Forever Knight (Season 3 Ep 12) - "Strings"

No one expected the Spanish Inquisition, well they CERTAINLY didn't expect Rasputin! Everyone's got a puppet master and I hope you like hearing about them because it's pretty much the only theme in this episode of Forever Knight!

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Episode Transcript

Doctor (00:47):
This is the person that you must shoot. You are strong.
You can do it. It's justclearly, not real.

Rachel (01:02):
Hi. I'm Rachel. And I'm Matt. And this is Come in. Come
in, 81 kilo.

Matt (01:09):
A forever night podcast.

Rachel (02:02):
You know what's amazing? Oh, I really find to be the most
inspiring part of that is I finda new way to fuck it up. Every
single time, honey.

Doctor (02:11):
Every single time.

Matt (02:13):
How many We're we're both explorers.

Rachel (02:16):
Yeah. How many possible combinations are there? I have
to

Matt (02:19):
know. Your subconscious is just driving you to it.

Rachel (02:24):
Exactly. I can't I am an adventurer. I must seek out new
new experiences even if thatmeans pushing the wrong fucking
button. So here we are. Speakingof adventures, forever night
season 3, episode 12, strings.

(02:44):
And I have to admit, I put thison and I got the opening seat
because I was like, strings,strings. Because most of the
time you can shout an episodetitle at me and I'll be like,
okay. This is what happens.Here's the flashback. Here's
some notable quotes.
It's a bit like a it's a goodparty trick. Right? I can roll
it out. Nobody gives a shitbecause nobody knows what
Ferventitis, and nobody everyells titles at me. But if they

(03:05):
did

Matt (03:06):
You're ready.

Rachel (03:07):
So fucking ready. And yet, I was like, strings,
strings, strings. I know thenext one's fever. Fever. I was
like, oh, fever, and I got thewhole download.
The AIDS episode, the, oh, yeah.I'm looking forward to fever.
And then I was like, but we'renot on fever. We're on strings.
What is strings?
And I was like, well, I'll justwatch it. It'll come to me. And
so I put it on, and it startedplaying. And I was like, is this

(03:30):
an episode I haven't seen? Is itpossible?
I haven't seen this episode. Wegot all the way through the cold
open. Of course, I've seen theintro. Then we kept going, and I
was like, holy shit. I don'tthink I've seen this episode.
What is happening? And then wegot to the flashback. And I was

(03:53):
like, oh, Rasputin. Oh, right.Yes.
No. I have seen this episode,but I think my hypothesis here
is that this episode is soboring. I literally purged it
from my mind.

Matt (04:13):
Okay. So this is really good book I read

Rachel (04:15):
Okay.

Matt (04:19):
That makes use of a similar premise. The book is
called There is No AntimemeticsDivision, And the premise is
there's a whole thing calledmemetics, which is making things
memorable.

Rachel (04:37):
Yeah.

Matt (04:38):
And it goes kind of on, like, a supernaturally twist,
like the, SCP, like, specialcontainment procedure, like
monster things exist andwhatever. There's secret
agencies to contain them. Thisis a secret agency for things

(05:03):
that have developed camouflage,defense mechanisms, whatever,
that are antimemetic Okay. Whichmeans you can't remember.

Rachel (05:12):
They're not memorable. Yeah.

Matt (05:13):
They are adapted or designed or

Rachel (05:17):
They're an SCT player.

Matt (05:18):
Serendipitously. You they're incapable of being
remembered.

Rachel (05:24):
Yeah.

Matt (05:26):
Is that what this episode was like?

Rachel (05:27):
Think so, because I watched it once because I sat
down to take notes and Pippensat on my lap. And the rule in
our house is you don't move thefucking cat. So there went my
note taking. And so

Matt (05:37):
Rachel's rule in the house is you don't move the fucking
cat.

Rachel (05:40):
So I was already I was like, well, alright. I'm already
watching it. So I guess I'llwatch forever night. So I was
watching the Favourite, and I'llthat that's when I came to the
realization that I had, in fact,seen this episode, but I had no
memory of anything but theflashback and didn't even really
remember what happened in theflashback. Just remembered that
Rasputin was in it.
And then I was like, okay. SoI'll watch it with Matt. So Matt
came back, and I was like,alright. We'll watch it

(06:01):
together, you know, in prep forwatching this episode. And I put
it back on, and I was like, hotfucking damn it.
I can't remember anything thathappened. My notes are, like, 14
pages long because I was like,I'm not gonna be able to hold
this. It's like sand slippingthrough

Matt (06:15):
my fingers. So in in the book, there is no antimemetics
division. A whole lot of thestory happens by people reading
something about one of theseantimemetic events. While it's
happening to them, they'rereading a record of it from the

(06:35):
last time. Yeah.
And so it's just in the moment.Oh, okay. What I'm reading now
is explaining some things thatI've noticed, and I need to,
like, assume that it's activelyhappening to me right now. And
so that's usually when theylike, when they're actively

(06:56):
reading it is when they can keepit in mind long enough

Rachel (06:59):
Right.

Matt (07:00):
That they can, like, defend themselves against the
thing that's anti memeing theirbrain.

Rachel (07:05):
Think this is trying to kill me. I just think it's not a
great episode of television.

Matt (07:09):
It's just benign

Doctor (07:10):
in time.

Rachel (07:11):
And I was trying to think, like, is there an episode
that is like this? Like, anotherone where I was, like, you could
tell me the title. Maybe heartsof darkness, but that's just
Would

Matt (07:19):
you know?

Rachel (07:20):
I would know because you could tell me the title and
there would be no there'd be nofolder.

Matt (07:26):
Yeah.

Rachel (07:27):
Yeah. There'd be no I'll have to describe that. You know,
when someone tells yousomething, I don't know how it
works for you. When you give mesomething that's like a trigger
for a memory, I get like, okay.Here's the folder.
Here's the box with everythingin it.

Matt (07:43):
I get like a video

Doctor (07:44):
Yeah.

Matt (07:44):
Of an event that plays back.

Rachel (07:46):
So you can ask me anything. It's in if it's in the
box, I've got it. But if youtell me the title and I there's
the file has a reference to abox that's missing, then I I
don't I can't. That that wouldbe obvious. The box is missing.
Strings has no box. It still hasno box. Every time I try to
every time I try to hold it, itjust just falls off.

Matt (08:07):
And as far as I can tell, the title strings means nothing.

Rachel (08:13):
I have puppet strings. Puppet strings.

Matt (08:15):
Puppet strings?

Rachel (08:16):
Yeah. I think that's what we're going for. You don't
remember you probably don't evenremember what the episode is
about, but it's literally, like,16 story lines all about people
who are being controlled byother people.

Matt (08:29):
I remember that Natalie poorly explains exposure
therapy.

Rachel (08:35):
Yeah. Well, Natalie should have a podcast called
Explain Things Badly, and that'sone of them. It's just but at
this he just okay. Well, we'rewe'll talk about it when we get
there, but there's so manystorylines, and they're all
saying the same thing. And Ithink that's why it's like,

Matt (08:52):
woah. But the twist is you can't remember what any of the
stories are saying.

Rachel (09:00):
Exactly. I mean, which sort of works out because
hypnotism is part of the thingpart of

Matt (09:05):
the thing. Oh, that's a nice angle.

Rachel (09:08):
Know. Is this like one thing?

Matt (09:10):
Subliminal programming

Rachel (09:12):
episode. Neuro linguistic programming? Is that
what the show is?

Matt (09:17):
The twist is the viewer is being reprogrammed.

Rachel (09:21):
Oh, shit. Well, now it's a better episode.

Matt (09:25):
To watch more forever night. Maybe you have seen this
episode 100 of times.

Rachel (09:32):
It's possible. It's like just like Christy Black in this
episode, which is the one tinyher name is the one tiny bit of
levity that we try for in thiswhole episode. The that's not
thick on the ground. Okay? Plotisn't thick on the ground.
Levity isn't thick on theground. Clues, direction,

Matt (09:53):
character development Engagement. Just

Rachel (09:56):
okay. So before we shit on this

Doctor (09:58):
anymore, we should probably get started.

Rachel (10:02):
So we start with this woman exiting a bus, exits a
bus, scene. Look. We open. A buspulls out. This woman rolls out.

Matt (10:12):
This is a novel situation in a city with adequate public
transportation.

Rachel (10:18):
I know. I'm amazed. There's a bus, and people ride
it. I don't know. I'm I'malready I'm already engaged.
This is the most interestingpart of the entire episode. And
she's smiling at somebody. Itdoesn't really matter. She takes
a couple of steps away from thebus, and then a car turns its
light on lights on, and she'slike, oh, I've never seen a car
do that before. Then this carjust runs straight at her and
hits her, like, straight on,throws her through this plate

(10:42):
glass window in slow motion intoa store display, and then the
mannequins look on in horror,literally literally look on in
horror.
Close ups.

Doctor (10:53):
Close ups.

Matt (10:53):
On every mannequin face.

Rachel (10:54):
On the mannequins as she gets shot.

Matt (10:56):
At first, I thought one of the mannequins was the person
wearing a mannequin mask.

Doctor (11:03):
That would have been a really

Matt (11:04):
that would have been memorable. Interesting.

Rachel (11:06):
That would have been memorable, but, no, it's just
somebody shooting her. Yeah.

Matt (11:08):
I thought the last face, the one with the hoodie on, was
the killer. But no. No. I waswrong.

Rachel (11:16):
You were incorrect.

Matt (11:17):
I was misled.

Rachel (11:18):
Yeah. So was everybody. So then we go straight into the
intro. Congratulations. That'sit.
It's how the fuck is happening.Yeah. Then we come back and,
whoo, it's a crime scene. Gofigure. Because she got hit by a
car.
She got shot. Okay. It's a crimescene. So guess who's at the
crime scene? Our favoritedynamic duo, Tracy and Nick.
And Tracy walks over secondfavorite. Oh, you hat.

Doctor (11:40):
Really? I stole

Rachel (11:42):
the wind from my sails. So Tracy walks over to the car.
Speaking of the inferiorpartner,

Doctor (11:48):
Tracy walks over to the car,

Rachel (11:50):
then she's like she licks her finger, rubs it on the
car, and she's like, stolen.That looks stolen. She's just
like, I don't know why she thiscar looks stolen, and Nick's
like, maybe they jammed theignition. And she's like, meh.
We'll we'll ask vehicle theftstomorrow, see what they

Doctor (12:07):
say about it.

Matt (12:08):
It's like when your mom just feels It

Rachel (12:11):
feels.

Matt (12:11):
Like something is a certain way.

Rachel (12:13):
Yeah. Mostly chicken. Is that chicken done? It doesn't
feel done. And I don't mean feellike she touches it.

Matt (12:18):
I mean, like, she looks at it. It's a 170 degrees in the
center of the chicken breast. Ijust don't feel like

Rachel (12:26):
it's done. That's because it's not dry as old
boots, but that's fine. Okay. Sothen Tracy gets

Matt (12:31):
Onward and upward.

Rachel (12:32):
From her from her dad. And she's like, dad, I'm at
work.

Matt (12:39):
I hope to do this to my children someday.

Rachel (12:42):
Poor Natalie. No. Because they have caller ID.
They'll just ignore you.

Matt (12:45):
That's right. Yeah. I'll I'll get a, I'll block my
number.

Rachel (12:49):
Oh, okay. You'll yeah. Because they're

Matt (12:51):
hack their phones.

