July 8, 2025 • 53 mins
Weekly host Blaine welcomes and gives an overview for the episode to begin (0:02).
Once Donovan and Adam join, Blaine describes how he managed to miss the last few episodes of 'The Bear' and it has everything to do with the Disney+ series 'Andor' (2:08).
Also in the non-spoiler section, the guys have an email on 'Your Friends & Neighbors' on Apple TV+ (7:42), they discuss how 'Stick' is addressing all of their concerns (9:10), and somehow the non-spoiler talk about 'The Bear' turns into a treatise on smoking (11:38).
After the break, they detail how 'Stick' became even better (16:13) and how 'The Bear' needed season three for the current season four (35:36).
For more, visit The Alabama Take website with this link.
To help both the podcast and The Alabama Take site itself, feel free to make a small donation with the link here.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey everybody.
You've joined taking it downthe TV and streaming podcast for
the Alabama take.
The title, of course of theepisode is one thing, but here's
the rundown of what we'regoing to do.
In the non spoiler section,we're going to talk about andor we're
going to talk briefly aboutyour friends and neighbors on Apple
TV plus, also on Apple TV pluswe'll talk about stickk and we'll
(00:22):
move into fx, Hulu, theirshow, the Bear and non spoilers.
Then in the back half with abreak in between, we're gonna talk
stick, specifically the lasttwo episodes and the middle part
of the bear episodes fourthrough six or three through six,
I think it is.
So stick around if you've seenthose episodes.
(00:44):
We'll do the very ending ofThe Bear Episode 7 through 10 next
week, next Tuesday.
And of course, Adam andDonovan will be joining me.
Folks, TV's never been this widespread.
Taking it down the streamingand TV podcast that respects your
time and your smarts.
Doesn't matter what you do fora living.
(01:04):
We know that caring deeplyabout a show doesn't mean you want
a lecture.
It means you want to thinkthrough it, test your own ideas,
hear a real conversation.
It's not just critics flexingfilm school jargon here or Hollywood
insiders not here.
From wondering what you whatto watch to understanding why a show
hits or misses, you'll leaveevery episode with more than just
(01:26):
another recommendation.
Each Tuesday, we start with aspoiler free segment so you can decide
if a show is worth your timeand you can listen.
Every week, after a break ofabout 30 seconds or 45 seconds, we
dig into the deeper stuff,what the series is doing, where it
stumbles, if it matters.
We're talking TV withouttalking down no assumptions except
(01:46):
that you're already thinkingtaking it down.
Real conversations aboutstreaming and tv.
We try to keep it done up real good.
Let's begin the show.
Alabama take projection.
We're talking to I y' all arelistening to Donovan and Adam, my
(02:11):
buds, my pals, my compadres,comrades, my therapists.
You know, we promised, I thinkwe might have promised the whole
season of the Bear seasonfour, but we got the big middle chunk
done.
What happened?
Well, I'm gonna tell the guys.
I'm gonna reveal to them rightnow I got sucked into andor big time.
(02:33):
Oh yeah, it'll do that, right?
Man, I was watching it andthen I was like, oh, I'm gonna plan
watching those cartoons andwhat order and I went to Reddit And
I went to this website that'ssci fi.
And what order do I watch?
Which ones do I watch?
Do I watch them all?
Do I also incorporate all themovies again?
(02:54):
I mean, andor will make you do that?
It's so good, it raises therest of Star wars.
And by the same light, it's sogood, it makes the stuff that's bad
in Star wars look really bad.
Well, of course it does that, but.
At the same time, because theyshow that it can be done.
But at the same time, when youwatch andor through a certain light,
which is, I guess just regularlight, you watch it and then you
(03:18):
think, I need to go back andwatch the Phantom Menace.
Because some of that was atplay, wasn't it?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it was.
I don't know how they pulledthis off, but one of the things I
thought was cool about Andorwas they made it like actual Star
wars for adults without beinglike, oh, that Star wars is all silly
kids stuff.
Like they incorporateeverything that's happened into.
(03:40):
This weird non spoiler.
Let me ask you, did it drag alittle for you.
When the TV critic Emily.
I think I mentioned Emily St.James for the first andor she was
like, oh, it's doing arcs.
It dragged until I read someof her writing on it and it was like,
(04:01):
it's mostly doing threeepisode arcs.
And as soon as I realized itwas doing that, it all clicked to
me.
And I actually kind of likedwith this.
There were.
There were some threads thatkept flowing out.
I kind of like the reallysprawling nature of this season,
though, where we're justgetting a slice of all kind, you
know.
But even, I mean, it did arcslike last season, but even, even
(04:21):
some episodes are.
I would say it didn't drag forme, but I would say they are very
meditative.
Yes, Yes, I would agree.
I was really shocked that theyhad so much Hank Williams Jr. As.
Strange move.
They did.
Disney clearly just bought the rights.
You know, they just want to just.
(04:43):
No wonder he's living in.
Up in Tuscaloosa.
Yes, that's.
That's what I. I wouldn't saybogged me down, but I found myself
doing something I don'tnormally do where I would watch.
There was at least one nightwhere I watched an episode and I
thought, I'm watching the nextone right now.
Like, this is fucking good.
When it ended, I was man, the.
(05:04):
Are we in spoiler territory?
We're not in spoilers, Don.
We're not spoiler territory.
So there's an episode towardsthe End where.
Where.
Where two charactersrelationship is revealed and then
one of them has to make a hardchoice that I'm just like a Sophie's
Choice.
That was a fantastic fiveminutes of television right there.
It was amazing.
And it's incredible that theyhave such good actors doing this.
Man, Diego Luna's killing it.
(05:25):
I. I thought to myself atonce, I was like, I'm tired of his
griping and complaining.
But then I thought, he's doingsuch a.
Of it.
I should.
He.
He needs to be in more movies.
Yeah, I'm sure he will dieDiego Luna, because he.
He's excellent.
I don't mean to be.
I'm not trying to be racistwith this at all.
Of course y' all know me.
I'm not racist.
(05:46):
But he and Pedro Pascal in amovie would be really good as brothers
or something.
As brothers.
Yeah.
Yeah, it'd be good.
I. I know that they probablyaren't the same background, but have
you seen Sophie's Choice, bythe way?
Either of y' all never have.
Oh, have you not neither seenit nor read it?
Me?
(06:06):
Man, are we in spoilers now.
We're not spoilers, but, you know.
Andor dares to ask the question.
It dares to ask the question.
Do you like lasers that gopew, pew, pew?
Yeah, it does.
The craziest thing about Andoris it's a Star wars show that has
a complete subplot thatsomehow feels completely natural
(06:29):
about somebody's domineering mother.
Oh, yeah.
Slash.
Slash in law.
And it's.
And it's great.
I hate her.
Now it dares to ask.
I thought about this yesterday.
I was outside building a fire,you know, as one does on the 5th
of July.
(06:50):
As one does in Alabama on the5th of July.
Gotta get hotter, right?
Yeah.
I thought to myself, Andordoes dare to ask the question.
Do you like your television tomirror your current politics?
There are some, like, really.
There's some upsetting moments.
Yeah.
You think to yourself, did Iknow this was gonna happen?
(07:14):
Okay, we'll move on.
This is not gonna.
Andor's not gonna be a part ofthe spoiler section.
I just thought I would sharewith the guys on my quat.
What kept me from finishingthe bear, though.
I think we're all kind of atthe same place Anyway.
Once you see that firstgraphic Jar Jar Binks sex scene in
Andor, you're like nothing else.
(07:35):
I gotta keep watching this.
Naked.
Naked.
Fully weird.
Hey, we have an email this week.
I'll address it briefly.
We have an email from One ofour regular listeners, Mr. Tim Hamilton
out of New York.
He says hello all.
That's all of us.
Thanks for mentioning Friendsand Neighbors as I gave it a try
and I enjoyed the journey.
(07:56):
Look, look at us doing kind of a.
Spreading the good word.
We set out to do something andit happened.
Son of a bitch.
He said, I can only hope theydo not make a season two.
I don't think it's believablethat the story continues.
And I'm not in spoiler.
We're not in spoiler territory.
(08:18):
But I would say that if theydo, there has to be a very minor
shift.
I really liked Friends andNeighbors, your Friends and Neighbors
on Apple tv.
Plus, I won't spoil anything.
It's.
It's got Jon Hamm in it.
We've talked about it brieflyhere before.
It's a fun ride.
Very interesting.
Every episode is quite good, Iwould say.
(08:40):
The ending last 15 minutes, you.
You kind of scratch your heada little bit and think maybe, maybe
not.
And then Tim goes on to say, Ihope that you'll now give Murderbot
a try.
It's also on Apple tv.
I give it thumbs up or atleast four out of five stars so far.
So thanks, Tim.
And I've got it on my watch list.
I just don't know time.
(09:03):
But maybe it's a 30 minute show.
All right.
Speaking of 30 minute showsand Apple TV plus we got Stick.
We're all caught up.
We're not going to spoil anything.
Do we want to say anythingabout Stick on Apple tv?
Plus Owen Wilson.
Mark Marin in an rv.
No.
HR department.
(09:23):
No, no.
Owen Wilson plays Price Cow Hill.
Love that name.
He's washed up.
Kind of threw away his talentas a golfer due to life and now he's
taken up this young man namedSantiago and he's trying to get him
to become a professional.
Santiago's probably 16.
(09:46):
17.
He's got to be 17.
I think 16 or 17 because he's.
He's a junior.
He'll be a senior in the.
It's summer right now.
Yeah, they did have himdriving the rv.
Yes.
So that's a spoiler blame.
Any non spoiler thoughts sofar on.
On Stick it through seven episodes.
(10:06):
At this point, I continueenjoying laughter, shenanigans.
No, I'm just, I'm saying it'sjust, it's a show that you put on.
It's.
It's a comfort watch in a lotof ways.
See, I'd push back againstthat and I will in spoilers.
There you go.
Okay.
Yeah, Mark Marin remains agreat choice for a cranky person.
(10:27):
Yeah, I mean, it's obvious,but here, it's honed now.
Excuse me.
It's, it's.
They've put a rope around himand used it well.
Yeah, I agree.
It's not over the top.
The kind of lovable curmudgeon guy.
Yes.
Who are we gonna get to be grumpy?
Okay.
Mark Marin.
Is Mark Marin busy?
(10:49):
Can we use his skills?
They do.
Is he, is he wound up about something?
Do you think they just paidhim with that rv?
He just got to keep it.
That'd be great.
You could see Marc Maron atone of this, this nation's many fine
national parks.
I bet he's going to get intomore acting now that he's wrapping
(11:09):
up his podcast.
Right?
That's probably what he wantedto do.
I mean, that makes sense to me.
And you know what?
If he does it as well as he'sdoing it here, I'll watch him.
I bet he gets better.
I think he's pretty good.
He's the kind of guy who wouldgo to an acting coach and get better
and better.
You think so?
I think so.
I think so.
Yeah.
He's not the kind of guy whosays, I know it all.
Fuck you.
Not, not in that situation.
(11:32):
No.
Yeah, he's, he's good.
I, I, I've been liking him.
Speaking of good acting, y'all reckon what Carm and Sydney and
Richie's been doing today?
You mean this day?
What are they doing right now?
They love a Sunday.
It is a Sunday.
They're off.
I'm glad Restro mentioned thatthey actually have off days because
I kept thinking, Christalmighty, they're going to get burned
(11:52):
out.
Well, that's the theme of theservice industry, right?
A little bit.
They are even six days a week,Richie's smoking, Carmi's trying
not to smoke, and I don't knowwhat Sid is up to.
Sid's hanging out with dad.
This show should be illegal,just like Frank.
I've said this to y' all before.
