July 1, 2025 • 48 mins
This week on Taking It Down, Blaine begins with a welcome and an overview of the episode (0:02) before welcoming Adam and Donovan to discuss the big Bruce Springsteen music release which coincides with the trailer for his own biopic (1:03).
Beginning the non-spoiler section properly, Blaine gives a sense of 'Smoke' from Apple TV+ and if it may be worth the time (6:09) before mentioning this week's episode of 'Stick' (10:08). All of the hosts give broad ideas on this current season of 'The Bear,' which aired its fourth season this weekend continuing to do so with the Netflix model (11:49).
In the spoiler section, the crew discuss the questions and answers of the first three episodes of the fourth season of 'The Bear' (21:15).
For more, visit the website The Alabama Take at this link.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Now he's released tracks, too,which is almost like whole albums.
It is.
It is over five hours long.
It is 83 songs.
And are some of them wholealbums or could have been if he.
You've got whole albums in there.
A very few of it.
Like, there's a couple stuffthat you might like.
Trying to think.
The only thing that poppedinto my head, there's, like, a different.
(00:20):
Ish version of My Hometown onthere and everything else.
It could have been albums.
This is what's bonkers to me.
It's so cool that he put itout and we get to listen to it.
So much of this stuff, like, it's.
It's not bad, but, like, hedidn't feel like it was good enough
to go out as an album.
I've heard a few songs.
They're pretty good.
There's some good stuff on there.
(00:42):
It's just amazing viralmarketing for the new film.
Yeah.
And of course, he's.
He's.
He's already talking up hisnew album, too, which he's always
do, which is not bad.
I'm just.
Jeremy Allen White.
This is just the.
The podcast for him.
No, that does bring up aquestion I was going to ask you guys.
I didn't know if I was goingto do it on mic or just in text form,
(01:04):
but.
What did you think about thetrailer for the Springsteen movie
starring Jeremy Allen White,who we'll get to with the bear in
a little bit?
But you've seen it, right?
I said it looks like a movie biopic.
It does, but, I mean, that was.
My feeling watching this.
Like, I've seen this.
I've got.
I've got thoughts.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Adam, what do you think?
(01:26):
You know, I am kind of asucker for these, especially when
they.
Why are you laughing at me, Donovan?
I'm not allowed.
Well, I feel like we've walkeddown this road with Bob Dylan.
Okay, this is where I'm going.
This is exactly.
Okay, keep going.
Actually, moments in thetrailer reminded me a bit of Love
(01:46):
and Mercy where, like, PaulDano was kind of instructed.
I mean, I know he studied,like, the tapes, like the.
You know, the famous outtakesfrom, like, Wouldn't it be nice where
he's like, no, hit the drumlike this.
Yeah.
It's got to go on.
Like he's trying how to do it.
And then they actually actedthat out.
Yep.
And that was worth the priceof admission for me.
(02:08):
Yeah, I.
There's some very low bar for how.
What will make me enjoy amusic biopic.
So.
I love that movie.
Are we.
Are we biopic or biopics here?
I'm biopic.
Yeah, I think that's.
I think I've never actuallyreally heard it said by anyone who
seemed like they knew how itwas said.
Yeah, I thought the trailerwas fine.
(02:29):
It's going to be tough.
Anytime it's an actor that Ialready like playing in person that
I like, that's tough.
And I.
In a way, Dylan is like theperfect figure to just be like.
He's such an abstraction to me anyway.
You know, even like when Ihave seen him in person on a stage,
I'm like, that is like amythical figure walking more than
(02:50):
like a human.
And I think part of it is youpull the hat down low.
You know, he's always had abit of a mysterious flair to him,
whereas Springsteen, it's, youknow, what Bruce looks like, that
may be tougher to.
To forget.
I don't know.
We'll see.
That's it.
Yeah.
Is Jeremy Allen White.
He's not doing his ownsinging, right.
They're going to doSpringsteen's vocals.
(03:11):
That I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know that either.
I mean, they were doingSpringsteen's vocals for the trailer
as.
As like a.
It's not a voice over, but theoverarching sound of the trailer
was Springsteen.
So I'm assuming.
And it looked like JeremyAllen White was lip syncing.
And I think that paired withhow I just could not see him as Springsteen,
(03:37):
I couldn't squint and make it happen.
It's kind of weird.
I mean, there's an interestingstory there.
There's a great story and I'msure it'll be well acted and well
written and it's going to beworth the price of admission, I would
assume.
I'm almost going to have to gointo it as if this is just about
an artist.
I don't know.
Like this story.
(03:57):
This story is almost moredivorced from the guy.
The Springsteen story.
Yeah, yeah.
Which I'm sure was fine, butwith the Dylan movie biopic, you
know, it was the same thing,same premise.
We got a snapshot of a part ofhis life and I and.
And Timothy Ch Voiced andplayed guitar.
(04:19):
Of course, Jim Hill looks likehe's playing guitar, I'll give him
that.
He definitely plays guitar.
You know, I don't know.
I just feel like Timothyreally encapsulated Dylan and looked
like him and kind of sort ofsounded like him enough to.
Where I didn't have to squint.
I was just like Whoa, that'skind of young Dylan.
There's.
It is funny that Jeremy AllenWhite is.
Is playing him because he'salready kind of.
(04:41):
He's done a few Heartlandstyle things.
You know, like, the Bear islike a very Midwestern show.
Yeah.
He did the.
Remind me, the.
The wrestling movie title.
Is it the Iron Claw?
Yes.
Another very, like, heartlandkind of Texas, right?
Yeah.
Kind of like Middle America.
He's kind of set up to playBruce in a way.
(05:03):
Yeah.
That's the way I felt when Iheard that he was cast.
It's like, yeah, that makes sense.
Which is not bad.
I'm just like, yeah, no, it fits.
Right.
Like, he's got that kind ofaffect about him.
I was surprised he didn'treally try to put on a little bit
more Bruce isms, Like maybe dothe voice a little bit more or dyes
(05:24):
hair.
It'll be interesting to see.
Yeah.
What.
What decisions are really made.
It is kind of nice, you know,like, when you look back through
film history and you're like, why.
Why were there a bunch of thiskind of movie made at that time?
And, like, I don't mind thatwe're in a couple years where we're
getting like a SpringsteenAnna Dillon version of this.
(05:46):
I'm not angry about spendingtime in the theater.
No.
For that.
Not at all.
If you guys will indulge me,I'll touch on Smoke from Apple tv.
Plus, this past weekend it debuted.
Thought it had potential inthe trailer and the look of it alone,
but as it turns out, it'sanother from Dennis Lehane, who also
(06:06):
did the Apple seriesBlackbird, which I love.
That series still has one ofthe most resonant lines from TV I've
heard in a long time.
When Ray Liotta's character asa father says, who knew that the
love of your life would turnout to be your own kid?
And I just.
That's still.
I think about that one a lot.
(06:28):
Good writing from Lahain inthat show.
So that drew me to Smoke.
It's written by Lahain, butit's based off a podcast called Firebug.
It's a true crime kind of thing.
Setup.
Is that an arsonist investigator?
That's.
Taryn Edgerton's character isforced to work with Journey Smollett's
(06:48):
detective.
Do you remember her fromLovecraft Country?
What character was she?
Just the primary female protagonist.
Oh, her.
Yeah.
Yeah, she's really good.
Yeah, yeah, she's good.
So she plays the detective andshe's brought in to help Solve what
they think are two serialarsonists in the Pacific Northwest.
The opening theme kind ofshocked me.
(07:09):
It's Dialing in by Tom York.
Are y' all familiar with that song?
I don't think so.
By name.
Off one of the solo records.
Yeah, that's one of the solo ones.
It could be.
I don't know if it was writtenfor this show or not.
Not.
But I think it's beenperformed for a while.
Let's find out.
It was interesting.
You know, all shows these daysdo a cold open.
It's just.
(07:30):
It's just a given.
This one, I hit play and itwas just Tom York singing.
It kind of caught me off guard.
Release 2025.
It is new.
Pretty new.
But I do think he may haveperformed it a little bit.
Anyway.
Apple released two episodes.
Kind of the thing for weekly releases.
Now you either release two orthree of your first episodes.
(07:51):
And I've seen one.
And my assessment is it could.
It could get great.
It could get really good first episode.
There are threads that theshow keeps at arm's length from you,
or it's going to dole out in bits.
Perfectly fine.
Expected in a crime thrilleror a true crime.
As we get to know charactersas well.
(08:11):
It's kind of expected.
But there's just one tellingscene in the opening episode where
Journey Smollett's detective,Michelle Calderon, I think her name
is.
She takes a lot of.
From a firefighter she'squestioning where he's both racist
and sexist.
And it was like, okay, well,maybe this show, this series, won't
(08:32):
look away from how peoplereally are as they mold some true
crime into a fictional TV show.
And Taryn Edgerton, he's agood actor, by the way.
He.
He was not perfect in Blackbird.
Here, he's the arson investigator.
He used to be a firefighter.
He said arson investigator.
And he's.
He's forced to work with her.
This detective from the city.
(08:53):
He doesn't really want to, buthe's not being a dick about it at
all.
So he's kind of sort of in between.
I don't really need your help,but, you know, I will be nice to
you.
I am just kind of interestedin what.
He seems like a nice guy, sosurely there's a secret there.
Anyway, could be good.
It's pretty good.
I don't love everything being,like, dumped at once.
(09:14):
I do actually kind of like thelogic of you.
You put out the first two.
Yeah.
Or whatever.
Because it's really hard tojust review one.
And I Feel like all you canreally do is with the first episode
is kind of what you just did,where you're like, here's the potential.
Yeah, but, you know, you can't predict.
It's really.
It's really.
You really have to get almostlike halfway in to really feel confident.
(09:36):
It looks really good.
It's.
You know, they have to do alot of sets with fire.
Of course.
Of course.
And it looks really good.
There's kind of a comedicthing going on with Taryn Edge Edgerton's
character where he.
He kind of sort of wants to bea writer, and he's trying to phrase
things writerly, and he's not.
He's not a writer.
(09:57):
He's not good at not.
Not yet.
That's funny.
We'll stick with non spoilershere, since I'm the only one I think
to have seen stick its recentepisode, episode 6 is RV Shangri
La.
I think it may warrant a shortdiscussion next week if we catch
up with 6 and 7.
All I'll add is that thissixth episode, it sort of addressed
(10:19):
issues and ideas we were aboutlast week.
You know, if there's a realitywhere they heard our podcast and
then made this episode, you'dbe like, okay, finally.
Yeah.
I'm gonna be fascinated tohear what you guys think, because
everything we said last week,it was like, oh, there it is.
There it is.
(10:39):
Okay.
I mean, we've essentially nowpetitioned television 247 times and
they finally listen.