Rachel (12:53):
You put yourself into something else. So Natalie hears
her on the phone because Nickwalks away as soon as she's on
the phone. He walks towardsNatalie, and Natalie goes,
uh-oh. Trouble at home. I'vegotta I've gotta go.
Okay. Oh, trouble at home. Thankyou, Natalie. Thank you. We

(13:14):
never would have gotten thatwithout that hot take.
Really appreciate that. And butas soon as Tracy gets close,
Natalie drops the tude. She isdone sassing Tracy as soon as
Tracy

Matt (13:26):
comes over. It's the hair fluff.

Rachel (13:29):
She is exceptionally fluffy in this episode. I don't
know. We you know what? Wecouldn't keep anything fucking
consistent, but the fact thather part is an inch above her
ear, left ear

Matt (13:43):
Yeah. It's that's where her part always is.

Rachel (13:45):
Yeah. And it's not her whole hair. It's just like it
fans out from this one spot.Like, I don't know.

Matt (13:52):
Maybe she didn't look good, or the the hairdresser
thought she didn't look goodwith a center part.

Rachel (13:59):
I am not sure what this choice was because I think we
discussed this at length inseason 1. Mhmm. Because even
when she has her hair pulledback in season 1, it's pulled
back with, like

Matt (14:10):
The part on the side.

Rachel (14:12):
Part on the side.

Matt (14:13):
But she had, like, a hard line parted.

Rachel (14:16):
The only thing I can think of is she has a wider
face. It's not like she's stilla beautiful woman, but her face
is wider. And so on the camera,if you put the part in the
middle, it would emphasize thewidth of her face. Whereas if
you put it on the side and yougive her this, like, long fluff
around the

Doctor (14:36):
side

Matt (14:36):
any kind of

Rachel (14:37):
Well, it ends up, like, framing her face

Doctor (14:41):
Mhmm.

Rachel (14:41):
In a way that's very consistent. It doesn't give you,
like, a, like, a division. Doesthat make sense?

Matt (14:47):
Yeah.

Rachel (14:48):
I don't know. Because in other properties that she's in,
she has normal hair, and she hasa normal hair part. So I don't
know why just Natalie, forwhatever reason, in the morning,
every morning, when she was blowdrying her hair, her head
slumped to the left. She gluedblow her hair dry.

Matt (15:04):
It's because of the working nights.

Rachel (15:06):
Is that what it is?

Matt (15:08):
Oh, yeah. I bet she's tired when she's doing her hair,

Rachel (15:10):
and she

Matt (15:10):
just leans her head over.

Rachel (15:11):
She uses one of those hairdryers where you put the
helm like, the hood on, and thenyou lay back down. Except she
always lays down on her oneside, and so when she wakes up
her hair, she's like, fine. Itlooks great. I mean, it looks it
looks fine. It just

Matt (15:24):
it's the It's exceptionally voluminous

Doctor (15:26):
in the seventies.

Rachel (15:27):
Commitment to this hairstyle that just gets me
because Nick's hair is widelyvaried. It's short. It's long.
It's trimmed. It looks like hestuck his finger in a socket.
It's it runs the gamut. Tracyeven gets, like, shorter bangs,
longer hair. It varies. Vashawn,I'll guarantee you, is wearing a
wig.

Doctor (15:47):
It's not even it's not even

Rachel (15:49):
it's not

Matt (15:50):
even after an interview discussion.

Rachel (15:52):
Although okay. Well, we'll talk about that when we
get to fever. But, yeah, he hasto be wearing a wig, so he's not
even part of this discussion.But it's the commitment to the
location of her part that hasbaffled me for decades and will
continue to baffle me unless ifyou were the hairstylist from
the show and you wanna drop me anote, you can email us anytime

(16:16):
at the hosts atstrangeandbeautiful.club, and
that will go straight to me. So

Matt (16:24):
Can I recommend a solution? Potential closure for
this problem? What? You're gonnasee Kathy in 9 days.

Rachel (16:32):
I'm not asking Kathy about her hair. Look at listen.

Matt (16:35):
You can ask her.

Rachel (16:37):
Did you do that, or did they do that to you, Kathy?

Matt (16:40):
17 questions for you, Kathy.

Rachel (16:42):
I've been waiting round. I've been waiting 2 hours in
line. I've just paid you $50 tosign this thing. Can you answer
a couple of questions and canyou adopt me and help me move to
Canada? I love you.
Thank you very much. Yeah. Idon't know. I don't know. I'm
not well, you know what?

(17:03):
The best I'm hoping for is thatwe don't do what we did to Gare.
That's all I'm hoping.

Matt (17:09):
I won't be there to save the day.

Rachel (17:10):
I know. And Meg and I have discussed this at length
that you I I have stronglyconsidered pinning the thing to
my shirt. That's like, if I amnon responsive, it's because I
love you so much. Please removeand answer questions that are
written down

Doctor (17:28):
on this piece of paper.

Rachel (17:32):
Anyway, after Natalie has her little sassy, uh-oh,
trouble at home, Tracy comesover, and Natalie's like, okay.
So this lady, her name was HelenNeary. They're looking up her
next of kin right now, and Nickis like, oh, okay. So she died
on impact, And Natalie isliterally like, I doubt it.

(17:57):
Natalie, are you Why

Matt (17:58):
is she giddy?

Rachel (17:59):
Why are

Doctor (17:59):
you are you okay?

Matt (18:01):
I have an idea.

Rachel (18:02):
Oh, no. Oh, no.

Matt (18:05):
They got the semi semiannual cocaine bag.

Rachel (18:10):
Oh, maybe. I don't know. But she's like, I doubt it. She
was shot 5 times. She could'vegotten hit by the car and then
been dead, and they just shother out of, like, spite.
That could've been a rage thing.There's literally no reason to
assume that she didn't die onimpact just because she also got
shot. She could've gotten shotand then hit by the car.

(18:34):
Whatever. And Tracy's like,okay.
So is it a robbery? Like, are wemissing anything? Could it be a
hit? And Nick is like, how manyhired killers do you know who
soften up their kills by hittingthem with cars first? Well, I I
don't know.
It could be Tony hits peoplewith his cars.

Matt (18:54):
The hit and run man.

Rachel (18:57):
That's a huge assumption. Like, oh, no. No. No
sir no hired hit man has everhit anyone with a car.

Matt (19:05):
That's unprofessional. Hasn't Nick been hit by a

Rachel (19:08):
car because someone was trying to kill him? Yes. Like, a
contract killer was trying tokill him, and so they hit him
with a car, and he was like,psych. That didn't fucking work.
I'm pretty sure that's like amodus operandi, the hit and run.
The, like, okay. I've vehicularmanslaughter is like a legit
okay. Anyway, every time theymake these blanket statements,

(19:32):
they're like, no. No hiredhitman, whatever, hit someone
with a car and then get out andshoot them. Yeah.
That's not we could've just nothad that. It could've been like,
well, we'll look into it, but Idon't this just looks like a it
doesn't look profesh. Right?They left the car. They used a
low caliber bullet.

(19:53):
I don't know what to tell you.And then they walk away. Like,
after Nick makes thatpronouncement and Tracy is like,
you're right. I'm an idiot. I'mso sorry.
I'd thought of that. And thenyou shot me down, and I you're
you're the superior being inthis situation. So clearly, you
know what you're talking about.And Nick is like, yeah. Of
course, I do.

(20:13):
So what about what's this what'swith the what's with your dad?
And Tracy's like, do you knowanything about corporate crimes
division? And Nick must knowthat a change is coming, and he
must be feeling sad because he'swearing a vest.

Matt (20:29):
To brace himself.

Rachel (20:30):
And I don't think we've seen him wear a vest since
Skanky died. And he tells her,oh, it's white collar crime.
It's a good career move. I mean,corporate crimes division is
like, fine. It's legit.
I don't it's okay. And she'slike, yeah. My dad really wants
to to transfer there. And hegoes, okay. But what do you
want?
And she goes, I don't know. Butthis is really weird because we

(20:53):
say I don't know, and weliterally transition out of this
scene as she's saying I don'tknow. So we almost don't catch
the end of the sentence. It'slike she tripped, and they
couldn't redo it. And so theywere just like, well, fucking
cut it there.
It's fine.

Matt (21:09):
Just fade the the flashback over it.

Rachel (21:12):
I don't know. It's weird. But then they go straight
from that to they're headed tonotify Helen's son. And Nick
actually has his little pad out,which is cute because he's
trying to be a cop.

Matt (21:21):
Oh, yeah. We don't get the flashback till later. Never
mind.

Rachel (21:23):
No. No. No. We don't get the flashback. Well, we get it
soon, but we don't get it for awhile.
But he's walking with hislittle, like, police pad. Like,
he's reading it. I don't eventhink there's anything written
on it. He's like he's like, I'ma good cop to it for t m.

Matt (21:37):
It's reflex. It's, that's part of his beard.

Rachel (21:41):
Every once in a while, he'll pull it out and he'll
write in it or whatever, butit's probably just a list that's
like, okay. Yep. Alright. So yousaw that guy go down there.
Okay.
And he's writing, like, lettuce,coffee

Matt (21:52):
beans. Bite people. Don't bite people. Don't bite people.

Rachel (21:59):
But they go to notify the son. And there's also a
daughter, but records is havinga hard time tracking down the
daughter. And Tracy's like, Ihate notifications. And Nick
goes, yeah. Everybody does.
Like, who likes telling peoplethat their loved one is dead?
Literally nobody. But they knockon the door, and this part
cracks me up. They knock on thedoor, and Hearts of Darkness

(22:22):
from Dying for Fame startsplaying.

Matt (22:25):
Is that the rock star episode?

Rachel (22:26):
That's the rock star episode, the the music video,
the the episode long musicvideo, but the one that she gets
in trouble with because oh, no.That's fan kill. But this is one
of the songs that she plays andit's called Heart of Darkness,
and it starts playing as soon asthey knock on the door. And so
they, like, go through like,it's supposed to be this, oh,

(22:47):
look. They're being suchproactive cops.
They're searching this place.They broke down the door, and
they're doing it all to rockmusic. But we still don't wanna
license any rock music, so we'lljust drag up that old tune from
that Fred already signed over.

Matt (23:02):
So I have a problem with this. They arrive at this door

Rachel (23:08):
Yeah.

Matt (23:09):
To perform a notification

Rachel (23:11):
Sure.

Matt (23:11):
That a family member has passed away, and they are the
next of kin. They knock on thedoor, announce these police
officers Yeah. Please open thedoor. Maybe not the best
wording, but whatever. They hearsome scuffling, like, I don't
know, whatever noise is inside.

Rachel (23:33):
Yeah.

Matt (23:33):
But no one comes to open the door. Yeah. So their
immediate next course of actionis to kick in the door, guns
drawn. You're here for a familydeath notification.

Rachel (23:47):
Yeah. But he could've killed her. Well, we know it
wasn't a professional. It wasn'ta professional hit because she
got hit with a car first. And sowe know for sure this was an
amateur, and it could have been

Doctor (24:01):
I would

Matt (24:01):
say they successfully hit the victim 6 times. Five
bullets, 1 car. Yeah. That's apretty high success rate.

Rachel (24:10):
Well, it's 5 bullets. You would expect okay. I don't
know. It's I always say that,like, I'm a I'm an expert. Like,
you know, you would expect for

Doctor (24:19):
2.

Matt (24:19):
What would you expect, Rachel?

Rachel (24:23):
Not 5 bullets, like execution style. Like, you hit
her with the gun. You knock youhit her with the car. You knock
her down. You shoot her in thehead.
You're done.

Matt (24:30):
5 bullets

Rachel (24:31):
to make sure

Matt (24:32):
it's done.

Rachel (24:34):
It does.

Matt (24:35):
Okay. Double tap. Right? Double tap. Make sure

Rachel (24:38):
Quintuple tap.