The show should be illegal,much like French cinema.
(12:13):
It really makes me want to smoke.
It looks so cool.
And, and yesterday I sharedthis with, with Adam and y'.
All.
Yesterday.
Yesterday the Tour de Francewas on.
They shared that one of theearly winners was known as the chain
smoking chimp.
The.
How is it?
Like, does the Surgeon Generalknow about this?
I want to see.
Do we even have a surgeongeneral anymore?
We have a faux surgeon General.
(12:34):
Hey, what are the top shows?
Television only that make youwant to smoke Mad Men number one
Madman.
Yeah, every.
It's the number one.
And then.
Oh, my God.
It makes it look so cool.
What's number two?
It's like Mad Men makes anabsolutely objectively unhealthy
lifestyle look amazing for atleast a little bit.
So fun.
Now they have consequences,but they also.
(12:55):
Yeah, I was going to say atleast for a little bit because you
every.
They, they're.
They do hit it.
Right.
What's number two?
A lot of them do any episodeor any television series that has
a guy or woman who has thecigarette in the corner of their
mouth and still talks.
That's.
That's number two.
You know, the X Files made itlook pretty cool.
Oh, did it?
Smoking man.
I mean, he get.
(13:16):
I think he did get cancer, buthe makes it look real.
But he, he's like the guy whoknows it all right.
In the shadows.
He's got the cigarette.
I've got an off the kind ofoff the beaten path.
Yeah.
Suggestion here.
Dale Gribble on King of theHill is just a man who loves to smoke
and he does it consequence free.
(13:37):
Like it's a large part of hispersonality, you know, That's.
That's true.
That is true.
Unlike you two, I bet.
Again, different generations.
Just a little.
My mom and dad smoked and mydad quit.
He got flu really badly and henever took off work, but he got flu
bad enough to take off workfor like two or three days.
(13:57):
And he's like, nah, nevertouching him again.
And then my mom, it was funny.
My mom wasn't like a chain smoker.
She only, only smoked afterdinner and she'd smoke one or two
on the back porch.
I remember so clearly.
That's like an AnthonyBourdain kind of thing.
(14:18):
Yes.
He doesn't smoke on the show,you know, but you know, you know
that they're just rippingskigs right off camera.
Well, she wasn't ripping them,but she would go to.
She would also go to theneighbor's porch who was a relative
of ours, and she would sit onthe porch and they might.
They might smoke about threeor four in a row now and gossip.
Oh, man, I get it.
My mom kind of made smokinglook cool.
That is a phrase that israrely uttered.
(14:41):
I was a little too young toremember my dad, like, really smoking,
but he smoked indoors, Guys.
Yeah, that's the thing.
I don't want to get caught upon this, but, like, we're all old
enough to remember when youcould smoke in a Wendy's like feels
crazy to say that out loud.
Yeah.
You remember the restaurantsused to have smoking and non smoking,
(15:03):
like there was some sort ofdivider and you don't.
Want to sit too close tosmoking, you know, because that's
honorary smoking.
What got us here?
Well, Richie from the Bear.
Let's, let's talk about Richiein depth on the spoiler section.
We'll take a 30, 45 secondbreak on the back half.
We're going to talk stick andspoilers and we're going to talk
(15:24):
the bear and spoilers.
That order.
Sam.
(16:09):
Okay.
Yeah.
Before we get in the Bear,I've got a couple of comments to
make on a last two episodes ofStick on Apple tv.
Plus, I thought it was reallygreat, funny, entertaining to see
Owen Wilson slip fully backinto Eli Cash from the Royal Tenenbaums
as he tells Santi that hedoesn't see lying as a bad thing.
(16:30):
Why?
That's not a bad thing.
He's so sincere.
He comes to the conclusion forSanti to lie about his sex life to
zero is the scene I'm talking about.
Yes.
Remember that one?
What this book presupposes ismy favorite quote.
What if he didn't?
What if he didn't?
It harkens back to Donovan'spoint last week that it is a well
(16:54):
of humor to have Owen Wilsonas Price see his actions as not so
bad.
Yeah.
He says, maybe I'm not thebest guy to ask because I actually
think sometimes a lie is not abad thing.
You know, he says somethinglike, like then if the, the truth's
going to hurt someone'sfeelings or get me in trouble, did
I just steer clear of it?
It's always that littleaddition there.
(17:17):
It's the, it's funny, right?
Because he's like advocatingfor lying, but he's being like, more
honest than he should be with Santiago.
It's that balance.
It's funny.
It's funny.
It made me laugh.
Also, what made me laugh is Santi.
It did feel a little abrupt,but Santi all of a sudden coming
to him for, like, ladies advice.
(17:37):
It did feel abrupt, right,because they were pretty mad at each
other.
Or he was pretty mad the past episode.
But, you know, that's whatgolfing does to you.
But at the same time, who's hegoing to ask?
It's either Price or Mitts.
And I don't think he has anyconnection with Mitts.
No connection.
Maybe a little forced, but Ithink the setup made me laugh for
he's.
(17:58):
He'S trying to that may be ourthesis that stick is sometimes a
little forced, but the endsjustify the means.
Sitcom logic.
You heard it first here, folks.
The ends justify the means.
Go do it right now.
I thought it gave anotherexample of why Santi, the young.
(18:18):
The youngin who plays him, honestly.
So I'm talking about the actor.
It's a good character, andit's a good actor.
He does vulnerable well enoughhere and elsewhere, and he also does
normal, annoying teenage things.
Yes, we talked about the Lastof us not that long ago.
Bella Ramsey had an episodewhere there was no balance.
(18:40):
She only did annoying teenage things.
And I thought it hindered the episode.
This guy, all throughout theseries has done.
Oh, that's teenager.
Yeah.
Teenagers act like that.
And then he also does.
Teenagers are also can bevulnerable and come to you and go,
I've never had sex.
What am I going to do?
Yeah, yeah, he's.
He does a good job of someoneas, like, a kid with his defenses
(19:03):
up, who's afraid to trustbecause he's been hurt and he wants
to.
And he kind of wants to.
And also, I think he does agood job of that being kind of like,
brash in a way that a teenagerwants to be like, I caught, you know,
big, big cool guy.
It's promising for the backhalf of this show because I think
it works best when they aren'tat odds, when Price and Sante aren't
(19:23):
at odds, when that's not themain conflict this show cooks.
Yeah, I think I'd agree with that.
Adam's nodding for.
For listeners who can't see.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
And I think even things likehim coming to Price to kind of confide
in him, like, there has to bea moment where he.
Santi, hasn't fully recognizedhim as, like, a father figure.
(19:48):
Equal, but also equal.
Like, oh, you would know whatI'm going through.
Because you were alsofreakishly good at this thing.
A ladies man.
Well.
Cause he relates it to.
Well, you were a highlysuccessful pro golfer.
You had to.
He's like, well, we're notexactly rock stars.
But, yeah, I love that.
And I think that's animportant development.
(20:09):
Like, they need to both bementor, mentee, and, like, a level
of respect that he.
I think I agree with what youguys are saying that he plays the
actor playing Santi, does itso well because he's at once brash.
I remember before I'd evenseen an episode, Blaine, you said
that he, as an actor is maybesupposed to be more annoying than
(20:31):
he's actually able to.
Come off kind of.
Yes, there's something likethat happening.
Yeah, I can see that.
But yeah, just that.
That development of like.
Like you see the puppy dogfeelings kind of swing back and forth.
And he does such a good jobdoing that.
I was surprised how well Ilike the actor because teenage actors
tend to either they kind ofjust rub me a little bit of the wrong
(20:54):
way.
His name is Peter Dadger.
I guess it's not Dagger, it's Dadger.
He's been in almost NothingInsidious, the Red Door.
That's about it.
Maybe that people would know.
He's a very handsome young man.
By the way, he does need a haircut.
I like it.
I like that Dylan style of.
I don't give a about my hairbecause that's very teenage.
(21:16):
It's just gotta lower just alittle bit.
It's a little sideshow body.
Coming from a guy who hasshoulder length hair, that's a brave
statement.
I know.
It's rich.
Well, you know Adams doesn'tgo up.
No, well, it.
Adams goes down.
Well, mostly down.
Just goes in all directions.
So.
(21:36):
What I saw in episode six,though, is a show that either could
be improving or setting up asolid second season after you already
know these characters.
That's what I saw with Mittskissing Elena.
You know, it's like all thisstuff we kind of saw coming.
And now that it's over, we canget to some meat and potatoes here.
(21:59):
Yeah.
All the setups over.
Yeah.
Price interrogates his griefto a degree and then we'll get into
episode seven in a second.
It's almost like the showaddressed our concerns.
And then episode six ends withSanti getting angry at Price and
zero for blowing it up for.
For hit for Price paying her.
(22:20):
You know, we kind of sort ofexpected the blow up there.
It did happen in episode six.
We saw it coming.
It's not surprising.
He wanted her to like him justbecause of who he is, not because
of money.
And he thought it might bemoney related.
This was such a paper thinblow up though.
It was.
(22:41):
You knew they would be happytogether again soon.
Yeah.
But I mean even the logic.
I think even a 17 year oldshould have a little more ability
to, you know, like, if you'regonna ask somebody to like come on
the road, you.
You probably do have to.
It doesn't matter how they feel.
It's like you gotta dangle thecarrot out there.
You know what I mean?
Well, to me, this was therealistic teenage thing.
(23:04):
I know you called it paperthin and I Do agree that it's pretty
thin, but a teenager, theirfeelings are on high alert.
That's true.
A little more black and white, then.
A little more Blaine Duncan.
I think this could have allbeen avoided had I sort of alluded
(23:26):
to this earlier.
There been some sort of HRdepartment, maybe some mandatory
training around relationshipswith co workers.
They don't have an HR department.
I'm not sure they can afford it.
And therein lies the comedy.
Let's get into episode sevenwith Dreams Never Remembered.
It's the most recent.
I found that.
How long did your wife sobduring this episode?
(23:48):
My wife doesn't watch this episode.
She doesn't watch the showwith me.
Well, might not after this one.
Let's talk about this coldopen, which is what you're referencing.
I appreciate that it wasn't adream, but it was a series of possibilities
he could have had with hisson, had his son lived.
(24:10):
And it was so poignant for itgave the right amount of poignancy
for this series anymore and itloses its comedic element.
It wasn't exactly sad as awhole, but it worked.
As a demonstration of howPrice, his mind probably works most
days.
You know, he does not talkabout it, so we have to see it.
(24:32):
He's on.
He's actually at a playground, just.
Just gazing into the sky, asit turns out.
But he's thinking about whatwould he be like as a teenager.
What would it be like to sendhim to college.
And guys, the.
The pew pew scene when.
When the son would have beensix or seven, that's exactly what
(24:54):
my daughter and I do.
And it hurt.
Who hurt you?
Owen Wilson hurt you?
He hurt me.
He does pretty good, doesn't he?
In this one?
I. I did.
I felt like.
Like he was almost better thanhe needed to be for this scene.
For this.
I could.
I'm not sure that I could putlike it into words necessarily, but
(25:18):
especially at the end whenhe's imagining maybe his son going
to college and he's just like,did you ever think what will happen
if you're not here?
It's like, what will it do toyour mother?
What will it do to me?
And I don't know.
You know, I'm not.
He's not like the world'sgreatest actor, but there felt like
some real pain.
There was some real pain in there.
I thought it works extremelywell as connective tissue to Price.
(25:40):
Talking to Santi in theairport later and he says, hey, I'm
enjoying the hang.
As it turns out, this was agolf thing.
But I Actually, like hangingout with you.
Yeah.
The kind of.
I mean, it's kind of what yousee coming, right?
