as she kept revisitingthat world, she kept writing books
(11:27):
that were for like a slightlyolder and older audience to the end,
where the last two are reallyjust for adults.
And it's that same kind ofidea, like, hey, here's the stuff
that I introduced it to youand we talked about it when you were
a kid and now I'm coming backto you and we're gonna look at some
of the same and some of thesimilar things that I'm gonna show
(11:47):
you how you can interact withit as an adult.
Now.
I think it's really rare thata series spans from childhood to
adult in the way that Endorkind of spans the gap.
It wasn't Harry Pottersupposed to do that in a way.
And did it?
I think Harry Potter, in away, yes.
Did it in the sense that itgets more serious.
Although I just think Le Guindid it better.
(12:08):
Oh, okay.
No, she's like a.
Known for her good writing.
She's very good.
Yeah.
The, the wizard of Earth Seais all, it's all based in Taoist
principles.
So if that, if that doesn'tintrigue you, if you, if you like
a little philosophy with your,with your fantasy.
Well, our focal point thisweek is the three first three episodes
of the new Netflix seriesDepartment Q.
(12:30):
British crime thriller.
I guess it's set in Scotland.
Set in Scotland, yes.
But it's a technically a Britmade by a British.
It's a British crime thriller,I think is how it's labeled.
It seems to be a popularseries per the streamer and my own
in depth research of talkingto Bo Hicks.
The.
The show stars Matthew Goodand it has Kelly McDonald.
(12:53):
She doesn't play a big role,but she may or may not be familiar
to listeners.
Kelly McDonald is particularlynoticeable to me because I recall
her immediately from BoardwalkEmpire and no country for Old Men.
No country for.
As soon as I saw her, I'mlike, it's Carla Jean.
Yep.
Though she's done a lot,including more on Disney, plus the
Star wars show, Skeleton Crew.
(13:14):
Apparently she's a part of it.
Oh, is she in that?
I didn't think so.
Huh.
I think Good's mostly knownfor being a hunk on the final season
of Downton Abbey.
I think most people.
He's done a lot of film work,but it's mostly been of the British
genre.
Yeah.
Department Q is created byScott Frank and Shandy Lakhani.
(13:37):
I think her name is Scott.
Frank wrote for the movieLogan and Minority Report.
He was just on staff there,but he created the Queen's Gambit
for Netflix.
And this show is loosely basedon a set of novels set in Denmark.
Initially, completelycoincidentally, with you saying,
hey, we should watch this.
Sure.
Like about a couple daysbefore that, my friend Patrick, who
(13:58):
is.
He's got an actual PhD incrime fiction, just said, hey, I
just started.
I just finished the first ofthese Department Q books.
I think it's pretty good.
You should check it out.
So he said that and then you recommended.
And we watched it.
It was kind of funny.
It just everyone at the sametime was like, you should check this
out.
Did I recommend this or did Adam?
(14:20):
You did.
Because I was watching it last night.
I was thinking, why did Irecommend this?
How did I come to this?
No, no.
Yeah, it was you.
Okay.
We're early in the series.
We may cover more even next week.
But with the three episodes watched.
What do you think, Donovan?
Who's this for?
Who's gonna like it?
Is it worthy of their time?
What's your spoiler free senseof the series?
(14:42):
Three in it's a show thatlikes to ask the question, do you
like to solve crimes?
No shit.
That's a good way of puttingbegs for the viewer to guess resolutions.
That's going to appeal to awide audience.
Though my cursory review of itso far is that it is very much a
crime drama.
(15:04):
Furthermore, a British crimegenre in a way that I'm not sure
that I can like qualify that statement.
But you just see it and you'relike, yeah, this is somewhat familiar.
It's not doing anything.
Which this is unfair.
This is an unfair comparisonbecause I'm about to compare it to
something that's not really acrime drama.
But it's not doing anythinglike adolescence did where it's using
(15:26):
aspects of the crime drama,but doing something kind of startling
and unfamiliar.
I think it's very much of a piece.
That being said, for me sofar, the piece is fun and intriguing.
I enjoyed watching the episodes.
I like the dynamics betweentwo of the characters a lot.
(15:46):
I like one of the characters.
I like his background and hisstory I think is really interesting.
So I would say in these firstthree, it doesn't transcend, but
it's a very good example ofthis guy is an asshole and he breaks
the rules, but sometimes hegets results.
Yeah, exactly.
It's very trope heavy, butit's also got some onion like layers
(16:07):
to a lot of these people.
I think so.
And maybe I would.
I'm not so sure that every oneof the characters has some sort of
peel back and you'll see morelayer to them.
Every character so far has had.
Interestingly, because it kindof kind of parallels our mano and
Wilson and stick has hadsomething that's caused them to in
(16:31):
their past that's caused themto kind of make melt down or freak
out a little bit.
Right.
We'll get into this a littlemore in the spoiler section.
But a lot of people are gonnalike this.
And I bet I'm gonna take agamble and say that it probably gets
really, really good midpointand back half just because I've seen
(16:52):
a lot of raving about it from books.
I adhere to often what I saw.
It gives me nothing to doubtIt I think it's a good sign with
the show where it gets the end.
You're like, oh man, no, it'sover already.
Or you get to the end of the episode.
And I had that happen withthis one.
I was like, oh man, it's over.
(17:12):
I want to know more.
Yeah.
And they're 55 minute episodesor so, give or take.
I had to watch myself withjotting a few notes because I was
constantly just guessing.
My notes ended up just being,oh, did so and so do this.
I believe a lot of people willlike that engagement of watching
(17:32):
it.
And plus, it being on Netflix,you don't have to wait a week to
figure a lot of this stuff out.
Yeah.
It really is built for bingingin the sense that it will leave you
with a lot of questions andyou'll want to at least in the first
three and you'll want to watcha little bit more to find out more
of what's going on.
Although it's getting a lot ofcomparisons to Apple TV's series
(17:52):
Slow Horses, which is week to week.
That's true.
That's the one Adam recommended.
It is.
Which I.
I'd like to get to as well.
I gotta jump on it.
I've seen one episode andthought it was great.
Yeah.
And never watched it forwhatever reason, but have always
wanted to.
And I've heard good stuffabout it.
And then a recommendation fromour good buddy Adam carries a lot
(18:13):
of weight.
It does.
Adam's not with us this week.
He'll be back next week forthe first three episodes.
It doesn't transcend.
But if you like this kind ofshow, you will probably find it very
enjoyable.
If you occasionally like thiskind of show, I would say watch a
couple episodes because it's not.
(18:36):
Although it doesn't, at leastin the first three, like quote unquote,
as I just said, transcend.
I think that if you aresomewhat iffy on this kind of show
and it takes a pretty good oneto make you like it, I think we got
a pretty good one right here.
Let's jump into spoilers.
After a break on YouTube, it'shard to figure out what to watch
because it's everything andit's nothing.
(18:56):
Next thing you know, you'vegone down a.
Maybe a dumb rabbit hole andwasted too much time.
That's not the case if yousubscribe to the Alabama Tech on
YouTube.
Our channel features all ofour podcasts, the day and time of
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And with Friday's new seasonof Short Takes premiering last week,
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(19:17):
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Visit the Alabama take formore and we'll talk to you all soon.
Okay, we're now enteringSpoiler section.
The only piece of TV we havefor this week's part is Department
Q, which we mentioned.
We've watched the first threeof nine, so we're going to unpack
(19:37):
here the details of the firstthree of nine.
Avoid if you wish to remain inthe dark about the first three, we
do recommend it if you'vegotten this far.
Lot of you are going to lovethis, I think.
So while there's nothing newunder the sun, per the saying, one
could argue there's nothingnew in the first episode of Department
Q.
I mean, there is nothing new here.
(19:59):
And I don't mean it in a bad way.
It was presented to you in anexcellent manner, but everything
is almost a series of boxesthat got checked and I get not in
a bad way.
It just happens that that'swhat the writing did.
