Transcript
0:05 I need support staff to clear the room. >> Stand up and walk. Now. >> Hello and welcome to The Watch. My name is Chris Ryan. I'm an editor at theringer.com. And joining me at the studio the originator of the #freemaxkedi movement, it's Andy Greenwalds. >> I don't think you should watch Cape Fear on Apple TV for the murder drama. I think you should watch it for the insightful glimpse into the world of podcasting. The lurid world of podcasting, which is featured early on.
0:38 >> It is. I love prestige television's concept of podcasting. It gives me no end of joy. Andy, it's so good to see you. Monday in America. what do we have on tap? Game three in New York City for the NBA finals. The World Cup begins this week. >> I'm happy they shut down those watch parties. I'll tell you that much. >> I want to talk to you about this. >> Yeah. >> This is one of those days. Yeah, yeah, we're going to talk Cape Fear. We're going to talk Star City. But this is one of those days where you came in shot out of a cannon and we almost started podding before we started podding four times.
1:07 >> a pretty stimulating world we live in. >> Is it? >> Yeah. I think there's a lot going on. >> Is this just Is this just mythia mentum you're feeling right now? >> >> Anything is possible? That's the hardest laugh we can get from Kaya all day. >> That's Kaya. She's sadly taking down all her Pratt Pratt sites. >> >> Damn. Pratt falls we call them. >> was one of the people in Santa Monica who was devastated. I didn't actually get to vote for Spencer Pratt.
1:33 >> You can hit us up at the watch@spotify.com. You can follow us on Instagram at the watchpod_ Our our lovely production staff was was mostly in Sweden. well, they were in Sweden, not mostly in Sweden. >> Well, mentally they were a little checked out. >> And so we missed out on clipping some incredible culinary conversation that we had at the end of last week's podcast. I think that >> what are the rules about that? Do you feel like it went viral? Can you Can you dip back into the vaults?
1:57 And just like put a little sepia tone on it just from the past. >> to go back and be like when these guys were talking about Game of Thrones season 5 >> Yeah. >> True cooking. >> Yeah. Or or he could just do the thing where he runs together like the Oppo research when we have a guest on that I've spoken ill about their work in the past. >> you just bring up all the clips when Andy's just been like not a fan.
2:16 >> >> Remember then all the silence in those pods? >> You can watch this on YouTube at The Ringer It's just Ringer TV. I always say The Ringer and it's Ringer TV on YouTube. >> Mhm. >> you can also watch us on Spotify where I hope you listen to us but you can also find us on other podcast platforms. Some housekeeping. >> Okay. >> as some people may have heard last night on the Bill Simmons podcast, I'm going to be appearing on co-hosting whatever a World Cup show on the Adam Friedland show.
2:47 >> This is a wild turn of events. >> it's The Adam Friedland Show colon The Beautiful Pod is the title. it's a like mini series that we'll do over the course of the World Cup. >> Adam is is making shows for us now or making shows for Spotify and now we're going to do a little bit of a a fun kickoff before his new season of his normal show. Is he a big football fan? >> Un- he is he is an unreal ball knower, I must say. Yes. Yeah.
3:10 >> He likes a phone call. He likes to make a phone call and he likes to just kind of just kind of be like here's some topics I have on all football related but yeah. >> Wow. Unbelievable. >> By the way, I felt that cuz that's not what I do. So if this It's interesting how you you you you found a a younger Jewish co-host and okay. >> I'm just trying guys out. >> >> I It's noted. Okay.
3:34 >> so if you're excited about the World Cup like I am, check that out. that kicks off I think we're going to have an episode up on Wednesday. >> I mean that's when the World Cup kicks off so you better get it together. >> do you wish you were in New York City today? The center of the known universe. >> well, this is tough because as a I mean, long-time New York resident, I want my friends to have fun.
3:59 >> New York with LA in terms of time spent? >> No, no, no, no. We're barely halfway mark. >> Okay. >> but, I can't say I root for the Knicks, but I root for the vibes and I want I do want New York to win and I want my friends in the great city to be happy. >> be tough for you because as a big chemistry merchant, >> Yes. >> as a big >> this would be after dark, but yeah, go ahead.
4:23 >> No, we can talk about it now cuz this is something I think everybody is sharing. Everybody has become a a Knicks watcher, you know, whether or not they enjoy it or not. And like everything about this team, guys going to college together, dudes doing podcasts together, the Karl-Anthony Towns, mom storyline, like everything about it, Jim Dolan's big redemption in New York City, >> Okay. >> Chalamet, Stiller, you know, like the >> You you crested and now we're going to the other side of the mountain, but >> it just seems like if if there was ever a team >> Listen.
4:55 >> packaged for you, it's this. >> I have >> The only problem is >> Yeah. >> you're from two hours south. >> Yes. I have I've said this to you to what I would characterize as open derision, which is two years ago when it became the Nova Knicks, I was like, we have to be honest with each other. I would kill to cheer for a team like this. >> is a dream situation if only they weren't wearing the the blue and orange.
5:19 I yes, I I like the vibes, I like the team. I would watch just Karl-Anthony Towns' post-game interviews where he just becomes like this wise satrum about the great continuum and loving the beautiful sport that he's even had a chance to play. >> It's unbelievable. Like a river. >> Dude, it's unbelievable. >> It's very moving. >> and I I'm happy that New York is having a moment. Also, I just realized I have a little little packet of granola on the television.
5:47 >> Why do you have that? >> I was just snacking. >> love a free snack? >> just grabbing >> I'll just grab something. >> I was like, maybe that'll taste good this morning. >> >> Thanks, guys, for keeping that on camera. I think that's good. >> to say that Sean Fennessey >> Mhm. >> is one of the great loves of my life, you know? And so I want him to be happy. >> Yeah. >> And that's where it starts and ends.
6:06 >> That's really nice. >> Yeah. >> It also ends at the gate to City Field, but >> have memories of Sean being relatively supportive >> Yeah. >> of at least the Eagles. Not like cheering for them. >> No, no, no. >> But just being like, I'm happy you're happy. And so I I pass it back to him, the baton. I I I think that friendship and and and good sportsmanship >> Seeing basketball games at Madison Square Garden is awesome. And then it's better if the Knicks are good.
6:33 >> Mhm. >> and maybe they stay in their own arena. Like the fans as well. I think that would be nice. Also, I think it's good >> of coming to ours? >> It's good for our narrative as struggling Sixers fans if they never lose again. but do you think that our president is going to kill the vibes tonight? Do you think that he personally will be responsible for their first loss? >> I I definitely think that his whether it's the Secret Service or whatever it is knocking out all these watch parties and all this street festival vibe that they've got going is not cool and is going to frustrate some people.
7:17 If he went out and did side talk after the Knicks win like a close game three and was like, Trae Young >> Mhm. >> he'd probably get a third term. >> First of all, you should go into the advisor racket. I think that's not wrong. >> If I was just like, shoot this guy full of Adderall and send him out into side talk >> Yeah. >> I think people would overlook some some flaws in his administration.