It's like, oh, they both giveeach other something that they need,
but, you know, it works.
(26:00):
It's fine.
Yeah.
First of all, Price doesn'tbring it up.
He might not ever bring it up again.
What's his mind look like?
I think that worked.
And it also allows him to goto Santi at the end and go, you know
what?
We're kind of buddies now.
Yeah.
With that degree of honesty issomewhat lacking from his character.
In other.
(26:21):
It reminds me.
This is.
I had a complete.
This is a complete side note.
But, like, watching this think.
I feel like Owen Wilson'scharacter could be summed up with.
Not exactly, but they're oneof the quotes from my favorite movies
where one character says tothe other.
Or one of my favorite movies.
I've always thought of you asa person of some integrity, except
(26:42):
with your dealings with women.
And his is like, I've alwaysthought of you as a person of some
integrity, except for yourdealings, mostly.
What movie is that?
Oh, the Last Days of Disco.
Okay.
I've never seen it.
It's very good.
So the scene where Santiagoand his mom are in the diner, she
lets him know, hey, I believeZero liked you.
(27:05):
I really do believe she likes you.
I thought that was a goodexample of two things here.
You know, play a teen, butalso play some sensitivity that doesn't
come off as whiny or irksome.
That.
Again, I know I brought thisup, but.
Yeah.
I also thought episode sevenallowed Marin to fully come into
(27:26):
his own here as Mitts.
Give Zero a grounded ear and,like, real advice, you know?
Yeah.
About how pristine the campingspot was.
I don't remember that.
No, I'm just.
When he.
I've derailed the conversationwhen the episode opened where he
walks out and he goes, this is it.
It's like, RV Shangri La, right?
(27:46):
Yeah.
Oh, that was the episode before.
Was it?
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He did give her some goodadvice about.
Which I think was slightly undercut.
And I'll tell you why.
Like, good advice about noteating in the bus station, which
was undercut by that being thenicest bus station I've ever seen
in my life.
And she still debates it, but he.
(28:09):
He tells her.
He kind of says, for now, youknow, in his almost boomer kind of
way.
What.
What generation would he be?
He's got to be Gen X, right?
Hey, I'm Gen X, man.
Don't.
Don't Put me with Marin.
But he tells her he's not a boomer.
Oh, he's the.
He's the in between there.
(28:30):
He says, let's just drop thethe of.
Of.
Let's drop the of gender andlet's drop the of the slang of your
generation.
And you not understanding my generation.
Here's how it is.
And a curmudgeon can do thatwith some love and be effective.
(28:54):
And I think they allowed himto do that.
Like, he just came into his own.
I was like, oh, this is a good character.
This is a realistic characterand Marin's doing a good job.
This may just be what I thinkis funny in the show, but I really
do think that, like, thecontrast between, like, the way Price
deals with Gen Z and the wayMitts deals with Gen Z is.
(29:16):
Is continually very funny to me.
Like, Mitts being like yourwhole generation exhausts me.
Price being like, trauma.
TikTok has devalued that word.
But he's still trying to,like, actively have like a dialogue
with the kids.
It's that, like, thecontrasting approaches that remains
very funny.
Me and Price asked him wayearly in the season, don't you.
Don't you guys get mentalhealth break, whatever it is?
(29:40):
Well, who was it that said,when did grace period stop being
a thing?
Because I wrote that in mynotes, but I didn't contribute it
to anyone.
That was Price.
He's trying to get a refund onthe airport ticket he bought.
Just.
And this is jumping around,but we are in spoiler section.
But if.
If Santi actually did run outof a plane like that, there's no
(30:01):
way he wouldn't be tackled.
Like our gun feet 20ft late.
Yeah.
You know, in Trump's America,he's being.
Beaten by airport security.
As we.
As we are recording, if we're really.
Honest, Santi would bedeported in Trump's America.
Sad.
To Indiana.
Elena would not be in America.
I found this recent episode tobe as good as Stick has been.
(30:22):
And I love the.
The hustle that Price admitsonly allude to at the end that, you
know you're going to get inthe next episode with.
With Timothy Olyphant.
And it's like, oh, yeah, nowwe can go.
But it took six, sevenepisodes to get here.
And that's okay because thosesix or seven episodes were Owen Wilson
cracking wise.
(30:43):
They were all fine.
And I don't regret watching it.
You know, I think it's a funhang I could have done.
I think you.
When you.
When you.
Blaine, when you were like,okay, they're through the setup now.
It was like, that's what I'm feeling.
And it just had not occurredto me.
But I think I could have donewith like, one or two fewer episodes
of setup or maybe speeding italong a little bit.
(31:04):
I disagree.
I'm enjoying the slow ride.
Okay.
How come?
Because Owen Wilson and MarinKraken wise or.
Yeah, it's just.
It's not that kind of show.
Right, right.
You don't.
Rushing towards.
What is the drama?
Like, what could they manufacture?
Well, we know what they'rerushing toward.
We're rushing toward ashowdown between Timothy Olyphant
(31:25):
and Santiago, and then later,probably next season, a showdown
between Price and TimothyOlivan or Santiago.
Both.
I feel like we're off on ourprediction that Price is going to
have to choose to coach or play.
You think so?
It's not happening thisseason, is it?
I mean, like, season two or three.
Yeah, I think it's possible.
(31:46):
By the end of this one, though.
I think for me, it was lesslike, I want the plot to speed up
and more like, I wish thatthey had established these.
I wish they had been in theseinteresting relationships a little
bit earlier in the showbecause I don't care.
Like you said, there's nothingto rush to.
It's the journey, not thedestination with this show.
Yep, absolutely.
(32:07):
I still.
And they.
They talk about it in universe too.
Like, they all don't know eachother really.
Like, there's isolated,there's a mother son relationship,
there's two old friends, but collectively.
And then you add zero into the mix.
It's like, y'.
All.
If they were too chummy, toofast, without any hiccups, it would.
I think we would have more ofthat of a complaint about that than
(32:30):
we would about a slower pace.
You know, that's a great.
I think that's a great point.
Right.
Like, so often for myself, Ifind myself like, I didn't like this
yet.
You know, it's like you're.
When it's summer, you complainabout being hot.
When it's winter, you complainabout being cold.
Right.
Like, I don't identify withthat, but, yeah.
(32:50):
I start fires on Jalathia.
Thank you.
I feeling a little chilly inthe 101 degrees.
Like kindling.
What does the show want to do?
Does it do it?
And was it worth it?
And I think we're all okaywith stick.
Yeah, I'm gonna keep watching it.
It is.
(33:10):
It is.
Sometimes tonally, it can be alittle bit.
I feel like the writing isweaker than the acting.
Does that make sense?
Yes, for sure.
And that's okay for now.
That's fine.
The acting is good, which kindof elevates it.
You know, it makes it fun.
I don't know that they makethis show if not for Ted Lasso.
(33:30):
Yeah.
And some other like comfortfood Apple shows or maybe they do,
but it's not.
And I'm not saying becauseit's a sports one to one or anything
like that.
It's just a very certain brandof like warm hug from a friend most
of the time.
And obviously there's realtrauma going on too.
But I just think this hasbecome like a.
(33:53):
Like if, If Apple TV has theirarsenal of pitches that they're going
to throw at us, this.
This is one of them.
I think so, yeah.
I'm totally fine with that, bythe way.
Not everything has to be genreredefining and exceptional.
Whatever.
So this is a fine show.
Yeah.
It's kind of like what we saidwith Department Q.
It was not, as it turns out,it was not trying to redefine the
(34:16):
genre.
It was trying to do the bestit can within that genre.
And it.
Right.
Yeah.
I didn't open the floor foryou guys to talk about that cold
open where he said you guysare without children.
Did.
What kind of effect did ithave on you?
Well, my wife sobbed openly.
Yeah.
And it probably did too.
It probably didn't help that Ispent a good chunk of time Yesterday
(34:40):
babysitting my 5 month oldniece because, you.
Know, it is cute, by the way.
She's adorable.
But it is cutest babies.
I mean, it's very poignant, underlying.
And I think they did.
I mean, it wasn't like thegenius, but it was, it was good that
they underlined what he saidhe missed by showing that.
Right.
And he didn't miss the.
He just missed yelling at his kid.
You know, he missed.
(35:00):
Turn that music down.
Yeah, exactly.
You know, and that was.
It's.
It's sad.
He missed what could have been.
Right.
His.
He's happy, his wife's happyand he got to be.
He got to know how the storycontinues with his son in steadways
instead of it being cut off.
And he doesn't know you afterthat because he's gone.
(35:21):
Adam, did Mr. Morrow ever askyou to turn the music down?
No, not that I recall.
He's a gentle soul.
Yeah.
That takes us into this bigmental chunk of the bear.
So last week I think we hadonly discuss three episodes at the
most.
This week we're Going todiscuss episodes four through six,
(35:45):
maybe a little seven, but not much.
You guys know what the bear is?
There's no setup here.
We'll start with the episodetitled Worms.
It was the Sydney episode.
It was there to, I thought, toshow that Shapiro can be a virtue
signal sort of guy.
Sydney's Signe's confused, butshe's probably willing to go work
(36:08):
at his restaurant for itsnewness and its lack of stress.
But it seems, you know, Sydneyhasn't called her dad back and she
hasn't read the updated agreement.
She's not sure.
I just thought it was kind ofcool to see her world.
We haven't seen it, but italso felt like something that maybe
(36:30):
didn't need a whole episode.
But, hey, you're committed.
Let's just show the wholeepisode to Sidney.
I could not disagree more with that.
Okay.
I loved it.
It finished and Nataliesettled out.
What I was thinking, that'sone of the better episodes that they've
done.
But I will say I have tendedto gravitate towards these character
(36:51):
investigation episodes quite a bit.
I love those episodes over theshow's run.
I mean, I think there are alot of the best episodes are those
where we spend time.
And I think seeing her, youknow, you listed all of the things
that she is non committal toat the moment, really.
The partner's agreement, thisoffer to go to a new restaurant,
(37:12):
not answering the phone forher dad, which is a little out of
character for her.
Right.
Based on previous seasons,they seem to have a pretty good relationship.
Especially when you'recontrasting that with what Marcus
is going through.
So her.
I mean, I think it's likeshe's shutting down in some ways,
or at least like, so in herown head, out to see about, like,
(37:36):
and not.
I don't think it's adepressive thing.
I think it's like a stress decision.
Decision anxiety.
Yeah, that.
That's how I read it.
Is she.
She's anxious?
Not like, you know, like.
Like pathologically, but like,when you're anxious, sometimes you're
like, I can't even think aboutthis right now.
I'll paraphrase the.
The Kierkegaard of anxiety isthe dizziness of freedom.
(37:58):
Yeah.
You know, I think that we'reshown that she's really good in that.
I mean, they have to sometimesquantify for us how good these people
are at what they do so that weunderstand in universe that they're
very powerful, for lack of abetter term.
Like with her and the pasta,how quick she does it.
It's like her upside is so limitless.
(38:21):
She's got this guy trying toget her to come work and all this
stuff.
So, yeah, she's.
How do you handle all of that potential?
I think that's what she'sgrappling with.
And just seeing her in, like,a friend's friendly environment doing
something no one else on theset or in the restaurant is sitting
for hours to have their hair braided.
(38:42):
You know what I mean?
This is a different cultural that.
Yes.
We get a ton of the big family dinner.
We get a wedding later.
We don't get to see hercultural experience, and now we do.
And I thought it was great.
And I thought the interactionswith the.
With the young woman, thelittle girl, were just.
That was great.
When she was in babysitter mode.
Yeah.
(39:02):
Yeah.
And it ended up being so.
It went from very relatable atthe start where she, you know, I'm
almost never around kids andI, you know, it's like, do I talk
to you like a little adult?
