Episodes 2.16 & 2.17: “Back Alleys and Backyards”

In today’s pod, we cover episodes 2.16, “Let the Water Hold me Down”, and 2.17, “The Blond Leading the Blind”. We discuss yet more fucked up ableism towards Jenna, Mona’s cashmere blend sweater sets, Emily misunderstanding beards, and worms in takeout boxes. Cameron might be getting paid by Big Chickpea, and Deepa read a play. Have we earned doll hospital yet? 

Theme song by Ashok R. Chandran. You can also read the episode transcript.

Chickpeas Oh My Gosh: Cameron’s can’t wait to try the chickpea-flour Banza cascatelli!

Fashion Analysis: Our best and worst outfits!

Deepa’s Literary Analysis

• Arthur Miller’s The View from the Bridge is about an older man who has an inappropriate and abusive relationship with a younger woman, but that’s probably not the parallel PLL intends us to take from it
• “Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid” is not only not by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – it’s by Canadian pastor Basil King – but the quote itself is incorrect
• Speaking of incorrect quotes about spirituality, here’s one by Marianne Williamson that is often attributed to…Nelson Mandela
• Does PLL ever reference writers of color or more than two women in literature? Only time will tell

Things We Referenced Related to PLL

• The title of episode 2.16 is probably a Talking Heads lyric?
• There might not be gay men in PLL but there are in The Perfectionists

Things We Referenced Completely Unrelated to PLL

• “Equal Rights (Not Gay)” from the Lonely Island movie Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (which you don’t need to watch the entire film for)
• What’s Your Number? starring Anna Faris (which you should probably watch the entire film for)
• The great bucatini shortage

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