The Watch - What We Watched Over the Holidays: The End of ‘Stranger Things,’ ‘Marty Supreme,’ ‘Heated Rivalry,’ and ‘Landman’

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

Chris and Andy talk about the end of ‘Stranger Things’ and whether the final season lived up to the hype (7:10). Then they discuss the exhilarating experience of  watching ‘Marty Supreme’ in ...the theater, Timothée Chalamet’s remarkable performance, and the expert use of cameos throughout the film (22:18). Later, they discuss the excellent close to ‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 1 (38:26) and ‘Landman’ Season 2, Episode 8 (45:26). Subscribe to the Ringer TV YouTube channel here for full episodes of The Watch and so much more! Hosts: Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald Producers: Kaya McMullen and Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:01:35 Hello, and welcome to the watch. My name is Chris Ryan. I am an editor at the ringer.com and joining me in the studio for another year, it's Marty's supreme clientele. It's Andy Greenwald. It's good. It's good New Year's energy.
Starting point is 00:01:53 What's up, man? You look and sound, rested, replenished, reborn in a lot of ways. I mean, I've been out there. I've been pounding the pavement on the East Coast. You have been. The East Coast metropolises of New York City and Philadelphia. my voice feels a little bit off, honestly, but my energy is great. Is that from a couple Lucy's and Zoron's America?
Starting point is 00:02:12 I did have some heaters. I did. I smoked a Capri Slim. Okay, that sounds. You know, like, just like a slim cigarette. Did you, who'd you pawn that off of? My wife. Just putting around on Front Street, I see.
Starting point is 00:02:28 It's fine. Okay. The health insurance premiums are paid, so. Did you like the skinny nature of the cigarette? It tasted like a roly. you know, as the English kind of, you know, roll their cigarettes. It didn't have a lot of the, like,
Starting point is 00:02:40 this is the difference between the Turkish power. I thought you were mispronouncing rollo, the caramel candies that my children like. If they mean cigarettes, it tastes like rolloes, they'd be fully back. So back. Greenwald, what an amazing time to be alive. Here we are in Taylor Sheridan's America,
Starting point is 00:02:59 and it is 2026. The inbox to reach us is still to watch at Spotify. How did it do over the holidays? Our email inbox? Yeah. We got a couple. I got one over the weekend from a lovely lady from the South who wanted to call us out on some of our,
Starting point is 00:03:17 our like litigation of Rebecca from Landman's purse holding. She was like, that is actually how women from the South do hold their purses. Is Rebecca meant to be from the South? No. She's a Northwestern grad, in fact. I believe. The character, the actress is Canadian. Uh-huh.
Starting point is 00:03:31 Okay. So, you know. So do you think she went method and started walking? around like a velociraptor. Well, it's kind of like, you know, yeah, I bet it was like the way Shalamed did Marty Supreme. We're going to also have...
Starting point is 00:03:42 In the defense of this reader and this listener, yeah, that is pretty small potatoes considering what we could be complaining about on the show and perhaps it's a bit unfair. Just like a little bit. It's like a little bit unfair. We will talk about Landman at some point, but we have a big menu of stuff.
Starting point is 00:03:58 You can also follow us on Instagram, The Watchpod underscore. You can watch us on YouTube at the ringer dash TV, YouTube channel, and you can also watch us on Spotify, where I hope you were listening to us. Today, we are going to talk about the stuff we watched over Christmas vacation, quote unquote, because when you're two guys who love culture, there's no days off. No. Every day you go out and you say, inspire me, you know?
Starting point is 00:04:20 Yeah, and Los Angeles never does, but you were in a more captivating metropolis. Yeah, I feel energized. I feel stimulated, you know. You saw theater. I saw two plays. Yeah. And I saw Liberation. and I saw a preview of Tracy Letts's Bug starring Carrie Coon which was excellent
Starting point is 00:04:38 and I highly recommend anybody who's able to get to the theater in the coming weeks. Our favorite couple. Yeah. And yeah, well we were going to just do kind of like a loose rundown. How are you doing?
Starting point is 00:04:49 Do you want to talk to me a little bit? Yeah, sure. Let's talk. I mean, first of all, my oil futures are going great. So thank you for asking you about that. My portfolio is looking pretty tasty. I was heavily invested
Starting point is 00:05:03 in the nationalization efforts of Venezuela, so this is a tough time for me. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize that. That's going good. What else? What else? Yeah, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:05:13 I mean, it's another year for us. Do you feel like the flame is still as bright as ever? Well, I think that the flame... When did it start the 12th? Something like that? When did our flame start? Yeah. Our flame started...
Starting point is 00:05:25 I mean, we started in January. January 12th, right? You're usually the archivist of this couple. I don't remember the first day. Okay. But we were all over. the fourth episode of the third season of Down Abbey or whatever. So we hit the ground.
Starting point is 00:05:38 No, that was early, down. Because Snitch Butler's, it was super early. That's true, because that was when it was a more focused show. That was really about what it was about, before they expand, widen the aperture too much and went woke. It was just about, like, how it's hard to get good service. It's a much better show. Yeah, it was early January.
Starting point is 00:05:56 Where would you like to start? Oh, we didn't say it, January 2012. 2012. So this is year 14. Yeah. It's great. Do you still enter each year with a lust for, like, what's going to be, you know, big and new and fresh and interesting in television? Do you?
Starting point is 00:06:11 Well, I'll tell you what. Yeah. This year, one of the reasons why I think I'm fired up is because they've given us such a bountiful January. And some of our favorite shows are coming back in January. The Pit Industry. New shows like A Night of the Seven Kingdoms. Returning shows like Night Manager from 10 years ago. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:31 And a ton of other stuff. So Wonder Man. It was just going to be dropped as a binge on January 27th, right? I think that's right. So I thought maybe we could just cap off, you know, just some of the stuff that was happening towards the end of December that we didn't cover in the last 10 days or so. That sounds good.
Starting point is 00:06:47 Also, I did want to ask you, because I'll be honest about it as well, where are you with your pre-engagement of any of these January shows? Because I have not. This won't surprise anyone. Yeah. But also, like, we do have, this is not meant to be a brag, but just to restate that the shows, generally the shows that we really love, like industry, like the pit, we like to enjoy week to week. Yes. And I also, one of the things that I respect is embargoes. So.
Starting point is 00:07:16 You really do respect embargoes. I try not to break embargoes in terms of my comments about a show. I will say that I am net positive on the shows from this January that I have checked out. Oh, oh, you are not, I see, oh, you are not embargoing anything. Yeah. No, I don't want to, I. I don't want to explicitly state one way or another how I feel about something until... That was why you didn't invite me to also profit from the war actions over the weekend, because you peeked behind the black curtain at Mar-a-Lago, and you saw that they had X.com... Can you imagine? Did you see that on one of the screens, they were searching X for Venezuela? Were they?
Starting point is 00:07:52 Yeah. I mean, that's what I do. My only engagement... But you usually do that during, like, the third quarter of an evening. Yeah, I'm just searching Kevin Petulow to just see who's saying the meanest thing. Oh, I thought you meant finding him a new job. Oh, no, yeah, exactly. Yeah, I know.
Starting point is 00:08:11 Offensive coordinator, Venezuela. I go out as a recruiter. Yeah. I'm very pleased with what we have on tap. Okay. Put it that way. Yeah, and so we'll probably second show this week. We'll hit the return to the pit.
