April 28, 2025 • 47 mins
T Lo go deep on four shows holding their interest at the moment, reviewing what's working and what isn't in this season of "Hacks," explaining why "Your Friends & Neighbors" works in spite of its cliches, raving about "Andor" as the best thing on TV and suggesting why you shouldn't bother with "MobLand."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
We're Tom Lorenzo and this is the Pop Stile Opinion Fest. Hello,
welcome back to another edition of the PSO. I am
the Tea and you're tel O Tom Fitzgerald, and I'm
here with the Low and your Tilo Therenzo because my
lovely husband, how are you, lovely husband, I.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Am dying to travel. And speaking of traveling, we are
going to Texas right Oh, look.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
At you working that in without any warning whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I knew, very excited about it.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yes, on June twenty six, will be in Dallas, Texas.
I'm going to call up this information right now.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I did not expect you to do about Lorenzo. It's
just that we traveled so muchlast year that I feel
I just want to travel again. I love traveling. I
hate the whole process of getting let me to a
certain plate.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
But Wednesday, June twenty fifth, twenty twenty five, we will
be at the award winning Bishop Arts Theater Center in
Oak Cliff in Dallas, where we will be part of
the Badge of Pride from Silence to Celebration Pride Month
exhibit and you know series of events. You can come
(01:27):
to our site. We have all the information posted at
the top of the page in terms of where we're
going to be, how you can get tickets. We would
love to see all.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Of you there.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
People who sign up early to get a seat, admission
is free. We'll get a free signed copy of our
book Legendary Children, so that's a reason to go, and
we will be there. You know, we were asked by
Badge of Pride to come and prepare something for Pride Month,
and in talks with them we said, you know, the
(02:01):
way things are going in this country and everything, we
really just want to do something about trains women. And
so we're going to look at three very important trans
women and drag queens who have who made a huge
difference in the lives of people both gay, both queer
and non queer, and we're going to tell you their stories.
(02:24):
Can't compare and contrast their stories and explain, you know,
why what they did was important.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
So and we'll keep it fun.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I promise they're drag queens, the women that we're talking about,
So of course we'll have lots of images and sparkle
and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So that is.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
June twenty fifth. It's very exciting in Dallas, Texas, and
we'd love to see you there. Go to our site
tom on Lorenzo dot com to find all of the
information on it, and we will be posting various times
on social media over the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I't wait to see you guys.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yes, it's I mean, we just love love, love getting
out in the world and getting to we do and
to see our readers and meet our readers.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Right, we always talk about meeting you guys, and when
you come up and ask questions and you know, introduce yourself,
it's always fun. Yeah, we we do. You know love that.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
We do love that, and we love television, which means
we're going to have a.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah fully TV to TV going.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
On version of the Pso we are catching up on
the latest two episodes of Hacks. I am going to
talk quite a bit about and or I'm going to
pull out my nerdy hat and talk about that. Lorenzo
and I are both going to talk about your Friends
and Neighbors, which is the Apple TV Plus series with
John Hamm and Olivia Mon and Amanda Pete, and then
(03:39):
Lorenzo's going to talk about mob Land, the British crime
series Gangster series. It seems like half the show's will
come out a great Breakangster series now with Pierce Brosnan
and Helen Mirren and Tom Hardy.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
He's got a lot of stuff. Has a movie on
Netflix now too, and I guess that's his thing, and
we'll talk about it and hacks, let's not forget he men.
You mentioned that you wanted to do a little TikTok talk,
so go. No, it's just funny because I'm on TikTok
and it's not a fun place to be sometimes now.
But anyway, there all of a sudden, you know, it's
(04:17):
no longer j LO. Now they all hate Katy Perry now,
and I feel so bad for her because there now,
well there was the whole space flight thing, uh, you
know rightfully for so many of last year though with
her album. Yes, it's because they didn't like her album
and then they trashed it, and then they started making
fun of her, and then the whole space flight thing.
(04:38):
And now her show. They're making fun of her show.
That is horrible her you know whatever, a concert. I'm
her tour, Yeah, her tour. So they're all making fun
of that now they show clips and it is I
have to say, it's bad. I mean, it's just like
the moves and everything, uh, the stage direction, it just
(04:58):
looks tacky and trashy. So they're making fun of that now,
and I just feel so bad because everything is about
how much they hate her now. And I don't know.
I mean, there was a time that I thought she
was good. I like her, she's.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Fun, but I do think I mean, I don't really
have a lot to say about this because I don't
really follow it, but I do think her image has
suffered a lot in the last few years. I think,
if you know, if you're in pop music, if you're
a pop star and you want to remain viable as
a pop star, you can't stop being cool because once
(05:34):
that happens, then everybody turns against you. And you know,
Katie was perceived as being a little dorky and weird,
and it only got worse over the last couple of years.
And you know, in a world in you know her,
her competition is younger than her, cooler than her, and.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Has a harder engine she has.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
She she never really had much of an edge to
her to begin with, but she was sort of fun,
you know, mid auts teens. I guess pop star, and
I don't think she's met the moment. I don't think
she's grown as an artist. I don't think she's particularly
interesting or I mean, when you like, Lady Gaga is
her contemporary. They basically came up together, and Lady Gaga
(06:17):
is a far, far, far more interesting artist at this
stage of her career.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
But even Lady Gaga is not doing anything new. I
mean her Albakodava saying it's it's just so, you know,
it's a rehash stuff anyway, anything else about that? No,
I just thought it was interesting. Now that's all I
see on on on watching TikTok. Now, it's it's just
how much they hate her, and I just do bad.
I want to you know, if people feel the same
(06:42):
about her music, about you know, her presence. I guess whatever.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I just think the spaceflight thing was a dumb thing
for any started doing.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I think so too.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
If it's blowing up in her face, I can't really
feel that bad about it.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Sorry, I didn't mean no, no, that's it. Did you
want to say anything else about that?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
No, that's it. I just I was just surprised, because
you know, it's how they how it is, you know,
they picked someone to hate and not very true. And
now it's it's Katie pen It's usually they pick a woman,
and it's usually a woman.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I mean, before Katy Perry, like you mentioned Jay Lo
Hello and Blake Lively. You know, there's always someone that
you know, everyone's willing to hate on social media, and
ninety nine percent of the time it's a woman.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Len me about that.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
All right, speaking to women, let's talk about hacks. Yes, yes, yes,
I we're.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Late on this.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
You know, these these episodes aired on Thursday. Well one
of them aired a week ago, ten days ago, so
we're actually very late on these. I had to rewatch
both of them before we did this podcast. And I
gotta say, I do think the show was uneven this
this uh really this season. I don't think they quite
know what to do with with Ava and Debra's feud,
(07:56):
and the tone keeps switching back and forth where it's
kind of funny and you know, goofy, and then at
other times it starts getting really almost dark and weird.
The way they seem to hate each other so much.
I found like the Las Vegas stuff. Not again, we
run into this thing where I'm like, I don't mind that,
really very believable that they would act this way in
(08:18):
front of employees, right, like pulling the bus over and
having an argument and trying to hide it. And I
get it, it's comedy and everything, but I don't know,
I just felt like they needed Debor to be a jerk,
and so they just wrote her in such a way
that just felt really harsh.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Right. I feel that they're just repeating themselves over and
over again. I guess that's what I'm getting at. That's
how I feel like the show is kind of done
unless they do something very drastic, but it just feels
like it's the same, and then what are we going
to do now? It's just going to present her doing
her talk show and the issues with the talk show. Maybe,
I just.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I do think the talk show is going to fail.
I think that's the art something like that. It's not
going to work. I just they I'm sorry, they put
in enough foreshadowing to let that's what this story is
going to be. It's gonna fail.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
The thing that I see on TV now the show
has it's at the show the studio. Uh, they all
they're they're kind of doing the same thing now. It's
very much inside jokes about the industry, and if you
don't know much about the industry, they don't I get
it it, especially with hacks. I understand why they do
it because it's funny. It's funny to make those jokes.
But sometimes they're not believable or they're not part of
(09:32):
the story, you know what I mean, Like they just
don't go with the story or the whatever. I sometimes
that That's how I feel about it. Let's not even
talk about those people, you know, in the office. I
don't know, but I do like there are some moments
that I really appreciate the show because they're both incredible actors,
but the whole Vegas saying just with the employees, and.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Like, you know, I just didn't find it believable that
the two of them would be so clueless as to
act that way in front of people that work for them.
They're not that, you know, they're like they have common sense.
Both of them had some level of common sense, and
I just didn't And I just when the season started,
when last season ended, and it ended on that note
(10:16):
where Ava basically screwed Debra over and said that she
basically learned how to be a bit from her. I
thought it was a great setup. Wow, there, their relationship
has really moved to a new place. And even going
into the new season, I was like, this is interesting.
They're they're at odds in a way that they weren't before,
even after all of their growth. Now they hate each other,
(10:38):
but I don't feel like they've done anything interesting with that.
