'Good American Family' Defies Stereotypes; 'The White Lotus' Asks Its Deepest Questions Yet

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As for this week's episode, it's our usual Tuesday episode.

We'll split the episode in half.

We do that all the time.

Every episode we do non spoilers to begin about what we'll cover in detail after the spoiler break.

Feel free to use the timestamps we provide that gets you exactly to the segment you might want to hear.

You can use that that first segment of non spoilers to be a set of recommendations if you trust what we think.

Then in the back half we'll discuss specifics on some of the shows we mentioned in the first half.

This week we're starting out with a short set of ideas on this Hulu show.

It's getting all kinds of buzz.

It's called Good American Family.

We'll keep that in the non spoiler section only.

We'll also bring up a few things about the White Lotus on hbo.

It's winding down its third season.

After a break, we'll get into exactly what we thought about that penultimate episode of the White Lotus because that's all we've seen as we record on Sunday.

But yes, let's get Adam and Donovan, our co hosts, in here.

They're the best in the land.

Alabama tape projection.

And here they are.

I mentioned them.

They're Donovan.

They're Adam.

Donovan's back from his time in the corner.

He's learned his lesson.

I didn't learn.

He actually hasn't learned his lesson at all.

Caught up.

Put me back in that corner.

I defy you.

Just like most kids.

You know, Donovan hasn't learned a lesson.

I just got finished watching the third episode of the Studio on Apple tv.

I brought it to y'all last week.

I think I brought it to Adam.

And yeah, third episode.

One of our favorites is a huge guest star.

Like, takes up a lot of the episode.

And it's Ron Howard.

If you're watching it, third episode, it's pretty good.

Just because of Ron Howard almost.

But yeah.

Does he narrate the episode?

No, sadly, no.

Oh, you actually see him?

Does anyone call him Opie?

Oh, yeah.

You see him?

Oh, very much, yes.

He, he and he and Anthony Mackie are almost a comedic duo.

In this episode, does he get called Opie?

You're ducking Donovan's question.

No.

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't hear him.

No, he doesn't.

Does he get called a bat?

A bald bastard?

Yes.

So no one had gone too far and had best watched themselves?

No.

I do have a wild one for you guys this week.

Maybe this one is for our occasional co host, Natalie.

Three weeks ago, Hulu released the two episode premiere of Good American Family.

And it is a.

Like every commercial that I've seen of that, it's like, just go into another room.

It's not for you.

You think that about yourself.

I think that about myself.

Seeing this, I'm like, I'm walking away.

Yes.

Well, I saw my wife watching Good American Family and she assumed it wasn't for me either.

Why do wives love this shit?

Well, unfortunately, she clued me in on some of the big plot points.

But then I started hearing chatter about it at work and lo and behold, I got caught up this week just back to back nights of watching this.

I gotta tell you guys, there's something to this madness.

I have no concept of what you guys are talking about.

I assume when you say chatter at work, it's like the kids are talking.

Or is it like, like, is it.

Do they care?

Adult.

Adult.

Ah, that's too bad.

The opening screen on each episode is a very long legal notice.

So you just know you're in for a treat.

Is it kind of like on HBO when Game of Thrones was still going and they had like the.

The full gamut of graphic violence, nudity, sexual content, like all the stuff.

You're like, oh, this can be a good one.

You're like, hell, yeah.

It's got none of that.

But that legal disclaimer.

You're just thinking, oh, somebody's in some shit.

It's loosely based.

I guess loosely is the term.

Based on this actual story of a family, their three sons, and this additional family member, I won't say anything because flying into these clouds blindly has been a ride.

It works well because this series knows exactly what it is.

It knows it is an outrageous and infamous story.

And facts be damned, tell this version for something huing closer to the truth.

Apparently there's three seasons and yes, I did say three seasons.

Documentary on Hulu about this.

And there's also like a Max movie you can watch that's documentary, but it sits perfectly between ABC broadcast drama and demented K boy.

Like a Hulu series.

Here are the two leads.

If this doesn't piece it together for you, I don't know what you can picture that would help.

The wife is played by Ellen Pompeo from Grey's Anatomy fame, and her husband's brought to life by Mark Duplass.