Starting point is 00:08:25 The pit, and then next Monday is industry. The biggest television news that happened of which I am, and I do think. I ought to apologize again, I am ignorant of this really, is Stranger Things ended. Now, just to fully contextualize it for our new listeners starting this year
Starting point is 00:08:40 with a new podcast, Stranger Things is a constant presence in my life now because my older daughter is completely obsessed. I don't think it's a violation of any embargo to say that the lock screen on her device
Starting point is 00:08:55 is completely Joe Kiry coded. Is it coded if it's just Joe Kiry. I think it's just Joe Kerry. The other way it would be like drawings of him, things that he like maybe likes, you know? That's true. Okay, right. No, it's just him. Some Joe singles, you know?
Starting point is 00:09:12 Again, this is Joe single. First of all, I don't know if Joe is single. That would also be relevant. No, I mean DJO's band. Yeah, singles by that band. I'm saying that his big single, the end of beginning, is her favorite song ever recorded.
Starting point is 00:09:28 And she has no interest in any other song. By him? By him. Okay. I think that might be a challenge for his music career. And he's talked about that. The people only want the one song?
Starting point is 00:09:37 Yeah. It's a good song. Yeah. But I was like, this is, I was like, you know, you could go to the
Starting point is 00:09:43 play song radio option on Spotify and maybe I was like praying that like elevate me later by pavement would come up or something. Well, he does play Malcolmus in the pavement stock.
Starting point is 00:09:54 I've mentioned that to her. It's received zero attraction so far. I've got to tell you. And she won't even do that because she just likes this one song. I do find it fascinating. If we're so lucky as to be recording this podcast,
Starting point is 00:10:05 say, in 2035. Okay. Like how people's relationships to actors, bands, shows all that stuff changes as our habits become so algorithmic. Not to say that your daughter
Starting point is 00:10:20 is not having an organic relationship with art and life. TBD. TBD. TBD. But the idea of being like super into just one song. by a person.
Starting point is 00:10:31 And also being like this person is Steve from Stranger Things. Like he does not have like a life outside of it or whatever. But she's interested in that. She's very interested in Charlie Heaton and Talia Dyer's relationship continuing.
Starting point is 00:10:45 And in fact, she informed me the other night that many of the international dubbers of those characters have also fallen in love. Oh, that's nice. I saw that I think their body doubles date. And their body doubles date as well. That's cool. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:58 So this is, so I'm now done talking about my knowledge of Stranger Things. How are you feeling about it? I thought that as an event, it was fun. Because you went to the theater in midnight? No, because... You didn't see it in the theater. You saw it on TV.
Starting point is 00:11:11 I didn't, but I will say that it was like a fun experience over the holidays, the way that they parceled these out. Yeah. I think I talked a little bit about watching it with like my wife's best friends, like daughters for the Thanksgiving ones. You know, we knocked out like the Christmas ones over the course of like a couple of nights in New York like we would just throw it on.
Starting point is 00:11:33 I found the finale to be like nice. You know, like I think this show for me probably peaked with its first and second to some extent seasons and that the way that they kind of made it all about, the mechanics of like
Starting point is 00:11:53 the upside down. I mean, it's hard to talk about because I don't know if you care or understand, but like it basically became very video game. in its logic and in its execution. So rather than having, like, the character moments were like, this guy is going to have this character moment, but it's only going to be as a quick aside, like almost a cutscene from,
Starting point is 00:12:12 we have to do this, to do this, to do this. It's like watching the Avengers, like an end of an Avengers movie. So I thought it was pretty, like, about itself by the end of it. But, you know, I also, I feel warmly towards it. And I wonder if in a different world, without strikes and COVID and stuff like that
Starting point is 00:12:32 if it would have worked out differently for that show because I think part of like the abstraction of it is just how long it has been in gestiation like in being a 10 year experience. Purely like pitchfork rating scale like how do you feel about the finale? The finale I would say and you can spoil whatever you want.
Starting point is 00:12:50 I'll say the finale I would give like a five. The Cota I would probably give like a six or a seven. Okay. I thought like that once they kind of wrapped up the action the sort of character beats more nice. The sense that I get, again, based on very little, just ambient understanding of it, is that it is in some ways,
Starting point is 00:13:12 it reminds me of lost in the sense of you strike gold with all the things that make TV good in the sense of like finding actors right before everyone falls in love with them, creating characters in a world that people want to spend time with, and a world that seems to have potentially unlimited depth to keep scratching the surface and finding more and more wrinkles to
Starting point is 00:13:30 and people get excited about the gamification of the story in that way. But inevitably with a show like that, I mean, I haven't read interviews, but I can't imagine if they were given some of Carol from Pluribus as Sodium Pentothal, the Duffer brothers would be like, we always imagined an end game with Vecna or whatever.
Starting point is 00:13:50 And I think also the bigger the show got, the bigger the show had to expand to reach what they assumed what people wanted. So that by this end of the season, it just becomes a magical action movie where all these characters have now become warriors somehow, even though they are like teenagers. Like Blono too, right? I heard she. Yeah. But like Natalia Dyer's character is like basically Ripley and Alien in this show now.
Starting point is 00:14:16 That's pretty sick. Yeah. Yeah, I think that it is a different, as the one-time host of America's leading podcast about television shows ending, I would say that there ought to be a different category for shows. that have to wrangle the multi-headed hydra of their own success to end, there is no naturally satisfying ending to a show that didn't have... I mean, what's the name of the Joe single? They didn't have the end at the beginning. So, yeah, kudos to anybody who tries
Starting point is 00:14:46 and even manages to come out with a gentleman's five. Yes. I mean, I have, like, read a little bit about how, like, the origins of this show and how they had thought about it maybe as an anthology and maybe as, like, this sort of like homage to like a Stephen King contained universe rather than something that was going to be a dimension sprawling magical teenager um potter meets Avengers kind of Lord of the Rings level show yeah and it just wound up being that big and I I guess that's what they felt like
Starting point is 00:15:18 they needed to expand it into and it wasn't as interesting to me but for some reason in the specific time it was released this year yeah I didn't really feel distracted by a ton of other stuff. And the weather being the weather, it was kind of fun to, like, at midnight, throw it on and just kind of, like, zone out. I think the marketing and the way Netflix turned it into something even bigger.
Starting point is 00:15:41 Yes. And then they made like $25 million. Eventized it. It was really, really smart. To your point about, like, what they originally intended, it is always, for me, at least, worth remembering that the initial pitch for the show was a series called Montauk.
Starting point is 00:15:52 Yes. Which I believe was about Lizzie Grubman's parking shenanigans at the Surfside Inn 20 years ago and to think that from that they ended up with what they ended up with but it's interesting like it was an homage right to the spirit of the things
Starting point is 00:16:07 that people in our generation grew up loving that became a I became an homage to like the things that kids the age of the kids in the show would have also loved that because it was like an homage to Marvel and Potter and LLTR which are like more 21st century
Starting point is 00:16:25 like tokens or totems rather. Do you think, like does your daughter have any connection to it being like an 80s vibe show? Broadly, yes. I think she gets the... That that's when it's set. Yeah. Yeah. And that's why they don't have phones and stuff, you know.
Starting point is 00:16:45 Yes, although she does feel frustrated in a way that maybe we would feel when characters couldn't call each other in black and white movies as easily. I don't know. She's just like, why doesn't she? She just searched that up, you know? Pennsylvania 3-2-4. Now he's not here, click. Yeah, it's operator. There's definitely some of that.
