“The Humanity of ‘The Bear’ and Potentials of ‘Secret Invasion’”- Episode 162 – Transcript (Edited)
Each week, Taking It Down includes transcript for the podcast episode.
Taking It Down | Episode 162 | “The Humanity of The Bear and Potentials of Secret Invasion
0:00:01 – Blaine
How could the FX Hulu show The Bear improve upon what it did in its first season And does the Disney Plus show Secret Invasion actually get it right this time?
0:00:12 – Donovan
An Alabama Take production.
0:00:18 – Blaine
Hello, thanks for tuning in to Taking It Down. The TV and streaming podcast from the Alabama Take, where we prompt conversations for thoughtful, busy TV devotees, all from us, your irreverent outsiders. I’m Blaine Duncan. I’m the editor-in-chief of the Alabama Take. I always could not help dissecting why I like what I like and why I dislike what I dislike when it comes to TV, movies and more. I have an English degree and a side hustle as an English teacher, so I’ll try my best to offer insight that you can use for conversation with others or even with us, or even just to think about. Luckily, my ideas aren’t the only set of viewpoints on this podcast each week, as with me are the other hosts Adam Moro’s an aero diet, traveling and studio musician with a penchant for fine literature. Donovan Reinwald is a media specialist with encyclopedic knowledge on film, television and more. And Natalie Moro she’s the first person to ask about fantasy, sci-fi, comics, trashy reality TV and she’s a huge Beyonce fan. From us you’ll get the obvious, but you’ll get the obscure. We are here for the TV and streaming, obsessed here, just too busy for anything more than the show or movie itself. We’ll give the outside of Hollywood analysis and, like a lot of the Alabama Take productions. It’ll come with zero Southern stereotype.
Hello to our podcast listeners If you don’t watch the YouTube, the video version, we do a little extra things there. If you want to watch it, we dole out Listener Of The Week. But this is our official start. I think I speak for all of our chefs here when I say we’re all pumped to have the bear back on Hulu. In case you don’t follow, we are actually not talking about the late aughts ban from Florence, Alabama, unfortunately, nor the legendary, above all legendary Alabama coaches. This is the Chicago based series. The bear, starring Jeremy Allen White primarily great supporting cast, any matter nowhere last summer seems like captivated everyone, probably because of its pacing, intensity, heart. Anyway, it’s back for its second season just a year later, as of Thursday. If you haven’t watched it, you should. It’s high quality. I think all of us recommend it. Who have seen it? We’re going to analyze it, tell you why and how it’s working so well, but we’re going to do it with spoilers. So, season two, at least. What two episodes? three episodes spoiled? How many are we going?
0:02:45 – Adam
We can go fives. We’ve been watched up to the sets, so I’ve done three.
0:02:48 – Blaine
I’ve done three. Perfect. We’ll go three deep — spoilers season two three deep. Don’t listen if you’re not that far; okay, so did this show release all its episodes in the same day last year?
0:03:01 – Natalie:
Yes.
0:03:02 – Blaine
Did it really.
0:03:03 – Natalie:
I’m pretty sure it did.
0:03:05 – Blaine
It, well, Adam disagreed. I don’t think it did. I can’t remember, and we still haven’t Googled it. We should, Donovan, do you mind looking that up? Let me see if.
0:03:15 – Donovan
I can find it.
0:03:15 – Blaine
Thanks, Donovan. The reason why I asked is I remember we let him pile up, but I couldn’t remember if we let him pile up because we just were behind the ball. We were behind everyone else watching it. I feel like that’s what we were. I think we were behind. I can tell you exactly what happened, though. Adam hurt his back working at Kodakrum Gardens. The garden he runs, plug plug.
0:03:35 – Adam
I actually. that’s not how I heard it. I heard it being old. What, come on, man? I had to sleep on a floor after a show and woke up all discombobulated. Otherwise, you’re right, the circumstances are accurate.
0:03:48 – Blaine
You hurt your back and you were taking a day off from working Kodachrome or taking it easy and you caught up on the bear And I thought we had just let a few episodes pile up, you and I and Natalie.
0:03:58 – Natalie:
I think it was both.