It's just a lot of sniping.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Backand for it.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
And frankly, it's very one sided because as I mean, Ava,
as she's written, is this like awkward millennial. She can't
win any of these fights because Deborah is this sharp
tongued bitch. So every time they.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Go against each other, essentially Ava loses. And that's power,
more money, more everything exactly. So it's just I'm like,
I get it, but this is actually not that fun
for me to watch. I just don't find things to
believe it. I thought the writers they made they made
the writers look like adiots and couple and not everyone
is an idiot.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
I mean, if you got hired for that job, you
got to be a decent writer.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So they all look like nerds and idiots, you know,
not any to be fair, I mean, you know, comedy
writers are not.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Exactly I understand the coolest people in the world. But
they did make some of them, They made most of
them look really stupid, and.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I didn't appreciate that. And I again, it goes back
to what I said, I get because you want a joke,
you want to make a joke here. But at the
same time, it's like, all right, enough of that same
thing with the office people. You know, Oh my god,
I can't stand those people. I can't stand Kayla, I
can't stand Jimmy did Oh my god. The jokes are
not believable. These people would not even be hired or
they wouldn't even have a joke. Right, So all that
(12:03):
having said that, you know, they're both great. Some of
the lines are great and interesting, and it's funny. There's
some some great jokes, you know, the the mark in Delicato,
I can't remember his character's name, but anyway, I think
it's Damnien. Anyway, the whole thing with the gay bar
(12:24):
or gay.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Well, that's the second I wanted to bring up the
second episode because we were talking about that, the Las
Vegas one. I'm sorry, I'm making funny noises because there's
literally a cat hair in my in my mouth that
was stuck to the microphone. Okay, second episode they launched
the TV. So the second episode that we're talking about,
(12:46):
they launched the talk show, and basically the entire episode
was centered around that. And this was where I started thinking, well,
that's kind of a lost opportunity because we spent the
entire season so far watching these two women fight and
make assays out of themselves in front of all of
their co workers, to the point where like management in
(13:06):
the head of the studio was involved. And so I
mean things were like really rough for the two of them,
and then boom, they have a show. We didn't get
to see any of that development.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
We didn't.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
You just jumped so far ahead into it, and I
wanted to see, you know, I don't know what this
would have been interesting. But did she need to be
coached on how to do interviews? Like she hasn't She doesn't.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Do interviews right?
Speaker 1 (13:33):
How hard was it to book guests? Like you know,
who were her guests on the first night? We found
out that the second night's going to be Nancy Pelosi
and Shaboozi, you.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Know, stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Like they skipped over so much stop to get to
that first taping, And I feel like we missed out
on a lot, like, I don't think there's going to
be flashbacks to any of this stuff. So we went
from hiring a group of dorky losers who nobody had
any good ideas and nobody knew what they were doing,
and then in the next episode they had a fully
(14:04):
realized show set up and ready to go. I just
felt like that was a weird, weird pacing.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, you're going to fest air and then I don't know,
and I wish they had more interesting characters, like the daughter.
It's interesting. Why is didn't you back? You know, well,
she's on she's got two other TV shows. That's why.
It's just you know, I don't think it feels like
I don't know if it's just going to be the
two of them, like, you know, acting like I mean,
that's like immature people.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
That's that's going to be an issue going forward. I
think is because they have narrow and down the cast
basically to just the two of them. So now they're
bringing guest stars and you know, Ava had a scene
with Meryl Marco, who was one of the head writers
on The Letterman Show, and you know, she's a legend.
But I mean, if you're not really into that world.
(14:53):
You wouldn't know who that was, and the scene doesn't
really play that well.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
And then Carol, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Then runs into cal Burnett at a Beverly Hills clinic,
and well, you know, it was a lovely scene. There's
never a problem with Carol Burnett appearing anywhere, but that's it.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
A lovely scene. I mean, there's no I don't know.
I just those came you a thing. They I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I find they're fine, I find them nauseating sometimes they're fine.
But I, like I said, there was so much missing
from the storytelling that I felt like, well, right, not
just I love seeing Carole Burnett. This is not telling
me anything about how the show got put together, and.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
The whole thing about what advice would you give me?
Come on, No, she would not ask that question. No,
yes she would Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I mean, Carol's a legend, yes now, but she would
ask that question. I didn't have a problem with her
liking Carol, I just or even Carol being there, but
I just didn't think it was what the show needed
at that moment. Having said that, it did set up
a lovely moment where you know, Carol Burnett told her
to just do the show for one person in the audience,
(16:02):
and you know what, I actually think Calbernet has said
that in the past. I think she did, so they
actually worked that into the said.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
That in the past, and I actually do that when
we do a TV talk or whatever.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Go ahead anyway, So it set up that lovely moment
at the end where or it actually wasn't the end.
It was near the end where Devor was out on
stage and she was faltering for a moment and she
looked over it Ava and did the joke, you know,
delivered the joke directly to Ava, and it was a
(16:33):
really sweet moment and both the actresses had just had
a lovely, you know connection in that moment that of
course got papered over almost immediately. But between that and
the scene at the hospital at the end of the episode,
I feel like they are moving in a direction with
these characters. I don't know what's going to happen, but
(16:54):
like I said, I think the show is going to fail.
There's no way that's show. They've set it up. It's
story wise in a way that it's it can't actually succeed.
If it did, it would be boring a different show,
and it would be a different show. I think they
have to struggle their way through this and then they're
(17:14):
going to come out of it somehow better comedians or something.
But I don't think. I don't think Debraa's show is
going to be a hit at that. This does bring
up something that I've wanted to bring up for a while,
is they showed some of Debra's monologue. And that's the
problem I've always had with this show is it's a
funny show. The scripts are funny, the actresses are funny,
(17:37):
but when it comes time for Deborah to be funny,
the jokes aren't there. I don't think the jokes are
all that funny, right, Like the audience laughs at everything,
but and you know, Ava laughs at her jokes, and
I'm like, these jokes aren't actually all that funny. I
wish they could get someone to write some good jokes
with Debra last that's.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
The joke that I don't think it is. And even
if if that's a joke that's a little too h like.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Too subtle, everybody's laughing. Is if it's funny, then you know,
if you want to make the point that her jokes
are tired or are out moded, then you don't have
a bunch of people.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Let I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
I'm enjoying the show, but I have to say, I'm
I think I'm ready for it to end. I think
they've gone taken these characters as far as they can go.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
And I tend to agree, and there's not much else
they can do with them. I mean, the only reason
why I'm watching still watching, sure because of them, the
two of them, because they're so good. But I just
don't find that there's story there anymore. I mean, at
some point, you know, that's it. Yeah, that's it. But
they're phenomenal together, I you know, and Gina Smart obviously
(18:45):
is a legend. She's amazing. But Hannah too, My god,
she's so good, she's so funny. Yeah, I'm I'm I
like them. I like their performance, all right.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
I think we've beaten that one to death. Yes, let's
take a short break and won't be right back, and
I will be talking about and Or we are back,
and I honestly cannot remember. If I had to go
look on our site, did I thought did we ever
write about and Or? In the first season? As far
as I can tell I didn't.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I know you mentioned on a podcast before, could not
find you did the podcast because I wanted to listen
to it before. I don't think it was a whole podcast,
but I do, Yeah, I did just mention it that yeah,
something about because here's what.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
UH and Or is the best show on television right now,
and if it continues at this pace, it's going to
be an all timer. Really, it's going to be like
literally one of the best shows of the twenty twenties. Wow,
it's that good. It was always that good. It was
that good in the first season. But I've seen the
(19:54):
the second season, and it is the final season of
the show. They are making the usual choice of releasing
three episodes at a time every week, and those three
episodes bundle and tell one story within the space of
a year, and then they jump ahead a year for
the next three year. So it's basically they're releasing films
(20:15):
that are because each episode is an hour long. So
there was three hours of story that were released that
was released last week, and it basically functions as a movie.
And I have to go back and watch the first
season because I was so blown away by these first
three episodes and I remember being blown away by season one,
but I thought, Jesus, is this even better than I remember?
(20:39):
So I might have to go back and watch the
first season again. I have to admit, very very rare
for a Star Wars property, or for any Disney Plus property.
I watched the first episode of the second season without
doing any recap, without looking, and I was completely lost
because the story is so freaking complicated. And I thought, Wow, this,
(21:03):
this Star Wars story is so complicated that I cannot
retain half of the information that was, you know, previously
presented to me. Now, complicated isn't necessarily Maybe complex would
be a better way of describing it. Nuanced adult, That's
how I would describe this story. It is actually astonishing
(21:24):
to me that someone, and that someone would be Tony Gilroy,
the director and screenwriter. He wrote and directed Michael Clayton,
among many other things, and he was given control of
this this property, and he has turned it into the
most intelligent take on Star Wars that I have ever seen,
(21:44):
and one of the most intelligent takes on sort of fantasy,
because you know, Star Wars is more fantasy than it
is science fiction. But let's say speculative fiction, you know,
covering everything. It is honestly one of the most intelligent
takes on any speculative fiction I've ever seen. It is
(22:05):
about something so much larger than what it's about, and
Star Wars very rarely is larger than the story it's
trying to tell. Star Wars, you know, the original trilogy
by George Lucas was based largely on you know, serials
that he would watch on Saturday mornings in the movie
theaters and classic science fiction like you know, Flash Gordon
(22:26):
and Buck Rogers and all that stuff, among other things.
He was also looking at Corusawa and you know, Samurai
films and a whole bunch of different things. But he
was telling a very basic story of good and evil,
black and white, you know, heroism in the classic sense.
It wasn't a complicated story. It was never a complicated story.
(22:48):
In fact, it was defined by the simplicity of its storytelling.
That's why, you know, the color scheme in Star Wars
for most of the first six films was literally black
and white. Black and white was the color story because
that was literally with the story that was being told,
good versus evil, not complicated and or is about living
(23:09):
under oppression, and it is about what it takes to
turn people from citizens to radicals, and you watch the
process unfold. It is so freaking intelligent how it's done.