Starting point is 00:17:06 It's also funny where like today on the way to school she was explaining Joseph Quinn's character because that's where she's, I think she's on season four now. Eddie, yeah. And she's like, people think that he's like a bad guy because he plays Dungeons and Dragons and listens to heavy metal. I'm like, right, that was a thing.
Starting point is 00:17:21 She's like, I know. But I'm like, do you? She just turns up end of beginning and I'm like, do you know where Chicago is? And that's a whole other story. But do you know about lounge acts? The punk club where I welcome this. Because like it is...
Starting point is 00:17:41 Have you been watching along as she watches or is she just watching it on my iPad? She's just grinding tape. Just trying to catch up and not avoiding spoilers and not really caring. Yeah, that's another thing that I think people have largely given up on. They don't care about embargoes.
Starting point is 00:17:56 They don't respect embargoes like you at Pennsylvania 1500. That's our other watch inbox. The playoffs are here, and you can predict the action all the way to the finals with Fandul predicts. Follow all the playoff dishes, swishes, wishes, wishes, and misses. Predict the spread, the total points, and even the game winner. Sign up for Fandual Predicts and predict it from the couch. by Fandul Prediction Markets LLC, a registered futures commission merchant. 18 plus.
Starting point is 00:18:27 Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Manage your activity with our consumer protection tools. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. Ever have a plan come together out of nowhere and realize you're missing something? Like a last minute beach day, a spontaneous hike or an outdoor movie night you didn't plan for. That's when Prime's same day delivery as you're back. Getting you exactly what you need fast and reliably so you can actually just. join the moment instead of watching from the sidelines. Same day delivery, it's on Prime.
Starting point is 00:18:59 Visit Amazon.com slash Prime to find millions of items delivered fast, available in select areas. Terms apply. This episode is brought to you by the active cash credit card from Wells Fargo. That's a mouthful, but that's because it packs a lot in. Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with it, big or small. So whether it's buying tickets at the game or grabbing a coffee, it earns unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases. Say it with me. The Active Cash credit card from Wells Fargo, be a 2%er. Learn more at Wells Fargo.com forward slash active cash terms apply. This podcast is brought to you by Carvana. Selling your car should feel like one less thing on your list. Not one more. With Carvana, it is. Just go to Carvana.com.
Starting point is 00:19:42 Enter your license plate or Vin and get a real offer down to the penny. No back and forth, no surprises, just an experience you can trust. Like your offer, accept it, schedule pickup, and we'll come to you with a check in hand. Your car, your timeline, your terms. Visit Carvana.com to sell your car today. Carvana. Pick up fees may apply. I did want to tell you one more thing about Stranger Things. So, spoilers for the finale.
Starting point is 00:20:07 You don't care. No. Hawkins is this hotly contested interdimensional property now because there's like the Hawkins. Like no industrial listing? What do you mean? Well, there's the Hawkins town. Okay. Right, right.
Starting point is 00:20:19 Then there is the upside down, which is sort of like Dark Hawkins, which is you can get to through some portals in different places. Right. The thing that they introduced in this final chapter or season is the idea that, in fact, there is then like a thing called the abyss, which is where Vecna lives. Vecna is just really bad guy. Is that like when we found out about Dumbo, that there was like another part of Brooklyn with like the streets looked a certain way, but the buildings are. See, this is why you can never quit. Is that? But don't you think?
Starting point is 00:20:48 Because I remember we were like, don't listen to any of the haters, man. You're the best. Like the first time people took us to Galapagos in Williamsburg. I was like, oh, there's a dark Brooklyn. But then we found out about Dumbo. This is where the G ends. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:20:58 Okay, go on. So there's Hawkins upside down. Then there's the bridge, I think, or the bridge might be between Hawkins and the upside. I can't remember. This is literally me explaining where I live in L.A. to people in London. And then there is the abyss, which is where L. sent Vecna.
Starting point is 00:21:15 Right. when she like zapped him with her mind. Is L what you call 11? Yes. Okay. And Vecna and the Mimeflare are in this fucking desert like outside of Tucson. What are they together? Yeah, very much so.
Starting point is 00:21:30 That's sweet. They're really, they are bonded together. Okay. There's a huge, like, destructive moment event where, you know, they blow up the upside down. Brett Gilman does that. Damn. Greg Gelman blows up the upside down. Do you feel like, what if the Defer brothers had pitched that 10 years ago to Cindy Holland and Ted Sarandas?
Starting point is 00:21:54 Close your eyes. I'm going to paint you a picture. And, you know, so there's this huge destructive thing. There's a ton of damage done. Can I really spoil it? Elle closes the gate to all of this stuff and sacrifices herself. My child already told me this. She's not watched this, but she already told me this.
Starting point is 00:22:11 Another big explosion happens, you know. Cut to 18 months later. I love an 18 months later. Hawkins, the tax base has exploded. It's not just that the infrastructure got destroyed. It was like the population came back. And they were just like... It's teeming.
Starting point is 00:22:29 It's like Hawkins is... There's a gold rush happening in Hawkins. And everybody has come back. And there's so much construction and building going on. Oh, so I'm giving the wrong cities. This is actually San Francisco once Daniel Lurie became mayor. Exactly. And he's like, there's a new gap story.
Starting point is 00:22:43 But it's just the funniest thing. It's like there's no coverage whatsoever of, multiple interdimensional explosions happening in Indiana. But, no, but so are they, like, spending their way through it? Is it like it's, uh, is it abundance? It kind of seems like that. It seems like there's no permitting. There's no zoning.
Starting point is 00:22:59 They're just like putting everything back where it belongs. Okay. And I thought that was a very funny, like, note to end on. Although it is kind of nice because like these six people or 10 people are like kind of like, everybody's just moved on, you know? I'm also interested in the 18 months as like kind of a, default, like, that's the appropriate length of the ellipses. And it's front of mind because we were rewatching Sleepless in Seattle this weekend.
Starting point is 00:23:25 It's on the Criterion's Fresh Start collection. Otherwise, clearly, why would I watch one of the most beloved movies of all time? And for those who haven't rewatched it recently, it opens with Tom Hanks in just paralyzing grief with good reason. Yeah, right. His wife, Carrie Lowell has just suddenly passed away. That's not a spoiler. That's the movie.
Starting point is 00:23:46 And then it's like, and then they're like, what will you do to rebuild your life? It's possible. What would you? And he's like, I think I'm going to uproot myself and my child from the only home he's ever known and live on a boat in Seattle because I'm super into Mother Lovebone and think this town is really about to pop off. But the yada yada for like when it's okay for him to start dating again is 18 months. Right.
Starting point is 00:24:08 18 months is, I think that that's like a solid time. It's two pregnancy cycles, you know? That is a wild pull for you. That is the first thing you thought of. You can just bang out some Irish twins and then you're ready to start over. It's nearly a rookie contract, you know? Okay, Kyud, how do you feel about this?
Starting point is 00:24:25 Just in terms of someone, like, you're living your life. Specifically, Tom Hanks, morning his wife, or Hawkins moving on from... 18 months is a generally reliable benchmark for moving on from something, something good or bad, like rebuilding a Midwestern town. And did you respect this to be the first time we threw to you in 2026 was going to be to ask you this. Yeah, I feel like
Starting point is 00:24:46 after 18 months, it's kind of like, all right, wrap it up. What's it supposed to be like a month for every year? For what? For like a breakup?
