Join the host Blaine Duncan as he introduces the premise of show "Taking I Down" as the one podcast to hear get your knowledgek of hosts join for their favorite moments from 2024, which from television, movies, books, and music that brought them joy. The conversation kicks off with a spirited discussion of the standout series "Shogun" and the impressive finale of "What We Do In The Shadows." They delve into the series' final season, exploring its unique blend of humor and meta-commentary, while acknowledging fan reactions to unresolved storylines and character relationships. The hosts also touch on their personal experiences with live music and literature that impacted them throughout the year. With a mix of wit and insight, this episode encapsulates a year of entertainment worth celebrating.
Hey, welcome to Taking it down.
Host AIf this is your first time to listen, we're the TV and streaming podcast for the Alabama Take website.
Host AIf you've never visited the Alabama Take, that's a site for essays, thoughts and a podcast network.
Host AActually, more than us involved with that, it just hit me that today, if you're listening on Tuesday, some of you do.
Host AWe know that if you're listening on Tuesday, you might be celebrating Christmas Eve with your family or alone or you're preparing food for tomorrow.
Host AThanks for listening.
Host AMerry Christmas to you.
Host AHappy holidays.
Host ATo anyone else, if you're listening later in the week, happy Hanukkah, Happy holidays.
Host ATo whatever holiday you celebrate, that's great and we hope it's a good one.
Host AToday on the podcast, I'm going to be asking the two hosts about what brought them pleasure in 2024.
Host ATV shows.
Host AOf course, that's our forte, but we will stretch the boundaries of the show just a little.
Host AI'll ask them what things they found delight in this year with books and things.
Host AMovies, of course.
Host AAnd then still in the non spoiler section, we will be talking about what we do in the Shadows.
Host AIts finale.
Host AIt ended it.
Host AThe sixth season ended and that's the end of the show.
Host AThen the spoiler section.
Host ADonovan and I will talk about what we thought about the series kind of as a whole and the series finale and what it did, what we liked, what we didn't like, if it worked, if it did not work.
Host AWe also get into a little of fan culture, fans wanting to write the show as part of what we do on in the Shadows Talk in the spoiler side of things.
Host AAgain, if you're new, we do non spoiler talk.
Host AThen we do a break and then from there we'll do spoiler talk in case you haven't caught up on the show or you want to save it for later.
Host AAnd again, if you're listening on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, have a great one.
Host AI hope you get what you want.
Host AHope you're able to get your kids what you want.
Host AIf you need anything, let us know.
Host AAnd if we can help, we will try.
Host AOkay, get in the show.
Host BProjection.
Host CWelcome, Adam and Donovan.
Host CThanks for spending some of your day with me.
Host CAnd gentlemen, this is our last episode of the year.
Host CWe'll be off next week so that a couple of us can gather in person.
Host CSo I want to give you both a chance to tell me your favorite moments from 2024, which Adam will hate because he sees New Year's Eve as arbitrary time for any list Making, resolving or reflecting.
Host CHe does it on a morning by morning basis.
Host BHe updates his best of the year.
Host CEvery day at 9:30am over coffee, sometimes a cig.
Host DYou guys are on the email list.
Host DYou get it?
Host BYeah, yeah.
Host CLet's start with our forte.
Host CIt's television.
Host CNow, I.
Host CMy list will go up on the website, the Alabama Take site this week.
Host CSometimes you tell me what was your favorite show or even episode of television or something about TV or streaming you enjoyed in 2024.
Host BI think attentive listeners will not be surprised at my answers, possibly everyone's answers.
Host CIs it going to be that you are going to commit seppuku here live?
Host BWhat a staff meeting.
Host DDid you guys see, I want to break away briefly that Joe Burrow gave his offensive line authentic, like katanas or some sort of sword.
Host BYes.
Host DAnd they were all like had stories of where they'd been used and all of this stuff and.
Host DBut he has been hit so many times this year.
Host DI mean, he's had the best season in the NFL as a quarterback, yet is just getting pummeled and they're not a very good football team.
Host DSo reading between the lines, I think he watched Shogun.
Host BYeah, he did.
Host BYou know, the honorable thing to do.
Host DThat's exactly what's going on.
Host BNo, number one show for all of me for, for the year for me was Shogun.
Host BBest episode being the last one because they just threaded the needle so well with it.
Host BGreat finale or season?
Host BFinale.
Host BI thought very, very technically started came in this year, which would be the end of Fargo Season 5.
Host BIt did not air until January of this year.
Host BAnd I thought they threaded the needle on that ending very, very well too.
Host CStarted in December and then ended in January this year.
Host CThere you go.
Host DI mean, I think we're all going to share Shogun, right?
Host DBut I'll tack on say nothing.
Host BOh, of course.
Host DAs a favorite for me, those two are just head and shoulders above everything else.
Host DAnd I know me and Donovan were discussing right before we started our tendency towards recency bias, but I think obviously Shogun was from early this year and say nothing's going to hold up, I would have to think it's a bookended year of television there.
Host BYeah, Shogun was one of those shows where I kind of can't believe it exists and it worked like, it looks great.
Host BIt's well acted, it's got real, you know, real heart.
Host BIt's funny.
Host BWe love the engine.
Host CWe got some mileage out of that.
Host CYeah.
Host BI'll give my most improved award to House of the Dragon.
Host BThis year too, they had one.
Host BTheir dragon battle episode absolutely thrilled me to the core.
Host BAnd I found the rest of it much more interesting than the first season.
