'Lanterns' Flies Higher Than Comic Book Fare; 'Ted Lasso' Is Just Good Enough

[00:00:02] Hello and welcome back to Taking It Down, the weekly TV and streaming podcast for The Working Class brought to you by The Alabama Take. This is episode 298 and what that means is we're only a couple of weeks away from episode 300 where we'll answer questions sent in from you. Just click on the show notes and use the form to ask or comment on anything, Taking It Down related or beyond.

[00:00:26] As for this week, we're covering episode 6 of Lanterns on HBO and the 8th episode of Ted Lasso, which is on Apple TV. And as always, we'll do non-spoilers to begin and then spoilers after. Use the time steps to help you navigate through the episode. I'll ask Adam and Donovan to join me and let's get into the show. I'll ever take projection.

[00:00:55] Alright, here's Adam, here's Donovan joining me for podcast number 298 and we end it all with episode 300. It's where it ends. It's news to us. Yeah, like do I need to update my will? I thought that's when we were gonna start like a 10 episode series on the film 300. No. Adam, you'll be out next week. I will be. But if you'd like, drop us a couple cities and venues. You and your band Sister Ray Davies will be in the coming days.

[00:01:26] We will start Wednesday in Cleveland. Opening for Luna by the way. Opening for Luna. And then Thursday we'll be in Cincinnati and that's a headline show with our buddy Mavis Guitar. And then Friday we'll be in Nashville, where I think we may see one Blaine Duncan. I'll be, yeah, I'll be there. I hear Donovan's flying in too. That'd be great. Not with this cold. They won't let me on the plane.

[00:01:54] Well, you've got like six days to kick it. That's true. You'll be fine. That's true. I want to talk about that show but I don't want to speak ill of a place that we're gonna play. These places are great. I just, they're fine for me but Blaine, you're going to dinner theater. That's right. Yeah. It would make me anxious as an attendee, I think. I don't mind. Okay. I think that's great. They're great shows. I'm not, I'm not here to knock the show. Just- I'm just truly excited to be able to see Luna at a place where I can be seated. Oh, that part is awesome.

[00:02:24] Yeah. As an old? What do you have, what if you have to talk to a stranger? I can do it. I can do it. Okay. I believe in myself. I believe in you too. And I believe that you're a better man than me in this regard. No, it'll be great. And then Saturday we'll be in Asheville. That's Saturday, October 3rd, I think. Yeah. It's a very confusing time for me because October is right there, but it feels like we just got to September in a lot of ways. Totally.

[00:02:52] When I'm having to describe these dates, it's like, how is it going to be October? A week from today, since we record on Sundays, we'll be in Saxapahaw. I hope that I'm saying that properly. North Carolina. That's where Hall River Ballroom is. Okay. That'll be great. And then we've got a day off and then we'll finish up in Atlanta on Tuesday and then Athens on Wednesday.

[00:03:14] Just for listeners who are interested in nearby those cities, I'll put a link to where you can find them all in one place. If we ran by them too fast and you're interested in seeing Sister Ray Davies or Luna or both. We got stuff coming this week too. You don't have to attend a show to consume some Sister Ray Davies. New release? Oh, it's possible. That sounds good. Es posible. I'm in. Well, we'll shift gears into our TV coverage.

[00:03:43] We're nearing an end with the series Lanterns on HBO. We've seen the sixth in its eight episode run and in a couple hours from when people might listen to this episode, the penultimate episode would have dropped. I think we all agree that this is something we like and we would recommend it to people. So I'll skip that kind of questioning this deep in our watching of it. My other question would be, is Lanterns more than a well done detective show? Is it more than a twist on the detective show?

[00:04:13] I think so. But I know Donovan is a consumer of detective. I'm more familiar with the genre possibly than me and certainly with comic book based institutions. I found myself thinking about things this week that most of the genre pieces involved maybe don't always elicit. And I think it's good.

[00:04:38] And it may just be that I like the writing and the acting and the setting has been great. You know, Bruce Springsteen's fictional land of Nebraska. Yeah. But I don't, I mean, these are things that those genres can do. I know. So that's why I was maybe deferring to Donovan. Maybe this is trodden ground. Nebraska is to Bruce Springsteen as Middle Earth is to Tolkien. Right. Yeah, no, I think I agree with Adam.

[00:05:06] I think I haven't thought fully enough about it yet, but I think that it's doing, maybe I think it could be a little bit underbaked in the show, but I think doing things with trying to think about like these folks through the lens of race and what, and being black in America. And then additional questions about like, what does it mean to be on the outside of something? What does it mean to be the inside?

[00:05:33] And what's the, what's your relationship to power and grasping that power? You know, in many ways, John's parents are just setting him up to serve throughout the show. That might be a spoiler. I'm sorry. I forgot about spoilers. But in many ways, he's set up to be a robot, always obeying orders, never afraid. And I think, I think it does have something to say about that. I think too, that it has, you know, it has things to say about at what point is it worth it?

[00:06:03] You know, I do think that there have been great detective comic book, like comic book, comic book heroes before. I'm not as familiar with Green Lantern though. So I couldn't really tell you if it's doing good. You know, you think of the detective thing in comic books, a lot of times it's, it's Batman who's doing it or some of the other characters like that. Mm-hmm. The best example I could set up beside it would be any of those Disney plus Marvel TV shows. Yeah.