Matt (24:40):
Quintuple tap is like you talk about like, so I used to
work in manufacturing. There's awhole thing called 6 Sigma. It's
like a statistics reference to 6standard deviations off the mean

(25:01):
Yeah. Of, like, failures inmanufacturing. And you get,
like, 59 like, 99.999% successrate.

Rachel (25:12):
Okay.

Matt (25:13):
Five bullets feels like 5 sigma of Hitman. Okay. Like,
standard.

Rachel (25:20):
You were like, she ain't gonna get back up.

Matt (25:22):
Right. It's like, bang bang, probably good. Bang, bang,
bang. You know, it's like 1 in a1000000 chance.

Rachel (25:34):
Yeah. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. So, anyway, the
bro has dipped.
He's like, okay. The cops, I'mout. And so they come in. They
do the, like, we're scanning.We're looking all over the place
to our rock music.
And then they get in his roomand the window's open, and
Tracy's like, oh, shit. He wentout the window. Then they look
no further. They're like, well,that's It's Nick

Matt (25:57):
could've zoomed out the window. He could've gone around.

Rachel (26:00):
Look. They have a problem with windows. Okay?
Because in the last episode,they found a broken window with
blood

Matt (26:06):
on it. Only goes in the wind apartment windows.

Rachel (26:09):
No. He's gone out windows before.

Matt (26:11):
It's a rare thing.

Rachel (26:12):
Remember the scene that

Matt (26:13):
He mostly goes saw his

Rachel (26:15):
feet go out the window.

Matt (26:19):
He must he's learned his lesson. Okay. Gary was like He

Rachel (26:24):
was like that.

Matt (26:24):
That was so embarrassing. I never want to look like a fool
like that again.

Rachel (26:29):
Well, it tells Tracy standing right there. What can
he do? What can you do when youhave to deal with people?

Matt (26:36):
If he really wanted to go out of the window, he'd just
say, hey, Tracy. What's thatbehind you?

Doctor (26:44):
Should be like And

Matt (26:44):
he'd jump out the window.

Rachel (26:45):
How did he get out so fast? No. It's there's no reason
to chase they don't know why heran. There's no like, they they
can find information here, whichis why he stays. He's like, oh,
look at that.
He appears to have left out thewindow. Well, I guess we're just
we're already in here.

Matt (27:04):
I'm just gonna paw my bare hands over all this paper and

Doctor (27:07):
stuff.

Rachel (27:08):
It's called informal look around is what he calls it.
And so they're standing they're,like, poking around in his
stuff. Tracy gets a phone call.She answers it because there's
no screen. She doesn't know it'sher dad, and, of course, it's
her dad.
And she's like, oh, goddamn it,dad. I'm still at work. And he's

(27:30):
he must say something about thecorporate crimes division
because she's like, I haven'tmade a decision yet, dad. I am
capable of running my own life.

Matt (27:39):
Might I say her accent is pretty thick this episode.

Rachel (27:44):
Well, a little bit. That's okay. It's a Canadian
show. It's fine. And so sheleans on the dresser.
She, like, arm leans on thedresser. She licks her palm,
rubs it around a little bit, andthen she finds a letter, and
she's, like, fidgeting with theletter.

Matt (27:57):
Yeah. She's, like, playing with

Rachel (28:00):
the paper. But the sentence, dad, I am capable of
running my own life, istriggering for Nick, and it
sends him into a flashback. Andin my notes, I was like, ah,
we're a spute and flashback,because I was like, oh, ah, yes.
I have seen this move thisepisode before. And it is czar
Nicholas, and he's talking toNikolai, who would be our Nick,

(28:24):
about how his wife is under thesway of this weird monk because
their son, Alexi, is sick, andshe's worried about him.
And this guy showed up and saidhe can help. And so now he has
way too much power. And the czartells Nick, it is said a friend
gained through the gaming tableis the truest friend.

Matt (28:49):
Okay.

Rachel (28:50):
What were they doing? What gaming table are we talking
was Nick playing poker and justhypnotizing everybody? And then
he was like, well, I like thatone. I think I'll keep that one.
What was he was he in a gamblingden?
What was he doing?

Matt (29:08):
Maybe they were playing chess.

Rachel (29:14):
Well, when Zarina Alexandra shows up, she's like,
oh, are you guys swappingstories about the card tables
again?

Matt (29:21):
It was probably poker, though. Yeah.

Rachel (29:22):
It was probably it was some card game. Apparently, they
met. Like, why would you throwthis in there? I guess to be
like, here's how we met.

Matt (29:32):
Yeah. Origin story. Here's how our Nick met the tsar. Of

Rachel (29:40):
Russia. Because Tsarina Alexandra shows up, and
Rasputin's, like, creepingbehind her. He's he's he's
nasty.

Matt (29:49):
He does a good job as Rasputin.

Rachel (29:51):
Yeah. He's he's sweaty looking. Kudos. He's he looks he
looks damp. He looks he lookslike he looks like he probably
smells.
And I was like, good on you,Rasputin. It's gross. So
Rasputin shows up, and Zarina'slike, oh, I'd like you to meet
my very good friend, Rasputin.Rasputin looks at Nick, and Nick

(30:12):
looks at Rasputin. Rasputin'seyes turn green.
So they like vampire vibe. Andit's like, oh, no. Rasputin's a
vampire? Holy shit. This isbetter than the Titanic.

Matt (30:26):
This is the highlight of the episode. It's all downhill
from here.

Rachel (30:30):
Because Tracy's like, holy shit. Her daughter is
Christy Black. This guy's sisteris Christy Black, and Nick goes

Matt (30:38):
Here's the running joke of the entire episode.

Rachel (30:41):
I know. Like, season 2 had running themes and skanky
subplots. This one is like, thisis as close as we get. It's like
a Tracy subplot because she'slike, holy shit. She's Christie
Black.
And Nick goes, who?

Matt (30:53):
The singer.

Rachel (30:54):
The singer, and he's like, okay.

Tracy (30:59):
I can't believe this. Nick, this letter is from
Christie Black. She's hissister.

Doctor (31:05):
Christie who?

Tracy (31:06):
Christie Black, the singer.

Rachel (31:08):
And then he's like, well, is that a letter? Is there
a return address? And she, like,nods at him. And so then they
run off. Do do do do do.
They show up at this mansion,and this dude answers the door.
And he they introducedthemselves, and they're like,
can we talk to Christie Black?And he's like, well, that's
gonna be a hard pass for mebecause I'm her therapist, and

(31:29):
I'm in charge of literallyeverything about her life right
now. And this house doubles as aclinic, so she's under my care.
I own her.
I mean, I'm helping her. I'm I'mhelping her. And if you need to
discuss anything with her, youcan discuss it with me because
I'm her therapist. And they'relike, oh, okay. Like, why is she

(31:52):
here?
Why is she living with you? Andhe's like, well, she requires
constant supervision. She'strying to rebuild her life. And
Tracy goes, oh, that's right. Itwas drugs, wasn't it?
And this is the nice little youknow, some of these episodes, if
you exclude some of the costumeand hair choices, feel fairly

(32:14):
timeless. And then every once ina while, we get a depiction that
you're like, wow. It's thenineties, and I feel like I'm a
child again. They did not knowhow to deal with people who had
substance abuse disorder. Theywere like, I'm pretty sure

(32:35):
they're all crazy and fragileand just willing to murder
people for the first person thatwill help them get like, it was
just this.
She is the weirdest depiction ofsomeone who has substance abuse
disorder. And, like, we've hadcharacters that have drug
problems before, and we didn'tdepict them this way. But she's

(32:59):
like a baby child. Like, thedrugs have taken her maturity. I
I don't know.
It's really weird. How did youfeel about the way that her,
like, art, quote, drug addict isdepicted in this move in this
episode.

Matt (33:15):
It's not good.

Rachel (33:17):
Yeah.

Matt (33:19):
Yeah. It's implies that the the drugs, like, strip
everything from you. Like, allyour agency and autonomy.

Rachel (33:31):
They just I don't know. This was just such a weird
because they walk in the house,and she's sitting in a chair,
and she has these headphones on,and she's watching too zombie is
Yeah. It's

Matt (33:42):
where I would expect that someone in treatment that is
currently sober would have moreemotion and

Rachel (33:53):
Well, we handled addiction so well in feeding the
beast. Mhmm. When we have CarrieAnne Moss's character who is
manipulative to get what shewants. Right. And that is
actually handled not horrible.
And then it's like they forgot,and they Right.

Matt (34:10):
You'd expect the person to be more energetic and having to,
like, be, like, restrainingthemselves from participating in
the kinds of habits that they'vebuilt up that support and, like,
encourage their drug seekingbehavior.

Rachel (34:30):
Yeah. I don't

Matt (34:32):
But here, we just get, she's in treatment, so she's a
zombie.

Rachel (34:37):
Right. Because she got well, it's supposed to be that
she's fallen in with the wrongcrowd. Like, she's gotten the
wrong therapist. He's the onethat wealthy people hire, but
he's just an exposure therapist.And so if her underlying issues

Matt (34:54):
Well, he's not even doing exposure therapy.

Rachel (34:58):
No. He's Well, he's choosing to kill everybody. I
mean Right. That's yeah. But ifhe is an exposure therapist,
there's certain types of mentaldisorders that, like, that is
never gonna work and it will infact make it worse.
And it's just I don't know. It'sjust like a it's not that it's

(35:18):
okay. How do I wanna describethis? It just feels like a
fundamental fundamentalmisunderstanding of substance
abuse disorder treatment, whatit does to people, the types of
people that fall into substanceabuse disorder. And it kinda
takes me out of the episodeevery time I watch it because we

(35:40):
could have given her literallyany other backstory.
She could have had a nervousbreakdown. She could have had
literally anything. Her herboyfriend kills himself, or
maybe she kills him depending onhow you wanna look at the
ending, and she lost it. Andinstead, they're like, well,
yeah, of course. It was thedrugs instead of, like, well,

(36:03):
she could have had like, shecould have completely
disassociated and had a mental,like, just like a mental
breakdown where she literallycould not cope with real life
anymore, and that would havemade more sense.
It would have made more sense.It just wouldn't have tied her
to her brother in the way theywant her to be tied to her
brother.

Doctor (36:22):
Mhmm.

Rachel (36:24):
Anyway, that was my soapbox, and I'll put it away.
We're not gonna discuss itanymore, but just know I'm not
happy with the way thatsubstance abuse disorder is
depicted in this episode. Butwe're gonna move on because it's
the nineties, and they weren'ttrying. They just they didn't
have the language. Like, we'llwe'll see in the nineties
episode, the nineties episode,the eighties episode, which is

(36:47):
the next one.
They were trying

Matt (36:49):
to nineties episode.

Rachel (36:50):
They're trying to say something without having the
language that we have sort ofestablished for saying it.

Matt (36:57):
Right. Where we are now in 2023 Yeah.

Rachel (37:00):
It's not where

Tracy (37:01):
they were.

Matt (37:01):
30 years later of people trying all different kinds of
ways of talking about theproblem. Yeah. And the ones that
don't work get discarded, butthis is before they've been
discarded.

Rachel (37:14):
Yeah. It just yeah. It feels like that. Yeah. That

Matt (37:17):
We are exposed to this, like, very whittled down list of
these are, like, productive waysof communicating about these
kinds of problems. Yeah. Butthey're kind of at the beginning
of that.

Rachel (37:30):
Even the even dying to know you where she's an
alcoholic, that's treated withmore aplomb.

Matt (37:36):
Right. But they're just throwing out ideas. They don't
have any experience No.

Rachel (37:40):
I hear you.

Matt (37:41):
Of what ideas are good or not.

