Suggestible - Maid and The Earthshot Prize

Episode Date: November 4, 2021

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to. Hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.Please vote for Suggestible in The Listener's Choice award australianpodcastawards.com/voteThis week’s Suggestibles:Halloween Family PhotoThe Earthshot PrizeFiresFires: Behind the ScenesLove Life S2MaidI spent two years cleaning houses...The ThingSend your recommendations to [e-mail], we’d love to hear them.You can also follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @suggestiblepod and join our ‘Planet Broadcasting Great Mates OFFICIAL’ Facebook Group. So many things. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey folks, it's Mark Maron from WTF. I travel all over North America doing stand-up and it's always good to know Airbnb is an option when I'm away from home. But if you're away from home, why not take your own place and Airbnb it? Airbnb your whole home to make some extra cash. Or if you have a spare room that's not in use, just Airbnb that. Whether you could use extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun, your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. Bing bong, bing bong, bing bong, bing bong. I love our theme song.

We should get an incredible remix. No, this is fine because it's more work and whatever. All right. Let's not. Minimal effort, minimal work. That's our motto. Oh, this is not it. Anyway, hello.

My name is Claire. James is also. We are married and we recommend you things to watch, read and listen to. That's right. And this week, that. We're doing that. Like we do every week. This week with a slight twist.

A slight twist. Just kidding. It's the same. It's the same as every week. Last week was our spooky episode. Spooky's come to you, not text time. Correct. And now it's regular show again.

Exactly right. It is regular show. Now, before we do recommendations though, Claire, it's very important that we let people know that we are nominating ourselves for the Australian Podcast of the Year. It makes me feel really, I feel weird about it. Why's that?

Because it's weird. It's weird. It's like saying, well, I'm great, and everyone should email in and say we're great. No, that's not what this is about. This is pure spite, which is what I'm all about. So for those people who don't know, you might have heard it on my more successful podcast, The Weekly Planet, a couple of years ago. The Weekly Planet, through listener voting, which was incredible,

we won the Popular Choice Awards. And me and Mason didn't go. Australia's most popular podcast. Which is obviously not true, but we still won regardless because people who listen to this are amazing and like me, like to ruin things for other people. But the reason I wanted to do it then was because we nominated a bunch of shows which didn't get any nominations.

I'm not just talking our shows. I'm talking like Do Go On didn't get nominated. Not in the comedy category. Yeah. Sam Lloyd's amazing show didn't get a look in. Ridiculous, all right? And on top of that, you have to also pay money to nominate. You have to nominate Annie Donner.

Exactly. And then you get in the comedy. Exactly. This is what I'm talking about. It's insane. So this year there are a few people we know, including us, were nominated again and were not selected. So I'm like, fuck it.

I'm going to brute force this thing again and we're going to win it for this show. If we can. It's'm like, fuck it. I'm going to brute force this thing again and we're going to win it for this show. If we can. It's not a very good reason. And if we win this time, either next year or the year after, Mason and I are going to make one episode of an entirely new show called James, Mason and Claire Ruin the Australian Podcasting Awards and then we're winning it again.

So this is a stepping stone to a larger grift. I have to say from the very outset that if anyone is listening from the Australian Podcast Awards, this is not my idea. They are definitely not because they do not listen to the shows that are nominated. I guarantee it. No, they do. There's over 100 judges.

Okay. It's just that they don't know what your Mason show is. And that's fine. Honestly, to us as well would be like, well, this isn't very good. I'm not even about awards. You know I don't. It's not about awards. Will you go? If we win, will you go? I don't know. We'll see. With me? I mean,

it might be virtual. I'm pretty sure it'll be in person this time. Yeah, it'll probably be in person this year. Anyway, put it out there. Okay. See how we go. Excellent. Actually, and to be honest, I would love you to vote if you're out there listening. We've already got a bunch of people. We've seen them in the Facebook group.