[00:06:31] Compared, compared to that kind of comic book genre show, it's way above. But Leaks, I do think that a strength that they embraced with the Green Lantern franchise is that there are multiple Green Lanterns, which I do, I think that they made a good choice with that and followed that into an interesting direction. And there's been, I'm familiar with at least like five off the top of my head, you know, like you don't have to stick with one person kind of like you do with maybe Daredevil or whatever.

[00:07:01] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Which the show does, yeah. Yeah. That's good. And, and you know, neither of them, neither of them get their powers innately, right? It has to be given by the Guardians. So there's kind of a difference there too. Yeah. That's something I've found interesting that a lot of times with these characters, they have to react physically with no help. But it's just pretty normal person. In the case of John, he is a Marine in great physical shape.

[00:07:31] He's a, he's a, he's a peak, uh, he's pretty tip top. I bet his resting heart rate's insane. We talked about this. Hal presumably at one point was in okay shape if he was a pilot. I'm not sure. I'm not sure he's been hitting the gym lately. His brain helps him a ton. He's pretty wily. Yeah. He's a, he's a, he's a squirrely guy. I agree. For sure. So let's stick with non-spoilers. Continue those thoughts here.

[00:08:00] Let's go with the latest from Ted Lasso. The show's eighth of his, of this fourth season. Are we beating a dead horse with our coverage of Ted Lasso? Yes. Although I have nothing against the show that promotes good mental health in the workplace. That's a good point. Is it basically the same set of episodes most weeks? Yes.

[00:08:22] But I think the only argument you can make against that, I even want to, I wanted to include another one and say new things happen to old characters, but do they? I think they, they have successfully introduced a new cast this season. And that's, that's maybe the only caveat to, but yes, they're still doing the same thing. It's like, if you like that thing, tune in. Yeah. It's like the artist who releases the same album, but you just love that, what they do. Right.

[00:08:52] Like you don't really want Beach House to reinvent the wheel. Heck when they tried, I didn't like it. Yeah. Yeah. Here, same with Ted Lasso. I don't think people want to be pushed by Ted Lasso episodes. I don't think they want to be challenged. They want the usual. Yeah. I do think there's like a negative side to that impulse. You know, you know, the people who are like, I just watch TV to turn my brain off for a little bit.

[00:09:19] But I also think that like, there's also, you know, it's all contextual, right? Like also depending on how you're living your life, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, if all you're doing is like entertaining yourself to death, like maybe, I don't know, like maybe you want to start caring about people in the news. But I think that if you're like, like, you know, the world is tough enough. Do we really want there to be a very special episode where like Coach Beard kills himself or something? Probably not.

[00:09:45] Well, that's our ethos here is that we don't want to turn off our brains when we're consuming, dare I say that word, when we're taking in a show or book or movie. But, you know, here we do shows. I do like when this show, Ted Lasso has a through line and they can be really obvious, but I like that. I found this week to be a little less obvious than usual, but it was a nice way of creating some motifs which tie all the stories into one another. Fairly well done.

[00:10:14] I thought in non-spoiler section, it took a step forward in a few ways. I thought some of the stylistic choices were different. Like if you've watched enough of this show, maybe some of the shots, the setups, all of that would be refreshing. I'm glad you noticed that because I thought I noticed that too. I agree. Now how far that goes for you in terms of the merit of the show? I don't, that's a user's choice there.

[00:10:43] I think that, and then I, yeah, I think if you, I find myself caring about characters that I didn't know before this season started, which on the revamp of a show, I think you got to tip your hat for that alone. Now is it, are we beating a dead horse talking about every week? Yeah, probably. There's only so much that can be said at a certain point. It's not to say it's bad. That's true. This is not a show that I dread watching.

[00:11:10] In fact, I know that if I watch it, I'm gonna, with the exception of last week's episode, I'm gonna leave, last week's episode was fine. But you know, like I'm usually gonna watch it and be like, yeah, there were some funny, there were some things that made me chuckle. You know, honestly, this is, this is the dumbest nerd shit I've ever said or thought to myself. Oh no, that's, let's buckle in listeners. Honestly, like the ethos of the show is, is a little bit like, here comes the nerd shit at the end of The Hobbit when Thorin is dying.

[00:11:40] Spoiler guys. And Thorin says, you know, he comes, he wants to be reconciled to Bilbo. And he says, you know, like if, if, if more were people were, you know, more concerned with food and cheer, you know, it would be a merrier world, but merrier sad, I'm leaving it now. And it's like, this is the, what if the world were more concerned with, with food and friendship and good cheer instead of, of other things? What might that world look like? Yeah. In a sense, it's, it's a, in a sense, it's a beautiful dream. I got a counter to that.

[00:12:10] And this is what I don't think it does well. Mm-hmm. I've said this in various ways, but I noticed it this week. It plays really obvious emotional beats and it pairs them with the ride or touching or soaring music, all of which gives viewers this false sense of having seen or felt something deeper than what's really there. Mm-hmm. I'd say that shrinking does this maybe as much as another Bill Lawrence show on Apple TV.

[00:12:36] My conclusion is when I think of those two shows specifically, they're not great or fully excellent that I think the audiences sometimes believe them to be, or maybe the audiences realize that they're not and they just enjoy it, which is awesome. But I think as a, with a critical eye, it's not great, but it's oftentimes pretty damn good. Mm-hmm. So I'll take it. And I'm with you.