In the first season of and Or. And I'll say
this to anyone who's listening who's like, yeah, I'm not
into Star Wars stuff, believe it or not, I feel
(23:31):
like you could watch it without knowing anything. You don't
have to know. Darth Vader never appears in this. Luke
Skywalker never appears in this. No one has a light saber,
there's no magic powers. It's all about politics. And that's
what makes it so frigging rich and dense and meaty
to tuck into, because it's so much more than just
(23:54):
bad guys and space wizards and that sort of thing.
It's not It's last season was all about Cassi and Ander,
this character who was, you know, like a smuggler, and
you know, he wasn't the most like a lot of
people in that Star Wars universe. He wasn't the most
moral of heroes. And he doesn't even start off as
(24:16):
a hero. But over the course of that first season
he's put through hell by the Empire, and by the
end of the season, he has become a radical revolutionary.
It was a thrilling thing to watch in this season.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
I mean they're still following this point. They're showing you.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
How he becomes more and more entrenched in the resistance.
But really the most fascinating character on the show is
mon Mathma. And if you told me at any point
prior to twenty twenty two that Mon Mathma would wind
up becoming the most fascinating character in Star Wars, I
would have been, like, what. She was a side character.
(24:56):
She had about three lines in the first movie, well
actually I think it was the third movie. She's one
of the few female speaking parts in the first trilogy.
But she had no she was just a name, and
she was a figure in the background and and or
especially she's appeared in other things. She has appeared in
some of the cartoons, and I know she she originally
(25:17):
the actress Genevieve O'Reilly was cast to play her in
the prequel trilogy twenty five years ago, but I think
her part was cut. Anyway, she is a major major
character in the middle of this story, and she is
fascinating because she's a senator in the Imperial Senate and
she comes from an extremely wealthy family, so her whole
(25:39):
existence is just First off, the gowns are incredible, and
the set design. Any scene that she is and is incredible.
I have to watch it and you'd love her. She
was the one that was dancing that dancing scene that
you asked about, because oh my god, mon month, no dancing.
That is the meme of the year anyway. So she
is a woman of comfort but also a woman of power.
(26:04):
She's basically the Hillary Clinton of this world. However, unlike
Hillary Clinton, she is silently and secretly funding all of
these resistance efforts. So she's involved in the revolution, but
she is keeping herself as a member of the elite.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
So yeah, And in the first season it was all
about her trying to navigate that world. But her arc
in the first three episodes of this season is fascinating
because you are watching her make all of these decisions
that are hurting her, that cause her a tremendous amount
of pain. For one, she's marrying her teenage daughter off
(26:44):
to someone that she thinks is disgusting, but she's doing
it for political reasons. She's doing it because I won't
even get into it. It was to hide the fact
that she was spending her money on illicit revolutionary activities.
So the first three episodes, one of the storylines is
her daughter's wedding, and it's her navigating this scene, trying
(27:07):
to keep everything under wraps, trying to remain a mother
to her daughter who pretty much hates her, and a
wife to her husband who I think he probably hates
her as well. While at the same time, one of
her oldest friends is at the wedding, and he helped
cover up some problems for her last year, and now
he has money problems, which means he's starting to make
(27:30):
noise about revealing what he knows about her. He's essentially
trying a black father, and she has to become part
of a conversation that essentially ends with, well, we've got
to kill him. And this is an old friend, this
is like a childhood friend of hers, and she it's
just fascinating to watch her wrestle with this and to
(27:52):
watch someone go from being a member of the elite
to someone who she's in it, like, that's it. Once
you cross that line, Once you crossed the line to
okaying the murder of a friend of yours for the
cause you are a radical revolutionary and her reaction to
(28:13):
this moment was to just dance. That's the scene that
ends the dancing at her daughter's wedding, and it is
just a beautiful piece of filmmaking. The music is gorgeous,
gorgeous her performances because you can just see her shedding
it all you can see. And I'm really excited to
see where she goes next, because, like I said, in
(28:34):
the movies which take place after this this story, she's
the leader of the resistance, she is a military leader,
but right now she's an elite senator. Like I'm just
it's like watching Hillary Clinton go from running to be
president to you know, storming the capitol or something. And
(28:54):
I think that and of course, obviously for many reasons
that is extremely interesting for the times that we live in,
like what does it mean to resist rule? And how
far are you willing to go in your resistance? And
in her case, she had a friend killed and it
is Oh, it's so good. There's also other stuff going on.
(29:17):
One of the things I love about it is that
it is showing life in the Empire in a way
that no other Star Wars property ever showed.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So you have people like.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
They have migrant farm workers who are having their visas
checked and they're trying to stay away from the people
checking their visas, and then you have mid level functionaries
in the Empire who are basically yuppies. I don't really
know where Dedra and Cyril's story is going, although I
(29:48):
did actually really love that scene with Catherine Hunter showing
up for Lunchez, his mother and being a total bitch.
I know Dedra is she is going to be involved
in the Gorman massacre. I won't even get into that.
You don't need to know what it's It's going to
unfold eventually. But I gotta say it is the smartest,
(30:09):
sharpest science fiction fantasy writing I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
It is.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
On the level of the very best of Game of Thrones,
but I honestly think it has exceeded it in terms
of the intelligence in the writing, in the in the
themes that it's trying to uncover, and the things that
it's saying about human nature.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
It's just so damn smart. How's everybody else doing? Like
Diego Luna? You know he's character, right, Yeah, he's he's
and or character. Yeah, he's great. I should have mentioned
him before now.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
I guess the reason I haven't mentioned him in this
review is because I really think mon Mathama is the
story at this point, maybe Diego, you know, Cassie Andrews
story will take center stage in the second you know,
trilogy of episodes that's coming.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I don't know, but in a way, I.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Feel like Cassian's major arc was last season because he
ended it as the radical that we know him to be,
and he's in it now, so we'll see. I thought
his storyline was interesting with the because it showed how
again it's it's making some the show's making some very
(31:24):
smart points about politics and resistance and rebellion, and he
gets caught between these these morons. These are just they're rebels,
but they're idiots.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
That's the thing.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Like the Star Wars movies make rebellion look so heroic,
but in truth, it's messy and political, and there's personalities involved,
and people are shortsighted and they and grudges and that's
what all of that was, and that was actually really
it was sort of like the Judaean People's Front seen
from the Life of Brian, where you're just watching dumb
(31:54):
revolutionaries fighting each other and and you know, I think
it was making point about how messy revolution can be.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
That's it. It is my current.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Favorite show on television, and I honestly, I truly think
that when this is done, it'll be an all timer,
right up there with Mad Men, right up there with
Breaking Bed.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
It's that good.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
And I never ever thought I would say that about
I love Star Wars.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
I do, but I.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Don't think it's complex or nuanced or has much to
say about the human experience. Not normally this this show.
It is thought provoking, and I do think if you
not really into Star Wars, all you really need to
know going into it is that oppressed people are living
under a galactic empire that spans entire galaxies and planets.
(32:50):
That's all you need to know.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I should watch it. Then I'm going to start from
I think you did watch it. I think I don't rememory.
I don't remember anyway, I can't recommend enough.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
All right, we're going to go to break and then
when we come back, I think we should talk about
your friends and neighbors.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Yeah, all right, we'll be right back. At first, I
was like, what my friends? What? Okay?
Speaker 1 (33:14):
We are back, and now we're going to talk About
Your Friends and Neighbors, which is the semi news show
on Apple TV plus. I gotta say I wasn't I
wasn't dying to see this, and then I started watching
it because you had started watching it, and I.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Thought, well, we'll do it podcast.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
So I started watching it, and I found myself liking
it in spite of myself, like I and but even
in the after three episodes, I don't think I'm going
to continue. And I don't know how much I'm rambling here.
I feel about this roughly the same way I felt
(33:55):
about felt about the Studio, which was that it's a
good show, everybody's doing good work. I'm just not interested
in these people at all. I am going to go
back to the Studio because I know it's really I've
heard so many good things about it.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
The thing with Your.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Friends and Neighbors is it's just another show about really
wealthy white people, Like it's that's just it's suburban white
people with a lot of money and extravagant problems. It's
big little lies, it's you know, it's right.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
I thought it was kind of interesting. It's a hedge
fund manager who got fired and then he has no
money and you know, decides to start stealing, yeah, from
his neighbor premise, which kind of we talked about weed
right the show Weeds out of like it reminded me
of weeds right. It also reminds me a little bit
of Breaking bat, although it's more comedic than Breaking Bad,
So Weeds is actually the best one, the best analogy.
(34:48):
So yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
John Hamm plays this cocky, middle aged wealthy heads fund
manager who gets fired. Well no, I mean there's a
litany of problems that fall this.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Oh right right right by His wife.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Cheats on him with his best friend and they get divorced,
and then he sleeps with this young woman who picks
him up in a bar. Except it turns out that
she works for the same hedge fund that.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
He works for.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
So his boss uses that information, yes, to push him out,
and now he is he has signed a non disclosure,
he can't work for any other companies, and the guy
is completely screwed. He has no money, lots of bills,
lots of bills because you know, he leads an extravagant lifestyle.
And I'll just say right there, and it was all
(35:37):
the stuff was happening to him in the first half
hour and I was so put upon so many problems,
and I'm all I could think was I'm sorry, but
hedge fund managers who look like him don't suffer these problems.
Hedge fund managers who look like him bounce back and
pick up a twenty five year old wife after their
(35:58):
wife leaves them. Fund managers who look like him probably
are going to bounce back from a job really quickly.
