'Ted Lasso' Improves and 'Lanterns' Make a Launch

[00:00:01] Hey y'all, welcome back. It's Taking It Down, the TV podcast from The Alabama Take. Today on the podcast we're talking about the television show Furious, Ted Lasso, and Lanterns from HBO. And then on spoiler side, we'll only talk about Ted Lasso's third episode and the premiere of Lanterns on HBO. We at Taking It Down are getting closer and closer to our 300th episode. This is episode 293.

[00:00:28] And whether you're a first-time listener or a fan for a while, it's time for you to join the show. Send in a question or comment by using the form in the show notes. Or you can go to thealabamatake.com and send an email. We'll use these questions on air unless you specify otherwise. And thanks for helping us get this far. But for now, let's get into our episode. An Alabama Take projection.

[00:00:59] Hey Adam, hey Donovan. Hey Blaine. Hi Blaine. I'm coming in hot today with some good news. Blaine's got news. I'm ready. The second season of Chad Powers is premiering on Hulu in 11 days. Still, probably the two-time, I mean I haven't seen the new season, but the two-time award winner of the Better Than It Needs To Be show. It's good. Truly great, I think.

[00:01:27] I'm not even making a snarky remark. It was funny. I thought it had some depth. Good treat for a college football fan. Very good treat. I said it last year when we were talking about it. I said it. But there's something. Glenn Powell, I really do think is pretty good. And there's something in his eyes as he's panicking. As he has to say something insane as Chad.

[00:01:52] I'm really hoping that this TV season follows the college football season like it did last year. It almost followed certain team schedules so that in the fictional world of Chad Powers, they were playing Tennessee while an Alabama would be playing Tennessee that same week. It had a fun rhythm to it. It did. Just kind of like a bonus. That and, you know, we got, I haven't watched it yet. Saving it for myself as a little treat.

[00:02:22] We got new Sunny on FX as well. I mean, TV's packed right now. I truly thought that the focus group episode from the last season was one of the all-time great Sunny episodes. Like it said it was so funny and it was so smart and it said so much. And I think that, you know, at the worst, you usually get a chuckle. But that they're still like making best in the series shows at this point in their career is astounding. So I'm always going to tune in until they die.

[00:02:51] Have you seen the new episode for the new season? Not yet. Saving it as a little treat. Okay. There are two actually and I've seen one of the two. It's just classic Sunny. Oh, we'll keep this next conversation into non-spoilers only this week. But Donovan, how are you standing with the Hulu show Furious? Like, are you asking like yes or no? Am I still watching it? Just how do you feel about it with three episodes down? Good.

[00:03:19] I felt especially good about like by the third episode things that were happening in the first episode. Like kind of all clicked together and start making sense. So I'm like, okay, okay. There's some forethought there. It's still been interesting for me. Heavy topic. With this show, I don't even know if I'm like qualified to be like, no, this is a serious and good take on this subject or this is sensationalist.

[00:03:46] I'm enjoying it, but I'm not sure if I am the best person to wrangle the politics of it all. Yeah, I initially labeled it as a very feminist show, but I think it's doing a lot more than that now that I've watched four. Well, I think it is still very feminist, you know. Yes. Especially in that all the women are the most centered characters. We really only have one, really only one male character who's more than peripheral. Maybe two.

[00:04:14] Scoop McNary doing fine work. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But it does take a feminist look at a lot more than just feminism. It's a look at relationships, mental damage, bureaucracy, specific systems. It's all of those things. And I think it's doing it with aplomb. You know, all the while telling a fascinating story that you want to keep watching. Yeah. I think it's good.

[00:04:38] We watched third episode last night, and, you know, it still felt like it was moving at kind of a high level. The fourth episode, which I watched last night, is so subtle in how great it is, both in its themes and its narrative. And they stick with you. And I think it's obvious at this point how the title fits really perfectly. Yeah. You know, you were wondering about that a couple of weeks ago.

[00:05:04] I mean, that was my suspicion that that was how it was going to unfold. But it's like, yes, it is. There are several people here who are furious. And it deepens. And plus, like all good shows that involve detectives inspecting a case, it doles out answers and raises new ones with the right symmetry. Maybe that's kind of what I meant with the – or that is a part of what I meant when I said stuff in the third episode makes stuff from the first.