Huh.

Those two are just clashing.

That doesn't seem like his usual gig.

It does not.

That's why I stopped when I was walking through the room my wife was watching.

I thought, what is Mark Duplis doing in this ABC drama you're watching?

She's like, no, it's Hulu.

Oh.

I mean, the repute of this sounds very melodramatic.

And it.

It has occasional good filmmaking going on, though.

It's one of my favorite things that some of the smaller character beats the wife's name.

Christine.

She plays Yacht Rock every time she's in her minivan or some sort of mod Christian.

And she jams really hard to later.

Annie Lennox.

And you're just like, that is perfect man.

And I can't decide who.

Who it wants to make the most idiotic Christine.

Her husband Michael, or everyone involved who are just oblivious to what's going on.

The most recent fourth episode gives what.

What should have been a obvious bit of backstory.

But I, you know, these are just sad people who are trying to fill some holes in their lives differently than any three of us could have ever thought to do, you know?

You mean viewers of this show?

That's it?

Well, no, I don't think so.

I don't think so at all.

I think this is like a.

Our.

Our listeners, like, what are you getting?

This is like watching a train wreck.

You.

You can't help but watch it.

This is so.

I'm so.

I'm dying for Natalie to watch this.

I do hope Natalie listens.

Or I can message her later and tell her about it.

What about it do you think appeals to her?

There's just this element of trash to it.

What are you saying about my wife?

That she likes watching white trash people get themselves into a pickle.

You think that there is some reality TV energy going on here, Some nice.

Reality TV energy going.

And I mean, there are a few surprises where you'll just be like, fuck, no.

Do they settle any of their problems with the hall brawl?

They don't.

Nor do they throw.

Excuse me.

Maybe they do throw a drink in their face.

I think there might be a scene where that happens.

Well, that is a classic.

Do you know it's getting good when they show them smoking cigarettes.

If you enjoy pseudo Christian white heartland people who think they're better than everyone, just get their.

Just get their own shit.

You're gonna love this show.

It's a little something different for our listeners, if you wish.

I don't know.

King of the Hill already did a pretty good episode about that.

Well, this one's a full series.

At first you're thinking, God, this kind of is bad acting.

You're like, no, no, no, no.

She is acting for the people there in her presence.

And she's always putting on this I'm a good Christian woman act.

And so it's just so fun to.

See it break planes flying against headwinds here.

I enjoyed it.

Sometimes you just want your entertainment with a dash of trash.

I suppose you want your entertainment entertaining.

I get.

Was nice to just passively watch, you know, I always watch television very actively.

I can't turn it off.

And it's part of why we have this podcast, obviously.

And this.

I turned it off, but yet was able to muster up all that to say about it.

So I don't know.

I was passively watching, but enjoying and all that.

Yeah, it's called Good American Family Hulu, about what, four or five episodes now?

Good stuff in its own way.

You know, Roger Ebert was great at meeting something.

A movie on its own terms.

Yes.

And I feel like that's the grace you are extending to this series today.

As soon as you finish episode one, you think probably, or maybe episode two, you know, oh, that's what they want to be doing.

I'm okay.

Okay, I get it.

Speaking of stories of ill repute, it would be downright silly not to be talking about the White Lotus this week.

We've discussed it on a weekly basis since the third season began, what, seven weeks ago?

The only thing is, we've only seen the penultimate episode.

Killer instincts.

You know, it's Sunday afternoon here in our world.

It's a no spoiler zone.

Still, I'll Start with this factoid.

HBO told Mike White to cut these episodes this season from 90 minutes to like a customary 50, 55 runtime.

Would y'all watch a 90 minute episode every Sunday of this season?

It'd have to be really damn good.

He's got me now.

So.

Yeah.

If they hadn't.

If they hadn't started that until say like the last three episodes.

Yeah, you know, maybe a couple.

I would have did that.

That started at 60 and then bumped up.

I got to be honest with you.

It's going to be a bit of a chore to only talk about last week's episode here because I'm.

I'm full on.

It feels like there's an event coming tonight.

It does.

This is appointment viewing for me.

The finale.

And that finale is supposed to be the longest episode of the season.

