This week's episode begins, as usual, with the non-spoiler section. First up, Adam returns and is eager to talk about 'Say Nothing' (0:07). They also talk about 'Shrinking' in the non-spoiler section (7:25). And then give a recommendation or not on the movie on Apple TV+ 'Blitz' (10:41).
As the episode moves into spoilers, the crew discuss the vital Thanksgiving episode of 'Somebody, Somewhere' and how it hits hard (14:34) which leads them to give a special hello and hope for social media (24:14).
Then it's the big question: is this season of 'Shrinking' any good (26:15)? After that, it's the complex interplay of historical drama and personal stories in the FX/Hulu series 'Say Nothing' and its first four episodes (36:31).
For the links for Descript, click here: https://get.descript.com/31mu8d2mia99
For more from The Alabama Take, click here: https://www.thealabamatake.com/
00:00:00
Alabama Tape Projection.
00:00:06
Okay, got Donovan and Adam here.
00:00:10
Last week we got into the new FX Hulu show say Nothing, which has
00:00:15
to be produced by our own Adam Morrow.
00:00:19
You know, fellows, I don't often listen to our podcast.
00:00:23
I sit through it.
00:00:24
You know, it's been quite a few episodes and I pulled.
00:00:28
Pulled y'all up this week.
00:00:30
And I gotta say, listening to a production that you're a part of,
00:00:33
the pressure feels on now because I have seen the consumer
00:00:37
side.
00:00:37
And Blaine, you've put together a great product.
00:00:40
One, but two, now, now I'm thinking about, oh, my God, someone
00:00:43
else could be listening to this on earbuds right now.
00:00:46
And if so, I'm sorry for whatever I do.
00:00:48
These, these two were great.
00:00:49
Our listenership has grown and thank you all for listeners.
00:00:52
Anyway, for listeners, this series say Nothing Donovan, I did
00:00:56
talk about last week.
00:00:56
Adams mentioned that, but we only talked about two episodes.
00:01:00
Now we're in our non spoiler section, so don't.
00:01:02
Don't Run for the hills.
00:01:04
It's Based off the 2018 book by Patrick Radon Keefe about the
00:01:08
troubles in Northern Ireland.
00:01:10
It's from creator Josh Zidmer.
00:01:13
Say Nothing's based on the true story of the 70s, 80s and 90s
00:01:18
war, if that's what you choose to call it.
00:01:20
I do.
00:01:21
Between the ira, who wished for a united Ireland, and the British,
00:01:25
who had control of Northern Ireland.
00:01:27
It's from a set of interviews of IRA members involved, many of
00:01:32
whom requested their accounts not be shared until after their deaths.
00:01:35
Donovan, we were close about where these interviews are housed.
00:01:38
They are at Boston College.
00:01:40
Okay, that was another one.
00:01:41
I knew it was somewhere up there.
00:01:42
My main takeaway from listening last week, this is not
00:01:45
a spoiler, is that Donovan has been overexposed to the city of Boston
00:01:50
and has feelings.
00:01:51
Takes, if you will, in our spoiler.
00:01:54
Section later, we're going to talk about the first five episodes,
00:01:59
possibly four.
00:02:00
For sure, maybe five.
00:02:02
But I suspect we're all fans of the show.
00:02:05
We would recommend it as a viewing.
00:02:07
Right.
00:02:08
So that's the part of the podcast we're in right now.
00:02:12
My question is maybe why?
00:02:14
Or if you have a specific segment of people that would enjoy
00:02:18
it more or just why do you like it?
00:02:21
You know, Adam's stealing my thunder here, but yeah, if you're
00:02:23
from Boston, you'll probably like this show.
00:02:25
It was interesting to hear y'all talk about, who is this for?
00:02:29
And even Blaine.
00:02:31
I noticed you have possibly learned something in the last few
00:02:33
weeks.
00:02:33
You called it a war and understood that that was a.
00:02:38
It's a little bit political right to say that, or it certainly
00:02:41
would have been then.
00:02:42
I think one thing that occurred to me while watching it
00:02:47
and then maybe y'all didn't touch on is how much Donovan alluded
00:02:51
to it when he is joking about Boston, but how much the idea of
00:02:55
being Irish or Scottish or Scotch Irish, which is its own can
00:03:00
of worms.
00:03:01
How much of the American population identifies in some way
00:03:06
with these islands or places on the outskirts of the United Kingdom.
00:03:10
And you talked about people who love historical drama or political
00:03:15
intrigue.
00:03:16
I think there's like a sense of identity for some people in like,
00:03:19
figuring out what happened.
00:03:21
Because, like, y'all, I'm kind of like, well, I know that they don't
00:03:23
like each other, but I don't really know why.
00:03:25
And I know that if you go back enough generations, someone.
00:03:28
I would have had an opinion on this because I would have lived somewhere
00:03:30
nearby like that.
00:03:32
I think that that is maybe interesting.
00:03:34
And you hate to call an armed conflict quirky, but like, it's such
00:03:38
a part of Western civilization in the 20th century.
00:03:42
And my history book, if we had it, it was at the chapters that,
00:03:47
like, they ran out of time and glazed over at the end.
00:03:50
It having a wider audience is a good thing.
00:03:54
That's a long answer.
00:03:55
I'm sorry.
00:03:56
This is great.
00:03:56
No, I was bowled over by the fact that I was like, wait, Ireland
00:03:59
was a war torn country, or at least Northern Ireland was a war
00:04:03
torn country.
00:04:04
You just thought it was Belfast greenery and leprechauns.
00:04:07
Exactly.
00:04:08
I thought it was fine.
00:04:08
Some Guinness.
00:04:10
Had you asked me in 1989 as a kid, you want to go to Belfast?
00:04:13
I would have been like, sure, yeah, let's go.
00:04:15
He's just got to stand the peace wall.
00:04:17
Blaine, of course.
00:04:18
Right.
00:04:19
But I would have still, I wouldn't have known that it was a
00:04:22
troublesome area.
00:04:23
I mean, y'all not portrayed in the media.
00:04:25
Y'all joked about not having me here to keep you updated on what
00:04:29
Bono was doing at a given time, but it is.
00:04:32
It is insane to think about, say, like the unforgettable fire
00:04:37
record being made less than like an hour and a half from the
00:04:40
H blocks.
00:04:41
You know, it's all of these things happening in such a tiny place,
00:04:45
relatively.
00:04:47
It's just mind boggling not even being that far away.
00:04:50
Like when I was a graduate assistant at Alabama, our Alabama,
00:04:55
the University of Alabama, the assistant dean of the graduate school
00:04:58
was from England.
00:04:58
He's like, yeah, I remember an IRA bomb going off he's like, I was
00:05:01
walking down the street.
00:05:01
Amazing.
00:05:02
Insane.
00:05:02
It's scary.
00:05:03
Yeah.
00:05:04
He's like, if it didn't kill you, it wasn't that big a deal.
00:05:06
It happened all the time.
00:05:07
They weren't usually trying to kill anyone.
00:05:10
The show's really good for anyone who likes tension, intrigue,
00:05:15
a little.
00:05:15
There's not quite a lot.
00:05:16
It's.
00:05:16
It's a political intrigue, historical kind of fiction.
00:05:19
They fictionalize, obviously, some of this they have to, but it's
00:05:23
the high tension.
00:05:25
And obviously, if you don't know much about Ireland, but you
00:05:29
want to, I.
00:05:31
Will say that as I searched around the Internet for reviews and
00:05:35
that sort of thing, obviously, I will joke again.