Rachel (37:42):
I just wanted to get it out there that I have feelings,
and I wanted to express them.And I did, and now we can be
fun. So they walk into thehouse, and she's sitting in this
chair. And she's got headphoneson, and she's watching old tapes
of her family. And we get thismoment of, like, which is like
Nick's super hearing.
Like, Pu doesn't hear anything,and then it cuts off as soon as
the guy stops the tape. Like, healmost hears what's on like,

(38:05):
he's trying to hear what's onthe headphones

Matt (38:07):
Yeah.

Rachel (38:07):
But he can't. And she's got this on the table next to
her are, like, 4 pill bottles,like, 5 vials

Matt (38:16):
Medications and stuff.

Rachel (38:17):
A tourniquet and syringes. And they're like,
well, this is a clinic, so thatfeels safe. But Christy Black,
he comes over, and he's like,Christy, these people are here
to see you until she startshitting herself on the head. And

(38:39):
the psychologist orpsychiatrist, whatever, McGee
says, that's enough now. Youneed to listen to the detectives
Like, he's her big daddypsychiatrist, and he gets to
boss her around because she'sthis poor, addled brained heroin
addict.
Tracy and Nick are like, okay,we got to inform her. Let's go.

(39:01):
And so they're like, miss Black,your mother had an accident. She
got hit by a car, and she fellon 5 bullets. They don't tell
her.
They don't tell her anythingabout it. They're just like, she
had an accident. Your mother isdead, miss Black. And I was just

(39:22):
like, an accident. Right.
Okay. And McGee is like, okay.Cool. Is there anything else?
And Tracy is still addressingChristy Black, which actually,
this episode does one thingright, which is it gives us
something to, like, cheer aboutfor Tracy's character because
Tracy actually gets to, hold herown and have this tiny moment of

(39:46):
of character revelation in thisepisode.
But she never really talks toMcGee when she's asking
questions. She's usually ifChristy's in the room, she's
addressing Christy. And shesays, do you know why your
brother wouldn't wanna talk tothe police? And Christy's like,
no. But can I go get a glass ofwater?
And so she asks her therapist,McGee, can I go get a glass of

(40:08):
water? And he's like, yeah, butbe quick, and so he she gets up
to leave, and she stops as she'spassing Nick, and she goes, my
mother. How? My mother. How?

Doctor (40:26):
I keep

Rachel (40:27):
fucking with this character, And Nick's like, oh,
it was a hit and run. AndMcGee's like, no run alone. Get
your water. And, and so theyturn to him after she leaves,
and they're like, oh, Tracygoes, the whole drug thing
started after her boyfriend,Gary Wilton, committed suicide
at Pier 5. Thank you, Tracy.
That was a lot of information.Thank you for sticking all of

(40:49):
that in a sentence. The drugthing started. She had her had a
boyfriend. His name was GaryWilton.
He committed suicide at Pier 5.She covered a lot of what we're
going to need to know for thevery end all in one sentence, so
thanks so much. And McGee islike, yeah. But she would've
gone down without that becausethey had hit rock bottom

(41:10):
together. He's like, heroin, youname it.
They did everything. Okay.Great. Thank you so much. And he
actually addresses them, whichevery time that he talks to
them, he's, like, probing themfor information about, like,
what they know.
And he just goes, any leads? AndNick's like, yeah. It was
murder. How's that for a lead?And he's like, oh, uh-oh.

(41:34):
She seems to be taking too longgetting water, And so he runs
out to go figure out what'sgoing on, and, oh, no. She
dipped. So McGee and Tracy andNick, god, so much happens in
this episode, and yet nothinghappens. And I don't know how
that's possible, but here weare. So McGee, Tracy, and Nick
all go out the door.
And Nick looks at Tracy and he'slike, go on. Go with your

(41:55):
friend. Go over that way. And soTracy and McGee run off in one
direction. He takes, like, 2steps in the other direction,
and then he just takes off intothe air.
And he eats off to where he canhear her chanting because she's
like, center yourself. Centeryourself. Center yourself.
Center yourself as she's walkingdown this road.

Matt (42:11):
So she attempts to center herself on the road?

Rachel (42:14):
Yeah. Because the car is coming, and she steps in front
of the car. And Nick stops her,luckily, and then she's like,
what? What? What happened?
What happened?

Matt (42:28):
This actress pulls off the emotional part.

Rachel (42:30):
She's sad. She said the whole episode. She's fucking
sad. Too sad. She does a goodjob.
She doesn't not do a good job,but the only thing they gave her
was, like, okay. Now I think inthis scene, you'd be sad. Maybe
you'd be angry sad,

Matt (42:49):
sad sad. She gets the one scene where she has to go from
sad to Mad. Kind of angry anddetermined.

Rachel (42:59):
But in a sad way.

Matt (43:00):
There's a little bit of a range there.

Rachel (43:01):
Yeah. Okay. So then Tracy and McGee run up because
they went the other way, but,apparently, they went around in
a circle and they both ended upon the road. I don't know how
that works. And they run up toNick.

Matt (43:11):
It's a cul de sac.

Doctor (43:13):
It's a cul de sac.

Rachel (43:15):
Exactly. They just they they ran around the edge of the
cul de sac on the sidewalk.Okay. And Christy Black
apologizes. She's like, pleasehelp me.
I don't know what to do. Okay.And then we cut to McGee talking
to them, and McGee is like, oh,because we go back. I don't

(43:36):
know. He got her he put tuckedher into bed, gave her some milk
and cookies.
I don't fucking know. And sohe's he's like, Matthew Neary.
Oh, no. No. We don't go back.
I'm sorry. This is Reese. Weleave there. That's it. He's
like, I'm gonna take her.
I'm gonna go get her to settledown. It's gonna be fine. I'm
gonna use that tourniquet in oneof the whole vials that I had
laying around to give to her. Sothey head back to the precinct,

(43:58):
and they've looked up thebrother in the meantime, and it
turns out he was into drugs,quote, unquote, just like
Christie Black, which mightexplain why he ran away because
he could have been holding. Oh,and maybe his mom cut his
allowance short, and that's whyhe killed her.
Because if you are someone withsubstance abuse disorder, in the

(44:21):
nineties, you are guilty ofsomething. We just haven't
figured out what to pin on youyet. Right. So they put out an
APB for him. Okay.
Great. And so Reese is like,well, what was the sister's name
again? And Tracy goes, CarrieBlack, Christy Black, the
singer. And Reese goes

Matt (44:41):
So now it's Rhys's turn to have no idea what Tracy's
talking about.

Rachel (44:45):
Unless she sings the anthems at hockey games. I don't
know who she is.

Matt (44:53):
What was the sister's name again?

Tracy (44:54):
Christie Black, the singer.

Matt (44:58):
Unless she sings the anthems and hockey games, I
don't know her.

Rachel (45:02):
And then Reese and Nick Scherer look like me. She's so
cute when she thinks she knowspop culture. And they decide to
leave Christy Black with thedoctor for now because all of
that felt legit, secure,clinical. Like, he really had
her best interest in mind. Youcould tell how at 1 o'clock in

(45:26):
the morning, she was sittingnext to a table full of drugs
watching a

Doctor (45:29):
video of Silas with the

Rachel (45:31):
fucking headphones on. And the first opportunity she
got, she ran away and tried tokill herself. So clearly

Matt (45:38):
Things are going well.

Rachel (45:39):
She's in the right fucking place. Okay? So she he's
got this.

Matt (45:48):
The moment she was, like, free, she ran away. So,
obviously, she needs 24 hourmonitoring at a mental health
facility. She's already in theperfect spot.

Rachel (46:03):
Oh, god. Yes. I mean, didn't you see his couch
furniture? I have seen thisfurniture at Goodwill. That's
why every time I saw it, it justcracked me up, because it's
supposed to be like the superexpensive mansion, and then he
has the shittiest, like, it'sthe shittiest furniture.
So funny. Anyway, I love setdressing, and I love seeing what
choices they made for setdressing. Like, are you trying

(46:26):
to convince me? Because later,they sit on the couches, so they
were designed to be interactedwith.

Matt (46:31):
Sometimes there are choices, and sometimes there are
compromises, and sometimesthere's just whatever we fucking
have to make it work.

Rachel (46:44):
I wonder at what point in the season we knew we were
gonna get canceled. Like, Iwonder at what point in filming
they knew they were done becausethis episode feels

Matt (46:56):
When Skanky got on the plane.

Rachel (46:58):
Real, real fucking safe. It feels real safe. Like, we're
trying to say something, butwe're trying to say something in
a way

Matt (47:06):
Oh, like they're trying to sell themselves to

Rachel (47:09):
Yeah. A

Matt (47:10):
studio because

Rachel (47:10):
we talked about season 1 is experimental, season 2 is
safe, and then season 3 iscorporate. And this feels real
safe corporate. Like, we'retrying to look like we're
tackling an issue. We went alittle far with the police
brutality. Maybe there was alittle bit of flash for that.
So we kinda ditched having anykind of a meaningful message for

(47:33):
a while. And this episode, we'retrying to have a meaningful
message, but is it? Is it? Andthen next episode, we're like,
AIDS, y'all. We're gonna talkabout AIDS.
So it really feels like they gotthe news, and they were like,
gloves are fucking off. Glovesare off because in the

(47:54):
penultimate episode, we have atrans character. Well, we'll
discuss that when we get therebecause this is a it's a
complicated nineties depiction.It's really difficult to
quantify what they're trying togo for, and we will have fun
debating that. But it doesreally feel like they went full,
fuck it, gloves are off.
But this episode is really safebecause we're like, oh, look.

(48:18):
Nick is controlled by Lacroix,and Tracy's controlled by her
dad, and Zarina is controlled byRasputin, and blah blah blah.
Everybody's controlled bysomebody. Well, of course, we
fucking knew that. We've spent 3seasons watching Lacroix tug all
of Nick's strings.
On Instagram, I posted a singleframe from this really long

(48:41):
Twitter thread where this ladybroke down why LaCroix is the
world's greatest and longestrunning troll. And I was trying
to read it to Matt, and I waslaughing so hard. I fucking lost
it. I'll see if I can post alink to it. Although you can't
what you can't look at the wholethread if you don't log in.
So Jesus. But, anyway, if youcan find it, it's hysterical,

(49:05):
but we know it. We know whoLacroix is. We didn't need this
episode to tell us that, butit's fine. It's fine.
It's fine. So Reese actuallystops Tracy. He's like, Nick,
you should probably go getstarted on some paperwork. Wink,
wink, nudge, nudge, head out thefucking door. And so Nick is
like, cool, cool paperwork.
See you later. Bye bye. So hewalks out the door, and Tracy is

(49:26):
getting ready to leave, andReese stops her. And he's like,
hold on. Your dad called andinformed me that you will be
transferring to corporate crime.
And Tracy's like, this wasn't myidea, captain. And Reese is
like, okay. I mean, that's fine,but you could have told me this
was happening. Like, I get it.Your dad's a little overbearing.

(49:50):
I'm the cool, cool boss. I'm notlike a real boss. I'm a cool
boss.

Doctor (49:55):
I'm understanding.

Matt (49:59):
I've seen all these reels or, you know, short videos of
I'm a millennial manager and,take your sick days. I'm a
millennial manager. Yeah. Go runerrands in the middle of the
day.