Oh, wait, we are on episode 247.
Whoa.
I was wondering where you gotthat number.
You like how I pulled that?
Yeah, Well, I number every.
It's the upper left of the screen.
(10:59):
Yes, it is.
Damn it, Donovan.
I kind of wanted to.
I'm coming in a little hot.
I just finished caught up withwhere we were supposed to be for
the bear.
And as I finished thatepisode, I thought, man, I could
use a stick chaser right now.
Yeah.
It's a funny thing to bediscussing these two shows because
(11:22):
they are not the same pace, tosay the least.
No, a stick is a show that'snot afraid to ask.
Do you like to golf?
I really liked Owen Wilson inthis recent episode, and we've talked
about him a ton.
But in this most recent one, Iwas like, no.
I even like it more now.
I can't wait for y' all towatch it.
(11:42):
Yeah, you've already broughtit up.
It's June.
One way to check to know thatit's late June is see if Carm's revising
the Menu again.
That's right.
Is this a June tradition?
It's.
Well, isn't it?
It's like every June they drop.
Well, the last two years, they drop.
Every episode of the Bear getsdumped on us like a bowl of cold
(12:02):
soup all at once at Hulu.
Shame on them.
This is a show that deservesan episode per week.
Or two episodes.
Maybe three because it's shorter.
I'll say two.
I agree.
But I don't love the Dump.
Yeah.
Which I mean, of course I'd watch.
Three in a row, but five weeks.
(12:23):
Yeah.
Two episodes per week.
That's reason.
That would be so much better.
So much better.
It just gives you time todigest, you know.
But, you know, we're in the minority.
Other than critics.
Yes, other than TV critics.
We are in the minority.
People want the dump.
People want.
Yeah, yeah.
They want the Netflix model.
(12:43):
I saw that episode of Somebody somewhere.
But don't you think so I feellike there has been a.
And we've discussed thismultiple times as slow.
I didn't even notice it was happening.
Now when I hear thatsomething's on Netflix and this show
is not on Netflix, but Iimmediately think, is the show good?
Yeah, like, I still pay forNetflix, but.
(13:06):
And I like stuff that comes onthere and I've enjoyed the original
content.
I think it's still a great service.
But yes, that stands on theother side.
You've got Apple tv, which Iam now have a complete Pavlovian
response to think that isgoing to be higher caliber television.
Yes.
And I wonder, a show like theBear getting released, dumped all
(13:30):
at once, like, it just makesme think of Netflix and in a way,
I don't value what I'm seeingas much.
Exactly, Exactly.
It just seems to be more andmore entrenched as time goes on,
is what I'm saying.
I walked into the living roomand my wife was watching the Waterfront
off of Netflix.
It's kind of the buzzed aboutthe show.
And I said, is this any good?
(13:50):
It's got the guy from MindHunter as the dad.
And I love Mind Hunter, the.
The older cop or FBI agent.
I like that.
I think his name is Holt Mcinally.
Holt Ma.
Yeah, He's a great actor.
Really good actor.
And I.
I walked through and I said,is this any good?
And she shrugged her shoulders.
She says, it's okay.
(14:10):
I said, isn't it kind of Ozarkbut on the water?
And she said, meh.
Kind of.
I said, isn't this everyNetflix show though?
Isn't.
Aren't they all just okay.
And she said, yeah, like shewatches almost every Netflix buzzed
about show.
And as I walked through theliving room or bedroom where she's
taking it in folding clothesor whatever, I'll.
(14:31):
I'll think, but is it.
It can't be that good, right?
This is not an originalthought to me, but I, you know, I
think we talked about it earlier.
There's a.
From last year, a good NewYork Times piece about meh tv.
Like, is it good?
Is it bad?
It's.
It's me.
Yeah.
And then of course, something I.
And I do really agreecoincident with this is, you know,
(14:54):
this is.
So many of this stuff is likemade to be like half paid attention
to.
Sadly, you know, it doesn't re.
It doesn't reward engagement.
In fact, if you're engagedwith it, you'll probably be annoyed
because it's like, why arethey explaining what they're doing
again?
And the funny thing is this iscoming off the heels of Donovan and
I dissecting Department Q.
(15:14):
And we loved it.
Occasionally they'll throw a fastball.
Adolescence is phenomenal.
And neither of the.
Another one Apartment Q couldhave benefited from.
Not the Dump plays like a showthat asks you to, like, actually
care about it when you, like,have different characters and have
to remember who they are inrelation to each other instead of
(15:37):
someone walking in.
Like, I remember him, the manwho pushed his wife down the stairs,
you know.
Yeah.
As you heard, my favorite.
As you probably already know,the defendant pushed his wife down
the stairs.
When Netflix first starteddoing this or when they first went
streaming, I remember askingso many people, why don't they do
a recap?
(15:58):
Why, like, I didn't, you know,it's been two days since I've watched
the show.
Why don't.
I can't remember.
I actually worked with.
I believe her dissertation ispublished now.
But when I was at UConn, oneof the communication grad students
was studying Bing in people'srelationships to which was.
It was a fun project to workon because there's not like a definition
(16:21):
of like a binge watch.
Yeah.
So you kind of have to come upwith all that yourself, but just
literally studying thedifferences in people between this.
A binge watch.
And then like, you sit downand watch one episode of something
and there's a difference, you know.
So she was finding researchand that was six years ago.
Delaying gratification is thebig thing.
(16:44):
It's just even.
Yeah.
Well, if you want.
I don't know what the research says.
That's Kind of my thought islike, maybe.
Maybe getting everything youwant all the time isn't actually
good for you, you know?
Do you guys have some nonspoiler thoughts on the bear before
we take a break for spoilers?
This show dares to ask thequestion, do you like to yell?
(17:07):
I thought you were gonna say,are you hungry?
Yeah.
See, it's funny that you bringthat up because there is a scene
where they're, like,discussing a dish, and Carm tastes
it and he says, it's perfect.
And I'm like, I need a littlesomething on the screen.
Just tell me what the hellthat is.
Oh, it was a scallop.
Shame on me.
I wasn't paying attention.
(17:28):
The only reason I know that'sthe title of the episode.
Okay.
I was like, I don't know whatI'm looking at here.
I think the biggest nonspoiler question has to be, do we
need this show again?
That's a good question.
But I think we do this timebecause it left us hanging with so
many questions last time.
I think the question might be,is it better than last season?
(17:49):
Because last season, peoplehad problems with it, including Adam.
I think Donovan and I liked ita little better than Adam, and I
think so.
Yeah.
Donovan and I thought therewere a few standout episodes at Adam.
The.
Especially the.
The mom episode where she wasin the delivery room with Sugar from
season three.
Adam didn't like that one.
Very good one.
(18:09):
Yeah.
Donovan and I thought it was fantastic.
But, Adam, you tell me, isthis season so far gonna be better?
Maybe.
I think shows that burn reallybright also can burn out really fast.
Yes.
I don't.
And things that put such a.
There's such an immediacy toall of their goals and to all of
(18:32):
the things driving the plot.
You know, it's always like,attempting not to drown.
Not just like, how can I makemy life better.
It's like, this is, like, makeor break kind of stuff.
And I think that's exhaustingas a viewer, Maybe this show, in
a way, kind of came in thewake of the pandemic and was like,
(18:52):
it really does.
I don't know how to describethat time.
It's not like it was likewe're watching it in 2020, but it's.
It still occupies this spacewhere life wasn't totally normal
again and shows held thisgreat importance and, like, it still
insists upon itself in that way.
And I was curious going intothis season, am I going to.
I mean, I honestly sat downand pulled the first episode up,
(19:14):
and we looked at it and wesaid, I don't know if I have the
stomach to be that stressedright now.
And we ended up watchingsomething else.
Obviously we got around to it,but there's like a bit of a I'm going
to like this.
I think I've loved the otherseasons, even though I had problems
with the last one.
Apparently you guys arereminding me.
(19:35):
But.
It'S, there's still the momentof like, do I want to do this again?
It's like setting out the doorfor a run.
You don't always want to do it.
You know what I mean?
Oh boy, do I could set up forour spoiler section to come.
What we'll do is we'll take a30 second break, might remind you
something on the website andwe'll talk spoilers only about the
(19:57):
Bear this week.
The first three episodes Ithink we all know now, no social
media algorithm displayseverything you follow.
And isn't that the reason youfollowed your friends or companies
or whatever in the first place?
To see what they're posting?
To see what they're doing?
In the decline of reasonablediscussion, you know it's time to
stop the spirit scrolling, orat least rely on it a lot less.
(20:20):
That's where the Alabama Takesnewsletter can help.
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(20:43):
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(21:05):
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Thanks.
Yeah, we got the bearreturning for fourth season where
(21:27):
its previous season felt likeit may be setting up a final season,
or at least want to resolvesome issues.
First episode we'll probablygo mostly in order, mostly I think,
but we're only talking aboutthe first three episodes of season
four.
That first episode reallyrevolved around the review, which
(21:49):
was not great, but it was not bad.
It certainly wasn't what Carmand a lot of the others wanted.
Everyone's angry, hurt,afraid, or just trying to help those
who are more so than they are.
Adam and Don, when I have aquestion for you.
Have you ever had a bad review?
Especially if it's somethingthat you've put your heart into?
(22:11):
If I could remember the nameof the reviewer in Arrested Development
that gives Tobias's bad review.
I didn't get into this job toplease software whatever her name
is.
Stacy.
That would be my answer.
Yeah.
Adam, this might be more of aquestion for you.
You are a artist, musician,artist in other ways too.
But, yeah, I mean, you have to.
(22:33):
I think sometimes when peoplecomplain about bad things being said
about them, you kind of haveto remind them, well, at least you
were worth complaining about.
You know what I mean?
So I have not been a part ofmany things that were poorly reviewed.
Good.
But I mean, it definitely.
It feels.
Or somebody.
Like.
I remember one person talkingabout a delaray song and saying,
(22:57):
oh, it's just too repetitive.
And it's like, well, that wasthe point.
Like, you just didn't get the.
So there.
There have been times where.
But never, never with thestakes that are presented here, of
course.
What.
I guess outside of the realmof art, I've experienced poor reviews.
Like, sometimes when I comehome from work, I can tell my cats
are very disappointed in me.
I thought you were going tosay your job performance is just
(23:19):
horrible.
They tell you every.
Every quarter.
Look, you've got to pick it upor fire.
Like my.
My approach to my job is thesame as my approach to school.
Cs get degrees.
The episode one also remindsus of so much grief at hovers over
the proceedings.
(23:40):
Sidney asks Harm if he likesdysfunction, and that's all he's
seen growing up.
He says no.
He says no.
But I think that a lot of us,while we know we obviously don't
like stress and we don't likechaos, it's deeply ingrained in us.