Like they made it sound like, oh, he can't get
a job. I'm like, no, he's supposed to be some
hotshot and he looks like John Hamm.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
These very wealthy, good looking at you know, strivers like
this guy in this world don't really suffer consequences. So
right from the get go, I was like, this guy
would not be in this situation like behining after his
wife that left.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
I'm like, are you getting me? A guy like that
would have a twenty five year old wife six months later.
That's the way that works for those people.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
So right from the get go, he's these sort of ry, comedic,
sarcastic hedge fund manager. That's kind of cool, And I'm like, yeah, like,
no real hedge fund manager in the world.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
He's like super witty, and charming, and I'm like, yeah,
I mean it works because it's Johjohn Hans. Yes, yeah,
I think it has a lot to do with his
own through snell it because he's charming, he's very handsome,
look at and so and the I don't know, some
of the lines are funny. It is genuinely funny.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
If you don't if your skin doesn't crawl looking at
wealthy white people and their problems. It's an entertaining show.
I'm I'm really not trashing the show. I just I'm
not interested in it because the thing is, here's what's happened,
and it is an interesting premise. He essentially just falls
(37:30):
into stealing from his neighbors' houses because very wealthy for him,
they're all very wealthy. He knows what they have in
those houses. And as he does a lot of voiceover,
a lot of John Hamm voiceover, and the show does
play with your perception of John Hamm as a pitch
man for products, not just as Don Draper, but John
(37:51):
Hamm has been pitching like Mercedes and hedge funds and
insurance companies for the last ten years. His voice sounds
like a commercial and they use that they actually do
use that and it is very clever at certain points
when he's stealing, like he's stealing a watch, and John
Ham's voice comes in and gives you the full rundown
on the watch and how much it's worth and what
(38:13):
it can do, and it sounds exactly like.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
An aed I love that because I know nothing about
what and I'm like, wow, all that stuff very cute, Yeah, clever.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Like I said, it plays on John Ham's innate charm
and it, you know, his charm is considerable, so it
does carry the show. So anyway, he falls into the
trap of stealing from his neighbor's houses because he has
all these bills to pay and he can't earn any money.
And he, you know, as he says in voiceover, he
(38:42):
knows what they have in those houses, and he knows
that they don't pay attention to it. They're so like,
you know, wealthy and careless about their that they don't
even pay attention to what they have lying around.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
The one thing I didn't.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Believe he said that they're they're so I don't know
where they said they lived. Is it like Long Island
or something like that, like and I can't remember. I'm
not sure where they live. Actually I have to go
back and look. But he he claimed that, you know,
they're so blase about their wealth that nobody nobody locks
their doors. And I'm like, no, I don't believe they
(39:14):
would all have top of the line right security. They
those people hire literal security personnel to to if they're
that wealthy. And so he's like walking into these houses
and no alarms are being set off, and there's no
cameras anywhere, and I don't believe any of that. That's
this is what I just have to go with exactly.
(39:34):
It sets up this world that I'm just like, that's
not what that world is like though. These guys are
all alphas. They're not these MOPy, little, you know, witty guys.
They're all alphas, and everybody's got private security and and
you know, the cameras on their You can't just walk
into someone's home and steal like a three hundred thousand
(39:57):
dollars watch. I just didn't find it's charming. It's a
fun idea, but I could not buy into it.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
I'm sorry, I'm doing no, that's pretty much it. I agree.
I started watching because of him, because I think he's awesome.
You used to hate him. Where did they do? But
after that movie about the paintings, I forget what the
name of the Fletch movie that I did. Yeah, I
loved the movie and I left so hard. And he's funny,
he can be Oh and the one of the TV
shows I can't remember, Uh the oh, I can't remember
(40:25):
the Mormons show? Is that it one of the shows. Anyway,
he's funny. I think he's funny, He's he's charming, and
I like the character. I also am very surprised with
Olivia Moune and Amanda.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
I thought she I think Olivia mont is so good
in this that is so funny chemistry.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Yes, I I was not expecting that. I mean, we
we've seen her many times during fashion week. I had
no idea she was zach funny h and a man.
Of course, Amanda Pete very very funny. So I'm enjoying it.
I've watched what four episodes now.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
I've watched three. I think the fifth episode comes out
this week.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
Oh, okay, I will watch it. Will I'll keep watching
and see what happens. So what happened?
Speaker 1 (41:05):
What happens in the story. And this is where I
was like, Okay, I don't think I'm sticking with this.
Is when he starts breaking into these houses, he starts
learning secrets because all of his neighbors have secrets, so
he starts finding out who's sleeping with their daughter's weight
friend and all this other stuff. And of course it's
becoming more and there's also a blackmail threat over his head,
(41:30):
you know, the fence is basically blackmailing him to continue.
So the story gets bigger and bigger. And when it
was really in the third episode where I was watching
his teenage son take drugs at a party, where.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
I was like, why am I what? Right? Oh?
Speaker 1 (41:48):
So this is like about the community. It's not going
to be about him and his It's going to be
about the community. So we're going to find out who's yeah,
I know which the daughter's sleeping with some guy, and
the Sun has drug problems, and Olivia Mun's husband is
fighting her in court, and Amanda Pete and I'm like,
(42:08):
I'm not interested.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
It's all really wealthy white people and they're extravagant problems.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
It's like the skin Navian shows when they find uh,
you know, a girl killed in woods and then and
then suddenly everyone attends every wedding town was horrible. That's
a terrible secret. That's a secret, and they have terrible stories.
I'm just so tired of that. That's the great I mean,
it's it.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
I did actually enjoy the three episodes I watched. I
just am not really into what the story is about.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Like I said, I I was charmed by John Ham.
I'm always now charmed by him, and and lines were funny,
some very funny lines, and you know, made me laugh
out loud. And yeah, and surprised by Olivia Mun's performance.
So I'll watch it a little more. We'll see, we'll see,
but I don't know, give you a shot to see
(42:57):
what happened. You like it, yeah, but you think yeah,
I totally agree. And so the other thing I'm watching, Yeah,
I'm gonna let you talk. It's mob Land. It's a show. Well,
first of all, I'm I'm obsessed with British show. British
shows in general. I think they're good. I usually like
(43:18):
them because they're usually about the performance, not so much
about the actors in general. And they've been doing a
lot of mobsters a gangster shows lately. Uh, the Gangs
of London, the Gentleman. So I was like, oh, I'll
give this one a shot, especially because you know Helen
Mirrorn I will watch. You didn't mention it's Helen Mirren, Pierce.
I was about to mention them. Yeah, so the great
(43:40):
cast as as as Tom said, Tom Hardy, Helen Mirren
and Joe and Frogett is heard Joan Froggett from I
Love Her. So I of course I had to watch it,
just disappointed. It's it's very old school gangster show in
a way, very dark, very serious. It's not funny with
(44:04):
some humor like like I don't know, like The Gentleman,
for example, I don't know, very very much of a
cliche in every aspect of it. You watch an episode, right,
Oh you didn't.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
You didn't get I was in the room while you
were watching it. It didn't interest me.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
So it was it's about these two families. What a surprise,
two families fighting and you know, and and a lot
of stuff doesn't make sense that they're not really connected.
It's like they drop one story here and then start
another one. I do think I read some stuff online
and I agree with him that Pierce Broughton and Helen
(44:40):
Mirror and they're miscast. It's totally miscussed here. I don't
I don't think they they don't even look like mob
people to me. They don't look like mobsters. Yeah, I
just did. And he keeps trying. I mean I did.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Like I said, the room. He keeps doing this like
tough guy thing, and I'm just like, I just think
that really suits you.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
No, it does. I just don't think that's who you are?
Are you?
Speaker 1 (45:00):
You look so refined and elegant, and actually so does
Helen Mirren, although she can get down and dirty with
the roles.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
I just find for I think they're wasted. Helen Mirren
and Joanne Froggett, I think they're wasted. Totally. They're so great,
but they're wasted. Joe and Froggets plays Tom Hardy's wife
and it's just wasted. Not much there. And Helen Mere
I don't know her stuff lately. I'm not really impressed
with her stuff, what she's been doing lately. I don't know.
(45:29):
She plays the wife. You know, there's not much there.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
I mean, she's what kind of roles are available to
a woman who? I mean, yes, it's not like she's
got her pick.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
I really the only character I enjoy is Harry played
by Tom Hardy. I do enjoy his character. He plays
the fixer, you know, the one going around fixing all
the problems, and he's actually good and I like him.
But I feel, as you mentioned while I was watching that, uh,
he kind of that's what he plays now all the time,
(45:59):
the tough guy's gun. He just plays the same character. Yeah,
there's a new movie now on Netflix with him doing
the same, you know, like playing I think he believes
a cop or whatever. It's just the usual stuff. Not impressed.
I'm still watching. I don't know why I'm watching. I
guess because it's London and I love to see London.
But not really not not great, not great. Uh, disappointed,
(46:22):
And I've been reading around reviews and and uh and
people kind of feel the same way that I don't know,
kind of pretty to look at, but maybe way too
serious and just yeah, but anyway, give it a shot.