Oh, they've been bloody amazing. People have been tweeting me. I really appreciate it. So do I. I feel appreciative even though I know it's fuelled by spite. It still warms my cockles and my little heart. I know, and that honestly is my favourite thing, that people are like, yeah, I'll do this.

I'll get on board with this dumb thing. Like we don't win any money. Like there's no financial gain to this. We get a little glass plaque. We got a little glass plaque that you can't really read properly because it's completely glass. And actually we had to pay to enter. And we have to pay to enter.

So if anything, we lose money. Anyway, that's just how these things go. And there's like huge like podcasting networks in Australia that like have shows up. Backed by big radio collaborations. Backed by big radio and whatever. And we here at whatever this is, we hate big radio. We're going to take them down.

One podcast award at a time. No, I have some friends who work for big radio. I know. And I know some other podcasts who also work within those networks and they're fine and whatever. But as we all know, you are fueled by spite. Yep. And I hope listeners that you are.

I mean, Aunty Donna, come on. They got a Netflix show. They have award-winning comedy shows. Yeah. Come on. And podcasts normally like under other circumstances or whatever. It's outrageous. And quite frankly, I will not stand for it.

And so I will ruin this thing. All right. Can we now just move on with the show? We will ruin this thing. Not Claire. Me and the listeners and Mason. Claire is not involved. All right.

Here we go. I don't want you to come to the awards ceremony if by any chance, any slim possibility we even get nominated at least shortly. I will be gracious in success if they let us win, which I feel like they won't because I didn't think they were going to let us win last time, but we did somehow. I will be gracious. I will not be rude.

I will be humble. You're not going to get up on the podium and just say, I did this for Spike. I mean, they let Tom Gleeson, that comedian, there's a show, there's an awards ceremony in Australia called the Logies, the TV Logie Awards, and Tom Gleeson, a comedian, decided one year to just take them down and just like he won the gold. I love it.

Anyway. Massive respect for that. And then he did just an absolutely – his speech was incredible. I loved it. It was so mean. Yeah, I know. It was so mean. That's why I loved it.

I met him once in person. He was very nice. Anyway. Okay. Let's go. Can we get on with some recommendations? Oh, it's linked below if people want to vote. Don't have to, obviously.

No, I think you just tap on the link. You type in suggestible. Yes, and it will come up. And it takes – apparently as well in the US. I don't think you need a VPN. No, you can just do it from anywhere in the world. Yeah, and it will come up. Apparently as well in the US. I don't think you need a VPN. No, you can just do it from anywhere in the world. Yeah, I think it just kind of works. Which is another advantage that we have because our audience in Australia,

not massive, but in the world, a little bit bigger. You know what I mean? Just a little. Yeah. We love you guys. Okay, let's do it. Everyone. Okay.

Let's not. That's not true. All right, let's move on. Let's move on. What is your recommendation? Oh, my first one is go to my Instagram and check out our family Halloween photo. Oh, my God. It's the only photo that I received of us, all the family,

and I've got my eyes closed and you were looking in the wrong direction and our son, well, obviously he's looking at the camera, but you can't see because he's wearing a helmet. And I'm pretty sure he didn't want that photo. He really didn't want that photo. He was holding on to some kind of thing that he needed to go and do and he was yelling. But we got there.

Anyway, I loved Halloween. It was the bloody funnest time. It was really good. It was real good. And anyway, I have got some fun recommendations and then a very harrowing but great recommendation. Okay then. Which one should I start with?

Actually, I don't have any fun ones. They're all intense, but they're good. Doesn't matter then, does it? All right. So the first one I wanted to recommend very quickly, with everything that's happening in Glasgow at the moment, with climate talks, good God. Macron's like, your Prime Minister sucks.

And I'm like, I know this is really like political grandstanding, like on behalf of his nation and whatever, but I love it. I'm into it. Okay. I will say I couldn't give a hoot what those two dick swinging heads are talking about. What I do care about is whether or not they're going to make any progress at all with reducing emissions.