And change is scarier than the chaos.
(24:02):
That's what I thought was thebest element of this first episode
is.
And.
And at first I was like, okay,there's a little too much yelling
here.
I'm getting.
I feel like I see what you're doing.
But then I realized that,like, the.
Yeah, the chaos and theconfusion, it's a reminder that so
many of us are in situationswhere we're like, I.
I hate feeling like this.
Why am I doing this?
(24:22):
But to take that step back andBe like, the stuff that I assumed
is normal that are just myingrained responses to things that
might be the issue.
And I thought there was agood, like, start at, like.
Like, Carm.
Like what.
Like, what are you.
What are your ingrainedresponses to maybe looking at that?
Because Sid is right.
She is right.
He is creating situations thatare chaotic because that's what he
(24:45):
grew up in.
That's what his work has been.
You know, he doesn't know howto approach.
Probably doesn't know how toapproach work without feeling stressed
out about it.
Yeah.
And he hasn't been back to AlAnon since, what, Season one.
He hasn't done anything to tryto change or fix or better him.
His own internal issues.
(25:05):
So he is reliving the same as we.
Mr.
Bill Murray shows up there.
He is reliving the same dayover and over again.
Right.
He's running or running theRed Queen's race.
I think they're using how longwe've been watching these characters
to make an interesting pointthat it just kind of dawned to me
while y' all talked.
It seems like certaincharacters who are more grounded
(25:26):
and maybe have.
Whether it's upbringing or thework that they've done previous to
us meeting them as time goes on.
Somebody like Sidney.
I don't know what's in storefor her for the rest of the season,
but the first few episodes,she seems just kind of above the
noise that's happening.
And obviously she's wrestlingwith her own decisions about committing
(25:47):
to the restaurant, all of this stuff.
The characters that continueto get sucked into the chaos are
kind of.
They seem more and more.
It seems childish as time goeson versus people who are trying to
move forward.
Does that make sense?
I think there's at least a suggestion.
I think I agree with you, Adam.
I do think that there's atleast a suggestion that part of Sid's
(26:10):
attitude comes from.
She has actually a goodrelationship with her father.
Like, obviously, like, hermother died.
But, like, that's a place of,like, safety and stability.
Yeah.
Whereas, like, some of themore chaotic people either just don't.
They don't have that in theirfamily background.
Right.
It is hard to get over.
It is childish in the sensethat, like, you gotta put away childish
(26:33):
things.
Right.
But the.
The way that, you know, I'msure that we've all experienced this
with different friend groupsover time.
High school, college,whatever, where you are together
at a time and you're allbringing your own shit to the table.
But then as time goes on,small Differences just grow wider
and wider.
Right.
And I think that's what'sinteresting here is like who, who
(26:56):
has grown more away from themean in season one.
Yeah.
I actually think this iscomplete side.
But the one of the characters,maybe it's just because I like him
but I think I've really likedRichie's growing away because he
has really like tried to stepup and take responsibility in a big
(27:19):
way and kind of become someoneelse without losing who he originally
was.
So he's almost, you know, Iknow he's kind of, he's kind of on
the edge here, but he'sactually like.
I, I like the way he's beingplayed, I guess is what I mean by
that.
When he even says I know a lotof you.
Everybody knows I've beendoing some work on myself or whatever
he said.
Yeah, exactly.
Seems like mildly embarrassedand they're like, yeah, we get it.
(27:42):
Yeah.
And it was, it was fun.
He's good at doing that too.
Something everybody.
I'm admitting somethingeverybody knows and I'm embarrassed
about it.
Like he's so good at the actor.
What's his name?
Bacharach.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sidney seems to be devolvingfrom where she started though in
season one by being aroundCarm in this environment at the Bear.
(28:06):
There's parts of her and shehas to be because she keeps questioning,
should I sign the contract?
Should I pick up the call fromShapiro about his restaurant?
Am I stressed enough to leave.
These people gotta startanswering the phone.
And dads of the world stopleaving voicemails that say call
(28:29):
me.
Just text that for real.
One of the best ways to set upsome conflict for viewers is to.
Is to put your characters on a clock.
And I'll be damned.
The first episode doesn't justliterally bring in a clock that was.
This was almost like the bearpaint by numbers I was complaining
(28:52):
about in the spoiler free section.
This is.
I mean you want strange strongframework for however many episodes.
There you go.
I think that Adam had a goodpoint with what you were talking
about in the non spoiler.
Whereas all of the react.
Sorry, all of the action inthe Bear pretty much is mostly reaction.
(29:14):
You know, it's all.
Some people kind of.
There's.
There's some individual thingsthat is not reaction.
But like the main plot isusually driven by.
It's a reaction.
Yeah.
To what?
Whatever has just beenintroduced as the latest wrinkle.
Yeah.
Like Richie bringing in thethree people from the other restaurant
that had closed.
They're going to get them inbetter shape.
(29:35):
The score is kind ofreminiscent of 80s action movies,
which implies.
I say, you like the training.
The training montage.
There's going to be a fight.
Yeah.
But then again, the bear doessome wonderfully poignant things
like little screen time here.
But Carm still text Mikey.
Yeah.
And that hit.
That was a gut punch.
(29:56):
That.
That was actuallydevastatingly sad.
God, it was.
I've never.
Maybe I'm just an idiot.
I've never seen someoneexpress that.
Like, you know, we've seenmovies and stuff where like I'm writing
a letter to someone who's.
Who's passed or what.
But like something about likethe immediacy of the text message
that will never ever be answered.
Yeah.
That just says not received.
(30:16):
Like that's just heartbreaking.
That was a good shot.
He smiles after he sends it too.
Yeah.
Right.
Which is an interestingsignifier for where he is in his
journey with grief.
It seems like he's figuring alot out about himself as the episodes
go on.
I thought that was topiggyback on what you said, Don.
(30:37):
I thought that was a reallygood touch there.
Little realization that no oneever leaves you.
Yeah.
It does seem, and this ispulling out on all three, that Carm
this season so far is at leasta little bit more.
He's also doing some work onhimself, which seems good.
He's trying to work some selfawareness, but also the understanding
(31:02):
of what they all have together.
He's trying to impart what therestaurant means or could mean to
other people, which is kind ofwhat you were saying, Blaine.
You're never really alone.
He.
Later he'll tell Marcus,you're never alone in a restaurant.
Speaking of people who have ittogether, I think Marcus is the most
stable with his.
I.
(31:22):
I agree.
But he's having.
He's having some kind oftrouble dessert with his prep area.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, he.
I don't know if that's like areal problem or it's just like he.
Just needs some help.
They can't quite get it underin the time frame they're.
They've Now.
Yeah.
So I.
I don't know if that's going to.
Because other than that, Iagree he's probably the most.
Cindy's pretty stable, but.
(31:42):
Yeah.
But I do think she's devolving.
I think she's starting to losea little of her stability.
Well, she's so close to Carmen's.
Yeah, she is in a lot of ways.
Not just emotionally, but likehe is the driver of the chaos by
his continued decision toconstantly change the menu.
Not even metaphorically.
(32:03):
Like, she's literally dealingwith that kind of chaos as.
As a chef.
Because he's constantlychanging the menu.
Yep.
Side by side with him.
I just have so many questionsabout that constantly changing menu
and, like, how this restaurantis operating to begin with.
It sounds really difficult,like, even to, like, work with suppliers,
right?
Yeah, it'd be impossible.
(32:24):
Yeah.
I'm not a restaurateur, so I don't.
It's just the.
But there's a thing thathappens in episode three where it
made me say out loud, how manypeople work at this restaurant?
So there's that and there'sthe constantly changing menu.
And if someone came.
If the financier came in andput a clock down and said, you're
(32:45):
closing.
If you don't figure this stuffout in time, why does everyone not
just look at Carm and go,okay, funds over.
We have five things on themenu that we do exceedingly well.
Let's just do them every dayfor a week.
I mean, everybody knows rightnow the only thing that's doing well.
So sandwiches.
(33:08):
Any thoughts before we moveinto episode two a little more deeply?
Any thoughts on opening with.
With Mikey and Carm?
As Carm makes the sauce there at.
Home, I wondered when itopened, like how this is like a maybe
a callous thing to say, howmuch they can keep going back to
(33:29):
that.
I wondered that too.
No, I kind of have the same reaction.
Yeah.
And I was trying to figureout, what is it you're trying to
present to me with thisinteraction that I don't already
know.
Say you were cast as, like thedead older brother.
You know, you would think,like, I'm probably in a few flashback
scenes.
He's very much a part of this show.
You know, when you reallythink about how much screen time
(33:52):
has happened in the beforetimes air quotes around that.
But even though I questionedit, it's still a clever way to.
You know, you're living aninterior life with all of them and
especially Carmen Richie.
These are like sharedfoundational experiences that you're
(34:12):
kind of zooming in and out ofand you get a little more context
every time.
I don't love that they doleout information that's important
a little.
You know what I mean?
Like, why would we not justtell us that?
Just tell us that they hadalready had this idea and he wanted
to name it this.
And yeah, this is what let it.
You know, it gives even morecontext to that season one let it
(34:34):
rip thing.
I'm very Curious why theyhaven't shown us Mikey in his addiction.
I don't think they've evershown us really that you don't get
the truth.
Right.
Are we supposed to.
Like, you're always in someone.
(34:55):
Yeah.
But he never seems like he'snearing a bottom.
Yeah.
Or a death.
I always kind of assume withthat is really the two places we
see him are at home and at work.
And at work he can be oneperson and at home he can be another.
And to me it's.
Knowing what we know from the beginning.
(35:16):
It's really clear that this is.
There's an abyss that he'scovering up.
Right.
It might be more effective.
Yeah.
These are both Persona.
I think what.
What Adam said about, like,this is important information.
Why don't you just tell us?
It comes off to me as like,oh, it's because you didn't know
it before last season.
You know what I mean?
(35:36):
Almost like this is not thesame thing.
But like in the Sopranos whenSteve Buscemi shows up and it's like,
hey, this cousin we neverheard about.
It turns out to be Steve Buscemi.
It's like, that's because youdidn't know it in the first season.
And that's fine.
But I think you can kind of, Idon't know.
Hit Diminishing Returns.
Ye.
Of course.
I love.
You can only go back to that.
Well.
Scene.
Right.
That's what I'm saying.
I love when things arerevealed in the natural course of.
(36:01):
Maybe a character does somedigging on how they're feeling about
something and it occurs tothem that they're influenced by this
experience they had.
That's great.
You don't have to tell me everything.
But when you continually go back.
Diminishing Returns is theperfect way to put it.
Donovan.
It does somewhat compareunfavorably to what I thought was
a good use of Mikey lastseason in Tina's episode.
(36:24):
That really focuses.
Fantastic.