It's called Mobland on Paramount Plus.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Right, yes, on Paramount Plus. I believe this talk for
the week. There was banging in the background. We apologize,
but we cannot work around these workmen.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
There are more shows coming and we'll talk about them
one is the four Seasons on Netflix. We have trailer
and pictures and everything on our site. The other one
is called Sirens with Julian Moore. Also, I think we
just posted about it today, so we'll talk about those
shows later.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
All right, We'll be back next week with whatever across
ours across our desks. Until then, take care of yourself,
love you mean it.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
Bye bye bye
We're Tom Lorenzo and this is the Pop Stile Opinion Fest. Hello,
welcome back to another edition of the PSO. I am
the Tea and you're tel O Tom Fitzgerald, and I'm
here with the Low and your Tilo Therenzo because my
lovely husband, how are you, lovely husband, I.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Am dying to travel. And speaking of traveling, we are
going to Texas right Oh, look.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
At you working that in without any warning whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I knew, very excited about it.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yes, on June twenty six, will be in Dallas, Texas.
I'm going to call up this information right now.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I did not expect you to do about Lorenzo. It's
just that we traveled so muchlast year that I feel
I just want to travel again. I love traveling. I
hate the whole process of getting let me to a
certain plate.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
But Wednesday, June twenty fifth, twenty twenty five, we will
be at the award winning Bishop Arts Theater Center in
Oak Cliff in Dallas, where we will be part of
the Badge of Pride from Silence to Celebration Pride Month
exhibit and you know series of events. You can come
(01:27):
to our site. We have all the information posted at
the top of the page in terms of where we're
going to be, how you can get tickets. We would
love to see all.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Of you there.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
People who sign up early to get a seat, admission
is free. We'll get a free signed copy of our
book Legendary Children, so that's a reason to go, and
we will be there. You know, we were asked by
Badge of Pride to come and prepare something for Pride Month,
and in talks with them we said, you know, the
(02:01):
way things are going in this country and everything, we
really just want to do something about trains women. And
so we're going to look at three very important trans
women and drag queens who have who made a huge
difference in the lives of people both gay, both queer
and non queer, and we're going to tell you their stories.
(02:24):
Can't compare and contrast their stories and explain, you know,
why what they did was important.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
So and we'll keep it fun.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I promise they're drag queens, the women that we're talking about,
So of course we'll have lots of images and sparkle
and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So that is.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
June twenty fifth. It's very exciting in Dallas, Texas, and
we'd love to see you there. Go to our site
tom on Lorenzo dot com to find all of the
information on it, and we will be posting various times
on social media over the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I't wait to see you guys.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yes, it's I mean, we just love love, love getting
out in the world and getting to we do and
to see our readers and meet our readers.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Right, we always talk about meeting you guys, and when
you come up and ask questions and you know, introduce yourself,
it's always fun. Yeah, we we do. You know love that.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
We do love that, and we love television, which means
we're going to have a.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah fully TV to TV going.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
On version of the Pso we are catching up on
the latest two episodes of Hacks. I am going to
talk quite a bit about and or I'm going to
pull out my nerdy hat and talk about that. Lorenzo
and I are both going to talk about your Friends
and Neighbors, which is the Apple TV Plus series with
John Hamm and Olivia Mon and Amanda Pete, and then
(03:39):
Lorenzo's going to talk about mob Land, the British crime
series Gangster series. It seems like half the show's will
come out a great Breakangster series now with Pierce Brosnan
and Helen Mirren and Tom Hardy.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
He's got a lot of stuff. Has a movie on
Netflix now too, and I guess that's his thing, and
we'll talk about it and hacks, let's not forget he men.
You mentioned that you wanted to do a little TikTok talk,
so go. No, it's just funny because I'm on TikTok
and it's not a fun place to be sometimes now.
But anyway, there all of a sudden, you know, it's
(04:17):
no longer j LO. Now they all hate Katy Perry now,
and I feel so bad for her because there now,
well there was the whole space flight thing, uh, you
know rightfully for so many of last year though with
her album. Yes, it's because they didn't like her album
and then they trashed it, and then they started making
fun of her, and then the whole space flight thing.
(04:38):
And now her show. They're making fun of her show.
That is horrible her you know whatever, a concert. I'm
her tour, Yeah, her tour. So they're all making fun
of that now they show clips and it is I
have to say, it's bad. I mean, it's just like
the moves and everything, uh, the stage direction, it just
(04:58):
looks tacky and trashy. So they're making fun of that now,
and I just feel so bad because everything is about
how much they hate her now. And I don't know.
I mean, there was a time that I thought she
was good. I like her, she's.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Fun, but I do think I mean, I don't really
have a lot to say about this because I don't
really follow it, but I do think her image has
suffered a lot in the last few years. I think,
if you know, if you're in pop music, if you're
a pop star and you want to remain viable as
a pop star, you can't stop being cool because once
(05:34):
that happens, then everybody turns against you. And you know,
Katie was perceived as being a little dorky and weird,
and it only got worse over the last couple of years.
And you know, in a world in you know her,
her competition is younger than her, cooler than her, and.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Has a harder engine she has.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
She she never really had much of an edge to
her to begin with, but she was sort of fun,
you know, mid auts teens. I guess pop star, and
I don't think she's met the moment. I don't think
she's grown as an artist. I don't think she's particularly
interesting or I mean, when you like, Lady Gaga is
her contemporary. They basically came up together, and Lady Gaga
(06:17):
is a far, far, far more interesting artist at this
stage of her career.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
But even Lady Gaga is not doing anything new. I
mean her Albakodava saying it's it's just so, you know,
it's a rehash stuff anyway, anything else about that? No,
I just thought it was interesting. Now that's all I
see on on on watching TikTok. Now, it's it's just
how much they hate her, and I just do bad.
I want to you know, if people feel the same
(06:42):
about her music, about you know, her presence. I guess whatever.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I just think the spaceflight thing was a dumb thing
for any started doing.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I think so too.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
If it's blowing up in her face, I can't really
feel that bad about it.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Sorry, I didn't mean no, no, that's it. Did you
want to say anything else about that?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
No, that's it. I just I was just surprised, because
you know, it's how they how it is, you know,
they picked someone to hate and not very true. And
now it's it's Katie pen It's usually they pick a woman,
and it's usually a woman.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I mean, before Katy Perry, like you mentioned Jay Lo
Hello and Blake Lively. You know, there's always someone that
you know, everyone's willing to hate on social media, and
ninety nine percent of the time it's a woman.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Len me about that.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
All right, speaking to women, let's talk about hacks. Yes, yes, yes,
I we're.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Late on this.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
You know, these these episodes aired on Thursday. Well one
of them aired a week ago, ten days ago, so
we're actually very late on these. I had to rewatch
both of them before we did this podcast. And I
gotta say, I do think the show was uneven this
this uh really this season. I don't think they quite
know what to do with with Ava and Debra's feud,
(07:56):
and the tone keeps switching back and forth where it's
kind of funny and you know, goofy, and then at
other times it starts getting really almost dark and weird.
The way they seem to hate each other so much.
I found like the Las Vegas stuff. Not again, we
run into this thing where I'm like, I don't mind that,
really very believable that they would act this way in
(08:18):
front of employees, right, like pulling the bus over and
having an argument and trying to hide it. And I
get it, it's comedy and everything, but I don't know,
I just felt like they needed Debor to be a jerk,
and so they just wrote her in such a way
that just felt really harsh.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Right. I feel that they're just repeating themselves over and
over again. I guess that's what I'm getting at. That's
how I feel like the show is kind of done
unless they do something very drastic, but it just feels
like it's the same, and then what are we going
to do now? It's just going to present her doing
her talk show and the issues with the talk show. Maybe,
I just.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I do think the talk show is going to fail.
I think that's the art something like that. It's not
going to work. I just they I'm sorry, they put
in enough foreshadowing to let that's what this story is
going to be. It's gonna fail.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
The thing that I see on TV now the show
has it's at the show the studio. Uh, they all
they're they're kind of doing the same thing now. It's
very much inside jokes about the industry, and if you
don't know much about the industry, they don't I get
it it, especially with hacks. I understand why they do
it because it's funny. It's funny to make those jokes.
But sometimes they're not believable or they're not part of
(09:32):
the story, you know what I mean, Like they just
don't go with the story or the whatever. I sometimes
that That's how I feel about it. Let's not even
talk about those people, you know, in the office. I
don't know, but I do like there are some moments
that I really appreciate the show because they're both incredible actors,
but the whole Vegas saying just with the employees, and.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Like, you know, I just didn't find it believable that
the two of them would be so clueless as to
act that way in front of people that work for them.
They're not that, you know, they're like they have common sense.
Both of them had some level of common sense, and
I just didn't And I just when the season started,
when last season ended, and it ended on that note
(10:16):
where Ava basically screwed Debra over and said that she
basically learned how to be a bit from her. I
thought it was a great setup. Wow, there, their relationship
has really moved to a new place. And even going
into the new season, I was like, this is interesting.
They're they're at odds in a way that they weren't before,
even after all of their growth. Now they hate each other,
(10:38):
but I don't feel like they've done anything interesting with that.