[00:05:29] But I kind of completely neglected to mention that, like, yeah, as a detective procedural – not procedural, but like as a detective slash crime show, it's working very well. Like if you're just simply a fan of the genre and that's your only interest in this, I suspect that you would find this very entertaining. Mm-hmm. I don't think you're wrong to call it a procedural. It has so many of those components. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:05:55] Now, if you're not necessarily a fan of crime and detective shows, give this one two episodes if you've got the time. It might actually be for you, despite the genre. That feels right. We'll switch to another series which we'll discuss in both spoilers as well as here in non-spoilers. It's the Apple TV hit Ted Lasso. Probably their biggest hit, I suspect. Yes. Ever.

[00:06:21] The show – to me, the show finally got back into what it should be with this episode. It's third. I still have gripes on two storylines, which I bet you can guess which two of the plot lines I'm referencing, but I thought it was a pretty good episode. I thought it was good. I'll tell you what my gripe is. These episodes get longer and longer. Mm-hmm. Which leads to one of my things I'll say in spoilers.

[00:06:45] I'm half being silly, but I have – I think like I said last time, I do agree or I do think that sometimes the tighter 30 minutes can do you a favor, a la Arrested Development being incredible in 22 to 23 minutes. And then not so great when they had time to spread their wings.

[00:07:06] You know, I have to admit, I think maybe before the season even started, we talked about the fact that this show has diehards who just want to exist in that universe, you know? I mean, they want it to be good, of course, but on the show length thing, this is two weeks running now where our dog has like decided he wanted to go out in the middle of the episode so we have to pause.

[00:07:30] And I actually see where we are and I have been surprised both times at how much time has passed. Okay. In a good way. You know, when the first season hit, it was such a well-timed, warm blanket and maybe my brain unconsciously is telling me that I need the same thing right now due to the daily deluge of the world we live in. I don't know. But the length of the show is not bothering me.

[00:07:58] I know that that comes up with y'all and it comes up with other folks. Maybe that's the only non-spoilery thing that I have to say is, hey, I mean, if Ted wants me to hang out for a while, I'll hang for a while. Sure, there are worse things in this world. My wife watches this show like with just like a grin on her face the whole time. So clearly it's doing, clearly it's good for people. The runtime didn't feel as unwelcome this week. They covered a little more ground, I think. That's true. In the story. In the story.

[00:08:28] Also, actual soccer came back this week. So everyone's very happy. You mean IRL. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And in the show. And in the show too. Yeah. I'd say on the good side, we get more Roy Kent, although he coaches the men's squad. That's really not a spoiler. I don't think that this is a spoiler, what I'm going to say. Sometimes Roy annoys me.

[00:08:51] And if you've seen the previous three seasons, I think one of their weaknesses sometimes is they'll have a character like Roy who they just have like, oh, make him do the thing. So Roy's just, fuck. Yeah. A little one note. Exactly. Like sometimes it's funny, but when it's all the time, it's kind of like, I can see you acting. Like, especially now having seen him do other things in other productions. It's like, oh man, come on.

[00:09:19] You can, you don't have to like, I don't know what he does, scream the entire day before the shoot. Right. And then come in with a deep voice and tough guy it out. He's quite the gruff. I like the character. I like the actor. But sometimes I, if I, I think that's not a spoiler. I think that's pretty obvious to anyone who's watched. It does work sometimes. Like I can think of one instance in this most recent episode where it kind of made me laugh. Sometimes it really works.

[00:09:47] Other times you're like, yeah, there's the shtick again. You just get, you hit the button too much, you know, it's, it overstimulates you. This week I thought it balanced its weaknesses with its strengths. Much more watchable episode. I could take a lot more of these if they continued in this path. That's interesting, Blaine, because this week I felt that it balanced its strengths with its weaknesses. Quite the dichotomy. You know, week zero is this week.

[00:10:15] Donovan's going to be looking for him to establish the run over there in Ireland. Based on what I saw of Bill Belichick's North Carolina team last year, they might want to consider establishing the run. I think he's got some surprises. Totally different conversation. While we're in the middle of a conversation or moving into one, let's talk about this week we got HBO's new series Lanterns on the docket. It's the show based off the DC Comics story, usually called Green Lantern in comic form.

[00:10:43] And the Green Lanterns are basically space cops. Yeah. I think they even say that a couple of times in the episode. Lanterns stars Kyle Chandler, one of the many Green Lanterns, and also in the cast is Aaron Pierre. Kelly MacDonald is featured as a sheriff with Garrett Dillahunt on board as her father-in-law. Fans of Deadwood would definitely recognize him in other shows. The plot's in motion when Aaron Pierre's character, Jon Stewart,

[00:11:10] is in training to be a new Green Lantern, and under the tutelage of Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan. The first episode felt like a slow roll on where it wants to go to the point where I was even uncertain if I liked it that much as a single episode of television. Hmm. Interesting. I mean, I think for me going in, knowing that this is serial, pretty clearly like it's serialized, guys. So as an intro, I liked it.