Do I. Yeah.
Kind of off.
Off script here when I'm inthat situation.
But no, I thought that was.
(39:22):
That was great.
And to get to.
I realize I'm talking a lot,but the.
Please do her cooking aheartfelt meal for people that she
loved and even kind ofteaching along the way.
Yeah.
Was so nice.
After just the pure.
I mean, I think that they lovewhat they do at the restaurant, but
(39:44):
it's a different form of that.
I do think the tool of havingher not answer her dad's call or
only saying hello briefly iseffective to show she can't deal
right now.
Quite.
Yeah, totally.
Now when she's like, in themiddle of prep and not answering.
I get it, but it's.
(40:06):
There's a pattern.
You know, it.
It felt very real to me in thesense that, like, obviously she loves
her dad and her dad loves her,and I just felt like there was a
sense that she's like, I can'thandle someone honestly asking me,
like, how are you doing right now?
I've been there.
With episode five Replicants,I saw this show be able to tell a
(40:28):
multitude of stories now inthe shortest amount of time from
the monologue to begin, the AlAnon meeting to Harm visiting the
Frank Lloyd Wright house withno dialogue, to Tina testing her
cooking on her husband, andthen Tina coming to Carm and telling
him, you the shit.
You got nothing to prove.
(40:49):
I mean, that was a gut punchafter four seasons.
I know a lot of people thoughtseason three dipped A little.
But I kind of see how seasonthree maybe was needed to do season
four.
I've been thinking that too,especially with the, like, a lot
of stuff kind of broke in thethird season.
(41:09):
So I guess what I mean bybreaks is.
Is strains and tensions, right?
Like, there's a break inClaire and Carm's relationship.
There's.
There's breaks between, like,now Sydney kind of feels like she
has something that she'skeeping from people, right?
Like, there's breaks in, youknow, Marcus's mother passes away,
and so, like, a bunch of stuff breaks.
(41:31):
And I think you got it exactly right.
Where season three sets allthat up so that Tina can be like,
hey, you.
The.
And I think there's an element of.
Or.
What seems interesting aboutthe season so far is instead of being
like, they get the bad reviewand everything's awful, and, like.
And Carm falls apart, they'reactually zagging.
(41:53):
And it's like, instead offalling apart, we're trying to face
what's.
You know, like, we're turningtowards it and facing it.
And I think season three contrasted.
Are you telling me seasonthree is the Empire Strikes Back
and season.
And season four is Return ofthe Jedi?
Somewhat.
Blaine, you watched theAmericans, didn't you?
I sure did.
(42:13):
So the.
The penultimate season, a lotof people didn't, like, because they
felt like it was frustrating.
And I actually thought thatthat was the point of it.
You're supposed to befrustrated because they're frustrated
because they're in anincreasingly untenable situation.
And I think people werefeeling frustrated with season three,
but it's like, you're supposedto feel frustrated.
They're frustrated.
(42:34):
We haven't even mentionedLucas Return.
Did you cheer?
Did you.
Did you fist bump?
My.
My favorite guy to see is.
Is Marcus's roommate because Ifeel like a little corner of the
Joe Paris cinematic universelives on whenever he shows up.
And he's doing real estate, right?
Is this.
He's doing real.
I told you guys.
A side hustle.
Yes.
I told you guys there'd beanother real estate moment.
(42:56):
Marcus is selling his mom's house.
That's super sad, y'.
All.
That was very sad.
But.
But at the same time, theybalance it with his roommate being
a side hustle real estate agent.
And it was funny, you know, that.
Was such a nice way, thatconversation about being around real
estate transactions.
Yeah.
You're like.
(43:16):
I had never thought of, like,having such a binary view of that,
you know, to, like, they'reeither aspirational times or Something
has gone wrong.
Right.
Like it's one of the two.
And that was such a good conversation.
I thought, oh, man.
I forgot to say this about theSidney's episode.
But I was extremely impressedwith like, the dialogue and how well
(43:40):
it hung together.
And then it gets to the endand it's like, I shouldn't be surprised,
but Ayo Edebiri wrote the episode.
Oh, yeah.
I'm like, oh, that's why she.
I think it was Chris.
I think it was not her.
And I'm not sure it was Chris Thor.
But she wrote it.
And I'm like, that's why shenailed all the dialogue.
Yeah.
She knew exactly came up withwhat the characters would say.
Yeah.
I thought that was great.
(44:01):
We're still in Replicants.
These episodes have some odd names.
I always thought.
Replicants.
I always think of Blade Runner.
Yes.
So weird.
Sydney is all but ignoring herpoor loving father until he has the
heart attack here.
And everyone's look offamilial and genuine care to the
(44:22):
baby when Sugar comes to visit.
All of that seems connected to me.
And this was, this was veryrealistic to me in that you also,
you would not let Neil Fackhold your baby ever.
Fuck no.
And he is desperate to smellthe baby.
(44:43):
The, the repeated joke.
Like, I, I, I think it's alittle one note for some people,
but I continue loving the waythe facts are like this, like healthy,
goofy masculinity and like,like Neil is such a beloved guy and
in no way in hell they everlet him near a baby.
Because, like the balance.
The joke is very still, veryfunny to me.
(45:04):
That joke gets very tired to me.
I'm in the other, see.
Yeah, I know.
Other.
To me, it's the way that theytalk to him.
And like all, I mean, I knowthat like family nicknames, this
is how it works.
You're getting.
Maybe I'm, I'm too cold for this.
I don't know.
What, what do you think wouldbe the realistic thing?
(45:26):
Like they would just drop itoccasionally or I guess.
What'd you say?
I said the baby.
Drop the baby.
There were moments like whenhe, when he came in and just like,
it's like almost like he waslike smelling like a, like something
on the stove, you know, and heleaned into the.
(45:48):
He's worked in a restaurant.
Yeah, that was funny.
But yeah, the way that theytalk to him.
And this happens later.
Donovan.
There's a hot chocolate moment.
Hot chocolate.
Yeah.
I'm like, what is this?
It's almost like when youwatch all of the office.
And Kevin starts as, like, afunctional adult.
And by the end, it's like, howis this guy allowed to drive?
(46:13):
You know, like, there'smoments where starts.
There's Parks and Rex.
Moments like that, too.
Yeah.
Is this.
Is this man allowed to ridethe subway alone?
Like, what episodes?
How does he get to work?
How did he buy that tie?
Yeah, and it's.
They make him.
They just, like, make him aninfant, and it.
It gets old.
I bet he got that tie from hisdad's closet.
(46:33):
That's my guess.
But it takes us to episodesix, Sophie the DaBaby, where this
was one of the most oddlystaged scenes from the show, where
Neil reveals he's invitedFrancine to the wedding.
It's so weird, and thedialogue's so weird where he and
Sugar are talking, and he'skind of hiding behind the.
The wall, and he says, I'm agood boy or something.
(46:56):
Or I'm a boy.
This is what I'm talking about.
I did not like that either.
It gets really weird out ofcharacter for the show almost for
about three minutes.
What Donovan was saying aboutthe, like, the masculinity, but the
wholesome version of it.
I don't mind that it's.
This what you're talking about now.
That joke is kind of funny,but they're just.
(47:18):
Yeah.
It's like these.
These are grown humans.
I've got to admit, one of thefunniest moments was Tiny made me
laugh out loud.
But when Neil is trying tosmell the baby.
That's not the funny part.
It's when Sugar walks in andTed jumps to a marker and writes
and tries to write something,and he says, oh, they wanted me to
write that on there.
(47:39):
I thought that.
That, to me, is comedy.
We get some really fast editsbetween the.
The staff, and it makes us allfeel like poor Luca, which is to
say confused on who's who andwhat's what.
Who's that?
What?
I'm.
I'm glad that they finallyaddressed that with the newcomers.
(47:59):
Yes.
The new workers.
Like, do I call you this?
Who are you related to Hal here?
Yeah.
Because Luca may seem likeoverkill, but he does get to ask
Ted what he does they.
Or he asks, I guess, Marcus.
And Marcus says, you know, I'mnot sure.
(48:20):
And I think this is the.
Also the episode where somekey human moments occur.
You get the quote, parents arehuman, too.
That one will gut punch you ifyou're a parent.
And then I think Tina says,yeah, there's always a clock.
And if that's not resonant toyou, you're.
(48:43):
You're still under 20.
Sydney's dad's a special guy,and I think he's fairly realistic.
I think that there are dadsout there that are just like this.
But to see her upset over him,especially knowing that she's disregarded
him so much lately because ofher anxiety and decision making.
(49:05):
It's an emotional moment.
Another one.
Well, and I think we're alsosupposed to, you know, she answers
the phone and her backgroundthis whole time has been her with
her mom when she was small.
And we know that the ghost ofher mom is what's there in that relationship,
you know, So I think.
And they showed that severaltimes, you know, throughout the season.
(49:27):
Just so well done to build upto that moment of, you know, and
he ends up, of course, being agreat dad about, well, you're busy,
you know, I forbid you to moveback home.
All this kind of stuff.
So touching.
But still, it was reallypoignant to see her.
I mean, like, it's not likeshe had a light bulb moment, but
(49:48):
acting out of theunderstanding that she'd taken her
dad for granted in a way thatshe wouldn't do with her mother because
her mother has passed away.
And so obviously all that timeis precious now, but she's taking
her dad for granted in a waythat she should know isn't guaranteed.
Right, right.
That's.
I think that's what I was getting.
At is like, yeah, no, Ithought that was great.
(50:08):
You wouldn't think this is alesson that she has to learn, but.
Yeah.
Yet here we are.
Yeah, I thought that wasreally good.
I found her acting at the veryfirst, for, like, the first 30 seconds
in the hospital scene whenshe's starting to get overwhelmed
by her emotions.
I thought it to be overkill, alittle overdone.
And then the actress getsperfectly calibrated to what that
(50:31):
would be.
And I dropped my reservationsabout her being unable to nail the
scene.
And she does with MollyParker, I think is her name, the
other actress who plays Claire.
It's, you know, it's kind ofodd to realize exactly how much the
series isn't the psychology ofgetting a restaurant right, but doing
(50:54):
a good job of parenting andparents and their relationships with
kids.
And then the episode ends withOasis song Stay Young.
So Adam was in full tears atthis point.
Another strong musical season here.
I mean, we had an episode withjust talk, talk going full volume
that also had most of the timeplaying under a phone conversation.
(51:18):
Oh, Nat.
Nah.
Yeah.
You're scratching me where I itch.
Fantastic.
I think.
Did you guys.
I know one of the things thatpeople had a gripe with in seasons
past is that Claire is.
Was a bit of a one dimensional.
She was more about Carmi thanshe was about being an independent
character.
It seems like they're tryingto flesh her out a bit more this
(51:39):
time.
Mm.
Do you guys think that they'repulling that off?
Is she, like, contributing to the.
The ensemble a bit more?
Not fully, but I mean,obviously she's.
A bit at a bit of a remove.
Yeah.
That's the thing.
We have enough characters whoare getting fully fleshed out that
having her be a mirror forCarm is okay.
(52:01):
Kind of.
And I get the complaint.
Yeah.
I think that for this, I mean,yes, they are doing more and giving
her more to do, but I do thinkthat, like, at least for me as a
viewer, like, my relationshipwith that character is because of
Carm's relationship or kind oflike my caring is somewhat contingent
(52:23):
on that.
Yeah.
Which, you know, is.
Can be the.
What happens sometimes whenwe, you know, watch things with protagonists
we identify with, you know, through.
Yeah, that's how storytelling works.
Yeah, exactly.
Right.
I have always had a hard timegetting away from pulling for the
protagonist or seeing thingsonly from the protagonist point of
(52:48):
view.