0:04:00 – Adam
I think so. My main introduction to it is people talking about it at the garden, people who work in kitchens that had come out to volunteer for the night, and they were talking about that week’s episode. So, either they were just watching it live and doing it that way, or it was released one at a time. Donovan has an answer.
0:04:19 – Donovan
So, according to Wikipedia, all of the first season was released on the same day, June 23rd 2022.
0:04:25 – Blaine
And almost a year to the day. Yeah, well, okay, so that makes a little bit more sense. Still feels like a misstep to me. If you’re Hulu, if you’re Disney Plus, if you’re anyone but Netflix, it doesn’t make sense to do some this way and some that way. I feel like there needs to be a consistency to your release method. Netflix you know that’s their bread and butter. Release it all on one day, okay, fine, well, we know that. We know that’s going to happen, so it doesn’t bother me when they do it, because they’ve always done it that way. But, yes, okay, so the bear did it the first season. There’s okay, it’s consistent.
Adam watched them with a bad back last season. We love season one, dead season one. It got a little bit of flack amongst friends and some message boards for that nice little pat ending, and we discussed it last year on this show, on this podcast. Did this first season of? did the first episode of the second season really make up for that for you? Because I was thinking, wow, they did. They were able to still be in trouble even though they just got a bunch of money, and it was a very logical way of being in financial dire straits once again. Did that also feel too pat for you, or what did you think?
0:05:41 – Adam
You know watching. It’s been almost the year since we saw it And I had the thought of like wait, didn’t they just find all this money in the life? supposed to be good? So I still don’t. I mean the circumstances of a show like this drive a plot, and the plot is not the most interesting thing to me. You know what I mean. Like as they get into, like we have to build this out and you know they’re going to face problems with licenses and building problems and all this kind of stuff, like none of that really matters that much because we’re interested in the characters and how they respond to these things. So the fact that they had money and then needed more money it’s like this is a plot device to me. It doesn’t really bother me. I guess I understand why people were annoyed that they found a small fortune at the end of last season and tied it back to the brother, but I don’t know.
0:06:29 – Blaine
Just seemed really convenient. Like all the problems were solved in the last minute with some weird sauce hidden money.
0:06:36 – Natalie:
I didn’t see it that way at all.
0:06:39 – Blaine
You didn’t. I don’t, i was fine with it. Personally, watching it, i was like oh okay, well, great, that’s there’s your ending, wonderful. But then I started texting with friends and a few people, but it wasn’t like they were finding just extra money.
0:06:51 – Natalie:
They were finding the money like. The issue at the end of the first season was that the uncle, or whoever it was that loaned in the money, wanted his money back. He wanted to start repaying on this loan. All they found was that money. So they’re still at zero, essentially.
0:07:06 – Blaine
That’s right And that’s what season two, episode one, makes clear right at the very beginning. And their problems, i feel like, were very understandable. Like if I went out and won $100,000 today, that’s going to take care of some things but it ain’t going to take care of everything. I’m still going to have to pay for all the block taxes on that money if I want it And there’s all kinds of things that. Or if my wife and I decided to build a back porch, we had to get building certain licenses and building or go through zoning or whatever. I was just curious what y’all thought that we did discuss that a little bit at the end of the bear. We covered the bear quite a lot, one of our favorites from last year. There is a line in episode two from Karm. He says my brain does this weird thing where it bypasses any sense of joy and attaches itself to dread. Y’all that’s me, did you? could anyone else relate to that line?
0:08:05 – Adam
Yeah, there are. I think when they’re trying to and I guess a big part of it is them trying to understand why they keep doing what they’re doing It’s an addict’s mentality, and it’s funny that Carm said it because he’s not the addict in the family, at least not that we know of.
0:08:24 – Blaine
It was his brother. He is going to Al-Anon meetings. Beautiful scenes with him in those Al-Anon meetings.
0:08:29 – Adam
Well, and he does, he doesn’t. We’ve never seen him drink right.
0:08:32 – Blaine
That’s a good question. He might have had a beer here or there, but I don’t think so.
0:08:36 – Adam
no, I don’t think he drinks at all.