[00:13:05] This week I was thinking over and over, man, I got to squeeze in time for Ted Lasso because I want to see. Mm-hmm. There's a Calvin and Hobbes comic where he gets a C on a test and he's like, if institution is paraphrasing, but if the government did things 70% right at the time, we'd be thrilled. And I do think that that can kind of apply to shows like this too. It's like, what's the standard speed? Like if it does think 70, like how many things work right 70% of the time? Like we should be, we should be congratulating it.

[00:13:35] It's also tough, you know, Blaine, you talking about the writers knowing how to place the right scene with the right music. And the word lurking under this is how to manipulate us. Yeah. But that to me always becomes like a thing that when you try to grasp, why is this a problem for me here? And why is it not a problem with this other thing?

[00:14:02] Because I think art in general and specifically pop-based art, like, you know, like why does a group of women singing Be My Baby over and over again make you want to cry? You know, I don't, that's also very simple when you look at the text and you think, well, this is kind of the saccharine wall of sound music. Now, do I think that Ted Lasso is Be My Baby? No, absolutely not. Ted Lasso did not make Brian Wilson go insane.

[00:14:34] But it is, I mean, I think about this a lot, right? Like, and I think shrinking is a good one. All the Bill Lawrence stuff, because there are moments in Scrubs that I do think are great TV moments. But maybe it's the stakes were higher. You know, a lot of the time it was about death. It was about some pretty, pretty heavy things. And, you know, this Ted Lasso is more like a warm hug of friendship or whatever. But like Donovan said, like, why is that, shouldn't that be the, what makes the world go around?

[00:15:03] I don't know. I don't know. It's always a struggle for me to, like, pinpoint down when something becomes, why something can be, like, incredibly emotionally resonant and why other things just feel hollow. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Right, because sometimes it's you, your personal whatever with something. And sometimes it's like, you know, they're hitting the big red button that says cry over and over. And, you know, like there's a, there's a diminishing return on that sometimes.

[00:15:32] Well, like this week I spammed everyone I knew with videos of U2 playing at their old high school, essentially. And they go into With or Without You and they're playing on this concrete platform. And, you know, you get to the part where he just, there are no words. He just goes, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. And, like, I'm sitting there watching a phone recording and the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. Like, what, why does that work? But then other manipulative moments don't.

[00:16:00] I guess you have to look at, can we feel intent? I don't know. A side note I'll make on Ted Lasso, the U2 joke made me chuckle. I thought that, that was funny. Yes, it was good. The one this past week. That's a good segue for us to talk spoilers in a little bit. So we'll do a 45 second break, give or take. And we'll come back on the other side and we'll talk about the things in the same order. So we'll be lanterns and Ted Lasso. But you can use timestamps if you just want to hear one of those.

[00:16:30] See you on the other side. We're sorry to interrupt the show you're listening to. And we're going to prove that by keeping this ad short. This is Seth and Michelle, the hosts of Movie Friends. And we're so respectful of your time that we're not going to use the full 60 seconds to promote our show. Has this ever been done in the history of advertising? Never. New episodes release every Monday and with over 300 episodes and counting, there is sure to be something for everyone. We're a community-driven show that believes film discussion can be friendly and without pretension.

[00:16:58] We've been called relaxing. Intelligent. Zesty. And fun. There must be a catch though, right? Like we probably blather on for four hour episodes. That's the best part. We don't blather. Not a lot at least. Blather is such a good word. A truly underutilized word. Yeah. What were we doing? I don't remember. Movie Friends. Fun conversations from across film history.

[00:17:24] Visit our website, moviefriendspodcast.com and listen to our show everywhere you get your podcasts. And we did it with plenty of time to spare. Okay, we're back. We're having some fun. We're going to discuss some details and spoilers related to the most recent episode of Lanterns titled Bad Optics. A title that may mean more than just things not appearing as good as they should in Rushville, Nebraska. I'll start with some rumors.

[00:17:48] Some of which have been given to me by my Monday morning sidekick, my Jon Stewart to my Hal Jordan, if you will. Mr. Bronson Click. So shout out to him. The first is that future Arch Manning, Noah, is the one who killed Hal because he's either a manhunter or somehow part manhunter or he's involved. Is that too obvious for this show? I mean, it's never been super duper subtle. Okay.

[00:18:18] And I don't trust Arch Manning. If there's some money on this earth, I don't trust. Would you play poker with him? I would not because I don't know how to play poker. I can't remember the hands. Also, there's no way I could afford to sit at the table he's at. Exactly. Not with that NIO money. Can you imagine if The Sopranos were being made today? How badly would they try and get Arch Manning for a cameo where he loses to Tony at poker and Tony kind of— It would be great. It would be great.

[00:18:46] I'm just putting these ideas out here for free, guys. And in our world, he could do it because NIO freedom. It does seem a little obvious, doesn't it? We have the— Yeah. Last week, obviously, we talked about him getting the pep talk before the shit hits the fan. This episode, I noticed, was written by Lindelof, which may or may not say. I think on something—I could mostly tell what was going on in Watchmen, but I think that everything that was there was done well.