00:05:38
I'm surprised y'all didn't make point of Reddit not being represented
00:05:42
here last week.
00:05:43
But in the Northern Ireland subreddit, previous to this show
00:05:46
being made, if somebody came in, there were a few threads that
00:05:49
said, you know, I am X generations removed from Ireland.
00:05:53
I would love to understand the Troubles and ask for, like, literature,
00:05:58
documentary, whatever.
00:05:59
And after this book came out, this was widely recommended.
00:06:02
The source text for this show, that made me feel good.
00:06:05
The opinion seems to be a little split on the program itself,
00:06:08
but it seems authenticated in some way.
00:06:10
The source text, at least.
00:06:12
I'm surprised you haven't read it.
00:06:14
Well, it's on the list now.
00:06:15
Gotcha.
00:06:16
Yeah, it does sound good.
00:06:18
To follow up Adam's thing about identity.
00:06:20
I'd completely forgotten this.
00:06:21
Yeah, a lot of this stuff is still very close to the surface.
00:06:25
So much so that, for instance, I have a coworker who's very Italian.
00:06:29
Like, her parents are Italian.
00:06:32
In the city that she grew up, there were Italian kids and there
00:06:35
were Irish kids, and they did not like each other.
00:06:37
So she's like, yeah, we'd wear orange on St Patrick's Day.
00:06:42
I was like.
00:06:43
I was like, holy shit.
00:06:44
She's like, we didn't know what it meant.
00:06:45
We just knew it annoyed the Irish kids.
00:06:47
I had a.
00:06:48
That one that's kind of incredible and horrible.
00:06:52
But I had a boss who was from New Jersey and had been adopted.
00:06:58
He was Irish Catholic and been adopted by an Irish Catholic couple.
00:07:02
And they had all these Italian friends.
00:07:04
And he said, oh, there were fights.
00:07:06
Oh, yeah.
00:07:07
Which is not to tip our hand here.
00:07:10
But growing up in Alabama, obviously the idea of whiteness is
00:07:13
complex and manipulated and all of these things.
00:07:17
These are little nuances that we didn't really get in rural Alabama.
00:07:23
It's not the same.
00:07:24
Right.
00:07:25
The beginning of our spoiler section will start soon.
00:07:28
But we'll also talk about the fairly popular Apple TV show Shrinking,
00:07:33
and almost all of that second season that's aired.
00:07:36
There are seven episodes.
00:07:38
We'll probably discuss six now.
00:07:39
That's helmed by famous TV creator Bill Lawrence.
00:07:42
If.
00:07:43
If you haven't heard his name, you probably have watched his television
00:07:46
shows, Ted Lasso or Scrubs.
00:07:48
He also created and had a big hand in producing, I think, Bad Monkey
00:07:54
for Apple as well, which we covered here.
00:07:57
Shrinking stars Jason Siegel, Harrison Ford, and Jessica Williams
00:08:00
as therapists with plenty of problems of their own to solve.
00:08:04
Jason Siegel's character having a deceased wife who died in
00:08:08
a car accident when she was hit by a drunk driver.
00:08:11
More on those plot points later.
00:08:13
But if you've seen any of the series, you know that aspect that's
00:08:16
in the opening scene.
00:08:17
My question is as straightforward as it gets.
00:08:20
To begin, is this show good?
00:08:23
I very much enjoyed season one, and I think it came out at a
00:08:28
time when I was disappointed with how Ted Lasso was going or had
00:08:32
gone.
00:08:32
I'm gonna mix up the exact timeline there, but it felt closer
00:08:37
to what I liked about the run of Ted Lasso.
00:08:40
This season has taken.
00:08:43
We're at an odd point to cut it off because I feel like it's drawing
00:08:47
a real big circle and trying to bring it home.
00:08:49
And I think it might do it, but I'm kind of Season two.
00:08:53
I haven't been able to decide if it is a little overindulgent or
00:08:57
not.
00:08:57
We can compare it to its other programs.
00:08:59
It's funny, you said if you.
00:09:00
If you're not familiar with its creator, Bill Lawrence.
00:09:03
I mean, he was kind of inescapable.
00:09:05
I'm laughing in my head at, like, how much Scrubs me and Donovan
00:09:09
watched just as a byproduct of having cable when we were in college
00:09:13
because it was just on all the time.
00:09:15
And his.
00:09:15
That brand of humor.
00:09:17
Does it always land for you or do you ever run into, like, okay,
00:09:21
quirkiness is quirky.
00:09:22
Time is over.
00:09:23
Let's.
00:09:23
Let's move forward.
00:09:24
It is not a laugh out loud show for me.
00:09:27
It's.
00:09:28
It's a.
00:09:29
It makes me smile or maybe chuckle at best, though that's not
00:09:33
to say I don't like it.
00:09:34
Did Ted Lasso make you laugh out loud?
00:09:37
Sometimes.
00:09:38
Every now and again.
00:09:39
A higher lull ratio than shrinking.
00:09:43
Yeah.
00:09:44
My thesis on shrinking this season is that it's enjoyable, but
00:09:48
it's.
00:09:48
It may not be a good show.
00:09:50
Mm.
00:09:51
It is enjoyable, except for.
00:09:53
I mean, does it make you Want to engage in class warfare.
00:09:57
Doesn't everything explain why?
00:09:58
Education, class warfare.
00:10:01
We are the working man's podcast.
00:10:03
It kind of does.
00:10:05
Sometimes I do think about that, especially this season, more
00:10:09
so than I ever.
00:10:10
Have with shrinking money and comfort and material things are not
00:10:16
an issue in the shrinking world.
00:10:19
And they all just look so damn cozy all the time.
00:10:22
You said that.
00:10:23
You can just almost smell them through the tv.
00:10:26
They smell good, you know, they smell good.
00:10:28
They smell great.
00:10:29
And, you know, every hoodie is soft.
00:10:32
Every t shirt costs 75 and their.
00:10:35
Hoodies haven't been washed to hell and back.
00:10:39
They didn't source them at the target.
00:10:42
God, I'd like a sweated shirt like that.
00:10:45
And real quick, while we're still in non spoiler territory, it's
00:10:48
about the Apple TV plus movie.
00:10:50
It's been on the streamer for about two weeks, maybe one week.
00:10:53
It's Blitz.
00:10:54
It's a World War II movie, as you may be able to deduce from the
00:10:57
name.
00:10:57
Stars the Irish.
00:11:02
Do you want me to say it, Blaine, please.
00:11:04
Saoirse Ronan Saran.
00:11:06
Never get that correct because I see it in writing and my brain
00:11:09
will not let me.
00:11:11
Okay.
00:11:12
It's directed by the revered director Steve McQueen, who's known
00:11:15
for 12 Years a Slave and widows and a few more things.
00:11:19
Now, Donovan and I haven't seen it, but.
00:11:21
Adam, do you want to add some things in our non spoiler section
00:11:24
about Blitz?
00:11:25
Yeah.
00:11:25
Saoirse Ronan is like, almost can't miss, right?
00:11:29
Yeah, she is for you.
00:11:31
I mean, I think she's brilliant and very, very, very talented.
00:11:36
And it's like her making good choices and her elevating the films
00:11:40
that she's in.
00:11:41
Yeah, by that I mean, like, if she's in something, I'm probably
00:11:45
going to enjoy that film and her performance.
00:11:48
And then if I told you she's in World War II movie, you're all
00:11:51
in.