I don’t know if that’s a preventative right, or if it’s due to a past problem, but I think the the addict mentality in all of them comes out and them just being completely dedicated to this crazy idea. You know, it almost reminds me of like musicians Like, well, all we have to do is sink all this money into this thing. That’s crazy and requires you to work crazy hours and like maybe at bare minimum we can just scrape by, yeah, and then you’re like, why are we doing this? That’s all very relatable.
0:09:10 – Blaine
That line punched me in the gut because that’s that’s why I can’t drink, because I’ll do this thing where I’ll drink and the one beer brings me joy. but I immediately feel, oh god, this feeling is going to wear off. I better hurry up and grab another one. And then I do the second one and I’ll think, oh god, now I feel great, but this feeling is going to wear off. I better go grab another one. and it’s just, my brain will not just enjoy the moment, my brain won’t stay in the moment. I just love that line.
It felt well written. It felt like someone who had a sense of an addict or an anon. So it felt true. and it brings me to my next point which man these characters are so human? We can bring up Marcus. the opening shot of this season is Marcus with his mother. That shot did a few things without saying anything. It made sure, i think it made sure to say that his mom is at her house, right, he’s caring for her at home. That was not a hospital room, was it Right? Good, i’m glad I interpreted that correctly.
0:10:13 – Adam
Well, they did leave it a little open-ended, but it is confirmed later to be the home And I think there’s a scene that intentionally but no, that’s not really a spoiler, hopefully but there’s a scene that very gently confirms I think they leave it open-ended on purpose to then quietly address it later.
0:10:31 – Blaine
It just stood static on on him sitting there for a while And I was like why is it doing this? Maybe it’s because I’m supposed to interpret the setting and I was like that those are not blinds you would find in most hospitals. Marcus is very human, all of these are so human Tina and her. The guy who goes to culinary school with her I can’t think of his name, elbrie, something You know. Them feeling, especially him feeling like he’s got impostor syndrome at the at the school. I could relate to that, like if you, if you told me, hey, well, send you to podcasting school, i would jump at the chance and when I got there I would just be like I’m not going to say anything, i’m an impostor.
0:11:18 – Natalie:
I mean, my favorite thing about this show as a whole is just how it is high energy. It is, in the story, high stress, but I never feel stressed watching it, like I really don’t like to watch programs that make me feel anxious, and this one somehow doesn’t, even though by all accounts it absolutely should. Something about the way that it’s shot and the way that it’s there’s always just like you know they’ll be in a high stress situation. and then there’s just a scene of a train going by, you know, through Chicago. I’m like, okay, i’m good, i’m safe here. I can continue. I can binge watch this and not come out of it sweaty and nervous. I do.
0:11:57 – Blaine
What is a show that makes you sweaty and nervous? I’m just curious.
0:12:00 – Natalie:
I couldn’t tell you off the top of my head.
0:12:02 – Blaine
Does the challenge make you sweaty and nervous? Do you like No, because that’s just silly.
0:12:07 – Natalie:
That’s, that’s too much fun.
0:12:08 – Blaine
I just wonder because, because, because in the eliminations if like CT’s in elimination, i’m like please don’t go home, please don’t go home, i’m on the other side.
0:12:14 – Natalie:
There have been some shows that we’ve talked about, where Adam will like he’ll tell other people oh, natalie doesn’t like that. It makes her too nervous, like you’re right It does, i don’t know?
0:12:22 – Blaine
Oh yeah, hey, he has mentioned that, yeah, but this doesn’t do it.
0:12:27 – Natalie:
I don’t know how or why. I don’t love what’s his name.
0:12:32 – Blaine
Cousin.
0:12:33 – Natalie:
When he starts screaming and he’s just screaming, happening like I kind of need to leave the room for a second. But there’s been a lot less of that this season, which has been pretty great.
0:12:44 – Blaine
And he’s connecting with his daughter.
0:12:45 – Adam
Right He’s, he’s trying his best to be a dad again sort of. This show does a thing that I would say always sunny walks so that this could run, but it’s still somehow the opposite Always sunny ran full speed so that the show could walk. It feels very much like those kind of closed environment conversations that just get completely out of hand where everybody’s talking, But they do. Both shows do such a good job of like. Somehow you can kind of let your ear pick and choose bits from everybody to understand the whole situation. There’s been multiple moments where I’m curious what the direction was For a scene Go wild.