That's one of the best episodes.
Yeah.
And part of that is becausewe're not seeing Carm.
We're seeing him throughsomeone else's understanding.
That's right.
And I.
And I think that was that.
That worked very well.
This one.
It didn't teach us anything wedidn't already know.
From the Feast of the Seven Fishes.
Right.
From their interaction there.
(36:46):
Episode two is.
What's this word?
Soupies.
Soup Subisi.
What it says.
Starts with some pretty vague scenes.
Get you a little interested maybe.
And that's fine.
I suppose there were timeswhere I wondered why, if it shouldn't
just show us what it's talking about.
But the most important elementof early in episode two is this one
(37:10):
illusion that Carm might begiving up some control without any
reservations to Sydney becausehe's falling out of love with cooking
and being a chef.
You know, his phoneconversation with Sugar taps into
something that.
I'm curious if others feelthat happiness can be really scary
if you're not used to it.
For me, it's because I keepwaiting for the other shoe to drop.
(37:32):
I'm like, I'm really happyright now.
When's that gonna end?
And I think that's part of Carm.
He's a bit zombied out.
Even, I would say in episodetwo especially, he can't even follow
Sidney, that they are nolonger getting the same amount of
groceries to cook.
Remember that scene where he's like.
I was like, is he really thatbad at math?
I think he's just.
I honestly think he's zombied out.
(37:53):
I think he's just like.
The man needs a nap.
Yeah, for sure.
It was also funny that, like,Sidney has worked with him long enough
to, like, size up thesituation and be like, you have 10
apples.
You know what I mean?
Like, to explain to this childhow budgeting works.
(38:16):
It's also the episode wherecousin Richie comes to talk to Carm
at the end of the night, andit has turned into mourning.
It's so well filmed becauseit's cast in that blue hue, you know,
that gives us viewers withouta lot of fireworks at Carms in that
liminal space of maybe beingdone with the business without really
knowing he's done.
(38:37):
And it's also depressive inthat blue hue.
But Richie says, tomorrow istoday, and I think that's pretty
in line.
They love that thin linewindow between the kitchen.
God, they love it.
Yeah.
It's cool, though.
It is cool.
It's a great effect.
It's fun to have a characterlike Richie coming in, too, in a
moment like that and justbeing like, is this performative?
(39:00):
What a line.
Yeah.
You know, like.
And it is good, right?
Because there's the.
I don't think I can adequatelyexplain this, but, like, you were
living.
They love that liminal space,like, you pointed out.
And you could just have, like,a recreation of, like, the Nighthawks
painting or something.
But to have someone come inand say, like, what are you doing
(39:20):
here?
And then I think it works withRichie, too, who's.
Who's kind of on the edge insome ways.
He really needs this to workbecause this is what he's built his
personality around.
Lately.
Richie feels his feelings the most.
Maybe he loves Taylor Swiftbecause he.
Really break from her right now.
He relished moving intoepisode three, Scallop.
(39:42):
He relished being able toprovide that moment for the family
from la.
Yeah.
And it was sweet.
Yeah, it's a sweet momentbecause he feels his feelings, you
know, as we maybe.
Maybe more than others.
And he just enjoyed that.
You could tell.
I don't know, maybe I'mreading too much, but you can almost
see, like, I hope somebodydoes this for my daughter.
(40:03):
Yeah, it's a good payoff too,for what they talk about to start
episode one where Carm islike, well, all of our best memories
happen in restaurants.
You know, it's a safe place to go.
And I have to admit, I lovegood food.
I get it.
But there are moments whereI'm like, guys, yes, we're gonna
(40:27):
shit this out.
You know what I mean?
I would imagine stronglydisagree with that, I'm sure.
But so there.
All the stress, it's like thisis artificial in a way, you know,
like you could.
The world is not going to fallapart if this restaurant closes.
Right.
But then to have all of thatcynicism and kind of detachment from
(40:50):
some of the emotions drivingthe story just kind of punched me
in the gut.
On episode three where all ofthat came together for that family,
of course, wink, wink.
The guy watching this allhappen, the other customer.
But it's still.
When they all came out to lookat the.
The snow was really sweet.
It was me.
You know, they're really.
(41:10):
They're not making anythingthat's lasting.
Right.
Their.
Their product or their.
Whatever.
Their art is really ephemeral.
You're gonna eat it.
It's gonna go away.
So what they're, you know, and it.
I mean, it's.
It's overly silly, but I thinkthey underline that, like, you're.
You're dealing in like.
Like moments.
And that's something that youcan't like, point.
(41:32):
It's so abstract and say.
Exactly.
Like you can't like quantifyit, but that.
That you're.
You're.
What you're dealing with islike your ability to like, understand,
interact with and delightanother human being.
I think the sommelier that'skind of given the crash course on
(41:53):
wine to sweeps.
Yeah.
Said it so well when she said,you know, this is a.
Does she say it's a snapshot.
Yeah.
Of how much it rained, whatthe summer was like, what the.
The soil with all Thesethings, you're like, okay, that.
That is worth valuing, you know?
And I.
It's funny for me to be sayingall this as someone who, like, grows
(42:15):
food, you know, but.
Well, you feel it a little,don't you?
Maybe.
Maybe on a very smaller scale.
It's.
It's like a class thing withfood like this.
Right.
And that.
Like, yeah, like, who is thisreally for?
You know, and it.
And it is for special occasions.
You don't eat there threetimes a week.
Are you kidding me?
(42:36):
I go to that beef window threetimes a week now.
That's.
That's what's so funny.
And I think maybe what groundsthe vision is that they are shown
to still understand the valueof, like, a working class lunch.
And, like, this.
This thing making people feelgood, keeping things afloat.
Right.
And it's.
It's keeping it afloat.
It's not denigrated in any way.
(42:56):
And in fact, it's celebrated.
So I bet a lot ofrestaurateurs, Michelin star people,
or even people who openrestaurants just in general in your
local community do probablythink that the memories made there
are that important.
I'm with Adam.
I think Adam was about to say,my memories, my favorite memories
did not happen in a restaurant.
(43:17):
I don't think any of them did.
To me, the ones that did.
I think of a place like thisis very Tuscaloosa centric, but I
go into like, oh, hooligans.
You know what I mean?
And like, how many times Isaid in there with, like, it becomes
important, but it.
There was no single event, you know?
Yeah.
And then, so, yeah, maybe forsome people.
Yeah, I.
I get what they're saying, butI have to.
(43:39):
Yeah.
When they said that line, Iwas like, no, not for me.
Yeah.
But hey, for some, don't comefor us foodies.
Yeah, please don't.
I have so many friends thatwould, like, just nod along to that
scene.
Like, yeah, yeah, I totallyget that.
And then I realize.
And that's great.
Yeah, no, that's great.
But no, here's the thing.
Do I believe it?
No.
Do I believe that thesecharacters believe it?
(44:00):
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
But it still has, to Donovan'spoint, about how abstract it is,
that that has to be pingingaround the back of their heads.
Right.
Like, no matter how great thescallop dish is, they're not gonna
hang it on the wall at a museum.
You know what I mean?
Exactly.
It's going to go away.
It's meant to be.
It's literally meant to Be consumed.
(44:22):
What are your thoughts about this?
Same episode, Oliver Platt'suncle talking to the door to his
son and telling him how badhis character's fucked up as a dad
and that the kid deserves better.
While Donna Bersado, realestate agent.
Donna Brisado, I should say,shows off their home.
It's kind of.
She's like downstairs in thekitchen while.
(44:42):
He'S doing this, which Ididn't piece together for a minute.
You know, saw thisrepresentative of a new start.
But then I hit me.
Oh, wait.
He's having to sell his homebecause he's still trying to keep
the restaurant afloat.
Yeah.
Also, I don't know that I knewDonna Brigado was a real estate agent.
(45:02):
This was a reveal, right?
I think it was.
It was a big one.
Yeah.
We just thought she was crazy.
We didn't know she couldharness that.
Well, we don't know that shehas yet.
That's true.
This is not a spoiler at all,but it's kind of funny.
There's another real estatemoment with another character in
episode five, I think, butanother real estate.
(45:25):
For some reason.
Who knew?
I do think that they are.
There's a payoff happeningwith all these characters working
on themselves and it actuallyaffecting the business, the work
they do.
Yeah.
And the fact that it, youknow, if you are Carm and you start
pulling on a string and itleads you to realize that this thing
(45:48):
you've devoted yourself to,maybe you've moved beyond in a way.
What does that look like?
Does that mean you.
And I'm sure the season willanswer that.
So it's funny to try toforecast what's going to happen,
but maybe he doesn't get thereif he doesn't.
If he's not thinking about whohe is and what matters to him.
And I think all the charactershave some version of that that's
(46:10):
setting up a much.
That's like real change.
Right.
Instead of just like, I wantto do the like, reactionary change
like Donovan was talking about earlier.
Wondering if they're steeringinto that too, just with like, him
going to talk with Claire.
And I do think they did a goodjob of like, often the reason I hurt
you is that I feel bad, butthat's never the justification.
(46:32):
So like, he can come and say,like, I, I didn't feel good and so
I did this to you.
That doesn't justify it.
And so just kind of her kindof letting him say his.
His piece, but then not likeabsolving him necessarily was.
I think I feel like, thethread there was like, if I feel
bad, I do things that withoutmeaning to harm others.
(46:57):
If I'm in this chaos anddysfunction, which is.
He was literally in the middleof it when he's locked in the.
And that's a real thing.
And that's where all that.
That's where all that came from.
That's a real thing.
I think the.
Yeah.
One of the questions thisseason should answer, and hopefully
Will, is Carm relinquishingsome control because he's given up
(47:18):
or because he's improvinghimself or both.
And that might even trickledown to answer some other questions.
Will Sidney sign the agreement?
Does.
Will they get a Michelin starand, you know, those kinds of things?
And.
Yep.
You know, and he is alreadythinking these.
It's been revealed, like, he'swondering, like, is my heart really
(47:40):
still in this?
But he's also saying, you'renever alone at a restaurant.
Like, I think he loves thepeople around him, however he chooses
to express that.
But then the look that hegives Sidney when she does the dish
that Tina's been working on toget down under a certain amount of
time, and he says, well, Icouldn't even do that under three
minutes.
And she does it in two and a half.
(48:01):
Yeah, there's some.
Like, maybe I could best servethis by not having to do everything,
you know?
Yeah.
By not being the be all, endall box kind of.
Yeah.
And that may be where it's going.
We'll see probably a lot morefrom the bear next week.
Could very well happen from us.
As for us, I think we've saidour peace, and this is the end of
(48:24):
our episode.
For Adam and Donovan, I'mBlaine, and we hope you don't burn
yourself on the grill this week.
Take care, folks.