Host DI could see that.
Host BProbably not hard, right?
Host BLike you have two dragons fight each other.
Host BIt's like take my money.
Host DYet a lot of people would say that not a lot happened this season.
Host BI'm okay with what happened because I felt.
Host BI felt like it had more happen than the.
Host BThe first season was just some.
Host BSo much setup.
Host BI was okay with this one.
Host CTalk about staff meetings.
Host BLet's rank the bosses of this year from best to worst.
Host BBest is of course from Shogun.
Host BBut you know, Matt Smith in as as Damian in House of the Dragon makes a really good argument for worst boss.
Host DWell, I do enjoy.
Host DHe truly frustrated the general population who wanted like a Game of Thrones thing because they're, you know, he dabbled in crazy and then went a little bit further but didn't go like far enough to be truly off the rails entertaining yet and just there was no resolution.
Host DThey were not interested in offering anything in the way of a bookmark on that.
Host BIf you're not in the mood to see Matt Smith wander bare ass naked around a giant castle, then the show's not for you.
Host DWhy do you even pay for HBO if you're not in any?
Host BFor that you're flushing your dollars away.
Host CI'm picturing a 76 year old woman with a checkbook writing her check to her HBO subscription and then in the four line Matt Smith.
Host BBut it's a really long explanation.
Host DMaybe like a little heart or smiley face next to it too.
Host CLet's switch to movies.
Host CSeems like we.
Host CWhen I say we I mean the country still aren't back in theaters like we were pre pandemic times.
Host CThat's probably an obvious statement.
Host CI know we.
Host CI know I have it.
Host CBut for me personally it's as much a result of familial life.
Host CThe fact is we haven't seen a lot of releases from 2024.
Host CMe less so.
Host CWith the exception of those that have hit streaming.
Host CWe've watched those.
Host CDo you have any favorites that with those qualifications in place and I think Adam might have snuck to the theater a few times and Donovan did too.
Host DIn the way that we started with Shogun.
Host DTalking television.
Host DDune was great.
Host DDune is a movie.
Host DA theater going experience was excellent.
Host DI don't know that it was my favorite movie that came out this year, but I.
Host DWe're some months removed and I feel safe saying that I will remember that evening going to see that in the way that I remember, like a flashback, 10 years interstellar, that sort of thing, just as a really strong.
Host DLike an event, a spectacle.
Host DAnd then the other stuff that I saw in the theater, I saw the.
Host DThere were standouts, make me look at movies in a new way or really teach me anything new.
Host DBut the new Alien movie was pretty good.
Host DIt was pretty fun.
Host DAnd then I think in terms of pure joy and surprise and something that I have become an evangelist for, the kneecap movie.
Host DIt's on Netflix now.
Host DBut as a theater experience, that was also very fun to hear.
Host DYou know, the thing that you don't think about with going to the theater a lot of the time is the sound.
Host DLike how.
Host DI mean, obviously we know the sound, the louder it is.
Host DIt's fun.
Host DEverybody talked about that with Oppenheimer, all that stuff.
Host DBut the sound of listening to kneecap music played at a blisteringly loud volume with a very fun color palette on screen was just a good time.
Host DIt helped that I was the only one in the theater in Florence, Alabama that day.
Host DBut yeah, those were fun theater experiences.
Host CI've yet to see it, being the commoner that I am.
Host CBut will Nosferatu be my favorite of the year?
Host CI don't know.
Host BReviews on that seem so split with people I respect, like being all in or saying it was kind of boring.
Host BSo I feel like it's gonna be a, hey, you gotta watch it for yourself movie.
Host DThings that are accused of being boring, usually that's like a selling point to me.
Host BGreat.
Host BDidn't come.
Host BIt came out in the US this year.
Host BSo I'll say probably my best theater going experience was early this year.
Host BI went to see Godzilla minus one, and it was actually great.
Host BIt was.
Host BI'm so glad I saw it in theaters.
Host BIt's an interesting story.
Host BReally kind of fascinating to see them really explicitly linking stuff like the firebombing of Tokyo and Godzilla attacking later and all these kind of guys who are left over from the war and have various wounds having to do what they basically said they'd never do again.
Host DI thought that was a great movie.
Host DI didn't manage to see it in theaters, but it's very funny to try to keep track of what's happening in the Godzilla expanded universe, because there's one that came out recently that was truly terrible.
Host DRight.
Host DAnd so I kept getting that confused with this one, getting buzzed about.
Host DFortunately, didn't watch the wrong one.
Host DI'm with you if that was a great time.
Host BThey made it for like 15 million bucks.
Host BToo, which is just, oh, wow.
Host BIn the Marvel.
Host BOr like, other worlds where it's sometimes, like, you can tell they threw gobs of money at whatever action scene and it looks terrible.
Host BTo just have something be made so smartly and look so good is incredible.
Host DSometimes you hear that there were budget restraints, and so they do things like, you don't see the monster.
Host DYou don't.
Host DThey use tension instead of spectacle, all that kind of thing that.
Host DIt didn't come off that way.
Host BNo.
Host BThere's tension and then there's big payoffs, too.
Host BAnother one not coming out that did not come out this year, but that was more readily available this year that I was surprised and delighted by was hundreds of beavers.
Host BYeah, I'm an evangelist for that.
Host CThey got some air down here.
Host BMore.
Host BMore widely available.
Host DThat was the hardest.
Host DI watched it with friends, which is, you know, when you're younger, you watch movies with friends all the time.