Agreed. And I hate that it's been taken over by this stupid feud with the French rather than really nailing and talking about what we should be talking about, which is that we all need to be committing to net zero by 2030. Anyway, so that's been making me really cross watching that and kind of hopeful but mostly cross and furious. Yep. It means the same thing.

So adding to that is this thing called the World Earthshot Prize. Okay. Which is really cool and you can follow it on Instagram. It's based around what was done previously called the Moonshot Prize. So it's run in the UK and the royals have actually kind of got it off the ground. Oh, that's interesting. David Attenborough hosted it. So it's an award ceremony.

Love him, big fan. And it's basically all of these incredible thinkers and scientists and climate activists coming up with incredible ways to save our planet. And they did that for the moonshot to get human beings to the moon and they came up with all this extraordinary invention and it's happening again with the Earthshot Prize and the stuff that is being created. That is very cool.

And the people that are doing it are just amazing and inspiring. And so if you, like me, are feeling enraged about what's happening in Glasgow, it just reminds you that there are so many people innovating and being creative and who do really care about our planet and want things to change. And it's just some old people sitting in these big corporations who are holding us back, potentially also in our government, holding us back from where we need to get to.

And I'm feeling more and more hopeful that we will get there. This was a hopeful thing. Thank you. That's one thing. This is kind of linked into my TV recommendation. I love TV, Claire. I look at it and I go, ooh, good show. Oh, God.

All right, can we keep talking? Sorry, I just got excited about the concept of a television show. Imagine if you had no TV in your life, James. I'd just watch YouTube. You were born 100 years ago. What would you have done? I would have shot myself. I would have got a musket and I would have loaded it.

Let's step it back a little. And then I would have pointed my mouth and then it wouldn't have fired properly because they didn't really and then I'd have to do it again. But I'd get there. Don't you even worry about it. All right. Well, you're nothing if not committed. So this is a TV series.

It's Australian. Hold on to your hat, James. I know you're not such a big fan of Australian drama. There are good ones. This one is really interesting and I think does a really good job. It's called Fires. So Fires is inspired by the true events of the devastating bushfires from the 2019 to 2020 Australian summer.

Yeah. So here obviously we were hugely affected, I'm sure. I mean, reports went all over the world about the devastating bushfires and the loss of wildlife and the loss of life and homes that happened during that time. It was just unprecedented and terrifying and obviously related to climate change. And this series, some of the episodes are better than others,

but I think it does an amazing job of telling the story of everyday Australians and also the firefighters working on the front lines. And it's just really, I thought, really, really good to watch to get a real sense of what people were going through at the coalface. What I also thought was interesting, oh, on a side note, Sam Worthington is in an episode. Is he really? Yeah, the cast is also amazing.

Avatar's own. I mean, that's a good get. Correct, exactly. They've also got Eliza Scanlon, Hunter Page Lockhart, Richard Roxburgh as well, and Anna Tor. He played Dracula in the movie Van Helsing 2004. Oh, there you go. Among other things that are better.

Was he not also in Moulin Rouge? He was. He was the Duke. He was the Duke. Correct. Well, he's really excellent in this. So are the episodes connected or is it telling different stories? So there's a through line of the firefighters.

So the firefighters are the same. There's this boy and girl who are kind of quite young. They're in their sort of like I'd say early 20s. Oh, imagine. But they go to different related fires. Yeah, okay. So, yeah, so each episode is its own story. And what are they though?

Are they emergency service workers? Yeah, they're firefighters. Okay, sorry, did you say that? Yeah, they're firefighters. And so they kind of get in very difficult situations and get trapped within fires within the bushland. Yep. But, yeah, and then it follows the story of just everyday Australians who,

you know, like someone who lost their house in the fires, another person who decides to stay, another family who were camping around Mallacoota and what happened there where the whole township, like a whole, you know, thousands and thousands of Australians went like they normally do on bush holidays because, I mean, there was a lot of forewarning from the government but really they didn't think that that would be, that the fires would be as bad as they were. The general rule is like you stay or you leave very early and that kind

of has changed in more recent years because staying is not always a great idea. Yeah, and especially with this bushfire season because the fires change so quickly. Yeah. So what seemed like a very safe location to go to within a matter of hours became very much not so. And so that was what happened in Mallacoota.