7:42 >> are. Tell him what glizzys are. Get him on the uptown number one train. >> No, I I don't know. I think it's up. Yeah, I wish those I wish people were able to go watch and like they're they like canceled it all the way south to Battery Park or whatever like >> Yeah. It's like the city Midtown's basically shut down. >> >> Man, you love Midtown. >> That was always your favorite neighborhood just kind of just walk through.
8:04 >> I love sitting in a cafe in Herald Square >> >> watching life go by. Nobody gives a about this. >> I do. This is great. >> I do, but like you know, people come here because they want hard-hitting takes on television. >> And Philadelphia sports. This is a little outside of our Can wait, can I can I tell you one thing, make one recommendation about television? Just since we're speaking broadly here. I don't know if you checked this out, but there is a documentary on Martin Short >> I didn't check this out.
8:28 >> It is called Marty Life is Short and I recommend it for fans of comedy, for fans of Martin Short obviously. But I It's a great glimpse into a person who seems like a truly wonderful mensch human being who is beloved by everyone and is a a good performer and a good person and all that and his history is interesting. It's also at once like very very moving about how much like the Nova Knicks, people grew up together mhm and like this like foundational Toronto production of Godspell in the 70s had like Gilda Radner and Andrea Martin and Eugene Levy and and Martin Short and all these people that went on to Victor Garber like all these and Paul Shaffer was the band leader and all these like seminal moments where people were just young people screwing around and then they all became something Catherine O'Hara.
9:17 But the real reason I have to watch this and I think I need you to watch this is it is a damning indictment of how we've conducted ourselves socially as adults because the backbone of this documentary is Martin Short's home movies either in Los Angeles for his he and his wife Nancy's like legendary Christmas parties or their summers in their cottage which let's be honest, it's a little more in the cottage, somewhere in somewhere in Canada. Like a lake cottage, yeah.
9:43 Where they just reliably host Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, like all these incredibly famous, funny people. And I'm like, they were younger than we are now, just hanging, grilling burgers, jumping in lakes, and laughing. When do we get the grilling burgers, jumping in lakes, and laughing part of our friendships, or should we have been friends with richer people? >> it's I mean, there's a lot to unpack here.
10:12 >> Thank you. I am I'm shook up. Like I loved this documentary, but I feel like >> When is the grilling taking place? Like on a on a historical timeline? >> I will tell you exactly, without telling you what year it's taking place, I will communicate it to you. There is a steady cam shot of Eugene Levy grilling burgers with one hand and ripping a dart with the other. >> Okay, so this is '90s. >> Yeah.
10:34 >> Yeah. >> Cuz I'll tell you something. Last night >> Yeah. >> I got some Thai food, and I like not like What I mean is, I got a noodle dish. >> Mhm. >> well, it's like basically it's night market, and they make a crab trap. >> Yeah. >> It's pretty good. >> Yeah. >> And some rice. And then after that, I was like, my my mouth is hot, I'm going to get some ice cream. I spent $110.
11:04 I also went to both places. >> Yes. >> This is no disrespect to night market, which is an incredible restaurant, nor the ice cream establishment I went to, which is >> Yes. >> good, but overpriced. >> Yes. >> But I don't think I can host anyone. I can't be making burgers for so many people. >> Because of the cost. >> Because of the cost, because of the cost of food and living. Yeah. >> So basically, what you're saying is this is another thing that boomers took from us.
11:27 Country houses, lakes, comradery, grilling. >> Exactly. It I mean you're not First of all, you're not wrong. Everything sucks. >> I'd love to throw my doors open. Nobody wants to come over. Yeah. >> What do you mean you'd love to, but try us? >> I I just think that like in LA it's just a lot more difficult to make plans than than it is in New York or anywhere else in the world. >> to stop you. Half of these gatherings in the Martin Short documentary are in LA.
11:54 And there's a moment where >> when there was like a third less people here, I feel like. >> At the Christmas party >> two women in the books and she's like, "I was on Franklin Avenue and >> No. And then I drove to Santa Monica in 19 minutes." >> know who's the queen of that is? Eve Babitz. Eve Babitz is like, "Well, I woke up feeling a little indolent in Silver Lake today, so I drove to Carpinteria for the morning."
12:12 >> >> Must be nice. one of these Christmas parties where Martin Short's like doing a little Sinatra song to kick it off, and he's like, "Who's next?" And then someone stands up from the crowd of >> It's Frank Sinatra? >> No, it's The guy goes up to the microphone and goes, "It's me, Glenn Frey, the Happy Eagle." And everyone's like, "Haha, Glenn!" Then he plays piano for a while, and then Sally Field jumps on the piano.
12:37 >> nice. >> I I appreciate what you're saying about the cost of living. It has skyrocketed, but I also think that you're avoiding the vulnerable truth at the bottom of this, which is that we've screwed up our adulthood. >> No, it's no doubt about it. >> It's It's shaken me up. And yes, is this a rarefied air? Like on one of their vacations, Tom Hanks and Martin Short for the with Steven Spielberg on the handycam, Ringer >> The lovable's >> they decide to recreate the last scene of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Tom Hanks playing Forrest Gump, which had just released, and Martin Short as Ed Grimley.
13:12 >> And Steven Spielberg directed it. >> Filming it, yes, as they jump off a boat together saying they can't swim. >> that's incredible. I will Where is Where's the >> a Netflix documentary. >> Netflix. >> If anyone has any advice on how we can be better adults having watched this, email Chris. >> my only recommendation from the weekend is just that I I I completed my journey with the dark wizard, who is >> Yeah. >> mountain climber Dean Potter, four-part documentary about him on HBO, which then sent me down a 100-foot wave-esque rabbit hole of watching mountain climbing documentaries.
13:44 >> Oh, that's cool. >> so I also watched The Alpinist, which is on Peacock, which is made by the same filmmakers as Dark Wizard, and a little bit of like a Peter Sarsgaard narrated documentary about the history of climbing in Yosemite, which I found on Amazon, but I think it's something in the valley. I can't remember what it is. Anyway, >> All right. >> that's a dangerous sport. >> Yeah. >> That's how we'll leave that. >> That's always been my sense of it.
14:07 >> Yeah. >> You ever You ever >> Ne- Never even an inkling to want to climb a mountain? >> Yeah, I >> It's not my business. >> No. Mountains they're well before me, they'll be there well after me. I will say the the greatest compliment I ever received was, and in retrospect I think it was maybe just like a a fishing expedition of friendship, like sort of a offering a hand, but when I was in Albuquerque making the show a few years ago, someone on the crew was like, "Do you ever rock climb?"
14:34 And I was just said, "Thank you." >> For thinking that I might have? >> no, but that is the nicest, most optimistic thing anyone's ever said to me. >> with those guys though, man? I was thinking about this, both the 100-foot wave dudes and like these mountain climbing guys, I don't think they actually, quote-unquote, exercise like outside of the sport that they participate in. Like, they don't have to lift, and I This is >> what they said about Jon Krakauer, too.
14:58 Like, are you say- What are you saying? >> No, we Alex Honnold, like, everyone's in a couple of these shots in Dark Wizard has his shirt off, and I'm like, this dude's cut out of pure marble. Like, this is insane. >> I thought you were going to do something like that the the the discourse about Homer Gear. I thought that's what you were going to say. >> about Homer Gear? >> That he that he like isn't ripped in that scene in Euphoria.