A lot of tropes, women find apolice drama, you got your curmudgeonly
(20:21):
detective, an understaffedpolice department, a public clamoring
for crimes to be solved, amurder, the assistant who turns out
to be smarter, more helpfulthan the characters could have imagined.
It's all there.
But the presentation is wonderful.
You know, credit to thewriters for an original opening where
the protagonist himself getsshot in what seems like a fatal attack.
(20:43):
And I'm thinking, oh shit, isthis series about everything that
leads up to him dying?
It's not.
I mean, we know we're inSpoiler section.
Yeah.
Credit to good here is Carlbecause without him, this first episode
especially falls to pieces.
He has.
Yeah, he's captivating towatch because it's a grimy, drab
(21:03):
show about grimy drab interiorof a man living in grimy drab surroundings.
You know, these are the mostinhospitable buildings I've ever
seen.
I wanted to wash my handsafter every episode.
Even the hospital he goes to.
It's like, Jesus fuckingChrist, I wouldn't stay in there.
You're like, wait, do they sweep?
(21:24):
Yeah, exactly.
Why is the painting on thewall lead based?
Still luckily good as Carl isstill somewhat charming despite being
very mean to most people.
He's definitely played as kindof just all too human.
(21:44):
Right?
And by that I mean just like avery flawed person.
Superfluid.
He's smart enough to Know thathe's flawed and he's an asshole,
but that doesn't stop him frombeing an asshole.
And I say he's mean to mostpeople I really like.
It's a split second in thefirst episode where he's visiting
his partner who had also beenshot in the very same opening scene,
(22:06):
but except his partner is paralyzed.
What happened to Carl was thatit only went through his neck.
That's about it.
He's back at work and what.
Yeah, it felt like a week ortwo, right?
I assumed it was some time.
A fair.
They said it was some fairamount of time, but.
Oh, okay.
They mentioned it wasn't aweek or two.
It was.
It was a little bit.
A couple months, somethinglike that.
(22:29):
I didn't.
I didn't note it except to saylike, oh, it's been a little bit.
Because he.
They're mentioning it whenhe's go.
Because he has to go see thepsychiatrist or the psychologist
as the therapist as part of.
Because he was involved in the shooting.
And that's mandatory.
I think it's might even bemandatory in the States.
In most.
Most places.
It's a.
It's a slight moment, but he'svisiting his partner.
(22:52):
They like to talk football.
And his partner's wife andkids come in and his partner is laying
there basicallyunintentionally admitted.
He.
He doesn't want to live as aperson with paralysis.
And it's a.
It's a sad moment and.
But the wife comes in with the kids.
Matthew Good plays Carl.
Very friendly to them and very nice.
(23:14):
And it is a split second, butyou gotta watch it because he says,
oh, hey, you know.
And there's this cheerfulmoment for where makes you realize,
oh, this guy's not a complete douche.
I mean, he clearly loves andrespects his partner and therefore
extends that to his partner's family.
He does seem like a guy who's like.
Once you're in with him, like, he.
(23:35):
He might like still be like,mean to you, but like, you know,
if other people get on you,then he's going to defend you.
You're my person to me.
Mean to.
Exactly mean and answer.
If there's such a thing.
Yeah, if there is such a thing.
Now, the other aspect thatdoes reel you in.
Again, very trope heavy, butvery checking some boxes here.
But the other aspect thatreels you in is not just the central
(23:57):
mystery.
It's what I said earlier.
Each of the primary charactershas mysteries plural of their own
that you're hoping is a viewer.
You get Some answers to.
I would say my favorite sideone so far is the IT guy.
Except he's not just an IT guy.
Salim from Syria.
I've enjoyed.
So he was some sort of lawenforcement sort of baby police in
(24:20):
Syria.
Maybe army.
Yeah.
We see how competent he.
And the guy who plays him isjust so good at playing like polite.
But like still waters run deep.
Polite.
Yes, sir.
Where he's like, he's smart,he's competent.
You just sense there's a lotto him that you don't know that much
about.
And also just the mere fact ofhaving a character who has left Syria
(24:41):
and settled in England asperhaps or probably is a part of.
Scott.
Sorry, Scotland, you're right.
As that country's civil war.
I thought that was a really like.
He's a really fascinatingcharacter to come out of that background
and have to interact withBritish people.
Yes.
People from the uk.
(25:02):
And he has that wonderfully indepth line where Matthew Good's Carl
asks him, so where are you onthe good side of the bad side in
Syria?
And he says, well, when youfigure out which one's which, you
tell me.
He knows a lot about pressure points.
So I'm gonna have.
I think we have some guesses here.
Well, you know, that was.
This show did a nice job herewhere that was kind of hinted that
(25:24):
he might be able to do such.
When Carl has his panic attackand he reaches to push.
Yes.
Salim away.
And Salim does a very similar.
I'm grabbing your arm so asyou will not affect me with your
push.
Yes.
And then he does the samething later to a young punk and.
But much more damaging and in control.
(25:47):
Right.
Army effective.
Little rougher there.
Yeah.
I'm always reminded of ArthurMiller's writing for.
For John Proctor in the Crucible.
Whereas they're.
They're wheels within wheelsand fires within fires here.
Yeah.
That seems to be what's goingon here.
And I think that's probablywhy critics are so drawn to it as
a.
(26:07):
As a Netflix crime drama.
Otherwise it would just be aNetflix crime drama.
So there's something goodthat's going to happen here.
And I don't know that you andI have full scope of it three episodes
in, but what we do have issome pretty cool and interesting
things which we're talking about.
I think I would completelyagree with you, Blaine, especially
the way you just put it whereit's like, if it didn't have this
(26:28):
stuff, it would just be aNetflix show.
Yeah.
There are so many shows thathit almost exact Same beats, same
points, similar characters,even at the same moment.
Right.
Exactly.
But they're just not as goodas this one.
You know, some of it is theactors are good.
The writing is giving you.
You know, it's.
It's.
It's.
It's those intangibles that.
(26:49):
That are setting it apart for.
For me at this moment.
I am thankful to know whoMatthew Goode is.
Now.
I didn't.
Shame on me.
Maybe.
But I was like, this guy ishandsome and watchable.
Where.
Where can I find more of his work?
You know?
So it's good that we got a fewmore episodes.
I like watching him.
He's.
He's got these intense blue eyes.
He's a handsome guy.
He.
He.
He holds depth very well, Ithink, on screen, where there's something
(27:14):
else going on.
Maybe two other things.
Yeah.
But one of the things I'veenjoyed about his performance so
far is how much of him being arude asshole is so clearly him putting
up a brave face.
And the way that he playssomeone who needs to feel in charge
and in control but really kindof isn't yet.
(27:37):
And the way that he is usinghis two closest compatriots to kind
of start investigating thismystery and the way that, by varying
degrees, they let him orunderstand that he's still working
with diminished capacitiesright now because of his trauma.
Yeah.
You can see the depth of hisacting if you really hone in on when
(28:00):
he goes back and watches theAI generated version of his shooting
and he kind of puts it on a loop.
Yeah.
Watch his eyes and hisreaction there.
And it's.
He's scared shitless there.
Absolutely.
But, yeah, also, what'sinteresting about the three episodes,
although you and I don't havethe full scope, is I don't know if
this doesn't turn out to be aseries about how men operate without
(28:22):
women, be it by choice orsituational a little bit.
Merritt's brother is without merit's.
Brother William is withoutmerit, and his mom, Carl, is only
with his son.
A little more on that later.
And.
And their tenant, who's a man.
Yes.
Which is.
(28:44):
That took me a few minutes.
Akram has a wife, but she'snever shown.
She's only mentioned via her cooking.
Yep.
The ladies thus far are eitherin charge or in trouble because they
were in charge.
And then we have Rose, who'ssort of in the middle.
And Rose is in the middle.
And so when she becomes a moreprominent character in the middle
of the third episode, Istarted thinking, well, maybe my
little Thematical theory is alittle shaky right now, so let's
(29:07):
see what this develops into.
Let's see how it unspools.
