How Many Versions of You Are in 'Dark Matter' and 'The Sympathizer'; 'Shōgun' News

[00:00:00] Hello Everyone!

[00:00:02] It's Tuesday! It's time to talk about some TV. One of my top topics.

[00:00:08] Welcome to the podcast, Taking It Down.

[00:00:11] Hey here's the thing about book podcasts, there are a few, there aren't a lot,

[00:00:17] but many of the few focus on the ins and outs of publishing or author interviews.

[00:00:22] They have their place.

[00:00:24] But I want my book podcast to feel like a book club and maybe give me some cool recs.

[00:00:29] That's what Check Your Shelf is all about.

[00:00:31] Host Jamie's a librarian, she's going to know what's good, what's new, what's hot.

[00:00:37] And Jennifer, her co-host, reads everything.

[00:00:40] And for once a month, just like your book club social, they sit and tell you what's good, what's not.

[00:00:45] They go in depth on a few recent reads.

[00:00:47] Find them on The Alabama Take or any podcast app, follow them wherever you like.

[00:00:54] In fact, if you go to TheAlabamatake.com now, there's a button at the bottom right hand of your screen.

[00:01:00] You can click and record a voice message for any of us in the podcast family.

[00:01:05] Click on it, record your message, it gets sent to the correct podcast and the rest is just shits and giggles.

[00:01:10] Speaking of shits and giggles, TheAlabamatake.com slash newsletter, you're not getting it, you're missing out.

[00:01:17] Some good stuff this past week from us, mainly me, but I hope you enjoy that.

[00:01:24] Well, much like the Men on Horseback and the Apple TV show itself,

[00:01:30] I'm closing in on the finale of Manhunt after slowly watching it over the course of the weeks that it is aired.

[00:01:36] My thoughts are that it kind of remained the same.

[00:01:39] It's a very middle-of-the-road series, great production value, pretty good acting, odd choices,

[00:01:46] dialogue, it doesn't hit like it should. Set design's wonderful, makes you feel like maybe you were in that time era of post-Lincoln assassination, post-Civil War.

[00:01:58] It does connect some dots you might not have known about in history, so I'm all for it for those reasons and all against it for some of those reasons as well.

[00:02:07] The show really uses Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, played by Tobias Menzies,

[00:02:13] to tell the story of this 12-day search for John Wilkes Booth, which I didn't know he was gone for that long.

[00:02:20] I thought he was gone for a couple hours and they caught him, they tracked him down. That's not the case.

[00:02:25] Get a little viewpoint on his story after the Lincoln assassination.

[00:02:30] The show also kind of abandons some ideas that it uses in the first three episodes or so.

[00:02:36] It has an odd chronology, honestly, in that the first couple episodes aren't that good, the middle episodes are, and then these last two so far haven't been stellar.

[00:02:48] I guess because you kind of know. Maybe that's it. What's there left to say? What's there left to do?

[00:02:53] What image can you present on screen that I couldn't have already guessed?

[00:02:59] With the Penultimate episode, they're starting to get into what happened to Jefferson Davis, some of which I didn't know there either.

[00:03:05] Good to see it replayed on screen, but it's a television show that needed some revisions, and I think it would have been pretty good.

[00:03:16] Even better, though, and also flying under the radar is the second season of The Big Door Prize.

[00:03:21] It's on Apple TV Plus as well. Let me tell you a little about this show without spoiling any of it.

[00:03:27] So if you don't mind playing catch up or maybe you just need a lazy summer watch coming up, The Big Door Prize might scratch that itch for you.

[00:03:33] It's based on the novel by M.O. Walsh. I don't think a lot of people read that novel.

[00:03:38] The first season started so great. It had a wonderful, fascinating, interesting premise in the middle somewhere of the first season.

[00:03:48] It tries really hard to be funny, isn't a very natural bit of humor happening at the end of the first season.

[00:03:56] It kind of circles back around to the premise that made it watchable and entertaining.

[00:04:01] It also kind of came back around to its primary characters. Let me tell you a little about it, and I won't spoil it, so no worries here.

[00:04:08] The focus is on the entire town, but one of your entry ways to that town is a history teacher for the high school played by Chris O'Dowd and his wife and their daughter.

[00:04:19] And the daughter has a boyfriend that plays four really great scenes.

[00:04:24] Now what happens to the town is a little bit of a central mystery that I bet the show's not as interested in answering as the viewers may be.

[00:04:32] But that doesn't bother me. When it hits its mark like it's doing in the second season and it's in the middle of airing,

[00:04:38] it creates an interesting community that's dynamic and it does such a fantastic job of peppering quirky with poignant and affable with kind of sad,

[00:04:50] but not over the top sad, not like crying, depressing sad, just poignant in a way.

[00:04:57] It doesn't plumb any depths, but it does keep a central question going most of the time,

[00:05:03] which is how do others' perception of us influence who we think we are and the courses we choose to take?

[00:05:11] Or maybe if we are given a hint of our fate, if fate exists, what effect does that have on how you're going to act?

[00:05:18] It's a really interesting premise, but it's kind of dealt with in a fun way and it's open to a few possibilities.

[00:05:25] I don't know that the show will ever get around to like getting philosophical with these ideas.

[00:05:31] It's way too quirky and fun for that.

[00:05:34] But the interactions of the various cast members kind of harken back to sitcoms of old,

[00:05:40] these strong, pretty lived-in performances that make you kind of want to hang out with these people.

[00:05:46] You can't go wrong with Chris O'Dowd. He is not a leading man kind of person, but he is so perfect for TV.

[00:05:52] It doesn't hinder at all that he is backed up with a pretty good cast,

[00:05:57] none of whom I would know, I don't think, or maybe you would know even outside of this show,

[00:06:03] but they're doing really good job.

[00:06:05] You see like every episode kind of ends with a little tiny mystery involved with the bigger mystery,

[00:06:12] keeps you coming back. The tiny mysteries are certainly answered.

[00:06:15] The bigger one, I don't know if they'll ever answer it and I'm okay with that.

[00:06:19] Give it a try. You might like it.

[00:06:21] The first two episodes of the first season are really good.

[00:06:23] It does dip in the middle of the first season, kind of inches its way back up to end the first season.

[00:06:28] And now that the second season is airing, they might be out of book material for all I know.

[00:06:33] I have not read the book. It's based on M.O. Walsh's book of the same name.

[00:06:38] But the second season has started off really promising.

[00:06:40] It's kind of found its tone balance perfectly, I think.

[00:06:44] And it's worth checking out, especially for like little 30-minute shows, maybe right before bed kind of show.

[00:06:50] It's good. We've got a good episode for you today.