Host DAnd this was, like, the only time that I had people over to my house to watch a film this year.
Host DAnd it was.
Host DSomeone was laughing, I think every eight seconds.
Host DThis is a dense, dense joke ratio.
Host BThat movie is so funny because, like, it knows 100 what it is.
Host BIt is.
Host BYou know, we kind of had this discussion the other day, right?
Host BLike, Adam, I think you said, like, a lot of success when you're.
Host BWhen you're an artist really comes from, like, kind of having a clear idea of, like, who you're making this for.
Host CYeah.
Host CThis was.
Host CThis was off.
Host AOff recording.
Host CYes.
Host CWe were talking about this and this.
Host BClearly, this is one of those ones where it's like, well, you were either had me specifically in mind when you were making this, or you made it for nobody but your, you know, your own crazy self.
Host CNo Gladiator 2.
Host CShout out from either of you.
Host DI still haven't been.
Host COh, I thought you both went.
Host DSorry, that's in my plans.
Host DAnd I don't know that it would crack this list, but I do want to see it in theaters because, I mean.
Host DYeah, yeah.
Host DThe first one, I mean, I would pay full price just to go see the opening battle of the first Gladiator on the big screen again.
Host BOh, hell, yeah.
Host CYeah, I've yet to see it, too.
Host CMy best movie of the year is, you guessed it, Ant man and the Wasp.
Host CQuantumania once again takes the title.
Host BSpent three years in a row.
Host CI know.
Host DMaybe you'll finally stop texting us about it.
Host CNo, but of the few films I did see this year, and I could talk about them being good, happening at home, my old Ass, I think, would take the title.
Host CThat's.
Host DI think I was.
Host DI was hoping to either set you up or you to.
Host DYeah, to bring that up, because that, man, that was.
Host DIs in my top five or whatever for the year.
Host DYeah, for sure.
Host CSo as few of movies as I watched that came out this year, that was my favorite.
Host CI would put.
Host CI saw the TV glow pretty high simply because it just captivated me.
Host CMade me think.
Host CBut again, movies don't tend to be my forte unless they are streaming, so.
Host CAnd we do cover an occasional streaming movie here.
Host CI've got plans to go see Nosferatu and the Dylan movie.
Host CI almost said don't look back, but that was his documentary, Don't Look Back in Anger.
Host COr that one.
Host CThat.
Host CThat's the Oasis movie starring Dylan.
Host DThere we go.
Host DHe plays both galleries.
Host CYeah, that would be great.
Host CAll right, a little more on.
Host COn the year 2000, 2024.
Host CDoes anyone remember when Conan O'Brien used to do the year 2000?
Host BYeah.
Host CThat's where we are, gentlemen.
Host CAll right, I'll open the floor to anything this podcast doesn't usually cover.
Host CWe'll just open it up.
Host CA book, an album, concert, even.
Host CJust a moment you'll look back on for years and years, or you just enjoyed.
Host BMan, this is definitely Recency Bias.
Host BBut seeing Rocket and Ride a couple weeks ago, like the band.
Host BYeah.
Host BBrides kick off for their North American tour in Hartford.
Host BNot a little place right above New Haven.
Host BNot even.
Host COh, really?
Host BYeah.
Host BCamden Town called Hamden.
Host BIt was great.
Host BIt was so fun.
Host BThis is not Recency Bias.
Host BThe Magnetic Fields were doing the entirety of their 69 love songs.
Host COh, yeah.
Host BCut across two nights.
Host BSo Beth and I went to a night of that, and that was very fun.
Host BYou know, they gathered everybody, like, who was still alive basically, to do their original parts, and it was.
Host BThat was really fun.
Host BAnd those are two almost completely different experiences, as you can imagine.
Host CDonovan, did you see Dinosaur junior This year?
Host COr was that late last year?
Host BYeah, that was last year.
Host BThat was.
Host BMan, that was amazing.
Host BThat made a previous year's best of.
Host CYeah, okay, okay, Sorry.
Host DI'll pair it.
Host DDonovan.
Host DAnd say I saw Slow Dive in May in Birmingham, and it was like a perfect late spring evening in Alabama, and the sun was going down and Slowdive was playing, and I think that was pretty much the mountaintop as far as live music experiences for me this year.
Host DThey had Drab Majesty open who were very, very good and made me think, I need to design my life in such a way that I can play A jazz chorus amp at this blistering volume because that looks very fun.
Host DBut that was a great show.
Host DThis is always one of the more challenging podcasts that we do every year because I have no sense of time.
Host CAgreed.
Host DLike the.
Host DTo see bands, you know, Slow Dive was touring a record that came out somehow the year before, you know, and it just all like gets jumbled in my head and maybe because we watch so much that's streaming that, you know, like I remember I went to see Dune and it was this kind of night and you know, but like when you just watch it in your house, it's kind of like, when am I.
Host AUh huh.
Host CYeah.
Host BIt could be any day.
Host CThat's fair.
Host DNow, one thing that I do remember, the one moment that I want to throw out there that I enjoyed very, very much, we were texting about how unsatisfying this year of college football was.
Host CYeah.
Host DEspecially the first round.
Host DBut all of that to say it was worth it for the Michigan Ohio State fight.
Host DSo I would like to tip my hat to that moment at this point.
Host BI think that fight was great, number one.
Host BAnd number two, that it kept spontaneously happening throughout that day as people were planting flags or in the sun, Devil's case, planting a pitchfork in the middle of their rivals fields.