Although her conversation withher mom is a deceitful one where
she doesn't admit to working,she is.
Hey, Mom, I'm actually on a.
Getting ready for a date.
Don't talk to me right now.
Bye.
Bye.
And she's instead on acomputer investigating one of the
(29:28):
drawings that William has done.
So.
Yeah, I suppose what I'msaying is that the show for me is
good because of its characterwork and its depth there and.
And maybe not so much themystery of Merit.
Although I did find myselfwriting a lot of notes thinking,
this is going to lead to this,which I usually don't do with shows.
I usually just let it come to me.
This is why I'm stillquestioning just how good is this
(29:49):
show going to be?
Because it had me trying toguess it.
And I would much rather a showhave me so involved that I don't
guess anything.
I'm just watching and engaging mentally.
Yeah.
I do think that shows that goall in on their mysteries usually
tend to be.
They can even be fun whileyou're watching them, but in retrospect,
(30:10):
they're a little slight.
Yeah.
Because they don't.
It's.
I mean, it's kind of like,would you ever watch this a second
time?
There's going to be anexception to this that I'll bring
up in a minute.
I guess I could now, but.
Yeah.
What is it?
I'm curious.
Merit's story at the beginningof episode.
Excuse me.
At the ending of episode one.
The big twist at episode one, I.
(30:32):
Actually kind of figured thisout, and I never figured these things
out, but there was.
There was a line that made meget it okay ahead of time because.
They said, I've got a lot ofthis show figured out, too, and I
don't want to spend our.
This is not the kind of talkwe do here much on this podcast is
figuring out what happens,especially our Netflix show where
everybody's watched it.
I don't care.
Yeah.
Her storyline immediately tookme to Silence of the Lambs, which
(30:55):
is one of those that I haveseen seven, eight times.
You know, it's.
It's rewatchable show.
Well, that wasn't it.
Excuse me.
Absolutely.
Also movie.
Not just about the mystery.
Right.
Much more about Claire, muchmore about her trauma, which is a
through line of this.
I think that this show has alittle bit of a through line of how
(31:18):
secrets create a certain typeof Darkness.
And therefore a trauma or eventhe trauma creates the darkness and
the secrets.
You know, Akram doesn't knowthese pressure points to injure someone
because he's been a beachlifeguard in Syria.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'd agree with that.
Every.
You know, in a way that, like,yes, we've seen it before, but it's
(31:39):
done very well.
Everyone has a past that isshaping their present.
That's it.
Yeah.
I did notice that.
I did figure out the time jumpand I never figure out stuff like
this because they mention HerMajesty's Government.
But it's very clear the showis happening now.
Oh, it's in the past.
Because the Queen is still alive.
Really?
Yeah.
I didn't catch that.
(31:59):
I just.
That's the only thing that.
And then at the end,obviously, it's pretty obvious that
the mare and her brother thingtakes place in the past, but.
Yeah.
At least for a little bit.
At least for the first episode.
For the first episode.
Yeah.
I would kept.
I figured it out.
And I don't.
It was just a hunch becausethey never interacted the law.
(32:20):
Her as a lawyer and he.
Him as a detective or anybodyin his.
Yeah.
Apartment.
First episode is kind of setup of who these people are.
The second episode is hugely.
Let's get the gang Together.
Let's put.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And if you like episodes, it'sget the Gang Together.
Episode two is going toscratch that itch.
Yeah.
We don't.
(32:40):
We don't move the mysteryforward so much in episode two, but
there's a lot of establishing.
Yeah.
Like let's get the gang Together.
Like you said, like, okay,who's gonna be.
Who's gonna be investigatingthis thing?
Right.
And we learn a little bit moreabout wind on a ferry and what happens
when you throw someone's hat overboard.
(33:02):
It circles back around.
It comes right back.
Good thing he.
Probably.
Good thing he knew that orpoor Oxram would have lost his favorite
hat.
But there are things, you knowwere gonna happen.
You knew Rose was going to.
She's also in some of thepromotional materials as a figure
there with.
With Carl and Akram.
But you knew she was going tobe a helper of some sort.
(33:23):
You get the sense his formerpartner is going to play a bigger
role, although he's currentlyhospitalized, which I think is interesting.
Their dynamic.
Giving Carl someone with whomhe is friends with in the department
probably needs to happen.
Yeah.
Someone that he actuallyrespects that obviously.
I liked how they showed thatthe department head, Moira, is just
(33:47):
doing this to siphon Money away.
But it is kind of.
Because that does kind ofanswer the question of, like, why
is this guy not fired?
Like, there's.
Every supervisor in the worldwould be like, desperate to get rid
of this guy.
I'm not so sure that she's notthe shooter.
That looks like her eyes.
I mean, she probably wants tokill him.
(34:10):
Yeah.
You remember her from Game of Thrones.
Yes, I do.
Yeah.
I think of that every time Isee her.
One of my favorite ways of theseries shows Carl's desperately trying
for I don't give a fuckattitude is how he refuses to park
the Ford car normally.
He keeps parking it up on thecurb and it's like falling apart.
(34:33):
Yeah.
It's like a Ford Tempo is mybest guess.
But I haven't seen those in 25 years.
And it does.
It's not even looks like aFord Tempo.
Hardly.
There was one thing I thoughtwas huge, though.
Yeah.
When Merritt's supervisor.
This is episode two now.
Merit supervisor comes to talkto Carl and introduces himself.
The camera changes drastically.
(34:56):
Much more close up.
Much more serious.
And handheld.
If I'm not mistaken,something's up there.
And I don't know if they'reusing that as a red herring or a
hint.
I did think that Carl wasleaving a voicemail to a wife or
ex wife who is deceased.
Though Jasper leaving at theend of episode three because he gets
a call from his mom mightprove that to be unlikely.
(35:18):
Does it seem?
I.
I think the shooter is his own.
Is his own boss.
Myra.
What's your name?
Myra.
Yes.
And I think that the ladywho's holding Merrick captive could
be a man dressed as a woman.
I think there's two.
There are.
There are two.
I think one's a man and one'sa woman.
One is definitely a man, youknow, and we're to take that.
(35:41):
But I think the.
The woman speaking into themicrophone for the most of the part,
you just see the mouth.
I think that's.
I would not be surprised ifthat turns out to be a man dressed
as woman for whatever reason.
Yeah.
I almost never speculate.
Three games.
Me either.
I'm terrible at guessing.
Me too.
It's just not as much fun for me.
I just let.
I'm like, let me.
Let me.
Yeah.
Regular listeners now we'reway more into how the show's put
(36:03):
together, what it might besaying on a deeper level.
Things like that.
One thing I think it kind ofdoes almost to a fault, which is
again, surprising to me whyit's getting so much Attention is
they write it to whereeveryone around Carl either says
something pretty stupid orleaves some pertinent thing out to
where he is being a smart assis understandable.
(36:23):
Uh huh.
Even Akram, who's one of thesmartest guys on the show, probably
says something.
I don't remember.
It's in episode three whenthey're on the ferry.
I do remember that.
And he says there are twothings and he just tells him one
thing.
And of course, if you're Carl,you're gonna say, what the fuck's
the other thing?
Right?
That was the second.
(36:44):
That's right, yeah.
That was a good scene.
It's a good setup though.
Carl is a sympathetic guy though.
And I think his being the, thefocal point and putting some characters
around him that you are alsointerested in, like Acrom and Rose.
His cockiness is hiding deep trauma.
It's deeper than just being shot.
It's good because like, I dothink that the.
(37:05):
Sometimes the trope of theperson who's like, you know, he's
a raging asshole to everyonearound him, but he gets results.
Like I think we see thatsociety, like how that's bad.
Like society soc.
Right.
Like, oh, he does, he does badthings, but he supposedly gets results
like that.
That's kind of a bad.
I get that it's a bad.
And I think that's especiallyfor men too.
Right.
(37:25):
It's sort of a something thatlets men get away with being horrible
to people around them.
So all that being said, I feltlike that doesn't just sink into
it because they do such a goodjob of a drip first off.