Let's leave with this one.
And you guys may know morebecause you've watched one more episode,
but we have the mysteriousphone call from Shapiro that Carm
answers and it happens.
30 seconds of screen time andthat's all I know.
Which brings us to the end ofour episode.
For Adam and Donovan, I'mBlaine and we hope that Neil Fax
(53:10):
never tries to smell you.
Thanks for listening.
Hey everybody.
You've joined taking it downthe TV and streaming podcast for
the Alabama take.
The title, of course of theepisode is one thing, but here's
the rundown of what we'regoing to do.
In the non spoiler section,we're going to talk about andor we're
going to talk briefly aboutyour friends and neighbors on Apple
TV plus, also on Apple TV pluswe'll talk about stickk and we'll
(00:22):
move into fx, Hulu, theirshow, the Bear and non spoilers.
Then in the back half with abreak in between, we're gonna talk
stick, specifically the lasttwo episodes and the middle part
of the bear episodes fourthrough six or three through six,
I think it is.
So stick around if you've seenthose episodes.
(00:44):
We'll do the very ending ofThe Bear Episode 7 through 10 next
week, next Tuesday.
And of course, Adam andDonovan will be joining me.
Folks, TV's never been this widespread.
Taking it down the streamingand TV podcast that respects your
time and your smarts.
Doesn't matter what you do fora living.
(01:04):
We know that caring deeplyabout a show doesn't mean you want
a lecture.
It means you want to thinkthrough it, test your own ideas,
hear a real conversation.
It's not just critics flexingfilm school jargon here or Hollywood
insiders not here.
From wondering what you whatto watch to understanding why a show
hits or misses, you'll leaveevery episode with more than just
(01:26):
another recommendation.
Each Tuesday, we start with aspoiler free segment so you can decide
if a show is worth your timeand you can listen.
Every week, after a break ofabout 30 seconds or 45 seconds, we
dig into the deeper stuff,what the series is doing, where it
stumbles, if it matters.
We're talking TV withouttalking down no assumptions except
(01:46):
that you're already thinkingtaking it down.
Real conversations aboutstreaming and tv.
We try to keep it done up real good.
Let's begin the show.
Alabama take projection.
We're talking to I y' all arelistening to Donovan and Adam, my
(02:11):
buds, my pals, my compadres,comrades, my therapists.
You know, we promised, I thinkwe might have promised the whole
season of the Bear seasonfour, but we got the big middle chunk
done.
What happened?
Well, I'm gonna tell the guys.
I'm gonna reveal to them rightnow I got sucked into andor big time.
(02:33):
Oh yeah, it'll do that, right?
Man, I was watching it andthen I was like, oh, I'm gonna plan
watching those cartoons andwhat order and I went to Reddit And
I went to this website that'ssci fi.
And what order do I watch?
Which ones do I watch?
Do I watch them all?
Do I also incorporate all themovies again?
(02:54):
I mean, andor will make you do that?
It's so good, it raises therest of Star wars.
And by the same light, it's sogood, it makes the stuff that's bad
in Star wars look really bad.
Well, of course it does that, but.
At the same time, because theyshow that it can be done.
But at the same time, when youwatch andor through a certain light,
which is, I guess just regularlight, you watch it and then you
(03:18):
think, I need to go back andwatch the Phantom Menace.
Because some of that was atplay, wasn't it?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it was.
I don't know how they pulledthis off, but one of the things I
thought was cool about Andorwas they made it like actual Star
wars for adults without beinglike, oh, that Star wars is all silly
kids stuff.
Like they incorporateeverything that's happened into.
(03:40):
This weird non spoiler.
Let me ask you, did it drag alittle for you.
When the TV critic Emily.
I think I mentioned Emily St.James for the first andor she was
like, oh, it's doing arcs.
It dragged until I read someof her writing on it and it was like,
(04:01):
it's mostly doing threeepisode arcs.
And as soon as I realized itwas doing that, it all clicked to
me.
And I actually kind of likedwith this.
There were.
There were some threads thatkept flowing out.
I kind of like the reallysprawling nature of this season,
though, where we're justgetting a slice of all kind, you
know.
But even, I mean, it did arcslike last season, but even, even
(04:21):
some episodes are.
I would say it didn't drag forme, but I would say they are very
meditative.
Yes, Yes, I would agree.
I was really shocked that theyhad so much Hank Williams Jr. As.
Strange move.
They did.
Disney clearly just bought the rights.
You know, they just want to just.
(04:43):
No wonder he's living in.
Up in Tuscaloosa.
Yes, that's.
That's what I. I wouldn't saybogged me down, but I found myself
doing something I don'tnormally do where I would watch.
There was at least one nightwhere I watched an episode and I
thought, I'm watching the nextone right now.
Like, this is fucking good.
When it ended, I was man, the.
(05:04):
Are we in spoiler territory?
We're not in spoilers, Don.
We're not spoiler territory.
So there's an episode towardsthe End where.
Where.
Where two charactersrelationship is revealed and then
one of them has to make a hardchoice that I'm just like a Sophie's
Choice.
That was a fantastic fiveminutes of television right there.
It was amazing.
And it's incredible that theyhave such good actors doing this.
Man, Diego Luna's killing it.
(05:25):
I. I thought to myself atonce, I was like, I'm tired of his
griping and complaining.
But then I thought, he's doingsuch a.
Of it.
I should.
He.
He needs to be in more movies.
Yeah, I'm sure he will dieDiego Luna, because he.
He's excellent.
I don't mean to be.
I'm not trying to be racistwith this at all.
Of course y' all know me.
I'm not racist.
(05:46):
But he and Pedro Pascal in amovie would be really good as brothers
or something.
As brothers.
Yeah.
Yeah, it'd be good.
I. I know that they probablyaren't the same background, but have
you seen Sophie's Choice, bythe way?
Either of y' all never have.
Oh, have you not neither seenit nor read it?
Me?
(06:06):
Man, are we in spoilers now.
We're not spoilers, but, you know.
Andor dares to ask the question.
It dares to ask the question.
Do you like lasers that gopew, pew, pew?
Yeah, it does.
The craziest thing about Andoris it's a Star wars show that has
a complete subplot thatsomehow feels completely natural
(06:29):
about somebody's domineering mother.
Oh, yeah.
Slash.
Slash in law.
And it's.
And it's great.
I hate her.
Now it dares to ask.
I thought about this yesterday.
I was outside building a fire,you know, as one does on the 5th
of July.
(06:50):
As one does in Alabama on the5th of July.
Gotta get hotter, right?
Yeah.
I thought to myself, Andordoes dare to ask the question.
Do you like your television tomirror your current politics?
There are some, like, really.
There's some upsetting moments.
Yeah.
You think to yourself, did Iknow this was gonna happen?
(07:14):
Okay, we'll move on.
This is not gonna.
Andor's not gonna be a part ofthe spoiler section.
I just thought I would sharewith the guys on my quat.
What kept me from finishingthe bear, though.
I think we're all kind of atthe same place Anyway.
Once you see that firstgraphic Jar Jar Binks sex scene in
Andor, you're like nothing else.
(07:35):
I gotta keep watching this.
Naked.
Naked.
Fully weird.
Hey, we have an email this week.
I'll address it briefly.
We have an email from One ofour regular listeners, Mr. Tim Hamilton
out of New York.
He says hello all.
That's all of us.
Thanks for mentioning Friendsand Neighbors as I gave it a try
and I enjoyed the journey.
(07:56):
Look, look at us doing kind of a.
Spreading the good word.
We set out to do something andit happened.
Son of a bitch.
He said, I can only hope theydo not make a season two.
I don't think it's believablethat the story continues.
And I'm not in spoiler.
We're not in spoiler territory.
(08:18):
But I would say that if theydo, there has to be a very minor
shift.
I really liked Friends andNeighbors, your Friends and Neighbors
on Apple tv.
Plus, I won't spoil anything.
It's.
It's got Jon Hamm in it.
We've talked about it brieflyhere before.
It's a fun ride.
Very interesting.
Every episode is quite good, Iwould say.
(08:40):
The ending last 15 minutes, you.
You kind of scratch your heada little bit and think maybe, maybe
not.
And then Tim goes on to say, Ihope that you'll now give Murderbot
a try.
It's also on Apple tv.
I give it thumbs up or atleast four out of five stars so far.
So thanks, Tim.
And I've got it on my watch list.
I just don't know time.
(09:03):
But maybe it's a 30 minute show.
All right.
Speaking of 30 minute showsand Apple TV plus we got Stick.
We're all caught up.
We're not going to spoil anything.
Do we want to say anythingabout Stick on Apple tv?
Plus Owen Wilson.
Mark Marin in an rv.
No.
HR department.
(09:23):
No, no.
Owen Wilson plays Price Cow Hill.
Love that name.
He's washed up.
Kind of threw away his talentas a golfer due to life and now he's
taken up this young man namedSantiago and he's trying to get him
to become a professional.
Santiago's probably 16.
(09:46):
17.
He's got to be 17.
I think 16 or 17 because he's.
He's a junior.
He'll be a senior in the.
It's summer right now.
Yeah, they did have himdriving the rv.
Yes.
So that's a spoiler blame.
Any non spoiler thoughts sofar on.
On Stick it through seven episodes.
(10:06):
At this point, I continueenjoying laughter, shenanigans.
No, I'm just, I'm saying it'sjust, it's a show that you put on.
It's.
It's a comfort watch in a lotof ways.
See, I'd push back againstthat and I will in spoilers.
There you go.
Okay.
Yeah, Mark Marin remains agreat choice for a cranky person.
(10:27):
Yeah, I mean, it's obvious,but here, it's honed now.
Excuse me.
It's, it's.
They've put a rope around himand used it well.
Yeah, I agree.
It's not over the top.
The kind of lovable curmudgeon guy.
Yes.
Who are we gonna get to be grumpy?
Okay.
Mark Marin.
Is Mark Marin busy?
(10:49):
Can we use his skills?
They do.
Is he, is he wound up about something?
Do you think they just paidhim with that rv?
He just got to keep it.
That'd be great.
You could see Marc Maron atone of this, this nation's many fine
national parks.
I bet he's going to get intomore acting now that he's wrapping
(11:09):
up his podcast.
Right?
That's probably what he wantedto do.
I mean, that makes sense to me.
And you know what?
If he does it as well as he'sdoing it here, I'll watch him.
I bet he gets better.
I think he's pretty good.
He's the kind of guy who wouldgo to an acting coach and get better
and better.
You think so?
I think so.
I think so.
Yeah.
He's not the kind of guy whosays, I know it all.
Fuck you.
Not, not in that situation.
(11:32):
No.
Yeah, he's, he's good.
I, I, I've been liking him.
Speaking of good acting, y'all reckon what Carm and Sydney and
Richie's been doing today?
You mean this day?
What are they doing right now?
They love a Sunday.
It is a Sunday.
They're off.
I'm glad Restro mentioned thatthey actually have off days because
I kept thinking, Christalmighty, they're going to get burned
(11:52):
out.
Well, that's the theme of theservice industry, right?
A little bit.
They are even six days a week,Richie's smoking, Carmi's trying
not to smoke, and I don't knowwhat Sid is up to.
Sid's hanging out with dad.
This show should be illegal,just like Frank.
I've said this to y' all before.
The show should be illegal,much like French cinema.
(12:13):
It really makes me want to smoke.
It looks so cool.
And, and yesterday I sharedthis with, with Adam and y'.
All.
Yesterday.
Yesterday the Tour de Francewas on.
They shared that one of theearly winners was known as the chain
smoking chimp.
The.
How is it?
Like, does the Surgeon Generalknow about this?
I want to see.