15:18 >> Well, so what? Yeah, I'm on your side, man. >> I thought body shaming. I thought you were setting up the story to be like he is an elite mountain climber who tames nature, you know, and he's ripping darts between >> >> pizza bites. >> Let's get into actual television. How about that? >> I thought we just named some television. You mean >> So, Dark Wizard on HBO, Martin Short documentary on Netflix, two recommendations from this weekend.
15:41 >> Andy and I also So, we're up to date on Star City. We're going to talk about that in a little bit. I thought we could jump in and talk a little bit about Cape Fear, but before we did that >> Yeah, yeah. >> can we just address the fact that most of what we've talked about over the last couple of weeks has been Apple? >> Mhm. >> this is out of no great allegiance to their to their services or products. It's just a reality of >> They sit in front of their MacBooks.
16:07 >> Well, I have my own. I mean, it's ridiculous, but >> I've I There There have been various moments when I have felt this. I think the fact that I I, you know, we've talked about Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed. We've been talking about Widow's Bay. We're talking about Star City and Cape Fear. We haven't really talked about Your Friends and Neighbors season 2. >> No. >> We didn't keep up with Margot's Got Money Problems, but like it it goes on and on the sheer volume of stuff that they have put out that somehow has wormed its way not wormed, but like What What do you think is going on here?
16:39 Like is this is this a a we can just outspend and outlast? >> Yes. We touched on this a little bit on Thursday, but I think that this is the best case scenario of their flood the zone strategy. They simply have more swings every time they come to the plate. They have more things in production. If you go on the list of current current programming and upcoming there are I would say upwards of 20 to 25 upcoming drama and comedy series, many of which are at least intriguing >> Mhm.
17:12 >> via logline or star power, and And are the ones that are awaiting a scheduled release date. They have so so much in the chamber and I think it it's it's raising their batting average. Now, that said, I think they are also rounding into form and understanding better what it is that they do and what they can what sort of what they can fill in the marketplace. I think that and we'll talk about this this week, obviously. Like I think you and I have we praise a different part of their strategy than the part that might be >> I was about to say keep >> in the lights on, but the lights are fine over there. Do you know what I mean?
17:48 >> But I but I but the some of the shows that you mentioned that we are not covering are probably the ones that the programming team would point to internally to say like we're getting real traction here. >> Certainly your friends and neighbors, which is like just still the number one show on Apple. >> This is working for us. This is This is the thing that we can run up the flagpole and say this whole this whole this whole expansion is worth it.
18:11 >> Mhm. >> We are in the business, I think, of arguing for the fact that Apple, due to its deep pockets, can take a project that is completely airtight when presented to them, like Widows Bay, and say we can help we can help you execute this because, you know, I we'll get a chance, I hope, to talk to Katie Dippold and Hero Mariah about it, but I can't I would imagine that many places were interested in taking the meeting and like the idea of it. I don't know how many of them were interested in location shooting in Massachusetts, a place that is not famous for large-scale production or tax breaks, you know, in order to get it over the finish line to get it >> That's probably like we have a place in Canada you can shoot. There's a place Yeah.
18:51 >> We'll we'll we'll make it work for you. >> thought Have you thought about setting it on an island off of Georgia? >> Exac- exactly that. So, or in the case of Star City, where it's like that's very nice of them to make a show just for us in this podcast. We really appreciate it. so, yeah, I I think I think that that's reflective of what of their strategy working right now. The flip side of that is this is extremely inside baseball, but in order to watch ahead one week to we could cover Widows Bay this week cuz of our recording schedule, I went on their screener site. And on the screener site is just these like dusty bones of shows that they've wanted us to watch or wanted people to engage with that are just memory hold.
19:30 >> They may be memory hold, but many of them have four to five seasons. >> No, the ones that didn't. I'm saying things like like like the hilariously insane disclaimer that we covered of Corazon and Cate Blanchett. Probably probably one of the most expensive one seasons ever I would say based on everyone's EP fees alone. The Big Cigar, you know, like >> Big Cigar? >> Yes, this was a this was a historical show based on one of those epic magazine articles that was about like Huey Huey Newton and Cuba.
20:00 There's nothing I'm not saying these cuz they're bad. I'm just saying they were like maybe that's going to be the thing that we do. Nope, no problem. And you never see the retrenchment because they went all in on the wrong thing. >> Yes. I mean you know, the the internal marketing when you look at the app, when you open up Apple TV on your like a a set-top box, or if you watch it looking at it looking at it on your desktop, it's there's like a sort of pleasing uniformity to the design of the marketing. that being said, I don't see a lot of like in the wild, "Hey, by the way, this is on."
20:38 But I don't know that a lot of these streamers really participate in that outside of like say Paramount Plus who really seem to try to make sure everybody knows that like Dutton Ranch or whatever is on. Well, I I I I think that there's a lot of like kind of like we have kind of decided to moat this stuff. And what matters is the service more than the show. >> Well, I think that there's also internally a distinction between shows you spend on and shows you gatekeep quite literally, and that that actually could be a boon to them. So, the example we're going to talk about Cape Fear, which is getting the royal treatment from I mean that it's on you know, wrap-arounds on buses and and and billboards and they're trying to draw people to the service based on this show. A show we covered last week that we like that we liked, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, I think it's getting the reverse treatment where it is something that for people who are already within the ecosystem of Apple, they're offering it up and maybe it's an auto play when you finish a different show that they think might be simpatico and then it's generating its own level of interest within the ecosystem and the argument for doing that, I would say, is you know, is especially for the way these tech companies budget things, if they spend if you know, if they can break it down to like we've spent $1 million additionally on top of the production fees for the first episode of Cape Fear in marketing costs, thus in order to recoup, it needs to make back its production cost plus this like a movie would, you know, and again, that's all gets fuzzy once you're inside of Apple's internal budgeting. All that is to say, if they get X number of watches on a Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, those are faster return on investment. And that might make them more likely to keep it going as opposed to outwardly spending on it and not seemingly recouping that investment in the outside expenditures.
22:23 >> Okay. >> It's so opaque. >> Yes. >> And it only makes sense to them. >> I thought it was really interesting, we can get into Cape Fear here, that Cape Fear was very I think very wisely released in June as as summer hits, as the temperatures go up, as people are looking for like a sticky, indulgent kind of high-end trashy show to watch. And not for the Emmy consideration. which which just ended, I guess, about a week ago. I think voting opens this week, I believe, for the Emmys.
22:58 Because you you would think Amy Adams, Javier Bardem, Patrick Wilson, these people would be like the the kind of person you would put forward for an Emmy Award. That being said, I think this show you can and we'll talk about I watched two, Andy watched one. We can talk broadly about it. We don't want to like spoil things. Obviously it's based on in some ways one central story, but is based on several different sources of material. So, Cape Fear is based on The Executioners, which is a John D.