You know how do you create that like sound collage effect that does the thing where you feel like you’re in a room but it can’t be full on. Yeah, it’s a good point.
0:13:30 – Donovan
It’s very Robert Altman isn’t it Like the overlapping conversations Like how do you direct for that? Do people actually talk that way to each other?
0:13:36 – Natalie:
Like is this an actual way. I don’t know if it’s just because we’re in the south and people don’t tend to shout over one another constantly, but is this a real thing? Yeah, yeah, i think so.
0:13:48 – Blaine
Wild If you. Yes, In my classroom it is Well sure, But like with adults, like properly formed full-brained adults.
0:13:57 – Natalie:
These are not properly formed at all.
0:13:59 – Adam
I think that’s the point Yeah, but no, I think it does happen some, but you’re right.
0:14:04 – Blaine
But, natalie, you brought up those shots of Chicago where the train going by. Are those shots even better this season? That B-roll footage? Yeah, man, it’s like Somehow Also, they’re doing something that I think is different. You guys can correct me, listeners can write me And tell me if I’m wrong. Are they doing more close-ups? It’s almost as if it’s like we’re more comfortable with our characters. You’re more comfortable with who they are. Let’s put it. Let’s put the camera here Here, being very close to their face. I love that. I think that’s a smart move. Have you met Claire yet? Mm-hmm, i was about to bring her Claire is someone that from?
the outset they frame her very close.
0:14:43 – Adam
So I think that’s the point. Claire is someone that from the outset they frame her very close.
0:14:50 – Blaine
Yes, inmediate.
0:14:51 – Adam
An interesting choice, like almost telling you. Like this is a intimate may imply the wrong thing, given where that relationship seems to be going, but like you, they have a long-standing connection. They know each other’s past level of intimate kind of Certain intimacy. This is like an avenue into his backstory that you wouldn’t get, otherwise All right.
0:15:11 – Blaine
So here’s my question to you And it might get answered. So if it does get answered, don’t bother with it. Does he give her the wrong number because his life’s too hectic, he’s still dealing with grief Or he’s got a thing for Sydney? No comment, okay. Okay, so thank you, because she does. In episode three she does end up reaching out to him because she figured out he gave him. He gave her the wrong number, And they kind of worked through that a little bit And Sydney’s left alone to scour Chicago restaurants and pick apart what they’re doing, right That?
0:15:47 – Adam
also kind of Carmie is shown as being the guy who had it together and left and went and did all this stuff, yeah, and when he Kind of blows her off for the day just to go out with the king, out with a girl right. It’s kind of like oh there’s, there’s some of that family Chaos factor in there. Oh yeah this isn’t like a pure type, a kind of guy.
0:16:09 – Blaine
Yep, this shows doing what really great shows can do with a second season. Let’s take some of those characters and put them somewhere else. They don’t have to be in their restaurant anymore. Take them beyond the borders of that. You know Tina going to the school and I Talked about how she and really the guy that goes with her feel like imposters. Now There’s this really good article in the New York Times by Chris Wagner on how this is just a show about grief.
He really frames his entire opinion piece about that and And you know, when you’re reading it you’ll just not alone, because it’s it’s his point is that it makes a More true statement about grief than any other show about grief tries to do. Because that’s the way it is. It’s hectic, it’s a headache. You know it’ll make you angry And those kinds of things. Have you seen that piece on the New York Times? It was a. It was it on Thursday or Friday, i haven’t yet. No pretty short read, but still really great. I recommend People read it. It’s getting rave reviews, as if, to say, critics may seem to think that this is even better than the first season.
0:17:18 – Adam
It’s Interesting that they they seem to leave it season one in a place where it could have ended. Then, if it had had to, yeah, we got a new one within a year. That’s pretty remarkable. I wonder if the production timeline kind of mirrored them rushing to get the restaurant together and they haven’t dropped in quality at least three episodes for me.
0:17:41 – Blaine
Right. Right, let’s go into our break, quick break, and We’re gonna come back with a little bit on secret invasion. Not only is there WWE and AEW, but the South is full of great indie wrestling. Who do you want analyzing what you’ve watched or covering what you missed? Super van Corey Hanna and former indie wrestler Patrick Acres give you the news and the takeaways every Friday morning on Alabama slam. Find it on the alabama take comm or in any podcast app. Search Alabama slam. We’re back. We’ve got dawn on with a still, of course. We got Natalie with a still of course.