That's what I was going to say.

It is a 90 minute.

We're pushing it.

Oh, good to know.

I don't know if It's a full 90, but it's going to be longer.

I'll give you a factoid from White Lotus Land that I learned this week that's making the rounds.

Every actor is paid the same.

Fascinating.

Wait, there's.

There's a part two to that.

Right?

Adam and the.

The.

The billing is alphabetical order.

I guess the fact what you're.

You're digging for there.

So it's.

It's total.

I love that there's no.

We're going to bring in some massive star who's going to take all of the bandwidth both financially and with the building.

But this came up because Woody Harrelson was apparently up to play Goggins part.

And he as.

As someone of his caliber would.

I'm sure an agent, not him.

Said he deserves to be compensated like this.

And HBO said no, this is the deal.

I would assume his business people having a fairly strong working relationship with the network that brought us True Detective.

He went all the way to the top.

And they said nope, we're standing with.

With White on this one.

Yeah, I think that's great.

I love.

Made me pine for a season where Matthew McConaughey would have played Rick.

I think either McConaughey or Harrelson would be great in this world.

It really would have been a different season if it would have been Woody Harrelson.

I.

I don't think it works the same way.

It doesn't.

Is almost perfect.

He's a perfect guy to play that role.

But for a show where by default you're going to be somewhere for months on end, you know, kind of almost in a little bubble.

I think that's genius to pay him all the same.

Yeah, it's.

It is smart.

I did hear a story about Goggins that Jason Isaac.

Is that his name?

Jason or Jeremy Isaac, who plays Tim Ratcliffe?

Jason.

Right.

He told on a podcast about working with Goggins and that he says that Walton Goggins brought his wife and kids.

And, you know, he would often bump into the wife and kids, but the only time he would really ever see Walton Goggins would be across the way in his own villa on the back porch area, just smoking and just looking out at the world, much like Rick did for a few episodes.

Apparently Goggins was married years and years ago and him and that woman separated and the woman went on to unfortunately commit suicide and in the kind of just shattered him.

And he went to Thailand as part of this, like, excursion to kind of try to not bring himself back to life, but, like, work through this massive thing.

And so when they were at filming locations, he was remembering, oh, I.

I've been here before.

Wow.

In this very dark moment in his life.

That's sad.

And it does make sense with how he's playing this.

Yeah.

Oh, good to know.

Glad we could got heavy there.

They did get heavy.

I'm glad we could bring some stories here in the non spoiler section because I think we're going to jump into spoilers after the break.

Stick around for just the penultimate episode of the White Lotus.

And if you saw where we did a bonus episode, dare I say.

I don't like that word.

I don't like that term much, but if you saw we did an extra episode a couple weeks ago, we're going to do another extra episode this week, so look out on Thursday for our full rundown of all of the four episodes of Adolescence.

Be worth your time, especially if you've seen it, we'll have a non spoiler section in that episode too.

Here's our break.

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Yeah.

We're now in spoilers.

It's time to get specific with the White Lotus and it's penultimate episode, Killer Instincts, where.

Let me see if I can run this down.

Rick confronts crazy rich old ass Jim.

The three girlfriends start to tear apart in a public argument.

Lachlan and Piper Ratlif are in the monastery.

Lachlan admits he might want to stay there too.

Tim, Victoria and Saxon hit up Gary's dinner party.

Saxon gets invited to Gary's weird show and tell.

And Gary tries to give belinda a cool 100k because that's what Tanya would have wanted.

That's kind of it, right?

I didn't mention what Gay talk.

He's the only guy I didn't talk about.

What'd he do?

He took Mook out for the fights.

They went to the fights and he connected some dots.

That's right.

With our Russian friends.

Saw the Russians there and decided, oh, yeah, those are the guys who distracted me and also broke in.

Could loom pretty large for a guy who has been told he doesn't have what it takes.

He needs more ambition.

I mean, from every side this poor man is getting.

You don't have what it takes.

Mook being the most gentle about this declaration.

But come on, don't date him.

If you don't like him as is.

Don'T string him along.

Yeah, I'm not her fan.

She is mean.

No.

Okay, let's get into this a little.