00:11:52
This is literally the selling to me of this trailer.
00:11:56
I don't even know if I watched the trailer.
00:11:57
Somebody just said, saoirse Ronan's in a film about the London
00:12:00
Blitz.
00:12:01
Okay.
00:12:01
But it was.
00:12:02
It was good.
00:12:03
It wasn't.
00:12:04
It possibly had some identity issues, couldn't quite decide what
00:12:10
kind of film it wanted to be and wavered at times and maybe a
00:12:14
few missteps.
00:12:15
Maybe you could have cut a few scenes, I don't know.
00:12:18
But it was a glimpse at maybe thinking about something like Masters
00:12:22
of Air that we watched this year, or Band Of Brothers where they're
00:12:26
on leave and you kind of see how Civilians are living.
00:12:29
And I don't know if you ever thought, oh, it'd be interesting
00:12:32
to see a whole movie series, whatever, about people who are not,
00:12:35
like, in the war effort in a League of Their Own kind of way,
00:12:38
but, like, are actually getting bombed in that armed conflict
00:12:42
in that way.
00:12:43
It was.
00:12:44
I mean, at times it was like a horror film.
00:12:46
I mean, it was really.
00:12:47
Yeah, it was nightmarish in the way that everything that I've
00:12:52
ever read about living through the Blitz sounded.
00:12:56
You know, I'm in Death from the Skies at any moment and just
00:12:59
going with the stiff upper lip by day in that way.
00:13:02
I think it succeeded in other ways.
00:13:05
I wanted it.
00:13:06
It was like, probably like a C movie that I really thought, with
00:13:10
a few changes, could have been solid B.
00:13:13
C from Steve McQueen.
00:13:14
A C movie.
00:13:15
Wow.
00:13:15
I don't know.
00:13:16
But at the same time, it very much stayed with me.
00:13:18
Maybe it's one of those things where, like, things that are just
00:13:21
slightly out of focus, in your opinion, bother you that much more
00:13:25
than things that are just outright bad.
00:13:26
Yeah, that makes sense.
00:13:28
Yes.
00:13:28
It's the little details, right, that get you more almost than
00:13:31
the big ones.
00:13:32
And obviously just one man's opinion here, but I do think y'all
00:13:35
should watch it.
00:13:36
That would.
00:13:37
If that factors into the overall score, I would recommend
00:13:40
it.
00:13:41
And I didn't look at my phone, so two for two there.
00:13:44
There you go.
00:13:45
That's very good for us.
00:13:47
We're gonna take a little break here.
00:13:49
We'll jump into spoilers in about 30 seconds.
00:13:58
Taking it down in our home site, the Alabama Take are thrilled
00:14:00
to use descript if you have a podcaster.
00:14:03
If you're thinking about starting one, but you're worried
00:14:05
about time commitment, worry not.
00:14:07
Give Descript a try with the link in the show notes.
00:14:09
Not only does Descript give you a trustworthy platform to record
00:14:12
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00:14:15
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00:14:21
Or you can still use the Wave files to edit.
00:14:23
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00:14:25
Check out the link in the show notes.
00:14:35
Okay, we are in spoilers.
00:14:36
Anything goes here.
00:14:37
If you anything may.
00:14:42
I swear.
00:14:43
Are you kidding me?
00:14:45
Donovan always works blue.
00:14:47
Check your time steps and chapter.
00:14:49
Whichever one you use.
00:14:51
I know Apple podcasts has little chapter things.
00:14:53
Check those because we're gonna might spoil some things in
00:14:56
quick succession here.
00:14:58
Most recent thoughts on Somebody Somewhere the Thanksgiving
00:15:00
episode.
00:15:01
Oh, man, what a perfectly timed episode.
00:15:03
How does this show I think I've said it a zillion times, but
00:15:07
it's the bitter and the sweet lying side by side.
00:15:10
There's no hope.
00:15:10
But there's all.
00:15:11
I mean, sorry.
00:15:12
It's not that there's no hope.
00:15:13
There is hope.
00:15:14
But I really, really love the way it's engaging with stuff like
00:15:18
Brad and Joel moving together.
00:15:20
And it's like, it's a good thing, but it's not 100% uncomplicated.
00:15:25
Like everybody has to make.
00:15:26
And then whatever is causing Joel to cry.
00:15:29
Right.
00:15:29
Is it something with Brad?
00:15:31
Is it kids?
00:15:31
Is it the guy who apologized to him?
00:15:34
You know, there's like, have you not.
00:15:35
Ever cried at the end of Thanksgiving when everyone leaves?
00:15:39
Well, just that emotional.
00:15:41
I cried the next morning when I see the dishes.
00:15:44
Yeah.
00:15:45
Anyway, good.
00:15:46
We all like Iceland, right?
00:15:48
Yes, it is funny, the slow burn of that relationship.
00:15:54
In another, it may feel cliched that they would get together
00:15:59
or be seeming to move in that direction, but in this one, they're
00:16:03
both so, like, hapless at making it occur that it's endearing
00:16:08
and it feels earned in the plot.
00:16:10
And.
00:16:11
And then Brad and Joel, some of the tension has been like, is
00:16:14
Joel making a good decision here?
00:16:16
Has he made a good decision?
00:16:17
But then when all of these things come to light, Brad's like,
00:16:20
yeah, of course I'll accommodate.
00:16:22
What it ends up being like, the most human wholesome reaction,
00:16:27
which was great.
00:16:28
I know we're gonna talk about shrinking and if you have seen the
00:16:30
most recent episode, which we're not gonna discuss, but I watched
00:16:34
this Thanksgiving somebody somewhere, and then that newest episode
00:16:37
of Shrinking back to Back, and this was some heavy lifting from
00:16:40
two usually kind of lighthearted, wholesome program.
00:16:43
Somebody somewhere.
00:16:45
That Thanksgiving episode was so good.
00:16:48
It was so good.
00:16:49
Yeah.
00:16:50
Now, what makes it good, it continues with giving you reality
00:16:55
but not making you feel overwhelmed with seeing reality.
00:17:00
There's no one scrolling their phone on this show and reading headlines
00:17:05
about Trump.
00:17:05
Or anything, though they have, of all people, very much have earned
00:17:10
some anxiety.
00:17:11
Yeah, absolutely.
00:17:14
Will Joel and Brad.
00:17:17
Is that going to dissolve?
00:17:19
We'll see how big a thing kids is.
00:17:21
You're definitely rooting for it, right?
00:17:23
Like, Brad seems like a gentle soul.
00:17:25
Joel seems is a gentle soul.
00:17:28
Very much.
00:17:29
You know what I really liked from this episode was like.
00:17:32
And I thought there were bits of this that were very funny.
00:17:35
And I'm really especially liking Trish this season.
00:17:40
Josh is the low key MVP of the cg.
00:17:42
She's so funny.
00:17:43
Her getting wine drunk, like at the Std.
00:17:46
Last episode and then her getting wine drunk.
00:17:48
This episode was great.
00:17:49
But I loved the bit where Sam took the time to say to Joel, like,
00:17:55
you have a gift for making people happy.
00:17:57
Because how often do we tell our friends things like that?
00:17:59
But they need to hear it.
00:18:01
That was great.
00:18:01
I thought that was great.
00:18:03
Just that moment and it coming to that moment.
00:18:06
That was great.
00:18:07
Listeners, in case you want a glimpse into us, I feel the three
00:18:09
of us are actually kind of good at that.
00:18:12
We could be characters on somebody somewhere.