[00:19:15] And I think, you know, in The Leftovers, he did a great job of being like, I'm actually going to refuse to give you anything that meets your expectations for answers. Totally. Perhaps that is not this show. You know what? If it is, fine. But I was—I did think it was interesting to see that he—I think he was one of two credited writers for the episode. And I thought, that's kind of interesting. He's stepping in here. We're not in speculation game in our podcast.

[00:19:42] We try to take what a series gives us and say something about those things. But I'll give you another point to consider. We'll take a—we'll take one more. Sheriff Kerry Kane's favor to her mother-in-law and Manhunter, Zoe, was to do something nefarious, which was raise a Manhunter child. Could be. Does that—does that sound about right to y'all? Could be.

[00:20:06] That would also put her involved on some level with Hal's death, even if she's just covering it up. Again, too obvious is the show wanting us to think these things so they'll turn out to be red hearings. What is the eligibility around an extraterrestrial quarterback in the modern NCAA? These are good. Talk about your transfer portal. Yeah. Look, NCAA rules are out the window. LSU nearly had pro players.

[00:20:36] They were minutes away. And they would have if they hadn't chickened out. Cowards. Cowards. The—with the kid thing, there is the theme of—remind me the species that came to take out the Manhunter. I don't remember. But remember he says— The aliens. They really just call them aliens. Right. He says something about being tricked about children. Yeah. With the Manhunter.

[00:21:05] So we are maybe supposed to be thinking about reproduction in some way. And I guess, you know, if we're thinking down this road, maybe it's way too incredibly obvious. But like why would the man—a Manhunter—why would he want to kill Hal specifically? What has Hal really done? Now, John, on the other hand— That's a good question and I was trying to think of an answer. I mean, Hal has ruined the town. He has. In a lot of ways. He has. And exposed.

[00:21:35] So maybe it's that, but maybe does he know who really killed her? I mean, that's also a mystery, right? Yeah. I think so, yeah. It's up in the air, I guess. It might be too obvious. But yeah, obviously there is no love lost in Rushville for Green Lanterns of any stripe. Well, if you were mad at one, wouldn't you—like mad to the point of murder, wouldn't you add both of those guys to your list? Probably. One would think. So Sinestro's out of jail. Am I right about this?

[00:22:03] This is a good life lesson for all of us. If your mentor's name literally has Sinister in it, he's not your mentor. He's Sinestro. So did Hal know he was in danger and know he himself was going to die, and therefore the cafe meeting with John ended with him saying, don't tell anyone you were here, even though he just got punched by John. And he should be pissed. Instead, he tries to give him a tip.

[00:22:33] Remains to be—I am curious as to—we've got, what, two episodes left? Like, is Sinestro just going to be like background stuff for something else that's going on in this new franchise universe? Or is it going to impact this at all? This show at all? I honestly don't know. Have they set up Sinestro enough? I'm not sure we really know who he is except he killed a guardian, which we don't know much about, and he was Hal's mentor, and he was in space jail. Mm-hmm. Space Caban. Space Caban.

[00:23:01] I do like when Guy Gardner shows up. He sucks. He's great. Hal, you know, he tells John he had to take him off the board or whatever he says when he crashes into that pole. It still seems like he's thinking that way when they part each other's company at the diner, right? Like, don't tell—there's a game being played. Yeah, yeah. It's bigger than you can see right now. Yeah, for sure.

[00:23:26] And even though he, like you said, he gets hit in the face, he's still, like, is exhibiting care for this guy in a way. Or even if it's only as a fellow piece on the board. I did notice that the war on drugs was not playing this time in the cafe. Makes you think. Mm-hmm. Deep stuff there. Let's start with that early scene. Let's go from there.

[00:23:52] The two in the cafe, John gets word from his mom that she's kept in touch with Hal this whole time. And that he's out of human jail for all the shit that went down in Rushville at the end of the last episode. And he wants to talk. It gives me an opportunity to say I have grown to love Kyle Chandler's performance more and more every week. The looks that Hal gives John before responding to him. John sits down, says you wanted to talk.

[00:24:21] Those five or six pieces of information he gives just on his face, such as, why are you here? What lie am I going to give you right now? It cracked me up. I could watch Kyle Chandler in this role for the rest of the calendar year. And I'm very happy that at least the actor will still be on screen. I think, complete side note, but I think it took me an episode or two to kind of get used to his performance.

[00:24:50] And I think the show kind of revealed what was going on, too. And now that I'm here, like, retrospectively, I'm like, oh, he was hilarious from the beginning. Like, he's just, he's just like, he's so good at playing someone who is just so full of shit. You know? Like, yeah, he, from what I've gathered of seeing him, he's usually not this arrogant and cocky in a negative way. Yeah.

[00:25:15] So the question is, was he lying to John or withholding him from, he obviously was withholding information because he says, don't tell anyone you were here. He doesn't give him the why. So what are we to make of Hal there? I think it's kind of like what Adam pointed out, like, the game is still being played. Mm-hmm. John is smart enough to know that the game is being played. I think John also, at this point, does not like games. He's crushing it in the military-industrial complex. Yeah, with his, uh.

[00:25:44] Yeah, with his panic dreams. You know, I don't want to take away from Aaron Pierre because he's perfect in this response, just the cafe scene alone. Mm-hmm. Their back and forth is worth it every week. And it takes two to make that happen. And so nothing against Aaron Pierre there. I think he's really great. In fact, if the show was only about him and he was all we had gotten, it would have been fine. Yeah, I think the two lanterns, insanely well cast. Yes. Good work there.