Now he's released tracks, too,which is almost like whole albums.
It is.
It is over five hours long.
It is 83 songs.
And are some of them wholealbums or could have been if he.
You've got whole albums in there.
A very few of it.
Like, there's a couple stuffthat you might like.
Trying to think.
The only thing that poppedinto my head, there's, like, a different.
(00:20):
Ish version of My Hometown onthere and everything else.
It could have been albums.
This is what's bonkers to me.
It's so cool that he put itout and we get to listen to it.
So much of this stuff, like, it's.
It's not bad, but, like, hedidn't feel like it was good enough
to go out as an album.
I've heard a few songs.
They're pretty good.
There's some good stuff on there.
(00:42):
It's just amazing viralmarketing for the new film.
Yeah.
And of course, he's.
He's.
He's already talking up hisnew album, too, which he's always
do, which is not bad.
I'm just.
Jeremy Allen White.
This is just the.
The podcast for him.
No, that does bring up aquestion I was going to ask you guys.
I didn't know if I was goingto do it on mic or just in text form,
(01:04):
but.
What did you think about thetrailer for the Springsteen movie
starring Jeremy Allen White,who we'll get to with the bear in
a little bit?
But you've seen it, right?
I said it looks like a movie biopic.
It does, but, I mean, that was.
My feeling watching this.
Like, I've seen this.
I've got.
I've got thoughts.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Adam, what do you think?
(01:26):
You know, I am kind of asucker for these, especially when
they.
Why are you laughing at me, Donovan?
I'm not allowed.
Well, I feel like we've walkeddown this road with Bob Dylan.
Okay, this is where I'm going.
This is exactly.
Okay, keep going.
Actually, moments in thetrailer reminded me a bit of Love
(01:46):
and Mercy where, like, PaulDano was kind of instructed.
I mean, I know he studied,like, the tapes, like the.
You know, the famous outtakesfrom, like, Wouldn't it be nice where
he's like, no, hit the drumlike this.
Yeah.
It's got to go on.
Like he's trying how to do it.
And then they actually actedthat out.
Yep.
And that was worth the priceof admission for me.
(02:08):
Yeah, I.
There's some very low bar for how.
What will make me enjoy amusic biopic.
So.
I love that movie.
Are we.
Are we biopic or biopics here?
I'm biopic.
Yeah, I think that's.
I think I've never actuallyreally heard it said by anyone who
seemed like they knew how itwas said.
Yeah, I thought the trailerwas fine.
(02:29):
It's going to be tough.
Anytime it's an actor that Ialready like playing in person that
I like, that's tough.
And I.
In a way, Dylan is like theperfect figure to just be like.
He's such an abstraction to me anyway.
You know, even like when Ihave seen him in person on a stage,
I'm like, that is like amythical figure walking more than
(02:50):
like a human.
And I think part of it is youpull the hat down low.
You know, he's always had abit of a mysterious flair to him,
whereas Springsteen, it's, youknow, what Bruce looks like, that
may be tougher to.
To forget.
I don't know.
We'll see.
That's it.
Yeah.
Is Jeremy Allen White.
He's not doing his ownsinging, right.
They're going to doSpringsteen's vocals.
(03:11):
That I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know that either.
I mean, they were doingSpringsteen's vocals for the trailer
as.
As like a.
It's not a voice over, but theoverarching sound of the trailer
was Springsteen.
So I'm assuming.
And it looked like JeremyAllen White was lip syncing.
And I think that paired withhow I just could not see him as Springsteen,
(03:37):
I couldn't squint and make it happen.
It's kind of weird.
I mean, there's an interestingstory there.
There's a great story and I'msure it'll be well acted and well
written and it's going to beworth the price of admission, I would
assume.
I'm almost going to have to gointo it as if this is just about
an artist.
I don't know.
Like this story.
(03:57):
This story is almost moredivorced from the guy.
The Springsteen story.
Yeah, yeah.
Which I'm sure was fine, butwith the Dylan movie biopic, you
know, it was the same thing,same premise.
We got a snapshot of a part ofhis life and I and.
And Timothy Ch Voiced andplayed guitar.
(04:19):
Of course, Jim Hill looks likehe's playing guitar, I'll give him
that.
He definitely plays guitar.
You know, I don't know.
I just feel like Timothyreally encapsulated Dylan and looked
like him and kind of sort ofsounded like him enough to.
Where I didn't have to squint.
I was just like Whoa, that'skind of young Dylan.
There's.
It is funny that Jeremy AllenWhite is.
Is playing him because he'salready kind of.
(04:41):
He's done a few Heartlandstyle things.
You know, like, the Bear islike a very Midwestern show.
Yeah.
He did the.
Remind me, the.
The wrestling movie title.
Is it the Iron Claw?
Yes.
Another very, like, heartlandkind of Texas, right?
Yeah.
Kind of like Middle America.
He's kind of set up to playBruce in a way.
(05:03):
Yeah.
That's the way I felt when Iheard that he was cast.
It's like, yeah, that makes sense.
Which is not bad.
I'm just like, yeah, no, it fits.
Right.
Like, he's got that kind ofaffect about him.
I was surprised he didn'treally try to put on a little bit
more Bruce isms, Like maybe dothe voice a little bit more or dyes
(05:24):
hair.
It'll be interesting to see.
Yeah.
What.
What decisions are really made.
It is kind of nice, you know,like, when you look back through
film history and you're like, why.
Why were there a bunch of thiskind of movie made at that time?
And, like, I don't mind thatwe're in a couple years where we're
getting like a SpringsteenAnna Dillon version of this.
(05:46):
I'm not angry about spendingtime in the theater.
No.
For that.
Not at all.
If you guys will indulge me,I'll touch on Smoke from Apple tv.
Plus, this past weekend it debuted.
Thought it had potential inthe trailer and the look of it alone,
but as it turns out, it'sanother from Dennis Lehane, who also
(06:06):
did the Apple seriesBlackbird, which I love.
That series still has one ofthe most resonant lines from TV I've
heard in a long time.
When Ray Liotta's character asa father says, who knew that the
love of your life would turnout to be your own kid?
And I just.
That's still.
I think about that one a lot.
(06:28):
Good writing from Lahain inthat show.
So that drew me to Smoke.
It's written by Lahain, butit's based off a podcast called Firebug.
It's a true crime kind of thing.
Setup.
Is that an arsonist investigator?
That's.
Taryn Edgerton's character isforced to work with Journey Smollett's
(06:48):
detective.
Do you remember her fromLovecraft Country?
What character was she?
Just the primary female protagonist.
Oh, her.
Yeah.
Yeah, she's really good.
Yeah, yeah, she's good.
So she plays the detective andshe's brought in to help Solve what
they think are two serialarsonists in the Pacific Northwest.
The opening theme kind ofshocked me.
(07:09):
It's Dialing in by Tom York.
Are y' all familiar with that song?
I don't think so.
By name.
Off one of the solo records.
Yeah, that's one of the solo ones.
It could be.
I don't know if it was writtenfor this show or not.
Not.
But I think it's beenperformed for a while.
Let's find out.
It was interesting.
You know, all shows these daysdo a cold open.
It's just.
(07:30):
It's just a given.
This one, I hit play and itwas just Tom York singing.
It kind of caught me off guard.
Release 2025.
It is new.
Pretty new.
But I do think he may haveperformed it a little bit.
Anyway.
Apple released two episodes.
Kind of the thing for weekly releases.
Now you either release two orthree of your first episodes.
(07:51):
And I've seen one.
And my assessment is it could.
It could get great.
It could get really good first episode.
There are threads that theshow keeps at arm's length from you,
or it's going to dole out in bits.
Perfectly fine.
Expected in a crime thrilleror a true crime.
As we get to know charactersas well.
(08:11):
It's kind of expected.
But there's just one tellingscene in the opening episode where
Journey Smollett's detective,Michelle Calderon, I think her name
is.
She takes a lot of.
From a firefighter she'squestioning where he's both racist
and sexist.
And it was like, okay, well,maybe this show, this series, won't
(08:32):
look away from how peoplereally are as they mold some true
crime into a fictional TV show.
And Taryn Edgerton, he's agood actor, by the way.
He.
He was not perfect in Blackbird.
Here, he's the arson investigator.
He used to be a firefighter.
He said arson investigator.
And he's.
He's forced to work with her.
This detective from the city.
(08:53):
He doesn't really want to, buthe's not being a dick about it at
all.
So he's kind of sort of in between.
I don't really need your help,but, you know, I will be nice to
you.
I am just kind of interestedin what.
He seems like a nice guy, sosurely there's a secret there.
Anyway, could be good.
It's pretty good.
I don't love everything being,like, dumped at once.
(09:14):
I do actually kind of like thelogic of you.
You put out the first two.
Yeah.
Or whatever.
Because it's really hard tojust review one.
And I Feel like all you canreally do is with the first episode
is kind of what you just did,where you're like, here's the potential.
Yeah, but, you know, you can't predict.
It's really.
It's really.
You really have to get almostlike halfway in to really feel confident.
(09:36):
It looks really good.
It's.
You know, they have to do alot of sets with fire.
Of course.
Of course.
And it looks really good.
There's kind of a comedicthing going on with Taryn Edge Edgerton's
character where he.
He kind of sort of wants to bea writer, and he's trying to phrase
things writerly, and he's not.
He's not a writer.
(09:57):
He's not good at not.
Not yet.
That's funny.
We'll stick with non spoilershere, since I'm the only one I think
to have seen stick its recentepisode, episode 6 is RV Shangri
La.
I think it may warrant a shortdiscussion next week if we catch
up with 6 and 7.
All I'll add is that thissixth episode, it sort of addressed
(10:19):
issues and ideas we were aboutlast week.
You know, if there's a realitywhere they heard our podcast and
then made this episode, you'dbe like, okay, finally.
Yeah.
I'm gonna be fascinated tohear what you guys think, because
everything we said last week,it was like, oh, there it is.
There it is.
(10:39):
Okay.
I mean, we've essentially nowpetitioned television 247 times and
they finally listen.
Oh, wait, we are on episode 247.
Whoa.
I was wondering where you gotthat number.
You like how I pulled that?
Yeah, Well, I number every.
It's the upper left of the screen.
(10:59):
Yes, it is.
Damn it, Donovan.
I kind of wanted to.
I'm coming in a little hot.
I just finished caught up withwhere we were supposed to be for
the bear.
And as I finished thatepisode, I thought, man, I could
use a stick chaser right now.
Yeah.
It's a funny thing to bediscussing these two shows because
(11:22):
they are not the same pace, tosay the least.
No, a stick is a show that'snot afraid to ask.
Do you like to golf?
I really liked Owen Wilson inthis recent episode, and we've talked
about him a ton.
But in this most recent one, Iwas like, no.
I even like it more now.