Host BThe kids have the bug.
Host CThe Alabama Shakes reunited 2024.
Host CWe didn't see that coming, but Adam literally saw it with his own eyes.
Host DIt's true.
Host CThere's a moment for people to consider, but there were a lot of people that we know there and who could tell us a little about that.
Host BMy comment on all of that is God bless Bo Hicks.
Host CYeah, like.
Host BLike the last guy in Tuscaloosa even trying to do anything.
Host BAnd like, if not for him, right.
Host BI mean, God bless Bo Hicks, last.
Host CMan standing in that kind of doing.
Host BGreat, doing great stuff.
Host DCertain things are just kind of undeniable.
Host DYou know, we talk about what.
Host DWhere art derives its power from.
Host DAnd it was.
Host DIt was cool to see people that I have.
Host DI've spent a lot of time around in and all of them a little bit.
Host DBrittany least of all.
Host DBut like, you know, it was when you put certain people together, certain things happen.
Host DAnd it happened again this week and it was cool to see.
Host DAnd it was, you know, for a band that was in my mind already pretty huge and on the cusp of like, if they played their cards right for the next two records, who knows what kind of level they could be at to reunite for Bow in Tuscaloosa of all places.
Host DLike the.
Host DI think I told y'all the schedule for the evening was like written in sloppy handwriting on a sheet of notebook paper.
Host DThat was.
Host DSomeone took a picture of that and that was the schedule.
Host DThere was no day of show stuff most of the time.
Host DLike when we toured with them, we would get to a venue and there would be like different color tape on the floor to lead to the dressing room and one to the stage and like signs that said, today is Wednesday, you're in Asheville, North Carolina, and had like down to the minute list.
Host DAnd this was just like a bunch of friends getting back together.
Host DTip of the hat to them.
Host DAnd I.
Host DPeople are rightfully excited.
Host DIt'll be fun to see what they do in 2025.
Host COur quote in Rolling Stone was very endearing on how she wouldn't have gotten them back together anywhere else except Tuscaloosa, you know, which is an allusion to Beau, I suppose.
Host DYeah, well, in a moment too, you know that it's.
Host DI think maybe we're kind of in a.
Host DMore of the doldrums right now in terms of music in Alabama and maybe live music everywhere.
Host DMaybe that's not just an Alabama problem.
Host DI don't know.
Host DBut tip of the cap to a moment in time and certainly Beau is like a pillar of that.
Host CI was going to say I don't read a lot of current books, but I actually am thinking about the ones I've read and I've read about half the books I read this year were.
Host CWere new and really like the.
Host CThe biography of Randy Newman.
Host CIf you're a Randy Newman fan or are curious about him, he.
Host CIt was really good.
Host CWe had briefly mentioned college football and it's.
Host CIt's demise played live on tv except for the flat.
Host CExcept for the flag planting and fighting.
Host CThe.
Host CThe book by Armin KTA and that came out this year.
Host CIt's called the Price what It Takes to Win in College Football's Era of Chaos.
Host CThat documents how nil sort of came to be and then the aftermath.
Host CI mean, right up until the book cuts off right around March of 2024.
Host CSo they got it to a publisher fast, but it just infuriates you.
Host CBut it's so well done and it's well written in that it documents everything.
Host CIt's.
Host CIt's very detailed and.
Host CAnd.
Host CBut doesn't bore you.
Host CI can.
Host CI would shout that book out if you're curious about how we got here.
Host CIf you're curious about why those playoff games were.
Host DDoes it offer any solutions?
Host CNo.
Host CI will give a few moments of 2024, but it ends up being close to home here.
Host CTwo of my favorite moments this year.
Host CThis podcast gained more and more listeners this year, more so than any year previously.
Host CReally grateful for that.
Host CWe set out to do this not as popularity, but just as fun.
Host CWe had no designs on numbers we weren't going to reject.
Host CIt did.
Host CEspecially when we roped Donovan in around episode, what, 2030.
Host CWe decided this is really good excuse just to see one another every Sunday, if at all possible.
Host CYet we had some jumps in listenership this year.
Host CHand in hand with that is the other one I was going to mention is a creator and writer for the beautiful series.
Host CSomebody somewhere became a listener of the show.
Host CI dare not say fan, but Paul Thoreen even said hello to us in messages and in the publication deadline.
Host CAnd that just made me have faith in social media at a time when I was quite close to just shutting it down and not ever looking at social media ever again.
Host CSo I really wanted to make sure to talk about those, reflect on those for a second.
Host BIt's, you know, we've.
Host BWe've mentioned it before.
Host BIt's very upsetting to know that my opinions are heard by other people.
Host CGets a little concerning now, doesn't it?
Host BYeah, it's like, what did I say?
Host CSo I know both of y'all love the election.
Host CDo you want to talk about that this year?
Host CYou just were thrilled.
Host BYeah, I mean, you know, the race for city council was pretty crazy this year, but things were said that can't be unsaid.
Host BBut I think we're gonna, you know, the snow still gets plowed.
Host BDid you mean something else?
Host BPlan?
Host CNo, City council.
Host CIt's exactly what I had in mind.
Host CCity council up there in where you live.
Host BBeautiful.
Host BManchester, Connecticut.
Host COkay, that was it.
Host BOne of my favorite moments from this year actually came from Blaine's kid when I found out what she had named her new pet.
Host BThe official name of said pet being King.
Host BKing Cinnamon Roll.
Host BDuncan, I just think, is it vital.