It's just a lot of sniping.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Backand for it.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
And frankly, it's very one sided because as I mean, Ava,
as she's written, is this like awkward millennial. She can't
win any of these fights because Deborah is this sharp
tongued bitch. So every time they.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Go against each other, essentially Ava loses. And that's power,
more money, more everything exactly. So it's just I'm like,
I get it, but this is actually not that fun
for me to watch. I just don't find things to
believe it. I thought the writers they made they made
the writers look like adiots and couple and not everyone
is an idiot.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
I mean, if you got hired for that job, you
got to be a decent writer.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So they all look like nerds and idiots, you know,
not any to be fair, I mean, you know, comedy
writers are not.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Exactly I understand the coolest people in the world. But
they did make some of them, They made most of
them look really stupid, and.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I didn't appreciate that. And I again, it goes back
to what I said, I get because you want a joke,
you want to make a joke here. But at the
same time, it's like, all right, enough of that same
thing with the office people. You know, Oh my god,
I can't stand those people. I can't stand Kayla, I
can't stand Jimmy did Oh my god. The jokes are
not believable. These people would not even be hired or
they wouldn't even have a joke. Right, So all that
(12:03):
having said that, you know, they're both great. Some of
the lines are great and interesting, and it's funny. There's
some some great jokes, you know, the the mark in Delicato,
I can't remember his character's name, but anyway, I think
it's Damnien. Anyway, the whole thing with the gay bar
(12:24):
or gay.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Well, that's the second I wanted to bring up the
second episode because we were talking about that, the Las
Vegas one. I'm sorry, I'm making funny noises because there's
literally a cat hair in my in my mouth that
was stuck to the microphone. Okay, second episode they launched
the TV. So the second episode that we're talking about,
(12:46):
they launched the talk show, and basically the entire episode
was centered around that. And this was where I started thinking, well,
that's kind of a lost opportunity because we spent the
entire season so far watching these two women fight and
make assays out of themselves in front of all of
their co workers, to the point where like management in
(13:06):
the head of the studio was involved. And so I
mean things were like really rough for the two of them,
and then boom, they have a show. We didn't get
to see any of that development.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
We didn't.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
You just jumped so far ahead into it, and I
wanted to see, you know, I don't know what this
would have been interesting. But did she need to be
coached on how to do interviews? Like she hasn't She doesn't.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Do interviews right?
Speaker 1 (13:33):
How hard was it to book guests? Like you know,
who were her guests on the first night? We found
out that the second night's going to be Nancy Pelosi
and Shaboozi, you.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Know, stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Like they skipped over so much stop to get to
that first taping, And I feel like we missed out
on a lot, like, I don't think there's going to
be flashbacks to any of this stuff. So we went
from hiring a group of dorky losers who nobody had
any good ideas and nobody knew what they were doing,
and then in the next episode they had a fully
(14:04):
realized show set up and ready to go. I just
felt like that was a weird, weird pacing.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, you're going to fest air and then I don't know,
and I wish they had more interesting characters, like the daughter.
It's interesting. Why is didn't you back? You know, well,
she's on she's got two other TV shows. That's why.
It's just you know, I don't think it feels like
I don't know if it's just going to be the
two of them, like, you know, acting like I mean,
that's like immature people.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
That's that's going to be an issue going forward. I
think is because they have narrow and down the cast
basically to just the two of them. So now they're
bringing guest stars and you know, Ava had a scene
with Meryl Marco, who was one of the head writers
on The Letterman Show, and you know, she's a legend.
But I mean, if you're not really into that world.
(14:53):
You wouldn't know who that was, and the scene doesn't
really play that well.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
And then Carol, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Then runs into cal Burnett at a Beverly Hills clinic,
and well, you know, it was a lovely scene. There's
never a problem with Carol Burnett appearing anywhere, but that's it.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
A lovely scene. I mean, there's no I don't know.
I just those came you a thing. They I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I find they're fine, I find them nauseating sometimes they're fine.
But I, like I said, there was so much missing
from the storytelling that I felt like, well, right, not
just I love seeing Carole Burnett. This is not telling
me anything about how the show got put together, and.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
The whole thing about what advice would you give me?
Come on, No, she would not ask that question. No,
yes she would Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I mean, Carol's a legend, yes now, but she would
ask that question. I didn't have a problem with her
liking Carol, I just or even Carol being there, but
I just didn't think it was what the show needed
at that moment. Having said that, it did set up
a lovely moment where you know, Carol Burnett told her
to just do the show for one person in the audience,
(16:02):
and you know what, I actually think Calbernet has said
that in the past. I think she did, so they
actually worked that into the said.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
That in the past, and I actually do that when
we do a TV talk or whatever.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Go ahead anyway, So it set up that lovely moment
at the end where or it actually wasn't the end.
It was near the end where Devor was out on
stage and she was faltering for a moment and she
looked over it Ava and did the joke, you know,
delivered the joke directly to Ava, and it was a
(16:33):
really sweet moment and both the actresses had just had
a lovely, you know connection in that moment that of
course got papered over almost immediately. But between that and
the scene at the hospital at the end of the episode,
I feel like they are moving in a direction with
these characters. I don't know what's going to happen, but
(16:54):
like I said, I think the show is going to fail.
There's no way that's show. They've set it up. It's
story wise in a way that it's it can't actually succeed.
If it did, it would be boring a different show,
and it would be a different show. I think they
have to struggle their way through this and then they're
(17:14):
going to come out of it somehow better comedians or something.
But I don't think. I don't think Debraa's show is
going to be a hit at that. This does bring
up something that I've wanted to bring up for a while,
is they showed some of Debra's monologue. And that's the
problem I've always had with this show is it's a
funny show. The scripts are funny, the actresses are funny,
(17:37):
but when it comes time for Deborah to be funny,
the jokes aren't there. I don't think the jokes are
all that funny, right, Like the audience laughs at everything,
but and you know, Ava laughs at her jokes, and
I'm like, these jokes aren't actually all that funny. I
wish they could get someone to write some good jokes
with Debra last that's.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
The joke that I don't think it is. And even
if if that's a joke that's a little too h like.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Too subtle, everybody's laughing. Is if it's funny, then you know,
if you want to make the point that her jokes
are tired or are out moded, then you don't have
a bunch of people.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Let I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
I'm enjoying the show, but I have to say, I'm
I think I'm ready for it to end. I think
they've gone taken these characters as far as they can go.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
And I tend to agree, and there's not much else
they can do with them. I mean, the only reason
why I'm watching still watching, sure because of them, the
two of them, because they're so good. But I just
don't find that there's story there anymore. I mean, at
some point, you know, that's it. Yeah, that's it. But
they're phenomenal together, I you know, and Gina Smart obviously
(18:45):
is a legend. She's amazing. But Hannah too, My god,
she's so good, she's so funny. Yeah, I'm I'm I
like them. I like their performance, all right.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
I think we've beaten that one to death. Yes, let's
take a short break and won't be right back, and
I will be talking about and Or we are back,
and I honestly cannot remember. If I had to go
look on our site, did I thought did we ever
write about and Or? In the first season? As far
as I can tell I didn't.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I know you mentioned on a podcast before, could not
find you did the podcast because I wanted to listen
to it before. I don't think it was a whole podcast,
but I do, Yeah, I did just mention it that yeah,
something about because here's what.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
UH and Or is the best show on television right now,
and if it continues at this pace, it's going to
be an all timer. Really, it's going to be like
literally one of the best shows of the twenty twenties. Wow,
it's that good. It was always that good. It was
that good in the first season. But I've seen the
(19:54):
the second season, and it is the final season of
the show. They are making the usual choice of releasing
three episodes at a time every week, and those three
episodes bundle and tell one story within the space of
a year, and then they jump ahead a year for
the next three year. So it's basically they're releasing films
(20:15):
that are because each episode is an hour long. So
there was three hours of story that were released that
was released last week, and it basically functions as a movie.
And I have to go back and watch the first
season because I was so blown away by these first
three episodes and I remember being blown away by season one,
but I thought, Jesus, is this even better than I remember?
(20:39):
So I might have to go back and watch the
first season again. I have to admit, very very rare
for a Star Wars property, or for any Disney Plus property.
I watched the first episode of the second season without
doing any recap, without looking, and I was completely lost
because the story is so freaking complicated. And I thought, Wow, this,
(21:03):
this Star Wars story is so complicated that I cannot
retain half of the information that was, you know, previously
presented to me. Now, complicated isn't necessarily Maybe complex would
be a better way of describing it. Nuanced adult, That's
how I would describe this story. It is actually astonishing
(21:24):
to me that someone, and that someone would be Tony Gilroy,
the director and screenwriter. He wrote and directed Michael Clayton,
among many other things, and he was given control of
this this property, and he has turned it into the
most intelligent take on Star Wars that I have ever seen,
(21:44):
and one of the most intelligent takes on sort of fantasy,
because you know, Star Wars is more fantasy than it
is science fiction. But let's say speculative fiction, you know,
covering everything. It is honestly one of the most intelligent
takes on any speculative fiction I've ever seen. It is
(22:05):
about something so much larger than what it's about, and
Star Wars very rarely is larger than the story it's
trying to tell. Star Wars, you know, the original trilogy
by George Lucas was based largely on you know, serials
that he would watch on Saturday mornings in the movie
theaters and classic science fiction like you know, Flash Gordon
(22:26):
and Buck Rogers and all that stuff, among other things.
He was also looking at Corusawa and you know, Samurai
films and a whole bunch of different things. But he
was telling a very basic story of good and evil,
black and white, you know, heroism in the classic sense.
It wasn't a complicated story. It was never a complicated story.
(22:48):
In fact, it was defined by the simplicity of its storytelling.
That's why, you know, the color scheme in Star Wars
for most of the first six films was literally black
and white. Black and white was the color story because
that was literally with the story that was being told,
good versus evil, not complicated and or is about living
(23:09):
under oppression, and it is about what it takes to
turn people from citizens to radicals, and you watch the
process unfold. It is so freaking intelligent how it's done.