Rachel (50:18):
I mean, let's be real. This is still Reese trying to
stay on Tracy's good side, soshe can't can stay so he can
stay on Tracy's dad's good side.Yeah. Because, ultimately, she
is the voice that will will becontacting her dad about what's
going on. And so he wants tolook good in her eyes, and
that's fine.
He's also acting friendly. Likelike, I get it. Sometimes shit

(50:42):
happens to you, and you don'thave any control over it. And I
don't understand it. In fact,one of the running plot lines of
my life is that I don'tunderstand things.
But he tells her, like, thiswill be a good move career wise.
I mean, I get it. You don'twanna go just because your dad

(51:03):
says you you should go, but Iwant everyone here to be here
because they wanna be here. Idon't want you to be here
because you're just trying tostick it to daddy. And Tracy's
like, cool.
I get that. I respect you, Cap.And then we go to the morgue,
and Natalie has apparently stillbeen hitting the no. No. The the

(51:24):
allotment of morgue cocaine thatthey sent over from from lockup
or whatever because she's like,you know, Ellen probably would
have made it if she'd had a goodenough field surgeon or, you
know, field whatever and a goodsurgeon, but the bullets to the
chest sorta settled the issue.

(51:45):
Helen Neary might have lived ifshe'd had good field care and a
great surgeon, but the 5 shotsinto her chest sort of settled
the issue. 32 automatic. Whatthe fuck is wrong

Doctor (51:54):
with you?

Rachel (51:55):
What's wrong with her in this episode? Every once in a
while, she is gleefullyambivalent about death, and it
makes you wonder about the typeof person that's like, oh, a
vampire. Yeah. We could worktogether. I could make this
happen.
But Nick asks Natalie about BenMcGee, the psychiatrist. He's

(52:15):
like, do you know who she is?Well, first, he, well, he asks
about McGee first, and then hesays, you know, she he works
with Christie Black, and Nataliegoes, who? And Nick goes, the
singer? And she's like, I don'tknow who that is.
And he goes, yeah. I don't knowwho that is either. So

Matt (52:31):
Dig number 3 on Tracy.

Rachel (52:33):
Yeah. But Natalie has heard of him, and she's like,
well, he ain't great. He's sortof a rich person psychiatrist.
You go to him. If you're notcrazy, you're eccentric.
And Nick is like, oh, okay.Like, what does he do? Why do we
not like him? And she goes,well, imagine you're afraid of
elevators, and there's 2 schoolsof thought. We figure out why

(52:57):
you're afraid of elevators.
We treat the underlying fear,and then you're no longer afraid
of elevators. Or we just put youin an elevator until you are so,
like, over your fear ofelevators just through exposure
that you can now ride elevators,but we don't actually deal with
the underlying fear. And I don'tfeel comfortable with you not

(53:18):
dealing with the underlying fearbecause it could come back as
other neurosis.

Matt (53:22):
Okay. So this is where she explains, like, the exposure
therapy badly. Because the thething with, like, fear of
elevators is it's like ageneralized anxiety, which is
physiologically similar to fear,except fear has a specific,
like, target, whereas anxiety isjust there there's nothing that

(53:45):
you can actually identify as theproblem. You just feel it as,
like, a reflex. And so theexposure therapy is to teach you
not that the thing isn't worthbeing afraid of or feeling
anxiety about, but you'reactually strong enough to handle
it when it comes up.
Right. So either way, you'reyou're not, like, attacking the

(54:10):
symptom. You're not, like,numbing yourself to to the fear.
You're learning that you canhandle it.

Rachel (54:18):
Right. Well, then she goes on to say that he's a whiz
at hypnotism and chemicalconditioning. So there you go.
She figured she solves thecrime. Like, she's like she's
like, oh, yeah.
He could give her drugs, andthen he could

Matt (54:31):
hit the crime. They're doing something. Foreshadowing.

Rachel (54:33):
It was fucking foreshadowing. It wasn't
foreshadowing. It was just,like, they wrote it up on the
blackboard for later. Like, hehypnotized her using chemical
conditioning. The end.

Matt (54:44):
Right. What would a bad therapist do? Oh, he'd just take
advantage of them.

Rachel (54:50):
Oh, okay. Well, that's exactly what he fucking does.
And then she goes on to say thatshe's a treat the disease sort
of person, which is real, realrich for the lady who's been
like, Nick, use a tanning bed.Nick, here's some vitamin a.
Nick, take these

Matt (55:08):
garlic pills. Each individual symptom.

Rachel (55:10):
Nick, here's some garlic pills. Nick, try to eat food.
Don't drink blood. The one timeshe has attempted to address the
actual disease was when she gavehim that

Matt (55:21):
The fix?

Rachel (55:21):
The fix. Yeah. The fix episode. And we all see how that
worked out. Well, I mean, in allfairness, what she works in a
morgue.
She doesn't have any kind oflike, she has nothing. She has
no equipment to use to try to

Matt (55:36):
To be fair to Natalie, she needed to refine the treatment,
and Nick just straight upinjected the entire needle all
at once, specifically againsther medical advice. Right. So it
had potential, but Nick Fuckedit up. Fucked it up. He fucked

(55:59):
it up.

Rachel (55:59):
But it's so traumatizing, this whole
discussion of therapy. Nick'slike, oh, therapy.

Doctor (56:06):
It's like it's set into a flashback,

Rachel (56:09):
and it's him giving the Zarina a doll for Anastasia. And
she's like, oh, thank you. Andhe's like, oh, I saw it in the
market, and I thought of youguys. I I I killed its owner,
and I took it from her. Andshe's thankful

Matt (56:25):
that I have come out. My after dinner snacks.

Rachel (56:28):
Maybe it was Daniel's. Oh, wait a minute. So he goes,
we are grateful. Well, she sayswe are grateful for your
friendship. And he's like, well,why are you so sad?
Everybody in this episode's sad.So why are you sad? And she
says, you know, the world is nolonger with the world that I
knew, and I fear for oursurvival. And then Rasputin pops

(56:50):
up out of the bushes. He's like,I imagine he smelled him coming.
I don't know. He must make that,like, slurp slurp sound

Doctor (56:58):
when he walks.

Matt (57:01):
Yeah. He just makes a squelch noise when he walks.

Rachel (57:04):
Exactly.

Matt (57:05):
And it's just the moisture in his shoes.

Rachel (57:07):
Right. She said so Nick is like Nick's like, so about
Rasputin, though? And she'slike, no. No. No.
Do not speak ill of him. AndNick's like, well, hold on. Does
Alexi have the followingsymptoms? Like like, he's one of
those, drug advertisements. Idon't know.

(57:27):
If you're not in the US, in theUS, it's legal to advertise for
prescription medication, and sothey'll list out symptoms and
then be like, ask your doctorabout this medication. And so
Nick is like, okay. Well, doeshe have the following symptoms?
Is he weak? Yep.
Pale? Yep. His bones ache? Yep.Fevers?
Yep. Bright lights hurt hiseyes? Yep. Is he always thirsty?

Matt (57:51):
Yep.

Rachel (57:53):
And Nick is like, yeah. He's got what I think he does,
and the Zareen is like, whatwhat is it? And he's like, oh,
you know, it's a thing that I'mfamiliar with. What? Is there,
like, a transitional periodwhere you're weak and your bones
hurt, but you're also kind of avampire?
What the shit?

Matt (58:11):
Maybe maybe, that's what happens if you continuously feed
off of someone, but don't turnthem into a vampire.

Rachel (58:19):
Maybe. Yeah. Because Nick is like, well, there's a
cure, but only up to a certainpoint. And this is when Rasputin
arrives, and he's like, withoutthe me, Alexei would already be
dead.

Doctor (58:29):
And he's already has a little

Matt (58:30):
bit of text.

Rachel (58:31):
Nobody even has a pretend Russian accent. I had a
better Russian accent thaneveryone else in this flashback,
including Nick, who we know cando a decent Russian flashback
because, as Meg and I justwatched an episode of this show
called Diamonds where he plays aRussian ballerina. You are a
beautiful lady. I am beautifultoo. Beautiful people should be

(58:57):
together.
Don't you think so? It's thebest. Okay. I can't. That
episode was also weird andslightly boring, but Garrett
gets you through it, and,honestly, this is about the
same.
So he's like, there's a cure,but only to a certain point. And

(59:17):
then they have a hypno off

Doctor (59:20):
where Nick

Rachel (59:20):
is, like, look at my eyes and Rasputin's like, oh,
look at my eyes. And they'relike, you listen to me. Oh, you
listen to me.

Matt (59:27):
Okay. Okay. Okay. I think I know. I think I know why
Rasputin won this one.

Rachel (59:32):
Okay.

Matt (59:32):
Alright. So we've established that res Rasputin
probably has moist clothing.

Doctor (59:40):
Yes.

Matt (59:43):
We've also established previously that vampires can
absorb blood through anyorifice.

Rachel (59:50):
Okay.

Doctor (59:51):
Yes. Yes.

Rachel (59:52):
These are all established to pass.

Matt (59:53):
What if what if Rasputin just keeps, like, his boots,
like, literally full of blood?And then when he needs a little
boost for his hypnotism, he canslurp it up through his toes.

Rachel (01:00:09):
Oh, are his toes an orifice? Is there

Matt (01:00:13):
If there's down there? If you're resputin', why not?
Nobody's disputing resputin'sick now. Because his hypnotism
is so good.

Rachel (01:00:27):
No. No. No. No. I got it.
I got it. Thank you. Yes. Okay.So he he engages his backup
blood supply, and he manages to

Matt (01:00:36):
out hit him. Nick Nick has no backup blood supply.

Rachel (01:00:39):
He doesn't have that kind of breath.

Matt (01:00:40):
He does have a turbo boost.

Rachel (01:00:41):
No. He doesn't. And then he's like, yeah. She's mine. I
own her.
And he goes, ever your servant,your highness. And then we go
back to

Matt (01:00:50):
That's how he gets out of that conversation without
getting sentenced to death.

Rachel (01:00:55):
Yeah. He's like, cool. Cool. Rasputin's fine. Heard,
fine.
Everything's fine.

Matt (01:01:01):
I'll be on my way.

Rachel (01:01:02):
I'm gonna go lurk in the other room for a bit. Just plug
my nose trying to pretendRasputin's not here. And we go
back to the present. Of course,we do because what the fuck

Doctor (01:01:12):
was happening in the past?

Rachel (01:01:13):
And then we're talking to McGee, and McGee is like he's
talking to Christie. Nobody elseis there. It's just him and
Christie. He's like, what wereyou thinking? And Christie's
like, well, I don't know.
He goes, did you think thatkilling yourself would make it
better? And Christy's like,well, she was my mom, and I
loved her, and I needed her. Andhe's like, no. You only need

(01:01:34):
yourself. And accidents happen.
Sometimes people get hit by carsand they fall on 5 bullets. It's
a thing. It can happen, but youcan't give up. You're not weak.
All you've been through, all thework, the pain, that's not
something a weak person could gothrough, is it?

(01:01:55):
She's like, no. I'm reallystrong. And he's like, yeah.
You're really strong. You'reyou're you're so strong.
You wanna put the headphonesback on? She's like, fine. Yeah.
We can do it again. Like, let'sget back to my hypno
conditioning, which I'mapparently doing.
And he says, I'm only hard onyou because you can take it. And
it just reminded me of the quotefrom Margaret Atwood about male

(01:02:16):
fantasies. Do you know which oneI'm talking about? Yeah. Male
fantasies, male fantasies.
Is everything run by malefantasies? Up on a pedestal or
down on your knees, it's all amale fantasy that you're strong
enough to take what they dishout or else too weak to do
anything about it. Evenpretending you aren't catering

(01:02:37):
to male fantasies is a malefantasy. Pretending you're
unseen, pretending you have alife of your own, that you can
wash your feet and comb yourhair, unconscious of the ever
present watcher peering throughthe keyhole, peering through the
keyhole in your own head ifnowhere else. You are a woman
with a man inside watching awoman.