[00:06:52] Adam and Donovan are going to join me. No sense in wasting time getting to them.

[00:06:56] It's good stuff. Let's get into it.

[00:06:58] I love a take projection.

[00:07:03] Joining me now is Adam. It's Donovan.

[00:07:05] Both are gentlemen who have strong opinions about this second and third season announcement of Shogun.

[00:07:10] And I'm going to get them to sit on those thoughts for a minute.

[00:07:15] You can't lob it at me.

[00:07:16] Yeah, well, it's hard to discuss without spoilers.

[00:07:19] We're going to put those a little later.

[00:07:22] We'll do all the spoiler-free discussions here at the top.

[00:07:26] Right now though, this is episode 198.

[00:07:30] What should we do for episode 200? Just our usual bullshit?

[00:07:34] It is getting uncomfortably...

[00:07:36] Like the possibility that there will be 200 episodes. That's a scary thought.

[00:07:41] Let's have a production meeting right here in front of the mics while it's recording.

[00:07:44] I think that we should indulge something that the entertainment industry has gotten away from

[00:07:51] that used to be a proud component of television.

[00:07:54] It should be a clip show.

[00:07:58] Dear God no.

[00:08:00] Welcome to the clip show.

[00:08:03] So it's come to this.

[00:08:05] No one online has made any suggestions if they do have any. They're sitting on them.

[00:08:10] I would like to be awarded a Dilly bar on the 200th episode.

[00:08:15] That's probably when we'll start those back.

[00:08:17] Our podcast is honestly doing better than it ever has.

[00:08:20] We've got more listeners at this point than we've ever gotten.

[00:08:23] Then why aren't those assholes stepping up with ideas?

[00:08:28] I know you're listening. Blaine just told me.

[00:08:30] They're not very talkative.

[00:08:32] Honestly I think we should spend the entire episode talking about the ice cream sandwich in Normal People

[00:08:39] and how stressed out we are.

[00:08:40] I'm still concerned about it.

[00:08:42] Yeah. It's just on the floor Blaine. They're gonna get ants.

[00:08:45] From who lose Normal People?

[00:08:49] I thought you had originally said that there is an ice cream sandwich in All Normal People.

[00:08:53] Like this is some sort of metaphor I haven't been hip to yet.

[00:08:56] Donovan is actually one of those motivational influencers on Instagram.

[00:09:03] I pattern myself after the Tom Cruise character Magnolia.

[00:09:07] Nearly 200 episodes. Is that a surprise to either of you?

[00:09:11] Yeah.

[00:09:12] Sometimes when I'm driving I'm like, I'm taking up a little bit of my life to do this.

[00:09:19] I wonder how much time I'm spending doing that.

[00:09:22] And then when I look at the number 198, I think the same thing.

[00:09:27] To be fair, the only person who's been here for all of them except for one is me.

[00:09:33] That's true. Mr. Blaine Duncan.

[00:09:35] I was absent for one around this time last summer.

[00:09:38] It's early in the episode we keep things spoiler free here.

[00:09:41] I got thoughts on the new series on Apple TV plus Dark Matter.

[00:09:45] It's based off the book of the same name by Blake Crouch

[00:09:48] who's also helming the writing and development of the show.

[00:09:52] I don't think I knew that actually.

[00:09:54] And Donovan you've read the book so we can kind of talk about it.

[00:09:57] Although neither of you have watched it but again I'm not going to spoil anything.

[00:10:02] We do talk if we can recommend a show or make that recommendation with some stipulations

[00:10:09] or tell people to stay the hell away from it.

[00:10:11] Guys, I'm buying as much stock as I can in this show.

[00:10:15] Sign me up to Robin Hood. Don't tell me the cost of the market share.

[00:10:19] Buy DM.

[00:10:20] Yes. Am I nailing this metaphor? What else can I add?

[00:10:23] It's a bear market.

[00:10:25] It's a bear market. Yeah, that's probably good. Or is it a bull market?

[00:10:27] No, you're bullish on DM.

[00:10:29] I'm bullish on Dark Matter.

[00:10:31] I just sell people this stock with a little qualification.

[00:10:34] It's not for everyone because it is a little bit sci-fi but not spaceship and aliens.

[00:10:41] Donovan knows this after reading the book.

[00:10:43] It's not a secret or spoiler to reveal that it deals with decisions you do and don't make

[00:10:48] and if there's another version of you out there doing the other decision.

[00:10:51] Which may, you know, honestly Blaine, may not even be sci-fi.

[00:10:54] Not really.

[00:10:55] It could just be science.

[00:10:56] It could be just science. Physics.

[00:10:58] There's pretty good evidence that says it is.

[00:11:02] Can I ask a sort of spoiler related question?

[00:11:06] And I'll try not to give anything away but yes.

[00:11:08] Okay, so they proposed this idea.

[00:11:10] Decisions could lead to different realities. Is that what's happening?

[00:11:14] Or that there are other versions of me out there enjoying or suffering from these decisions.

[00:11:21] So do they introduce this idea and then just provide me an hour a week

[00:11:24] to sit silently and reflect upon this possibility?

[00:11:27] It kind of helps you do that.

[00:11:29] This has been my bread and butter since October or November of last year.

[00:11:33] And now that there's a show about it, I didn't know the book existed.

[00:11:37] And now that the show's on, I'm all in.

[00:11:40] This is the reason I try to make as many terrible decisions as I can in my own life

[00:11:46] because I'm thinking about, I'm helping my others sell.

[00:11:49] Like for every bad choice I make, there's like 50 Donovans out there just living it up.

[00:11:54] I think those other Donovans are still welcome at their local breweries.

[00:12:01] Just think there is a Donovan who was at home on January 6th.

[00:12:07] I love this idea though.

[00:12:12] And the theme, if you'll let me say that,

[00:12:16] that we simultaneously inhabit all the choices we didn't make as well as the ones we do make.

[00:12:22] I just love that shit.

[00:12:23] When you say that this has been your bread and butter since last fall, what did you...

[00:12:28] Yeah, I've been reading nonstop about this shit.

[00:12:30] Okay. Expand on that.

[00:12:32] Cleans really into the secret now.

[00:12:34] Exactly. No, that was one of the books that kind of got me there, believe it or not.

[00:12:37] I know that's silly and cliche, but it is.

[00:12:41] Just how they...

[00:12:43] Adam, I've talked to you about this in private,

[00:12:45] but how you can bring a particular version of you into reality perhaps.

[00:12:53] Or at least get close.

[00:12:56] Do you believe that that's true or just that it's healthy to believe that?

[00:13:00] Both.

[00:13:01] I think that by being healthy about that, that it is somehow true.

[00:13:06] This is a concept that feels vertigo-inducing to me.