It's impressive to me how Mike White and his crew have made obvious and deliberate choices.

I think I just speak for all three of us when I say we just love and appreciate purposeful intentions in film and tv.

Here they may be obvious to where, you know, I'm not going to be relevatory here, but it doesn't mean that having a purpose is not a great thing.

And I think we get hindered because we don't get screeners.

But you probably could have seen some of these popping up the last couple episodes.

What's the.

What's the lead in there?

What are you.

What are you.

What are we fishing for?

Just.

I feel like he made very deliberate choices that either hint to something or fit a theme he's trying to put on screen.

And I think a good example now, we picked up on this in the first episode where the Ratliff Three Ratliff Kids, right?

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

And just having threes quite Often the girlfriends are threes, the Ratliff kids are threes.

And there's just some motifs that really are purposeful and probably point you in a direction, if you would like to think of them that way.

There's been a lot made of, for example, people's reaction to the welcome to the White Lotus, the kind of spiritual.

You know, maybe they were giving a bracelet or a necklace, I can't remember which one, and offered this blessing and how they reacted to that, possibly indicating what's gonna happen to them during this outburst of violence at the end.

You know, that's everybody, really.

When you see a body float by, even more than other seasons, there's a lot of who done it?

Who is that?

You know, there's a lot of that energy going on on the Internet, yes, for the last seven weeks.

And people have tried to use that, but that feels intentional.

Everything about, you know, even down to.

There was a Reddit thread that was just wondering who.

Who is dressing Piper.

You know, she wears these.

Someone says she looks like a.

Like a Victorian ghost child with the.

The big dresses that she wears, and she's usually in white.

But that also conveys a certain spirituality in a way or a longing for that.

So, yeah, I agree with you that nothing.

Nothing is out of place here.

Right.

It feels weird to compare it to, like, a Breaking Bad, but I think that's, you know, that was another show, completely different viewing experience, obviously, subject matter, but nothing happened on that show by accident.

And I think that can be put on steroids here in, like, this insane location and in these set pieces to where it can be really, really dense, especially when he knows he only has.

Eight episodes, I think fair to say, because we're not.

You're not saying it is as good as Breaking Bad.

You're simply saying this show has purpose in almost every decision.

Breaking Bad had purpose in almost every decision.

And I think that's absolutely fair.

Little things, like, you know, the snake scene, you brought up a snake expert saying that him freeing them is not the act of kindness that he thinks it is, because these are not native to where they are to Thailand, and they wouldn't be able to fend for themselves.

And, you know, little things all along.

Like that, you know, the idea that helping someone could be sad if you not fully know what's going on.

Right.

Which comes up again with him this week.

Possibly it does.

Yeah.

Let's dig more.

I love the quote early in the episode where the monk says that the only good faith response is to sit with your Feelings.

I know that we're talking TV show here, but I like that it.

To me, it's insightful to look at these characters as trying to deal with fear, but totally misguided or horrible ways.

Maybe every season of White Lotus can be done this way, but I just had noticed it this week and what a theatrical, intelligent move to intercut some of the early episode with those fights.

That juxtaposition serves the series so well.

And it's one of the high marks of the season, what it has achieved in image form.

These people trying to find peace, trying to find contentment at the very least.

And then these fighters both praying and about to bludgeon each other.

Well, and Mook points that out, I thought.

She does.

Yeah.

Having the scene, the scenes with.

With the Monk.

You know, we talked a little bit last week about how, like you said, even though it is a TV show, there is some beautifully stated spiritual ideas.

I think even maybe you could call them cliche, whatever.

How much spiritual advice are you taking from your HBO Sunday night?

But me 99, I still think what.

He said about the ocean was beautiful, about the, the rising droplets and then falling back, all of it.

Especially because you're listening through the ears of.

You know, we praised the actress playing Piper for how.

For her performance in that scene with the Monk where she says, I've read your books and, you know, her voice kind of breaks and she talks about, I feel like I don't fit in and I struggle with this and this.

And they were such a help to me.

So you're listening with those years of like, knowing what that feels like and that these words would be so comforting.

So to have, have those kids there experiencing that and then to have Gaetok, who's out in the world in a job that implies violence on some level, still expressing his commitment to a Buddhist idea of nonviolence, of treating everything with respect.