[00:11:40] I liked it fine. I think the things about shows like this have been – I actually thought it was a pretty interesting first. Like I was interested. Yeah. But often these things tend to get a little creaky two or three episodes into the season. So just because I like one episode doesn't mean that there's not a saggy stretch in the middle. There often is. One thing that definitely kept me holding on was that it had such a promising cast and crew.

[00:12:09] Even a small role in the episode had Chris Coy, who was doing great work. And of course, we discussed last week that the writers and creators are Damon Lindelof of Watchmen of Lost as well, and The Leftovers. Chris Monday from True Detective and Tom King with some great run of comics, I understand. Yes. It felt like different enough that I'm like – different enough.

[00:12:36] I guess when I say different enough, I mean that specifically in like – it felt different from Marvel TV shows. At least in this first episode. We'll see how it goes forward. It also had a treat for college football fans. Yes, it did. Which was fun. You can almost see the Don Draper pitch though. It's what if Green Lanterns met True Detective? It's funny that people keep saying True Detective because it just doesn't really have that – it's like, okay, there's two guys working together.

[00:13:05] But like I think unless something very drastically changes in this series, I'm not sure I would compare it to True Detective. It's more incidental that it's like, yes, there are two police officers of a sort that happen to be trying to solve a mystery. Oh, and there's different timelines. It's an easy jump I think in some scenes and with Chris Monday as one of the writers and creators. I get it.

[00:13:29] And I mean I think the show itself is not upset if you, the viewer, draw that comparison. They're not going to get all teary-eyed about that. Do they drink Space Lone Star? No, it's all on Earth, so just Lone Star. And they have some beers. They do have some beers. Cold beers? Oh, they're cold beers. Let's just say there's a little scene at a roadhouse. And that's it. That's all we'll say. That's it. In fact. That's all.

[00:13:56] That's all we'll say so that on the other side of this break, which is coming up, you can hear more if you've seen the episode or if you don't mind spoilers. So we'll talk to you there.

[00:14:35] Okay, it's time for spoilers and we'll get right back into Ted Lasso and the third episode this season titled Richmond's Got Talent, where the coaches are scrambling to find a striker or three to replace their strikers lost an injury into pregnancy. This is the Lady Greyhounds. It's going to happen. So my new cat, Kiki, the kitten, is a lot more responsive to TV than any of the other cats used to be.

[00:14:58] So when this episode began on the high-pitched howl of that woman yelling, fuck, she was very interested. Quite a different opening than previous episodes. Early in the episode, I was thinking that this show really needs charisma and star power from someone on the team, and I haven't seen it yet. And then, it's almost as soon as I thought it, an actor from Game of Thrones and Andor,

[00:15:27] Faye Marseille is her name, stepped in line at the tryouts, and I just thought to myself, this show's about to get better. I was so pleased to see her. I loved her in Andor. I did. She's fabulous. I mean, everything about Andor was fabulous, but she's very good. One of the faceless men. Yep. And not long after Marseille came on as Lizzie, we got to meet Abby Hearn's Gemma. And she, too, seemed to have some really good energy, some likability that the show needed on the ladies' team.

[00:15:57] And I think with those two in place, this show definitely feels like it's going to go in a good direction. Gemma's there to make me feel bad about myself. Go on. For not being in law school. Law school, and just dropped into winning athletics events at a professional level. Yeah. And balancing the two defiantly. Couldn't do both. You know, I think this may be one of the issues. I think you alluded to it maybe in the intro, and I'm sure we're going to get to it.

[00:16:26] I don't want to jump ahead too much. But I think that there was potential with the team as it existed for them to take on more storylines. And maybe my one gripe is let the team shine a little bit. I'm sure that that'll come. Yeah, they're more background so far. You know, like we got the twins that are fighting, the goalie who's crazy. I've forgotten their other traits. Right. Yeah, exactly. You know?

[00:16:55] There's some meat on the bone there, though, is what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, no, I agree with you. I love the head fake they did with Danny Rojas, Sister Maria. You thought she was just going to be a stellar player. That was like a dream-like penalty. And I don't mean in a good way. I mean in the, I'm trying to punch someone, and it's like I'm swinging pillows. You know what I mean? Yeah. Swimming underwater. Yeah. That made me laugh.

[00:17:22] There was some good, I think that there's some good physical comedy this episode. Just give me a little physical comedy. I'll laugh. Ted going full on into the door and falling over. That was pretty fun. That made me chuckle. That was pretty good for some slapstick stuff. I even thought they used Beard's character to perfection in this one. He needs quick and easy one-liners in relation to Ted, not a whole plot line where he's trying to disguise himself. I liked that better than you did. Yeah.