00:18:15
Not good ones.
00:18:16
Not good.
00:18:16
Yeah.
00:18:17
Wow.
00:18:17
It was just a great episode.
00:18:18
I honestly am not as prepared to talk about this episode as I wish
00:18:22
I was, but it stuck with me enough that I can bring out some
00:18:25
certain things that happened.
00:18:26
And the main thing is that Joel's crying.
00:18:29
I think that's a point of conversation for many people online.
00:18:33
You know, what did it mean?
00:18:34
Are they bound for a possible divorce or split or maybe a fight?
00:18:41
It's so funny.
00:18:42
Television has trained us in movies, have trained us to expect
00:18:46
the big conflict.
00:18:49
They're going to yell and scream at each other in the next
00:18:51
episode.
00:18:52
And I'll be honest, I watch this show and every now and again,
00:18:54
I'll find myself getting tense and then realize it's not this kind
00:18:57
of show.
00:18:58
Just chill out.
00:18:59
They immediately subvert that with the Jules piano reappearing
00:19:03
this episode.
00:19:04
Right?
00:19:04
Yeah.
00:19:05
Yes.
00:19:06
You know, when Fred's wife, she badgers Brad almost during Thanksgiving
00:19:12
about, you know, over some wine.
00:19:13
She's getting.
00:19:14
She's getting a little wine drunk herself.
00:19:15
And she's badgering him about his two sons who are grown.
00:19:19
Oh, you know, how'd that happen?
00:19:21
How'd that come to be?
00:19:21
We want to hear this story.
00:19:23
And everyone's awkwardly kind of looking to say, maybe we don't.
00:19:27
Maybe we should give him a break on this.
00:19:29
And Brad, again, gently.
00:19:31
No, I'll tell you.
00:19:33
Yeah.
00:19:34
That was so good.
00:19:35
And I kept thinking, he, man, this is going to break.
00:19:37
Something's going to break here.
00:19:39
No, it does not.
00:19:40
One interesting callback I'd like to make that when Joel and Brad
00:19:45
go to their devotional group.
00:19:48
Yeah, good, too.
00:19:50
It was really good.
00:19:52
And even the book that they were reading is.
00:19:55
I know.
00:19:55
The book that they're practicing.
00:19:56
The Prince of God.
00:19:58
Right.
00:19:58
That's what they're going say the title again.
00:20:01
Practicing the Presence of God.
00:20:03
Okay.
00:20:03
Which is a beloved book.
00:20:06
And if you were in, like, the church world, you'd be like, oh,
00:20:10
this.
00:20:10
This group has a little depth, you know, like they're.
00:20:12
They're about their business.
00:20:13
But I think that's kind of the beautiful thing about the show.
00:20:15
Right.
00:20:16
That we've talked about a lot is, yes, they're in this red state.
00:20:19
Yes, this is a gay couple going to a space that would have
00:20:22
been hostile to them not long ago.
00:20:25
Very recent history.
00:20:26
But here's this Brad guy who's, like, completely grace filled
00:20:30
and gentle and able to deal with this incredibly complex.
00:20:36
I mean, that was like a Hemingway short story in a way that
00:20:39
he told over the table.
00:20:40
But he does it with such.
00:20:42
He's extending her this compassion that is not necessarily
00:20:46
coming his way.
00:20:49
That it shows, like, not only.
00:20:50
Not that like, you have to.
00:20:52
Good people come from religion exclusively, but, like, here's a
00:20:56
guy that maybe was not accepted in a world that still gave
00:20:58
him a lot and taught him how to deal with these situations.
00:21:01
I don't know.
00:21:01
I just think he's kind of a genius character.
00:21:04
Oh, man.
00:21:04
Yeah.
00:21:04
If something happens to Brad, I'm gonna set myself on fire.
00:21:07
That's why I don't want.
00:21:09
I don't want Joel's meltdown to be about a possible breakup.
00:21:14
I would rather it be more about, whoo, I'm overwhelmed.
00:21:17
That was a big day.
00:21:18
You know, the other side of that is someone who's in a.
00:21:22
What society would call a complex relationship.
00:21:25
Right.
00:21:26
That she's the one badgering him about these details.
00:21:29
Yeah.
00:21:30
It seemed like an unspoken thing that everybody at that table
00:21:32
would understand.
00:21:34
Hey, you don't have to dig into somebody's life before you knew
00:21:39
them.
00:21:40
There's pain at that table.
00:21:41
You would think.
00:21:43
Well, none of them are with family except for Sam and Trish.
00:21:46
Right.
00:21:47
Yes.
00:21:47
It's a friendsgiving, but they do it on Thanksgiving.
00:21:51
Donovan, I may have said this to our group, and if not, sorry.
00:21:55
Well, maybe.
00:21:56
Maybe I should apologize because you're going to hear it twice.
00:21:58
But I was telling Adam that one of the big differences between
00:22:01
a show like shrinking and a show like somebody somewhere can
00:22:05
be reduced down to shrinking.
00:22:11
Looks as though they buy their clothes there in Los Angeles, and
00:22:16
somebody somewhere, whoever is behind design and costume design
00:22:23
for them, nails it because they look as though they stepped
00:22:27
out of a 2001 JCPenney cat.
00:22:31
Yeah, perfect.
00:22:33
So she drives that.
00:22:34
You know, she drives that 1994 Ford Ranger.
00:22:38
95 Ford Ranger.
00:22:39
They don't build them like that anymore.
00:22:41
They know they don't.
00:22:42
And that is just spot on.
00:22:43
That's exactly what she would be driving.
00:22:46
And everything about this show, they nail.
00:22:49
Down to the noise of the truck makes.
00:22:51
Yeah, that's exactly what those trucks sound like.
00:22:54
Yeah.
00:22:54
Needs a little tune up.
00:22:55
The setting is so good.
00:22:57
And I love that they're willing to give us something so grounded
00:23:00
and then give us ambiguity, too.
00:23:03
You know, I love that.
00:23:05
I love a show that's like, hey, I trust you.
00:23:07
You know, I trust that you're with me.
00:23:09
Mm.
00:23:10
I'll say, too, about this setting and how much they nail it
00:23:14
when they walk outside and are having the quiet conversation and
00:23:18
Brad is being assaulted by essentially just what has become
00:23:22
wine.
00:23:23
At that point, the way that it looked, I was looking up and down
00:23:27
that street like, my God, they had nailed that Thanksgiving afternoon
00:23:32
long shadow.
00:23:33
I mean, there's no way they didn't shoot that at least this time
00:23:37
last year, right?
00:23:38
Yeah.
00:23:38
Or like, maybe you could get away with that through, like, early
00:23:41
January.
00:23:41
I don't know.
00:23:42
There were still leaves on the trees.
00:23:43
It was perfect.
00:23:44
It was no perfect.
00:23:45
It was.
00:23:46
I.
00:23:46
There was nothing fake about that.
00:23:49
There was no, like, California mountain hiding in the distance or
00:23:51
anything like that.
00:23:52
And it was just.
00:23:53
It's the real deal.
00:23:55
It looks so good.
00:23:56
And it.
00:23:56
I don't know that.
00:23:58
That kind of quiet loneliness of the world on a holiday just.
00:24:03
It was so apparent.
00:24:04
And I.
00:24:05
Yeah, I mean, we've praised some version of this almost every
00:24:07
time we talk about the show, but, man.
00:24:10
But no, every episode gives you something else to point out in
00:24:14
a detailed form.
00:24:15
Do we want to toot our own horn here?