[00:13:10] Because it's a neat concept and then if you sit down and really think about it,

[00:13:13] you're sort of existentially, right?

[00:13:15] You are nothing but your choices.

[00:13:17] If there are versions of you that are just as real as you that made the other decision,

[00:13:24] who are you?

[00:13:26] Do you have any...

[00:13:27] It's like the Buddhist concept, right?

[00:13:29] Is there any self? Where is the self? Can you point to it?

[00:13:32] Which me is me?

[00:13:34] Yeah, you can even go so far as to scientifically be like,

[00:13:39] yeah, we do or do not have free will.

[00:13:41] I was going to say this is just like a...

[00:13:44] How many times can the predestination free will debate be reshuffled and reclaved

[00:13:49] for different cultures and times?

[00:13:51] Exactly.

[00:13:53] There are scientists out there who are like,

[00:13:55] yeah, I'm pretty sure based on this, I've got some math here.

[00:13:58] It's like you don't really have a choice.

[00:14:01] It's just the way the universe works or universes.

[00:14:05] Yeah, this show gets you thinking in that direction.

[00:14:08] Does it dwell on it to bore you? That's the good thing.

[00:14:11] Were we boring you then, Plane?

[00:14:13] No, no. I just want to make sure.

[00:14:17] No, I could talk about this forever.

[00:14:19] I just don't think our...

[00:14:20] I don't know if our listeners want us to talk about this forever.

[00:14:23] The show stars Joel Edgerton as the primary protagonist

[00:14:27] and his wife is played by Jennifer Connelly.

[00:14:30] He's one of my favorite almost famous actors.

[00:14:34] It's sad to me that he's maybe most well known to a certain subset

[00:14:38] as Uncle Owen in The Phantom Menace and Obi-Wan Show.

[00:14:42] I think that's just so sad because he's really good.

[00:14:44] I think he gave almost an Oscar worthy performance

[00:14:47] in that 2017 horror movie, It Comes at Night.

[00:14:50] Did either of you see that one?

[00:14:52] No, is that worth watching?

[00:14:53] Because it's been on my list. I've heard it's actually pretty good.

[00:14:57] It's one of my favorite movies.

[00:14:58] It's on HBO right now.

[00:14:59] Yeah, it's one of my favorite horror movies.

[00:15:02] No scary movie wins awards,

[00:15:04] but he's just got this nice blend of subtle acting and gravitas

[00:15:08] and realism in every performance, but especially there.

[00:15:12] I'm going to have to bump that one up in the queue then.

[00:15:16] I saw it in New York, in a theater in New York.

[00:15:19] I don't know if that helped my experience or not.

[00:15:21] Well, it probably didn't hurt.

[00:15:22] Dark Matter though, it's not just nerd shit,

[00:15:24] is what I was trying to get at earlier.

[00:15:26] It's got some action to it in small doses.

[00:15:28] It's really cooking, so I recommend it,

[00:15:31] but the physics, the sci-fi, the science,

[00:15:34] I don't know if that's going to turn anyone off.

[00:15:36] I don't know because it's human too.

[00:15:39] I like it.

[00:15:41] Do you think people might be turned off

[00:15:43] just because of Marvel or something or DC

[00:15:46] where it's like we're so tired of this concept?

[00:15:49] Even if it's being executed in a completely different way.

[00:15:52] Yes, I got a little angry, not angry,

[00:15:55] I got a little on a rant last week about this.

[00:15:58] It's not a multiverse thing.

[00:16:02] I think it's more of a parallel.

[00:16:04] I think there's a difference, right?

[00:16:06] Do you agree with that?

[00:16:08] I think it's kind of all semantics.

[00:16:10] Oh is it? Okay.

[00:16:11] In my opinion, a multiverse parallel universe is...

[00:16:16] Three English majors explore string theory next.

[00:16:20] This is what everyone pays to hear.

[00:16:24] I would agree that the superhero movies

[00:16:29] have just completely exhausted the multiverse thing.

[00:16:32] It's sickening.

[00:16:34] What falls apart is my desire to watch your product,

[00:16:36] not your story.

[00:16:38] It's just so exhausting.

[00:16:40] And it's such a fascinating concept.

[00:16:42] When we talk about it here,

[00:16:44] immediately you're discussing like,

[00:16:46] am I in control of my own actions?

[00:16:49] That's what more human question could you have than that.

[00:16:53] And somehow they've ruined it.

[00:16:55] I'm intrigued that a program has your attention

[00:16:58] that is maybe exploring these ideas in a more...

[00:17:01] I mean I hate to dismiss superhero films as childish,

[00:17:05] but maybe in a more adult way.

[00:17:07] No, I'm with you.

[00:17:08] I agree with that 100%.

[00:17:10] There's room to be childish as an adult and enjoy that.

[00:17:13] Absolutely.

[00:17:14] But they're just ruining it.

[00:17:15] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:17:16] They're ruining it.

[00:17:17] I mean we talk about it on here.

[00:17:18] We talk about the Marvel shows on here.

[00:17:20] We're not against that shit.

[00:17:22] I'm more of the opinion that if that is all that you consume,

[00:17:26] that's the...

[00:17:27] You know it's almost like the old...

[00:17:29] Virtue is moderation.

[00:17:31] I agree.

[00:17:32] It's the mean.

[00:17:33] I agree.

[00:17:34] Enjoy what you enjoy.

[00:17:35] We don't care.

[00:17:36] Yeah, I mean it doesn't hurt me.

[00:17:37] Oh, I have a total sidebar.

[00:17:39] First off, scientists who are listening to this,

[00:17:42] I apologize for my misunderstanding of these elementary theories.

[00:17:47] Please put down that gun.

[00:17:48] Donovan, do you know how many scientists listen to this show?

[00:17:51] At least I will when I read the newspaper tomorrow.

[00:17:55] I hear the jury's still out on science.

[00:17:58] Yes.

[00:17:59] But if anyone is at all interested in this stuff,

[00:18:03] PBS a couple years back...

[00:18:05] Go on.

[00:18:06] ...did a documentary with the singer from Eats.

[00:18:10] A singer?

[00:18:11] Yeah, singer.

[00:18:12] The guy that's the frontman for the band Eels.

[00:18:15] Oh, I love him.

[00:18:16] Because his father...

[00:18:17] Mark.

[00:18:18] Yeah, thanks, Blaine.

[00:18:19] I couldn't think of his name.

[00:18:20] His father was kind of influential in coming up with a lot of this quantum mechanics stuff,

[00:18:26] but it is kind of like unfairly forgotten

[00:18:29] because his ideas clash with Neil Bors' ideas.