So they sort of follow the trajectory of a young family who get caught up in that too. Yeah. And what I thought you would find really interesting is that for this particular series they used the technique of dream screen, which have you heard of that? What's dream screen? So unlike much special effects and green screen work

where actors perform in studios in front of a blank screen with tennis balls to guide their eye line. Yeah, there's a screen behind them, but they also have things moving as well. Yeah, they do that in The Mandalorian. Yeah, that's exactly. I've written that down. Yeah, exactly. So I thought that was really interesting.

There's a little video actually they show of the behind the scenes. Fascinating, yeah. Yeah, it is really fascinating. Because you can do it on the fly and you can get things in camera and you don't have to then wait to see what things look like. Like down the line, it's pretty incredible. But anyway, sorry is really fascinating. Because you can do it on the fly and you can get things in camera and you don't have to then wait to see what things look like. Like down the line it's pretty incredible. But anyway, sorry, go on. Yeah, absolutely.

Well, you've just said exactly what I said, that they didn't have to do much in post-production. Yeah. And initially they weren't going to do this because it was so expensive. Yeah, the cost element is crazy. Yeah, it's really. And it looks very good. Oh, it looks amazing.

If you go, I'll get Colleen to link this below. There's a little video you can see of the behind the scenes. They do it from within a fire truck because these firefighters get caught, which actually really did happen. Yeah. With the, you know, just completely surrounded by fire. And so they're sitting inside this truck and they use this technique and it just looks incredible.

And you couple that with like smoke and props and whatever. Yeah, exactly. And so the actors rather than acting in front of just a blank screen are really immersed in it. Yeah. And they don't have to go back in and put in special effects later. And it was such good technology for COVID also because you can, like the Mandalorian which is shot, like normally you shoot Star Wars

in multiple locations like across the world to represent different galaxies and whatever. You don't have to do any of that. You can basically do it in the same space and it looks terrific. Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it? It's just I had no idea. I hadn't heard about it until I started researching for this TV show. Anyway, really cool.

So it's on ABC iView at the moment. I'm sure you could get it with a VPN and I'm sure it'll be available overseas. It really does give you a sense. It's just called Fires. Is that right? Correct. I mean it does a really good job to Malakuta, the sky turned red and black. Yeah.

So when you see some of that footage that went around the world where it just looks post-apocalyptic, that's one of the locations. And I think it's a really good reminder and quite timely to watch, particularly maybe with someone who might not be thinking that climate change is such a big deal. And then you watch that and you think, how could you not think that there's something going on? Yeah.

And even if there is nothing going on, which there is, wouldn't we rather live in a world that's not a smog-infested hellhole? Correct. Exactly. Look, I think the director, Michael Reimer, Anna Kokonos, and Kim Mordant, who were all directors, did a really fabulous job. How many episodes? There's six.

Oh. Yeah, and they're all different, unique stories. Some are better than others, but I really enjoyed it. Well, that's life, isn't it? Some days are better than others. Correct I really enjoyed it. Well, that's life, isn't it? Some days are better than others. Correct. Speaking of. Over to you.

Look at this recommendation that I've got here, Claire. Have a look at it. I can't see it, James. I'll tell you about it. This is an audio medium. I'll tell you about it. It's called Love Life. We talked about season one last year and now we're up to Love Life season two,

which was created by Sam Boyd. So it's become an anthology series that follows a different person each season from their first romance until their last romance. Now the first season, if you recall, Claire, correctly, which I know you do because you watched it, starred Anna Kendrick among others. And the second season focuses on a different character played by William Jackson Harper who people might know as Chidi

from The Good Place. So it's but, but, here's a twist, Claire, something for you, you're absolutely going to love. They're also set within the same New York love life cinematic universe. So Anna Kendrick and a few characters from the other season also appear in this season as like minor players because, you know, everybody is the main character in their own life probably. So this time around it's narrated by Keith David who's fantastic.