00:24:18
Do we want to.
00:24:19
I think we should just as a way of saying thanks.
00:24:21
Yeah.
00:24:22
Well, I just think it would be nice to say hello, creator and writer
00:24:25
of the show, Paul.
00:24:26
I'll just go by his first name only just to be ambiguous ourselves.
00:24:31
But he reached out to us to say how much he appreciated our thoughts
00:24:34
and things about somebody somewhere.
00:24:37
He's.
00:24:37
He's one of the creators and writers for the show.
00:24:39
He and his writing partner are very into what we have said and I
00:24:44
think maybe even into what we say about other shows.
00:24:46
So it's very cool to hear from the most important audience.
00:24:51
We could have.
00:24:51
We could have is the person who created it.
00:24:54
I mean, when you're nailing it, you're nailing it, right?
00:24:58
I'll repeat what I said in the.
00:24:59
In the group chat that at a time when maybe we're a bit disillusioned
00:25:03
with the idea of the Internet, it.
00:25:05
Was perfect timing because I had gotten so many spam messages.
00:25:08
I was so tired of social media.
00:25:10
And I'll be damned.
00:25:11
I looked at this.
00:25:12
She sends it via Instagram And I thought, okay, this is probably
00:25:15
another spam.
00:25:16
And I click on it.
00:25:17
And I was just like, I had to sit down on the bed as I was walking
00:25:20
by.
00:25:21
I sat down and then I sent it to you guys.
00:25:23
I was like, wow, this perfect time.
00:25:26
This is what you dream of when you find out about the Internet decades
00:25:30
ago, right?
00:25:31
Yes.
00:25:32
Not only has technology advanced enough that they can make
00:25:34
the show that they want to make for the budget that they need
00:25:37
to make it in and have it look the way that it does and it goes
00:25:40
to HBO and then we stream it, which is still like if you just zoom
00:25:44
out a little bit, mind boggling that we can do that.
00:25:47
And then three idiots like us get together and talk about it.
00:25:52
And people listen because they're also curious about deep dive
00:25:57
into this great art.
00:25:58
And that's just so cool.
00:25:59
It's like the.
00:26:00
And he was incredibly kind.
00:26:02
It's Paul Thuring.
00:26:03
I'll just say it.
00:26:03
He's so kind and just sweet.
00:26:07
Like you would expect someone who created somebody somewhere to
00:26:09
be.
00:26:10
So democracy may have failed in other ways this year, but the
00:26:14
democratization of the Internet, one shining example there.
00:26:17
Let's do talk about shrinking because I do want to talk about the
00:26:21
first six episodes or at least there's a.
00:26:22
There's a chunk of them I want to talk about.
00:26:24
Yes.
00:26:25
Seven of ten, I think are available for season two.
00:26:30
And like I said, my thesis is for this season is that it's quite
00:26:32
enjoyable, but it may not be a good show.
00:26:34
It.
00:26:35
It's.
00:26:36
A lot of it is very well done.
00:26:37
It's not to slag on production or anything.
00:26:40
I just think that there's.
00:26:42
I just have some issues with it.
00:26:43
It's.
00:26:44
I'll say this and this, this may sound like a slag, but it.
00:26:47
And maybe it is shrinking.
00:26:49
Would love to be somebody somewhere, but it hues way more closely
00:26:53
to Modern Family.
00:26:56
Yeah, that's it.
00:26:57
And I think it's fair, isn't it?
00:27:00
I think when you have a show with an A list producer like that,
00:27:05
an A list actors, all of these ingredients being pushed heavily
00:27:11
by a company as big as Apple, like, yeah, of course it, it has
00:27:15
to air on the side of more pop stuff that makes sense.
00:27:20
It's.
00:27:21
It's struggling to balance its tone.
00:27:22
We're coming out of a show just now talking about somebody somewhere
00:27:26
that can manage any tone, it seems.
00:27:29
But shrinking has struggled here.
00:27:32
I think Ted Lasso might be its closest analog for different reasons,
00:27:36
all kinds of reasons.
00:27:37
He did a good job of letting viewers know of how serious something's
00:27:40
is right here.
00:27:41
Even if it's played for laughs, something about it would
00:27:44
stick with you or maybe even get caught in your throat as you
00:27:46
were laughing about it in the moment.
00:27:48
But those shifts in shrinking aren't as smooth.
00:27:51
Yeah, I think maybe a closer comparison to me would be Scrubs
00:27:56
because of the way, and I think I talked about this a few episodes
00:27:59
ago, just the need for there to be an issue every week.
00:28:03
Like on Scrubs, it's easy because you are encountering new
00:28:07
patients all the time and new diseases and there's always something
00:28:10
to learn.
00:28:11
And you have yet again, a protege very eager for approval and
00:28:16
a gruff older guy kind of withholding it.
00:28:20
But it felt more organic on Scrubs because the setup lent itself
00:28:24
to that.
00:28:25
Whereas shrinking, it's kind of like you're just throwing issues
00:28:29
at this upper middle class collection of neighbors and co workers
00:28:35
that doesn't feel authentic.
00:28:37
A couple examples I can think of is so Alice and Lewis.
00:28:42
Alice is the daughter.
00:28:43
Lewis is the man who hit and killed her mom in a drunk driving
00:28:47
wreck.
00:28:48
They open up to one another in an incredibly good moment.
00:28:52
Episode five or so, about the midpoint, it's kind of tender.
00:28:56
She forgives him.
00:28:57
It's something her mom would do.
00:28:59
It's very well done and it lasts the perfect amount of time.
00:29:03
To give you the sense that this is vital.
00:29:05
We're gonna do a little bit of a longer scene here.
00:29:09
But then it's still jarring that she's not just hanging with
00:29:13
Lewis and Brian in the next episode, but that she's disclosing
00:29:15
private information to Lewis.
00:29:18
Considering that she had a bench date with Paul that day, her
00:29:23
official therapist, she could have just shown up and talked about
00:29:26
it there.
00:29:28
But she blows him off instead, sends Liz.
00:29:31
Totally different story.
00:29:32
And that just felt too sudden.
00:29:35
Yeah, I agree with that.
00:29:37
And there's this idea that Lewis's life is Requiem for a Dream.
00:29:41
Bleak, yet he's cutting up and giggling and almost playing a happier
00:29:45
version of Roy Kent again.
00:29:47
And I did not think he was going to be playing that kind of
00:29:49
character in this one.
00:29:51
That one scene.
00:29:53
He's too quick to be a cut up.
00:29:55
Is that the problem?
00:29:56
To be cut up?
00:29:56
Too quick to maybe even hang out with them?
00:29:59
I think he would want to hang out with them.
00:30:01
I just don't think that he would.
00:30:02
I don't believe that she would be disclosing her private life yet.
00:30:06
Well, she is also a 17 year old who, you know, may not.
00:30:10
That's what they do Right.
00:30:12
I would assume.
00:30:14
I think the series can be too nonchalant with the actions of its
00:30:18
characters.
00:30:18
Sean and his dad is a good example.
00:30:20
So Sean's on rocky terms with his dad.
00:30:22
You know, he's the man who kicked him out of the house when
00:30:24
his violence was escalating.
00:30:26
And all it takes is one talk with Jimmy and Paul.
00:30:29
And Sean's dad's in the hospital too.
00:30:32
Make amends.
00:30:32
I get.
00:30:33
It's a comedy.
00:30:33
It's a 30 minute show.
00:30:34
You can't have that drag out over the course of five episodes.