[00:26:13] I do think it's strange that John's mom has kept in touch with Hal, assuming she has. Or was she lying? You know, a lot of people being deceptive. Yeah. I mean, that goes off of the, what we hear John say, not last episode, but the episode before with Zoe, that everyone's lying to him. Exactly. And that he hasn't been forthright with everyone either. Mm-hmm. Which I love that. Well, he gets trapped in that right by the end of the episode.

[00:26:40] Everyone is keeping secrets, or at least withholding information. John, yes, John himself not being clear about all of his motives for some things he asked people to do. The only encounter we've seen Hal with John's mom, Bernadette, he was pretty rude to both of the parents. So what would be her motives for staying in touch with him? Is it the gateway to have John become a lantern like she's always wanted?

[00:27:11] I mean, I think that she gave as much to this idea of him becoming a lantern as he did. You know, I mean, she gave up not only her child, but she bought in quick. You know, like we kind of talked about that with, in episode one, you're like, oh, he's got an asshole dad. And then you kind of realize what's actually happened. And she's the one driving the train, and maybe she finds some kinship there. Like, who else in the world would understand what she's been through? Yeah.

[00:27:41] Outside of her immediate family. And maybe she's kind of been, I mean, she's Bernadette at this point. She's not mom. So like, clearly, like emotionally, the connection's not there. So who is the only other person that understands what you've gone through? That's what I was going to kind of, Adam, you said that way better than I could have. But I think that the estrangement, the clear distancing and relationship between his mother and father.

[00:28:04] Like, Hal is, like, you know, obviously we know that she resents Hal for becoming Green Lantern when John's father didn't. Or does she think differently about his father at this point? Right. But I would say now it is kind of like there's no who else on earth. Like you said, who else on earth could you talk to? As she has learned the nature of this whole process, maybe she thinks more kindly of Hal. I mean, and also Hal Jordan, scamp. Yeah.

[00:28:33] You could turn that charm on. Didn't you love that he points out to John, calling your mom by her name is just rude. Yeah. That was another great, like, just Kyle Chandler saying it in that way. It was very funny. The delivery. John is so tired of him. It's so, that's another great, like. He's tired of everyone. He's so done. Like, I've never seen someone playing a character more done with everyone. It was hilarious. I mean, he's got his one kind of nagging brother who at least he's sympathetic with.

[00:29:03] Right. He's got the other one that he's bankrolling. For an album. These are not young men making an album. Yeah. Right. Because these are all his older brothers. He's the youngest. They're older than John. His dad is firing a handgun in some sort of assisted living facility, which I thought that was hilarious. Yeah. He's got a gun. He's got a gun. So Bernadette has agreed that he needs to live somewhere else at least.

[00:29:32] At the very least, if not, made the recommendation to put him in a home. You're talking about her and her husband not maybe getting along anymore. Who knows what happened, right, when John turned his back on everything. We have a sense of what happened to John. He obviously repaired his relationship with at least one of his brothers. And one of his brothers likes him enough to accept money from him. Or he likes rap enough. Yeah.

[00:29:59] This is going to be like, he's bankrolling like Pat McAfee's album, right? Like, that's what his brother is actually working on. Oh, let's hope not. I don't think there's anything worse. It was interesting. The time jump, this is the first time we've been back to 2026, right? Since the first episode. Yes. And all of the things that he wanted, even if he didn't say it, you know, he wanted to be a part of his family. In more, a way that was bigger than he actually was.

[00:30:28] It's clearly disturbed by, remember when Hal tells him about his mom getting sick? Mm-hmm. And the machine shuts down. Like, he's like, so deeply cares for them. And now he gets the thing that he wants. He thought he wanted the ring. He's like, I don't actually want this. And now he has his family. And he's like, ugh. I think I feel the same way, but in a much more complex way. Because it's like, you can't undo all of the years that led to there, right?

[00:30:53] I think that's maybe where the show started to do a little bit more than is typically done in the genre. It's asking you to think about, like, well, you can't go back, you know? Well, we're sitting here talking about it with thorough interest about these characters. What great writing and acting for us to say, well, I wonder more about this person and what's going on with mom and dad, you know, off screen. It's a nod to good stuff, I think.

[00:31:22] And I do think, Blaine, I might be using this incorrectly, but like, Jon Stewart sort of being with that and where he is emotionally right now in 2026 sort of being a foil to Hal, who in many ways is like, it's best to just have no one yet. Is that true? Like, is that true? You know. Or they're certainly juxtaposed to one another. I guess that's what I mean, and I think that they do that. It's done well.

[00:31:46] And then it's kind of to have an inversion with Hal maybe being closer to Bernadette than, you know, like, it's definitely, you know, the price of getting what you want is getting what you thought you wanted, right? Always. Expand on that. That's interesting. That is a quote from The Sandman. I didn't come up with that. But there's a bit where in the end of the massive spoilers for The Sandman. At the end of The Sandman, when a dream realizes he has to become something new.