23:29 MacDonald novel. It's based on >> '57 or something, I believe. >> The film starring Robert Mitchum from the '50s, I believe. >> '50s or early '60s. >> Early '60s. And then it's also based on the 1991 Martin Scorsese adaptation with the screenplay by Wesley Strick. which was like a famous kind of not cash grab for Scorsese, but like another one of his like I'm going to prove that I am a bankable director as well as like a world-renowned artist of cinema. And that was like a $35 million movie that wound up making $180 million.
24:07 It was Nick Nolte, Robert De Niro, and Jessica Lange, and Juliette Lewis in the in the in the major roles. It was a huge hit and is is we've done it on Rewatchables. It is continues to be a rewatchable movie precisely because you are caught in a vice grip of tension and atmosphere. You can feel the sweat. You can feel the the tattoos on De Niro. You can feel the water like hitting them as they have the >> damp film.
24:34 >> big finale. And this show is trying to do what several shows like it in the past have also attempted, which is to see if they can reliably hour to hour release some tension and then pour it back on so that the people to the audience is continues to be engaged and continues to have the sense memory experience of watching Cape Fear, which is kind of the hardest part about this show to navigate is how do you sustain this vibe for this many hours when usually the human body checks out after 2 hours. I'm just like, I need this to resolve itself.
25:14 >> And it is not, historically, and by historically I mean the novel and the two previous adaptations, a particularly complicated story. >> No, not really. >> It is really like an you know, an unstoppable object running into an immovable force and then something's got to give. What is your, I know you've done it on Rewatchables, what is your personal take on the Scorsese movie? Because my I have not rewatched maybe I rewatched it in the '90s when it was on cable.
25:39 It's a pretty nasty movie, intentionally so. >> definitely we're doing on Rewatchables this month we're doing the From Hell genre, which is a largely like '90s based phenomenon subgenre of thriller that basically does the dot dot dot from hell. So, roommate from hell, stepfather from hell, nanny from hell. This is the best possible version of From Hell and I guess it's the thing from your past from hell.
26:10 And I think this was Scorsese, you know, this had been a a thing that had been banging around Amblin and that Spielberg had considered directing himself. And Scorsese winds up doing it and >> right? >> Yeah, this is the Schindler's List trade, right? >> Yeah. Each were developing a project they probably shouldn't have been. And Scorsese and Spielberg swapped Cape Fear for Schindler's List. >> Right. And in some ways it worked out for both of them exactly right.
26:35 >> I would say so. >> Because Scorsese gets to show he can make a blockbuster in a really sincere like efficient way. It has so much style. And this is the thing that I was thinking about going into this TV series is that so much of Cape Fear relies on the artistry of the filmmaking because the people are relatively unpleasant to spend time with. >> Yes. >> >> Yeah, there it's not a heroic story. >> And that's not a deal breaker for me.
27:01 >> No. >> But it's also not funny. So, this isn't going to be like Succession or Breaking Bad or any other series or Sopranos or anything where you're like, "Boy, these are a bunch of corrupted people. Let's watch them get caught like mats and rats in a maze and then see who gets out." >> Mhm. >> This is like you're going to spend 10 hours with these people and you're going to be forced to hope that they figure this out, you know?
27:25 >> Yeah, and I think the nature of television requires, despite many, many brilliant creators you know, valiantly attempting otherwise, television requires some audience buy-in and empathy. And and a very base level, maybe it's because of the time commitment. >> Yeah. >> You have to want an outcome, which I think is not that doesn't reflect the best of cinema, frankly. Like the best movies keep you on your toes and you can switch allegiances and you can question your own empathies and all that stuff. But for 10 hours I'm not saying you have to pick a side, but you you kind of have to settle in and root for something.
27:58 >> Right. And now, so this rendition of the of the series is from Nick Nick Antosca, who's a TV show creator who we have talked about on and off over the years, but I'm a huge fan of Channel Zero. he did The Act, which I was less of a fan of what I saw of it. And he's done a bunch of different stuff. >> But he >> As a executive producer, as a writer, as a creator.
28:24 >> He is a very, very good maker of television and producer of content. I mean that in a really I mean that in the best, most generous way possible. And particularly because he has a real sense of what types of stories interest him. And he is interested in the horror, in the lurid stories, in the sordid stories. And from everything we understand about this this wasn't necessarily Amblin taking generals on how they can profit from this sitting in their catalog.
28:53 >> wanted to do this. >> He wanted to do this. And I think the thing that I starting with with praise because spoiler, I did not really enjoy watching the show. I think that this is sort of all the way back to where you started, but like there is a full-throated embrace of a kind of tawdry summer 80s and 90s blockbuster entertainment that is you can't half-ass. And I think that that the that was clearly both inspiration and the goal here. And I think it's why I was also comparing this maybe unintentionally at first to last summer's version of this.
29:36 maybe now it was two summers ago. It was Presumed Innocent. >> Mhm. >> which was another like let's take something from a very specific time culturally that we remember and try to iterate it and well for the contemporary streaming era, but also try to hold on to these things that we don't really get in our entertainment anymore. >> Yeah. >> I preferred Presumed Innocent because Presumed Innocent had OT Fagbenle's performance and Peter Sarsgaard performance and it had some knowing wit.
30:03 And I would say that this does not seem to have that. But we can we can talk more broadly and I'd like to hear your thoughts about it before I tell you what I was sort of bumping against. >> I think the the issue for me was how the little tricks that they're playing. So I I I I basically I would say that my my my broad take on the show is that I thought it was unnecessary and that it was totally make-believe and I also didn't hate it. You know, like I didn't in the opening moments, I was just like there's basically two things that happened that I thought were like exactly diametrically not diametrically opposed. There's one thing where I was like, "Holy this is really compelling that they're doing this." And then there was something else where I was like, "I know exactly what this show is going to be."
30:51 >> Do you want me to tell you those two things? The the double suicide? >> Yep. That was when I was like, "Damn." >> Oh, yeah. I was like, "Okay, we're really going to do this. This is gnarly as hell." >> Yeah. >> And the second was the family of dead skunks in the pool? >> Just even to the whole opening barbecue. Of >> was Fony Baloney. >> Of Amy Adams walking around with AirPods in and just being like, "Well, I want my client out of prison. How about that?"
31:12 And I don't know why I made him sound like made her sound like Andy Griffith, but >> That's not far from the dialect, though, actually. >> And you know, Patrick Wilson for reasons we will soon find out like looking like an absolute wax statue and then these kids being kids and you know, like looking at their phones and gaming and and getting catfished. >> So, what do you do when you take a like a First of all, I was about to say a beloved franchise like this. It's not.
31:38 It's It's It's a It's an It's a cult thing. It's obsessed over. It's It's a specific memory for a lot of people depending on which version of it you respond to. How do you update it and why do you update it? And I would say that there is an awkward collision between between the modern and the classic. And it's evidenced by as you said, the son isn't just moody, he's losing himself in online gaming. The dad isn't just walled off and keeping secrets, he's microdosing.