I can't wait for y' all towatch it.
(11:42):
Yeah, you've already broughtit up.
It's June.
One way to check to know thatit's late June is see if Carm's revising
the Menu again.
That's right.
Is this a June tradition?
It's.
Well, isn't it?
It's like every June they drop.
Well, the last two years, they drop.
Every episode of the Bear getsdumped on us like a bowl of cold
(12:02):
soup all at once at Hulu.
Shame on them.
This is a show that deservesan episode per week.
Or two episodes.
Maybe three because it's shorter.
I'll say two.
I agree.
But I don't love the Dump.
Yeah.
Which I mean, of course I'd watch.
Three in a row, but five weeks.
(12:23):
Yeah.
Two episodes per week.
That's reason.
That would be so much better.
So much better.
It just gives you time todigest, you know.
But, you know, we're in the minority.
Other than critics.
Yes, other than TV critics.
We are in the minority.
People want the dump.
People want.
Yeah, yeah.
They want the Netflix model.
(12:43):
I saw that episode of Somebody somewhere.
But don't you think so I feellike there has been a.
And we've discussed thismultiple times as slow.
I didn't even notice it was happening.
Now when I hear thatsomething's on Netflix and this show
is not on Netflix, but Iimmediately think, is the show good?
Yeah, like, I still pay forNetflix, but.
(13:06):
And I like stuff that comes onthere and I've enjoyed the original
content.
I think it's still a great service.
But yes, that stands on theother side.
You've got Apple tv, which Iam now have a complete Pavlovian
response to think that isgoing to be higher caliber television.
Yes.
And I wonder, a show like theBear getting released, dumped all
(13:30):
at once, like, it just makesme think of Netflix and in a way,
I don't value what I'm seeingas much.
Exactly, Exactly.
It just seems to be more andmore entrenched as time goes on,
is what I'm saying.
I walked into the living roomand my wife was watching the Waterfront
off of Netflix.
It's kind of the buzzed aboutthe show.
And I said, is this any good?
(13:50):
It's got the guy from MindHunter as the dad.
And I love Mind Hunter, the.
The older cop or FBI agent.
I like that.
I think his name is Holt Mcinally.
Holt Ma.
Yeah, He's a great actor.
Really good actor.
And I.
I walked through and I said,is this any good?
And she shrugged her shoulders.
She says, it's okay.
(14:10):
I said, isn't it kind of Ozarkbut on the water?
And she said, meh.
Kind of.
I said, isn't this everyNetflix show though?
Isn't.
Aren't they all just okay.
And she said, yeah, like shewatches almost every Netflix buzzed
about show.
And as I walked through theliving room or bedroom where she's
taking it in folding clothesor whatever, I'll.
(14:31):
I'll think, but is it.
It can't be that good, right?
This is not an originalthought to me, but I, you know, I
think we talked about it earlier.
There's a.
From last year, a good NewYork Times piece about meh tv.
Like, is it good?
Is it bad?
It's.
It's me.
Yeah.
And then of course, something I.
And I do really agreecoincident with this is, you know,
(14:54):
this is.
So many of this stuff is likemade to be like half paid attention
to.
Sadly, you know, it doesn't re.
It doesn't reward engagement.
In fact, if you're engagedwith it, you'll probably be annoyed
because it's like, why arethey explaining what they're doing
again?
And the funny thing is this iscoming off the heels of Donovan and
I dissecting Department Q.
(15:14):
And we loved it.
Occasionally they'll throw a fastball.
Adolescence is phenomenal.
And neither of the.
Another one Apartment Q couldhave benefited from.
Not the Dump plays like a showthat asks you to, like, actually
care about it when you, like,have different characters and have
to remember who they are inrelation to each other instead of
(15:37):
someone walking in.
Like, I remember him, the manwho pushed his wife down the stairs,
you know.
Yeah.
As you heard, my favorite.
As you probably already know,the defendant pushed his wife down
the stairs.
When Netflix first starteddoing this or when they first went
streaming, I remember askingso many people, why don't they do
a recap?
(15:58):
Why, like, I didn't, you know,it's been two days since I've watched
the show.
Why don't.
I can't remember.
I actually worked with.
I believe her dissertation ispublished now.
But when I was at UConn, oneof the communication grad students
was studying Bing in people'srelationships to which was.
It was a fun project to workon because there's not like a definition
(16:21):
of like a binge watch.
Yeah.
So you kind of have to come upwith all that yourself, but just
literally studying thedifferences in people between this.
A binge watch.
And then like, you sit downand watch one episode of something
and there's a difference, you know.
So she was finding researchand that was six years ago.
Delaying gratification is thebig thing.
(16:44):
It's just even.
Yeah.
Well, if you want.
I don't know what the research says.
That's Kind of my thought islike, maybe.
Maybe getting everything youwant all the time isn't actually
good for you, you know?
Do you guys have some nonspoiler thoughts on the bear before
we take a break for spoilers?
This show dares to ask thequestion, do you like to yell?
(17:07):
I thought you were gonna say,are you hungry?
Yeah.
See, it's funny that you bringthat up because there is a scene
where they're, like,discussing a dish, and Carm tastes
it and he says, it's perfect.
And I'm like, I need a littlesomething on the screen.
Just tell me what the hellthat is.
Oh, it was a scallop.
Shame on me.
I wasn't paying attention.
(17:28):
The only reason I know that'sthe title of the episode.
Okay.
I was like, I don't know whatI'm looking at here.
I think the biggest nonspoiler question has to be, do we
need this show again?
That's a good question.
But I think we do this timebecause it left us hanging with so
many questions last time.
I think the question might be,is it better than last season?
(17:49):
Because last season, peoplehad problems with it, including Adam.
I think Donovan and I liked ita little better than Adam, and I
think so.
Yeah.
Donovan and I thought therewere a few standout episodes at Adam.
The.
Especially the.
The mom episode where she wasin the delivery room with Sugar from
season three.
Adam didn't like that one.
Very good one.
(18:09):
Yeah.
Donovan and I thought it was fantastic.
But, Adam, you tell me, isthis season so far gonna be better?
Maybe.
I think shows that burn reallybright also can burn out really fast.
Yes.
I don't.
And things that put such a.
There's such an immediacy toall of their goals and to all of
(18:32):
the things driving the plot.
You know, it's always like,attempting not to drown.
Not just like, how can I makemy life better.
It's like, this is, like, makeor break kind of stuff.
And I think that's exhaustingas a viewer, Maybe this show, in
a way, kind of came in thewake of the pandemic and was like,
(18:52):
it really does.
I don't know how to describethat time.
It's not like it was likewe're watching it in 2020, but it's.
It still occupies this spacewhere life wasn't totally normal
again and shows held thisgreat importance and, like, it still
insists upon itself in that way.
And I was curious going intothis season, am I going to.
I mean, I honestly sat downand pulled the first episode up,
(19:14):
and we looked at it and wesaid, I don't know if I have the
stomach to be that stressedright now.
And we ended up watchingsomething else.
Obviously we got around to it,but there's like a bit of a I'm going
to like this.
I think I've loved the otherseasons, even though I had problems
with the last one.
Apparently you guys arereminding me.
(19:35):
But.
It'S, there's still the momentof like, do I want to do this again?
It's like setting out the doorfor a run.
You don't always want to do it.
You know what I mean?
Oh boy, do I could set up forour spoiler section to come.
What we'll do is we'll take a30 second break, might remind you
something on the website andwe'll talk spoilers only about the
(19:57):
Bear this week.
The first three episodes Ithink we all know now, no social
media algorithm displayseverything you follow.
And isn't that the reason youfollowed your friends or companies
or whatever in the first place?
To see what they're posting?
To see what they're doing?
In the decline of reasonablediscussion, you know it's time to
stop the spirit scrolling, orat least rely on it a lot less.
(20:20):
That's where the Alabama Takesnewsletter can help.
Sent to your email inbox andwaiting until you're ready.
The newsletter tells youwhat's happening on the site so that
you don't miss a thing andprovides amusement for a stressful
day, Stressful life.
It's the complete opposite ofsocial media.
Subscribe to it by clicking onthe link in the Show Notes or by
visiting the Alabama Takeswebsite and clicking Newsletter.
(20:43):
Here's a little something forregular listeners or anyone who wants
to participate.
Go to your favorite podcastapp of choice or YouTube.
Leave us a review Leave us a comment.
Take a screenshot of it, emailthealabamatakemail.com with that
screenshot and we'll send yousomething very small but a gesture
(21:05):
of thanks for doing that.
We won't be gatekeepers.
If you want to just email thealabamatakemail.com and say that
you listen to taking it down,we'll send you something anyway,
absolutely free.
Thanks.
Yeah, we got the bearreturning for fourth season where
(21:27):
its previous season felt likeit may be setting up a final season,
or at least want to resolvesome issues.
First episode we'll probablygo mostly in order, mostly I think,
but we're only talking aboutthe first three episodes of season
four.
That first episode reallyrevolved around the review, which
(21:49):
was not great, but it was not bad.
It certainly wasn't what Carmand a lot of the others wanted.
Everyone's angry, hurt,afraid, or just trying to help those
who are more so than they are.
Adam and Don, when I have aquestion for you.
Have you ever had a bad review?
Especially if it's somethingthat you've put your heart into?
(22:11):
If I could remember the nameof the reviewer in Arrested Development
that gives Tobias's bad review.
I didn't get into this job toplease software whatever her name
is.
Stacy.
That would be my answer.
Yeah.
Adam, this might be more of aquestion for you.
You are a artist, musician,artist in other ways too.
But, yeah, I mean, you have to.
(22:33):
I think sometimes when peoplecomplain about bad things being said
about them, you kind of haveto remind them, well, at least you
were worth complaining about.
You know what I mean?
So I have not been a part ofmany things that were poorly reviewed.
Good.
But I mean, it definitely.
It feels.
Or somebody.
Like.
I remember one person talkingabout a delaray song and saying,
(22:57):
oh, it's just too repetitive.
And it's like, well, that wasthe point.
Like, you just didn't get the.
So there.
There have been times where.
But never, never with thestakes that are presented here, of
course.
What.
I guess outside of the realmof art, I've experienced poor reviews.
Like, sometimes when I comehome from work, I can tell my cats
are very disappointed in me.
I thought you were going tosay your job performance is just
(23:19):
horrible.
They tell you every.
Every quarter.
Look, you've got to pick it upor fire.
Like my.
My approach to my job is thesame as my approach to school.
Cs get degrees.
The episode one also remindsus of so much grief at hovers over
the proceedings.
(23:40):
Sidney asks Harm if he likesdysfunction, and that's all he's
seen growing up.
He says no.
He says no.
But I think that a lot of us,while we know we obviously don't
like stress and we don't likechaos, it's deeply ingrained in us.