[00:32:17] And so he dies. And this baby, Daniel, that had been born in dreams becomes the new dream. And what Daniel says to his – and Daniel's mother has been trying to get him back. And she does, but he's not her child in a recognizable way anymore. And he says to her, you know, like, the price of getting what you want is getting what you thought you wanted. Wow. I'll have to think about that one. It's, you know, I'm not going to stick up for the creator here because there's some pretty bad and disappointing stuff there.

[00:32:47] But it's a pretty great series. Yeah. Well, now we see how Guy Gardner became Green Lantern for the recent Superman movie. And Donovan, you said you enjoyed his couple of appearances here. I did. I loved it. Even the – like, the way – the bowl cut, the way he's, like – he's shilling products. Yeah, energy drinks, I think. Yeah.

[00:33:10] In the Superman movie, for what it's worth, Guy Gardner is – he is working with Hot Girl and Mr. Terrific and possibly Metamorpho at the end. And they're putting together what seems to be a nascent version of the Justice League or the Justice Society of America. So he's got his different uniform. He's a cranky guy. He's kind of a hothead. He's definitely not as smart as Haller John. Like, that's how he's always been. Might need a punch in the face. Yeah.

[00:33:39] Extremely punchable guy. Extremely, yeah. That's why I loved that they put, like, probably, in my opinion, the least likable Green Lantern as the Green Lantern they introduced in the Superman movie. I thought that was hilarious. And I really – I enjoyed that they have Guy Gardner as the Lantern because he's the Lantern that most people are going to be like, who? I do remember him in the comments. Yeah, because he's got the bowl cut. Yeah, yeah. It's hard to forget. It's hard to forget. I appreciate the logic the writers used.

[00:34:09] I think less thoughtful shows would avoid. The townsfolk hate the Green Lantern, so we mentioned that. That just makes sense to me. Like, that would – a small town that got ruined would want someone to blame. People like to blame others, and rather than someone who's gone like Zoe, the Manhunter, the lanterns are the obvious target for their anger.

[00:34:32] It's just a nice moment that allowed, of course, the scene to happen with John fighting five different men. To show, you know, give you an example of, yeah, he's still got it. He's still a Marine. He's tough. Another small detail I loved, did you note how John held that shotgun? Yes. Yes. That's from his Marine days, and what it does is when you hold it that way, it allows you not to have to aim because the gun's just at eye level.

[00:35:00] You just fire when you see something. Did you look this up? Bronson Click told me about this. There you go. Once again, I'm telling you, he's my Monday morning sidekick. I assumed, based on everything else in this show, that that – you know the Simpsons where it's Lou's birthday, and Wiggum lets him hold his gun sideways because it looks cool? Yeah. He's holding his pistol? Yeah. I assumed it was not just because it looked cool. No. Which it did look cool with John doing it. Yeah.

[00:35:30] He knows exactly what he's doing with a firearm. Something we didn't talk about yet is John's being blackmailed by one of those cafe waitresses, a scene I found interesting, if only to have Aaron Pierre do more with other actors. Mm-hmm. But it helped paint his character in Richard Shades. He gets to roll his eyes and show a few expressions that, hey, I got bigger shit to deal with than you right now. Yeah. Which we, you know, we as viewers know about.

[00:35:58] I think one of the best blackmail scenes in a recent film history, at least, and certainly in comic book world, is when the Wayne Industries employee tries to blackmail him. And Morgan Freeman has to be like, so you think that your boss, the guy who owns this company, rides around at night and beats people up and you're going to extort him? Strong idea. Yeah.

[00:36:22] What's your aim here to extort this guy who just left five townspeople unconscious on the pavement? Like, what are you going to do? I guess you're hoping he won't hurt a woman. Yeah, but not that you're in physical danger, but like, clearly you're confronting something that is much bigger than your scope, you know? Yeah.

[00:36:47] Obviously, it's a huge deal to her because when she says who she is, you're like, oh, yeah, maybe they should have made right there. But it brought up the idea, too, of like, you know, there's always the joke of like, who's paying for the rebuild after Spider-Man battles someone on the high rises in New York or whatever? Right. Yeah. And here, the answer is no one.

[00:37:11] No one's insurance covered, I don't know, extraterrestrial battle and there's bodies everywhere and people just left. And in some ways, it's like the stand-in for like a Walmart coming in and ruining a place and then packing up shop and moving on. Mm-hmm. Yeah, Rushfield gets left behind. Right. It's collateral. Do either of you have an itch for John to wear the ring for good, perhaps, or do some superhero shit with it?

[00:37:38] And when he put it on, it's like, yeah, come on, just like fly. Do it a little bit. The thing we like him so much at this point, right, or I do. Yeah. You want to see him, why not flex a little bit? Especially in an episode where he's just shown to be so worn down by life. Beleaguered is the word I was thinking of with him. He's getting it from every angle.

[00:38:06] Getting Hal's consciousness will be able to open up that box thing in storage. So that's obviously where we're going with an episode tonight. When we first see Hal, he's covered in snow, this frigid Nebraska night, right? Yes. And then they show the diner's been in the snow. He ends up back at Hal's house. Everything's covered in the snow.

[00:38:33] Within 24 hours, there's not any snow in that town. Yes. Now, you live fairly far north. Is this possible? The Great Plains were completely different in the northeast. I don't know if this is meteorologically possible, but my understanding is because the cold air will rush down from Canada, and you can get really cold and snowy. And all that snow is going to go away.