Do we even have a surgeongeneral anymore?
We have a faux surgeon General.
(12:34):
Hey, what are the top shows?
Television only that make youwant to smoke Mad Men number one
Madman.
Yeah, every.
It's the number one.
And then.
Oh, my God.
It makes it look so cool.
What's number two?
It's like Mad Men makes anabsolutely objectively unhealthy
lifestyle look amazing for atleast a little bit.
So fun.
Now they have consequences,but they also.
(12:55):
Yeah, I was going to say atleast for a little bit because you
every.
They, they're.
They do hit it.
Right.
What's number two?
A lot of them do any episodeor any television series that has
a guy or woman who has thecigarette in the corner of their
mouth and still talks.
That's.
That's number two.
You know, the X Files made itlook pretty cool.
Oh, did it?
Smoking man.
I mean, he get.
(13:16):
I think he did get cancer, buthe makes it look real.
But he, he's like the guy whoknows it all right.
In the shadows.
He's got the cigarette.
I've got an off the kind ofoff the beaten path.
Yeah.
Suggestion here.
Dale Gribble on King of theHill is just a man who loves to smoke
and he does it consequence free.
(13:37):
Like it's a large part of hispersonality, you know, That's.
That's true.
That is true.
Unlike you two, I bet.
Again, different generations.
Just a little.
My mom and dad smoked and mydad quit.
He got flu really badly and henever took off work, but he got flu
bad enough to take off workfor like two or three days.
(13:57):
And he's like, nah, nevertouching him again.
And then my mom, it was funny.
My mom wasn't like a chain smoker.
She only, only smoked afterdinner and she'd smoke one or two
on the back porch.
I remember so clearly.
That's like an AnthonyBourdain kind of thing.
(14:18):
Yes.
He doesn't smoke on the show,you know, but you know, you know
that they're just rippingskigs right off camera.
Well, she wasn't ripping them,but she would go to.
She would also go to theneighbor's porch who was a relative
of ours, and she would sit onthe porch and they might.
They might smoke about threeor four in a row now and gossip.
Oh, man, I get it.
My mom kind of made smokinglook cool.
That is a phrase that israrely uttered.
(14:41):
I was a little too young toremember my dad, like, really smoking,
but he smoked indoors, Guys.
Yeah, that's the thing.
I don't want to get caught upon this, but, like, we're all old
enough to remember when youcould smoke in a Wendy's like feels
crazy to say that out loud.
Yeah.
You remember the restaurantsused to have smoking and non smoking,
(15:03):
like there was some sort ofdivider and you don't.
Want to sit too close tosmoking, you know, because that's
honorary smoking.
What got us here?
Well, Richie from the Bear.
Let's, let's talk about Richiein depth on the spoiler section.
We'll take a 30, 45 secondbreak on the back half.
We're going to talk stick andspoilers and we're going to talk
(15:24):
the bear and spoilers.
That order.
Sam.
(16:09):
Okay.
Yeah.
Before we get in the Bear,I've got a couple of comments to
make on a last two episodes ofStick on Apple tv.
Plus, I thought it was reallygreat, funny, entertaining to see
Owen Wilson slip fully backinto Eli Cash from the Royal Tenenbaums
as he tells Santi that hedoesn't see lying as a bad thing.
(16:30):
Why?
That's not a bad thing.
He's so sincere.
He comes to the conclusion forSanti to lie about his sex life to
zero is the scene I'm talking about.
Yes.
Remember that one?
What this book presupposes ismy favorite quote.
What if he didn't?
What if he didn't?
It harkens back to Donovan'spoint last week that it is a well
(16:54):
of humor to have Owen Wilsonas Price see his actions as not so
bad.
Yeah.
He says, maybe I'm not thebest guy to ask because I actually
think sometimes a lie is not abad thing.
You know, he says somethinglike, like then if the, the truth's
going to hurt someone'sfeelings or get me in trouble, did
I just steer clear of it?
It's always that littleaddition there.
(17:17):
It's the, it's funny, right?
Because he's like advocatingfor lying, but he's being like, more
honest than he should be with Santiago.
It's that balance.
It's funny.
It's funny.
It made me laugh.
Also, what made me laugh is Santi.
It did feel a little abrupt,but Santi all of a sudden coming
to him for, like, ladies advice.
(17:37):
It did feel abrupt, right,because they were pretty mad at each
other.
Or he was pretty mad the past episode.
But, you know, that's whatgolfing does to you.
But at the same time, who's hegoing to ask?
It's either Price or Mitts.
And I don't think he has anyconnection with Mitts.
No connection.
Maybe a little forced, but Ithink the setup made me laugh for
he's.
(17:58):
He'S trying to that may be ourthesis that stick is sometimes a
little forced, but the endsjustify the means.
Sitcom logic.
You heard it first here, folks.
The ends justify the means.
Go do it right now.
I thought it gave anotherexample of why Santi, the young.
(18:18):
The youngin who plays him, honestly.
So I'm talking about the actor.
It's a good character, andit's a good actor.
He does vulnerable well enoughhere and elsewhere, and he also does
normal, annoying teenage things.
Yes, we talked about the Lastof us not that long ago.
Bella Ramsey had an episodewhere there was no balance.
(18:40):
She only did annoying teenage things.
And I thought it hindered the episode.
This guy, all throughout theseries has done.
Oh, that's teenager.
Yeah.
Teenagers act like that.
And then he also does.
Teenagers are also can bevulnerable and come to you and go,
I've never had sex.
What am I going to do?
Yeah, yeah, he's.
He does a good job of someoneas, like, a kid with his defenses
(19:03):
up, who's afraid to trustbecause he's been hurt and he wants
to.
And he kind of wants to.
And also, I think he does agood job of that being kind of like,
brash in a way that a teenagerwants to be like, I caught, you know,
big, big cool guy.
It's promising for the backhalf of this show because I think
it works best when they aren'tat odds, when Price and Sante aren't
(19:23):
at odds, when that's not themain conflict this show cooks.
Yeah, I think I'd agree with that.
Adam's nodding for.
For listeners who can't see.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
And I think even things likehim coming to Price to kind of confide
in him, like, there has to bea moment where he.
Santi, hasn't fully recognizedhim as, like, a father figure.
(19:48):
Equal, but also equal.
Like, oh, you would know whatI'm going through.
Because you were alsofreakishly good at this thing.
A ladies man.
Well.
Cause he relates it to.
Well, you were a highlysuccessful pro golfer.
You had to.
He's like, well, we're notexactly rock stars.
But, yeah, I love that.
And I think that's animportant development.
(20:09):
Like, they need to both bementor, mentee, and, like, a level
of respect that he.
I think I agree with what youguys are saying that he plays the
actor playing Santi, does itso well because he's at once brash.
I remember before I'd evenseen an episode, Blaine, you said
that he, as an actor is maybesupposed to be more annoying than
(20:31):
he's actually able to.
Come off kind of.
Yes, there's something likethat happening.
Yeah, I can see that.
But yeah, just that.
That development of like.
Like you see the puppy dogfeelings kind of swing back and forth.
And he does such a good jobdoing that.
I was surprised how well Ilike the actor because teenage actors
tend to either they kind ofjust rub me a little bit of the wrong
(20:54):
way.
His name is Peter Dadger.
I guess it's not Dagger, it's Dadger.
He's been in almost NothingInsidious, the Red Door.
That's about it.
Maybe that people would know.
He's a very handsome young man.
By the way, he does need a haircut.
I like it.
I like that Dylan style of.
I don't give a about my hairbecause that's very teenage.
(21:16):
It's just gotta lower just alittle bit.
It's a little sideshow body.
Coming from a guy who hasshoulder length hair, that's a brave
statement.
I know.
It's rich.
Well, you know Adams doesn'tgo up.
No, well, it.
Adams goes down.
Well, mostly down.
Just goes in all directions.
So.
(21:36):
What I saw in episode six,though, is a show that either could
be improving or setting up asolid second season after you already
know these characters.
That's what I saw with Mittskissing Elena.
You know, it's like all thisstuff we kind of saw coming.
And now that it's over, we canget to some meat and potatoes here.
(21:59):
Yeah.
All the setups over.
Yeah.
Price interrogates his griefto a degree and then we'll get into
episode seven in a second.
It's almost like the showaddressed our concerns.
And then episode six ends withSanti getting angry at Price and
zero for blowing it up for.
For hit for Price paying her.
(22:20):
You know, we kind of sort ofexpected the blow up there.
It did happen in episode six.
We saw it coming.
It's not surprising.
He wanted her to like him justbecause of who he is, not because
of money.
And he thought it might bemoney related.
This was such a paper thinblow up though.
It was.
(22:41):
You knew they would be happytogether again soon.
Yeah.
But I mean even the logic.
I think even a 17 year oldshould have a little more ability
to, you know, like, if you'regonna ask somebody to like come on
the road, you.
You probably do have to.
It doesn't matter how they feel.
It's like you gotta dangle thecarrot out there.
You know what I mean?
Well, to me, this was therealistic teenage thing.
(23:04):
I know you called it paperthin and I Do agree that it's pretty
thin, but a teenager, theirfeelings are on high alert.
That's true.
A little more black and white, then.
A little more Blaine Duncan.
I think this could have allbeen avoided had I sort of alluded
(23:26):
to this earlier.
There been some sort of HRdepartment, maybe some mandatory
training around relationshipswith co workers.
They don't have an HR department.
I'm not sure they can afford it.
And therein lies the comedy.
Let's get into episode sevenwith Dreams Never Remembered.
It's the most recent.
I found that.
How long did your wife sobduring this episode?
(23:48):
My wife doesn't watch this episode.
She doesn't watch the showwith me.
Well, might not after this one.
Let's talk about this coldopen, which is what you're referencing.
I appreciate that it wasn't adream, but it was a series of possibilities
he could have had with hisson, had his son lived.
(24:10):
And it was so poignant for itgave the right amount of poignancy
for this series anymore and itloses its comedic element.
It wasn't exactly sad as awhole, but it worked.
As a demonstration of howPrice, his mind probably works most
days.
You know, he does not talkabout it, so we have to see it.
(24:32):
He's on.
He's actually at a playground, just.
Just gazing into the sky, asit turns out.
But he's thinking about whatwould he be like as a teenager.
What would it be like to sendhim to college.
And guys, the.
The pew pew scene when.
When the son would have beensix or seven, that's exactly what
(24:54):
my daughter and I do.
And it hurt.
Who hurt you?
Owen Wilson hurt you?
He hurt me.
He does pretty good, doesn't he?
In this one?
I. I did.
I felt like.
Like he was almost better thanhe needed to be for this scene.
For this.
I could.
I'm not sure that I could putlike it into words necessarily, but
(25:18):
especially at the end whenhe's imagining maybe his son going
to college and he's just like,did you ever think what will happen
if you're not here?
It's like, what will it do toyour mother?
What will it do to me?
And I don't know.
You know, I'm not.
He's not like the world'sgreatest actor, but there felt like
some real pain.
There was some real pain in there.
I thought it works extremelywell as connective tissue to Price.
(25:40):
Talking to Santi in theairport later and he says, hey, I'm
enjoying the hang.
As it turns out, this was agolf thing.
But I Actually, like hangingout with you.
Yeah.
The kind of.
I mean, it's kind of what yousee coming, right?
It's like, oh, they both giveeach other something that they need,
but, you know, it works.
(26:00):
It's fine.
Yeah.
First of all, Price doesn'tbring it up.
He might not ever bring it up again.
What's his mind look like?
I think that worked.
And it also allows him to goto Santi at the end and go, you know
what?
We're kind of buddies now.
Yeah.
With that degree of honesty issomewhat lacking from his character.
In other.
(26:21):
It reminds me.
This is.