He's in The Thing. Have you ever seen The Thing? Definitely not. Of course I haven't seen The Thing. The Thing's amazing. You should watch The Thing next year. It's very scary and gross. No, that's it.

Oh, what's The Thing? The Thing is set on an Arctic base and then like a monster gets into it. No thanks. You should watch the next one. You love all that stuff. It's got Kurt Russell. It's objectively a terrific movie. All right.

Continue all the way about the rom-com. I'm much more about that. He gets divorced and it's probably his fault, almost definitely it seems, and now he's in his late 30s, early 40s and he's single. So he's just kind of thrown back out there, and he doesn't really know kind of who he is as a person. It's about discovering who he is now because he felt like in his previous

relationship that maybe he didn't allow himself to be his true self, and he was kind of just pretending. And each episode focuses on him meeting like a different person for romance. And it's not like disaster after disaster, although sometimes it is. Sometimes you just have like a fleeting kind of moment with somebody or like an imperfect relationship and, you know, and you move forward. Anyway, it's very funny. It's well acted.

It explores like modern dating and, you know, racial stereotypes and dancing. There's a lot of dancing in it and friendship and all these other things and it's very good. I like it. And it's been three episodes of the newest season. It's on Stan here, I think, but it's on HBO Max, I believe, in other parts of the world. What did you think of it?

It's very good. And it doesn't follow that usual trope of relationship difficulties and then it all just gets tied up in a nice little bow. I really like that. I think the writing is really fresh for that reason and the characters are all quite complicated and contradictory as well, just like real people. So there's no like clear villains or anything like that

and it shows the complexity of relationships and how you can change and change the way that you think about someone and then change back again and then sometimes it's about timing as well and missing the boat or you not being in the same headspace at the same time. And I just think it's really interesting. I also think the friendship dynamic that they create with Anna Kendrick's season in the first season is wonderful and I like that again in this season too.

That to me is actually what I love the most about it, is seeing the way his friends support him. And the family dynamics as well. Yeah, exactly, and how friends are there or not there or their friendships change as they too change. And like the dynamic with his mate who has kids and a wife at home I think is quite interesting because I do think they capture that very well.

It's really difficult sometimes to stay friends with someone when your lives are in very different places. Yeah, definitely. And I also think his friend tells him not to get divorced and not to do it and then he does it anyway and then he regrets it. And I think that is really another thing, right, about friendships, that you can see someone that you love walking into something that you know is going to be bad but you can't stop them.

And when you're in it as well, you can't see it either. You know what I mean? No, exactly. It's hard to kind of. Totally. And a lot of rationality goes out the window. Yeah. And so I think a lot about a friendship that moves into your 30s

and 40s, right, is just still just being there to hang out and have a drink and have a laugh with your mate and. Just have a good time. Let them know you're there. Yeah. And like warn them, but in the end of the day, I mean that's really. Yeah, people make their own decisions. Yeah, they make their own decisions and tricky.

Anyway, yeah, I think it's great. Yeah. Loved it. Can't wait to see the rest of it. I think they're releasing like two or three episodes a week or something like that I believe. Yeah, I really like the way that it's shot. It does a great job of depicting how hard it is in New York

if you don't have an apartment. Yeah, right. Or you're sharing a flat with someone. Yeah. It's good. Good stuff. Cool. All right, my turn.

I would love you to do the, yep. We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge Indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from Indigenous clean water. We can acknowledge Indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from Indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Do the thing. Do the thing.