They show him being actuallynice, which is good.
But yeah, they make it very,very clear that this is, this is
a deep well of trauma.
(37:46):
And like you said, not justfrom being shot.
Did you like how the seriesaddressed what every viewer might
have thought, at least quicklyand barely with his therapist when
he says, you're very pretty,you know, because in the back of
your mind you're thinking,these are two attractive actors.
Are they going to datewhoever's punishing Merritt, you
(38:08):
know, putting her captive andshe's obviously on, on a ship.
She's either on a ship orunderground because it's not rocking.
Okay, you think she's on a ship?
Maybe she is.
Well, they kept saying she.
She totally disappeared.
And I'm thinking, well, shenever left the ship, the ferry.
That's not big enough.
It's not big enough, is it?
That?
Yeah.
Okay, but whoever's punishingher, it's heavily hinted that it
(38:30):
could be her past that she'shad a.
She was a.
A bit of a brat as a teen.
She maybe had a neglectful hand.
And what's happened to herbrother that causes him to be nonverbal
these days?
Yeah.
Something is haunting her.
Literally.
I mean, is that her mom?
That's got her?
Surely that.
That's wild.
(38:51):
And then episode three endswith the.
The initials L.H.
what did you do?
Peels off a sticker and finds that.
And Merit sees and.
Which, of course, alludes tosomething I thought was the initial
thing at the end of episodeone, which is the.
There's more than one personbeing held captive.
As far as the timeline, Idon't know, but I thought that there
(39:13):
would be probably two or three girls.
I thought we had a Silence ofthe Lamb situation where he could
very well have two or threepeople captive at the same time.
I see.
Yeah.
It seems more like this isspecifically about Merit, I think,
making it unlikely that she'sjust like, a type.
And then this is like, no, shedid something, and this person is
(39:35):
punishing her for that.
And it might be related to William.
And they won't tell her whatshe did.
She's got to figure it out.
What happens when she figuresit out?
What do they.
Who knows?
Maybe they stop.
Maybe they stop playing that song.
Yeah.
I don't dislike crimethrillers, but me either.
I'm not gonna just sit andwatch Law and Order.
(39:56):
Right.
You know?
Right.
Same here.
This is the end of our episodethis week.
We appreciate you listeningthis far for Adam and Donovan.
Adam will be back next week.
I'm Blaine.
And we hope that you're nottrapped in a tank being forced to
listen to us.
Whoa, man.
That's, like, against theGeneva Convention.
Oh, that's torture.
(40:16):
You play Taking it down to prisoners.
You play that loop of.
You play that loop of Roosterand Sally.
That's right.
You're violating their humanrights right there.
Thanks, everyone.
Hello and welcome to thepodcast Taking It Down.
This is the working Class TVand streaming podcast for those who
don't hear their own voicesreflected to them in any other sort
of podcast of this genre.
I'm the weekly host.
My name is Blaine.
I'm the editor in chief of theAlabama Take as well.
Pretty soon I'll be joined by Donovan.
Adam, our other co host is outthis week, but he'll be back next
(00:20):
week.
Coverage this week for us willbe some brief and spoiler free thoughts
on the Phoenician Scheme whichis in theaters.
We usually don't do theatertype things, but I just had a few
questions for Donovan.
That's the new Wes Anderson film.
We'll also do some spoilerfree mentions of the series stick
on Apple tv plus a very shortbit on andor from Disney plus it
(00:44):
has ended its run.
And finally we'll get into theheart of our show this week which
will be non spoiler and laterspoiler thoughts on early episodes
of the Netflix seriesDepartment Q.
We talk about the first threeepisodes very generally and then
with some detail after a break.
So stick around.
Al, take projection.
(01:09):
As mentioned, here he is.
It's joining me is Donovan.
He's got a.
He had an early chance ormaybe just a regular normal person
chance to see the Wes Andersonfilm the Phoenician Scheme.
It is.
Or I did Blaine and it's amovie that dares to ask the question
do you like to laugh?
(01:30):
Wow.
Insightful stuff.
No.
Yeah.
I've liked Anderson before,especially Rushmore and the Royal
Tenen Bombs.
In fact, the Royal Tenen Bombsis one of my favorites.
It would probably be a top 10movie for me and I enjoyed the short
Netflix films he did in 2024last year.
I guess I may be one of thefew who liked Moonrise Kingdom well
(01:51):
enough.
You know, everybody hatesMoonrise Kingdom.
I actually think it's really good.
I thought it was okay.
It's one of my favorite ones.
That was kind of cute.
It's cute.
I like that it's set kind ofup in New England area.
Mm.
I like the bit when the dog dies.
So that's sad.
But there's a great bit wherethey're like, they come up on the
dog that's been killed andthey're like, was he a good dog?
(02:12):
And the kid just looks downand he's like, who's to say it's
so good.
I say that all the time.
Like who's to say?
But overall, I don't feel theexcitement as much as his fan base
does upon seeing trailers ofhis movies.
So.
And I've asked this before,what am I missing?
I always feel like I'm missingsomething with his movies.
I don't necessarily find themfunny unless it's somebody like you
(02:35):
who recounts it to me.
But in the theater, I'm not chuckling.
Like, I think I saw this witha room full of people who mostly
liked it.
They didn't seem like mad orno one left early or whatever, but
like, that theater was deathly silent.
Like, except for.
Except for me laughing.
That theater was me.
(02:56):
Because that's the way I feelabout his films.
Except for, like I said, Ithink I laugh during Royal Tenenbaubs.
Maybe it's.
I'm not smart.
I don't know if that's.
That's it.
And also, I would say thatthis one, tonally, you know, they
all have a sort of style, butit's much closer to, say, Grand Budapest
(03:17):
Hotel, which is another one ofmy favorites, but than Royal Tenenbaums.
See, I didn't like GrandBudapest Hotel very much.
How can you not like it?
It's about the twin evils offascism and communism overtaking
Eastern Europe and.
And, you know, it's real sad.
And Ray Font does all he can.
He's so good.
He is great.
Like, there's a.
There's a delight in the sortof, like, particularity and precision
(03:39):
his film.
And like the, you know, the artificiality.
Yes.
That highlights, but it makes,like, hyper real the characters,
interactions.
There's a delight in that.
And I think, at least for hislanguage, some people don't like
it, but I think there's adelight in the silliness of our discourse.
Yeah.
The way we talk past, talk totalk past and talk around each other.
(04:02):
Interesting.
I don't know.
That's just off the top of my head.
No, I appreciate that.
That's good.
Okay.
So the Phoenician scheme.
Yeah.
Now that we got that out ofthe way, brief, non spoiler set of
thoughts on Venetian scheme.
Just.
I know you enjoyed it, but isthere anything you could add to that
that wouldn't spoil anythingother than, you know, you laughed.
(04:22):
Go for the Benicio Del Toro.
Yeah.
Stay for the Michael Cera.
Okay.
What was the headline I sawrecently that said, a billionaire
gets his way in the New WestAnderson and he doesn't deserve it
or something?
Is that the case?
So it's.
That might be spoiler stuff.
Not really.
I mean, so it's the.
(04:43):
That's a spoiler Headline, youknow, that.
Is a spoiler head.
And I would, I would arguewith it.
Would you, Would you wave yourfinger at that writer?
I would.
Tut tut.
I would tut tut, sir.
But it is about Benicio DelToro does play this billionaire who's
constantly.
People are constantly tryingto assassinate and he's putting into
(05:04):
motion some grand schemecalled the Phoenician scheme.
And basically, and we're not.
It's a little unclear as towhat it actually is.
Okay.
And he kind of has to goaround and try and pull that off
while also attempting toreconnect with his daughter Liesel
Mia Threapleton, who is KateWinslet's daughter.
He's trying to connect with her.
(05:24):
And she is a nun or wants tobecome a nun.
And hilarity ensues.
Okay.
I think Grand Budapest isactually the more serious.
Even though I said they aretonally similar.
Grand Budapest I think is veryserious, deathly serious about its
topic matter.