Starting point is 00:24:54 Is that? Wait, they have that? For like, time? I think it was supposed to be jet lag. It's a day for every hour.
Starting point is 00:25:00 Or maybe it's a death. I can't remember. It's something, it's like a month for every year. You basically like, you're like, that's the way you're supposed to like mourn or whatever. Okay,
Starting point is 00:25:09 well, leading this pod with for our first pod back. He says, he's talking to, and beautiful Rob Reiner performance in that movie. He says, when's the last time you dated? Yeah. And he says, Jimmy Carter was president. And the movie is said in 1991. Right, so that would be 20 years. It's about 20 months. No, no, like 14 years. 14, he's ready.
Starting point is 00:25:33 Yeah. In fact, he's a little behind. Yes. He's a little bit lagging. Let's go now to a film that we both saw. I can tell you're chopping at the bit. Marty Supreme. Yeah. How many times did you go to the movie? movies last year or in the last 12 months. How about the last 18 months? I was a different guy.
Starting point is 00:25:51 How many times? Embarrassingly few. I would say under a dozen. I think it's opened you up because now like I feel like when you go and you like something, you really love it. I will say this to start. Like I like our friends at the Big Picture podcast, I am a great believer in the in-theater, in-person cinematic experience.
Starting point is 00:26:13 I was... So am I. First of all, let's... Oh, are you? Sorry, I just... I only listen to that... There's not only three people
Starting point is 00:26:21 who love in theater experiences. I only listen to the big picture when it's pure, when it's just the two of them. I don't like any interlopers on that show. Just like that dynamic. It's like if there's guest hosts
Starting point is 00:26:31 on PTI, you know what I mean? Yeah. First of all, a little like glimpse behind the curtain. We were ships in the night. Yeah. We passed each other. You were coming out of the movie
Starting point is 00:26:41 and I was coming into the movie. I had gotten back from a very, early flight and I wanted to see it. But I could not wait until 8 p.m. Here's the thing. I had not had a good night of sleep and I was, here's what I didn't communicate to you in that moment, although I tried to with my searching look that I gave you as you passed the giant fucking poster cutout for Chris Pratt's mercy, a real movie that has the ad, wait, I had it open just to look at it for a minute. I know what this movie's
Starting point is 00:27:07 about. It's Rebecca Ferguson is an AI. The head tagline for this film, which is a real film, the future of criminal justice is artificial intelligence. Way to read the room. If there's two things that are equally beloved in America in 2025, it's the criminal justice system and artificial intelligence. And you give me Chris Pratt not smiling? Fucking, that's my 13th time in the theater. Can't wait.
Starting point is 00:27:34 Anyway, as we were passing, I was really, really concerned that I would be sleeping through this film. no judgment on the film I was just not feeling you would have been easily the first person to fall asleep in a Saffty Brothers movie I had that
Starting point is 00:27:49 I was hoping for that I was like that might be my saving grace here that was not the case I was so exhilarated and transported by seeing this movie in the theater
Starting point is 00:28:01 I loved it I loved the movie I loved the experience of seeing in the theater I think it's a great movie it's a great movie I you know
Starting point is 00:28:09 I think think that when you step into the theater, like, the thing you can hope for is to feel fully immersed in something. And I think we've probably started to confuse world building with, like, more genre, like fantasy, sci-fi kind of things. Like, are you convincingly building a fictional universe for me to explore? Yes. But to me, like, world building is what Jack Fisk does in this movie. And he's the production designer. And he's been, he's probably one of like the, the, handful of greatest production designers in the history of Hollywood filmmaking
Starting point is 00:28:44 and worked with Terrence Malick in the 70s on Badlands and Days of Heaven David Lynch. Yeah, David Lynch did Mulholland Drive. And then PTA. He did the World Be Blood. Yeah. And when you watch Marty Supreme, like the thing that leaps off the screen is the sort of tactile nature of the New York that they create
Starting point is 00:29:05 and feeling like as Marty is going down fire escapes or running through the backs of stores that there is Zane Alley and then another store. And like the illusion, probably, because film is just magic making anyway, is that like you are actually in this interconnected Warren of the Lower East Side in the 1950s. And that is like, it's so captivating. And then when you add the seemingly incongruous, but like wonderful score on top of it from
Starting point is 00:29:33 Daniel Lapton, it just takes you away beyond ping pong and, you know, youth and young manhood and and finding a sense of purpose beyond yourself, which the movie is also about. I mean, every time, I'm not, I'm not even being like self-deprecating. I often don't feel qualified to talk about movies because I see so few of them these days. But like every time I see a great movie, my first thought is always, oh my God, it's so hard to make a good movie, let alone a great movie. And every frame counts and every second counts. And you're talking to the specificity of the decisions made in it. And, you know, reading, about the film after seeing it, talking about how they like wet down the trash in the streets to
Starting point is 00:30:15 like increase every potential moment of realism. And so that the actors would be feeling it too. You read about like Tyler and Timothy filming like after their insane night scene and that they were filming that four in the morning and ad-libbing how tired they were because they were. You read about Chalameh secretly training to become a ping pong champion for six years, which could be super annoying, honestly, but isn't. Are you fine? Where are you with him? I sent you a gif of Shaquille O'Neal saying, I owe you an apology.
Starting point is 00:30:47 I wasn't familiar with your game. And I have taken all caveats away from my embrace. Did you ever see the Dylan movie? No. Okay. Do you like the Dune movies, though? I like the Dune movies. I think I've seen, I think I feel fairly well-versed in his filmography aside from that one.
Starting point is 00:31:06 You're one of the preeminent experts on his appearance at Homeland. That's true. Famously, I met him on the set of Homeland, and in no moment was like, this is the next great movie star. Yeah. It's an incredible performance, and the entire movie hinges on his face and his commitment.
Starting point is 00:31:23 And also, I was thinking about another recent re-addition to Criterion Collection that I rewatched because it was just there again, because I'm clearly desperate for a, let's turn the TV on and just watch what's on experience. This is as close as we get, was I was re-watching Boogie Nights, and I was watching it thinking about
Starting point is 00:31:40 DiCaprio having worked now with PTA and how great he is in one battle after another and how he now says or has said in past interviews that he does regret passing on Boogie Knights and thinking I don't think he would be good for it. Like that's obviously hindsight but that there's a specificity to what Walberg is good at that PTA as a great director
Starting point is 00:32:02 sees and excavates and shines a bright light on. Interestingly now, I'm more more like, Sydney Pollock would have been a good Jack Horner, too. I'm open to that argument that there could have been a different one there. But anyway, you watch Salome in this movie and you're like, absolutely no other actor, contemporary actor, could have given us that specific performance. Yeah, I also don't really know on an extra level, like, who else could have sold this movie? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:28 You know, I mean, the work he has done to get this movie, I think it opened better than the Dylan film did. I think it's appealing, at least from what I've read, to 18 to 34-year-olds who are not always dependable box office supporters. And he's like a new generation of a movie star while also having the chops of somebody who could have been famous in 1972, you know? And I felt really exhilarated by the fact that the movie does, you know, it's highly stylized, obviously. It has that safte de june-siqueua that keeps people awake in movies. theaters. It has the reliance on anachronistic needle drops that I do want to ask you about. But it also has an absolutely genuine, sincere, and I think really interesting curiosity and engagement with reality in terms of like historical reality. And I thought the movie was incredibly compelling and
Starting point is 00:33:24 moving as a snapshot of Judaism in the 20th century, but also the way capitalism works and has always worked in America versus the world. And it's not like heavy handed about any of that, but alive to it in a way that I really liked. I also wanted to ask you, so struck, I was so struck by the use of non-traditional actors up to, and this is the most me, I feel like this movie has been well covered at this point by everyone. Sure.