So this past week we got the debut of the new emcee you show Disney on Disney plus, called secret invasion Revolves around Nick Fury’s. He has returned to earth to halt a plot for control of earth from a faction of scrolls who They’re not too nice about getting what they want. The first episode had Ben Mendelssohn, kobe Smulders, emilia Clark, kingsley, ben Adir. We’re gonna spoil the first episode. There’s only the one. If you’re listening to us, on Tuesday there’ll be another one, i think tomorrow. Secret Invasion initial thoughts Donovan, what’d you think about it?
0:19:01 – Donovan
My initial review of it is. It should be Subtitled. I’m glad everyone is getting.
0:19:08 – Natalie:
Same.
0:19:11 – Donovan
That’s pretty good. So I do think they assembled a really great cast and Okay, like sort of have an intriguing premise, although I do kind of wonder about it, like I Do kind of wonder if Disney had HQ. They were not like do we really want to portray refugees is trying to take over everything? I don’t, i don’t know how that one got.
0:19:31 – Blaine
It’s an interesting choice, but Wow, that’s an interesting lens to view this.
0:19:38 – Donovan
Yeah, everyone is in it. That’s a good point and everyone’s doing a good job. I just think and I probably will I kind of want to see what happens and where it goes, but it’s all. It’s a little too serious, it’s a little too Real. You know, like they’ve dropped saber and I’m like did I miss something? I had no idea what Nick Fury’s been doing to Camios that has.
0:20:04 – Blaine
That was mentioned fairly briefly in the end of One of the Spider-Man movies.
0:20:09 – Donovan
Yes, the second, he’s up there And it asks a lot of Samuel L Jackson that I’m not sure he’s willing to give.
0:20:18 – Blaine
That’s the thing. see, that’s the thing I’m. I don’t want to step on Natalie’s toes here, so I’ll just briefly say that’s why I think I might like it, because you know, he, he’s, he can do good stuff, he can I, he hasn’t really in the MCU.
0:20:33 – Donovan
I was gonna say I didn’t see that in this first episode. Okay, I didn’t. I didn’t see anything super different from what he’s done So far. I’d like to see more. I’d like to see different.
0:20:44 – Natalie:
But I think on that they’re kind of portraying the care they keep talking about in the show. You’re out of your league. Now the world has changed. This isn’t. You’re not gonna be able to do what you used to be able to do, so it’ll be interesting to see. It sounds like they’re gonna make them do some different stuff. Potentially, i think. Granted, it’s his marvel, so probably not, but the potential is there. Maybe you’re just falling for it. Spy stuff.
0:21:12 – Donovan
Maybe I forgive.
0:21:14 – Blaine
Forgive me, I’m looking up something he did recently because I thought he did a really good job in it. It’s something I watch. I don’t think any of you guys watched it. It was some of his best work recently the last days of Ptolemy Gray on.
0:21:27 – Donovan
Apple.
0:21:29 – Blaine
Yeah, he played an old man who was beginning to get dementia. Interesting based off a book, and he did. He did work. He did work in that series. He was the. He was in every scene. Pretty much carried it, of course. Hey, you know the man can act. You just don’t see it anymore because everybody’s gotten so used to him saying motherfucker, he’s the guy from snakes on a plane, he’s gonna drop a, he’s gonna drop a cursing on somebody. He’s from Pulp Fiction, he’s gonna. And in Pulp Fiction He was a fantastic actor. You forget how good his acting is because he was so Humorous and fun to watch you forgot to mention Star Wars.
That’s right. but He was kind of doing his MCU. I don’t know. That’s a good, That’s a known, That’s a good question. Which one was he better in as an just as an actor MCU or Star Wars? You know they’re?
0:22:19 – Donovan
they’re a little different, because in Star Wars he’s you know he’s graver, he’s trying to be more responsible and what is he gets thrown out of window, all right. So that’s not a great end, but You know, he gets to be a little bit closer to Pulp Fiction in the MCU.