This is I think like feels alittle less serious.
(05:45):
But there also is an interestin like following a man who will
do anything to get what hedeserves or what he wants.
I mean for example, he has, hehas nine sons and one daughter and
many of the sons are adoptedon the off chance they might be an
Einstein.
So he's just.
Because he's just playing theodds there.
So it's like someone who willdo anything.
Someone who will do anything.
(06:06):
Right.
He doesn't happen to make carsand send things to space.
Well, speaking of WesAnderson, I wanted to bring up the
Apple TV plus series Stickwhich has frequent Anderson star
Owen Wilson as a Anderson starbest friend.
Oh, they buddies.
Oh, they were, yeah.
Because he co wrote Rushmoreand maybe.
(06:27):
The Royal Tenen Bond bottlerocket too, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Owen Wilson worked on thatwith him Texas boys.
Right?
Texas boys.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Owen Wilton is washed upgolfer making an attempt to help
a kid with his entry into theworld of the game of golf.
It's likely the three of uswill delve into this next week as
(06:50):
a spoiler.
As a non spoiler section andspoiler section.
But just here this week, I'llsay for listeners, I'm still enjoying
it.
I.
I find it sometimes going intoo many directions at once.
Yeah, I see that.
It does continue a few tropeswhich is no big deal.
That's probably the least ofit since that said, Owen Wilson is
(07:11):
still a fun actor to watchwork if that's enough of a sell for
you.
And Mark Marion, Marc Maron'sGrumpiness doesn't hinder your viewing.
And you'll get.
I think you'll enjoy thisApple TV show.
Owen Wilson does such a goodjob of being a guy who.
He's kind of an asshole in ascrew up.
(07:31):
But like not really, if thatmakes any sense.
Yeah, he does bad stuff, butyou kind of like.
He's got a heart of gold.
You kind of like the guy.
The things Owen Wilson does inthis show that are bad are day to
day bad.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's not.
This is not Breaking Bad.
Yeah, he's not cooking meth or.
Right.
(07:52):
Yeah, this is normal stuff.
There's like a kind of likesweetness to him the whole time too.
He doesn't keep a clean house.
Who amongst us?
You know?
I mean, he.
He will.
He'll drop $100 on a bet.
You know, this is.
This is the Owen Wilson of stick.
Man's got parking tickets.
(08:12):
One other thing you'veleapfrogged on me is andor on Disney
plus, which I've yet to see at all.
Really.
Though I'm excited to getaround to it.
I keep thinking tonight's the night.
It never is.
You've seen the entirety of itof the second season.
But you won't spoil anything here.
I am curious how you feltabout the second season as a whole.
It asks the question, do youlike to cry?
(08:35):
No.
It's really good in a way thatI think the season works as a cohesive
whole.
Disney kept dropping it inthree episode chunks.
Yeah.
So I was watching sort of in chunks.
And so it is almost like youhave kind of like the first one.
Like you'll have like ministory arcs.
Yeah.
Throughout the series thatkind of make up a bigger whole.
(08:56):
And honestly I thought it wasvery good.
I wonder if Disney might havebeen trying to bury it a tiny bit
with those dumps.
Because I don't think it's acomplete coincidence that people
were out over the weekendgetting mad at the big man in the
White House with signs withquotes from Andor on it.
Really?
Yeah.
Saw one with my own eyes.
What did it say?
(09:16):
I have friends everywhere.
Huh.
I did love the.
The only thing I've honestlywatched Disney plus did me a favor
and probably a lot of others afavor and put a about a 12 minute
recap of season one.
And I've watched it probablytwice now thinking once I finish
this, I'll watch.
And then I'm like, oh, I'm tired.
Yeah, that's fair enough.
(09:38):
Almost like it's so good thatit kind of like it makes the stuff
that was good in Star wars,like better.
Yeah.
And it may.
And it makes the stuff that'sbad in Star wars seem even worse
because you're like, oh man,you could have.
I think the really good trick,same as with season one of taking
the world seriously withoutbeing silly, if that makes, I mean
(10:01):
there's a little bit, ofcourse, because you're in the Star
wars universe, but you know,it's, it's.
I think that's pretty impressive.
I don't think I could make aserious Star wars movie.
The Don Draper pitch would be,what if Star wars was for adults?
Yeah, exactly.
What if Star wars aged withits initial fan base?
Yeah.
(10:21):
But in the like in the sensethat like it's not just doing nostalgia
pandering.
Right.
Where it's like, remember whatit felt like to be eight again.
That's important.
I, I do think it's like, it islike in the best part of that, like,
hey, this thing that youenjoyed that when you were eight,
you're watching it now, you'rean adult.
Here are the things that werein the background that 8 year old
you might not have picked upon, but adult you can see and interact
(10:46):
with now.
That's exactly it.
Pretty much the greatest wayto do something.
It is.
This is the thing, you know,nine year old you missed or didn't
notice, didn't think aboutthematically even.
It's somewhat rare.
I think that media does this.
Well, it puts me in mind ofnow it's a fairly old book series,
(11:07):
but Ursula Le Guin's wizard ofEarthsea or the Earthsea books which
starts out with the wizard of Earthsea.
And then there's another onethat comes out pretty frequently
called the Tombs of Atuan.
And they're both great books,but they're also younger readers
books.
But as she kept revisitingthat world, she kept writing books
(11:27):
that were for like a slightlyolder and older audience to the end,
where the last two are reallyjust for adults.
And it's that same kind ofidea, like, hey, here's the stuff
that I introduced it to youand we talked about it when you were
a kid and now I'm coming backto you and we're gonna look at some
of the same and some of thesimilar things that I'm gonna show
(11:47):
you how you can interact withit as an adult.
Now.
I think it's really rare thata series spans from childhood to
adult in the way that Endorkind of spans the gap.
It wasn't Harry Pottersupposed to do that in a way.
And did it?
I think Harry Potter, in away, yes.
Did it in the sense that itgets more serious.
Although I just think Le Guindid it better.
(12:08):
Oh, okay.
No, she's like a.
Known for her good writing.
She's very good.
Yeah.
The, the wizard of Earth Seais all, it's all based in Taoist
principles.
So if that, if that doesn'tintrigue you, if you, if you like
a little philosophy with your,with your fantasy.
Well, our focal point thisweek is the three first three episodes
of the new Netflix seriesDepartment Q.
(12:30):
British crime thriller.
I guess it's set in Scotland.
Set in Scotland, yes.
But it's a technically a Britmade by a British.
It's a British crime thriller,I think is how it's labeled.
It seems to be a popularseries per the streamer and my own
in depth research of talkingto Bo Hicks.
The.
The show stars Matthew Goodand it has Kelly McDonald.
(12:53):
She doesn't play a big role,but she may or may not be familiar
to listeners.
Kelly McDonald is particularlynoticeable to me because I recall
her immediately from BoardwalkEmpire and no country for Old Men.
No country for.
As soon as I saw her, I'mlike, it's Carla Jean.
Yep.
Though she's done a lot,including more on Disney, plus the
Star wars show, Skeleton Crew.
(13:14):
Apparently she's a part of it.
Oh, is she in that?
I didn't think so.
Huh.
I think Good's mostly knownfor being a hunk on the final season
of Downton Abbey.
I think most people.
He's done a lot of film work,but it's mostly been of the British
genre.
Yeah.
Department Q is created byScott Frank and Shandy Lakhani.
(13:37):
I think her name is Scott.
Frank wrote for the movieLogan and Minority Report.
He was just on staff there,but he created the Queen's Gambit
for Netflix.
And this show is loosely basedon a set of novels set in Denmark.
Initially, completelycoincidentally, with you saying,
hey, we should watch this.
Sure.
Like about a couple daysbefore that, my friend Patrick, who
(13:58):
is.
He's got an actual PhD incrime fiction, just said, hey, I
just started.
I just finished the first ofthese Department Q books.
I think it's pretty good.
You should check it out.
So he said that and then you recommended.
And we watched it.
It was kind of funny.