(01:02:58):
You are your own voyeur. It wasthe, like, too weak to take it
or strong enough to takewhatever they dish out. That's
all part of the fantasy. Andthat's what it felt like. It was
like, you can take what I'mgiving you can take this.
You can do this for me. You'restrong. You're making progress
because you're strong. And sheends up putting the headphones

(01:03:19):
on and restarting the videobecause she's like, yeah. I'm
strong.
Yeah. I can do this. Let's let'sget back at it. Well, heal me
with this re repetitive homemovie that I'm watching over and
over again that nobody questionsever. They're like, yeah.
Obviously, I watch home videosto feel better about myself
often on repeat, especially ifit's somebody else

Matt (01:03:42):
enjoying themselves. Not licensed therapist, Rachel.

Rachel (01:03:48):
Like, this guy got a license?

Matt (01:03:50):
Like, it's hard.

Rachel (01:03:51):
Like, well, like, it's hard. So how do you reason with
someone who thinks they'realways right? That's what Tracy
is saying, because she's talkingto Nick because Nick is dealing
with Rasputin having controlover his friend in the past and
also with, McGee having controlover Christy, and Nick is

(01:04:13):
dealing or Tracy is dealingwith, her dad. So she's like,
sooner or later, you just giveup, and you let him have your
way. But I really think peopleneed to feel in control of their
lives or a piece of you goescrazy.

Doctor (01:04:27):
You can't reason with them.

Tracy (01:04:28):
How do you reason with someone who thinks that they're
always right? Sooner or later,you just give up. Let them have
their way. People need to feelin control of their lives. If
not, it's like a little piece ofyou goes crazy.

Rachel (01:04:42):
And she even mentions, like, maybe that's why I go to
my dad so often for advicebecause I can't make decisions.
He won't let me learn how. AndNick is like, oh, I feel this so
fucking hard. Oh, like, it tookme, 500 years to figure out how
to make my own decisions. And Ihad to kill LaCroix, like, 3
times.

(01:05:03):
And then I go back to McGee's.

Matt (01:05:05):
Right. Because you can't even kill your dad. So It's

Rachel (01:05:07):
like McGee precinct morgue. McGee precinct morgue.
McGee precinct morgue. We'reback at McGee's, and they're
talking to him because she'sunavailable. And he's like,
well, I mean, I'll help you asmuch as I can, but, like, I'm
not gonna jeopardize herrecovery because her recovery is
utmost to me.
Did you not see how I have anentire stack of her home videos?
And they were like, oh my god.So, like, I heard heard, but can

(01:05:30):
you provide some info? And hespends a little bit of time
shitting on Helen, which isreally interesting. He's like,
well, she was an absentee mom.
They all had ambivalentrelations with her. Her brother
was a drug deadbeat drug user orChristy Black. And they're like,
okay. Well, have you seenMatthew? Like, do you have any

(01:05:50):
idea why he would have run?
And he goes, oh, what? Matthewwon't talk?

Matt (01:05:55):
He's a

Rachel (01:05:55):
suspect. He's a suspect? He doesn't ever actually answer
their questions. He just asksfurther questions about Matthew
because they go, you said theyfought. Was there physical
violence?
And he's like, he's a suspect? Iknow Matthew. He's not a killer.
And this reminded me of talkingto my own mom, and I felt a

(01:06:16):
little triggered for a minutebecause my mom can't answer a
question to save her life. Shejust asks you clarifying
questions.
Like, my daughter wasn't feelinggood the other day. She came
out. I said, I said, daughter,did you throw up? And
immediately mom had a panicattack and was screaming, did
she throw up? And I couldn'thear what my daughter said.
And this is kind of what thisinterview felt like. Like, yeah.

(01:06:39):
I don't know. We're trying toask you about Matthew, but
you're not being really helpful.You're actually being super
sauced, so good job on that.
Like, this guy needs to learn tobe better at crime. He is not
covering it up very well. Heliterally has the recording of
him saying, you're strong. Youcan shoot these people. You're
strong.
You can murder these people justout and about. He doesn't he

(01:07:04):
doesn't fucking put it away. Andthese police officers have been
there, like, 17 times today. Buthe does mention, that they've
already worked through a lot ofChristy's grief in his sessions.
Like, she's pretty much alreadyfine now.
So and Nick confronts him. He'slike, yeah. So about your
treatment techniques so at leastit's bothering him a little.

(01:07:25):
It's a it's like like nibblingat the edges of, I don't feel
great about this.

Matt (01:07:31):
Yeah. That this guy has a reputation for Yeah. And just
exploiting people.

Rachel (01:07:35):
McGee's like, I don't know what you've heard, but I
get results. So and they'relike, the man says he gets
results. That's a compellingargument. And then they get a he
hears a doorbell ring, and hegoes to his door because he's
like, if you'll excuse me, I'mwaiting for some deliveries. And
then we hear a gunshot, and Iwarned you.
And then Nick is like, oh, okay.How does Nick get out the door

(01:07:59):
and cut him off on themotorcycle by flying in front of
the motorcycle without anybodyseeing him do that? It is like a
circle in front of this guy'shouse, and so he's parked
slightly around the circle withhis, like, motorcycle. And Nick
runs out and lands in front ofthe motor cycle as if he flew in
front of the motorcycle.

Matt (01:08:19):
Yeah. He happens from the door, like, the stairs in front
of the door to in front of themotorcycle. But

Rachel (01:08:26):
Unless Tracy was so preoccupied with making sure
that McGee was okay, she didn'tsee her partner fly over. And
then he's looking. He shouldhave seen him land in front of
the motorcycle.

Matt (01:08:38):
Well, he was looking down at the motorcycle to get it
started.

Rachel (01:08:42):
Alright. Well, Nick pops up, and he ends up getting this
guy, basically. And they takehim back to the precinct
because, hey. That's the nextstop. We go McGee's house
precinct morgue.
McGee's house precinct morgue.Like, on repeat. So we're back
at the precinct, and he's like,I wasn't trying to shoot him. I
just don't like how he treats mysister. So I shot in his general

(01:09:05):
vicinity.
And they're like, well, it kindof feels like he's helping her,
and he goes, yeah. Like, anyrehab clinic would. Like, it
helped me. But Christy isn'tChristy anymore. She's a fucking
zombie.
And Tracy's like, well, maybethat's a good thing. I mean, the
alternative is drug addicts, somaybe vacant and uninterested in

(01:09:26):
life.

Doctor (01:09:26):
Any is better than that.

Matt (01:09:28):
That's a horrible life.

Rachel (01:09:29):
I know. And Matthew was like, no. No. She isn't anyone
anymore. That's my problem.
She's not anybody anymore. AndNick's like, oh, okay. Cool. Can
you tell us about your mother?And Tracy immediately follows
with, did you get along?
So they're doing a really goodjob of being a partnership in
this in this discussion. AndNick follows it up with your

(01:09:53):
mom's dead. You know? She wasmurdered. And he's like, oh my
god.
Do you think it was me? Like, Ididn't it wasn't me. And he's
like, okay. Nick says we went toyour apartment to notify you,
and you ran. That's not a greatlook, dude, bra.
That's not a great look, bra.And he goes, yeah. Well, I was

(01:10:15):
holding, and Nick's like, oh,okay, cool. I thought you were
clean. And he's like, well,clean's a little relative.
I just had some grass, whichwouldn't even be illegal now in
Toronto. And they're like, youknow what? We haven't told
because he asked, does Christyknow that mom's dead? And
they're like, well, we haven'ttold her yet. McGee thinks it

(01:10:35):
would be too hard on her, andhe's like, yeah.
I agree. For once, I agree. Andthen they go out to kinda talk
with Reese about it because wejust got it. This is just a
series of conversations is whatthis entire episode is. And
neither Tracy nor Nick reallybelieve his reason for running,
but, like, meh, we're not gonnafollow-up on that.
So who gives a shit? And Reesesays they can hold him for a bit

(01:10:56):
on the weapons charge andsuggests telling, Christie Black
that her mom was murdered. Nicksuggests that because that she's
the one person they haven'ttalked to so far. And as it
turns out, this is an excellenthunch on his part. So good job,
Nick.
You did police work. And thenReese breaks the news that Tracy
will be starting at corporatecrime first thing tomorrow

(01:11:18):
morning. And Tracy does not seemshocked, and he's like, oh, you
knew? And she goes, I hadaccepted the inevitable. Like, I
knew I was gonna get shuntedover there.
Dad decided I was gonna do it,so here I am. And Reese is like,
well, I'm sorry to lose you, butyou just let me know how it
goes. Go home. Rest. Shifts overanyway.

(01:11:39):
So Nick is driving home because,hey, surprise. We get a new
location in this episode andit's Nick's house. So Nick is
going home, and LaCroix ispodcasting. And LaCroix goes,
you're thinking about the past.I can tell.

Matt (01:11:55):
Well, of

Rachel (01:11:55):
course, he can tell. He can fucking read his mind. He's
probably like, oh, is he back onRasputin? Damn. I haven't
thought about Rasputin in a longtime.
And he's like, I bet you'rewondering, how did I get here?
Did I have a say in the matter,or did I just drift here? Like
flotsam, subject to the winds ofeverything and everyone but
myself, bumping through history.And this is so traumatizing. It

(01:12:22):
sends Nick into his flashback.

Matt (01:12:24):
That monologue reminded me of Paul Atreides.

Rachel (01:12:28):
It's like, are we really predetermined to be on a certain
path, or do we just sort of bumparound like a ping pong ball

Matt (01:12:40):
Our way through history.

Rachel (01:12:41):
In the obstacles of history. And we go back and he's
walking into a room andRasputin's, like, sitting in the
corner. He's, like, huddled inthe corner. And he's like, okay.
What why did you summon me?
And Rasputin's like, it is not Iwho summoned you. He has a
different accent this time.Don't ask me why. Nick looks

(01:13:04):
over, and it's Laquan. Laquangoes bumping through history
again.
So, that's our follow through.That's like he said it in the
podcast, and they said it in thepast. And that's how we know. He
is remembering what Nick isremembering, because he
remembers this conversation too.God.
God. This fucking episode. Andhe's like, or did you just sense
the coming revolution? History.Oh, we are always he doesn't say

(01:13:29):
we are always where history is.
He says history is always wherewe are.

Matt (01:13:36):
Which I thought was a really nice angle on it. Yeah.
Because it can provide a handwavy explanation for why is Nick
always with these, like, famousfigures of history?

Rachel (01:13:50):
Yeah.

Matt (01:13:51):
It's because Lacroix is always in the background,
causing some event that leads tothis person being famous. Yeah.
It's not that he just happenedto be hanging out with famous
people. It's whoever he hangsout with or whoever Lacroix is

(01:14:11):
paying attention to at themoment. Lacroix is going to
engineer some situation, somesocial upheaval or revelation or
whatever Yeah.
Just because he likes pokingaround.

Rachel (01:14:25):
Yeah. Well, he he likes the carnage that follows.

Matt (01:14:28):
Yeah.

Rachel (01:14:29):
Yeah. He's just cooking the buffet is what he's doing.

Matt (01:14:32):
He's preheating the oven.

Rachel (01:14:34):
Yeah. That's the entire, premise of The Secret Life of
Addie LaRue is that she secretlydrives, like, creativity and
artistic growth throughouthistory. I didn't finish that
book, because I could not bearto finish that book, because it
got so predictable, but it was apretty interesting premise. She

(01:14:55):
gets forgotten immediately. Ithink she has to walk through a
door or it's the next day.
Anyway, she gets immediatelyforgotten as soon as people
don't see her anymore. And soshe can, like, influence people
and then immediately be beforgotten. So they think they
did it. They think they inventedit, but she did. And we find out

(01:15:18):
that, surprise motherfuckers,Lacroix turned Rasputin into a
vampire, But it turns out he'smore headstrong than he
bargained for.
He goes, not unlike you,Nicholas, except I hope it isn't
madness that makes you soheadstrong, is it?