I had a complete.
This is a complete side note.
But, like, watching this think.
I feel like Owen Wilson'scharacter could be summed up with.
Not exactly, but they're oneof the quotes from my favorite movies
where one character says tothe other.
Or one of my favorite movies.
I've always thought of you asa person of some integrity, except
(26:42):
with your dealings with women.
And his is like, I've alwaysthought of you as a person of some
integrity, except for yourdealings, mostly.
What movie is that?
Oh, the Last Days of Disco.
Okay.
I've never seen it.
It's very good.
So the scene where Santiagoand his mom are in the diner, she
lets him know, hey, I believeZero liked you.
(27:05):
I really do believe she likes you.
I thought that was a goodexample of two things here.
You know, play a teen, butalso play some sensitivity that doesn't
come off as whiny or irksome.
That.
Again, I know I brought thisup, but.
Yeah.
I also thought episode sevenallowed Marin to fully come into
(27:26):
his own here as Mitts.
Give Zero a grounded ear and,like, real advice, you know?
Yeah.
About how pristine the campingspot was.
I don't remember that.
No, I'm just.
When he.
I've derailed the conversationwhen the episode opened where he
walks out and he goes, this is it.
It's like, RV Shangri La, right?
(27:46):
Yeah.
Oh, that was the episode before.
Was it?
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He did give her some goodadvice about.
Which I think was slightly undercut.
And I'll tell you why.
Like, good advice about noteating in the bus station, which
was undercut by that being thenicest bus station I've ever seen
in my life.
And she still debates it, but he.
(28:09):
He tells her.
He kind of says, for now, youknow, in his almost boomer kind of
way.
What.
What generation would he be?
He's got to be Gen X, right?
Hey, I'm Gen X, man.
Don't.
Don't Put me with Marin.
But he tells her he's not a boomer.
Oh, he's the.
He's the in between there.
(28:30):
He says, let's just drop thethe of.
Of.
Let's drop the of gender andlet's drop the of the slang of your
generation.
And you not understanding my generation.
Here's how it is.
And a curmudgeon can do thatwith some love and be effective.
(28:54):
And I think they allowed himto do that.
Like, he just came into his own.
I was like, oh, this is a good character.
This is a realistic characterand Marin's doing a good job.
This may just be what I thinkis funny in the show, but I really
do think that, like, thecontrast between, like, the way Price
deals with Gen Z and the wayMitts deals with Gen Z is.
(29:16):
Is continually very funny to me.
Like, Mitts being like yourwhole generation exhausts me.
Price being like, trauma.
TikTok has devalued that word.
But he's still trying to,like, actively have like a dialogue
with the kids.
It's that, like, thecontrasting approaches that remains
very funny.
Me and Price asked him wayearly in the season, don't you.
Don't you guys get mentalhealth break, whatever it is?
(29:40):
Well, who was it that said,when did grace period stop being
a thing?
Because I wrote that in mynotes, but I didn't contribute it
to anyone.
That was Price.
He's trying to get a refund onthe airport ticket he bought.
Just.
And this is jumping around,but we are in spoiler section.
But if.
If Santi actually did run outof a plane like that, there's no
(30:01):
way he wouldn't be tackled.
Like our gun feet 20ft late.
Yeah.
You know, in Trump's America,he's being.
Beaten by airport security.
As we.
As we are recording, if we're really.
Honest, Santi would bedeported in Trump's America.
Sad.
To Indiana.
Elena would not be in America.
I found this recent episode tobe as good as Stick has been.
(30:22):
And I love the.
The hustle that Price admitsonly allude to at the end that, you
know you're going to get inthe next episode with.
With Timothy Olyphant.
And it's like, oh, yeah, nowwe can go.
But it took six, sevenepisodes to get here.
And that's okay because thosesix or seven episodes were Owen Wilson
cracking wise.
(30:43):
They were all fine.
And I don't regret watching it.
You know, I think it's a funhang I could have done.
I think you.
When you.
When you.
Blaine, when you were like,okay, they're through the setup now.
It was like, that's what I'm feeling.
And it just had not occurredto me.
But I think I could have donewith like, one or two fewer episodes
of setup or maybe speeding italong a little bit.
(31:04):
I disagree.
I'm enjoying the slow ride.
Okay.
How come?
Because Owen Wilson and MarinKraken wise or.
Yeah, it's just.
It's not that kind of show.
Right, right.
You don't.
Rushing towards.
What is the drama?
Like, what could they manufacture?
Well, we know what they'rerushing toward.
We're rushing toward ashowdown between Timothy Olyphant
(31:25):
and Santiago, and then later,probably next season, a showdown
between Price and TimothyOlivan or Santiago.
Both.
I feel like we're off on ourprediction that Price is going to
have to choose to coach or play.
You think so?
It's not happening thisseason, is it?
I mean, like, season two or three.
Yeah, I think it's possible.
(31:46):
By the end of this one, though.
I think for me, it was lesslike, I want the plot to speed up
and more like, I wish thatthey had established these.
I wish they had been in theseinteresting relationships a little
bit earlier in the showbecause I don't care.
Like you said, there's nothingto rush to.
It's the journey, not thedestination with this show.
Yep, absolutely.
(32:07):
I still.
And they.
They talk about it in universe too.
Like, they all don't know eachother really.
Like, there's isolated,there's a mother son relationship,
there's two old friends, but collectively.
And then you add zero into the mix.
It's like, y'.
All.
If they were too chummy, toofast, without any hiccups, it would.
I think we would have more ofthat of a complaint about that than
(32:30):
we would about a slower pace.
You know, that's a great.
I think that's a great point.
Right.
Like, so often for myself, Ifind myself like, I didn't like this
yet.
You know, it's like you're.
When it's summer, you complainabout being hot.
When it's winter, you complainabout being cold.
Right.
Like, I don't identify withthat, but, yeah.
(32:50):
I start fires on Jalathia.
Thank you.
I feeling a little chilly inthe 101 degrees.
Like kindling.
What does the show want to do?
Does it do it?
And was it worth it?
And I think we're all okaywith stick.
Yeah, I'm gonna keep watching it.
It is.
(33:10):
It is.
Sometimes tonally, it can be alittle bit.
I feel like the writing isweaker than the acting.
Does that make sense?
Yes, for sure.
And that's okay for now.
That's fine.
The acting is good, which kindof elevates it.
You know, it makes it fun.
I don't know that they makethis show if not for Ted Lasso.
(33:30):
Yeah.
And some other like comfortfood Apple shows or maybe they do,
but it's not.
And I'm not saying becauseit's a sports one to one or anything
like that.
It's just a very certain brandof like warm hug from a friend most
of the time.
And obviously there's realtrauma going on too.
But I just think this hasbecome like a.
(33:53):
Like if, If Apple TV has theirarsenal of pitches that they're going
to throw at us, this.
This is one of them.
I think so, yeah.
I'm totally fine with that, bythe way.
Not everything has to be genreredefining and exceptional.
Whatever.
So this is a fine show.
Yeah.
It's kind of like what we saidwith Department Q.
It was not, as it turns out,it was not trying to redefine the
(34:16):
genre.
It was trying to do the bestit can within that genre.
And it.
Right.
Yeah.
I didn't open the floor foryou guys to talk about that cold
open where he said you guysare without children.
Did.
What kind of effect did ithave on you?
Well, my wife sobbed openly.
Yeah.
And it probably did too.
It probably didn't help that Ispent a good chunk of time Yesterday
(34:40):
babysitting my 5 month oldniece because, you.
Know, it is cute, by the way.
She's adorable.
But it is cutest babies.
I mean, it's very poignant, underlying.
And I think they did.
I mean, it wasn't like thegenius, but it was, it was good that
they underlined what he saidhe missed by showing that.
Right.
And he didn't miss the.
He just missed yelling at his kid.
You know, he missed.
(35:00):
Turn that music down.
Yeah, exactly.
You know, and that was.
It's.
It's sad.
He missed what could have been.
Right.
His.
He's happy, his wife's happyand he got to be.
He got to know how the storycontinues with his son in steadways
instead of it being cut off.
And he doesn't know you afterthat because he's gone.
(35:21):
Adam, did Mr. Morrow ever askyou to turn the music down?
No, not that I recall.
He's a gentle soul.
Yeah.
That takes us into this bigmental chunk of the bear.
So last week I think we hadonly discuss three episodes at the
most.
This week we're Going todiscuss episodes four through six,
(35:45):
maybe a little seven, but not much.
You guys know what the bear is?
There's no setup here.
We'll start with the episodetitled Worms.
It was the Sydney episode.
It was there to, I thought, toshow that Shapiro can be a virtue
signal sort of guy.
Sydney's Signe's confused, butshe's probably willing to go work
(36:08):
at his restaurant for itsnewness and its lack of stress.
But it seems, you know, Sydneyhasn't called her dad back and she
hasn't read the updated agreement.
She's not sure.
I just thought it was kind ofcool to see her world.
We haven't seen it, but italso felt like something that maybe
(36:30):
didn't need a whole episode.
But, hey, you're committed.
Let's just show the wholeepisode to Sidney.
I could not disagree more with that.
Okay.
I loved it.
It finished and Nataliesettled out.
What I was thinking, that'sone of the better episodes that they've
done.
But I will say I have tendedto gravitate towards these character
(36:51):
investigation episodes quite a bit.
I love those episodes over theshow's run.
I mean, I think there are alot of the best episodes are those
where we spend time.
And I think seeing her, youknow, you listed all of the things
that she is non committal toat the moment, really.
The partner's agreement, thisoffer to go to a new restaurant,
(37:12):
not answering the phone forher dad, which is a little out of
character for her.
Right.
Based on previous seasons,they seem to have a pretty good relationship.
Especially when you'recontrasting that with what Marcus
is going through.
So her.
I mean, I think it's likeshe's shutting down in some ways,
or at least like, so in herown head, out to see about, like,
(37:36):
and not.
I don't think it's adepressive thing.
I think it's like a stress decision.
Decision anxiety.
Yeah, that.
That's how I read it.
Is she.
She's anxious?
Not like, you know, like.
Like pathologically, but like,when you're anxious, sometimes you're
like, I can't even think aboutthis right now.
I'll paraphrase the.
The Kierkegaard of anxiety isthe dizziness of freedom.
(37:58):
Yeah.
You know, I think that we'reshown that she's really good in that.
I mean, they have to sometimesquantify for us how good these people
are at what they do so that weunderstand in universe that they're
very powerful, for lack of abetter term.
Like with her and the pasta,how quick she does it.
It's like her upside is so limitless.
(38:21):
She's got this guy trying toget her to come work and all this
stuff.
So, yeah, she's.
How do you handle all of that potential?
I think that's what she'sgrappling with.
And just seeing her in, like,a friend's friendly environment doing
something no one else on theset or in the restaurant is sitting
for hours to have their hair braided.
(38:42):
You know what I mean?
This is a different cultural that.
Yes.
We get a ton of the big family dinner.
We get a wedding later.
We don't get to see hercultural experience, and now we do.
And I thought it was great.
And I thought the interactionswith the.
With the young woman, thelittle girl, were just.
That was great.
When she was in babysitter mode.
Yeah.
(39:02):
Yeah.
And it ended up being so.
It went from very relatable atthe start where she, you know, I'm
almost never around kids andI, you know, it's like, do I talk
to you like a little adult?
Do I. Yeah.
Kind of off.
Off script here when I'm inthat situation.
But no, I thought that was.
(39:22):
That was great.
And to get to.
I realize I'm talking a lot,but the.
Please do her cooking aheartfelt meal for people that she
loved and even kind ofteaching along the way.
Yeah.
Was so nice.
After just the pure.