To oversimplify, gay talk's a lover, not a fighter.

He is.

But the, you know, the idea of.

I mean, I know it's.

It's Hindu, but like ahims of harm, nothing that everything has is an animation of life.

And you shouldn't extinguish that, you know, so that's.

That's me trying to recall religion classes long ago, but hopefully I got close enough.

You did that last week, by the way.

I know I need to stop, but so the.

To then go with.

With Mook to this fight that he wants to go to.

Yeah.

And yeah, they're.

They're there to beat the shit out of each other to do it with great ceremony.

Yes.

But that push and pull of, you know, if you're trying enlightenment, in some ways, you know, you're lifted from normal behavior, normal mortal thinking.

Yeah.

But you also still have to live in the world.

That's such a nice.

You know, so not only do we have these.

This kind of motif of privileged Americans seeking spirituality, you have people wrestling with it in their native faith as well, or native social ideology.

Tradition.

Yeah.

I love that, man.

Thanks for bringing that to the table this week.

Well, it felt like real wrestling.

It did.

Yeah.

Him sitting there and to.

To have that be the time that he makes the connection that these are the guys who robbed the hotel and.

And hit him, and what is he going to do about it?

Yeah.

You know, that was.

That was so well done.

I.

Yeah, I agree with that.

And it would look great.

It just looked good on tv.

Yeah.

In fact, when they did the first cut to the fight, I thought they're gonna get a little too cinematic for their own good here.

But then.

No, it fit perfectly.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

It also.

That's the first time that you're in a public space with seating like that since you're at the snake show.

Did it make you think of that at all?

A little bit.

Kind of in the background of my mind.

Has to be some intent there.

I don't disagree there.

Let's go.

Maybe some character groups by character groups until we get to the end.

Let's go to Bangkok, though.

One way that Frank deals with fear is trying to act.

Fear of trying to act like a Hollywood action director is to hit the bottle again.

Now, this is why you rope in Sam Rockwell.

I know I said that three episodes ago, but he is so funny with stumbling over what to say or what movies he's.

He watched, which he has not.

All right, here's my complaint.

I know Rick's got a lot going on, but he should have prepped our guy.

Send him a text, send him a link, send him an IMD page.

I've seen some folks online say this is how, you know that they're trying to keep these people as real as possible.

Because we still think that, like, maybe these were assassins in a former life or maybe they.

They did something.

I don't think so anymore.

Not on the up and up.

But they're so bad at this.

Yeah.

They couldn't even be bothered to look at Wikipedia.

Yeah.

Did you laugh at this woman's house?

Yeah.

But it was also very uncomfortable in the way we talked last week about People sneaking around.

The old film idea of like, I'm gonna break into this person's house and oh, I'm gonna still be there when they come and I have to hide in the closet.

That's my.

I hate that.

I hate watching that.

Yeah, it makes me anxious and this whole scene felt like that.

I laughed though, Frank.

It was funny.

What's the line?

When Rick finally comes, comes back to Frank and the actress.

He says they're watching this really 1991 video.

And he's like, oh, she's great.

It's like Pippin.

But yeah, you're right.

Those scenes were just naturally tensed and mixed, which is fun way.

You know, like we said earlier, sometimes you want your entertainment to be entertaining.

And it is fun watching these two guys try to come up with variations of lies to make sure they don't get kicked out too early.

Well, it was a little tough to watch.

Watch the relapse happen though, after you've.

You've heard, you know, the.

The monologue is so praised as being an authentic representation of hitting rock bottom and seeking again some form of enlightenment.

Some doing the work.

Obviously people move forward and back in real life.

But he was such a.

Alternative to the, you know, five star resort version of that that had been shown other with other folks in the show.

Yeah.

If you're gonna make a complaint, there is a slight imbalance in how that was played.

It was played a little bit more for laughs than intensity of this is how desperate he feels right now.

It's just a little too funny maybe for some, but I'm okay with that.

I don't know.

I felt the weight of it.

I mean, it was funny.

Yeah, absolutely.

It was funny that what they were trying to.

Them stumbling to try to talk their way out of it was funny.