32:06 >> Mhm. >> the daughter isn't just harassed by Max Katie, she's harassed by a rapacious true crime true crime podcaster. And I think honestly most egregious of all, in order to understand where we are in the contemporary political moment or cultural moment, everyone talks about how bad the system is. >> Well, so this is >> of talk about the unfairness of the system. >> This is where I think the thread is that Antosca is trying to pull. So, you know, he's got a bunch of really talented directors working on this show. Morton told him directed the first episode, but then S.J. Clarkson took over one, Reed Morano >> Amanda Marsalis >> Amanda Marsalis like >> It's It's an impressive lineup.
32:45 >> Yeah. I think he's most interested or it seems like he's most interested in asking the question is what if Max Connelly got out of prison and instead of being feared and rejected, he was tacitly embraced by a emergent scanning liberal criminal justice reform community that wants to believe the best in everybody, but >> Right. >> wants to believe the best in everybody as long as it gets people to donate to their their nonprofit or whatever their cause.
33:17 And I think that that is an interesting concept but is not I don't know if it has like 10 hours of legs as a concept. And the thing that had drove me actually most nuts in this episode and the first two episodes is not the performance cuz CCH Pounder is incredible, but the character that CCH Pounder Noah plays Noah who is in charge of this I think it's called the SJLP and it's like a basically they go around It's like a freedom project. They go around like trying to free wrongly imprisoned incarcerated people who have been falsely accused of crimes.
33:55 But she is like so blinded by the dollar signs and the press that Max Connelly could bring this group if they somehow figure out a way to bring him into the fold here that it it kind of just it goes beyond my suspension of disbelief and it's just preposterous. >> Well, it it it it's one of the things that we love about Widows Bay is that from the very beginning in the first 15 minutes Mayor Tom Loftis communicates to the guy from the New York Times that there are no cell phones on the island.
34:31 And he just said it. And then it's done. >> Mhm. >> And then all the problems of modern suspenseful storytelling are just vanished. They just vanish. And you can tell a story in a more familiar and classic manner. And with this show they are struggling up against the constant presence of cameras and constant presence of everyone knowing everything about everyone else all the time, while also having to manufacture natural moments for Max Cady to wander into the backyard of the Bowdens, for them to have a little tête-à-tête in an art gallery off of the main party area of a charity ball.
35:14 It's kind of hard to do both, you know? Like and also I think what what you're responding to is the fact that like Cape Fear is the previous Cape Fears are smaller, not just because they are either a slim pulp novel or you know, a 2-hour movie. But smaller in the sense that Max Cady isn't a cause celeb in the way that he is on the show and probably would be in contemporary 2026. Where everything that he does is broadcast online and and in the news media. And I think the show does a good faith effort to bring some of that fanfare and focus to the world. But then it's also like it it it it it's a little discordant then this is the biggest thing that ever happened. And then Amy Adams is shocked that he's there in front of her, but then he also just takes the mic from her at a large public gathering. Wearing a beautiful linen suit, which I guess is standard D issue when you get out of the Georgia penitentiary system.
36:07 it's both big and it's trying to be big and small at the same time in the way that it's also trying to be short and shocking and also long serialized and expensive at the same time. That's a central tension that a lot of these better shows and worse shows have fallen prey to it than this version of Cape Fear. >> So the premise of the the series is essentially that Amy Adams who I think is moved into the kind of Nick Nolte role that the kind of the start star of the show really.
36:32 Amy Adams was Max Cady who's played by Javier Bardem his defense lawyer at his trial was it 17 years ago? >> 17 years ago. >> And very late in the trial she encourages him to make a plea deal to spare his life from the death sentence. It just so happens that the prosecutor in that trial is played by Patrick Wilson as this guy Tom Bowden and they wind up getting together after the trial. She's pregnant with her fiance's baby. but then they she leaves him and gets together with Tom Bowden and then they start a family and have a very successful two lawyer life where they have this huge house in Savannah, Georgia and seem to have everything that you would want in life and instead, you know, of course when you look underneath the hood everything is is decaying and breaking and there are skunks in the pool essentially.
37:24 They hide Max Cady like the shark from Jaws for 90% of this first episode. >> I think it's pretty effective. His introduction as a character is convincing his former mistress or girlfriend to take her own life and confess to the murders of his wife and child which is why he was in prison in the first place. This exonerates him, gets him out. Intrigues this woman Noa played by CCH Pounder who then wants Anna to start working with Max Cady and bring him into the fold of this at this non-profit that they work for.
37:58 they are piling on characters in this show. >> Mhm. >> Like within the first two episodes Ted Levine shows up, Paul Schneider shows up, you know, Jamie Hector is there. Like they have supersized this thing. And to your point about Cape Fear being tight and small, part of at least my my love of the '91 film is the feeling of even though we live in a town, even though we're part of a community, even though there are laws, when you really boil it down, it's us versus him and nobody's coming to our rescue.
38:27 >> Right. >> It's a little bit confusing and it's a little bit distracting when you have like five different subplots going already, and we're two episodes in. I was curious whether or not you are turned off by the tone of the show or the actual storytelling of the show. >> I I actually like the tone and I think that there's an element of it that is just profoundly campy, but whether it is a developmental edict or just the personal taste of the people in charge, it resists it at every turn, which I found neuters Bardem's performance, which is 1 million percent a delicious ham and cash grab. You know what I mean? Like he's going for it, and good for him.
39:14 >> He's going for it, but in a different way than De Niro and Mitchum did. >> Yeah, yeah, I'm not saying that, but he's doing it in a very It's It's a way that's true to him. He's not changing who he is as a performer, but I think that there is because I think what makes him always so magnetic is that he presents as this like It's certainly on camera. I have no idea how tall this man actually is, but he presents as like this hulking a physical brute, but he is so sort of sly and as my kids would say secretly zesty, that like that comes out in ways that >> Secretly zesty.
39:43 >> So maybe not so secretly. ways that are kind of beguiling and charismatic and sensual, and that's why I I like all that. I just can't stand the half-assness of the camp in the sense that I mean you have you have Patrick Wilson who is a very strong actor, but I think needs to be given needs to be tipped in one direction or the other. Can't just be ramrod straight with his little belt talking about cornflakes at Kroger. Like if you're if you're having him say things like this, if you're doing the dialogue if you're doing the dialogue that the show is giving you.
40:17 Let them Let them slather some some some extra pimento on it. Do you know what I mean? Don't treat this like this It's shot so straight-faced. We're meant to take all this seriously and worry about these people and the stakes are rising and I think it's a little bit preposterous. There's a puma in the backyard. >> Yeah. Panther. Yeah. >> I think they say puma, don't they? Do they say panther? >> was like a pan- There was a panther attack. Oh, okay. Maybe you're right.
40:42 >> Well, they do say it regardless. They they they preface it and then it shows up or foreshadow it. So, I I had a I had a problem with that and I just sort of had a >> Full disclosure, I don't know the difference between a puma and a panther. >> I was giving you time to look and I was like, "Why is your laptop shut?" >> do it. I'm not going to over-rely on on the internet. I want to be candid with our audience that I just don't know. You could tell me a puma was just like a male panther and I I would be like, "Maybe that's true."