Doctor (01:15:36):
He's rather headstrong, rather like you, actually.
Although I trust that it is notmadness that makes you so You
know why I resist

Matt (01:15:46):
you. Oh, yes. You would have

Doctor (01:15:48):
me believe that all men should be free.

Rachel (01:15:54):
It is now. It wasn't at first, but it is now.

Matt (01:15:58):
If that makes you leave me alone, then yes.

Rachel (01:16:01):
And then LaCroix launches into a pro a pro
enslavement monologue that justfeels like rammed the fuck in
this episode. Like, if we didn'tlisten, if you had not gotten
the point that everybody iscontrolled by somebody else yet.

(01:16:24):
Here, guys, so I'm fucking hereto tell you, LaCroix is ready to
spell it out explicitly. Neverfear. If you felt like it was a
mystery before, it won't be forlong.

Matt (01:16:36):
He has lessons to teach. That's why he started a podcast.

Rachel (01:16:40):
I mean, fair. It's fair. He's like, oh, yes. You would
have me believe that all menshould be free. Except people
like to be enslaved and toldwhat to do and who to hate, and
freedom is the absence ofindividual thought.

(01:17:04):
And then he goes on, and this isthe part of this monologue that
I actually do like. And he says,we are all under someone's
thumb. The czar is under theczarina. The czarina is under
Rasputin, and Rasputin is underme.

Matt (01:17:21):
So like I said, we're all under somebody's thumb, except
for me,

Rachel (01:17:24):
of course. Nick goes, and you're under? And then he's
like, he does not answer thatquestion.

Matt (01:17:35):
Well, he explained in the the possession episode

Rachel (01:17:40):
Sons of Belial.

Matt (01:17:42):
That he

Rachel (01:17:44):
I answer to no one.

Matt (01:17:45):
Yeah. He answers to no one.

Rachel (01:17:46):
Then you have no purpose. That maybe, but at
least I don't lie to myself.Yeah. Okay. That was back in the
inquisition.
We're we're past that now. He'sgrown. He still doesn't answer
to anybody, but he's also grown.So LaCroix just like shrug, and
then a couple people walk inwith guns, and he's like, yeah.

(01:18:06):
Shoot the bitch.
And so they shoot, and then he'slike, dump them in the river.
And Nick's like, that's notgonna kill him. He's like, it's
not, but it will spark arevolution. It will catalyze
events. And he goes, revolution,you see, is all in the timing.
And then he takes off, like,takes off in flight up inside

(01:18:28):
the building.

Matt (01:18:29):
Inside the building.

Rachel (01:18:30):
And it reminded me of cherry blossoms where Nick takes
off inside the building.

Matt (01:18:35):
Breaks the ceiling?

Rachel (01:18:35):
Does he go through the ceiling? Literally, anyone
watching the pals just sees,like, something, like, pop out
of the out of the roof and thenfly off.

Matt (01:18:47):
Damn. We need to get the roof repaired again.

Rachel (01:18:50):
Goddamn it, Nicholas.

Matt (01:18:52):
Oh, wait. Wrong thing. Anastasia.

Rachel (01:18:56):
Does Lukla get covered in plaster dust and he leaves,
like, a cloudy trail as he fliesoff? I don't know. And then
Tracy is at corporate crimesdepartment because, of course,
now she works at the corporatecrimes department, and her boss
is an asshole. And that's theentire

Matt (01:19:09):
office space.

Rachel (01:19:10):
That's the entire purpose. That's the entire
point. She's an asshole. And thefunniest line here is when Tracy
is like, oh, forensicaccounting, but I do homicide.
And she goes, the boss says, oh,I know this will be a challenge
for you, but you can handle it.
Like, oh, no, honey. I knewyou'd do homicide, but don't
worry. I think you're betterthan that because we're better

(01:19:33):
than you. Just spoiler alert.And then we come back because
fucking videos.
Finally appears and isimmediately murdered, but damn,
damn, damn, then we're done. Sothen Natalie is there for the
body.

Matt (01:19:52):
Well, this is when we find out that it's Christie Black.
No. Yeah. We we zoom, like, panover and see the girl,

Doctor (01:20:01):
and we

Matt (01:20:02):
go up to her face.

Rachel (01:20:03):
Yeah. You're right.

Matt (01:20:04):
That's when we find out.

Rachel (01:20:05):
Oh, Christy. Fucking forgot. It's falling out of my
mind. I gotta fast forwardthrough this because I'm losing
it as time goes on. It's, like,chunking off.
Yeah. It's Christy. Surprisey'all. It's Christy.

Matt (01:20:17):
The anti memetic Yeah. Properties are

Rachel (01:20:20):
It's already at work. At work. So Natalie is there for
the body, and she's like, Thiswas Christy Black's business
manager. Christy Black's momdied. I'm sensing a pattern.
Thank you. And Nick goes, well,it can't be Matthew because he's
been in holding, and Nataliegoes, so who does that leave you

(01:20:41):
with? And then walks off.

Matt (01:20:44):
Natalie's got some attitude.

Rachel (01:20:45):
Oh, she got some tood this episode. She really does.
So then Tracy has gotten a file.They give her a file, and
they're like, this is a file. Gothrough this shit.
And Tracy's like, explain

Matt (01:20:57):
Lauren a character in Babylon 5?

Rachel (01:21:00):
Lauren. Yeah.

Matt (01:21:01):
Yeah. This is the Lauren account.

Rachel (01:21:05):
Is it? Yeah. Yeah. Well, Lauren's in it for, like, a
couple of episodes, and it's endof season.

Matt (01:21:12):
It would be after this.

Rachel (01:21:14):
It's yeah. It's when Sheridan dies on Zahadoum
because he jumps off the ledge.

Matt (01:21:19):
Spoiler alert.

Rachel (01:21:20):
He meets Lauren at the bottom. Between the tick and the
tock. It's one of my favoriteepisodes. What do you live for?
Who are you?
Okay. Sorry. Could derail mewith Babylon 5 because now I'm
like, oh, that's a reallyfucking good episode because
he's like, what do I live for?It says okay. Never mind.
Sorry. I have to go back to

Matt (01:21:38):
But Tracy, Tracy can't

Rachel (01:21:40):
focus on the world where it's gone. File, and then she's
like, yeah. This looks realexciting. And the lady goes, I
know it's tedious, but my peopleget their job done, and they
just keep their head down andthey do things my way. And you
homicide cops have a reputationfor being independent.
And Tracy goes, don't worry,ma'am. I wouldn't dream of using
my head here. And she's like,I'm gonna pretend we got off to

(01:22:04):
a good start, and you're gonnahave this file done by tomorrow.

Matt (01:22:08):
Tomorrow. E o d, b a u.

Rachel (01:22:13):
F u. So then Christy Black shows up at the precinct
to see her brother and Reeselets her go in. He's like, no.
We wouldn't normally do this,but Tracy says you're famous, so
sure. Just leave your purse atthe front.
And her brother's really happyto see her, and he's like, after
this, let's go out and getsomething to eat. You can come

(01:22:35):
back to my place, and we need totalk about McGee because I don't
think he's good for you. And wehave this really sweet moment
right up until she shoots himbecause he sends the guard out
to get water and Kleenex becauseshe's crying because,
apparently, every time shecries, people just hydrate her.
They're like, can we get thiswoman some water? She's leaking.
Moisturizer. You need

Matt (01:22:56):
to fill up the tank.

Rachel (01:22:58):
And so she shoots him, all surprised, 5 times in the
chest with a low caliber bullet.

Matt (01:23:02):
I was thinking it might have made this episode a little
bit more interesting, justcharacter wise, to have Matthew
be the one that got Christieinto drugs. And then you could
have a little more interaction.

Rachel (01:23:20):
I don't even wanna talk about how to make this episode
better. I just want this episodeto go away.

Matt (01:23:25):
Okay.

Rachel (01:23:25):
Except for Rasputin.

Matt (01:23:26):
He's dead now.

Rachel (01:23:28):
Yeah. Except for Rasputin, it saves this episode
somehow with his, like, moistdampness.

Matt (01:23:39):
Why did Rasputin just sit there and let himself get shot?

Rachel (01:23:46):
Because everyone else knows that the only thing you
can do when LaCroix is around issurrender. Nick is the only one
who has been fighting this long,and that's why LaCroix likes him
so much.

Matt (01:23:56):
It's a test.

Rachel (01:23:57):
Everyone else is like, oh god. Okay. He don't like me
anymore. I'm surely dead. Ishall just sit here and await to
my fate.
But Reese come because, ofcourse, now we come back to
Natalie has once again arrivedto investigate this body. This
is, like, the fucking 5th timeshe's done this today. And Reese
is like, how the hell did thishappen? Well, Reese, you let

(01:24:18):
somebody in to go meet

Matt (01:24:19):
him and lock him. Bypassed procedures.

Rachel (01:24:21):
You didn't you didn't pat her down. You just had her
drop off her

Matt (01:24:26):
She didn't even walk through a

Rachel (01:24:27):
medical A medical detector? This woman has medical
coverage. Oh, that probablywould have been good because
they've been like, what is allthose drugs?

Matt (01:24:38):
But even a metal detector would have been great.

Rachel (01:24:40):
Yeah. I don't whatever. So Reese is like, how the hell
did this happen? It's all gonnago to shit when they find out I
let her in, and then we just lether walk out. And then we go
back to Tracy.
Whoosh. Over to Tracy, and Tracyis actually doing research on
Christie Black at theaccounting, like, the forensic

(01:25:01):
accounting department. And soher boss comes over, and she's
like, Tracy, you still working?And Tracy's like, yeah. And her
boss goes, okay.
Did you come up with anything?And Tracy's like, you know what?
Actually, let's cut the shit weboth know. I'm not actually
working on anything you've toldme to do. Tracy, you still
working on the Lauren file?
Yeah. Come up with anything?

Tracy (01:25:22):
Why don't we just cut the little game, captain? You and I
both know I'm not working on theLauren file. I would have
thought you had the smarts totake a look at the larger
picture. We're talking aboutyour career. This is not about
the Lauren file or your homicidecase.
This is about you doing what youare supposed to do. You mean me

(01:25:43):
doing what you say I'm

Rachel (01:25:52):
I'm being insubordinate. I respect Tracy so much in this
moment because she's like know.She's like, yeah. Let's face it.
I'm not doing what you told meto do.
And the boss is like, you needto be doing what you're supposed
to do. And she goes, you meanwhat you want me to do? And the
boss was like, yeah. Same thing.And so she's like No.

Matt (01:26:16):
Not the same thing.

Rachel (01:26:17):
Okay. Cool. And so she just goes back to what she's
doing, and she's like, what areyou doing? And Tracy goes, being
insubordinate. And so the ladygoes, you're making a big
mistake, and Tracy's like, whatare you gonna do?
Bust me down to meter, mate? Idon't think so. You're too far
up my dad's ass. There's no wayyou're gonna be able to do that,
and she just storms off. AndTracy's like, control p,

Doctor (01:26:39):
and she prints the file.

Matt (01:26:42):
Oh, wasn't it f 11?

Rachel (01:26:43):
She was f 9ing when she should have been f 10ing. Now
this is the I love this scene.And then, otherwise, episode,
this was like, thank you, Tracy.Thank you. Yeah.
I needed that little bit of, Igot sass. I don't do what
everybody tells me. I'm actuallya really independent character.
I'm just growing up. Yeah.

(01:27:04):
And given enough time, I'm gonnabe formidable, and I appreciate
this moment. And so Tracy islike, well, fuck that job. And
so she goes back to join Nick.She's and Nick maybe has a bad
influence. I don't know.
I mean, look what Nick hasgotten away with. Look what Nick
gets away with.