0:22:34 – Blaine
Little bit. Yeah, you get a hint of that in this first episode where he’s questioning and he’s like he says something along the lines of he uses the word ass, you know and he uses, but it’s. You get a glimpse of that Pulp Fiction character in that scene of because he’s questioning. I think he’s with Olivia Coleman, mm-hmm.
0:22:57 – Donovan
Yeah, what a delight to see her in anything, Yeah she was fine.
0:23:01 – Blaine
Yeah, she looks she’s kind of just having a good time. I think she may have been. That’s cool. I was impressed with the directing, felt much more patient than previous MCU shows with. I would put it on par with moon night, mm-hmm. For some reason I keep comparing it to she Hulk because that was one of my least favorite series In a while. As far as MCU is concerned, we’re gonna have a big attempt to play up Samuel L Jackson’s. I’m too old for this shit moment, right.
0:23:34 – Natalie:
Yeah, it’s gonna be great that same.
0:23:36 – Blaine
I know exactly That’s my thing. I think it seems fair and earned, like he’s been Nick Fury for oh gosh 2008, yeah, 15 years, do you?
0:23:46 – Natalie:
think he put that in his contract, like when they asked him to come do the show. He’s like I’m too old for this shit. Like perfect, we’ll write it in That’s it.
0:23:53 – Donovan
That’s what I.
0:23:56 – Blaine
Mean. They’re playing it up a lot. They really hammer you with it like he’s rubbing his knee when he gets off the spaceship. He mentions it a couple times. Some of his compadres say it flat out.
0:24:07 – Natalie:
I mean, can you imagine people that have like achy joints when it’s just gonna rain? You just came back from space. That’s a whole different atmosphere.
0:24:16 – Blaine
It’s good. I mean, I think it’s a good point. It’s a dumb point giving Nick, giving Nick Fury his own show. I think that’s in the making. I think that that was. I think it could be well done if they, if they do it right. And I thought that the first episode was slow. Oh, but you, in a good way, I thought it was slow. That’s going to force people who love MCU to be like just pump the brakes, just settle into this for a moment.
0:24:49 – Natalie:
It’s slow in the way that everything else should be. I think we’ve complained in the past about there’s no preamble to the story. We’re just jumping into action all the time and it’s exhausting and doesn’t make a lot of sense. There’s no investment, Whereas now this is what it should be. Give us some background, give us a reason to care and then pick up the action.
0:25:10 – Blaine
I think that’s it. It still had its cake and ate it too, because that first scene with Martin Freeman, that’s pretty action-backed. You know. You were like, oh God, what’s about to happen? Yeah, it’s exciting. That guy screaming at the wall like Charlie from It’s Always Done.
0:25:26 – Donovan
That’s all I could think of, too, like he actually had the lines and everything He was.
0:25:32 – Blaine
like I could think of that all the time. Yeah, but it was fun. It could get old, it could get too tricky for its own good, but I do find it intriguing. On who’s a scroll, who isn’t. When spoilers, obviously, but when agent Hill gets shot, i question if that was Nick Fury figuring out she was a scroll, which had me interested in. How did he know she was a scroll Or?
I was on the exact same train of thought, which was kind of fun, right, but you know instantly, you figure out that it was a scroll posing as Nick Fury to get her attention and then shoot her.
0:26:07 – Natalie:
Would it have been better had it been Nick Fury, thinking it was a scroll, getting it wrong, but still shooting her?
0:26:14 – Blaine
You gotta think that something like that’s gonna happen. But they’re playing with our expectations there. Little one smartly so Did this one so far. We again. We’re gonna get this wrong. We always do, because we only get one episode at a time, like everyone else, but this one feels like it’s written by one person.
0:26:32 – Donovan
I don’t feel like I have enough other episodes to go off of.
0:26:36 – Blaine
Like if they’re really playing with our expectation. That feels like some one person guiding it instead of 15 others. That rebellious scroll leader is played by Kingsley Ben-Adir. That guy’s got presence. I’ve seen him play the charming, handsome boyfriend on High Fidelity on Hulu, but here he didn’t have a few, didn’t have but a few words, and he was still kind of menacing and he came off as an asshole in just a few scenes. Yes, he did. Having him versus Ben Mendelssohn and Samuel L Jackson looks like it’s gonna work. You got a million of Clark playing Ben Mendelssohn’s daughter. Didn’t know that’s what she was gonna be playing, did you?