Have you got another depressing thing? I certainly do. That first thing you said wasn't that depressing. No, it wasn't. No, and this isn't really depressing either. It's just excellent. You don't know what's going on. So I've had quite a few people recommend to me this TV show, Made,

and so I thought what I would do is read one of the wonderful people who did recommend it to me. I love this idea. You can email in to suggestiblepod at gmail.com with your recommendation and you might just get it on the show just like George Irwin has. George Irwin's sneaking his way into the show. What a legend.

Hi, Claire and James. First I want to say that I love the pod. We love you. Thanks, mate. I have been listening for a while now and you've helped me through many tough times. Whenever I'm stressed, I pop the pod on and feel the anxiety drain away. Let it drain. So thanks. You two have some incredible banter that never gets off. God.

That's the kind of banter you can expect here. Please go on. Do go on. So sorry, George. My suggestion for you guys is a show called Maid starring Margaret Qualley. It follows a mother who runs away from her partner after he becomes increasingly aggressive and violent. She has no one to turn to and is left trying to piece her life together all whilst caring for her young daughter, Maddie. It's very heartbreaking and uncomfortable with the protagonist constantly progressing one step forward and two steps back. But it's incredible, vividly representing motherhood and its protective nature.

I think. I'm not a mum. No, you would be correct, George. It absolutely does. Well, as a father, I don't agree, but go on. All right. I think Claire will thoroughly enjoy it and James, I don't know, there are no big kicks here.

This is serious cinema. Oh, wow. Keep doing what you're doing from George in the UK. No, I saw you watching this and I was like, I should watch this because it looks good. But then I'm like, well, then I have to, when I have to watch something else, it's a gesture. Well, yeah, well, here's the thing.

Here's why I think you should absolutely watch it. It comes from Margot Robbie's production company, Lucky Chap Entertainment. Oh, really? Okay. And she obviously created I, Tonya, which is like a smash hit movie. I still haven't seen I, Tonya. Oh, it's very dark, but it's great. She's brilliant in it.

And also they also created Promising Young Woman, which is I know one of the shows that you loved. And it has a similar vein. It's completely different to Promising Young Woman. Yeah. But there's a really strong female protagonist and it does a really good job of shining a light from a different perspective on domestic violence

and what it's like to live in poverty and to have no one to turn to. It also talks a lot about coercive control with an emotional abuse within a relationship. It does that complexity really well because he's not on the outset at actually physically violent towards her at all that you see on screen. Yeah. Her partner, Sean, who's played by Nick Robinson, is more manipulative than that. And so the first sequence kind of sees her just. I like Nick Robinson. Yeah, he's really good in this.

And Margaret Qualley as Alex is just incredible, as is her daughter, Maddie, who's played by Riley Nevia Wittet. And interestingly, Andy McDowell plays her undiagnosed bipolar artist mother who's very flaky and that kind of wild, crazy hair and amazing. And they're actually mother and daughter in real life. Oh, okay. I didn't know that. Which is really, really interesting.

Cool. Yeah. What I also really love about it, it also looks at what happens when a woman with her kids has to leave that kind of environment, what it takes for her to leave, and then what happens when a woman with her kids has to leave that kind of environment, what it takes for her to leave, and then what happens when you get put into the system and how when you've got no family support, because often with coercive control they gradually take away

your financial freedom, your ability to have any friends, and they ostracise you and separate you from the people that love you and your family. So you end up with no one to turn to. Yeah. And, I mean, like her partner in this had also taken her phone. But what's interesting is they sort of juxtaposition this with flashbacks to when they first started dating.

And he's an alcoholic but when he's sober you eventually meet him as a character when he's sober and he's a great dad and he's really lovely and you can see why she goes back to him and it's this sort of, it's just not black and white. Yeah. It's done really, really well and you just start to understand why her mother is the way that she is as well based on her previous relationships. is the way that she is as well based on her previous relationships. There's just lots and lots in it that's so rich. One of the things I think is most interesting though is that it's based on a book by Stephanie Land who, and this is sort of like her life story.