It just everyone at the sametime was like, you should check this
out.
Did I recommend this or did Adam?
(14:20):
You did.
Because I was watching it last night.
I was thinking, why did Irecommend this?
How did I come to this?
No, no.
Yeah, it was you.
Okay.
We're early in the series.
We may cover more even next week.
But with the three episodes watched.
What do you think, Donovan?
Who's this for?
Who's gonna like it?
Is it worthy of their time?
What's your spoiler free senseof the series?
(14:42):
Three in it's a show thatlikes to ask the question, do you
like to solve crimes?
No shit.
That's a good way of puttingbegs for the viewer to guess resolutions.
That's going to appeal to awide audience.
Though my cursory review of itso far is that it is very much a
crime drama.
(15:04):
Furthermore, a British crimegenre in a way that I'm not sure
that I can like qualify that statement.
But you just see it and you'relike, yeah, this is somewhat familiar.
It's not doing anything.
Which this is unfair.
This is an unfair comparisonbecause I'm about to compare it to
something that's not really acrime drama.
But it's not doing anythinglike adolescence did where it's using
(15:26):
aspects of the crime drama,but doing something kind of startling
and unfamiliar.
I think it's very much of a piece.
That being said, for me sofar, the piece is fun and intriguing.
I enjoyed watching the episodes.
I like the dynamics betweentwo of the characters a lot.
(15:46):
I like one of the characters.
I like his background and hisstory I think is really interesting.
So I would say in these firstthree, it doesn't transcend, but
it's a very good example ofthis guy is an asshole and he breaks
the rules, but sometimes hegets results.
Yeah, exactly.
It's very trope heavy, butit's also got some onion like layers
(16:07):
to a lot of these people.
I think so.
And maybe I would.
I'm not so sure that every oneof the characters has some sort of
peel back and you'll see morelayer to them.
Every character so far has had.
Interestingly, because it kindof kind of parallels our mano and
Wilson and stick has hadsomething that's caused them to in
(16:31):
their past that's caused themto kind of make melt down or freak
out a little bit.
Right.
We'll get into this a littlemore in the spoiler section.
But a lot of people are gonnalike this.
And I bet I'm gonna take agamble and say that it probably gets
really, really good midpointand back half just because I've seen
(16:52):
a lot of raving about it from books.
I adhere to often what I saw.
It gives me nothing to doubtIt I think it's a good sign with
the show where it gets the end.
You're like, oh man, no, it'sover already.
Or you get to the end of the episode.
And I had that happen withthis one.
I was like, oh man, it's over.
(17:12):
I want to know more.
Yeah.
And they're 55 minute episodesor so, give or take.
I had to watch myself withjotting a few notes because I was
constantly just guessing.
My notes ended up just being,oh, did so and so do this.
I believe a lot of people willlike that engagement of watching
(17:32):
it.
And plus, it being on Netflix,you don't have to wait a week to
figure a lot of this stuff out.
Yeah.
It really is built for bingingin the sense that it will leave you
with a lot of questions andyou'll want to at least in the first
three and you'll want to watcha little bit more to find out more
of what's going on.
Although it's getting a lot ofcomparisons to Apple TV's series
(17:52):
Slow Horses, which is week to week.
That's true.
That's the one Adam recommended.
It is.
Which I.
I'd like to get to as well.
I gotta jump on it.
I've seen one episode andthought it was great.
Yeah.
And never watched it forwhatever reason, but have always
wanted to.
And I've heard good stuffabout it.
And then a recommendation fromour good buddy Adam carries a lot
(18:13):
of weight.
It does.
Adam's not with us this week.
He'll be back next week forthe first three episodes.
It doesn't transcend.
But if you like this kind ofshow, you will probably find it very
enjoyable.
If you occasionally like thiskind of show, I would say watch a
couple episodes because it's not.
(18:36):
Although it doesn't, at leastin the first three, like quote unquote,
as I just said, transcend.
I think that if you aresomewhat iffy on this kind of show
and it takes a pretty good oneto make you like it, I think we got
a pretty good one right here.
Let's jump into spoilers.
After a break on YouTube, it'shard to figure out what to watch
because it's everything andit's nothing.
(18:56):
Next thing you know, you'vegone down a.
Maybe a dumb rabbit hole andwasted too much time.
That's not the case if yousubscribe to the Alabama Tech on
YouTube.
Our channel features all ofour podcasts, the day and time of
their release.
And with Friday's new seasonof Short Takes premiering last week,
you'll be all set to see themost philosophical interview show
to date.
(19:17):
If you if you subscribe toYouTube, use the show notes in the
link hit subscribe on theYouTube channel.
Visit the Alabama take formore and we'll talk to you all soon.
Okay, we're now enteringSpoiler section.
The only piece of TV we havefor this week's part is Department
Q, which we mentioned.
We've watched the first threeof nine, so we're going to unpack
(19:37):
here the details of the firstthree of nine.
Avoid if you wish to remain inthe dark about the first three, we
do recommend it if you'vegotten this far.
Lot of you are going to lovethis, I think.
So while there's nothing newunder the sun, per the saying, one
could argue there's nothingnew in the first episode of Department
Q.
I mean, there is nothing new here.
(19:59):
And I don't mean it in a bad way.
It was presented to you in anexcellent manner, but everything
is almost a series of boxesthat got checked and I get not in
a bad way.
It just happens that that'swhat the writing did.
A lot of tropes, women find apolice drama, you got your curmudgeonly
(20:21):
detective, an understaffedpolice department, a public clamoring
for crimes to be solved, amurder, the assistant who turns out
to be smarter, more helpfulthan the characters could have imagined.
It's all there.
But the presentation is wonderful.
You know, credit to thewriters for an original opening where
the protagonist himself getsshot in what seems like a fatal attack.
(20:43):
And I'm thinking, oh shit, isthis series about everything that
leads up to him dying?
It's not.
I mean, we know we're inSpoiler section.
Yeah.
Credit to good here is Carlbecause without him, this first episode
especially falls to pieces.
He has.
Yeah, he's captivating towatch because it's a grimy, drab
(21:03):
show about grimy drab interiorof a man living in grimy drab surroundings.
You know, these are the mostinhospitable buildings I've ever
seen.
I wanted to wash my handsafter every episode.
Even the hospital he goes to.
It's like, Jesus fuckingChrist, I wouldn't stay in there.
You're like, wait, do they sweep?
(21:24):
Yeah, exactly.
Why is the painting on thewall lead based?
Still luckily good as Carl isstill somewhat charming despite being
very mean to most people.
He's definitely played as kindof just all too human.
(21:44):
Right?
And by that I mean just like avery flawed person.
Superfluid.
He's smart enough to Know thathe's flawed and he's an asshole,
but that doesn't stop him frombeing an asshole.
And I say he's mean to mostpeople I really like.
It's a split second in thefirst episode where he's visiting
his partner who had also beenshot in the very same opening scene,
(22:06):
but except his partner is paralyzed.
What happened to Carl was thatit only went through his neck.
That's about it.
He's back at work and what.
Yeah, it felt like a week ortwo, right?
I assumed it was some time.
A fair.
They said it was some fairamount of time, but.
Oh, okay.
They mentioned it wasn't aweek or two.
It was.
It was a little bit.
A couple months, somethinglike that.
(22:29):
I didn't.
I didn't note it except to saylike, oh, it's been a little bit.
Because he.
They're mentioning it whenhe's go.
Because he has to go see thepsychiatrist or the psychologist
as the therapist as part of.
Because he was involved in the shooting.
And that's mandatory.
I think it's might even bemandatory in the States.
In most.
Most places.
It's a.
It's a slight moment, but he'svisiting his partner.
(22:52):
They like to talk football.
And his partner's wife andkids come in and his partner is laying
there basicallyunintentionally admitted.
He.
He doesn't want to live as aperson with paralysis.
And it's a.
It's a sad moment and.
But the wife comes in with the kids.
Matthew Good plays Carl.
Very friendly to them and very nice.
(23:14):
And it is a split second, butyou gotta watch it because he says,
oh, hey, you know.