Starting point is 00:33:51 Here's what I can bring to it. I think that I am the only minor media figure to audibly gasp when one of my favorite writers, Pico Eyre, appears as the supercilious chairman of the World Table Tennis Association. That's who that was? Yes. To me,
Starting point is 00:34:09 deeply influential and beloved travel writer, wrote two of my most formative books in the 90s, Video Night and Catmandu, and then The Lady and the Monk. And then since then, he, like, he lives in Japan and he's just thoughtful. He's very, he writes a lot about Buddhism and spirituality and travel in our global world.
Starting point is 00:34:28 And all of his books are good, including his most recent one. And I was like, I recognize that guy. He's never acted. Did you find out what Safdi's connection to him was? No, because you look down the list of this, and you're like, and George Gervin is running the... Tracy McGrady's on the Globetrotters.
Starting point is 00:34:43 Tracy McGrady's on the Globetrotters. Able Ferreira and Pend Gillette. New York great, in quotes, John Katsamatidis, the chairman of the Dagestino Grocery Store Corporation, plays Dion's dad. Yep. That can work or it can catastrophically not work.
Starting point is 00:35:01 And I thought that the casting of non-traditional actors, Kevin O'Leary thing. I thought it worked to a degree that was totally invigorating and exciting. But even the dude, what's his name, Philippe, what's his name who walked across the towers? Yeah. He's the Belgian ping pong commentator. Are you serious? The use of faces. And then not just saying, like, that's who should be in the scene, whether it's the kid who plays Dion, who I guess they found on YouTube, or Levan Hawk, Maya's brother who's in the hustling scene.
Starting point is 00:35:30 Or Tyler, who I didn't know as an actor and maybe isn't, but is incredible. Like, Richard Brody and the New Yorker wrote that he thought that this works well for the Safeties because the Safeties communicate their story. They tell their story. Yes. Through less through like traditional performance and more through visuals and reaction and presence, which makes sense. You know, it was also awesome. And it is Spencer Grinise, who's in dope thief, but is in that one bowling alley scene talking to Tyler about like, guard your guard your wad.
Starting point is 00:36:00 Like, don't let anybody see your cash here. and then obviously chases them to the gas station. Like he's got like that same kind of face. Even though he's done some acting, obviously he's like an up-and-coming actor. Like I just think that he's like... For Abel Ferreira, we didn't even mention Jesus. You know what it is, is a total commitment to an idea. So it's the same thing with the music.
Starting point is 00:36:22 When it opens with Forever Young, you know, like we won't... We don't have to spoil... Marty Supreme, folks haven't had a chance to see it, but it also ends on a very significant needle drop. and if you kind of go halfway, or if in the middle of the movie, you weirdly start changing, oh, now we're doing 1950s needle drops.
Starting point is 00:36:44 It's like you have to be... You have to be fearless. You have to be fearless, but you have to be committed to an idea, and the idea is essentially that Marty Supreme is a memory piece of this guy remembering in the 80s what life was like in the 50s.
Starting point is 00:36:56 That's what Josh talked about with Sean. Josh himself remembering, the feeling of the past, through the emotional... the character. Josh is like, this idea is like kind of, you know,
Starting point is 00:37:06 it almost feels, he's making the 1950s feel like the 1980s because it would be older Marty Supreme remembering the 1950s. Okay. So it basically gives a rationale
Starting point is 00:37:17 to the postmodern new wave vibe of the music in the film. To commit to something that fully and then to not even be like this is why I did it in the film itself is so brave
Starting point is 00:37:31 and fearless. and it's the same thing with like, Kevin O'Leary could have fucked that movie up. Yes. So many people could have just... It's a major part. I mean, there is, something happens in this thing on,
Starting point is 00:37:41 the Bradley Cooper movie with Wal-Nette. That is like the wrong version of this. And it completely takes you out of the movie if you're even in it in the first place. The fact that they're able to pull off all of these faces, you're essentially the entire movie is like the bar scene in Goodfellas where they're just like, and then there was, you know, this guy into this guy.
Starting point is 00:38:01 And it's a good call. It's like that's the whole movie is faces like that and people like that. It's so invigorating to see because you realize that, especially when we're watching TV, seeing a lot of the same faces, seeing a lot of the same people. And a lot of interpretations of an idea that a character is on the page. And when it comes to like extra work or people filling out a scene
Starting point is 00:38:22 or people in the background or people who are briefly on camera, it's like there just doesn't seem like there's a ton of thought given to it, probably because they have to move so quickly. But yeah. You're talking about the geologist on Landman? Not yet. But I agree with that. I will, maybe this is a sign of my trepidation and lack of fearlessness.
Starting point is 00:38:40 The last needle drop was the only time that I was like, only because that song is so overly dropped. Yes. The New Order one, shout out to the upcoming season of industry, works for me. And like the Peter Gabriel one worked for me. The last one is when you, when you... You can say it.
Starting point is 00:38:59 I mean, we can... Cheers for years. When you drop a song that is not just known in its moment as a famous huge song, but has been known by every subsequent generation, almost like by clockwork in the decade from a needle drop. Yeah. I think that it removes you from the immediacy of the moment,
Starting point is 00:39:17 which Salome is delivering in terms of his performance. That was the one time that I was a little out of it. But there was a feeling that I had after the opening sequence where he's in London and everything that happens in London and Quineath Paltrow and their connection where I was like,
Starting point is 00:39:36 I don't remember the last time I had this feeling in the movie theater where I was, it's actually more like a sports thing and maybe it's fitting that it's a sports movie where I was like, please don't blow this lead.
Starting point is 00:39:46 I was so in love with my, and I don't think I was out of it, I was fully invested, but I was so in love with the experience I was having and I was so worried, eventually that faded, but like of a wrong note
Starting point is 00:39:57 that would blow it. Do you feel like I was like, you're up 21-0. Don't let the Cowboys back in it. Do you feel like you're more now aware of how you're feeling about a movie while you're watching a movie or a TV show? Like, are you more like, do you think it's because like you're, like, you have less time? So it's like my relationship to culture is now a little bit more transactional. And when you do feel like I'm levitating, don't, don't bring me down now.
Starting point is 00:40:24 I think so. But then there were a couple moments when the bathtub, crash of the ceiling, I think then I lost all reservations about it. Sure. Because I was just laughing and euphoric and like, this is, here we go. Yeah. I mean, it's of no value based on my almost complete ignorance of the larger cinematic slate still of 2020. For me to say, this is my favorite movie of the year.
Starting point is 00:40:48 But I would rate it higher than one battle after another in my own personal top two list, which might expand over the next few weeks as we build up to the Oscars. Do you think you're going to do a deep dive into? the 2025 movies. Like when you're watching and you're like, I'm just like watching Boathe Nights or whatever. I'm going to watch Sinners in Eddington and I still want to take a return to Zambi land with you.