41:09 >> No, I think it'd be a puma. We were having this conversation with ballerinas right before we started shooting. >> Yes. Because Mikhail Baryshnikov's daughter is on the show. >> But like there's these details, right? That I think are just kind of ridiculous, but the show doesn't allow them to be ridiculous. Like the fact that in the opening moments, Anna is sitting for a filmed interview for presumably for television. She is a television journalist, right? There's a video ca- a television camera on her.
41:32 But as soon as the action moves to the pool where a family of skunk corpses are being retrieved, the television cameraman runs out with a wide-angle still camera. >> Oh, you Those are actually now the 4K cameras actually come like looking like a still camera. >> still videoing. He didn't switch jobs in the middle of the scene. >> Yeah, I think actually like like that's like that's a camera right there. That's just basically a real camera.
41:54 Regular-looking camera. >> been cameras the whole time? I thought that was a light. How long has that been there? >> We've been on Twitch for 5 years. >> Streaming? You, me, Jenky Rondo? Just running 24/7? The And like the little things of like this this set decoration, you know, you know, one thing that drives me crazy. This is what I look at is when you see rich people's homes and they are just full of large bowls full of artichokes.
42:21 >> Wait a second. I have to talk to you about this. >> Yes. >> The the teenage son's room >> Yes. >> is in a completely different architectural concept than the rest of the house and it's driving me insane. He has exposed brick >> Yes. >> and it's like a giant loft that he has somewhere else in the house. >> the the the the story is telling us that there's houses in constant repair and and and and reno.
42:45 >> to another side of the house that they're constantly renovating. I don't know about where this kid's room is, but >> did they have seven different architects work on it? Is this like a Borges story? Like what's happening? >> Well, also like but then the kitchen has these like palm tree wallpaper that looks like you know, a a a a now out of business W Hotel in New Orleans right before Katrina, but like but again like I think you are my thing is this, you are always telling a story with every frame of the show.
43:13 >> Yeah. >> And the pilot makes good use of the the low heavy trees enough to make me think that they filmed this in Savannah, which apparently they did not, although maybe they got some exteriors. I'm not really sure. it but everything is an opportunity to tell a story and when you put things in a house that just has these as you like inconsistent room to room without committing to the bit that every member of this family lives in his or her own psychological {slash} physical space, which is a choice.
43:40 >> I guess I I I I I could see the argument. >> the choice so that when you're in the kitchen and over the son's shoulder when you see him taking out like energy drinks for his mystery night out on the table there's a beautiful piece of sourdough with two slices cut and like spilling open as if you are waiting to celebrate the you know, the the breakfast at this Airbnb and it's been cut for you. I'm like that was a choice you made and you didn't pay attention to it. It's giving us this sort of like moneyed laziness when I want every frame to compellingly tell us a story, and you were we're praising the directors. I I put some of this on I put some of this on Morten Tyldum.
44:17 I don't know the man. >> Yeah. >> He he makes a beautiful picture, and he keeps things moving, and he does seem to understand the assignment, but there's an element of this, and I apologize, especially to my friends who just returned from Scandinavia, but you hired a Norwegian to give us like sweaty southern funk. It's kind of like me going horseback riding, which is in the sense that I have seen people ride horses, and I could probably be lifted up onto the horse, and in a still photo or two, I might look like I know what I'm doing.
44:45 >> thing. It's in backrooms, there's a line about like this is like describing a dog to someone who's never seen one, and asking them to draw it. >> It's kind of that vibe. This is a It is a sterile and professional recreation of something without the stench and the funk. >> a funny thing that I saw the the Vulture recapper for this show pointed out that I hadn't noticed, and then immediately was like, I I can't unsee this now, which is the amount of times they use jump scares for no purpose whatsoever.
45:12 Like Ted Levine showing up, or like it turns out that's just the gardener or whatever, and like they're going to do that to wear down your nerve endings, so that when it actually does But part of the issue is that if you're going to not remove the danger, but like imagine if Max Cady actually had visiting privileges for all these places, and was able to just walk in and out of prisons, and people's homes, and businesses. The whole point of like the Cape Fear movie is that he's kind of like this pariah who is basically like, what are you going to do about it?
45:47 >> Yes, I I it's it's everything he does is a provocation. >> And this is more like, what if he could insinuate himself into the progressive weakness of this community? >> Now, I I genuinely good faith I'm curious about this that like I I I think, tell me if I'm wrong because I'm not in this cohort, but like if you are a particular fan of horror, and I don't mean like, what a like Get Out, what a brilliant analogy for our times, but I mean like I like watching people dropped into a shark tank and seeing what the sharks do next.
46:17 >> Sure. >> There could be that kind of entertainment which we're here. bad stuff's going to happen and it hopefully will be happening in increasingly claustrophobic and horrific way. So, that appeal might be there. >> Sure. I I just I think the problem is like when you're also like, and also the teenage son will go on a ketamine journey where he sees an AI version of Max Katie's unborn teenage son. >> Well, when you put it that way. By the way, it's I'm just noting with interest.
46:46 Again, I don't have a dog in this fight. But if you brought you brought up Nepo Watch with Baryshnikov's daughter, you have your silence on the son in this is remarkable to me. >> Who's he? >> Kate Winslet's son. >> She's really populating a lot of casts >> No, Kate Winslet famously big friend of the Watch Podcast. Yeah, basically. So, whatever she's done a beautiful job raising these talented children. That's pretty much what we take. >> who was recently in the last >> Yes, the Yes, the Phoenician Scheme. She's very good.
47:16 >> Your boy. >> Joe Anders, yeah. >> Yeah, okay. >> My boy. >> That's your boy. You love his plot line. You love gamers. >> It It also >> know what you're you're getting at. I think that you're trying to build a case >> Nepo-wise or horror-wise? >> Yeah, like I I I don't know. You are You You had a problem with Jane Campion's daughter being in Star City and I didn't. >> You had a You have a problem with Who's the >> a problem with Andy Serkis's daughter being in Star City.
47:41 >> And who's the kid who Who's Evan on Widow's Bay? Who's his dad? >> What? He's He's a Nepo baby? >> No, I maybe not. >> Protect him at all costs. He's fantastic. >> name, I'm like, your dad's probably you know, Daniel Day-Lewis or something. We I mean I I I don't know if we're going to continue watching this. >> I know. >> >> Sorry, do you want me to spoiler? I I'm not going to be watching this.
48:02 >> new to Euphoria. >> No, but I But I'm But I I am interested genuinely in you making >> Every Georgia for you. I think I'm going to my I had such a good time watching this with my wife. >> Yeah, say more about that. >> it's a really funny show to not funny, but it is a really fun show to watch and be like, "What the are they doing?" Now, we may not be interested in this after 4 hours.
48:28 >> Right. >> Which would be double the amount of time we've already watched. >> Kingston Rumi Southwick doesn't even have a Wikipedia page, which either >> He's He's like a soft He's a soft nepo. >> What Who's his Who's his Thank god you're here, Kaya. >> His father is producer, mother is an acting coach. >> So, he was just He was just primed for this. >> He's not >> have a problem with nepotism. You do. You're the one who's like saying like I don't have a problem with that. I am a product of nepotism.