But the, the underlying sadness was definitely there.

And they drive that home through the rest of the episode.

Yeah.

You know, when they leave and kind of go off into the night and say, all right, let's have one and I'll be a good guy tomorrow.

Yeah, I can start over tomorrow.

Yeah.

How many times have we all said that about something?

Rick doesn't kill Jim.

He does pull the gun, tells him who he is, flips his chair over.

Because the episode ends with this shot of Rick looking satisfied over the party scene he and Frank are indulging in.

It did make me consider that his look wasn't of satisfaction, that it might be more ambiguous than that.

How did you read that shot of Rick sitting on a couch watching everybody party?

That was A tough one for me.

I don't think we.

When we were going to have an answer this week, my immediate thought was, you have.

He has.

Chelsea, who's so committed to him, making all of her decisions about him are based on.

On him, trying to call him, genuinely cares about him.

And this is a grown man well into adulthood who is still completely defined by, you know, he's willing to sacrifice all of that with her to get back at some childhood trauma.

You know, and obviously those run deep.

But they run very deep.

To me, it just.

It showed the levels of his self interest and selfishness and I don't know how to read.

I don't think we're supposed to know what happened with maybe his father, you know, at least the man that he went to kill.

Maybe that fall, that was a pretty decrepit old man.

That fall could have been pretty bad.

Could have hurt Scott Glenn.

His character, Jim.

Yeah, we don't know if he's sitting there at the end, goggins in certain level of satisfaction, and he's not going to participate in this and he just wants to get back to.

To Chelsea or he's about to.

Could have been the look of a man on the high dive about to.

About to jump.

I think the first and obvious response is to say, okay, he's found a little contentment in just at least encountering this guy.

And everyone online, everyone you talk to has concluded that Jim is Rick's actual dad.

The scene does play like that.

If you want to watch Scott Glenn's expressions when he hears Rick.

Rick's mom's name.

Y.

I mean, he did know her.

You got to think.

And plus, if you think that Rick's found contentment, he would get around to answering Chelsea's phone calls right around then.

You'd see him.

Maybe, you know, the screen would go.

I mean, your screen still shows him, but the partying music would be too loud and you just see him answer the phone or something, and that's your final shot.

But it wasn't.

Well, not only has he ignored someone who cares about him, he's now put her in pretty considerable danger because it's not like they don't know that he's staying at the White Lotus.

Like, this guy comes into their house and assaults them.

He still has his bags and his girlfriend at a room at a resort that they own.

Yeah, they could get her.

Instead.

Chelsea's at Gary shindig mostly, and she has to deal with Saxon hitting on her again.

It was, you know, it's questionable that she even allowed Saxon back to her place.

But she also admits that she's really into healing people, helping people.

That's specifically rigged.

It's not the money for her.

It's fixing Rick.

A kind of sad statement.

She brings Saxon in and he turns the interaction into a situation to really go for it.

Between.

Between the two, I found that a little.

I don't think earlier season Chelsea would have done that.

She would not have brought him into a room alone.

And I don't think earlier season Saxon would have reacted the way that he.

Did, sort of accepting mostly the guy.

That he's painted to be for the first few episodes before the cracks start to show.

I don't think he's a guy who leaves that room that easily and certainly doesn't leave with the books about spiritual enlightenment that she gives him.

He did gather the books up.

Well, she loaded him down.

Yeah.

Some people think maybe she was frightened of that she felt some sort of connection to him and that that was part of the get out.

It wasn't just like, oh, of course, that's why you're here.

Get out.

It was, you know, for the first time, she's maybe sensing something there and it could be what you're.

What you're talking about of like, here's another broken person who.

Yeah, but this one, you know, I've seen other things that maybe the real reveal is going to be that the other two kids come back from the monastery and Saxon is the one who either stays there or has some genuine enlightenment.

Certainly be different than what you're expecting.

I think that that would be earned at this point in the season.

Yeah, I do too.

I don't disagree.

Not what you would expect after episode one, of course.

I'm really glad the Russians didn't end up being harmful to the three girlfriends there on vacation.

Came close.

Well, bro definitely hit up Laurie for money in any app she has available.

That rundown of apps was.