Starting point is 00:41:10 I mean, I saw the, I saw the trailer for Bone Temple. Bone Temple. Yeah, it's coming soon. You excited about it? Very. Yeah. It's, is Ray Fines, he's playing the rabbi of the Bone Temple. Not exactly.
Starting point is 00:41:24 But he is in 28 years later as this character. He is. And then they're like, let's spend more time. in the temple. Yes. Okay. And then there's another one. There will be hopefully a third one.
Starting point is 00:41:36 I don't want to spoil anything about 28 years later. I don't want you to. I think you should go into it as blind as possible. Okay. Yeah. How will I feel about the needle drops? Young Fathers did the soundtrack. It's an incredible score.
Starting point is 00:41:48 I wanted to briefly tell you about one other thing that I watch that I know you probably are only in and out on. We talked about this show briefly for the first episode. It's Heated Rivalry, which is still the number one show on the max streaming app. Casey stays winning. And we didn't do a best episode of 2025 episode of this podcast, which we have done the last couple of years.
Starting point is 00:42:08 Yes, we were unable to do to schedule. We did show gun one year. We did the bear one year. And I think we were a little bit like, you know, I feel like we left it all on the field with adolescence, but we were talking about like maybe we should try and do the third episode of adolescence or maybe the second, the last episode of task. Like there was a couple of candidates. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:27 And I think I would have voted for all. ultimately the third episode of adolescence, but I think wrangling all the overseas talent would have been challenging. Although now they were just in town for critics' choice. I think they're going to be in L.A. for a while to get some awards. Do you think they want to talk to me about Jedlag? And just like how best to manage that flight and what to order?
Starting point is 00:42:46 Don't get the soup. But then otherwise, this is just, you know, inside baseball. But like, we are also like, what more do we have to say about and or the pit since we've already done interviews with creative people? Yeah. Anyway. It's probably recent. see bias, but I would have made
Starting point is 00:43:01 an argument for the fifth episode of Heated Rivalry. God, it's great. Good for you. I've watched the rest of this over the course of sort of the Christmas break. It is an amazing achievement of a show. Just the level of skill
Starting point is 00:43:17 from Jacob Tierney, who created it based on these novels by Rachel Reed and then wrote and directed the episodes. Yeah. He's a fucking big time talent, man. I'm so blown away. And I asked you, to watch like a brief moment at the end of the fifth episode where it kind of is the culmination of one side subplot
Starting point is 00:43:37 of the show, this established hockey stars public coming out. Quite public. How that affects the two main actors, the main characters, Ilya, and... Who at this point in their journey are closeted. And Connor, yeah. And spoilers for this episode, if you haven't seen it,
Starting point is 00:43:58 I would just highly recommend. you watch you to rivalry. But the end of this episode, which is actually excellent, it also features like, Ilya has to go back to Russia for a funeral, and Conner's in the hospital
Starting point is 00:44:11 after an injury, and like there's this, like, it's just a very, very, very well-done episode of television. This is five out of eight? Six. Oh, so this is the penultimate? Yes.
Starting point is 00:44:22 Okay. And then the last five minutes of this is this guy coming out after winning what would be the Stanley Cup and these two younger hockey players watching it at their separate homes. While I'll believe in anything by Wolf Parade plays. I just got chills.
Starting point is 00:44:42 And the reason why I think I've checked this out so many times is because of the filmmaking in it. You know, they're shooting it on anamorphic lenses. The way that they are communicating the emotional and psychological reality of the kids, characters with camera movement and music and cutting. It is so high level for a show that could, in another person's hands, could have just been very straightforward soap opera, hot sex, TV show.
Starting point is 00:45:16 And he makes it like cinematic. It is so good. I would just, if you have heard about this show and you haven't watched it, please check it out and see if you if you can get to episode five I mean I think if you're watching it you'll just watch it it's just really compelling anyway I was glad you told me to watch it for
Starting point is 00:45:35 two reasons the first reason is it's good to be validated in my opinion that those Wolf Parade records are incredibly important to the culture because that that hits that was that was the pure I would do your tyranny on just to talk about Wolf parade
Starting point is 00:45:51 I would love to talk about Wolf Parade at length I was more of a Shina Lake guy than I'll believe in anything guy but for sure that's the sign of great artistry you just sort of can unearth these nuggets of ore
Starting point is 00:46:06 yeah I think that what I appreciated the most is the way that historically but like this century of television and the role the penultimate episode often plays especially with the type of shows that we talk about in Lioney's
Starting point is 00:46:22 there has often been a death in the second to last episode. And the death is both shocking in terms of your audience investment in the character who dies and also the timing of it. Like we were, I think, no longer, but we were conditioned to expect fireworks in finale. And so that was the great innovation
Starting point is 00:46:41 of George Pelicanos and the rest of the wire staff. Oh, yeah. But you do it in that episode so that you can actually, you can remind the audience that good shows aren't about the rock getting thrown in the pond, it's about the ripples. Sure.
Starting point is 00:46:56 And how the ripples affect on people. And so to watch an episode cold of characters, I did not... Yeah, you don't know who Scott is. You don't know what's going on. I didn't know what's going on on the main stage thing. But I immediately, I mean, I figured it out pretty quickly. Actually, before you keep going, I just realized that I transposed the actor who plays Ilya's first name, Connor.
Starting point is 00:47:13 It's Connor Story. And the character who I was referring to is Shane Hollander. So Connor Story plays Ilya and then Hudson Williams plays Shane. So I just fucked that up. You don't have to apologize to me. I don't watch the show. I would have let you get away with anything. I'm just trying to do the work.
Starting point is 00:47:29 I'm sorry, yeah. Absolutely. Anyway, just to say that the power of the scene was coming into a cold and realizing the significance of the, in the parlance of prestige TV, it's the opposite of a murder, but how it affects these characters
Starting point is 00:47:45 and where they are in their lives and the significance of it. And again, like there are these little subtle touches that I also really appreciated that with Connor or Shane Who's the dark-haired? That's Shane Hollander is the character
Starting point is 00:47:59 He's played by Hudson Blames Yeah Watching this on television With his parents He's watching Major League Hockey Television I believe I don't have that
Starting point is 00:48:08 The New York The New York Admirals Yeah Have won this Stampley Cup Or whatever it is Scott Hunter has won the cup It's falling on his parents
Starting point is 00:48:18 Who are like Oh, we're watching something significant something is happening and it's hitting him completely different. Yes. Yeah, it's beautifully framed. Yeah. Really, really excellent TV.
Starting point is 00:48:28 So check it out if you haven't already. I must have Major League hockey television. I fucking just found out I have crunchy rolls still. Of course you do. I have kids. But we don't watch it. You guys moved on from anime? Yeah, anime is not as popular in the house now that they've discovered YouTube.
Starting point is 00:48:48 Do you want to talk about? Yes. Yeah, you want to talk about Landman? Here's the thing. Do I want to talk about it? Like, when you... Like, what if you had done... What if you were that dude, Morgan Spurlock, rest in peace, and you, like, supersized me for a year?
Starting point is 00:49:03 And then you came in to make the movie about it. That is sort of what's happening? And someone was like, so what do you want to talk about today? Lamb Man's hit a little bit of a slum. Let's just... Okay. Let's call it what it is. Sure. Let's be honest with each other.
Starting point is 00:49:14 And I note this with interest on today, January 5th, because it was just announced that the next season of Mayor of Kingston will be the last season. of that show. Do you think this is the first domino to fall in the Sheridan verse? I thought it was interesting.