And there's this cheerfulmoment for where makes you realize,
oh, this guy's not a complete douche.
I mean, he clearly loves andrespects his partner and therefore
extends that to his partner's family.
He does seem like a guy who's like.
Once you're in with him, like, he.
(23:35):
He might like still be like,mean to you, but like, you know,
if other people get on you,then he's going to defend you.
You're my person to me.
Mean to.
Exactly mean and answer.
If there's such a thing.
Yeah, if there is such a thing.
Now, the other aspect thatdoes reel you in.
Again, very trope heavy, butvery checking some boxes here.
But the other aspect thatreels you in is not just the central
(23:57):
mystery.
It's what I said earlier.
Each of the primary charactershas mysteries plural of their own
that you're hoping is a viewer.
You get Some answers to.
I would say my favorite sideone so far is the IT guy.
Except he's not just an IT guy.
Salim from Syria.
I've enjoyed.
So he was some sort of lawenforcement sort of baby police in
(24:20):
Syria.
Maybe army.
Yeah.
We see how competent he.
And the guy who plays him isjust so good at playing like polite.
But like still waters run deep.
Polite.
Yes, sir.
Where he's like, he's smart,he's competent.
You just sense there's a lotto him that you don't know that much
about.
And also just the mere fact ofhaving a character who has left Syria
(24:41):
and settled in England asperhaps or probably is a part of.
Scott.
Sorry, Scotland, you're right.
As that country's civil war.
I thought that was a really like.
He's a really fascinatingcharacter to come out of that background
and have to interact withBritish people.
Yes.
People from the uk.
(25:02):
And he has that wonderfully indepth line where Matthew Good's Carl
asks him, so where are you onthe good side of the bad side in
Syria?
And he says, well, when youfigure out which one's which, you
tell me.
He knows a lot about pressure points.
So I'm gonna have.
I think we have some guesses here.
Well, you know, that was.
This show did a nice job herewhere that was kind of hinted that
(25:24):
he might be able to do such.
When Carl has his panic attackand he reaches to push.
Yes.
Salim away.
And Salim does a very similar.
I'm grabbing your arm so asyou will not affect me with your
push.
Yes.
And then he does the samething later to a young punk and.
But much more damaging and in control.
(25:47):
Right.
Army effective.
Little rougher there.
Yeah.
I'm always reminded of ArthurMiller's writing for.
For John Proctor in the Crucible.
Whereas they're.
They're wheels within wheelsand fires within fires here.
Yeah.
That seems to be what's goingon here.
And I think that's probablywhy critics are so drawn to it as
a.
(26:07):
As a Netflix crime drama.
Otherwise it would just be aNetflix crime drama.
So there's something goodthat's going to happen here.
And I don't know that you andI have full scope of it three episodes
in, but what we do have issome pretty cool and interesting
things which we're talking about.
I think I would completelyagree with you, Blaine, especially
the way you just put it whereit's like, if it didn't have this
(26:28):
stuff, it would just be aNetflix show.
Yeah.
There are so many shows thathit almost exact Same beats, same
points, similar characters,even at the same moment.
Right.
Exactly.
But they're just not as goodas this one.
You know, some of it is theactors are good.
The writing is giving you.
You know, it's.
It's.
It's.
It's those intangibles that.
(26:49):
That are setting it apart for.
For me at this moment.
I am thankful to know whoMatthew Goode is.
Now.
I didn't.
Shame on me.
Maybe.
But I was like, this guy ishandsome and watchable.
Where.
Where can I find more of his work?
You know?
So it's good that we got a fewmore episodes.
I like watching him.
He's.
He's got these intense blue eyes.
He's a handsome guy.
He.
He.
He holds depth very well, Ithink, on screen, where there's something
(27:14):
else going on.
Maybe two other things.
Yeah.
But one of the things I'veenjoyed about his performance so
far is how much of him being arude asshole is so clearly him putting
up a brave face.
And the way that he playssomeone who needs to feel in charge
and in control but really kindof isn't yet.
(27:37):
And the way that he is usinghis two closest compatriots to kind
of start investigating thismystery and the way that, by varying
degrees, they let him orunderstand that he's still working
with diminished capacitiesright now because of his trauma.
Yeah.
You can see the depth of hisacting if you really hone in on when
(28:00):
he goes back and watches theAI generated version of his shooting
and he kind of puts it on a loop.
Yeah.
Watch his eyes and hisreaction there.
And it's.
He's scared shitless there.
Absolutely.
But, yeah, also, what'sinteresting about the three episodes,
although you and I don't havethe full scope, is I don't know if
this doesn't turn out to be aseries about how men operate without
(28:22):
women, be it by choice orsituational a little bit.
Merritt's brother is without merit's.
Brother William is withoutmerit, and his mom, Carl, is only
with his son.
A little more on that later.
And.
And their tenant, who's a man.
Yes.
Which is.
(28:44):
That took me a few minutes.
Akram has a wife, but she'snever shown.
She's only mentioned via her cooking.
Yep.
The ladies thus far are eitherin charge or in trouble because they
were in charge.
And then we have Rose, who'ssort of in the middle.
And Rose is in the middle.
And so when she becomes a moreprominent character in the middle
of the third episode, Istarted thinking, well, maybe my
little Thematical theory is alittle shaky right now, so let's
(29:07):
see what this develops into.
Let's see how it unspools.
Although her conversation withher mom is a deceitful one where
she doesn't admit to working,she is.
Hey, Mom, I'm actually on a.
Getting ready for a date.
Don't talk to me right now.
Bye.
Bye.
And she's instead on acomputer investigating one of the
(29:28):
drawings that William has done.
So.
Yeah, I suppose what I'msaying is that the show for me is
good because of its characterwork and its depth there and.
And maybe not so much themystery of Merit.
Although I did find myselfwriting a lot of notes thinking,
this is going to lead to this,which I usually don't do with shows.
I usually just let it come to me.
This is why I'm stillquestioning just how good is this
(29:49):
show going to be?
Because it had me trying toguess it.
And I would much rather a showhave me so involved that I don't
guess anything.
I'm just watching and engaging mentally.
Yeah.
I do think that shows that goall in on their mysteries usually
tend to be.
They can even be fun whileyou're watching them, but in retrospect,
(30:10):
they're a little slight.
Yeah.
Because they don't.
It's.
I mean, it's kind of like,would you ever watch this a second
time?
There's going to be anexception to this that I'll bring
up in a minute.
I guess I could now, but.
Yeah.
What is it?
I'm curious.
Merit's story at the beginningof episode.
Excuse me.
At the ending of episode one.
The big twist at episode one, I.
(30:32):
Actually kind of figured thisout, and I never figured these things
out, but there was.
There was a line that made meget it okay ahead of time because.
They said, I've got a lot ofthis show figured out, too, and I
don't want to spend our.
This is not the kind of talkwe do here much on this podcast is
figuring out what happens,especially our Netflix show where
everybody's watched it.
I don't care.
Yeah.
Her storyline immediately tookme to Silence of the Lambs, which
(30:55):
is one of those that I haveseen seven, eight times.
You know, it's.
It's rewatchable show.
Well, that wasn't it.
Excuse me.
Absolutely.
Also movie.
Not just about the mystery.
Right.
Much more about Claire, muchmore about her trauma, which is a
through line of this.
I think that this show has alittle bit of a through line of how
(31:18):
secrets create a certain typeof Darkness.
And therefore a trauma or eventhe trauma creates the darkness and
the secrets.
You know, Akram doesn't knowthese pressure points to injure someone
because he's been a beachlifeguard in Syria.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'd agree with that.
Every.
You know, in a way that, like,yes, we've seen it before, but it's
(31:39):
done very well.
Everyone has a past that isshaping their present.
That's it.
Yeah.
I did notice that.
I did figure out the time jumpand I never figure out stuff like
this because they mention HerMajesty's Government.
But it's very clear the showis happening now.
Oh, it's in the past.
Because the Queen is still alive.
Really?