In the first season of and Or. And I'll say
this to anyone who's listening who's like, yeah, I'm not
into Star Wars stuff, believe it or not, I feel
(23:31):
like you could watch it without knowing anything. You don't
have to know. Darth Vader never appears in this. Luke
Skywalker never appears in this. No one has a light saber,
there's no magic powers. It's all about politics. And that's
what makes it so frigging rich and dense and meaty
to tuck into, because it's so much more than just
(23:54):
bad guys and space wizards and that sort of thing.
It's not It's last season was all about Cassi and Ander,
this character who was, you know, like a smuggler, and
you know, he wasn't the most like a lot of
people in that Star Wars universe. He wasn't the most
moral of heroes. And he doesn't even start off as
(24:16):
a hero. But over the course of that first season
he's put through hell by the Empire, and by the
end of the season, he has become a radical revolutionary.
It was a thrilling thing to watch in this season.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
I mean they're still following this point. They're showing you.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
How he becomes more and more entrenched in the resistance.
But really the most fascinating character on the show is
mon Mathma. And if you told me at any point
prior to twenty twenty two that Mon Mathma would wind
up becoming the most fascinating character in Star Wars, I
would have been, like, what. She was a side character.
(24:56):
She had about three lines in the first movie, well
actually I think it was the third movie. She's one
of the few female speaking parts in the first trilogy.
But she had no she was just a name, and
she was a figure in the background and and or
especially she's appeared in other things. She has appeared in
some of the cartoons, and I know she she originally
(25:17):
the actress Genevieve O'Reilly was cast to play her in
the prequel trilogy twenty five years ago, but I think
her part was cut. Anyway, she is a major major
character in the middle of this story, and she is
fascinating because she's a senator in the Imperial Senate and
she comes from an extremely wealthy family, so her whole
(25:39):
existence is just First off, the gowns are incredible, and
the set design. Any scene that she is and is incredible.
I have to watch it and you'd love her. She
was the one that was dancing that dancing scene that
you asked about, because oh my god, mon month, no dancing.
That is the meme of the year anyway. So she
is a woman of comfort but also a woman of power.
(26:04):
She's basically the Hillary Clinton of this world. However, unlike
Hillary Clinton, she is silently and secretly funding all of
these resistance efforts. So she's involved in the revolution, but
she is keeping herself as a member of the elite.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
So yeah, And in the first season it was all
about her trying to navigate that world. But her arc
in the first three episodes of this season is fascinating
because you are watching her make all of these decisions
that are hurting her, that cause her a tremendous amount
of pain. For one, she's marrying her teenage daughter off
(26:44):
to someone that she thinks is disgusting, but she's doing
it for political reasons. She's doing it because I won't
even get into it. It was to hide the fact
that she was spending her money on illicit revolutionary activities.
So the first three episodes, one of the storylines is
her daughter's wedding, and it's her navigating this scene, trying
(27:07):
to keep everything under wraps, trying to remain a mother
to her daughter who pretty much hates her, and a
wife to her husband who I think he probably hates
her as well. While at the same time, one of
her oldest friends is at the wedding, and he helped
cover up some problems for her last year, and now
he has money problems, which means he's starting to make
(27:30):
noise about revealing what he knows about her. He's essentially
trying a black father, and she has to become part
of a conversation that essentially ends with, well, we've got
to kill him. And this is an old friend, this
is like a childhood friend of hers, and she it's
just fascinating to watch her wrestle with this and to
(27:52):
watch someone go from being a member of the elite
to someone who she's in it, like, that's it. Once
you cross that line, Once you crossed the line to
okaying the murder of a friend of yours for the
cause you are a radical revolutionary and her reaction to
(28:13):
this moment was to just dance. That's the scene that
ends the dancing at her daughter's wedding, and it is
just a beautiful piece of filmmaking. The music is gorgeous,
gorgeous her performances because you can just see her shedding
it all you can see. And I'm really excited to
see where she goes next, because, like I said, in
(28:34):
the movies which take place after this this story, she's
the leader of the resistance, she is a military leader,
but right now she's an elite senator. Like I'm just
it's like watching Hillary Clinton go from running to be
president to you know, storming the capitol or something. And
(28:54):
I think that and of course, obviously for many reasons
that is extremely interesting for the times that we live in,
like what does it mean to resist rule? And how
far are you willing to go in your resistance? And
in her case, she had a friend killed and it
is Oh, it's so good. There's also other stuff going on.
(29:17):
One of the things I love about it is that
it is showing life in the Empire in a way
that no other Star Wars property ever showed.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So you have people like.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
They have migrant farm workers who are having their visas
checked and they're trying to stay away from the people
checking their visas, and then you have mid level functionaries
in the Empire who are basically yuppies. I don't really
know where Dedra and Cyril's story is going, although I
(29:48):
did actually really love that scene with Catherine Hunter showing
up for Lunchez, his mother and being a total bitch.
I know Dedra is she is going to be involved
in the Gorman massacre. I won't even get into that.
You don't need to know what it's It's going to
unfold eventually. But I gotta say it is the smartest,
(30:09):
sharpest science fiction fantasy writing I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
It is.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
On the level of the very best of Game of Thrones,
but I honestly think it has exceeded it in terms
of the intelligence in the writing, in the in the
themes that it's trying to uncover, and the things that
it's saying about human nature.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
It's just so damn smart. How's everybody else doing? Like
Diego Luna? You know he's character, right, Yeah, he's he's
and or character. Yeah, he's great. I should have mentioned
him before now.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
I guess the reason I haven't mentioned him in this
review is because I really think mon Mathama is the
story at this point, maybe Diego, you know, Cassie Andrews
story will take center stage in the second you know,
trilogy of episodes that's coming.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I don't know, but in a way, I.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Feel like Cassian's major arc was last season because he
ended it as the radical that we know him to be,
and he's in it now, so we'll see. I thought
his storyline was interesting with the because it showed how
again it's it's making some the show's making some very
(31:24):
smart points about politics and resistance and rebellion, and he
gets caught between these these morons. These are just they're rebels,
but they're idiots.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
That's the thing.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Like the Star Wars movies make rebellion look so heroic,
but in truth, it's messy and political, and there's personalities involved,
and people are shortsighted and they and grudges and that's
what all of that was, and that was actually really
it was sort of like the Judaean People's Front seen
from the Life of Brian, where you're just watching dumb
(31:54):
revolutionaries fighting each other and and you know, I think
it was making point about how messy revolution can be.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
That's it. It is my current.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Favorite show on television, and I honestly, I truly think
that when this is done, it'll be an all timer,
right up there with Mad Men, right up there with
Breaking Bed.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
It's that good.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
And I never ever thought I would say that about
I love Star Wars.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
I do, but I.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Don't think it's complex or nuanced or has much to
say about the human experience. Not normally this this show.
It is thought provoking, and I do think if you
not really into Star Wars, all you really need to
know going into it is that oppressed people are living
under a galactic empire that spans entire galaxies and planets.
(32:50):
That's all you need to know.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I should watch it. Then I'm going to start from
I think you did watch it. I think I don't rememory.
I don't remember anyway, I can't recommend enough.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
All right, we're going to go to break and then
when we come back, I think we should talk about
your friends and neighbors.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Yeah, all right, we'll be right back. At first, I
was like, what my friends? What? Okay?
Speaker 1 (33:14):
We are back, and now we're going to talk About
Your Friends and Neighbors, which is the semi news show
on Apple TV plus. I gotta say I wasn't I
wasn't dying to see this, and then I started watching
it because you had started watching it, and I.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Thought, well, we'll do it podcast.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
So I started watching it, and I found myself liking
it in spite of myself, like I and but even
in the after three episodes, I don't think I'm going
to continue. And I don't know how much I'm rambling here.
I feel about this roughly the same way I felt
(33:55):
about felt about the Studio, which was that it's a
good show, everybody's doing good work. I'm just not interested
in these people at all. I am going to go
back to the Studio because I know it's really I've
heard so many good things about it.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
The thing with Your.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Friends and Neighbors is it's just another show about really
wealthy white people, Like it's that's just it's suburban white
people with a lot of money and extravagant problems. It's
big little lies, it's you know, it's right.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
I thought it was kind of interesting. It's a hedge
fund manager who got fired and then he has no
money and you know, decides to start stealing, yeah, from
his neighbor premise, which kind of we talked about weed
right the show Weeds out of like it reminded me
of weeds right. It also reminds me a little bit
of Breaking bat, although it's more comedic than Breaking Bad,
So Weeds is actually the best one, the best analogy.
(34:48):
So yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
John Hamm plays this cocky, middle aged wealthy heads fund
manager who gets fired. Well no, I mean there's a
litany of problems that fall this.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Oh right right right by His wife.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Cheats on him with his best friend and they get divorced,
and then he sleeps with this young woman who picks
him up in a bar. Except it turns out that
she works for the same hedge fund that.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
He works for.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
So his boss uses that information, yes, to push him out,
and now he is he has signed a non disclosure,
he can't work for any other companies, and the guy
is completely screwed. He has no money, lots of bills,
lots of bills because you know, he leads an extravagant lifestyle.
And I'll just say right there, and it was all
(35:37):
the stuff was happening to him in the first half
hour and I was so put upon so many problems,
and I'm all I could think was I'm sorry, but
hedge fund managers who look like him don't suffer these problems.
Hedge fund managers who look like him bounce back and
pick up a twenty five year old wife after their
(35:58):
wife leaves them. Fund managers who look like him probably
are going to bounce back from a job really quickly.