So she wrote a memoir and the memoir was called Made Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother's Will to Survive. And so this book was a memoir based on her real-life true story. She grew up in Washington Anchorage in Alaska in a middle-class household but had a car accident at 16 which led her to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder which was then exacerbated by financial struggles that she had. And she ended up as a single mother in

her 20s, living in Port Townsend in Washington. And she had to escape an abusive relationship and then worked as a maid. So then during those years, she was planning to become a writer and go to university. And she obviously had no money. So she ended up having to clean houses and eventually got herself out of that situation. But that led her to do some writing. And one piece that she wrote for Vox then became this book. And it's so worth reading. If you don't read the whole book, but you just read this piece in Vox, it's there now. It's called, I spent two years cleaning houses. What I saw makes me never want to be rich. And this is the other part that May does really well. It's about her

perspective going into these houses of people who've got like mansions and how miserable they are. And there's stories that she sees because they see her as a ghost. They don't see her as a person with feelings and thoughts and opinions. They sort of see her as interchangeable. And so they kind of open their whole life up to her. And so she ends up seeing so many interesting things, people addicted to pills, you know, people who are married but living in completely separate wings of their own house, women who are struggling with IVF, who are struggling

with pill addictions, you know, all kinds of things, people whose, you know, partner has died but the house has remained exactly the same even after they've gone and this man's living alone with his wife's house, you know, even his wife's note's still on the fridge. And that in itself I think is really fascinating to think about and also makes you really think about privilege and what it means to have someone in your home cleaning your house. And, I mean, there's a scene in the actual TV show,

which I'm not sure actually happened in real life, but she has so little money that she couldn't afford to eat and she had to put gas in the tank and pay for childcare. So she drives to this house, she cleans it perfectly, but then she passes out from hunger. And the woman then flippantly gives her a muesli bar, she leaves and then refuses to pay her because of the inconvenience that that caused and how that spirals.

And the other technique they use really well in the show is they have the dollars on the side of the screen of, you know, how much money she's got left in her bank balance. Oh, God, yeah. And so the first whole kind of sequence is her escaping from her partner but then she's got maybe like $12.50 and she fills up the tank enough with enough petrol to get her to her friend's house, you know, or to her mother's house. Then she buys her daughter, you know, a muesli bar and it goes below the line.

Yeah. And you can just, and she's got no one to turn to. She doesn't have a support network. And I think that's something else that it made me really think about. I'm in this privileged position and I think we both are where we have really wonderful families that will support us. I've never felt like I didn't have someone to go to and wonderful friends and we're connected in with the community, you know,

and I think she, because of a whole lot of circumstances out of her control, ends up with nothing and no one to turn to. So it's really interesting. Is it one of those things where they're like, season two coming soon or do you think this will be? No, I think it, no. It's one complete season. I mean, I can't see them making another one.

I mean, I guess they could show what it's like for her to move forward from there but really I think it's a complete show. It tells her memoir in that sequence. And I think it also does a really good job of showing what it's like to be in halfway housing and the problems in the system and what's wrong with. It seemed very harrowing. How harrowing? It is very harrowing.

Yeah. But it's not violent. It's more emotionally. It's like distressing. Distressing. But important. I think it shows what it's like for women who are escaping and what it's like to go to like a domestic violence shelter and the incredible women

that work in there. And it's also very inspiring. I think by the end, like I won't spoil it, but it's inspiring. Yeah. Just watching the strength of someone and how hard she had to work and there's just moments, especially when you're a parent and she's her daughter, you know, she's doing it for her daughter, leaving that relationship. And then she has to leave her with her mother, who's not very stable

and living in a trailer park because she has to work and she can't afford childcare. And it's just, there's a moment where the boat's going on the water over to this big mansion and she's going to spend time with this woman cleaning her house and this big mansion and her daughter is in a situation where she's not sure she's safe and then there's no reception at the mansion. Then the phone, when she finally does get back into reception, has 18 missed calls from her mother and your whole heart just like falls into your stomach and you think, oh my God, and I won't spoil it, but she's, you know, she's just going, you know, crazy trying to find what's happened to her daughter. And anyway, I think it really does that job very well of building empathy.