Host CTo know he's a bearded dragon and he's not like, a cat or anything?
Host BI don't know if it is or if it isn't.
Host CI don't know either.
Host BBut I'm just like, that's.
Host BThat's King Cinnamon Roll.
Host BThat one's.
Host BThat one's been cheering me up for, like, six.
Host DWhat a weird year.
Host DDid seem like the first year that was, like, firmly out of the pandemic shadow solidly.
Host DAnd I don't know what that means.
Host DI just get the sense that, like, in.
Host DIn my day to day life and possibly in the way that art is being made and consumed.
Host DLike we're in like the dust has settled on all of that.
Host CI think so.
Host BI think you can definitely say that this is like the, the post pandemic reality, right, where it's like whatever is going to be is not settled, but it's like solidified enough that it's not how it was in 2019.
Host CWhile we're still in non spoiler territory, we'll discuss some broad strokes on the FX Hulu series what we do in the Shadows.
Host CIt's a mockumentary in the style of the Office, about three vampires who room together.
Host CStaten Island, New York.
Host CAlong with those three, that energy vampire and a human helper who has designs on becoming a vampire as well.
Host CIt finished its sixth and final season and we often found ourselves talking about it both on and off the podcast.
Host BSeason as a whole.
Host BI thought it was good.
Host BI thought it kept it up.
Host BAnd I think maybe they ended at a good point too, because the show has really never swerved from what it was in the first.
Host BThere's been some development, but really like the, like there's.
Host BThere's an element of the show where it's like these people are in hell because they just do the same dumb shit all the time.
Host BBut they also don't care at all that they're like.
Host BThe joke is they don't care.
Host BThey're too completely self obsessed to even realize that they're just.
Host BAnd I think this season wore that in to get to hear Matt Barry's extremely eccentric pronunciation of anything.
Host COf anything.
Host BYeah, we get some good Colin Robinson Nandor saying Colin Robinson will never not be funny.
Host BNausea develops.
Host BThe banana phone.
Host BI mean, this is all still good stuff.
Host BI'd watch more, but I'm okay with them ending it.
Host CYeah, yeah.
Host CI thought the season lacked the jokes.
Host CThey didn't hit as well, but it wasn't as bad maybe as some people probably think.
Host BNah, I thought it was fine.
Host BI was still laughing and I felt like we had some really.
Host BThere were still some really strong episodes.
Host BThe one where they're filming a TV show in their neighborhood.
Host BThat one's pretty good.
Host CPretty solid piece of television.
Host BThat's a really good one.
Host CYeah.
Host CBecause I still think yesterday I wore a hooded sweatshirt and I still think of the phrase sweated shirt, sweated shirt.
Host BJust everything bad be like, I want that sweated shirt.
Host BAnd then explaining what it.
Host BLike what a sweatshirt is.
Host CLet's draw a line.
Host CWe'll get into spoilers about, I guess everything What We do in the Shadows, because it's a.
Host CIt's a full completed text now.
Host CSo if you haven't watched what We do in the Shadows, especially the sixth season, you may want to wait until you're finished and then come back and hear the next segment.
Host CSo we're gonna get into spoiler territory related to what we do in the Shadows, specifically the six season and maybe even a little before.
Host CIf you're a little afraid of being ruined on any part of the.
Host COf the show, this may not be for you.
Host CAll right, Donovan, let's unpack what we do in the Shadows as a sixth final season television.
Host CAnd maybe the series is a whole kind of.
Host BWe'll do it.
Host BWe'll do our best.
Host CLet's start with that final episode as a standalone.
Host CYou said earlier that you thought the season was good.
Host CWhat about this final episode?
Host BHonestly, worked for me.
Host BAnd because it was very knowing, I think, about what the show is and what the episode it is.
Host BRight.
Host BWhere they just straight up put up, hey, endings are hard.
Host BSometimes you hit them, sometimes you don't.
Host BAnd also the revelation that this is not the first documentary that the vampires have sat for, that they just are like.
Host BThey're literally in hell, where they're just completely repeating the same old things over and over and over and over.
Host BSo I was like, that's.
Host BThat's pretty good to me.
Host BAwareness of what the show is, awareness of what the episode's doing, and we got some laughs.
Host CLike most of the season, in fact, I think it's a testament to the.
Host COr maybe a exemplar of the whole season.
Host CThe ending was very intelligent for me, and I appreciated that, but it was not nearly as funny as maybe episodes in Season 3, 4.
Host CHaving the documentary come to a close is something I hadn't considered as an ending, but it's a perfect way to do it.
Host BPerfect.
Host CIt allows the show to address its ending as fiction and then as metafiction, too.
Host CLike, you're talking.
Host BYeah.
Host BYes, that.
Host BYeah, that's kind of what I meant.
Host BLike, it's very, very aware.
Host CYeah.
Host BIt knows you're aware of what.
Host BWhat's happening here.
Host BWhich I liked.
Host BI thought that was smart.
Host CAnd they haven't referenced the camera crew a ton since season one occasionally.
Host CBut not like they had in this episode.
Host CThat there's a crew there filming.
Host BYeah.
Host CNot.
Host CNot as blatantly.
Host CAnd showing them as.
Host CWell.
Host BYeah, yeah, yeah.
Host CI think it was season one where like, maybe two.
Host CSeason two where one of them got attacked or killed.
Host BYeah.
Host BOne of them gets like, eaten.
Host CYeah.
Host CThe 1958 footage was a great touch to do two smart nods to the audience.