48:52 >> don't have a problem with it when it's good. >> >> I like things to be good. It's like, "Oh, I'm the asshole?" When it's good, it's awesome. >> I think both of the nepos in Star City are excellent. >> I do, too. >> Okay. Well, let's talk about Star City. >> Lewis Pullman, great. >> All right. All right. Your best friend is Lewis Pullman. >> Well, I just I Columbused him for this podcast. Turns out Bill Pullman is his dad.
49:15 >> Did you have anything else you want to say about Cape Fear? >> No, I just >> be watching any more of it. You would reject the highfalutin way it cast its its ranks. >> Yeah. >> You wish Patrick Wilson would untuck his shirt every once in a while. >> Yes, live a little. >> and it's unpleasant. >> I think I think I think ultimately it's that I just find it unpleasant and I'm not particularly fans of many of the leads. That That's keeping me away, but I am interested in it as a project. And so, I really appreciate you going on the front lines. You know what I mean? It's like what Scott Pelley said. He never wore the uniform for this country, but he's been in foxholes.
49:51 That's you. That's you. >> Let's wrap things up by talking about Star City. >> Okay. >> my enthusiasm for this remains like a a burning hot flame. I do want to acknowledge at the top here. So, we'll talk a little bit in detail about the three episodes that have aired so far. I felt like in the third episode I I detected a rhythm where before I was like this could be anything and go anywhere and I've no idea the vibe of of the show is so intoxicating but like you could tell me it's going to time jump to '84 in episode three and I'd believe you.
50:32 It's a little bit more steady as she goes in episode three. >> jump but yes. >> It jumps and there's also big character reveals but >> I wanted to talk to you a little bit about this is sort of random but I saw a old Quentin Tarantino interview this weekend. Not the one where he says The Rip is the best movie he's seen in a decade. >> to him about this? Do you think >> have those privileges.
50:54 >> Has Shawn back channeled with him about this? >> know. but I did know that The Rip was playing at the Vista, the movie theater he owns, so he he he walks the talk. >> Mhm. >> But he was talking about the difference between storytelling and situations. And you know, he was referring to the movie Speed where you know, it's like what if a bus had had to go 55 mph or it would explode. And he's like I really enjoy that movie but it's a situation, it's not a story.
51:21 Like those aren't characters, those characters aren't going on a journey. It's what I mean, they are literally on Yeah. >> But like they don't change over the course of the movie really like that that much. >> I don't know, what's her name learns to love? >> Annie? >> Yeah. >> I don't think she was not ready for love. I just think she didn't have a driver's license cuz she had too many points on it. >> I forgot about that detail.
51:43 >> Yeah. Don't try and get any Speed trivia past me. >> When's the last time you re-watched Speed? >> Within the last 3 years. >> I I need to see that. >> re-watch. >> I love that movie. >> movie. But it is is it a situation more than it's a story? >> sorry. I don't We don't need to get digress. >> And Star City has a very like digestible situation. It's a very digestible pitch. It's, you know, what if the Russians landed on the moon first? What would happen to the the collective histories of both nations, America and Russia, but also, you know, what would happen to the the space programs that they would then go on to produce.
52:20 The reason I think I like this show so much is that it's a story. And that they have found a group of actors and created a a group of characters where the little revelations about the characters and the little bits of growth and the little bits of change and the little moments of epiphany or or catharsis or whatever are so earned >> Mhm. >> and so well drawn. And I I'm thinking of two in particular that I just wanted to bounce off you. So, in episode two, Anastasia Belikova, who's the first woman to go to the moon, she's on a promo tour with her arranged marriage husband. Are Are they married yet by the time they go to Paris? I can't remember.
53:04 >> >> No, they didn't get married when they get back. >> Yes. >> with her fiance, Sasha, who's also a cosmonaut, they go to Paris. And it's cool. Like, you know, it's a it's like a cool idea and it's cool to imagine like them doing this sort of propaganda promo tour for the Soviet space program. And they take the moment where they basically find the the one thing that these two people have in common is their disaffection with where they are in their lives, even though they couldn't be more different and she's a little bit odd and for the first, you know, episode and a half, you're kind of like, I don't really get who this Is this person like a product of nepotism because her father is a big wig in the party or what's going on?
53:46 >> Especially because they make the bold gambit of having her be the backup plan to Yana Aksamitova, who is a firecracker in her limited screen time in the pilot. >> and she winds up going on this nighttime odyssey across Paris with her fiance that is delightful and exciting and scary and interesting and everything from the way that they have to exit a hotel and she takes off her heels to go down the stairs quietly to them like running across the street and she stops to look at the Arc de Triomphe and he's like, "Come on, come on." But like she takes this moment to be like, "Holy I never thought I'd see that."
54:21 >> Especially here in Lithuania. >> Yes. >> >> Whoa. I think she was right to call attention to it. >> And then they have this like really fun night of drug and booze-addled dancing at a nightclub where she is soft recruited she thinks by the Americans, but it turns out to be a Russian agent work or Soviet agent working on behalf of you know, pretending to be an American. It's Test. And then in the third episode we have Irina who is played by Agnes O'Casey who's the protégé of Lyudmila Raskova, the the sort of KGB chieftain.
54:57 And she's been doing the lives of others listening thing on on Tanya and Valya. Valya's another cosmonaut. Tanya's is long-suffering wife who's cheating on him with Sasha. And she's been listening in on them and then it turns out surprisingly her daughter is being taught by Tanya. She's being taught music by Tanya and she goes over to her house for for coffee and admits something to Tanya and in the moment where she admits it, not only is it just wonderfully played by the performers but the sound on the show becomes muddled and muted like it's been erased and we find out that that's because Irina's going to go back to her listening station, go on the tapes of Tanya's listening devices and erase the part where she confesses something private and personal about her her past, about the father of her child. And I thought both of those moments were so earned and just like to build up it's about the space program and it's about spying and it's about national security and all these big big ideas, but they are finding story in character in a way that I think is really really wonderful.
56:09 >> Yeah, I completely agree and you know, there's even more detail in those scenes in the apartment where what's her name? Irina is seeing for the first time the physical the set of her favorite radio drama and she's smelling the perfume that she knows was purchased in Paris. And she's being taken out of it not just in the sense of like future scrubbing, but she's hearing the conversations that played in her mind only in this place and it's really dissociating and powerful.
56:38 I because we started with quasi love letter to NBA fandom, sure. I need your help on this. I need you to use the sports half of your Grantland binary brain. Who is the most in your opinion, maybe even in this finals, like the most and I feel like it's probably on the someone on the Knicks, like the most old school player who is not going to trick you and not dazzle you, but it's just going to right, it's just going to go at you and it's going to be basketball.
57:07 And that's Star City to me, especially in the third episode where there is nothing in the mechanic I mean the the setting and the fact that within each episode they can do a tense Apollo 13-esque space drama is remarkable. But even to use that as a set piece in the third episode where something goes wrong. There wasn't a single moment watching the launch sequence played out over the back half of the third episode where I didn't know something was going to go wrong.