00:30:38
But at the same time, they did keep us waiting for Lewis to come
00:30:43
back over the course of four or five episodes.
00:30:45
It's like there are scenes on the cutting room floor or there needs
00:30:48
to be some days in between these lightning strike moments.
00:30:51
I think that's maybe what it is, that we're only getting the lightning
00:30:54
strikes.
00:30:54
And unlike Scrubs where it's, you know, you're dropping in on important
00:31:01
days in their life or that's how it felt.
00:31:03
It wasn't just a day to day.
00:31:04
Whereas shrinking feels a bit more like we're just plodding along
00:31:07
through normal weeks in rich person suburbia.
00:31:11
And here's what happens.
00:31:12
Yeah.
00:31:13
The show struggles to show how extreme these characters are, how
00:31:17
extreme their problems can be because it's wrapped in comedy.
00:31:20
I think it always has to be cutesy.
00:31:22
Yeah.
00:31:22
Yeah.
00:31:23
I didn't realize the depths of Sean's anger, honestly.
00:31:25
Even though it was pretty clear in season one.
00:31:28
I didn't realize how deep it was until it looked as though he
00:31:31
might punch Jimmy.
00:31:32
And I was like, oh, I should have seen that maybe in season one
00:31:36
because that, you know, you really like this guy.
00:31:38
He's your therapist and you're about to punch him.
00:31:40
That's.
00:31:41
That's very relevatory.
00:31:43
You know, sometimes I think about the great Futurama line where
00:31:47
I think it's in the.
00:31:49
Where Faria is trying to write the musical for Leela and it's criticized
00:31:53
and they say you can't just have your characters say what they
00:31:55
think and feel.
00:31:56
That makes me feel angry.
00:32:00
And I think about that with shrinking.
00:32:02
No.
00:32:03
1.
00:32:03
Not that we're the most Shari group here about how we're.
00:32:07
We're feeling.
00:32:07
We probably.
00:32:08
I certainly skew to the far other end of the spectrum.
00:32:11
But he's just a sherry group of people.
00:32:16
Well, so Alice and Summer may not be the best examples because
00:32:19
they're teens and that teens can resolve conflict faster than
00:32:22
adults sometimes.
00:32:24
Depending.
00:32:25
But in two episodes with no Screen time together, they go from
00:32:28
fighting, hitting each other in the boob to reconciliation.
00:32:33
I just think we need some screen time before we can get there.
00:32:37
I felt that that was, like you said, it's teen stuff.
00:32:42
And I.
00:32:42
It gave me the good chuckle of, like, all the adults being, like,
00:32:46
summer's kind of talented with their Diss track on TikTok.
00:32:49
I thought that was good.
00:32:52
Is Gabby a good person?
00:32:54
She doesn't want to help her fledgling sister care for her mom.
00:32:58
And that part's only played for jokes.
00:33:00
It feels.
00:33:01
That feels off too.
00:33:02
Like, shouldn't we be pissed at Gabby?
00:33:04
It's not like she's a character from It's Always Sunny.
00:33:06
She's not like that.
00:33:08
Sort of bad.
00:33:09
But she's also not helping with her mom because she wasn't helped
00:33:14
out much when she was young.
00:33:15
What?
00:33:16
It's also her sister, like paying a penance of sorts for being
00:33:21
a drug addict.
00:33:22
Okay, that's what I was thinking, but again, I don't like
00:33:27
it.
00:33:27
You get this information, but I think it's so small and quick,
00:33:30
sometimes you forget it.
00:33:31
And that's maybe on me.
00:33:33
I thought that that was a good doling out of motivation that she.
00:33:39
I would imagine if you're in a situation where you want an addict
00:33:41
to change, even after they put in the work, it would be hard to
00:33:44
forget who they were.
00:33:45
Especially if it's your little sister, if it's family, if you're.
00:33:48
I think you can love them and be happy for them, but still be like,
00:33:52
shit, I had to take care of you and our mom and all of these
00:33:56
things.
00:33:56
You're going to put in a little more time and I'm going to
00:33:58
live my.
00:33:58
Now that I finally have some freedom, I'm going to live my life.
00:34:00
Because she also came out of that, the terrible marriage.
00:34:03
Right.
00:34:04
Okay.
00:34:05
So, yeah, no, she did.
00:34:06
And he was an addict, too.
00:34:07
Right?
00:34:08
Right.
00:34:08
But I'm.
00:34:09
Some of this is.
00:34:09
I'm here to defend Gabby.
00:34:11
So, yeah, you go.
00:34:12
Who's not?
00:34:13
I mean, I hated even asking the question.
00:34:16
I was really stoked and still of the belief to have Derek play
00:34:20
a larger role this season is a good idea.
00:34:22
Deft move by the show, I often think, in season one.
00:34:26
What's up with this guy and his sunshine demeanor?
00:34:28
What's his secret?
00:34:30
And even if he doesn't have a secret, he's still pleasant to have
00:34:33
on screen.
00:34:34
Giving him the plot of Liz though, his wife, kissing another
00:34:37
man, I guess that's a right move.
00:34:39
But it feels unfortunate because I think Liz is kind of an
00:34:44
ass even without having kissed another man.
00:34:46
No, Derek is a saint.
00:34:48
I'm talking about Ted McGinley.
00:34:49
Yeah.
00:34:50
Who?
00:34:50
Famous in the 80s for being a antagonist villain.
00:34:53
Asshole.
00:34:54
But here he's just kind of a rich, retired young guy who's also
00:35:00
incredibly.
00:35:01
Kind and has great hair.
00:35:02
Oh, beautiful hair.
00:35:04
That man's hair.
00:35:05
See, the Liz situation is something that I think is a symptom
00:35:09
of them just inventing problems.
00:35:10
I'm trying not to spoil anything in the next episode, but
00:35:13
obviously people.
00:35:13
People do things, and it's often their actions are not in isolation.
00:35:17
Like, it doesn't just have to do with, like, how she feels about
00:35:21
this guy.
00:35:21
It's all these other things in her life.
00:35:23
They mind that in an interesting way.
00:35:26
But it's also like, oh, things are going too good.
00:35:28
We need to throw a wrench in for the sake of story.
00:35:31
Yeah.
00:35:31
I do think they get it right in having her admit in the very same
00:35:35
episode, the kiss.
00:35:38
Having admit that to her husband Derek.
00:35:40
It happens in an instant.
00:35:41
And it doesn't belabor that.
00:35:43
You know, this idea that might dislike Liz.
00:35:46
The baby storyline for Brian feels too obvious.
00:35:50
His storyline is too obvious and too boring for this show.
00:35:53
And that feels very modern family.
00:35:56
Mm.
00:35:57
Yeah.
00:35:58
No reason to shit on a comedy for two for its reality, but there's
00:36:01
no way in hell an English bulldog's gonna be in an animal shelter.
00:36:06
Sorry.
00:36:08
Like, you.
00:36:09
Like, you paid too much money for that or like, oh, outside of
00:36:12
its carefully controlled conditions, it died.
00:36:15
Well, there's also.
00:36:16
We've had English bulldogs before, and my dad decided he didn't
00:36:21
want to put up with it, so he would say, does he may want to, you
00:36:24
know, buy this puppy?
00:36:25
Sure.
00:36:26
Cheaper amount.
00:36:27
Most people would because it's a little cheaper.
00:36:28
But they want the English bulldog.
00:36:30
Yeah.
00:36:30
I mean, no.