[00:17:51] But his reaction about, my mom was a bartender. That was great. I used to think these were kid cups, the shot glasses. That's good stuff. Yeah. That's actual like, that's not just quirky for quirky's sake. That's like everybody in that scene grew a little bit as a character because of that. What's a worse sign for your team than having to stream it on a computer, not an actual television channel? But they got Rebecca Lowe there to call the game.

[00:18:20] I was about to say that. Yeah. Both of those ladies playing themselves. Am I right about this? Yes. Blaine, as you will discover, as you, for those listeners at home, we have still not convinced Blaine to actually watch a Premier League game ever, despite me having watched it for many, many years. And Donovan, I mean, Donovan's been in for over 10 years at this point. Oh, for sure.

[00:18:46] But now Blaine has a fantasy team, which I find hilarious. Having never watched a Premier League game, I do have a fantasy Premier League team. Right. That's what I'm getting at. So you will know Rebecca Lowe soon. What's your team, Blaine? Is it Leeds? You know, they spent a long time not being in the PL. I think that's the biggest thing, my biggest hurdle right now is if I just pick a team. Choose one based on the mascot. They're all English people.

[00:19:15] So it's not a good start for the Lady Greyhounds other than they do win the friendly. They get the victory, but everything else seems to be trending downward. Not great. Some signs of life. If Rebecca was able to save the relationship with the sponsor. But yeah, everyone has made it pretty clear that they're not interested in women's soccer. They're interested in the Champions League. And that's a real life thing, isn't it?

[00:19:43] That people would much rather watch the men's league than the ladies' league. I mean, look at even in the US. How long it took for the NWSL to get pretty regular showings on something that wasn't ION. Not that there's anything wrong with ION. I mean, it does also... It makes the stakes of the budgeting a little bit better. Not that the show needs to be grounded in realism, but if you have a team that has been...

[00:20:13] That you've already cared about its ascendance, right? Like, we care about Richmond in this universe. And the fans are rightfully pointing out that they're on the cusp of kind of the next level. And now, even if it's not that they don't like women's sports, it's like, why are we doing any new business venture when we're so close to achieving this other thing? That could be tied to its downfall.

[00:20:41] Now, of course, that's all tinged with sexism. But I mean, it does show that there are... You know, Rebecca is taking a risk on this. Though her going into that office and doubling down and being like, you people sponsor wars? Why can't you just give me some money for this thing that is very worthwhile in this multitude of ways? It was great. Reminds me of the old Norm Macdonald joke.

[00:21:07] The next time I watch the WNBA will be the first time I watch the WNBA. It's a very sexist joke, but I had to say it. Because it's Norm. I've actually liked... You know, I think there's a way that this plotline could be... Not the plotline of women's sports, pervasive sexism, things like that. Could be done and done poorly. I've actually kind of liked it as the engine

[00:21:33] that's driving some of the drama here. You know, I think it's an interesting stake that's as good as the men... For me, at least, as good as the men being like, hey, are we going to stay in the Premier League? You know, for them, it's like, are we even going to survive? Can we do this? Can we make people care? It's good. I like it. So kudos to the writers. I think it's even higher stakes because it's like... Yeah. The men's players, if they were to crash out,

[00:22:02] will still have jobs somewhere. You know? Yeah. They're in this very established system, and now you have people who are... I mean, you bring your kid to practice because you deserve one more shot at the game, and you're really good. Those are pretty damn high stakes. Yeah, good point. You know? Yeah, like they said in the first episode, it's only people who really love it, right? No one's getting rich here.

[00:22:28] I love the slight story of having to bring the kid to practice. Plus, not only was it good, not only did it fit a larger thematic element, but it also gave Ted the best line of the episode, I think, was when he said, who the hell was that? That made me laugh, where he's completely unconcerned in that. Yeah, he gets to show his strength. That made me laugh. That was a good scene. It was a good scene,

[00:22:56] and it set up a nice mirror with his kid, right, that has been moved across an ocean to watch his dad do what he loves. Lucky little wanker. Yeah. But at the same time, yes, the kid is fortunate, and yes, Ted is assuming... We assume he makes a nice salary and all of that, but then you have a mother who is also showing her child you can do things, which is awesome.

[00:23:24] His son is relatively nonplussed by having to move across the country. Go to a new school. Yeah, new friends. Doesn't really want to have to go to the women's games every week, but other than that... Tough man, that's what you signed up for. Well, then they scored, and he seemed more excited. Yeah. Everything's more exciting. Winning solves all problems. Mm-hmm. So then it comes to the bad of the episode.