0:27:20 – Natalie:
That was a fun little twist. I guess it’s not really a twist, but a little surprise in the middle of the episode.
0:27:27 – Blaine
That was it. yeah, a surprise, because, boy, it really puts him in his eye. He can’t just straight up shoot her, you know, or tackle her, or beat her up or anything.
0:27:35 – Donovan
So, yeah, I’ve not seen a lot of stuff with Ben Mendelssohn. I actually really enjoyed seeing him in this episode, although his accent is so thick that I had to turn on some titles.
0:27:45 – Blaine
His Australian accent is as thick as it gets.
0:27:49 – Donovan
Yes, it is but I thought he was good, right, like he had. I think part of it is like what impresses me is like you’re in the silly space superhero store and you have to act like this is real, and like the thing when he, you know, confronts his daughter and everything. It’s like, okay, you’re selling this to me, i get it.
0:28:08 – Blaine
Listeners probably don’t aren’t as stupid as I am, but it’s a high bar. I will watch the show. What’d you say?
0:28:17 – Natalie:
I’m setting a high bar there, buddy.
0:28:22 – Blaine
But I will watch these shows and, just like you said, Don, when I’m sitting there thinking he’s got to act serious, even though he’s talking about alien stuff, is he gonna nail it? How serious can he take it? And you’re right, ben Mendelssohn’s a pro.
0:28:37 – Natalie:
I mean, yeah, I mean, that’s his job. He better be able to do it. You know how much money he’s getting paid to act like it’s real.
0:28:44 – Blaine
But, some you have in you do have an occasional person who, who waltz, is in there and just says the lines and you don’t feel it.
0:28:51 – Natalie:
Great, it’s the accent.
0:28:55 – Blaine
Well, Ben Mendelssohn, he’s got it. Donovan, you remember him from row one, though right, that’s true, he was good in that I forgot that he was in that.
0:29:02 – Donovan
Yeah, he was at HBO’s The Outsider, Which I actually I haven’t seen that one. I haven’t seen that one.
0:29:08 – Blaine
Fantastic. They’re also playing a Nick Fury being really bothered by the Blip, and that, too, makes sense. You know that would hinder people, that would bother people, that would ruin your life in a lot of ways. I felt like they’re gonna have to give me a little bit more rather than just keep saying it, though Like I gotta know what exactly about the blip for him personally has given him PTSD.
0:29:36 – Donovan
I guess part of it. You know, the other characters come out. You know it’s not, it’s really a tell-don’t-show moment. But some of the other characters come right out and say it’s because you couldn’t see this coming and you couldn’t stop it, which sort of makes sense. But I do wonder if they’re gonna dig a little bit deeper, if there’s more there.
0:29:55 – Blaine
It seems as if it was hinting that he’s upset about somebody’s death And that could be Tony Stark, that could be Black Widow, it could be both. Do y’all have a sense of who that is, or do you feel like they’re gonna tell you or they’re just gonna leave it open like that?
0:30:15 – Natalie:
I kind of just hope it’s the. I mean, how do you cope with the mental knowledge that you disappeared for five years Like can it? can it just be that, like that trauma of what the hell?
0:30:33 – Blaine
Yeah, that’s serious. It would be funny if they showed them all at a party. in one scene like this was the blip. We were actually partying and we feel so guilty. It’s like five years of partying in an orgy, which again could it be traumatic, something he needs to work through. Gotta work through this shit. I did you know he’s corny, but I like the line of what’d you get for your birthday? and he said the Avengers. I was corny, but it was not.
0:31:01 – Donovan
I thought they made a somewhat daring race joke for a Disney show too. I was a little surprised that that got in there, Tell me did it slide by me.
0:31:11 – Blaine
What was it?
0:31:12 – Donovan
Yeah, he’s Fury. Says you know something like Bobbi in a Moscow. He’s like you know, like an old spook like me and probably Smulder. Says you can’t say that He goes. No, you can’t say that, oh yeah that was a little surprised, honestly.
0:31:27 – Blaine
Well, that 100% felt like Samuel L Jackson.