[00:18:33] At the time, you know, Bors was really the big guy in this,

[00:18:37] so his work was kind of sidelined.

[00:18:40] And so it's about him coming up as a...

[00:18:43] like him, as an adult, learning about his father.

[00:18:46] And also it's like this great thing where they explain the science behind it.

[00:18:50] Yeah.

[00:18:51] And then also it's him learning about his father.

[00:18:54] Mark Everett has some real deep issues about his father,

[00:18:58] which is totally evident in his songwriting,

[00:19:02] which is usually pretty good.

[00:19:04] It's really very good.

[00:19:05] I think it's about an hour or two.

[00:19:07] No way.

[00:19:08] So what's the name of it?

[00:19:09] Couldn't tell you.

[00:19:10] I just now remembered it.

[00:19:12] That's why I wrote on my paper, PBS Eels documentary.

[00:19:16] Yeah. Okay.

[00:19:17] That's fun. I'm going to watch that.

[00:19:18] Man, that sounds like a good summer middle of the day,

[00:19:21] watching and get really depressed.

[00:19:25] No, one more quick thing since we're on the topic.

[00:19:28] Donovan, tell me about the book.

[00:19:31] Did you like the book?

[00:19:32] Yes.

[00:19:33] Like a lot?

[00:19:34] Not like I have to go out and buy everything he's ever written.

[00:19:39] Sometimes you read a book and you're like,

[00:19:41] I had three books this year that were all by the same author.

[00:19:45] That was like,

[00:19:46] this is unfortunately geared towards my exact interests in an uncanny way.

[00:19:51] This one was more like I enjoyed this.

[00:19:54] Okay. So tell me this.

[00:19:55] This was good.

[00:19:56] Does it get knee deep in the nerd shit like The Martian does

[00:20:00] and blow any kind of narrative or prose?

[00:20:03] Man, that book sucks.

[00:20:06] You know what I hate about it?

[00:20:08] It's nerd shit.

[00:20:09] And also I hate that guy's like, oh, I'm a smart ass.

[00:20:13] Like we get it.

[00:20:14] It sucks.

[00:20:15] No, it does not.

[00:20:16] It does not.

[00:20:17] Okay, good.

[00:20:18] So the book sucked, the movie sucked.

[00:20:20] This one doesn't.

[00:20:21] Okay, good.

[00:20:22] That's, I don't know if I'll read it or not.

[00:20:25] The show might get all I want out of it.

[00:20:28] And speaking of books, what a segue.

[00:20:31] Speaking of books that might give me enough out of its own series.

[00:20:35] Let's break down the spoiler wall.

[00:20:37] We're going to talk about both show gun later sympathizer now.

[00:20:42] First up, no, let's do it in reverse.

[00:20:45] Let's talk show good now and then we'll do sympathizer after the break

[00:20:48] because the show gun talk might be a little shorter.

[00:20:50] First of is the FX hit.

[00:20:52] Whoa, they had a runaway train with this one.

[00:20:55] Who knew the populace was so eager for long Japanese bloodlines, subtitles and seppuku.

[00:21:00] I am amazed that people love this as much as they did because it feels like it shouldn't.

[00:21:05] Like it feels like it works so well that people should have liked it.

[00:21:09] I know.

[00:21:10] Like it didn't give us like our Ned Stark, you know, being executed scene, right?

[00:21:15] But it gave us, you know, like that kind of stuff.

[00:21:17] But it gave us like, I don't know, just even better shit.

[00:21:22] Well, they're working on a second and third season or at least they're going to work on a second and third.

[00:21:26] So my question is now, is there any way that this second season of show gun could work and be satisfying?

[00:21:34] I've heard it theorized that they're announcing this to possibly change their classification for award season.

[00:21:41] That's true.

[00:21:42] I've heard that too.

[00:21:43] Yeah.

[00:21:44] Which is not the kind of weeds we tend to get into here.

[00:21:46] Right.

[00:21:47] But an interesting speculation on this, I thought was like they may have fucked themselves because people may have already written them in as many series.

[00:21:56] And if they switched to drama at the last second, they won't get those votes.

[00:22:00] Yeah.

[00:22:01] And that's neither here nor there to me.

[00:22:03] The award stuff to me is neither here nor there because it's just a stellar season of television and wonderful.

[00:22:09] You know, I don't really care.

[00:22:11] I don't even watch Emmy's related things.

[00:22:13] No.

[00:22:14] What would you want to see from a second season or what would work in your opinion?

[00:22:17] No, no Blackthorn.

[00:22:19] Really?

[00:22:20] I love the ambiguity of the ending of this season.

[00:22:25] I thought they nailed it and I want them to leave that alone.

[00:22:28] So would I follow like what's Toronaga up to?

[00:22:34] Like what are other folks doing?

[00:22:35] Yeah, but I just really like they really stuck the landing for me with those quiet character driven moments and I don't want the you know, I mean like it's not the end of the world if they do feature him in the second season.

[00:22:50] But I don't want that to be undone.

[00:22:51] I think they'd have to.

[00:22:53] I bet he's a fan favorite.

[00:22:54] I bet they kind of have to.

[00:22:55] And he's one of the few fan favorites who lived.

[00:22:57] He's great.

[00:22:58] I was going to say part of the reason that you wouldn't include him is that Mariko's gone.

[00:23:02] So many of his great scenes involved her and how do you how do you reproduce that in a way that doesn't feel completely manufactured?

[00:23:10] I mean he has really lost everybody that he plays off of because Yabushige's gone.

[00:23:16] Marco's gone.

[00:23:18] Fuji's a nun.

[00:23:20] I'm glad you spoke about the elephant in the room.

[00:23:22] Yabushige.

[00:23:23] How could you even make it without him?

[00:23:27] I saw some recommendations.

[00:23:29] You just got to have some flashbacks with him.

[00:23:31] Yeah.

[00:23:32] If you want to take it in another direction and really surprise people just Frankenstein him.

[00:23:41] He has a twin.

[00:23:43] Who knew?

[00:23:45] He's even more of a scam.

[00:23:47] It's just Yabushige but this time he doesn't have a mustache.

[00:23:52] There's the idea that they could do an anthology bit and just bring all the actors back.

[00:23:57] You know for a Japanese saga that was 100 years before or 100 years later.

[00:24:03] I could live very well with that.

[00:24:06] Me too.

[00:24:07] Yeah me too.

[00:24:08] Give them all something to do differently.

[00:24:10] Or if they took more of a page from Fargo where it's like yes it's related but it's not.

[00:24:15] Like each season stands alone and therefore I can think of each thing with a discrete beginning middle and end.

[00:24:22] Big problem with trying to shoehorn an Englishman in again though.