Like they made it sound like, oh, he can't get
a job. I'm like, no, he's supposed to be some
hotshot and he looks like John Hamm.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
These very wealthy, good looking at you know, strivers like
this guy in this world don't really suffer consequences. So
right from the get go, I was like, this guy
would not be in this situation like behining after his
wife that left.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
I'm like, are you getting me? A guy like that
would have a twenty five year old wife six months later.
That's the way that works for those people.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
So right from the get go, he's these sort of ry, comedic,
sarcastic hedge fund manager. That's kind of cool, And I'm like, yeah, like,
no real hedge fund manager in the world.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
He's like super witty, and charming, and I'm like, yeah,
I mean it works because it's Johjohn Hans. Yes, yeah,
I think it has a lot to do with his
own through snell it because he's charming, he's very handsome,
look at and so and the I don't know, some
of the lines are funny. It is genuinely funny.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
If you don't if your skin doesn't crawl looking at
wealthy white people and their problems. It's an entertaining show.
I'm I'm really not trashing the show. I just I'm
not interested in it because the thing is, here's what's happened,
and it is an interesting premise. He essentially just falls
(37:30):
into stealing from his neighbors' houses because very wealthy for him,
they're all very wealthy. He knows what they have in
those houses. And as he does a lot of voiceover,
a lot of John Hamm voiceover, and the show does
play with your perception of John Hamm as a pitch
man for products, not just as Don Draper, but John
(37:51):
Hamm has been pitching like Mercedes and hedge funds and
insurance companies for the last ten years. His voice sounds
like a commercial and they use that they actually do
use that and it is very clever at certain points
when he's stealing, like he's stealing a watch, and John
Ham's voice comes in and gives you the full rundown
on the watch and how much it's worth and what
(38:13):
it can do, and it sounds exactly like.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
An aed I love that because I know nothing about
what and I'm like, wow, all that stuff very cute, Yeah, clever.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Like I said, it plays on John Ham's innate charm
and it, you know, his charm is considerable, so it
does carry the show. So anyway, he falls into the
trap of stealing from his neighbor's houses because he has
all these bills to pay and he can't earn any money.
And he, you know, as he says in voiceover, he
(38:42):
knows what they have in those houses, and he knows
that they don't pay attention to it. They're so like,
you know, wealthy and careless about their that they don't
even pay attention to what they have lying around.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
The one thing I didn't.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Believe he said that they're they're so I don't know
where they said they lived. Is it like Long Island
or something like that, like and I can't remember. I'm
not sure where they live. Actually I have to go
back and look. But he he claimed that, you know,
they're so blase about their wealth that nobody nobody locks
their doors. And I'm like, no, I don't believe they
(39:14):
would all have top of the line right security. They
those people hire literal security personnel to to if they're
that wealthy. And so he's like walking into these houses
and no alarms are being set off, and there's no
cameras anywhere, and I don't believe any of that. That's
this is what I just have to go with exactly.
(39:34):
It sets up this world that I'm just like, that's
not what that world is like though. These guys are
all alphas. They're not these MOPy, little, you know, witty guys.
They're all alphas, and everybody's got private security and and
you know, the cameras on their You can't just walk
into someone's home and steal like a three hundred thousand
(39:57):
dollars watch. I just didn't find it's charming. It's a
fun idea, but I could not buy into it.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
I'm sorry, I'm doing no, that's pretty much it. I agree.
I started watching because of him, because I think he's awesome.
You used to hate him. Where did they do? But
after that movie about the paintings, I forget what the
name of the Fletch movie that I did. Yeah, I
loved the movie and I left so hard. And he's funny,
he can be Oh and the one of the TV
shows I can't remember, Uh the oh, I can't remember
(40:25):
the Mormons show? Is that it one of the shows. Anyway,
he's funny. I think he's funny, He's he's charming, and
I like the character. I also am very surprised with
Olivia Moune and Amanda.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
I thought she I think Olivia mont is so good
in this that is so funny chemistry.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Yes, I I was not expecting that. I mean, we
we've seen her many times during fashion week. I had
no idea she was zach funny h and a man.
Of course, Amanda Pete very very funny. So I'm enjoying it.
I've watched what four episodes now.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
I've watched three. I think the fifth episode comes out
this week.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
Oh, okay, I will watch it. Will I'll keep watching
and see what happens. So what happened?
Speaker 1 (41:05):
What happens in the story. And this is where I
was like, Okay, I don't think I'm sticking with this.
Is when he starts breaking into these houses, he starts
learning secrets because all of his neighbors have secrets, so
he starts finding out who's sleeping with their daughter's weight
friend and all this other stuff. And of course it's
becoming more and there's also a blackmail threat over his head,
(41:30):
you know, the fence is basically blackmailing him to continue.
So the story gets bigger and bigger. And when it
was really in the third episode where I was watching
his teenage son take drugs at a party, where.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
I was like, why am I what? Right? Oh?
Speaker 1 (41:48):
So this is like about the community. It's not going
to be about him and his It's going to be
about the community. So we're going to find out who's yeah,
I know which the daughter's sleeping with some guy, and
the Sun has drug problems, and Olivia Mun's husband is
fighting her in court, and Amanda Pete and I'm like,
(42:08):
I'm not interested.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
It's all really wealthy white people and they're extravagant problems.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
It's like the skin Navian shows when they find uh,
you know, a girl killed in woods and then and
then suddenly everyone attends every wedding town was horrible. That's
a terrible secret. That's a secret, and they have terrible stories.
I'm just so tired of that. That's the great I mean,
it's it.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
I did actually enjoy the three episodes I watched. I
just am not really into what the story is about.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Like I said, I I was charmed by John Ham.
I'm always now charmed by him, and and lines were funny,
some very funny lines, and you know, made me laugh
out loud. And yeah, and surprised by Olivia Mun's performance.
So I'll watch it a little more. We'll see, we'll see,
but I don't know, give you a shot to see
(42:57):
what happened. You like it, yeah, but you think yeah,
I totally agree. And so the other thing I'm watching, Yeah,
I'm gonna let you talk. It's mob Land. It's a show. Well,
first of all, I'm I'm obsessed with British show. British
shows in general. I think they're good. I usually like
(43:18):
them because they're usually about the performance, not so much
about the actors in general. And they've been doing a
lot of mobsters a gangster shows lately. Uh, the Gangs
of London, the Gentleman. So I was like, oh, I'll
give this one a shot, especially because you know Helen
Mirrorn I will watch. You didn't mention it's Helen Mirren, Pierce.
I was about to mention them. Yeah, so the great
(43:40):
cast as as as Tom said, Tom Hardy, Helen Mirren
and Joe and Frogett is heard Joan Froggett from I
Love Her. So I of course I had to watch it,
just disappointed. It's it's very old school gangster show in
a way, very dark, very serious. It's not funny with
(44:04):
some humor like like I don't know, like The Gentleman,
for example, I don't know, very very much of a
cliche in every aspect of it. You watch an episode, right,
Oh you didn't.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
You didn't get I was in the room while you
were watching it. It didn't interest me.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
So it was it's about these two families. What a surprise,
two families fighting and you know, and and a lot
of stuff doesn't make sense that they're not really connected.
It's like they drop one story here and then start
another one. I do think I read some stuff online
and I agree with him that Pierce Broughton and Helen
(44:40):
Mirror and they're miscast. It's totally miscussed here. I don't
I don't think they they don't even look like mob
people to me. They don't look like mobsters. Yeah, I
just did. And he keeps trying. I mean I did.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Like I said, the room. He keeps doing this like
tough guy thing, and I'm just like, I just think
that really suits you.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
No, it does. I just don't think that's who you are?
Are you?
Speaker 1 (45:00):
You look so refined and elegant, and actually so does
Helen Mirren, although she can get down and dirty with
the roles.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
I just find for I think they're wasted. Helen Mirren
and Joanne Froggett, I think they're wasted. Totally. They're so great,
but they're wasted. Joe and Froggets plays Tom Hardy's wife
and it's just wasted. Not much there. And Helen Mere
I don't know her stuff lately. I'm not really impressed
with her stuff, what she's been doing lately. I don't know.
(45:29):
She plays the wife. You know, there's not much there.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
I mean, she's what kind of roles are available to
a woman who? I mean, yes, it's not like she's
got her pick.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
I really the only character I enjoy is Harry played
by Tom Hardy. I do enjoy his character. He plays
the fixer, you know, the one going around fixing all
the problems, and he's actually good and I like him.
But I feel, as you mentioned while I was watching that, uh,
he kind of that's what he plays now all the time,
(45:59):
the tough guy's gun. He just plays the same character. Yeah,
there's a new movie now on Netflix with him doing
the same, you know, like playing I think he believes
a cop or whatever. It's just the usual stuff. Not impressed.
I'm still watching. I don't know why I'm watching. I
guess because it's London and I love to see London.
But not really not not great, not great. Uh, disappointed,
(46:22):
And I've been reading around reviews and and uh and
people kind of feel the same way that I don't know,
kind of pretty to look at, but maybe way too
serious and just yeah, but anyway, give it a shot.
It's called Mobland on Paramount Plus.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Right, yes, on Paramount Plus. I believe this talk for
the week. There was banging in the background. We apologize,
but we cannot work around these workmen.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
There are more shows coming and we'll talk about them
one is the four Seasons on Netflix. We have trailer
and pictures and everything on our site. The other one
is called Sirens with Julian Moore. Also, I think we
just posted about it today, so we'll talk about those
shows later.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
All right, We'll be back next week with whatever across
ours across our desks. Until then, take care of yourself,
love you mean it.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
Bye bye bye
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