Cool. And also gives a lot of information about what it means to take someone's sort of emotional and financial stability. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And how relationships can turn that way, whether the person who's doing it even is aware of how manipulative they've become. Yeah.

You know, and that I think in itself is really interesting because you can't change behaviour that you don't know is there. No, yeah. Yeah, so anyway. Sounds good. I think I'll is there. No. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway. Sounds good. I think I'll watch that. It's brilliant. And it's had amazing reviews.

Yeah. Really amazing. I'm really excited to see what Margot Robert is going to do with the movie Barbie, which is her next film. Yeah. It's interesting because it's Greta Gerwig. Gerwig? Is that her name?

Yeah. Who did, what did she do recently? She did Lady Bird. I think she did Lady Bird. But she did something else after that. What did she do recently? She did Lady Bird. I think she did Lady Bird but she did something else after that. What did she do last, Little Women? I feel like it was Little Women. I feel like she did, yeah, but it's like Margot Robbie

and it's Ryan Gosling as well as Ken. So, yeah, that's fun. It's going to be fun, I think. I know. Oh, I should also say Made is created by Molly Smith Meltzler who did Shameless and Orange is the New Black. Oh, cool. Awesome. Yeah, so it's so worth watching.zler who did Shameless and Orange is the New Black. Oh, cool. Awesome.

Yeah, so it's so worth watching. I haven't watched Shameless. Yeah. And I didn't see out Orange is the New Black, but I've heard good things maybe. All right, that, Claire, was a fantastic recommendation. No, a fantastic series of recommendations all around on this podcast. And did you know if you think this was fantastic and above par, maybe you could give us a review on iTunes. It

really helps out. Now, look, you might already be voting for us in the Australian Podcast Awards. Maybe you're not interested in doing two things, and I completely understand that, but you can do it in-app. Just like Gar-A-A-Beleda who says, do you remember? Do you remember that time that you hurt me in a very specific way by losing a gift I got you and you're clearly still upset about it every time I bring that up? Do you remember that? That was the time I mentioned how you lost the bracelet. Oh, yes.

For the event that I got you in Venice. I know. I feel so bad. Well, do you remember that? Yes, I remember. I thought you would remember. I just had a garble later. I wanted to know.

Right. I don't know if that's a – is that a – It's five stars. All right. Well, fine. We'll take it. You can say anything in those. We will take it.

You can say anything. Great. All right. What else, Claire? That's it. I've already done my email. Oh, you did your letter, didn't you? I do have to apologize to James Brock.

I accidentally mixed up his email. He did not recommend The Haunting of Bly Manor. Me too. And you publicly dragged this poor man. I'm so sorry, James. That's cancel culture. email, he did not recommend The Haunting of Bly Manor. He too. And you publicly dragged this poor man. I'm so sorry, James. That's cancel culture. Anyway, he had some great recommendations. But not that one.

But not that one. Exactly. I'm so sorry, James. So thank you so much again. And I won't read them all out on the show because I'm planning to use them. But you're going to watch The Thing, aren't you? Next time. Yeah, I'm totally going to watch them. No, you're going to watch The Thing, aren't you? Next time. Yeah, I'm totally going to watch them.

No, you're going to watch The Thing, the movie The Thing. The Thing. No, I'm not. Scott Kurt Russell. Thank you. Keith David. Come on. All right, fine.

I'll watch it. It's got Wilford Brimley. Fine. I'll watch it before next week. Will you? And I'll let you know what I think. Will you really? Yes, I will.

I'm a grown woman with ovaries. I can watch it. Wow. All right, let's get out of here. Okay, bye. Bye. Oh, as always, thank you to Rock Alliance for editing this week's episode. Amazing stuff.

Amazing. Okay, bye. Bye. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates. I mean, if you want. It's up to you. Introducing Uber Teen Accounts,

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