[00:38:58] But I think by the same metric, I'm assuming the warmer air can rush in really quickly. But you'd have to ask a denizen of the plains, not myself. And all that snow can go away, and he can be buried in a green field. Say, it wouldn't happen in my town. I have my doubts. I have my doubts. You know another show that had snow in it this week? Dead Lasso. Follow the Anger was the name of the episode. It gets the show closer to its season finale.

[00:39:28] Earlier, I said that this episode, Follow the Anger, had a solid through line. And I felt that the theme of missing someone you love and having anxiety about that feeling, or missing something you love, I should say. And that can be a someone. And then having anxiety about that feeling. I thought that was a part of all the plot lines. And with that, the show did well. Five stars out of five for that.

[00:39:53] I would give it a thumbs up for especially Alice and Roy having, like not in a sad, but almost a kind of melancholy way. Like realizing their relationship to something that's gone forever. That they loved it. And then kind of, yeah, this is Ted Lasso, so they kind of step forward in a healthy way out of that. But that happens to all of us, right? Like as we age, there's just naturally going to be things that like, I assume if I live long enough, at some point I'm going to be like,

[00:40:24] I used to love riding my bike. I used to love doing that and I can't do it anymore. We're right back to Bruce Springsteen, aren't we? Mm-hmm. I was assuming we would have some fallout with Ted, at least internally. Him not mulling over Gemma getting hurt by leaving her in and not making her come out. But the episode doesn't do that. He trucks right along per usual.

[00:40:52] I wonder if that's, well, one, you had to have Alice go through it, right? So there's like an in-universe writer's reason. But also, Ted has been a coach for a long time at this point. And he coached football. He has seen injuries and maybe understands that, yeah, you do have to keep going. I really, really want a future season or two of Ted going back to college and winning a national championship. There's your show.

[00:41:21] I'd watch that. Did you like the football montage of all the goals and saves that Gemma and others were getting? It was fun. Yeah, it was fun. I thought so, too. They're doing a good job. I love that kind of stuff. I'm a sucker for it. Right, like the belief sign gets filled up with addendums, which was fun. And they climb up the table and, yeah, Rebecca Lowe gets to call very exciting moments in soccer.

[00:41:47] I'll say that I felt seen watching Ted struggle with Irish names as much as I do. That really did make me laugh. Once you see them spelled, you can't say them correctly or I can't. He's like pronouncing the H's. He's wondering where the B's are. The way they introduced the joke as he's known these people for months at this point and he finally sees it written down and almost has a jump scare about it. That's pretty funny. That made me laugh. That's how you say that?

[00:42:16] And then his joke, like why can't they have normal Irish names like Bono? The Edge. That was a good – that was your YouTube joke. It was good. He spelled The Edge right. D-A-E-D-G-E. D-A-E-D-G-E. D-A-E-D-G-E. And then the continuation of him being on the field again and still puzzling with it and Beard being like, you're a visual learner. It's like strength and awareness. He can't do it anymore. He can't say their names. I admit that. That was good.

[00:42:44] That was my two favorite jokes this season have been Ted running in with the trash can on his head and Beard right behind him. And then when he realized his beard ran in to support him and that joke. My two favorite of the season. Those were good. Those were good. Early on, we get Jim at home with little to do. She's awaiting an MRI with a doctor who's an asshole as it turns out. So Alice comes over for a visit. But that goes awry since Gemma says that she's not even interested in returning to football.

[00:43:11] Law school and internships is a lie for her. Well, and Alice was served the wrong refreshment too. She's a coffee person. Did she confirm that? No, she never confirmed it. The mom got it wrong. Because I'm a coffee person if I ever come to your house. Who isn't? You're getting peppermint tea, plain. Eh, I drink it, but I drink coffee. To be polite, I would. You would reluctantly drink it. Was it feasible enough to have Gemma go from No More Football to Yes, I'm Back with the Greyhounds?

[00:43:41] Did the show earn that? It works for me just because I assume being, you know, they sat down and they do an okay job for me of like showing the impact that an injury can have on people. Like you're obviously mentally all over the place probably. Mm-hmm. You know, like that worked fine for me. Though it was funny, she didn't really seem too all over the place, right? Like she's making what we have to call a responsible decision. Yeah, no, she's basically- Based on the money. She's making rational choices, yeah.

[00:44:11] Yeah, I don't mean that she's like out of control. You're not going to get rich sticking it out. And last week, we saluted them for- Was it last week where the women were like, what am I supposed to believe in? I can barely pay my rent. And then you see Gemma is like choosing between playing this and this very nice law school internship while in a very, very, very nice house in London. Like the stakes are pretty low for her.

[00:44:40] Like if she chooses to keep playing, that's great. But it's not like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to like have a great career and what it like. She's going to be fine. She got family money. My ignorance will show here, but is law school not free in England? Well, I'm saying the- I don't think it's free. No, it wouldn't be free. But like she's going to that internship and she's going to be set for life in whatever field she wants to.

[00:45:09] And like her choosing to continue playing, it's not like that's like a big limb to go out on. Like some of her teammates, if they had a certainty of an internship that leads to an upper class career, they should probably take it, right? Instead of continuing to play for pennies. Yeah. Okay. Makes sense. When the show struggles to be funny, I think it really struggles. Unfortunately, yes.