[00:24:26] Maybe he does accents.

[00:24:31] If you kind of pick it up almost where you leave off with season one, Blackthorn is getting enough Japanese at this point where you don't need the Mariko.

[00:24:41] And then there's the disguised samurai who's been translating for him some too.

[00:24:47] So you get around that a little as far as Blackthorn is concerned but what do you do?

[00:24:51] The guy who plays Torunaga is one of the key elements of this and he's signed on.

[00:24:57] We know there's going to be him as an actor and probably the character of Torunaga you would assume.

[00:25:05] I just wonder how much of this is a show that was so popular that now people are looking for any scrap of information about it.

[00:25:13] And that some of this is not routine but it's like they want to leave the door open by signing some of the principal folks on for more.

[00:25:22] Oh yeah.

[00:25:23] Like hey we may do this so let's just be on your radar instead of like here's the idea.

[00:25:30] I'm with you all. What can you do that wouldn't undermine how great season one was?

[00:25:36] So you're thinking this is them basically being like hey we're optioning this right?

[00:25:41] Could be.

[00:25:42] Hold your calendars. We'll see what happens.

[00:25:44] I'm just spitballing because again it was so popular that we're kind of looking for any information.

[00:25:52] You know I mean we're discussing it right now. It's more interesting than most of the shows that were on this week.

[00:25:57] That's true.

[00:25:59] I don't know. Y'all haven't watched Dark Matter. Maybe Joel Edgerton can come to Shogun.

[00:26:05] No. There's a plot. He's Australian right? That's close.

[00:26:10] I think he is.

[00:26:11] What if Andrew Garfield played one of the monks that originally brought Catholicism to Japan?

[00:26:18] You might be onto something.

[00:26:20] Ooh what an idea. Now hear me out. Tom Cruise is a drunken US army man.

[00:26:30] Yeah I don't know. It's going to be exciting to see what they do whether it sails or sinks.

[00:26:37] There's almost like sort of a bigger conversation we had here which in my brain is almost in conversation with those Marvel movies which is that more is not always better.

[00:26:48] For sure.

[00:26:49] Right. You know like a growth at all costs regardless of the product I think is the reason doors are falling off Boeing right now.

[00:27:00] Wow. Didn't not see that one coming. I'll throw out one last suggestion I read online somewhere.

[00:27:05] I think from Vulture, one of the critics there said turn it into a show about the building of a city.

[00:27:13] Edo kind of sort of becoming Tokyo though way too early to say that.

[00:27:18] That would be fascinating.

[00:27:19] No it would. That's kind of a dead wood approach to it.

[00:27:23] Didn't they already adapt Pillars of the Earth plane?

[00:27:27] I don't know. What is that?

[00:27:29] I'm pretty sure there's a main series about it.

[00:27:32] That's our thoughts on that. Yeah it could go one way or the other or it could be very it could be the worst of all and just be middling.

[00:27:41] I hope whatever happens that Blackthorn is never shown but his ship is just being blown up occasionally in the background and you always see it in various stages of reconstruction.

[00:27:50] And you just hear him maybe.

[00:27:52] You just hear garbled cursing from across the bay.

[00:27:56] You right bastard fuckface.

[00:27:58] Just with nothing else going on with it you just see an explosion like in the background somewhere and you're like ah.

[00:28:05] It'd be great.

[00:28:07] Let's take a break for station identification.

[00:28:21] Okay we're back. The Sympathizer aired its best episode thus far and a very middling episode. We're going to cover two.

[00:28:30] I think we have the same, we're going to be the same time we talked about this where you were like one is good and one dropped for me.

[00:28:37] It did.

[00:28:38] And I'm like. Reverse?

[00:28:40] I'm here. I'm liking it all.

[00:28:42] Okay.

[00:28:43] Like I think one episode was better than the other but I don't feel like it was middling.

[00:28:47] Okay. We are going to spoil the most, well you guys listen on Tuesday so you have one more under your belt than we.

[00:28:55] We're going to spoil episodes four and five I think is right.

[00:28:59] Yeah four and five.

[00:29:01] Yeah I'll call them by their title in just a second.

[00:29:04] Okay so the best episode to me thus far of this series is four. The movie.

[00:29:08] The movie.

[00:29:09] The making of the movie.

[00:29:10] I was pretty sure you were going to.

[00:29:11] One.

[00:29:13] Because that one to me is the better episode.

[00:29:16] Okay.

[00:29:17] I didn't think the, and I don't want to get too into it but like I think that the other one was structured where you're kind of like what's going on here but I think that's part of the characters emotional state.

[00:29:33] Whereas the movie one was there was a lot of good stuff going on.

[00:29:37] Yeah my mind's wanting to call them the movie episode and then the hospital episode.

[00:29:41] Which is way too reductionist.

[00:29:43] Also I'm just I'm still impressed with the way this show manages to be like very very very serious but.

[00:29:52] Yeah.

[00:29:53] Utterly hilarious.

[00:29:54] Hilarious.

[00:29:55] Like very funny.

[00:29:57] The method you know like the method actor just everything with him in it is great.

[00:30:02] The director getting drunk and writing it you know writing extra so I got an idea just great great great stuff.

[00:30:09] Yeah well let's begin with the captain helping of the movie director Nikos his name is I think he's played by Robert Downey Jr. doing his most Robert Downey Jr. thus far.

[00:30:19] Yes.

[00:30:20] I loved this character not because he was lovable or nice or worthy of affection but because of how real Downey was playing it like it was so funny how he would just charmingly insult but you know smile at them.

[00:30:35] You know this dude is based on like people that he knows you know like this.

[00:30:42] Or maybe even himself back in his drug days.

[00:30:44] Oh yeah definitely.

[00:30:45] You know how he was kind of a dick.

[00:30:48] Like the director's such an self important asshole.

[00:30:52] Yeah.

[00:30:53] And it's but not in like a way that's frustrating to watch.

[00:30:56] No.

[00:30:57] So entertaining to watch.

[00:30:58] Entertaining yeah.

[00:31:00] The author of the book when based this character in the book off of Francis Ford Coppola.

[00:31:07] Yeah of course that's right.

[00:31:08] It's like the big one you think of when you're thinking of like the Yachter movie you know what I mean the three big ones I think of are deer hunter platoon and then of course like the biggest of them all apocalypse now.

[00:31:20] Yeah to me there's this absurdist hilarity to the idea that the captain finally sees war but it's long after the war and it's in the U.S. in California and it's on a movie set called The Hamlet.

[00:31:33] Just a lot to unpack there but this episode is called Give Us Some Good Lines.

[00:31:38] Best of the series to me so far it's and here's why.