Matt (01:27:24):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's the hypnotism.

Rachel (01:27:29):
Well, no. I mean, if you looked at his file, it's gotta
be just a bunch of, like, he didthis thing, and then it's just
scratched through with redpaper. And it's like, no. He
didn't, and it's in crayon.

Doctor (01:27:40):
And then it does it again.

Rachel (01:27:41):
He's like, he killed a man by throwing him into an
electrical transformer, andit's, like, scratched through.

Doctor (01:27:47):
And then

Rachel (01:27:47):
it's like, uh-uh. He jumped on it by himself. And
it's just obvious, like, someonein, like, you know, crayon,
whatever was handy at the momentjust corrected all of his
records. So he gets away witheverything. So I'm sure Tracy is
like, well, if he can do it, Ican do it.
And the one important thingabout this, literally, the only
reason she goes there plot wiseis so she can investigate, like,

(01:28:09):
forensically. She can look ather accounting, and she finds
out that no one can get to thisfortune unless literally
everyone dies. Her mom has todie. Her brother has to die. And
now either

Matt (01:28:23):
Christy her agent, her

Rachel (01:28:26):
Yeah. Her business manager, and now McGee is also
on it. So McGee or

Matt (01:28:32):
Christy and Christie are the only ones left.

Rachel (01:28:34):
Whoever dies first, the other one gets it. And so Tracy
goes, yeah. So which one isnext? And so they go into
McGee's place, and it's empty.And Nick is like, oh, look at
this tape player that's justsitting right here.
I could just walk over. It'splaying.

Matt (01:28:51):
It's like Finally.

Rachel (01:28:52):
Fucking finally. And so it starts playing the family
whatever. He puts on theheadphones, and it's like, kill.
Kill, murder, death, kill, kill,kill. And he's like, I think
this might be related because itturns out the headphones are
hypnoprogramming her to killpeople.

Matt (01:29:13):
I do hypnotism, and this feels like hypnotism.

Rachel (01:29:18):
Listen. I've got, like, a thing. It's a thing. I know
about hypnotism, and this feelslike like Umbran. And Tracy's
like, oh, okay.
Cool. So she actually shedoesn't he doesn't actually say
anything. He's just like, oh,he's showing her how to kill,
and he's, like, tell telling herto kill these people on here

(01:29:39):
because it's like, this is theperson you must shoot, but the
weirdest part about this isn'tthe, like, murder. Duh. Kill
this person.
Shoot them. This is all a dream.It's the weird, like, sitar
music, the like, oh, what ishappening? Does that have to be

(01:30:00):
there? Does it not work if youdon't play a sitar over it?
It doesn't work. I don't know.But it sends Nick into the
flashback again because Rasputinhas been dumped into a river,
but, of course, that doesn'tactually kill him. So he shows
back up, and he's confrontingNicholas, the tsar, and Nick,
the vampire, shows up. And heends up staking him, and then

(01:30:22):
the tsar is like, oh my god.
Are you, like, like, the same?And Nick is like, yeah. Although
Nick gets a pretty metal fuckingline to Rasputin, and I just
wanna put this in there becausehe's grabs Rasputin, and he's
choking him. And he's like, whatdo you think is going to fucking
happen? You were gonna startthis revolution and what?

(01:30:43):
You're gonna own the kingdom?You're gonna take it back for
the people? What? You will be aruler of nothing but a wasteland
filled with rotting flesh.

Doctor (01:30:56):
You would bring a monarchy to its knees. Countless
thousands of people may die inthe upheaval. You would be ruler
of nothing but a wastelandfilled with rotting flesh.

Matt (01:31:07):
Yeah. It's pretty metal.

Rachel (01:31:08):
It's pretty fucking metal. Anyway, he stakes him,
and he dies unlike everyone elsewho gets staked around here.

Matt (01:31:16):
So I thought, we finally know what happened to Rasputin.
Why is this video not playing inhigh school classrooms?

Rachel (01:31:26):
This is a historical record, y'all. Especially the
part afterwards for the vampireis like, my friend, because czar
Nicholas is like, you're likehim, and Nick goes, it's a long
story, one that I'm afraid Ishan't be able to tell you, but
your son will recover now. Iwish you and your family well,

(01:31:48):
my old friend. And czar Nicholasis like, yes. Cool.
Can you get the fuck out? AndNick is like, yeah. I'm already
on the way. Just wanna get aparting shot in there. And so
Nick puts in another tape.
He pulls one up at random, andhe's like, okay. And he puts it
in, and it's Christie and herboyfriend. Uh-oh. Did she also

(01:32:10):
murder her boyfriend? I

Matt (01:32:11):
don't think she murdered her boyfriend because she wasn't
seeing a therapist until after.

Rachel (01:32:16):
The yes. Unless she was seeing him, but she wasn't
living with him. We don't know.This episode's so convoluted.
There's no way of telling.
But he puts it in, and it's herand her boyfriend on Pier 5.

Matt (01:32:31):
They tried to shove some more plot in this episode, but
it pushed the original plot out,so they stopped.

Rachel (01:32:37):
So they just were like, you know what? Take it for what
it is. And Tracy's like, oh mygod. If Christy kills everyone
on these videotapes, and thenNick goes, then she's gonna kill
herself. And then McGee showsup, and he's like, why are you
guys touching my tapes?

Matt (01:32:56):
What the hell are you doing here?

Rachel (01:32:57):
What the hell are you doing here?

Matt (01:32:58):
Bruh.

Rachel (01:32:59):
And so Tracy runs over, and he then we get a little bit
of whatever, cuff him, and thenNick is like, cool. I'm a go.
And Tracy goes, where are yougoing? But he just leaves. I'm
going around, Tracy.
And so he flies off literally.And Christie's standing at the
pier. She has a gun. She'shearing McGee's voice telling
her to kill herself. Nick showsup just in time, and she's like,

(01:33:22):
I have to shoot her.
I've got to do this. And Nickhypnotizes her to overcome the
hypnotism that she's alreadybeen hypnotized with, and so the
hypnotism undoes the priorprivate blah blah blah previous
hypnotism.

Matt (01:33:34):
Which which vindicates him for losing the hypno off with
respiration

Rachel (01:33:39):
flashbacks. Yeah. 1, a, I won because I'm still fucking
alive. And 2, I win because Ican hit I can out hypnotize a
human. So good job, me.
And he's like, you don't have tokill her. And she's like, I
don't have to kill her. I don'thave to kill her. I don't have
to die. I don't have to die.
And so he she collapses onNick's chest like, oh, thank

(01:34:00):
fucking Christ, except, and Iwanna point this out, this poor,
clearly psychologically fragilewoman murdered her mother, her
brother, her business manager,and possibly also her boyfriend,
and she has to live with that. Imean, I'm not saying she should
have killed her. That's not whatI'm saying at all. I'm just

(01:34:24):
saying this is a long road aheadfor Christie Black. So we come
back and, we just had this Imean, this woman's life is
shattered.
It is broken in pieces on theground. So, sure, let's have our
wrap up be about how Tracy'sgonna stick it to her dad.
That's exactly how we shouldturn this turn this frown upside

(01:34:45):
down. So Tracy's like, I'm backy'all. And they're like, oh my
god.
We're so glad you're back. Haveyou told your dad? And she's
like, no. But I know thatconversation is coming, so it'll
come to me. I don't need to cometo it.
And they they do get one linewhere they're like, how's
Christie Black doing? Well, it'snot good, but it's not hopeless
because she's gonna testify and,hopefully, it sticks even though

(01:35:07):
he's got skeezy lawyers, it'sgonna be fine. And then Tracy
gets a call, and Nick literallysays, oh, that sounds like his
ring. And so she's talking toher dad, and she's like, we have
to talk. Okay.
How about 2? No, dad. Youchanged yours, and then that's
the end of the episode. Andy'all, we made it. We made it
through strings.

(01:35:27):
You know what? I hesitate to saythis is a terrible episode. It's
just not engaging. I thinkthere's too many plot lines.
There's too much going on.
Every single plot line isactually repetitive And we get
these tiny little moments of,like, oh, that was good. Like,
the Tracy insubordinate one andthe Rasputin flashback is not

(01:35:51):
being nearly enough Rasputin.Right? That's what we needed. He
just sort of lurks.
He doesn't he's not reallyactive in one moment where he
hypnotizes the czarina, but theand then the czarina has the
squarest jaw I have ever seen inmy life.

Matt (01:36:13):
Oh, this lady has a Russian accent.

Rachel (01:36:18):
No. She doesn't. That's bullshit.

Matt (01:36:20):
No. No. She does. She's the only one that does.

Rachel (01:36:23):
I'm sorry. It's already gone. It's left me.

Matt (01:36:28):
I didn't remember until you brought her up.

Rachel (01:36:30):
Oh, she looks like somebody had, like, a filter.
You know, those whatever filterswhere they'll be old people or
dog or whatever, except thefilter makes her mouth really,
really tiny in the middle of herface.

Doctor (01:36:43):
The bottom.

Rachel (01:36:45):
I don't know. It's okay. It's fine. It's fine. I mean,
there's better episodes.
Let's put it that way. I likedsons of Billio better just
because it was so fucking offthe wall. This wasn't off the
wall. It wasn't weird.

Matt (01:36:56):
This was not uncomfortable to watch.

Rachel (01:37:00):
It was everybody's being controlled by somebody. Let's
show ad nauseam everyone beingcontrolled by somebody else on
repeat for 48 minutes. The end.We get a couple metal lines. We
get Tracy b and badass.
We get Lacroix arguing forceslavery, which I'm just gonna

(01:37:24):
you know what? I'm gonna putthat I'm gonna chunk that out.
I'm gonna put it in the littlebox where the Oedipus flashback
lives. And I'm just and then I'mgonna put the lid back on, and
I'm gonna let that sit there. Solater it can come out as
unresolved trauma.
That's not gonna do because thisfelt as this felt as throwaway

(01:37:48):
as the I can't even rememberwhat episode the Oedipus
flashback is in because itdoesn't have anything to do with
what's happening in the mainstoryline. Is it father figure?
About. I don't know. I don'tthink it's father figure, but
you know what I'm talking about?
The one where

Matt (01:38:05):
The one where

Rachel (01:38:08):
Jeanette helps LaCroix kill his father in effigy.

Matt (01:38:11):
Yeah. Yeah.

Rachel (01:38:12):
And Nick has the worst wig in existence. It's like they
cut up a wig and threw it at hishead. Like, they threw glue at
his head, and then they threw itat his head. Yeah. Okay.
Well, that's what I'm gonna dowith that because I don't wanna
hear Lacroix being like, what doyou mean people deserve to be

(01:38:32):
free? Fuck you. You don'tdeserve to be free. You're my
son and my bitch. You will befor all of eternity.
Well, I think we've pretty muchsaid all we wanna say about that
episode, and we are going tomake up for it in fucking space
with fever. I'm so excited. It'sone of my favorite episodes for,

(01:38:55):
like, multiple reasons, and I'mjust so excited to talk about
that. And maybe that's why I waslike, Strings is the episode
before Fever. Okay.
You know, when you don't watchthem in order, there are
episodes where you're like,well, I watched that once, and
then I see it, and I'm like,strings? Well, that didn't make
any kind of an impression. I'mnot gonna watch that again. And
then I'm like, oh, but fever.Alright.

(01:39:16):
It's the other single word Ican't even tell you how long.
You've had a fever for fever?I've had a fever for fever. For
I can't even tell you how long.

Matt (01:39:29):
You've had a fever for fever?

Rachel (01:39:30):
I've had a fever for fever. So I guess we'll just
leave it here. Until next time,friends. Bye.