And change is scarier than the chaos.
(24:02):
That's what I thought was thebest element of this first episode
is.
And.
And at first I was like, okay,there's a little too much yelling
here.
I'm getting.
I feel like I see what you're doing.
But then I realized that,like, the.
Yeah, the chaos and theconfusion, it's a reminder that so
many of us are in situationswhere we're like, I.
I hate feeling like this.
Why am I doing this?
(24:22):
But to take that step back andBe like, the stuff that I assumed
is normal that are just myingrained responses to things that
might be the issue.
And I thought there was agood, like, start at, like.
Like, Carm.
Like what.
Like, what are you.
What are your ingrainedresponses to maybe looking at that?
Because Sid is right.
She is right.
He is creating situations thatare chaotic because that's what he
(24:45):
grew up in.
That's what his work has been.
You know, he doesn't know howto approach.
Probably doesn't know how toapproach work without feeling stressed
out about it.
Yeah.
And he hasn't been back to AlAnon since, what, Season one.
He hasn't done anything to tryto change or fix or better him.
His own internal issues.
(25:05):
So he is reliving the same as we.
Mr.
Bill Murray shows up there.
He is reliving the same dayover and over again.
Right.
He's running or running theRed Queen's race.
I think they're using how longwe've been watching these characters
to make an interesting pointthat it just kind of dawned to me
while y' all talked.
It seems like certaincharacters who are more grounded
(25:26):
and maybe have.
Whether it's upbringing or thework that they've done previous to
us meeting them as time goes on.
Somebody like Sidney.
I don't know what's in storefor her for the rest of the season,
but the first few episodes,she seems just kind of above the
noise that's happening.
And obviously she's wrestlingwith her own decisions about committing
(25:47):
to the restaurant, all of this stuff.
The characters that continueto get sucked into the chaos are
kind of.
They seem more and more.
It seems childish as time goeson versus people who are trying to
move forward.
Does that make sense?
I think there's at least a suggestion.
I think I agree with you, Adam.
I do think that there's atleast a suggestion that part of Sid's
(26:10):
attitude comes from.
She has actually a goodrelationship with her father.
Like, obviously, like, hermother died.
But, like, that's a place of,like, safety and stability.
Yeah.
Whereas, like, some of themore chaotic people either just don't.
They don't have that in theirfamily background.
Right.
It is hard to get over.
It is childish in the sensethat, like, you gotta put away childish
(26:33):
things.
Right.
But the.
The way that, you know, I'msure that we've all experienced this
with different friend groupsover time.
High school, college,whatever, where you are together
at a time and you're allbringing your own shit to the table.
But then as time goes on,small Differences just grow wider
and wider.
Right.
And I think that's what'sinteresting here is like who, who
(26:56):
has grown more away from themean in season one.
Yeah.
I actually think this iscomplete side.
But the one of the characters,maybe it's just because I like him
but I think I've really likedRichie's growing away because he
has really like tried to stepup and take responsibility in a big
(27:19):
way and kind of become someoneelse without losing who he originally
was.
So he's almost, you know, Iknow he's kind of, he's kind of on
the edge here, but he'sactually like.
I, I like the way he's beingplayed, I guess is what I mean by
that.
When he even says I know a lotof you.
Everybody knows I've beendoing some work on myself or whatever
he said.
Yeah, exactly.
Seems like mildly embarrassedand they're like, yeah, we get it.
(27:42):
Yeah.
And it was, it was fun.
He's good at doing that too.
Something everybody.
I'm admitting somethingeverybody knows and I'm embarrassed
about it.
Like he's so good at the actor.
What's his name?
Bacharach.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sidney seems to be devolvingfrom where she started though in
season one by being aroundCarm in this environment at the Bear.
(28:06):
There's parts of her and shehas to be because she keeps questioning,
should I sign the contract?
Should I pick up the call fromShapiro about his restaurant?
Am I stressed enough to leave.
These people gotta startanswering the phone.
And dads of the world stopleaving voicemails that say call
(28:29):
me.
Just text that for real.
One of the best ways to set upsome conflict for viewers is to.
Is to put your characters on a clock.
And I'll be damned.
The first episode doesn't justliterally bring in a clock that was.
This was almost like the bearpaint by numbers I was complaining
(28:52):
about in the spoiler free section.
This is.
I mean you want strange strongframework for however many episodes.
There you go.
I think that Adam had a goodpoint with what you were talking
about in the non spoiler.
Whereas all of the react.
Sorry, all of the action inthe Bear pretty much is mostly reaction.
(29:14):
You know, it's all.
Some people kind of.
There's.
There's some individual thingsthat is not reaction.
But like the main plot isusually driven by.
It's a reaction.
Yeah.
To what?
Whatever has just beenintroduced as the latest wrinkle.
Yeah.
Like Richie bringing in thethree people from the other restaurant
that had closed.
They're going to get them inbetter shape.
(29:35):
The score is kind ofreminiscent of 80s action movies,
which implies.
I say, you like the training.
The training montage.
There's going to be a fight.
Yeah.
But then again, the bear doessome wonderfully poignant things
like little screen time here.
But Carm still text Mikey.
Yeah.
And that hit.
That was a gut punch.
(29:56):
That.
That was actuallydevastatingly sad.
God, it was.
I've never.
Maybe I'm just an idiot.
I've never seen someoneexpress that.
Like, you know, we've seenmovies and stuff where like I'm writing
a letter to someone who's.
Who's passed or what.
But like something about likethe immediacy of the text message
that will never ever be answered.
Yeah.
That just says not received.
(30:16):
Like that's just heartbreaking.
That was a good shot.
He smiles after he sends it too.
Yeah.
Right.
Which is an interestingsignifier for where he is in his
journey with grief.
It seems like he's figuring alot out about himself as the episodes
go on.
I thought that was topiggyback on what you said, Don.
(30:37):
I thought that was a reallygood touch there.
Little realization that no oneever leaves you.
Yeah.
It does seem, and this ispulling out on all three, that Carm
this season so far is at leasta little bit more.
He's also doing some work onhimself, which seems good.
He's trying to work some selfawareness, but also the understanding
(31:02):
of what they all have together.
He's trying to impart what therestaurant means or could mean to
other people, which is kind ofwhat you were saying, Blaine.
You're never really alone.
He.
Later he'll tell Marcus,you're never alone in a restaurant.
Speaking of people who have ittogether, I think Marcus is the most
stable with his.
I.
(31:22):
I agree.
But he's having.
He's having some kind oftrouble dessert with his prep area.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, he.
I don't know if that's like areal problem or it's just like he.
Just needs some help.
They can't quite get it underin the time frame they're.
They've Now.
Yeah.
So I.
I don't know if that's going to.
Because other than that, Iagree he's probably the most.
Cindy's pretty stable, but.
(31:42):
Yeah.
But I do think she's devolving.
I think she's starting to losea little of her stability.
Well, she's so close to Carmen's.
Yeah, she is in a lot of ways.
Not just emotionally, but likehe is the driver of the chaos by
his continued decision toconstantly change the menu.
Not even metaphorically.
(32:03):
Like, she's literally dealingwith that kind of chaos as.
As a chef.
Because he's constantlychanging the menu.
Yep.
Side by side with him.
I just have so many questionsabout that constantly changing menu
and, like, how this restaurantis operating to begin with.
It sounds really difficult,like, even to, like, work with suppliers,
right?
Yeah, it'd be impossible.
(32:24):
Yeah.
I'm not a restaurateur, so I don't.
It's just the.
But there's a thing thathappens in episode three where it
made me say out loud, how manypeople work at this restaurant?
So there's that and there'sthe constantly changing menu.
And if someone came.
If the financier came in andput a clock down and said, you're
(32:45):
closing.
If you don't figure this stuffout in time, why does everyone not
just look at Carm and go,okay, funds over.
We have five things on themenu that we do exceedingly well.
Let's just do them every dayfor a week.
I mean, everybody knows rightnow the only thing that's doing well.
So sandwiches.
(33:08):
Any thoughts before we moveinto episode two a little more deeply?
Any thoughts on opening with.
With Mikey and Carm?
As Carm makes the sauce there at.
Home, I wondered when itopened, like how this is like a maybe
a callous thing to say, howmuch they can keep going back to
(33:29):
that.
I wondered that too.
No, I kind of have the same reaction.
Yeah.
And I was trying to figureout, what is it you're trying to
present to me with thisinteraction that I don't already
know.
Say you were cast as, like thedead older brother.
You know, you would think,like, I'm probably in a few flashback
scenes.
He's very much a part of this show.
You know, when you reallythink about how much screen time
(33:52):
has happened in the beforetimes air quotes around that.
But even though I questionedit, it's still a clever way to.
You know, you're living aninterior life with all of them and
especially Carmen Richie.
These are like sharedfoundational experiences that you're
(34:12):
kind of zooming in and out ofand you get a little more context
every time.
I don't love that they doleout information that's important
a little.
You know what I mean?
Like, why would we not justtell us that?
Just tell us that they hadalready had this idea and he wanted
to name it this.
And yeah, this is what let it.
You know, it gives even morecontext to that season one let it
(34:34):
rip thing.
I'm very Curious why theyhaven't shown us Mikey in his addiction.
I don't think they've evershown us really that you don't get
the truth.
Right.
Are we supposed to.
Like, you're always in someone.
(34:55):
Yeah.
But he never seems like he'snearing a bottom.
Yeah.
Or a death.
I always kind of assume withthat is really the two places we
see him are at home and at work.
And at work he can be oneperson and at home he can be another.
And to me it's.
Knowing what we know from the beginning.
(35:16):
It's really clear that this is.
There's an abyss that he'scovering up.
Right.
It might be more effective.
Yeah.
These are both Persona.
I think what.
What Adam said about, like,this is important information.
Why don't you just tell us?
It comes off to me as like,oh, it's because you didn't know
it before last season.
You know what I mean?
(35:36):
Almost like this is not thesame thing.
But like in the Sopranos whenSteve Buscemi shows up and it's like,
hey, this cousin we neverheard about.
It turns out to be Steve Buscemi.
It's like, that's because youdidn't know it in the first season.
And that's fine.
But I think you can kind of, Idon't know.
Hit Diminishing Returns.
Ye.
Of course.
I love.
You can only go back to that.
Well.
Scene.
Right.
That's what I'm saying.
I love when things arerevealed in the natural course of.
(36:01):
Maybe a character does somedigging on how they're feeling about
something and it occurs tothem that they're influenced by this
experience they had.
That's great.
You don't have to tell me everything.
But when you continually go back.
Diminishing Returns is theperfect way to put it.
Donovan.
It does somewhat compareunfavorably to what I thought was
a good use of Mikey lastseason in Tina's episode.
(36:24):
That really focuses.