Host CI thought it let us know that they're just to be continuing the same old.
Host CAnd we aren't going to miss anything.
Host BLiterally the same thing.
Host CAnd, of course, it gave us Jackie Daytona one more time.
Host BThat's such a good gag.
Host BLike, just the second he.
Host CYou know, he comes in with the two.
Host CTwo, no one recognizes him.
Host BHe takes the toothpick out.
Host BIt's me, my love.
Host BIt's.
Host CArizona is where he was from.
Host BArizona.
Host BIt's such a good.
Host BIt's such a good gag.
Host CIt is great.
Host CAnd.
Host CBut that also, that footage from 1958 House meetings, it showed us how.
Host CHow much the idiocy tells us, no, they don't grow, they don't change.
Host CYou're not gonna miss anything once the cameras stop rolling.
Host CAnd that is so perfect because they're vampires.
Host BI.
Host BI liked how.
Host BYeah, like, it really is eternal.
Host CYou know, it's just gonna.
Host BThey're never.
Host BI mean, there's almost like a.
Host BIf you wanted.
Host BI don't think that we should, like, take a lesson or a moral from this, but, like.
Host BBut like.
Host BBut also them.
Host BNadja and Laszlo constantly calling Guillermo Gizmo.
Host BWell, is still a great joke, but as you know, there's.
Host BThere's some point in there with Guillermo really understanding that.
Host BYeah, you know what?
Host BIt's time to Maybe to move on, to have another.
Host BTo try and redefine this relationship.
Host BAlthough I did appreciate the.
Host BYou know, Guillermo wants to give a good ending so badly that he.
Host BWe have a couple plays with, like, people coming to resolution or having endings where really, it's like you said, Blade, you're not.
Host BThey're gonna.
Host BThen the shenanigans will continue.
Host CYeah.
Host CSwaths of the Internet are up in arms that Guillermo and Nandor didn't become a couple.
Host BThey don't.
Host BYou know, you don't want to date Nandor Gizmo.
Host CIt is perfect that Colin Robinson is an Internet commenter.
Host CHe mentions.
Host CHe's on Reddit saying such things.
Host BThere's a joke that I thought was actually really funny.
Host BNot in this episode, but in the one where they're filling the television show where he's looking up something on the Internet, and he's like, the show is a pleasant piece of Copaganda cr.
Host BOh, that's me.
Host BHe found his.
Host CHe's got his own post.
Host CThat is good.
Host BGood, good.
Host BGood delivery, too, from Colin Robinson in this episode with the.
Host BThe Found family speech.
Host CAnd.
Host CBut it's all it's really that he just hates them.
Host BYeah.
Host BHe's like, I.
Host BI lost my family in 1906.
Host BNow I have to hang out with you smelly turds.
Host CThe writers did employ a reference to the old 80s show Newhart.
Host BYes.
Host BThat was funny.
Host BI laughed.
Host BI like that.
Host CYeah.
Host COkay, that's interesting.
Host CNot only did it, like.
Host CIt didn't give a certain segment of the Internet the Guillermo and Nandor love, but it kind of looked down their nose at that audience with this placement.
Host CLike, sure, surely a few people got the scene, but it basically says that they're.
Host CThat assumption you have of them being in love and not friends or loving friends was not real in the way that you may have seen it.
Host CThat's the way it felt to me.
Host CIt's why I read it.
Host BOkay.
Host BI.
Host BYeah, like, I know that there's folks, I think, for really.
Host BEspecially for really, really good reasons.
Host BRight.
Host BWe like to see that kind of representation.
Host BBut also for me, it's like, guys, guys.
Host BIt's not that kind of show.
Host CYeah.
Host BThey're not gonna.
Host BYou know, it's not that.
Host BIt's not that kind of show.
Host BThey're.
Host BThey're not gonna, you know, they're not gonna, like, have a.
Host CSuddenly be Tinder or.
Host BExactly.
Host CNandor.
Host CRight.
Host BI also personally like that because I find Caven.
Host BIs it Caven.
Host BCaven Novak, who plays Nandor, is actually really good at impressions.
Host CReally?
Host CI didn't know that.
Host BI mean, like, do you remember the episode where they were all.
Host BIt was.
Host BIt was him, but they were all, like, transforming into Nandor, so he got to do, like, his impression of Colin Robinson being Nandor and his impression of Matt Berry.
Host BYeah.
Host BThis one where they tried, like, the.
Host CThe.
Host BIt's like the gym girl they're trying to.
Host BTo.
Host BYeah, yeah.
Host CFunny.
Host BAnd I.
Host BI found.
Host BI just found his, like, his impression very, like, very funny.
Host BIn this little.
Host BLittle scene as he's.
Host CRight.
Host CYeah.
Host CHe normalizes.
Host CHe was the normal guy in the bed.
Host BYeah, it was very funny.
Host BYeah.
Host CGood.
Host BGood throwback.
Host CBy the way, what we do.
Host CIn the Shadows did three different versions of that nausea hypnosis.
Host CEach.
Host CEach version mimicked a different show's ending or movie.
Host CEven.
Host CI.
Host CI saw the New Heart version.
Host CI'm assuming you did, too, from your.
Host BI did.
Host BYeah.
Host CI didn't know that others saw the Usual Suspects.
Host BOkay, man, I got it.
Host BI gotta watch this.
Host BI had no idea.
Host CYeah.
Host CI don't know how to watch it because I pulled it up on Hulu two times and it still gave me the same One.