I mean, I think that they lovewhat they do at the restaurant, but
(39:44):
it's a different form of that.
I do think the tool of havingher not answer her dad's call or
only saying hello briefly iseffective to show she can't deal
right now.
Quite.
Yeah, totally.
Now when she's like, in themiddle of prep and not answering.
I get it, but it's.
(40:06):
There's a pattern.
You know, it.
It felt very real to me in thesense that, like, obviously she loves
her dad and her dad loves her,and I just felt like there was a
sense that she's like, I can'thandle someone honestly asking me,
like, how are you doing right now?
I've been there.
With episode five Replicants,I saw this show be able to tell a
(40:28):
multitude of stories now inthe shortest amount of time from
the monologue to begin, the AlAnon meeting to Harm visiting the
Frank Lloyd Wright house withno dialogue, to Tina testing her
cooking on her husband, andthen Tina coming to Carm and telling
him, you the shit.
You got nothing to prove.
(40:49):
I mean, that was a gut punchafter four seasons.
I know a lot of people thoughtseason three dipped A little.
But I kind of see how seasonthree maybe was needed to do season
four.
I've been thinking that too,especially with the, like, a lot
of stuff kind of broke in thethird season.
(41:09):
So I guess what I mean bybreaks is.
Is strains and tensions, right?
Like, there's a break inClaire and Carm's relationship.
There's.
There's breaks between, like,now Sydney kind of feels like she
has something that she'skeeping from people, right?
Like, there's breaks in, youknow, Marcus's mother passes away,
and so, like, a bunch of stuff breaks.
(41:31):
And I think you got it exactly right.
Where season three sets allthat up so that Tina can be like,
hey, you.
The.
And I think there's an element of.
Or.
What seems interesting aboutthe season so far is instead of being
like, they get the bad reviewand everything's awful, and, like.
And Carm falls apart, they'reactually zagging.
(41:53):
And it's like, instead offalling apart, we're trying to face
what's.
You know, like, we're turningtowards it and facing it.
And I think season three contrasted.
Are you telling me seasonthree is the Empire Strikes Back
and season.
And season four is Return ofthe Jedi?
Somewhat.
Blaine, you watched theAmericans, didn't you?
I sure did.
(42:13):
So the.
The penultimate season, a lotof people didn't, like, because they
felt like it was frustrating.
And I actually thought thatthat was the point of it.
You're supposed to befrustrated because they're frustrated
because they're in anincreasingly untenable situation.
And I think people werefeeling frustrated with season three,
but it's like, you're supposedto feel frustrated.
They're frustrated.
(42:34):
We haven't even mentionedLucas Return.
Did you cheer?
Did you.
Did you fist bump?
My.
My favorite guy to see is.
Is Marcus's roommate because Ifeel like a little corner of the
Joe Paris cinematic universelives on whenever he shows up.
And he's doing real estate, right?
Is this.
He's doing real.
I told you guys.
A side hustle.
Yes.
I told you guys there'd beanother real estate moment.
(42:56):
Marcus is selling his mom's house.
That's super sad, y'.
All.
That was very sad.
But.
But at the same time, theybalance it with his roommate being
a side hustle real estate agent.
And it was funny, you know, that.
Was such a nice way, thatconversation about being around real
estate transactions.
Yeah.
You're like.
(43:16):
I had never thought of, like,having such a binary view of that,
you know, to, like, they'reeither aspirational times or Something
has gone wrong.
Right.
Like it's one of the two.
And that was such a good conversation.
I thought, oh, man.
I forgot to say this about theSidney's episode.
But I was extremely impressedwith like, the dialogue and how well
(43:40):
it hung together.
And then it gets to the endand it's like, I shouldn't be surprised,
but Ayo Edebiri wrote the episode.
Oh, yeah.
I'm like, oh, that's why she.
I think it was Chris.
I think it was not her.
And I'm not sure it was Chris Thor.
But she wrote it.
And I'm like, that's why shenailed all the dialogue.
Yeah.
She knew exactly came up withwhat the characters would say.
Yeah.
I thought that was great.
(44:01):
We're still in Replicants.
These episodes have some odd names.
I always thought.
Replicants.
I always think of Blade Runner.
Yes.
So weird.
Sydney is all but ignoring herpoor loving father until he has the
heart attack here.
And everyone's look offamilial and genuine care to the
(44:22):
baby when Sugar comes to visit.
All of that seems connected to me.
And this was, this was veryrealistic to me in that you also,
you would not let Neil Fackhold your baby ever.
Fuck no.
And he is desperate to smellthe baby.
(44:43):
The, the repeated joke.
Like, I, I, I think it's alittle one note for some people,
but I continue loving the waythe facts are like this, like healthy,
goofy masculinity and like,like Neil is such a beloved guy and
in no way in hell they everlet him near a baby.
Because, like the balance.
The joke is very still, veryfunny to me.
(45:04):
That joke gets very tired to me.
I'm in the other, see.
Yeah, I know.
Other.
To me, it's the way that theytalk to him.
And like all, I mean, I knowthat like family nicknames, this
is how it works.
You're getting.
Maybe I'm, I'm too cold for this.
I don't know.
What, what do you think wouldbe the realistic thing?
(45:26):
Like they would just drop itoccasionally or I guess.
What'd you say?
I said the baby.
Drop the baby.
There were moments like whenhe, when he came in and just like,
it's like almost like he waslike smelling like a, like something
on the stove, you know, and heleaned into the.
(45:48):
He's worked in a restaurant.
Yeah, that was funny.
But yeah, the way that theytalk to him.
And this happens later.
Donovan.
There's a hot chocolate moment.
Hot chocolate.
Yeah.
I'm like, what is this?
It's almost like when youwatch all of the office.
And Kevin starts as, like, afunctional adult.
And by the end, it's like, howis this guy allowed to drive?
(46:13):
You know, like, there'smoments where starts.
There's Parks and Rex.
Moments like that, too.
Yeah.
Is this.
Is this man allowed to ridethe subway alone?
Like, what episodes?
How does he get to work?
How did he buy that tie?
Yeah, and it's.
They make him.
They just, like, make him aninfant, and it.
It gets old.
I bet he got that tie from hisdad's closet.
(46:33):
That's my guess.
But it takes us to episodesix, Sophie the DaBaby, where this
was one of the most oddlystaged scenes from the show, where
Neil reveals he's invitedFrancine to the wedding.
It's so weird, and thedialogue's so weird where he and
Sugar are talking, and he'skind of hiding behind the.
The wall, and he says, I'm agood boy or something.
(46:56):
Or I'm a boy.
This is what I'm talking about.
I did not like that either.
It gets really weird out ofcharacter for the show almost for
about three minutes.
What Donovan was saying aboutthe, like, the masculinity, but the
wholesome version of it.
I don't mind that it's.
This what you're talking about now.
That joke is kind of funny,but they're just.
(47:18):
Yeah.
It's like these.
These are grown humans.
I've got to admit, one of thefunniest moments was Tiny made me
laugh out loud.
But when Neil is trying tosmell the baby.
That's not the funny part.
It's when Sugar walks in andTed jumps to a marker and writes
and tries to write something,and he says, oh, they wanted me to
write that on there.
(47:39):
I thought that.
That, to me, is comedy.
We get some really fast editsbetween the.
The staff, and it makes us allfeel like poor Luca, which is to
say confused on who's who andwhat's what.
Who's that?
What?
I'm.
I'm glad that they finallyaddressed that with the newcomers.
(47:59):
Yes.
The new workers.
Like, do I call you this?
Who are you related to Hal here?
Yeah.
Because Luca may seem likeoverkill, but he does get to ask
Ted what he does they.
Or he asks, I guess, Marcus.
And Marcus says, you know, I'mnot sure.
(48:20):
And I think this is the.
Also the episode where somekey human moments occur.
You get the quote, parents arehuman, too.
That one will gut punch you ifyou're a parent.
And then I think Tina says,yeah, there's always a clock.
And if that's not resonant toyou, you're.
(48:43):
You're still under 20.
Sydney's dad's a special guy,and I think he's fairly realistic.
I think that there are dadsout there that are just like this.
But to see her upset over him,especially knowing that she's disregarded
him so much lately because ofher anxiety and decision making.
(49:05):
It's an emotional moment.
Another one.
Well, and I think we're alsosupposed to, you know, she answers
the phone and her backgroundthis whole time has been her with
her mom when she was small.
And we know that the ghost ofher mom is what's there in that relationship,
you know, So I think.
And they showed that severaltimes, you know, throughout the season.
(49:27):
Just so well done to build upto that moment of, you know, and
he ends up, of course, being agreat dad about, well, you're busy,
you know, I forbid you to moveback home.
All this kind of stuff.
So touching.
But still, it was reallypoignant to see her.
I mean, like, it's not likeshe had a light bulb moment, but
(49:48):
acting out of theunderstanding that she'd taken her
dad for granted in a way thatshe wouldn't do with her mother because
her mother has passed away.
And so obviously all that timeis precious now, but she's taking
her dad for granted in a waythat she should know isn't guaranteed.
Right, right.
That's.
I think that's what I was getting.
At is like, yeah, no, Ithought that was great.
(50:08):
You wouldn't think this is alesson that she has to learn, but.
Yeah.
Yet here we are.
Yeah, I thought that wasreally good.
I found her acting at the veryfirst, for, like, the first 30 seconds
in the hospital scene whenshe's starting to get overwhelmed
by her emotions.
I thought it to be overkill, alittle overdone.
And then the actress getsperfectly calibrated to what that
(50:31):
would be.
And I dropped my reservationsabout her being unable to nail the
scene.
And she does with MollyParker, I think is her name, the
other actress who plays Claire.
It's, you know, it's kind ofodd to realize exactly how much the
series isn't the psychology ofgetting a restaurant right, but doing
(50:54):
a good job of parenting andparents and their relationships with
kids.
And then the episode ends withOasis song Stay Young.
So Adam was in full tears atthis point.
Another strong musical season here.
I mean, we had an episode withjust talk, talk going full volume
that also had most of the timeplaying under a phone conversation.
(51:18):
Oh, Nat.
Nah.
Yeah.
You're scratching me where I itch.
Fantastic.
I think.
Did you guys.
I know one of the things thatpeople had a gripe with in seasons
past is that Claire is.
Was a bit of a one dimensional.
She was more about Carmi thanshe was about being an independent
character.
It seems like they're tryingto flesh her out a bit more this
(51:39):
time.
Mm.
Do you guys think that they'repulling that off?
Is she, like, contributing to the.
The ensemble a bit more?
Not fully, but I mean,obviously she's.
A bit at a bit of a remove.
Yeah.
That's the thing.
We have enough characters whoare getting fully fleshed out that
having her be a mirror forCarm is okay.
(52:01):
Kind of.
And I get the complaint.
Yeah.
I think that for this, I mean,yes, they are doing more and giving
her more to do, but I do thinkthat, like, at least for me as a
viewer, like, my relationshipwith that character is because of
Carm's relationship or kind oflike my caring is somewhat contingent
(52:23):
on that.
Yeah.
Which, you know, is.
Can be the.
What happens sometimes whenwe, you know, watch things with protagonists
we identify with, you know, through.
Yeah, that's how storytelling works.
Yeah, exactly.
Right.
I have always had a hard timegetting away from pulling for the
protagonist or seeing thingsonly from the protagonist point of
(52:48):
view.
Let's leave with this one.
And you guys may know morebecause you've watched one more episode,
but we have the mysteriousphone call from Shapiro that Carm
answers and it happens.
30 seconds of screen time andthat's all I know.
Which brings us to the end ofour episode.
For Adam and Donovan, I'mBlaine and we hope that Neil Fax
(53:10):
never tries to smell you.
Thanks for listening.
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