00:36:30
Nobody puts a bulldog in the shelter.
00:36:33
Let's go back to say nothing.
00:36:35
Shift gears here.
00:36:36
All episodes now on Hulu.
00:36:39
We're gonna talk about the first five or six of the nine, I
00:36:42
think.
00:36:43
Is it close to where we are?
00:36:44
Four, five or six?
00:36:45
Four.
00:36:46
And then we'll probably end up doing the back half of the series.
00:36:50
They pulled a Netflix here.
00:36:51
Simply dropped them on November 14th for.
00:36:54
Whatever damn reason you guys weren't having it.
00:36:57
I listened.
00:36:57
I heard Yalls opinions.
00:36:58
Not a fan.
00:36:59
Having watched more of it, I think this one could have benefited
00:37:03
from week by week too.
00:37:04
That's exactly what I was gonna say.
00:37:06
Week to week's the maneuver for this because I've changed my
00:37:09
stance heavily since last Week, which you goddamn better have.
00:37:13
Well, no, no, no.
00:37:13
I, like, I kind of had to be the overly critical guy, I think,
00:37:18
last week just to have something a little to say.
00:37:21
You're lucky I didn't climb through my earbuds and just give
00:37:24
the old what for.
00:37:25
Well, I was going to say that I changed my stance pretty drastically.
00:37:31
I like the show, don't get me wrong, first two episodes, but I
00:37:34
had qualms with it.
00:37:36
And this isn't just because Adam's here today and loves the show
00:37:39
thoroughly.
00:37:40
It's.
00:37:40
As the season continues, it stops moving about as much and it
00:37:45
really gets focused.
00:37:47
I would be curious how much more I would like it if it was week
00:37:50
to week.
00:37:51
I think it'd have more time to sit with stuff, if nothing else,
00:37:53
because just, you know, if it was just the way we watch it, right?
00:37:58
It's like, oh, I want to know what happens next.
00:38:00
This was maybe one of the complaints I said earlier that the
00:38:03
Northern Ireland subreddit had issues with this, that it.
00:38:07
Was all dropped at once.
00:38:09
No, the issue was kind of what y'all are talking about a bit with
00:38:12
the pacing.
00:38:13
Like, I do find myself wanting to hit next episode when one ends.
00:38:18
And they said that based on the book, they had wished that, like,
00:38:22
an HBO would pick it up instead and something like a Wire
00:38:26
treatment would do really well for the Troubles.
00:38:28
Instead of, like a political intrigue kind of.
00:38:33
You need something where it's like, there are no winners in a way,
00:38:36
versus, like, they look pretty cool while they're doing this stuff.
00:38:40
I suspect that's all going to come crashing down at some point.
00:38:43
I mean, it definitely is, but some.
00:38:45
Of these episodes are drastically different than the previous.
00:38:49
And it's odd.
00:38:50
I think sometimes I was sold on the intensity, the political drama,
00:38:55
the historical fiction, in that it's a series and not a documentary.
00:38:59
Early it came off as a shotgun approach.
00:39:02
What kept it kind of kept some of the interesting characters on
00:39:07
screen less.
00:39:08
You know, I was thinking, okay, well, who's our primary character?
00:39:11
Should I care about?
00:39:12
Dolores, if she's to be the main focus and do I care about her
00:39:18
as much?
00:39:19
And then it was this curious method of doling out bits and pieces
00:39:23
of Jean's story.
00:39:24
The mother of 10 who's taken away at the middle of night.
00:39:27
That just felt like one more dangling thread.
00:39:30
Although now I'm starting to see how that fits nicely.
00:39:33
But in the first one or two episodes, it was just another thread
00:39:38
of, I'm gonna throw all this out here at you.
00:39:40
It is a Lot.
00:39:41
And I think maybe the.
00:39:43
I'll give one interaction with the story of the Troubles that I've
00:39:47
had was going to the Imperial War Museum in London and they had
00:39:51
this great, almost entire floor exhibit dedicated to the Troubles,
00:39:55
which was kind of crazy because the IRA actually bombed the
00:39:59
Imperial War Museum at one point.
00:40:01
So you're in a building that has itself been a part of this.
00:40:05
And I thought, okay, I'm finally gonna.
00:40:07
Here's like a toehold to start wrapping my head around this whole
00:40:10
thing.
00:40:10
And I go in and the entire exhibit is set up so that you have
00:40:16
two sides to every story.
00:40:17
You don't really learn anything except the.
00:40:22
You hate to use the word vibe in this day and age.
00:40:24
But the vibe of the conflict more than like, the actual, like,
00:40:28
who, what, when, where.
00:40:29
And I left even more confused, which was.
00:40:32
But having learned a lot, but still being like, profoundly confused
00:40:37
about all of the details.
00:40:39
And I wonder if the way this show started isn't an attempt to
00:40:43
do the same thing.
00:40:44
Like, here's like a bunch of spaghetti.
00:40:46
We're throwing it at the wall.
00:40:47
Yeah.
00:40:48
It was complex.
00:40:49
It was confusing to the people involved.
00:40:51
Now, let's go ahead with the story.
00:40:53
The last quarter of the second episode, it started improving leaps
00:40:56
and bounds.
00:40:57
But that kind of bothers me because I think the worst thing I
00:41:00
can say to someone in our day and age with our attention spans
00:41:04
dropping like Boeing jets, is, you got to stick around through second
00:41:08
episode.
00:41:09
Or.
00:41:09
I just hate being having to say that.
00:41:12
But it does improve by reining in some of these storylines.
00:41:15
I think the best episodes are those where Dollar is.
00:41:18
Again, we're in spoilers.
00:41:19
Dollar has to take Joe to be killed.
00:41:21
Like, that's a singular story.
00:41:24
And she plans and executes some of her other ideas.
00:41:31
Gosh, I think I gotta step on my own toes here.
00:41:33
I almost spoiled some things that you guys haven't seen.
00:41:36
Tell me what happens in episode four so I'll know my.
00:41:39
My line of demarcation episode four is.
00:41:43
Where two of the.
00:41:44
The fellows, one particularly young, are captured by the British
00:41:48
and turned.
00:41:49
And then they turn them in.
00:41:52
A great episode because we're kind of focused on those two.
00:41:55
Well, young people.
00:41:56
Yeah.
00:41:57
One very much a kid, one a young man.
00:41:59
Right.
00:42:00
Very similar thing where Dolores has to take those two guys
00:42:03
away.
00:42:03
Yeah.
00:42:04
And that's.
00:42:05
Again, the episode is almost singularly focused on that.
00:42:08
And I really can get into it and be swayed by the emotions that
00:42:14
are involved.
00:42:15
That's interesting.
00:42:16
And I don't disagree with you.
00:42:18
I thought that those Were really good and they're tight and
00:42:20
focused.
00:42:21
But for me, especially the one where Jerry gets killed, it worked
00:42:26
really well for me.
00:42:27
Sorry, Joe.
00:42:29
Jerry Adams is very much alive and he's in Ireland, and he is not.
00:42:32
A part of the ira.
00:42:33
He is not a part of the ira.
00:42:35
But when Joe gets killed, that actually kind of worked because it
00:42:39
is weaving in and out of all the other things they're doing, right?
00:42:42
Like getting explosives and then like, somebody has shot the
00:42:46
guy that they end up executing Joe for.
00:42:48
And you don't kind of know.
00:42:49
And it clicks together.
00:42:50
And then.
00:42:50
Same thing for me, where I felt like the one with the two fellows,
00:42:54
it's more focused, but it does.