Starting point is 00:49:29 I'm sure I'm wrong. Taylor Sheridan is no longer the showrunner of Mayor of Kingston. You know, I think that the fourth season was quite liked, critically acclaimed even. Put that on the poster. E.D. Falco is sort of the co-star
Starting point is 00:49:44 of the show in the season. I kind of gave up Mayor of Kingstown like late season two. I don't even know if I watched any of season three. and you know, Taylor Sheridan's moving his productions, his TV production work to Peacock Universal,
Starting point is 00:50:01 NBC Universal. Yeah. And I do wonder whether or not it is a signal that the third season of Lioness will be the last season or that, you know, some of his work is going to start winding down.
Starting point is 00:50:12 I say that in relationship to Landman because the middle of this second season has felt a lot like late period Yellowstone to me. Mm-hmm. where you're like, we have a lot of random kind of action. Yep. We're starting subplots and then sort of like drifting away from them.
Starting point is 00:50:31 We can't make up our mind about how characters behave and how they feel about each other. It has like an almost compressed feeling. Remember that critique, I used to like get really upset when Succession would have like an emotional breakthrough with two characters and then the next episode it would just completely reset back to the original model for their relationship. That happens all the time on this show. I mean, every Andy Garcia, Billy Bob Thornton scene is the same scene. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:55 And almost, I mean, like, almost every scene between Billy Bob Thornt and Sam Elliott, which are really well done in terms of, like, those guys are really good actors. But they, and I think we'll probably get somewhere with this stuff, but it just really feels like he's writing six different shows that then get cut together into episodes. Yeah, I mean, the structure of the show is build out of page. And it's a bummer. And I think before we get into the specifics of it and things that I really do want to talk about in a public forum. Like Cialis? Like, yes. And who's really to blame here in a lot of these like marital tiffs? The point you make is a really interesting one because Taylor Sheridan remains. And one of the reasons why I also like covering him as long as I don't have to watch all the shows is because he is such a unique figure in the television landscape. Because he produces content.
Starting point is 00:51:51 at a volume of all the great high-quantity television producers. Your Botchko's. Botchko, your Dick Wolf, your Shonda Rhymes. But the David Kelly one I would X out only because I think he's more in common with him. The other few, they make, not only are they good investments for whoever nurtured them and had them on their rookie contract, so to speak, they are good for the Poo-Hulls contract as well because those shows can run themselves at a certain point. Gray's Anatomy is still thriving.
Starting point is 00:52:25 How many years ago to Chonda DeCamp to Netflix? Which doesn't mean, I mean, she still is executive producer of that show. But these shows can continue because they are a template that works that the creator established. The thing that's so unique about Taylor Sheridan is that Landman or any of the shows that he makes should be able to run regardless of who's at the helm. if you gave me the log line for Landman or you, God forbid, read the Texas Monthly article that somehow inspired it or came across his desk briefly.
Starting point is 00:52:55 The Christian Wallace article. Or the podcast, boomed up. You could be like, well, obviously, this is a television show. If the show had just had the patience, the very non-Taylor-Shared any patience, to just be about Cooper's journey over multiple seasons from worm on boss's team to someone who wildcats his way into...
Starting point is 00:53:14 Yeah, exactly. That's a fucking show. Right. But the shows only convey what Taylor Sheridan's attention span holds for the microsecond that he spends working on each script. So they are not actually repeatable. And I want to be clear. When I say that, when he gets interested in something, it can often... Well, that's why his show starts so well.
Starting point is 00:53:37 But it also can be so shocking and weird and surprising that suddenly it can come alive, like it has intermittently over the previous episodes of the season. That even I was like, oh, okay, well, there's something there. That's interesting. And then he loses interest and then he reboots it or whatever. So I think that's interesting to note that like Landman should be a franchise that could run for many, many years, which makes it a very valuable investment for Paramount despite its high price tag. Once he walks, I don't see what the show is.
Starting point is 00:54:09 Well, you can almost make an argument that, like, given all the footage that we have, you could cut together a more traditional but actually, like, probably pretty entertaining version of this show. Because part of the thing that's so disorienting is the juxtaposition of, like, Billy Bob Thornton's raging erection in a morning, you know, with his wife in a hotel room where he terrifies a hotel maid. Don't save it. I'm sorry, Kyle. We're bringing you in on this. Why? I want to tell Kaya about the scene. You said hotel made where this is where you bring me in?
Starting point is 00:54:50 Yes. I do think that this is in the spirit of something I issued a few weeks ago, which was the Watched Landman with a Woman Challenge. So the opening of this episode, Kaya, begins with Billy Bob Thornton is sleeping in a hotel room. He and his wife have taken a room. for a romantic getaway. Petit Des Jenae.
Starting point is 00:55:12 Yeah. He wakes up quite upset and startled because there is another person in their room. This is a room service server who is declothing or whatever multiple plates of breakfast food, including like omelets with truffles and all sorts of things.
Starting point is 00:55:31 He reasonably cries out an alarm that someone is in the room with him. She then cries out in secondary or perhaps primary, in this case, alarm, because what we subsequently learn is that he has taken multiple doses of Cialis and is... At attention.
Starting point is 00:55:49 At attention. To be clear, the camera shows us this. Which part do you want my thoughts on specifically? The maid then screams, don't rape me. You started this. You have to get yourself out of it. And then, Angela, the wife, who has let
Starting point is 00:56:08 the woman into the room while her husband sleeps, starts screaming at her husband for waking up and not covering himself. Yeah. And then he has thus not only ruined their breakfast, but their entire marriage. Marriage. Yeah. Who you got? Who's to blame here for this whole thing?
Starting point is 00:56:30 Probably Taylor Sheridan. Right. She answered correctly. I just feel like so many of the bits on the, the show, not Billy Bob's bits, are, begin from a place of such deep, deep impossibility. Sure. Like, to get to the funny part about that scene, which honestly, we never got to, requires an entire suspension of disbelief about how room service works.
Starting point is 00:56:59 It's also just like a crazy screwball comedy about a rich oil executive and his wife. Corrections? No, but it's just like, that's like a, it's just like, what happens is he just throws all this stuff at the wall. Yeah. Most people would be like, this works, this works, this works, this doesn't, especially not together. And since he has kind of carte bonn, she's like, it all works. It also might be why people like the show is that they never know what's going to happen from scene to scene. That is true.
Starting point is 00:57:28 I think what has sort of emerged over this season specifically is the first season had the tension of John Ham versus Billy Bob Thornton, but also working together. Yeah. Plus the cartel stuff, plus a lot of work on what the oil industry, how that works in the Permian Basin and like how like drilling and how it gets staffed and the dangers that these guys face. I thought that was going to continue with some of the stuff that they've introduced this season with the accident that happens. That was a good.
Starting point is 00:58:03 With the car accident that happens at the drilling site with the natural, the toxic, chemical leak that they have. None of these things have led to anything. No. I mean, broadly, like, it seems like many people working for this oil company are thinking about their own mortality and thinking about, like, what they should be doing with their lives. You add in the Sam Elliott thing of being at the end of his life and being like, I don't think any of what I did was worth it. There are themes that come out of it that kind of makes sense. Yeah, and there's a moment like the boss's 20-year barbecue where what's his name shows up with the watch. With the Rolex. Also, what's that guy's name? It's like anytime that, that's, like, anytime that,
Starting point is 00:58:37 that character leaves... Dale... Dale leaves the compound. I'm like, oh, I enjoy his character and his performance. Yes. These are real people working jobs and dealing with things, and then it just throws it all away again. Right.