[00:45:32] And it has, I think, one of the- if we're just looking at the humor, one of the weaknesses the show has is it has things, repeated things that I think are funnier than they are. Yeah. And it's like, I'm glad that you're enjoying yourself. Yeah. But this week I thought it was Roy's car. I thought that was pretty unworthy for screen, painful to watch.

[00:45:55] You know, honestly, the joke that his PS5 had to be on all the time for updates, that actually made me laugh. That was the one. Of course, Roy and Keely are going to get back together. That was all for naught, it felt like, but we've been predicting as much. A less obvious moment than usual for the show is when Ted sits by Alice and just starts regulating his breathing for her to mimic and calm down.

[00:46:23] And that was a nice, truly emotional, in a way, moment. Yeah, it's a show that's known for its overly saccharine moments, and I thought that was a welcome one. I thought it was kind of brave in its own way, too, from a show standpoint, to devote 30-some seconds to basically nothing happening. Mm-hmm. In silence, almost. I think the show can kind of be summed up with two things from this episode.

[00:46:49] One is Roy and Keely on the tube, which, when I was talking in the non-spoilers about a new way of shooting, or not a new way, but this felt like a new ground, right? Like, they go in this public space, and it's kind of handheld, and all of the story was based on their expressions. Mm-hmm. Like, it felt much more like the end of a romantic movie than an episode of Ted Lasso. And I thought that those two actors did a good job with a thing they're usually not asked to do in this show. Do I really care?

[00:47:20] Uh, yeah. Yeah, well. And I think that's what, one of the moments you have to say, like, how much do I care about this? And that's probably also your answer to how much, how good do I think this show is. And the other one is when Alice goes to see Gemma on the morning of her scan, and, like, she said, I can't remember what she says, is they're wheeling her out of the room. But you know that the whole organization is going to be outside the door, waiting on her. Mm-hmm. And, like, does that emotionally affect you or not?

[00:47:49] And depending on your answer to that is also probably says something about how good you think the show is. Absolutely. I agree with that. That's funny that that was the moment you noticed for the director to do a little something different for Ted Lasso, because mine was, the camera did a movement style. I haven't noticed in other episodes when it was showing Alice in a shot, it just moved a little differently. And I was curious who the director was, and I failed to pay attention to that.

[00:48:18] So, shame on me. They have a downer of a practice, and Ted gives a speech to them, but it's really for Alice and how hurt she is. But I'll say this, if Ted really wanted to get it right, he would send a message to his team and assistant coach through yelling at the media, a la Nick Saban, rather than this method. Absolutely.

[00:48:41] But for a scene, I like that he did that, as obvious as it was and how quickly, you know, obvious that's what he was doing. I guess how quick it's easy, how easy it was to notice that's where it was going. But, yes, the classic Nick Saban of yelling at the media. I don't know if that'll ever get old, and it's never about the media. Do you love, one of the things that I loved in that dynamic is, like, he, like, he kind of, he was, like, if you look at him, like, the beginning of coaching in Alabama to the end, like, he's still pretty prickly, but he's worn it off.

[00:49:10] But, like, I think it was the same season he called him rat poison. Like, he has a moment where he's like, now, look, I know I'll give y'all a lotta, but I really appreciate y'all. It's, like, it's so funny. Yeah. I'd like to see Ted do something like that. That's more of a Roy Kent move, unfortunately. Very much. You're right about that. The only storyline that didn't feel like of a piece, but if you squint hard enough, it kind of is.

[00:49:34] It's Leslie Higgins attempting to track down who's buying up the shares, or at least making everyone sell their shares. I was genuinely surprised at this, because in my head, I was like, well, it makes sense that it's Rupert, but Anthony Hatt has passed away, unfortunately. Yeah. So I was genuinely surprised. I was genuinely surprised.

[00:49:56] I thought that him having the meeting in the cellar was pretty cheesy, but I was really okay with having more Leslie Higgins in those small doses. Higgins, you know, he's having fun because he's never done any skullduggery before. Mm-hmm. And that's at least part of the joke, which I enjoyed. Yeah. I like that the woman said, you know, powerful men like you in these great suits. Yeah. And then she just started coming on to him for the rest of the, that was great.

[00:50:25] He seems mildly pleased, but a little uncertain. Right. Oh, the lady at the door. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It did make me laugh a little bit that it was Higgins and Ted that start singing the Elvis Costello song. It's like, of course Higgins, he loves music. Yeah, he's a music fanatic. He's a real music guy. But you're right, Rebecca and Zelda and Higgins land on Rupert being the bad guy again, but you got to think Zelda has to play into this. Somehow. All signs point to that, especially with that actor not being alive.

[00:50:56] Yeah, since the actor's not alive, it's probably something like that. But I'll say even Beard's one second of storyline with his hair plugs. With his hair plugs. Lined up with missing something and having anxiety over that loss. Even that was like, it fits, you know, in its own way. It was hilarious and quick bit to fit a motif there. Yeah. What's the disease that Tobias gets from his hair plugs? It's like GVH or something. Graft versus ghost.

[00:51:25] I'm afraid Beard might get some GVH. I'd rather give money to TBD. Well, I think that's it for us for this episode. Remember, if you can't get an MRI, it's because you're in America where we don't have national health care. And you'll probably have a fucking deductible even if you do manage to get one. So have a great week, everyone.