[00:23:54] Why does Ted Lasso, the show, seem to think that we would have any interest in Rebecca and her boyfriend to have such a big storyline of him getting stood up not once, not twice, but three times? Like, I understand that he's taking it pretty well. Maybe he's a little disappointed, but it's like, dude, it's the middle of the week. Yeah. She's accountable to shareholders. She's busy. First of all, what does he do for a living that he can just saunter to England?

[00:24:23] Isn't he a pilot or something? Oh, that's right. Yes. Is that what he does? Yeah. Well, that makes a lot more sense. But I get that it colors Rebecca as busy and important. We already know that, though, but it also presents this true notion that women have to work all the more harder to get to where men are. But what does her boyfriend offer that you couldn't put that in another storytelling method? And I was deeply curious

[00:24:51] as to how he was able to leave the country willy-nilly and just pop over to England, but I'm glad you guys reminded me of that. I thought it was an insipid storyline. Europe is very small, Blaine. Well, in comparison, I suppose. You can get to the Netherlands, to England, in, you know, no time. Even if he wasn't a pilot. Hell, some people can swim the English Channel. I'll be damned. I do think, you don't think it gives her a bit... We've seen her date.

[00:25:20] Obviously, that's been a big part at times. But, like, here she's kind of putting herself out there in this maybe more conventional relationship that's supposed to, like, flesh out her character more. You know? Maybe in a showing growth kind of way. Yeah, I've always thought that they should flesh her out a little more, but this is kind of a boring way to do it. It took up a lot of screen time. Yes. And back to the top, to my comments,

[00:25:45] I would much rather know more about the twin centerbacks or the keeper than him being stood up the third or fourth time. Yeah. Yeah, it just wasn't super engaging. It's like, okay, you know, that's cool. It's probably tapping into the idea that football is important to these folks, but that just wasn't a theme I saw playing out much more with other characters. So it just could have used a tighter focus, I think.

[00:26:16] And think about it. If you allow Rebecca to have a storyline where you do get to see her character colored in more and it wasn't this, you could easily shave 10 minutes off this episode. Mm-hmm. Or reallocate it. I think this is what I was feeling when I was like, yes, there's like 10 minutes more than it needs to be. Or maybe, Adam, you might be right. Like, just better used, like you said, with more focus on the team. Yeah. Well, I was going to say, we know a lot about Rebecca.

[00:26:46] It would be kind of nice to see some of the new characters being developed. You do get the nice moments, like her text was, Keely needs me. Yeah. You know, and like, it's just understood, well, I have to be there for her. Yeah. But I think that the core characters' devotion to one another is pretty well established at this point. Yes. It's not a plot point this week, but I thought that in these three episodes, Higgins is starting to become a liability for the show. I can't put my finger on

[00:27:14] if it's Jeremy Swift's too comfortable in the role, but there just seems to be a lack of depth that I felt like he had a little in the first three seasons. The first episode where he goes to the Negro Leagues Museum, that actually made me, and has his spiritual moment, that actually made me laugh. But also, Blaine, I think, I don't think it's the actor. I think he's just, he doesn't have a lot to do yet, if this makes sense. Like, he's basically just showing up there to joke about,

[00:27:44] for jokes about, like, the long report, right? We really only see him during the shareholders meeting. He just hasn't had a lot to do yet. Yeah, he's become a little one note himself in speaking of that. I thought it was great to see Brett Goldstein saying variations of fuck. Because, you know, you can just hear the direction saying, say this when angry. Saying this when sad. And because of that, I was much more forgiving

[00:28:12] than maybe Donovan was. I thought it was kind of funny at times. The shareholders meeting, very funny. That made me laugh. Any more questions? He's like, one, two, lost one, looked like shit. We'll see what happens. I'm like, yeah, that's, what else could a coach say? That's exactly what a press conference should sound like, or that was a press conference. That was, that was, in the line of press conferences that Nick Saban has given. Like, it has that kind of, they share DNA, I guess is what I mean. He's like one loss away

[00:28:42] from shit through a tin horn. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But having Roy Kent trying to get into Keely's life as a boyfriend, it's like I said last week. We've been here. We've done that. That would have been the other one that I, I could have maybe taken a little time out of that side of the scale and put it onto the team. Mm-hmm. Although I liked him bringing the binder that just opened up to say, fuck them.