I would not be surprised if somebody told me no, he he improved at and they went ahead and wrote it in. I’ve seen him in an interview where the journalist asked him something about the N-word and Samuel L Jackson kept going back and forth with him and said what word? No, say it, no, no, no, say it, say it. If you want me to talk about it, say it. And the guy was like I’m not saying that No. And then Samuel L Jackson was having fun with him. You know he didn’t have to have fun with him about that, but what did you make of the intro? This is tangential, but is there anything you want to say about it? Because I have a note on it. We got a fire AI right now. It’s getting too exhausting. It was AI generated, that’s right. Did you know that?
0:32:17 – Donovan
Yeah, i mean I suspected it, looking at it and then read it afterwards.
0:32:22 – Blaine
What made you figure it out? Because I didn’t.
0:32:25 – Donovan
I don’t know It kind of didn’t feel human.
0:32:30 – Blaine
I remember watching it and thinking, oh, this is a kind of a cool intro. It’s got a nice color motif going for the show matching the scrolls and all. And then I read that it was AI and I was like, oh dang, they got me Computers. You did it again. I’m gonna be really interested week to week. We might check in just a little bit, even if just a short sentence, or do it in the YouTube intro Where, because Natalie’s our MCU Expert, our MCU person, she’s the first person I’d go to talk some MCU stuff, so really gonna be interested in how she takes it in. Do you feel like it’s gonna be good? is your prediction that it? this is gonna be pretty good?
0:33:13 – Natalie:
or not, I think it’s gonna be better than the other spy TV show, the one that I can’t win her soldier super spy. I think it’s gonna be better than like the last three movies that we got.
0:33:30 – Blaine
Not counting Guardians, cuz none of us right.
0:33:32 – Natalie:
Sure, i think it’ll be fun, but it’s honestly it’s too. It’s still too early to say and they could easily jump the shark next episode.
0:33:42 – Blaine
It felt a lot like the Falcon and Winter Soldier, but better.
0:33:46 – Natalie:
Yeah, it sounds it. It feels a lot like you know. We know that show got thrown off by pandemic stuff. This feels like Maybe more of what they intended that show to be, and then they had to scrap it halfway through.
0:34:00 – Blaine
We’ve got more MCU shows than maybe we realize. We’ve gotten Falcon and Winter Soldier, WandaVision, She Hulk, Moon Knight, Hawkeye.
0:34:12 – Natalie:
Loki. The Werewolf By Night. Was that what the one was called?
0:34:17 – Blaine
Oh, I forgot I never, yeah, and I never watched it. Did you like it?
0:34:22 – Natalie:
It was fun. I liked it.
0:34:25 – Blaine
Was it kind of Halloween theme?
0:34:30 – Natalie:
Not really, but maybe, maybe a little bit. I could see how people would say that I.
0:34:35 – Blaine
I guess Loki was probably the best of the bunch so far, right. Oh yeah, gotta be the loki or Wanda vision. That’s true, wanda vision was pretty good, although I did love everything moon night did up until the last episode or two.
0:34:49 – Natalie:
Yeah.
0:34:50 – Blaine
I think that I think I would agree with that, and it dipped in quality quite a bit at the very.
0:34:55 – Donovan
Especially. I hate you. Still mad about the reveal at the end, right where he’s like huh, it’s my other personality. It’s like alright.
0:35:03 – Blaine
Yeah, thanks, you knew that’s what was gonna happen.
0:35:07 – Donovan
I know it just wasn’t yeah, anyway, that’s neither, you’re right I don’t disagree.
0:35:13 – Blaine
Well, that’s the end of our episode. We’ve had a lot of fun. This was a really good episode I felt like, and we hope you enjoy it. We have a hundred and sixty something episodes. If there’s something we covered that you’ve watched recently, go back and listen and see if you agree or not. Leave us a review on Apple or any podcast. That would be great. Just say something you liked about the episode. Say how much you love Natalie. Do that.
0:35:40 – Natalie:
It’s gonna be a lot.
0:35:41 – Blaine
It’s gonna be a. You’ll have paragraphs to write. Trust us. Okay, goodbye to everybody, goodbye to my host. Great time, see everybody later.
Transcribed by https://podium.page
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