00:42:56
It is the same thing of kind of keeping me off balance because
00:42:58
Dolores is hardly in it.
00:43:00
It focuses on Brendan and the British.
00:43:03
And the Seamus and Beaky.
00:43:05
Seamus and Beaky.
00:43:06
Kevin, right?
00:43:07
Is that his name?
00:43:07
Kevin?
00:43:08
His real name?
00:43:08
Yeah, it focuses more on that.
00:43:10
And so I'm actually okay with it being focused on what it wants
00:43:13
to be focused on.
00:43:13
Because all these things are kind of stuck in each other, right?
00:43:16
And you start pulling on one, and they all start.
00:43:19
You pull on all of them.
00:43:20
This may be misapplying the term, but it is a certain form of
00:43:24
guerilla warfare, right, where it's like, they're not the British
00:43:28
in the palace barracks, right?
00:43:30
They are amongst the folks, the people, and they live their lives
00:43:34
amongst the people.
00:43:35
Not that the British don't get out, as we saw with the border guard
00:43:39
going to the club.
00:43:40
But you'll notice too, that those episodes three and four, and
00:43:45
also you'll see this in five and six, that they are less reliant
00:43:50
on the interview process.
00:43:53
And I think that helps.
00:43:55
Marian isn't part of the interviews, at least not yet, which
00:44:00
makes leaves me on edge anytime they're.
00:44:03
Any violence happening.
00:44:04
I keep thinking, oh, God, is this why she's not in the interview
00:44:07
process?
00:44:08
Sort of annoying thing about it all being dropped at once is that
00:44:11
Marian is often mentioned in the little episode descriptions.
00:44:16
And you can see them all at once.
00:44:18
Oh, yeah.
00:44:20
Guess she's still gonna be there for.
00:44:21
You know, whenever the show cooks for me.
00:44:25
When I came to the realization, of course, too late,
00:44:27
as I tend to be being ignorant, that it.
00:44:31
In order to touch on a theme within a theme that I think they're
00:44:34
trying to do here is you have to keep dollar us at the center of
00:44:36
this particular version of the Troubles.
00:44:38
Marian as well, you get this sense that women are able to do things
00:44:45
just as even Better than the men in some cases.
00:44:48
They've always made these huge sacrifices that tend to get pushed
00:44:52
under the rug or not focused on most cases.
00:44:57
And some of those middle episodes, which we're starting to
00:44:59
get into.
00:45:01
Dollars and Marion make these horrific sacrifices that really get
00:45:07
really help, you see?
00:45:08
Oh, okay.
00:45:09
I see why that they should be probably front and center.
00:45:12
Thoughts on the dark?
00:45:14
Anthony Boyle's character as Brendan.
00:45:17
Like him, he's so good actor.
00:45:21
The best performance.
00:45:22
He's.
00:45:22
Well, he.
00:45:23
Two things.
00:45:23
He really made me laugh when, like, maybe it's the older guy who
00:45:27
says it, but he's like, that'd be our day.
00:45:28
He's like, get up some armed robbery, maybe plant a bomb, then
00:45:34
try and get a pint.
00:45:35
Like, what a life.
00:45:36
I thought he was at his best at the episode with the counterintelligence,
00:45:42
because.
00:45:43
With Seamus and Kevin having to make those big decisions on his
00:45:46
own.
00:45:47
Yeah.
00:45:47
And he's like, he knows they should die, and he's trying to get
00:45:51
them back in.
00:45:51
And then when Jerry finally brings him in, he doesn't, like,
00:45:55
overact it.
00:45:55
It's just you can see on his face that he's hearing something
00:45:58
hard and he's crying a little, and that's it.
00:46:01
That's pretty much all he does.
00:46:02
And it was so good.
00:46:03
He's friendly with these guys.
00:46:04
One's a kid.
00:46:05
And he's also giving them his word.
00:46:07
And he just can't bear to say, okay, I kind of sort of had to lie
00:46:12
to you.
00:46:13
Yeah, I thought that was.
00:46:16
He's very fun to watch.
00:46:17
You get the sense that Jerry did it through his intelligence.
00:46:21
As far as smarts is what I mean.
00:46:23
And his ingratiation with some of the older guys.
00:46:27
Absolutely.
00:46:28
He was.
00:46:29
He was clearly, like one of their best operatives.
00:46:32
Gave the opportunity for Rory Kinnear to give that powerful line
00:46:35
of, we'll just let them kill themselves.
00:46:38
I like him.
00:46:38
Not the general, I mean, but Rory Kinnear.
00:46:40
I really like what he's doing.
00:46:43
Really interesting to see.
00:46:44
I mean, I guess because this is realistic.
00:46:46
Right.
00:46:46
But the counterintelligence work.
00:46:48
Not to go on like, a long diatribe, but I read a really interesting
00:46:52
thing with one of the military prosecutors who got the guys from
00:46:57
the USS Cole bombing to talk versus what we did post 9 11.
00:47:02
You don't just punch people.
00:47:04
They have sitting down, drinking tea.
00:47:07
Do you want to see my gut?
00:47:08
Basically, building rapport is how you get people to talk.
00:47:12
And that's what makes him.
00:47:13
Doing that in this makes him seem, like, almost more dangerous
00:47:17
because he's smart.
00:47:19
He knows how to get.
00:47:21
He's not going to beat it out of them.
00:47:23
He knows that doesn't work.
00:47:24
He's going to use whatever tactic he needs to.
00:47:27
We're going to end here.
00:47:28
Quite likely.
00:47:29
We'll wrap up our thoughts on say Nothing next week.
00:47:32
It could happen that way.
00:47:33
I'm, like, excited.
00:47:34
Almost feels weird to say about a show like this, but it's
00:47:38
well made and I'm interested in talking and thinking about it.
00:47:42
Well, it's wonderful at building its tension and that makes
00:47:45
you want to see how it's resolved.
00:47:47
Right.
00:47:47
It is very good.
00:47:48
It is very good.
00:47:50
And I do like how, too, it's playing with that dramatic irony.
00:47:54
Right.
00:47:54
Because we know.
00:47:55
Oh, gosh, I completely forgot her name.
00:47:56
The poor woman at the center of all this.
00:47:58
Dolorous.
00:47:59
And Brendan, we definitely.
00:48:00
Oh, no.
00:48:01
The woman who's taken Jean.
00:48:03
Thanks.
00:48:03
Sorry.
00:48:04
We know that Jean isn't going to make it because we know her body
00:48:07
wasn't found until the 2000s.
00:48:09
We know the other two are gonna.
00:48:11
Right.
00:48:11
So it's playing with that.
00:48:12
I like that it's doing that because it's keeping me interested
00:48:15
when, in a sense, I already know what's gonna happen.
00:48:18
Right.
00:48:18
Yeah.
00:48:18
Here's the ending.
00:48:20
Stick with us to see how it got there.
00:48:21
Yeah.
00:48:22
Good stuff.
00:48:23
Yeah.
00:48:23
We're gonna end here.
00:48:25
You can follow us on social media.
00:48:27
Reach out, say hello.
00:48:28
Hey.
00:48:29
It works sometimes.
00:48:30
And follow the podcast in your favorite app to listen to, such as
00:48:34
that.
00:48:35
We'll be out every Tuesday morning.
00:48:36
Morning.
00:48:36
Unless we tell you we're taking a break for a week.
00:48:39
For Adam and Donovan, I'm Blaine and we'll talk to you later.
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