Fantastic.
That's one of the best episodes.
Yeah.
And part of that is becausewe're not seeing Carm.
We're seeing him throughsomeone else's understanding.
That's right.
And I.
And I think that was that.
That worked very well.
This one.
It didn't teach us anything wedidn't already know.
From the Feast of the Seven Fishes.
Right.
From their interaction there.
(36:46):
Episode two is.
What's this word?
Soupies.
Soup Subisi.
What it says.
Starts with some pretty vague scenes.
Get you a little interested maybe.
And that's fine.
I suppose there were timeswhere I wondered why, if it shouldn't
just show us what it's talking about.
But the most important elementof early in episode two is this one
(37:10):
illusion that Carm might begiving up some control without any
reservations to Sydney becausehe's falling out of love with cooking
and being a chef.
You know, his phoneconversation with Sugar taps into
something that.
I'm curious if others feelthat happiness can be really scary
if you're not used to it.
For me, it's because I keepwaiting for the other shoe to drop.
(37:32):
I'm like, I'm really happyright now.
When's that gonna end?
And I think that's part of Carm.
He's a bit zombied out.
Even, I would say in episodetwo especially, he can't even follow
Sidney, that they are nolonger getting the same amount of
groceries to cook.
Remember that scene where he's like.
I was like, is he really thatbad at math?
I think he's just.
I honestly think he's zombied out.
(37:53):
I think he's just like.
The man needs a nap.
Yeah, for sure.
It was also funny that, like,Sidney has worked with him long enough
to, like, size up thesituation and be like, you have 10
apples.
You know what I mean?
Like, to explain to this childhow budgeting works.
(38:16):
It's also the episode wherecousin Richie comes to talk to Carm
at the end of the night, andit has turned into mourning.
It's so well filmed becauseit's cast in that blue hue, you know,
that gives us viewers withouta lot of fireworks at Carms in that
liminal space of maybe beingdone with the business without really
knowing he's done.
(38:37):
And it's also depressive inthat blue hue.
But Richie says, tomorrow istoday, and I think that's pretty
in line.
They love that thin linewindow between the kitchen.
God, they love it.
Yeah.
It's cool, though.
It is cool.
It's a great effect.
It's fun to have a characterlike Richie coming in, too, in a
moment like that and justbeing like, is this performative?
(39:00):
What a line.
Yeah.
You know, like.
And it is good, right?
Because there's the.
I don't think I can adequatelyexplain this, but, like, you were
living.
They love that liminal space,like, you pointed out.
And you could just have, like,a recreation of, like, the Nighthawks
painting or something.
But to have someone come inand say, like, what are you doing
(39:20):
here?
And then I think it works withRichie, too, who's.
Who's kind of on the edge insome ways.
He really needs this to workbecause this is what he's built his
personality around.
Lately.
Richie feels his feelings the most.
Maybe he loves Taylor Swiftbecause he.
Really break from her right now.
He relished moving intoepisode three, Scallop.
(39:42):
He relished being able toprovide that moment for the family
from la.
Yeah.
And it was sweet.
Yeah, it's a sweet momentbecause he feels his feelings, you
know, as we maybe.
Maybe more than others.
And he just enjoyed that.
You could tell.
I don't know, maybe I'mreading too much, but you can almost
see, like, I hope somebodydoes this for my daughter.
(40:03):
Yeah, it's a good payoff too,for what they talk about to start
episode one where Carm islike, well, all of our best memories
happen in restaurants.
You know, it's a safe place to go.
And I have to admit, I lovegood food.
I get it.
But there are moments whereI'm like, guys, yes, we're gonna
(40:27):
shit this out.
You know what I mean?
I would imagine stronglydisagree with that, I'm sure.
But so there.
All the stress, it's like thisis artificial in a way, you know,
like you could.
The world is not going to fallapart if this restaurant closes.
Right.
But then to have all of thatcynicism and kind of detachment from
(40:50):
some of the emotions drivingthe story just kind of punched me
in the gut.
On episode three where all ofthat came together for that family,
of course, wink, wink.
The guy watching this allhappen, the other customer.
But it's still.
When they all came out to lookat the.
The snow was really sweet.
It was me.
You know, they're really.
(41:10):
They're not making anythingthat's lasting.
Right.
Their.
Their product or their.
Whatever.
Their art is really ephemeral.
You're gonna eat it.
It's gonna go away.
So what they're, you know, and it.
I mean, it's.
It's overly silly, but I thinkthey underline that, like, you're.
You're dealing in like.
Like moments.
And that's something that youcan't like, point.
(41:32):
It's so abstract and say.
Exactly.
Like you can't like quantifyit, but that.
That you're.
You're.
What you're dealing with islike your ability to like, understand,
interact with and delightanother human being.
I think the sommelier that'skind of given the crash course on
(41:53):
wine to sweeps.
Yeah.
Said it so well when she said,you know, this is a.
Does she say it's a snapshot.
Yeah.
Of how much it rained, whatthe summer was like, what the.
The soil with all Thesethings, you're like, okay, that.
That is worth valuing, you know?
And I.
It's funny for me to be sayingall this as someone who, like, grows
(42:15):
food, you know, but.
Well, you feel it a little,don't you?
Maybe.
Maybe on a very smaller scale.
It's.
It's like a class thing withfood like this.
Right.
And that.
Like, yeah, like, who is thisreally for?
You know, and it.
And it is for special occasions.
You don't eat there threetimes a week.
Are you kidding me?
(42:36):
I go to that beef window threetimes a week now.
That's.
That's what's so funny.
And I think maybe what groundsthe vision is that they are shown
to still understand the valueof, like, a working class lunch.
And, like, this.
This thing making people feelgood, keeping things afloat.
Right.
And it's.
It's keeping it afloat.
It's not denigrated in any way.
(42:56):
And in fact, it's celebrated.
So I bet a lot ofrestaurateurs, Michelin star people,
or even people who openrestaurants just in general in your
local community do probablythink that the memories made there
are that important.
I'm with Adam.
I think Adam was about to say,my memories, my favorite memories
did not happen in a restaurant.
(43:17):
I don't think any of them did.
To me, the ones that did.
I think of a place like thisis very Tuscaloosa centric, but I
go into like, oh, hooligans.
You know what I mean?
And like, how many times Isaid in there with, like, it becomes
important, but it.
There was no single event, you know?
Yeah.
And then, so, yeah, maybe forsome people.
Yeah, I.
I get what they're saying, butI have to.
(43:39):
Yeah.
When they said that line, Iwas like, no, not for me.
Yeah.
But hey, for some, don't comefor us foodies.
Yeah, please don't.
I have so many friends thatwould, like, just nod along to that
scene.
Like, yeah, yeah, I totallyget that.
And then I realize.
And that's great.
Yeah, no, that's great.
But no, here's the thing.
Do I believe it?
No.
Do I believe that thesecharacters believe it?
(44:00):
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
But it still has, to Donovan'spoint, about how abstract it is,
that that has to be pingingaround the back of their heads.
Right.
Like, no matter how great thescallop dish is, they're not gonna
hang it on the wall at a museum.
You know what I mean?
Exactly.
It's going to go away.
It's meant to be.
It's literally meant to Be consumed.
(44:22):
What are your thoughts about this?
Same episode, Oliver Platt'suncle talking to the door to his
son and telling him how badhis character's fucked up as a dad
and that the kid deserves better.
While Donna Bersado, realestate agent.
Donna Brisado, I should say,shows off their home.
It's kind of.
She's like downstairs in thekitchen while.
(44:42):
He'S doing this, which Ididn't piece together for a minute.
You know, saw thisrepresentative of a new start.
But then I hit me.
Oh, wait.
He's having to sell his homebecause he's still trying to keep
the restaurant afloat.
Yeah.
Also, I don't know that I knewDonna Brigado was a real estate agent.
(45:02):
This was a reveal, right?
I think it was.
It was a big one.
Yeah.
We just thought she was crazy.
We didn't know she couldharness that.
Well, we don't know that shehas yet.
That's true.
This is not a spoiler at all,but it's kind of funny.
There's another real estatemoment with another character in
episode five, I think, butanother real estate.
(45:25):
For some reason.
Who knew?
I do think that they are.
There's a payoff happeningwith all these characters working
on themselves and it actuallyaffecting the business, the work
they do.
Yeah.
And the fact that it, youknow, if you are Carm and you start
pulling on a string and itleads you to realize that this thing
(45:48):
you've devoted yourself to,maybe you've moved beyond in a way.
What does that look like?
Does that mean you.
And I'm sure the season willanswer that.
So it's funny to try toforecast what's going to happen,
but maybe he doesn't get thereif he doesn't.
If he's not thinking about whohe is and what matters to him.
And I think all the charactershave some version of that that's
(46:10):
setting up a much.
That's like real change.
Right.
Instead of just like, I wantto do the like, reactionary change
like Donovan was talking about earlier.
Wondering if they're steeringinto that too, just with like, him
going to talk with Claire.
And I do think they did a goodjob of like, often the reason I hurt
you is that I feel bad, butthat's never the justification.
(46:32):
So like, he can come and say,like, I, I didn't feel good and so
I did this to you.
That doesn't justify it.
And so just kind of her kindof letting him say his.
His piece, but then not likeabsolving him necessarily was.
I think I feel like, thethread there was like, if I feel
bad, I do things that withoutmeaning to harm others.
(46:57):
If I'm in this chaos anddysfunction, which is.
He was literally in the middleof it when he's locked in the.
And that's a real thing.
And that's where all that.
That's where all that came from.
That's a real thing.
I think the.
Yeah.
One of the questions thisseason should answer, and hopefully
Will, is Carm relinquishingsome control because he's given up
(47:18):
or because he's improvinghimself or both.
And that might even trickledown to answer some other questions.
Will Sidney sign the agreement?
Does.
Will they get a Michelin starand, you know, those kinds of things?
And.
Yep.
You know, and he is alreadythinking these.
It's been revealed, like, he'swondering, like, is my heart really
(47:40):
still in this?
But he's also saying, you'renever alone at a restaurant.
Like, I think he loves thepeople around him, however he chooses
to express that.
But then the look that hegives Sidney when she does the dish
that Tina's been working on toget down under a certain amount of
time, and he says, well, Icouldn't even do that under three
minutes.
And she does it in two and a half.
(48:01):
Yeah, there's some.
Like, maybe I could best servethis by not having to do everything,
you know?
Yeah.
By not being the be all, endall box kind of.
Yeah.
And that may be where it's going.
We'll see probably a lot morefrom the bear next week.
Could very well happen from us.
As for us, I think we've saidour peace, and this is the end of
(48:24):
our episode.
For Adam and Donovan, I'mBlaine, and we hope you don't burn
yourself on the grill this week.
Take care, folks.
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