Host CI don't know what the third one is.
Host BI'm headed to YouTube.
Host CYeah, I guess you could.
Host BYeah, YouTube would have it.
Host CAnd then there's even another fake ending with Guillermo acting as if he's heartbroken.
Host CThat, to me, kind of played like thumbing your nose at certain audience members as well.
Host CAnd I love writers giving a middle finger to people who try to write the show.
Host BSure.
Host CI love that kind of shit.
Host BSure.
Host CBecause the Internet's become such a big base for people to say, this is what I want.
Host CGive it to me.
Host BYeah.
Host CI mean, in any form.
Host CGo to Amazon and order it.
Host CYou get it tomorrow, and it is.
Host CAnd in some cases, that's really good and convenient.
Host CIn other cases, that not what should happen.
Host CThe writers and artists aren't there to give me what I want every time.
Host BYes.
Host BI think that I don't want to get hate mail or anything.
Host BAnd this is not every single person who's a fan of something.
Host BBut there's seem big chunks of people who are like, self determination describe fans of whatever that.
Host BIt's just like.
Host BIt seems like the point of the exercise is to, like, be pandered to or.
Host CYeah.
Host BAnd then if you.
Host BIf you're not utterly pandered to in the way that you want to be, to just have, like, be mad with strange, you know, strange complaints about whatever.
Host BThis cuts across a big chunk of folks.
Host BRight.
Host BLike, I think it does.
Host BI mostly try to ignore this, but there was some of the discourse for even like, House of the Dragon.
Host AYep.
Host BIt's like God, this year.
Host BIt's like, God, is this fun for you?
Host CMm.
Host CWell, it's.
Host BWhat do you want?
Host BYeah.
Host CWe're commenting on fan service.
Host BYeah.
Host BI think, you know, and sometimes it's great to be pandered too.
Host BRight.
Host BLike, if you've got the thing.
Host BI mean, we've all had the experience of like, wow, they basically made this exactly for me.
Host BBut also, if I could.
Host BI mean, I'm not.
Host BI'm not a real creator.
Host BBut also, like, if I could write it, why would I watch it?
Host BI would want to see another human being's take on stuff.
Host BMaybe I did.
Host BMaybe I didn't think, you know, maybe they've got something I didn't think of.
Host BThere's a lot different for me in interesting ways.
Host CYeah.
Host CThere's a lot of fun in subversion of expectations.
Host BYes.
Host CYou know, I would say that subversion of expectations works 90% of the time, more so than.
Host COr there's probably a ratio that I'm not good with Here.
Host CBut there's probably a better ratio of subverting expectations that work.
Host BHonestly, you know, my top show of the year, I think that's one of the reasons it was so good.
Host BBecause on that finale, we never got what we thought it might be built.
Host BWe got something much different, and I think much better.
Host CAnd then there's.
Host CAnd here's what happens with fan service versus not fan service or, or more so of these people who are wishing for it when they, when they kind of want to write the show or want to dictate what it should do, and then when it doesn't do what they think it should have done, it's bad, and they just have no objective view anymore.
Host BI think too, like, in my own life, you know, I just loved Star wars as a kid, right.
Host CYeah.
Host CYou know, as did I.
Host CYeah.
Host BBut I think that like, like I've hit the point in my life where I'm like, you know what this does?
Host BPutting aside that it's.
Host BIt's all crass commercialism from Disney at this point, you know, but it's like, you know what?
Host BIf this doesn't work for me, that's fine.
Host BNot everything has to be for me.
Host BHopefully I'm slowly getting to that point, you know, where it's like, this is.
Host BAnd also, you know, it's a child show for children.
Host BLike, it's okay if they do stuff pitched at kids.
Host CRight.
Host BThat's fine too.
Host CWell, this takes us into Skeleton Crew, which I haven't watched one episode because I see that that is a show for basically kids.
Host BYeah.
Host BAnd for me, I never liked the Goonies very much so, which I did.
Host CWhen I was a kid, but I don't have to see it again.
Host BYeah, that's kind of.
Host BThat's kind of.
Host BThat's kind of the way I feel.
Host CLike, yeah, I think it was great when I was a kid, but I'm a.
Host CYeah, I'm old now.
Host BThis is.
Host BThis is not in any way to support Disney's commercialism over art.
Host BBut it's like, you know what?
Host BLike, everyone has that thing that they saw when they were a kid that's like, if you were 20 years older, you'd be like, yeah, I've seen this before.
Host BBut like, it's new for you.
Host BSo if this is new, for example, if this show is new for some 8 or 9 year old and it gets them really fired up, that's great.
Host BIt's not for me anymore.
Host BIt's okay that it's not for me anymore.
Host BPeople will make things that are for me.
Host BWell, hopefully there's enough people in this world.
Host BYeah, hopefully.
Host CThat's probably a discussion to be had too.
Host BThat's true.
Host BThat's true.
Host CIs that taking up too much bandwidth that it's not.
Host CIt's pushing out things that are going to be made for us as for what we do in the shadows.
Host CIt wasn't the best in terms of funny this season, but I thought it was great.
Host CAnd.
Host CAnd.
Host CAnd I thought that the ending itself was kind of.
Host CI read it as.
Host CThis.
Host CAs asking a subset of audience to off.
Host CAnd I kind of like that.
Host CAlthough I.
Host CIt wasn't necessarily hilarious in.
Host CIn that it did.
Host CBut just doing that, to me, is.