[00:31:41] To me this episode had very clear intention and it accomplished it with gusto the camera work was good the acting was stellar and it was worth thinking about.

[00:31:51] What did the Japanese people Japanese I'm still stuck on Shogun forgive me.

[00:31:56] Yeah.

[00:31:57] What did the Vietnamese people want even the ones we thought we were helping and how much did we hinder those we helped.

[00:32:05] Right.

[00:32:06] And then there's this question of how do we portray that in entertainment you know and get it kind of right and because at first here in this movie the Vietnamese people were only extras and had no lines and in fact the First Lady is even Chinese.

[00:32:19] Yeah.

[00:32:20] They're just like stick a Chinese lady in here.

[00:32:23] I love the bit where the director is trying to explain it he's like first I didn't want anyone to talk.

[00:32:29] Right they had no lines.

[00:32:30] And he's going on and he's like but they remain in this metaphorical space.

[00:32:35] It's just like full of shit.

[00:32:36] Yeah like that's how he meant for them not to have lines.

[00:32:39] Oh man I should have mentioned it when we were talking about how funny it is but the repeated you know the director in a kind of throwaway scene has a menagerie and he's got a parrot that just says don't fuck up my movie.

[00:32:51] That's pretty good I forgot all about that.

[00:32:54] That was good.

[00:32:56] And I love to write like the humor of like the director doesn't care what they're actually saying.

[00:33:04] Yes.

[00:33:05] As long as you know with the manger's mother is like you know we'll put our we'll throttle have our hands around the throats of American imperialism and he's like that was there a don't shoot I'm just a peasant right.

[00:33:19] And the captain's like yeah yeah it's good to me.

[00:33:20] I did love that how he got in his communist manifesto you know so to speak stuck those in there.

[00:33:27] The episode also more flippantly more light heartedly sets up what seems to be the captain's crush with the gorgeous daughter of the general.

[00:33:36] Yeah.

[00:33:37] Oh man that's another.

[00:33:39] So again this this like the tightrope they walk right so that so this is jumping ahead a little bit but the did that fairly fairly triggering experience the captain has when they're filming the the scene where she's going to be sexually assaulted by the method actor.

[00:33:58] Right and she's going by the name of his mother.

[00:34:00] Yes.

[00:34:01] In the movie.

[00:34:02] You know it's great they fight he runs and he covers her up and she looks up and says that did you say cut.

[00:34:10] Yeah that is a tightrope to work perfect balance their relationship won't get messy right.

[00:34:17] She kind of likes him too right like I think you know he's almost I mean and it's like when they first come are introduced it seems like they almost have like an older brother little sister dynamic.

[00:34:28] Yes.

[00:34:29] But now but now she's growing up to kind of a babysitter.

[00:34:33] Yeah she's she's older he's seeing her in a different light.

[00:34:37] Oh yeah and he says it out loud right.

[00:34:40] Well look at you you've grown up.

[00:34:42] She stowed herself in the trunk of his car and eventually it grates herself as a small role as a Vietnam lady who's named after his own mother you mentioned.

[00:34:50] But in the person who is going to act in the movie the Hamlet to sexually assault her is none other than David Duchovny.

[00:35:01] Yeah.

[00:35:02] Who's playing a character who's way too method.

[00:35:05] Doing an absolutely great like Daniel Day-Lewis impression just as someone who's like he has disappeared into this character.

[00:35:14] He is exhausting to be around.

[00:35:16] He killed a deer.

[00:35:18] Literally.

[00:35:20] Yeah.

[00:35:22] Daniel Day-Lewis one of the famous stories I know I remember about him is that during the filming of The Crucible he didn't take a shower.

[00:35:30] Yeah.

[00:35:31] He got dirtier and dirtier.

[00:35:33] Which they actually kind of kind of reference here where the director's like maybe take a shower.

[00:35:37] He's like no showers in the jungle.

[00:35:39] Right.

[00:35:41] Duchovny the character Glenn.

[00:35:43] It brings to mind that story from The Last Tango in Paris with Marlon Brando which will turn your stomach.

[00:35:49] Have you heard of this?

[00:35:50] Yes.

[00:35:51] Yeah.

[00:35:52] I don't think I'll ever see that like I know that like it got good reviews but I don't think I'll ever watch that movie just based on what we what we now know.

[00:35:59] Yeah for sure.

[00:36:00] Who's responsible for that is it Brando or the director or both.

[00:36:03] Both of them.

[00:36:04] Absolutely.

[00:36:05] What's the classification here do you did he sexually assault that actress basically on camera.

[00:36:10] Basically.

[00:36:11] She didn't consent.

[00:36:12] I mean she like I think especially in this day and age we'd be like she didn't she didn't she neither consented to it nor had the opportunity to consent.

[00:36:20] That's it.

[00:36:21] Yeah he used like a stick of butter on it.

[00:36:23] Butter.

[00:36:24] Yeah.

[00:36:25] It's really weird and turns your stomach.

[00:36:26] Yeah so that's yeah but yes it's on Brando and it's on the director the person doing it and the person with the power to say what are you doing.

[00:36:33] Yeah.

[00:36:34] Lana continues to use the name as a stage name to avoid her dad the general when she gets back to L.A. some weeks later that's going to be a part of the next episode.

[00:36:43] This one ends with a literal explosion sets up the next episode as well.

[00:36:48] He's in the hospital as the episode begins the most recent for us.

[00:36:54] This is the one that I think you and I both thought it was a little meandering maybe is it a little med.

[00:36:59] What do you think.

[00:37:00] Yeah I think that like compared to the movie this one is more so it's not that it's purposeless but it's like he's purposeless so he's kind of like I don't exactly know what to do.

[00:37:13] That's good.

[00:37:14] But it's also giving us he's bouncing around right like he actually doesn't know what to do.

[00:37:19] Yeah.

[00:37:20] And then and then it gives us I think it kind of snaps back into focus as he's like oh crap this is like their bay of pigs in this over here.

[00:37:27] OK.

[00:37:28] The first 25 minutes of the episode I thought was really really good that like in the hospital stuff I loved when he was getting stuff and he got he got the flower basket from the the senator character right.

[00:37:40] It's just reelect whatever his name is and he just wrote get well soon.

[00:37:45] Exactly.

[00:37:47] And the hospital room in an absurdist unrealistic manner continually gets more like a jungle.

[00:37:55] Yeah.

[00:37:56] It was so odd and funny.

[00:37:59] I actually really really liked the way well I think it played with like his perception of stuff and his and his and his like remembering and reliability because even like stuff that he says like when he's remembering possibly remembering being a child and his friends Mon and Bo.

[00:38:20] Bon I mean not Bo like you'll see the same scene but like there will be a little difference.