[00:29:11] That was good. I'm assuming that was printed on every page, just that. But you know what? You could have Roy Kent doing that and them being a couple. Yeah, you could. Already. Although we did get to zip back to his sister and his niece. That was nice. I always liked to see the niece. She's eerie. So yeah, I thought, like I said at the top, good balance. I think the strengths balanced out some of these weaknesses to where I didn't mind spending the 45 minutes or 47 minutes

[00:29:41] with the episode. It very well could be finding a nice groove, especially with those two new players whom I find interesting. And there's a third new player. She's been a, more of a cameo appearance and Ted's acknowledged her throughout the first three seasons, but I don't even think she had a name up until this episode. Mm-hmm. I thought it was his psychologist for a second at first glance. And then I thought, no,

[00:30:11] that's not her. Wouldn't that be interesting if she came and tried out? There's your storyline, Ted Lasso. Free ideas. You're right. I've been pleasantly surprised at this season. I didn't have huge expectations, but I think maybe this is the episode where we're getting, you know, one, people have kind of said it's kind of a dud, episode one. You know, it took a, they had to re, that's the pivot point, right? Mm-hmm.

[00:30:41] Now, two episodes into him with the team, it's starting to feel, I don't know, like, how do you reboot a show with so many lovable characters and lose all of your support and still, like, pull on the same emotional attachments that we have to the show? And I think they're doing it, which is, as I sit back, it's like, that's a pretty impressive feat, I think. Yeah, they're starting to hit their groove for sure. You have to treat it like it's

[00:31:10] season one, episode one, I would imagine. But still carry on the same heart that attracted people and not even, like, the same brand of heart, but, like, the actual same heart of the show is, you can see that going wrong more than it goes right, I think, in other teams' hands. Yeah, I agree. I could, we could be here on episode three saying, why does this exist? It was clearly just for money and I don't feel that way. No, not at all.

[00:31:39] I feel like they did, I hadn't thought about it. I do feel like they actually had an idea for this season four where they're like, I think we could do something new that adds to it and is not just like, you love these guys, right? That'll be ten bucks for your Ted Lasso hat. Right. Yeah, and it's unpacking some themes that are worth it. So, for sure. We'll see. We feel, I feel a little better about it. I sound like we all do. And we'll shift gears back into Lanterns.

[00:32:10] It's Kyle Chandler, Kelly MacDonald, Aaron Pierre. First episode was just pilot and it aired last Sunday. Which is fun because it was the pilot and Hal Jordan is a pilot. I thought about that. I mean, they just decided, I'm sure they were like, what should we call it? And then they finally just said, well, if we leave it pilot, it's Hal Jordan. He's a pilot. Right. I think they had that conversation. Do our work for us. Well, the viewers do their work. Yeah. I won't say this much

[00:32:39] in the non-spoiler section, but this one didn't meet my expectations. And I'll try to be fair because it seems like a difficult episode to gauge. It held a lot of its cards close to its chest. Yes. The biggest aspect of any mystery was unveiled slowly with the major card falling in that final scene in the snow at the stadium. Yes. Multiple mysteries, really. That's true. There were, yeah, threads of it. I would say we've got

[00:33:08] what happened at the stadium. We've got, which you said, the final scene, but we also have the mystery of why is there another Green Lantern coming off the scene? As well as that destruction that he drives past, which I think was supposed to be Garrett Dillon Hunt's character. I think his name's Will. I think that's supposed to be his place or was it not? I thought it was. Macon, William Macon. I have the cast pulled up. Wise, because it's,

[00:33:39] I feel as if the cast is going to be pretty deep. But yeah, one thing that did give me hope besides the cast and the writers was there was some pretty strong commentary here on immigration in the form of possible aliens being shot for intruding Earth in the scene where Hal gets there and starts investigating what's going on or at least he's on the sidelines of investigating to begin. It's kind of allegorical, I think, in its presentation of that particular theme,

[00:34:09] but I'm thinking that Garrett Dillon Hunt's character, Will Macon, wasn't it a bit bizarre to have him have an almost J.D. Vance-like wife since she was Indian-American? Yeah, I didn't actually think of that, but yeah, that is interesting. I'm sure that's a stretch, but they probably just got the best actors they could. I thought it too, it was like, it was less than like, you know, a one-on-one allegory for things and more like, hey, we're going to put some stuff down

[00:34:38] and maybe it's going to resonate with, you know, you, the viewer and your, I thought they did a good job with that. We'll see if it had, you know, I think I've seen a couple episodes that's, you know, saying like, it's, you know, it's not Watchmen. It's not going to say what Watchmen said, but we'll see if it has anything to say other than superheroes are cool. If they continue this route, it definitely says they're going to say something about. I think it could be very interesting. About immigration and what,