Host CThe awareness is fun in its own way without being funny.
Host BYeah, I thought I did a good job just with reinforcing the theme.
Host CYeah, that's true.
Host CIt did.
Host CIt did have some good moments, I thought, though, the finale, the.
Host CThe one that really made me laugh was.
Host CAnd she has rarely made me laugh.
Host CIs the God easing into xenophobia by saying that there are other immigrants entering the country illegally?
Host BThat's pretty good.
Host CGuillermo.
Host CLike, no, no, no, we're done.
Host CAnd he's like, cut.
Host CCut that out, please.
Host CThat was actually a really funny moment in a episode that wasn't necessarily quite as funny.
Host CA lot of comedies, when they do a specific kind of ending and maybe they have a narrative of a bit going throughout its season seasons, they tend to not be as funny in the finale.
Host CSo I get it.
Host BYeah.
Host CYeah.
Host BI wonder if they're.
Host BAnd this is a completely other.
Host BBut, like, I wonder if there's just something inherently more difficult at ending a comedy than.
Host BThan a drama.
Host BOr maybe it depends on what kind of comedy.
Host BRight.
Host CIf it's.
Host BIf you're Shakespeare, you end it with a wedding easy, you know?
Host CYeah.
Host CI always think about Cheers is ending, and they did a pretty normal episode for its ending versus, except for the.
Host CProbably the last five minutes.
Host BYeah.
Host BAnd that's the thing, right?
Host BLike, do you just do.
Host BEspecially if it's like.
Host BLike, do you do a very special episode, or does it just fit in with what you've done before?
Host CRight.
Host BI don't know.
Host CI think it matters too if.
Host CIf your comedy is just a episode by episode sort of show, like, you can watch them out of order even.
Host BYeah.
Host BOh, absolutely.
Host BYeah.
Host BLike, for instance, the Simpsons ever did a finale.
Host BYou can watch the Simpsons out of order.
Host COh, yeah.
Host CAnd people do all the time.
Host BOh, yeah.
Host CDid you.
Host CDid you enjoy the monster?
Host CEverything?
Host CThe monster, the bear.
Host CYou know, Guillermo tries to be sincere.
Host BThat Was actually kind of funny for me.
Host BIt was okay with the.
Host BJust as they're like.
Host BHe's like, you just can't hear what he's saying over the.
Host BThe wrist.
Host BI mean, and it's just like.
Host BIt just completely underlines the show for me.
Host BRight.
Host BLike they're self absorbed.
Host BThey're not really gonna grow or change.
Host CYeah.
Host CThe opening of the description with Colin Robinson and Laszlo.
Host CYou know, Laszlo's trying to explain that he has needs and desires and he's growing as he's turning more human.
Host CAnd Colin Robinson's like, he's horny.
Host BHe's horny.
Host BI'm gonna.
Host BMan, that's.
Host BI'm gonna.
Host BI liked too that like this was a finale, but I think this did more in.
Host BIn my opinion, more in the line of.
Host BHey, this is kind of like in line as another episode.
Host BRight.
Host BThis is just kind of an arbitrary.
Host BLike, here's where it ended.
Host BAs they say, we're going to be doing the same thing when the cameras are gone tomorrow.
Host BSo it also reinforces how much I'm going to miss the cast and how well.
Host BHow well.
Host BHow well they all played off of each other.
Host CThat's true.
Host CI will.
Host CIt's one of those shows where I do believe I'll come back and pull up a random episode here or there.
Host CSome of my favorites.
Host CI could see myself doing that.
Host BJust.
Host BYeah, absolutely.
Host C25 minutes to kill.
Host CI think I'll go and watch what we do in the shadows, which doesn't happen often with shows and me.
Host CBut this one, it's got enough funny stuff going on, especially in those middle seasons.
Host CI do still recommend it highly for.
Host CFor people still.
Host CEven this week I was recommending it again.
Host BSame.
Host BIs it great art?
Host BI don't know.
Host BDoes it have something to say?
Host BSort of.
Host BIs it fun?
Host BIs it funny?
Host BYeah, yeah, yeah, it's really funny.
Host CIf you look at that last episode as a answer to.
Host CI'm going to say this negatively, though I am a part of it.
Host CAs a comment to Redditors, then it's.
Host CIt's kind of enjoyable as an ending and even beyond because there's some funny bits.
Host BColin Robinsons of the world.
Host CThat's so good.
Host CYeah.
Host CBut super smart, that 1958 footage to tell us, oh, they did this.
Host CThey did this.
Host CSame.
Host BIt's the exact same scenario 50 years ago.
Host CGod.
Host COkay, that's so.
Host BYeah, we got the.
Host BWe got the witch's hat back again too.
Host BThat was a good.
Host BA good nod.
Host CHis cursed witch's hat only difference in 1958.
Host CThere was no Sean Shawnee.
Host BI know, right?
Host CYeah, it was a.
Host CThere was a Jerry who hisses at the camera.
Host CAll right, we're gonna end here, but you can reach out to us.
Host CJust a programming note.
Host CWe won't be in your.
Host CIn your feed, in your podcast feed next week, but that's okay because we're gonna be back in weekly, I suppose, when the new year starts.
Host CI haven't looked at the calendar on how that falls, but I think that's right.
Host BYep.
Host BNew year starts once Christmas tide is nearly over.
Host CNo episode next week, but we'll be back around the 7th of January.
Host CSo happy holidays, Merry Christmas, happy New Year, and we will talk to you all in two weeks.
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