It was good stuff, I thought.

Good.

That was the most frightening scene of the season so far.

You thought it was going to be a little danger.

Yeah, I think that there was danger involved if, you know, spurn girlfriend doesn't show up there and breaks that.

I think that maybe she is in a bit of trouble.

Could be.

She's also.

They're kind of showing how for all the money that these people have amassed in their life, they're not street smart enough to like, talk themselves out of situations like that generally.

Yeah.

Obviously, before Laurie has to climb out the window and she gets slapped by Alexis Girlfriend, I think, is his name.

All right, I got the.

I've saved the big question to the back end of our discussion.

Huge.

Are we gonna see justice for Fabian?

Is he gonna get his return to stage and perform in full his piano slash German song?

When you.

We're still in the business of playing shows.

Did you ever have one on the books?

And as you got closer to a week of.

You find out, well, there's this thing going on in Birmingham.

There's this show.

All right.

That's like half the audience is going to go to that.

All right.

There's this other thing going on that's going to take away this part of the audience.

There's this other thing.

I feel like that's what happened to our guy here.

Yeah.

A lot of our shows happen that way.

Yeah.

That you were everybody's second choice.

You know, it's gonna be a little light.

Yeah.

You performance that evening.

You book the show.

You go online a couple days later and realize, oh, the Dexa Teens are playing Tuscaloosa five doors down.

That's why they booked me.

Yeah.

I feel Fabian's pain.

Indeed.

And I've also played a show where fights have broken out.

I think might have to dig the memories there.

Tim's story, I think it's maybe at this point, seeping a little of the air in the room.

He's kind of repeatedly returning to this fantasy or dream of murder or suicide or murder suicide.

Not really doing much else.

You do get Saxon talking to him, saying, dad, something's up.

I finally figured out that something's up.

I'm a sense that what the hell's going on with work?

Well, when he approached him at the party, when he's talking with.

With Greg Gary, you just wonder, is he going to try to preempt, get ahead of the story?

Like, if Greg knows something about what happened between the brothers on the boat, is this.

Is.

Is he about to overplay his hand, reveal information that he doesn't have to, but instead it's the conversation you're.

You're talking about there.

Reveal about he and Lachlan's experience.

Yeah.

In bonding.

Because everybody thinks the brother.

I'm going to put a euphemism.

Well, everybody thinks that there's cameras all over the boat.

Right.

And that he'll be able to blackmail them somehow.

He.

He took a stab via his girlfriend.

Don't you want to bang my girlfriend and let me just sit in a chair?

Chill out.

Yet again, every week, you think there's no way that the Chelsea can one up her just watching a scene, play out her expressions and then here she is.

What does she say?

Oh, every little boy's dream or something like that.

Amy Lou Wood's fantastic at reaction shots.

There's no doubt about it.

She's great.

Going back to Tim, the fact that he.

In a season that we can say is about like spirituality in some way seeking enlightenment, whatever it is.

Here's a guy that like keeps running into, if not solutions, then some sort of balm for the massive problems that he has.

You know, whether it's the talk with the monk that seemed to actually affect him in some way.

And no matter what, he can't.

You talked about the suicide or violent thoughts kind of, you know, maybe they're overplaying that a little bit, but it's like he clears his head and then they come back.

He can't shake them.

And I think when you view him that way, if you only watched his story, it would be striking how, how much he's haunted by this idea.

I feel as though they maybe could have dug around a little bit more to try to find one more way to present that.

Keep feeling like, okay, I got this.

It's okay, you don't have to show me.

Did you like that?

He is at a place that's so desperate that he's having all of those thoughts when they say we have to go to this dinner party like a good upper class gentleman.

He just put on a shirt and got on with it.

That was kind of funny.

It took a couple pills.

I was gonna say, not without a couple of Lorazipams.

Here's a.

Should have put this in the factoid non spoiler.

But UAB is hosting a talk slash performance.

I couldn't tell by the poster of Napoleon Dynamite with John Heder, John Grease, Uncle Rico and the young man who played Pedro.

And I was just thinking when they booked this, obviously John Grease had.

Has been on HBO with season one and two of the White Lottery.