[00:35:08] what we, maybe not we, what some in our society will tolerate and won't. And maybe it's too ham-fisted and with the one-on-one of aliens being easily recognized as our world's immigrants, but that felt evident. You know, now that you bring that up, I do wonder if that's something, if it's a coincidence or if that's something in this iteration of the, this iteration of the DC universe, you know, because this grows out

[00:35:37] of the Superman movie and Superman is, of course, not from Earth. And that's a big part of why Lex Luthor hates him. He's superhuman. He's not a human being. And that's very close to the forefront, you know, and the Green Lanterns, right? They're alien, they're the Oa, Guardians of Oa, I forget. They're the blue guys they reference. They're aliens. Abin Sir, he was an alien. You know, they're alien elements as well. Yeah.

[00:36:07] I suppose the country in the world is more comfortable with it since it's Hal Jordan that's there. They seem pretty chill about knowing that space is full enough of insentient species that we need space cops. Everyone seems pretty okay with everything. Yeah, they really did. I thought that the first episode wanted to create this lived-in world in order to set up the mystery with a dash of science fiction. I thought it did that far well. Yeah, everything felt of a place

[00:36:36] and pretty realized. Yeah, agreed. It didn't feel like I was watching a bunch of CGI backdrops. Thank God. You know. Solid characters going who will deal with this mystery. Hal Jordan never really said or acted in any way that would bump up against the grizzled and jaded man he's become. I thought Pierre played John Stewart exactly like an ex-military gentleman would act.

[00:37:06] I mean, like to the T. Especially with someone with that father. Yeah. Yeah. Although, I will say that some of the lines from Hal felt a little more forced than any of the other characters. There was an occasional one. No one quite plays a worried bystander like Kelly MacDonald though. The show has that going for her. She's really good. Yeah. You know, I think I was higher on this one than you, Blaine.

[00:37:34] I think I enjoyed it. I enjoyed at least the start of the mystery. The way it mostly worked for me the way Hal Jordan is like, like, for example, the way he's like, you can, you can, like, everyone around him just like knows who he is. Right? Like, he's like, he starts the bar fight so he can get thrown in jail and they're like, did you start a bar fight just so you could get thrown? You know, thrown in, like, everybody has his number. And I thought that was kind of funny and interesting. And it's like,

[00:38:05] I think like the extra dimension of like, something weird is going on here but nobody trusts each other was good. I don't know. I liked it. I'm not sure. Beth watched it with me. I'm not sure if she liked it as much as I did. But I do, I do have a little more familiarity with the comic characters as well. So I should say I also kind of like that this didn't feel like the comics. I'm interested, but I don't know if I liked it. Okay. And those are two different things. Yeah. I think I'm interested and I think I liked it.

[00:38:35] It was doing enough that I liked. In fact, I'm very interested. Setting up the scenes for the upcoming season or this as a setup for the upcoming season I thought was very successful. It created gaps that are very interesting like I mentioned. Like, why was Stuart's father so reckless? Yeah, what's going on there? Why is Hal so jaded? Who killed Hal? And why? Why hasn't he backed himself up in 10 years, right? Like, what happened? Exactly. What or Hal

[00:39:04] and Will's shared interest? Do you remember Will Macon saying we have some shared interest? Yes. And I don't know if that was just supposed to be a little bit more of a one-off than I'm hanging on to? You know, it's a mystery. They want you to think. Okay. I didn't know if I was supposed to get that or if that was going to be part of the unraveling. I think we were not supposed to get that. Okay. Because I don't know what it could be unless, except alluding to aliens, of course. Yeah. But there's... That's the answer.

[00:39:34] There's a lot more, obviously. Yeah. So, for me, the biggest stumble, and I thought it was kind of a big one, was the bar. Oh, really? I guess. Hmm. How's planned to land in jail in order to question that Chris Coy character I mentioned? It felt like it was written to fill 20 minutes of this hour. Okay. It made me laugh. I actually... It did actually work for me. I'm not sure I could say why it worked in a,

[00:40:04] like, you know, in an argument, and, like, make a reason argument for it. But it didn't feel like it was just marking time, at least to me. Like, it felt like it was developing Hal, showing who Hal is, at least to this point in his life. Yes. And I think to me, it felt like they were a little afraid of having a 40-minute pilot. Yeah. Maybe. That could be true. And here's the other big part of this back-to-back scene. John's plot of sleeping with Will's wife

[00:40:32] to create friction, I'm assuming, just felt out of character for him. We already had a clear establishment of who he was, and it didn't quite fit for me. Mm-hmm. And again, I don't know if that's gonna be a much bigger thing, and even if it is, it seems like an odd way to get there. Mm-hmm. You thought it fit? No. I don't think exactly that I thought it fit. I was willing to say, like, okay, let's see where this goes, I guess is my feeling. It may go nowhere.