57:34 >> Yes. >> Especially once the one character space swims to the back to to release the pressure. As soon as he did that, I my brain went into like the the top, you know, when you can like change the the camera angle and I'm watching the all-22. >> Mhm. >> I'm mixing my sports metaphors, but I was like, "I know what's going to happen now, because I have watched television before. But I'm curious how they play it." And the way they played it was right down the middle and perfect. With the cuts when you stop hearing from the back and the elation mixed with a sudden discovery and then the slow realization that something has gone wrong.
58:08 This is This is textbook. There's nothing particularly novel about it. It's just executed at such a high level. And I felt the same way throughout that episode where it's like, "Let us explore story in every corner of the world that we created." Because also remember, it is a rare rare opportunity for producers and TV makers to be told by a rich-pocketed benefactor like Apple, "Yeah, we want more." So, what could they have done with this? Especially when the fact that the Russians' job in the narrative of the other show, of For All Mankind, is established.
58:41 They're the antagonists. They're the the rabbit the greyhounds are chasing the whole time. So, it was kind of either plug and play or let's dive in and create rich rich characters to make the show as much about them as possible. And then just put them in conflict. See what happens. And it's I'm struck by how effective and yeoman-like the show is and how satisfying that can be. >> The The sequence that you're talking about, I think, is elevated by the the Valya subplot to it.
59:12 >> Yes. >> so, and obviously we're talking pretty openly about this series. So, if you are haven't watched episode 3 yet, you you might want to skip ahead to the next segment or end of the podcast, but it's revealed that Valya is the mole inside of Star City, and that he planted basically a transponder or transceiver on the the lunar module, which winds up being detected by the Soviets. So, they then power down >> They reboot.
59:39 >> the module, reboot it, looks like everything's going to work out, but unfortunately, like the repowering of it means that the the have doesn't like the the basically the extender part of it of the module doesn't go back in or goes out too early. And in trying to land the the module back with the space station that they were the space whatever the craft that they were the >> aborted the moon landing. They're going to fly back and Arseny RIP goes back to >> a a McBain had had fake where Sasha spends most of the episode trying to figure out what he would say in a in a letter to his loved ones and gives one gives it one of the letters to his, you know, his illicit affair with Tanya.
60:23 I thought that part was really great. You know, like the the the fact that every character has like a secret life emergent is is really cool. It means that like nobody's ever fixed on a map. Right now, I think perhaps the best performance on the show is Anna Maxwell Martin, who's playing Ludmilla Viskova, and we haven't really figured out what her her bag is yet. >> >> You mean like what she's into? >> Yeah, like we don't know like her nuances yet because we haven't spent like a ton of time with her. She more like lurks on the >> Mhm.
60:54 >> you know, like is the the face in the back or the person who's just like, I you know, I don't believe you and But I I really thought that that sequence wound up being elevated by finding out that it was an act of duplicity or an act of espionage. I did want to ask you something about where we are, which is 3 hours into the show. >> Mhm. >> I had a couple of wait a second, there I forgot that we're supposed to be watching Russians.
61:20 >> Mhm. >> So, they, you know, as we talked about last time, all of the characters all the all of the characters all the Soviet characters speak in speak English. >> Yes. >> And speak >> English accented English. >> English accented English. And this is something that Chernobyl did. So, it's not uncommon to see this. And I thought even there was a joke maybe underneath a performance where when Arseny is talking about what he's going to say on the moon, he's basically doing Sean Connery's Hunt for Red October accent.
61:51 >> -huh. >> and I don't know if he was trying to do Sean Connery or if he was trying to do Sean but it was a joke that landed for me. >> Yeah. >> Do you ever blink and you're like I'm starting to forget the nationality and ethnic background of the characters that we're watching? >> Well, I think that that's part of the reason why it's done this way cuz it is a a pretty quick sneaky empathy, you know, IED because it's like well, they're just like us. Just like that Sting song.
62:18 They love their children, too. >> Right. >> Whoa. I think the interesting part was when they were in Paris and they don't speak French but no one in Paris understands them because they're speaking Russian but it's English. And you know, at least from my own personal research efforts, many people in Paris do understand English even if they pretend not to. >> or the fact that when you see them like when you see Irina transcribing the the recordings, her she's typing in Cyrillic.
62:50 >> Right. >> So, no, I I I I think that I I think that the whatever you know, prep meetings and design meetings they had were just to my mind seem incredibly successful and incredibly aesthetically integrated. So, the language and the way they speak the language works with the production design and the sets and the just the entire aesthetic of the show is consistent for me so it doesn't >> Good. >> Are you concerned though? I mean, it bothers you.
63:18 >> No, it doesn't bother me. I just think that there was one moment where God, what what which which episode or what scene was it? I think it was when Volya and Sasha are in the stairwell. And he's sort of like you're being a little bit like you're just a child like and you you're always joking around but this is serious. And for a second I was like this is about the British Air Force? Like what am I watching? And I was like oh wait, that's right. Yeah, these guys are cosmonauts.
63:41 >> Yes. >> You know, and they they work under Soviet Russian rule. So >> Yeah, I I I think that the other thing that's been interesting about it Like it basically the show seems to run towards the challenges which is kind of like my 10,000 foot almost de facto praise these days where it's like well this is this this is where the fences are in the world that they've been given. This is what they've been granted. So what do they do with it? And I think some of the interesting cultural and character-based nuance has come from the moments that we haven't seen yet.
64:13 When Belikov's father shows up and the way he treats her. The references to Irina's bad marriage. The things that are happening outside of Star City contribute to the idea that though some characters like like Valya's wife who's >> Tanya. >> Tanya, you know, is chafing against the limitations within Star City and dreams of Moscow and listen to listen to records, you know, really just like us. >> It's a really cool detail that she's getting contraband LP or single >> Smuggling on X-rays.
64:40 >> Yeah, that can only be played four times before they degrade. Yeah. >> That's pretty cool. I my favorite Robert Pollard solo album was also issued only on X-ray that could only be played four times but sorry you missed out. >> >> I invited you over to listen to it. but yeah, that like that there's there's levels to this society. That Star City isn't some achievement and within its walls everything is possible. That Star City is an exemplar of the best and the worst of a larger society and the largest larger society is knocking at the door in various ways.
65:11 So I feel immersed. I mean, it's it's just an it's an excellent show, and it is a remarkable pressure valve that it has that if it starts to feel a little too kitchen sink pot boiler >> moon. >> they can just go to the moon. And when I was watching that moon sequence, I was feeling something that is probably baked into every frame of the seasons of For All Mankind that I haven't watched, which is man, it's cool to see something in which space travel is really hard >> Yeah.
65:35 >> and really scary. Not, you know, time to take the cruiser to Naboo boo or whatever. >> >> Time to take the cruiser to Naboo. We can wrap it up there. Thanks to Kaya and Kaya for producing today, and we'll be back on Thursday. I will be half gone. So, we're going to talk about Widows Bay together, but then Andy will have the con. >> Do you think you'll wear the same clothes on Thursday when we talk about Widows Bay? Cuz I was planning to.
65:59 >> I was going to turn everything inside out. >> That's sick. >> see you guys on Thursday.