But did they know they were going to have the big bad, such a commanding presence as he's now become when they booked this?

Curious to know.

Speaking of, what do you think of old Belinda?

I would have had to take that money, man.

I mean, you don't know anything other than where he is.

Just take the money.

I would have probably upped the ante to about 200.

Okay, I need a little more on.

You're in a palatial estate.

You know what his dead wife was worth, roughly?

This is she.

He's throwing pennies at her pennies.

That was a weak offer, man.

It should have been a 500K.

Oh, yeah.

@ least you start the bargaining there.

Willing to go up to a mill for sure meal.

Seems like he wouldn't do.

But, I mean, if I'm.

Belinda, I'm saying you've got a great point, but I really do think Tanya would have wanted me to have $700,000.

It just makes it a lot more convincing.

Yeah, well, maybe that's the point.

Like he was just gonna throw, like you said, pennies at her to get rid of her.

But the other alternative, I think we discussed this last week, is what if.

What if he really didn't do anything?

I told you, man, he's just a.

He's a decent guy.

He's got a heart of gold.

And he.

He sat and thought, man, $100,000 for this woman, that would go a long way to starting her business.

And I think that would be really helpful.

And it's not hush money at all.

She needs it.

Tanya would have wanted it.

I do appreciate her son having the full plate of food and being like, do we really have to leave right now?

I mean, let.

Let the guy eat.

Just some good college guy energy there.

As for a to go plate.

Yeah, this is free.

And you're going to make me put it down.

That's.

That would really present them and their strata of class if he would have said, okay, well, just let me get a to go plate.

Yeah, Nothing wrong with a to go plate.

No, not at all.

I won't bother speculating.

We're only hours away from the finale where we are.

Everyone would have watched when this episode of our podcast released on Tuesday.

It does feel silly.

Did you leave this penultimate episode with the feeling of any one person being in more danger than the others?

No, not this time.

I did not.

And you.

You know, people.

The easy one is to say Belinda is in imminent danger.

That she's a little.

She's already got a streak of bad luck and is not playing this real street smart.

She's in danger.

Chelsea's kind of a sitting duck because her partner boyfriend has.

She's.

Her mentioning of.

Things happen in threes.

Bad things.

Yep.

I don't think Mike Wyatt has it in him to kill Belinda.

I have a feeling he likes that character a lot.

And I mean, the only one that we know is safe through the initial action is her son is Zion.

That's correct.

I think it's a really good season so far.

I still think that.

I think that it improved and I think that there are a few slightly things that could have been done better.

I mentioned them here, but it's nothing that's detrimental.

It just ended up being a different.

Some of the things that I think coming in.

You just said it.

You know, I don't think Mike White would do this.

This is not that kind of show.

You know, things like that were said.

And now this has turned into a season with both very violent stakes, high stakes and big questions.

You know, not that the other ones didn't ask big questions, but they were maybe presented in a less direct way where this is very much about spirituality and belief and the, like, a framework.

For l, you know, deeper questions this season.

And I'm always a fan of that kind of thing.

And the intentionality of this, of this series has made it really great.

I'm excited to watch this finality soon.

Finale soon.

With some finality.

With some finality.

And season four is going to be filmed in Gary, Indiana.

That's what I saw.

That was a great click hole.

Not only that, but that would be stupendous if it was like Omaha, Nebraska.

They already rented out the Best Western.

You can't get a refund on that.

No, they bought it, right?

They bought it.

It'd probably be cheaper, huh?

It's funny little.

They're there for months.

Click.

Hope a clickhole post on Instagram is what we're referencing.

You may have seen it.

Well, speaking of shows that ask tough questions, Donovan and I will be back this very Thursday, not that long.

Where he announced we'll talk about the Netflix series adolescence.

It's.

We'll just do that in full.

It needs a podcast of its own.

Podcast episode of its own.

Hey, if you have it in you, we like a little help with donations and keeping things going.

You can head to thealabamatate.com click on donations or just click in the show notes.

We post it there as well.

If you're in your podcast player.

Should be easy if you do so.

Thank you very, very much for Adam and Donovan.

I'm Blaine, and I hope you make peace with the man who has disturbed your family dynamic a bit.