[00:41:02] You know, that's kind of what I was, I think, alluding to at the beginning of the episode, where, you know, like, sometimes these things, you know, these things start strong, but it's like, can you, especially in the middle, can you sustain the momentum? Can you sustain the interest? Can you make it all meaningful? Mm-hmm. You know, it should all have a reason for being there. You're right, it had an incredible 45 minutes of establishing character, and I thought that other than this huge clunky bit,

[00:41:32] that it did that really well, and then the last five are just pulling you completely in. Yeah. I can't wait to find out all this stuff and how it's gonna play out. I did, I did, I did want the next episode, and I, I really, I think they've done a good job of, like, having, at least in the first one, like, some of the Green Lantern lore without just, like, banging you over the head, like, you have to know Green Lantern stuff to get this.

[00:42:01] So well done. That was, I thought, very good. Apparently, people are responding. The first episode had a lot of viewers. Okay, I hadn't read up on that, I'm kind of curious, because, you know, like, the Superman, just in the meta for this iteration of DC, you know, the Superman movie did okay, but not great. Certainly not compared to what Spider-Man's doing. Supergirl bombed, you know, the reviews weren't very good. I personally didn't see it because the reviews weren't very good

[00:42:30] and I had wanted it to be good. I'm sure there was an element of sexism in there, sadly, too, but it just, you know, so this was kind of, and they've just had some TV projects canceled. TV projects that hadn't yet been made, and the next movie, if I'm remembering correctly, the next movie up on the docket, it's either movie or show, is Clayface. So this is sort of a weird, yeah, so this is sort of a weird time, right, from the money standpoint. So I thought beyond

[00:42:59] how it is, the effects of this show doing well or poorly might be felt far beyond just the show, so I thought that was interesting, if nothing else. It seems to have resonated with folks. It felt like such a grounded show that the thought of Superman or Batman in this same universe feels incredibly weird. I, my understanding is that reprising his role

[00:43:28] in the Superman movie, Guy Gardner is going to show up, played by Nathan Fillion, which I think is important for them to address because Guy Gardner is by far the worst Green Lantern. I hate him. And somehow they're going to make him the movie. Yeah, a lot of this is going to be determined in an episode or three. A lot of wait and see, yep. One thing that'll, that could be answered fairly quickly is what's going to be the structure,

[00:43:58] especially with timelines. So I think it'll be worth noting if it'll all be told in 2016, 2026, both. And if it's both, that is definitely a true detective move. I got the sense we're going to hop around a little bit. As did Anna. Which is a true detective move. Yeah, no, I agree. As long as like, again, as long as you do it smartly, and I think doing something like that in the service of a mystery just helps enhance

[00:44:28] the like, why are you doing this? Oh, because like, you know, every mystery is like you're dribbling out information that other people know and you're trying to kind of replicate the experience of some of the characters where it's like, oh, nobody has all the pieces. You know, that process of them fitting together, of solving. So we'll find out. We will. I'm excited. You know, it might stink and that would be disappointing, but it's kind of, it's kind of nice to have something fun to look forward

[00:44:57] to on a Sunday night. I'm saying with these creators and writers, it's not going to fall flat. I mean, I felt if you, I've completely changed my tune on Lindelof. Oh, I have too. Prior to the leftovers, I was like, this guy doesn't know what he's doing. He can't finish anything. It's all, all show, all show and no substance. Mm-hmm. But, I think we're in good hands here. He knows how to make, he knows how to make a meaningful TV show. Yeah, I'm telling you that

[00:45:26] final episode of the leftovers is how you finish a series. And that was, that's just a complete side note, but I think, like, part of what made the leftovers so good is that he did finish it. Like, Lost went on and on and on. Leftovers was tight. It had a beginning, a middle, an end, and it had a lot of questions still. And it was supposed to. And I'm sure some of it's ABC trying to milk the cow. certainly. And, you know, I'm not saying it's all him.

[00:45:56] Obviously, you know, J.J. Abrams is involved too. It's a different beast, but I would not have thought fondly of him. When you say J.J. Abrams, sometimes I'm, I think, say no more. Right. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but I'm not sure I ever need to see another movie by him. Yeah, same here. Again, I'm sure he's perfectly nice. Well, that's it for us. Remember that if you're playing your local jukebox, stick to a variety of songs.

[00:46:26] No repeats unless you wish to fight. Have a good week, everybody.