Yeah.
I didn't catch that.
(31:59):
I just.
That's the only thing that.
And then at the end,obviously, it's pretty obvious that
the mare and her brother thingtakes place in the past, but.
Yeah.
At least for a little bit.
At least for the first episode.
For the first episode.
Yeah.
I would kept.
I figured it out.
And I don't.
It was just a hunch becausethey never interacted the law.
(32:20):
Her as a lawyer and he.
Him as a detective or anybodyin his.
Yeah.
Apartment.
First episode is kind of setup of who these people are.
The second episode is hugely.
Let's get the gang Together.
Let's put.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And if you like episodes, it'sget the Gang Together.
Episode two is going toscratch that itch.
Yeah.
We don't.
(32:40):
We don't move the mysteryforward so much in episode two, but
there's a lot of establishing.
Yeah.
Like let's get the gang Together.
Like you said, like, okay,who's gonna be.
Who's gonna be investigatingthis thing?
Right.
And we learn a little bit moreabout wind on a ferry and what happens
when you throw someone's hat overboard.
(33:02):
It circles back around.
It comes right back.
Good thing he.
Probably.
Good thing he knew that orpoor Oxram would have lost his favorite
hat.
But there are things, you knowwere gonna happen.
You knew Rose was going to.
She's also in some of thepromotional materials as a figure
there with.
With Carl and Akram.
But you knew she was going tobe a helper of some sort.
(33:23):
You get the sense his formerpartner is going to play a bigger
role, although he's currentlyhospitalized, which I think is interesting.
Their dynamic.
Giving Carl someone with whomhe is friends with in the department
probably needs to happen.
Yeah.
Someone that he actuallyrespects that obviously.
I liked how they showed thatthe department head, Moira, is just
(33:47):
doing this to siphon Money away.
But it is kind of.
Because that does kind ofanswer the question of, like, why
is this guy not fired?
Like, there's.
Every supervisor in the worldwould be like, desperate to get rid
of this guy.
I'm not so sure that she's notthe shooter.
That looks like her eyes.
I mean, she probably wants tokill him.
(34:10):
Yeah.
You remember her from Game of Thrones.
Yes, I do.
Yeah.
I think of that every time Isee her.
One of my favorite ways of theseries shows Carl's desperately trying
for I don't give a fuckattitude is how he refuses to park
the Ford car normally.
He keeps parking it up on thecurb and it's like falling apart.
(34:33):
Yeah.
It's like a Ford Tempo is mybest guess.
But I haven't seen those in 25 years.
And it does.
It's not even looks like aFord Tempo.
Hardly.
There was one thing I thoughtwas huge, though.
Yeah.
When Merritt's supervisor.
This is episode two now.
Merit supervisor comes to talkto Carl and introduces himself.
The camera changes drastically.
(34:56):
Much more close up.
Much more serious.
And handheld.
If I'm not mistaken,something's up there.
And I don't know if they'reusing that as a red herring or a
hint.
I did think that Carl wasleaving a voicemail to a wife or
ex wife who is deceased.
Though Jasper leaving at theend of episode three because he gets
a call from his mom mightprove that to be unlikely.
(35:18):
Does it seem?
I.
I think the shooter is his own.
Is his own boss.
Myra.
What's your name?
Myra.
Yes.
And I think that the ladywho's holding Merrick captive could
be a man dressed as a woman.
I think there's two.
There are.
There are two.
I think one's a man and one'sa woman.
One is definitely a man, youknow, and we're to take that.
(35:41):
But I think the.
The woman speaking into themicrophone for the most of the part,
you just see the mouth.
I think that's.
I would not be surprised ifthat turns out to be a man dressed
as woman for whatever reason.
Yeah.
I almost never speculate.
Three games.
Me either.
I'm terrible at guessing.
Me too.
It's just not as much fun for me.
I just let.
I'm like, let me.
Let me.
Yeah.
Regular listeners now we'reway more into how the show's put
(36:03):
together, what it might besaying on a deeper level.
Things like that.
One thing I think it kind ofdoes almost to a fault, which is
again, surprising to me whyit's getting so much Attention is
they write it to whereeveryone around Carl either says
something pretty stupid orleaves some pertinent thing out to
where he is being a smart assis understandable.
(36:23):
Uh huh.
Even Akram, who's one of thesmartest guys on the show, probably
says something.
I don't remember.
It's in episode three whenthey're on the ferry.
I do remember that.
And he says there are twothings and he just tells him one
thing.
And of course, if you're Carl,you're gonna say, what the fuck's
the other thing?
Right?
That was the second.
(36:44):
That's right, yeah.
That was a good scene.
It's a good setup though.
Carl is a sympathetic guy though.
And I think his being the, thefocal point and putting some characters
around him that you are alsointerested in, like Acrom and Rose.
His cockiness is hiding deep trauma.
It's deeper than just being shot.
It's good because like, I dothink that the.
(37:05):
Sometimes the trope of theperson who's like, you know, he's
a raging asshole to everyonearound him, but he gets results.
Like I think we see thatsociety, like how that's bad.
Like society soc.
Right.
Like, oh, he does, he does badthings, but he supposedly gets results
like that.
That's kind of a bad.
I get that it's a bad.
And I think that's especiallyfor men too.
Right.
(37:25):
It's sort of a something thatlets men get away with being horrible
to people around them.
So all that being said, I feltlike that doesn't just sink into
it because they do such a goodjob of a drip first off.
They show him being actuallynice, which is good.
But yeah, they make it very,very clear that this is, this is
a deep well of trauma.
(37:46):
And like you said, not justfrom being shot.
Did you like how the seriesaddressed what every viewer might
have thought, at least quicklyand barely with his therapist when
he says, you're very pretty,you know, because in the back of
your mind you're thinking,these are two attractive actors.
Are they going to datewhoever's punishing Merritt, you
(38:08):
know, putting her captive andshe's obviously on, on a ship.
She's either on a ship orunderground because it's not rocking.
Okay, you think she's on a ship?
Maybe she is.
Well, they kept saying she.
She totally disappeared.
And I'm thinking, well, shenever left the ship, the ferry.
That's not big enough.
It's not big enough, is it?
That?
Yeah.
Okay, but whoever's punishingher, it's heavily hinted that it
(38:30):
could be her past that she'shad a.
She was a.
A bit of a brat as a teen.
She maybe had a neglectful hand.
And what's happened to herbrother that causes him to be nonverbal
these days?
Yeah.
Something is haunting her.
Literally.
I mean, is that her mom?
That's got her?
Surely that.
That's wild.
(38:51):
And then episode three endswith the.
The initials L.H.
what did you do?
Peels off a sticker and finds that.
And Merit sees and.
Which, of course, alludes tosomething I thought was the initial
thing at the end of episodeone, which is the.
There's more than one personbeing held captive.
As far as the timeline, Idon't know, but I thought that there
(39:13):
would be probably two or three girls.
I thought we had a Silence ofthe Lamb situation where he could
very well have two or threepeople captive at the same time.
I see.
Yeah.
It seems more like this isspecifically about Merit, I think,
making it unlikely that she'sjust like, a type.
And then this is like, no, shedid something, and this person is
(39:35):
punishing her for that.
And it might be related to William.
And they won't tell her whatshe did.
She's got to figure it out.
What happens when she figuresit out?
What do they.
Who knows?
Maybe they stop.
Maybe they stop playing that song.
Yeah.
I don't dislike crimethrillers, but me either.
I'm not gonna just sit andwatch Law and Order.
(39:56):
Right.
You know?
Right.
Same here.
This is the end of our episodethis week.
We appreciate you listeningthis far for Adam and Donovan.
Adam will be back next week.
I'm Blaine.
And we hope that you're nottrapped in a tank being forced to
listen to us.
Whoa, man.
That's, like, against theGeneva Convention.
Oh, that's torture.
(40:16):
You play Taking it down to prisoners.
You play that loop of.
You play that loop of Roosterand Sally.
That's right.
You're violating their humanrights right there.
Thanks, everyone.
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