[00:38:26] Yeah he doesn't remember it the same way every time and I was like I really like this episode for me was all about his subjective experience.

[00:38:34] Yeah.

[00:38:35] And I thought it really nailed that.

[00:38:36] I agree with that rely heavily on the flashbacks to when they were the three kids and kind of just meeting up and deciding to be blood brothers which worked for me that was fine.

[00:38:46] The flashback didn't bother me one bit.

[00:38:48] It's when modern era and where he's trying to figure out what the generals up to it felt like you said purple purpose less but I hit on some things I did think were working the amount of times he gets to say he's not a spy to all the various people in this episode that does get funny.

[00:39:06] He plays such an incredibly incredibly that anyone would dare even think it.

[00:39:12] That's insulting.

[00:39:13] Yeah he's honestly incredulous because in that moment he's not a spy but at the same time he is a spy overall.

[00:39:19] Yes.

[00:39:21] And then there's the scene where he bargains for more money from the studio lawyer visiting him in the hospital that's just comedy gold.

[00:39:29] That was great. He's like like first off like the bit where he's like why need more money because I'm you're Asian I understand I'm Italian family's everything to you.

[00:39:40] Just stereotypes.

[00:39:41] Just his absolute stereotyping and then the guy's like list the LA for 15 K you lose a finger for 20 K you got to lose all hand or a foot or the internal equivalent.

[00:39:52] He lost his path.

[00:39:53] Just great.

[00:39:54] That's good.

[00:39:55] There is a certain depth and complexity when he goes to sit down with Nikos the director again.

[00:40:00] You know Robert Downey Jr. is discussing how his edits are and the retelling of his story to the Vietnamese.

[00:40:09] That's a mirror of kind of what the captain's doing back in Vietnam to the commanders there.

[00:40:16] It's kind of like well you know it might change right now I don't know how was I feeling.

[00:40:21] Yeah I don't have this completely evolved yet but I thought it fit to with like the director writing the rape scene as like but it's a tribute to your mother.

[00:40:31] It's a tribute to her pain right like he thinks that he can you know just like that level of like and then here he's comparing himself to like Dizzy Gillespie or Miles Davis.

[00:40:40] Yeah.

[00:40:41] And it's just like that level of like how can you speak for this you know like how can you write he's still appropriately he's appropriating right.

[00:40:49] Just like he's just pulled my headphones out just like he's appropriating these these black artists that are you know with jazz musicians to say that hey this is this is what I do too.

[00:41:01] These are the stories that I tell.

[00:41:03] Yeah there's a few layers going on in that scene.

[00:41:04] Yeah also we got the return of the parrot going don't fuck up my movie which was great.

[00:41:12] Robert Downey Jr. and his character just get it wrong to think that he's got a right to say what should be said for these people even though it's fiction but it's still fiction based off of a very real event and he's got someone he can rely on right there and say okay what is the right thing to do.

[00:41:31] Yeah.

[00:41:32] That's the I mean that's the commentary there.

[00:41:34] Claude says it right out loud right like movies are important you know this is going to shape as long as we can keep it vague no actionable politics that's what we want.

[00:41:44] And I thought that was beautiful when Claude shows up again out of nowhere.

[00:41:48] Yes.

[00:41:49] Walking another dog.

[00:41:51] King Charles this time.

[00:41:53] But he kind of gives us a mini rant about American movies as art and that they should have or excuse me shouldn't have a well he's kind of in between right.

[00:42:03] They should have political motive and maybe not.

[00:42:06] He's like I want the point of view to be like vague humanism.

[00:42:11] And then yeah and then he has the really good summation of like which is it that like is the very fair critique right is like if you look at movies I'm thinking of going from like Rambo to like Rambo first blood right where it's like we've we've gone from here's this thing that's kind of about Vietnam but also about America to like oh we're just refighting the Vietnam War now.

[00:42:33] Oh and we're winning we're winning this time too because.

[00:42:35] Yeah.

[00:42:36] We're doing it right so.

[00:42:37] We're retelling.

[00:42:38] We're fighting the war yeah and so that that part where I mean.

[00:42:41] Revisionist I guess you could say.

[00:42:42] Where he's like he's like yeah you know we go a little crazy but it just takes one good American to restore you know everything is back in its proper order.

[00:42:52] Yeah.

[00:42:53] Now it's also kind of a meta conversation with the book because the author Viet Thon Nguyen is telling an interesting story that's fiction about the politics of it all.

[00:43:05] Yeah I mean even I'm going to paraphrase his quote he was on Fresh Air I think and he talked about how one of the reasons he wrote this book was because of Vietnam War movies.

[00:43:19] And he him seeing those growing up as a child and feeling really confused like wait do I sympathize like am I on the side of the Americans I'm on the side of my like the people that are being killed like how do I.

[00:43:32] Right.

[00:43:33] How does the story get told and then so yeah I mean it really is yeah it's one of the cores of this book and movie.

[00:43:40] I'm sorry show here.

[00:43:41] Yeah.

[00:43:42] I always thought the general was toothless but he actually has an army very small.

[00:43:48] Question why the captain's never been given the order to try to assassinate him or kill him in the US.

[00:43:54] Who knows if his superiors even exist right.

[00:43:57] That's so true that's one of my questions I have here is does Mon exist.

[00:44:03] So that is one of the reasons I really really liked this episode.

[00:44:09] I found myself in the position once of defending like the penultimate season of the Americans which was really frustrating for a lot of people and I'm like but it's supposed to be frustrating they're frustrated.

[00:44:20] So I feel like I'm kind of doing the same thing here.

[00:44:23] But I liked that you know like he's he's seeing stuff he's remembering stuff differently and then like all of a sudden you're in his head and you're like we have no idea how reliable he is.

[00:44:33] He'll leave things out he forgets things he remembers things differently you know he and even like his relationship with his superiors as much as we've seen like it's been really languid sort of like he keeps trying to see if he should kill the major.

[00:44:48] It's so they eventually send him one card back you know so it's yeah I don't know.

[00:44:53] The show and maybe the book too wants to drop hints to also add to the confusion.

[00:44:59] It's not the puzzle box kind of show where the hints are like put it all together but he's called twice whatever like there's a there's a couple of illusions to only being two rather than the three.

[00:45:13] Yes. Yeah that would be bond and in his relationship.

[00:45:16] At one point when they're remembering it's it's the kids instead of sit there's only two kids and like two for all that's it and they say and then they go back to three for all right.

[00:45:28] Yeah there's the dichotomy of his entire act being split in two and I will say that this episode and it might get to your point here.

[00:45:35] It was maybe confusing a little maybe on purpose not confusing in that they didn't know what they were doing but I think it might be purposefully confusing to give you a sense of how hard it is for him to keep his senses insanity.

[00:45:50] That's exactly I think that's exactly it.

[00:45:54] It kind of reminded me a little bit of if you've ever read the book by Philip K Dick a scanner darkly.

[00:46:00] No but that's a very famous one also starring Robert Downey Jr. right.

[00:46:05] Yeah it's about a cop who's taking a drug that splits the lobes of your brain so as the as the book goes on it will make you feel like you're going insane right because as it goes on he's increased he increasingly can't tell if he's a junkie playing a cop or a cop playing a junkie.

[00:46:21] Wow yeah and it kind of stops mattering at a certain point and this really reminded me of that where it's like are you really a good communist or are you a you know because you have to be undercover are you actually a reactionary.

[00:46:36] What are you? You are twice of everything.

[00:46:40] And they choose to end this episode not with the army which would have been a nice ending that's fine you know the army oh my god he does have a little army but with the captain kind of losing it in prison like and he's beating the walls and everything.

[00:46:58] Quick thoughts on Sonny taking the captain's place with Miss Morrie?

[00:47:02] Good ol' Sonny.

[00:47:04] I can't stand him.

[00:47:06] I don't think you're supposed to.

[00:47:07] No you're not.

[00:47:08] He's really a bad guy he's just.

[00:47:10] No he's just a kind of a what nerd dick.

[00:47:14] He's kind of a gad about you know.

[00:47:16] Yeah.

[00:47:17] Where it's like like.

[00:47:18] He's a bit pedantic.

[00:47:20] As I mean as he says right like we've all met people who are big talkers and the captain's like well then why didn't you go back home to Vietnam.

[00:47:27] You know he's like I was there.

[00:47:29] Nails him down a couple times.

[00:47:30] Yeah.

[00:47:31] Yeah this back half of this episode felt meandering to me although I do see its big points and I think that some of that was done on purpose the meandering itself I'm not sure if that was done on purpose.

[00:47:43] It just felt after coming out of the movie episode like what do we do now what story are we telling now after having such clear intention in the episode before.

[00:47:53] I'm still willing to give this show quite a bit of trust though.

[00:47:56] Oh me too.

[00:47:57] You know it's gone from I know you didn't like the second episode quite as much but I did but it's gone from the fall of Saigon which I thought was an excellent episode.

[00:48:05] Amazing.

[00:48:06] To coming to America one which is kind of a different story to the movie one which is a different story entirely you know like it's been doing these little these really different things.

[00:48:17] Yeah.

[00:48:18] But there's still like the through lines and which I really appreciate so I'm kind of like OK I think you guys know what you're doing.

[00:48:25] Yeah I'm a big fan of shows being able to have episodes that stand on their own and yet all linked together beautifully.

[00:48:34] The linking to these individual stories are a little tougher for me to see and feel but that's OK.

[00:48:42] For me it's the character right of the major and it's kind of like the captain questions.

[00:48:48] The major sorry yeah the captain.

[00:48:50] No he's killed the major.

[00:48:52] Oh man.

[00:48:54] The ghost of dumpling still haunts us all.

[00:48:57] Complete side note my favorite joke from the episode where he kills the major which was a good episode.

[00:49:04] When major dumplings like bringing his kids out he's like this one is spinach because you know Popeye eats spinach and gets strong and this one of course is broccoli because broccoli makes you strong.

[00:49:14] Strong names for strong children.

[00:49:16] So his kids are named spinach and broccoli.

[00:49:18] Strong names for kids.

[00:49:20] But yeah and it's kind of like those big questions right where like how do you interact with the United States in all of its facets.

[00:49:32] How do you juggle being here and being there.

[00:49:36] You know and I feel like every episode kind of asks that question all over again of the captain.

[00:49:42] I think you and I are both making the same argument but that I just feel a little differently.

[00:49:48] To me it's and I bet the book is like this to me it's like short stories with all the same theme and characters in a collection of short stories and you might be seeing it a little bit more as a novel.

[00:50:02] Yeah you ever have the experience of reading a fix up.

[00:50:05] I think The Martian Chronicles is a pretty famous.

[00:50:08] What is that?

[00:50:09] So a fix up is usually something that was it happened a lot in science fiction right.

[00:50:14] There's a they were originally published as short stories that were maybe not super and then they were put together as a novel and so given like a through line.

[00:50:24] So maybe it is almost like a fix up right where it's like some of these things can kind of stand on their own.

[00:50:28] Yeah but also we're being given the through lines.

[00:50:31] And those tend to work better in writing for me than they do television.

[00:50:35] But this is fine there I mean it is fine.

[00:50:39] Great production value and acting of course and all that so we're.

[00:50:43] This is one of the best of the year for me.

[00:50:45] And funny as hell.

[00:50:47] Funny as hell.

[00:50:49] If for nothing else I'm sticking around for how funny it is.

[00:50:51] It is funny like maybe one of the funniest shows this season this year.

[00:50:54] If Shogun hadn't come out this would be my number one easily.

[00:50:57] Really?

[00:50:59] I'm very very engaged with this show I think it's doing really excellent stuff.

[00:51:02] We're gonna need you to put together a top ten at the end of the year.

[00:51:06] We'll compare notes.

[00:51:07] Be fun.

[00:51:09] This has been fun I always enjoy talking to Donovan and Adam.

[00:51:13] We're gonna wrap it here.

[00:51:15] Head to the Alabama Take if you want.

[00:51:17] Go to thealabamatake.com slash newsletter and sign up for the newsletter where you can get a lot more silliness.

[00:51:25] The newsletter is totally different than the actual site we don't just replicate.

[00:51:29] I don't want to spoil anything for.

[00:51:31] Well if they haven't signed up they don't get the recent one.

[00:51:33] Yeah you can spoil it.

[00:51:34] If you're looking for some Shogun slash Alabama football content.

[00:51:39] Brother Blaine's got it for you.

[00:51:42] That's what I did last week.

[00:51:44] Once a week maybe sometimes less frequently than that but sign up it's fine.

[00:51:49] What else can I tell you to do?

[00:51:51] Well just join us next Tuesday.

[00:51:53] I'm looking at the calendar I should be looking at the calendar.

[00:51:55] Next Tuesday is fine I think we're on for next Tuesday.

[00:51:59] It's the week after that that will be off.

[00:52:01] And you know what that'll be episode 200 after the week off.

[00:52:07] Dang we'll have a whole week to think about it.

[00:52:09] Uh huh let us know what you want from us.

[00:52:11] We'll try our best sometimes we do.

[00:52:14] For Adam and Donovan it's been great thank y'all.

[00:52:16] See ya.