Starting point is 00:58:51 And so, yeah, I just think that they have... I think one of the things that's really jumped out of me is like Andy Garcia really is only ever in his office. Yeah. And he's the second or third person. He went to the track. I just... What's going on there,
Starting point is 00:59:07 Like we've now done like five hours of him being like, I'll back your oil company and Billy Bob's like, you shouldn't do this. You're evil, but also I need you, but also we see eye to eye. Right. I only want to talk about one scene specifically. And again, I think this is worth it for anyone who doesn't watch the show
Starting point is 00:59:23 because there are moments when, such as the breakfast scene where I'm like, this is just, this is actually awful. Yeah. Everything about this is bad and this is bad for the world and bad for me personally that I'm watching this. And then there are moments, not to, you know, I'll couch it, I'll be nice. Then there are moments on the show that make me feel like, and this is a small digression here,
Starting point is 00:59:47 but are you familiar with this might be my all-time favorite? I don't know if it's TikTok originally, but it's an Instagram thing, which is a clip of a guy saying, like, when I give my dog a CBD gummy, so he's not scared of fireworks. And then it plays Enigma and the dog flies up out of the bed. Yes. I laugh every time. There is a moment in this last episode that made me feel like the dog on gummies being lifted out of my dog bed and floating through the cosmos. And that was.
Starting point is 01:00:15 And that was the moment when in response to his elderly father being discovered lying in a hot tub. Yeah, right. Otherwise fine. That his response to help his aging and clearly depressed father is to pull off of the road at a strip club that he's never entered before. But his wife has. Yes. and walk over to the stripper counting her money. There's only one in the...
Starting point is 01:00:40 I'm so sorry. Lice's plate says hotlips. And hire her to be his father's physical therapist. Yeah. She quite rightly says, I am in no way qualified to do this. And he's just like, show her some of your stretches.
Starting point is 01:01:01 Show him some of your stretches. Here's a wad of money. And also if you want to give him a hand job, that's fine. And she's like, I understand the parameters of the assignment and I accept. Even saying it out loud, I'm starting to worry that I've hallucinated this. But this does happen. And over the course of the episode, then, she shows up at the house.
Starting point is 01:01:24 She has completely inorganic banter with the other men in the house. Like poor Calm Fury, who I just hope, I just hope that, like, he would get out his retirement straight. Like his role on this show is so insane Because every time you're like I guess he's going to be more important Because they have a giant legal issue He goes Tommy I'm going to zoom into this one And they cut to him going
Starting point is 01:01:49 I think it's a bad idea Tommy And then he closes the laptop Yeah So Godspeed So he has a little interaction Where he once again has to see a blonde woman In tight pants and go Oh I don't know if I approve of this one
Starting point is 01:02:01 She then says to Sam Elliott I'm going to do aquaith therapy with you, man I've just met. I googled it and watched a YouTube video. Let's both get in our underwear. To be fair, aquasize is pretty straightforward. And I will like move around in the water. I will cradle you in the pool for, and I'm going to quote the show here, hours.
Starting point is 01:02:27 That doesn't even seem. They're pruning. That's what I'm saying. I mean, maybe when you, you know, he's a handsome, handsome man, but he has some wrinkles. So maybe you can't tell. There's also a really great Sam Elliott movie called The Lifeguard. Yes, when he's a younger man. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:02:42 Do you think it's a full circle moment for him? Would you say that this was a better use of cradling a person in the water than task? Oh. Well. Different. Different setup. I guess it's different. I guess it's different.
Starting point is 01:02:59 One was sexually charged in inappropriate ways, and one wasn't because it would have also been inappropriate. So, no, I don't know if I have an answer to that. last thing that I just want to get your read on. There's a scene, you know, Demi Moore's role this season has been expanded. Primarily what she's been given opportunities to do is lose it solo. Like cry, scream, hit things,
Starting point is 01:03:28 pour out bottles of Pappy Van Winkle, etc. And then take absolutely indefensible business swings. You know? But, you know, she's in a vulnerable spot, you know, the guy who points out that she has salad dressing on her mouth, which I was like, this is the scene. Yeah, so there's a scene where Dimmy Moore is like about to go to a meeting, but she is eating a salad at a grill somewhere, you know?
Starting point is 01:03:50 She's at the bar. Yeah. She's solo dining, which you and I respect. Sure. For what's worth, good job by the, you know, it was on set makeup person because I did freeze frame it and I was like, did they just neglect to do a touch up on her face because something is on her face. That would be awesome if, like, in the background of the scene, it was just, you know,
Starting point is 01:04:08 taking a picture of your food? Yeah. I don't even post it, but just want to know. Lovely Cobb Salad at Kettleman Ranch. At Kalli's Ranch, enjoying my trip to Fort Worth. I also would say in the spirit of this podcast, I'm saying that I don't think Kami is covering herself in glory as the leader of M-Tex thus far.
Starting point is 01:04:30 That said, I would like some of her energy in the offensive play calling of the Philadelphia Eagles. Sure. I think we do need a little bit of like, a little less defensive turtling. You know what I mean? Like, let's go for it. If we think oil's there,
Starting point is 01:04:42 let's at least, as the clock's winding down, go for it. Okay, so she's sitting there, she's eating her salad, a man who is, has the same haircut as the geologist, in that it's like rat tail
Starting point is 01:04:57 with like a lot of extra dressing on top, but is 20 years older and heavier. Than the geologist. Yeah. sits next to her, flirts a little bit, makes small talk, and then presumes to clean... It is an aggressive move. He could just be like give a little bit of salad dressing.
Starting point is 01:05:18 You went for it. And she like rightly recoils, acts as if he had just woken up in his own hotel room with morning wood. Like it's the most worst thing you could ever do. That's not the part I want to talk to you about. What I want to really pick your brain on is then later, after Camie's just like, let's spend $400 million.
Starting point is 01:05:37 on a wish. Yeah, because the geologist is like, I got this. That guy, by the way, when that guy appeared on the show... He's fucking Luke in the trench run. He's just like, I don't need the guidance system. I can just find the gas. Two weeks ago when that guy showed up on the plane drinking watermelon juice and tequila,
Starting point is 01:05:56 he was not listed in the credits as geologist. Oh, right. They've decided this in the last episode and a half. Also, I shared this, my research with you. I did Google oil company geologist, and let me tell you, they look more like Chopped Tim Walts. Well, they look like Comfior.
Starting point is 01:06:14 At best. Yeah. They do not look like... Comfior would be the Timothy Shalameh of geologists. They do not look like if Desmond from Lost was in Imagine Dragons. Yes. Okay, so that's a flight of fancy,
Starting point is 01:06:26 but as you said, would you say dress for the job you want? I respected that. In the scene after Cammy's been like, I trust this guy with my life and all of my fortune. Yeah. she's like Tommy you don't know what it's been like at lunch today I was eating a salad and I am quoting here a very handsome man tried to wipe green goddess from my mouth
Starting point is 01:06:48 yeah what point did anyone on set be like we got a recast no offense to this working Texas actor but at what point were they like we may have to recast that part or adjust the dialogue I don't think that that guy is going to show up again I think it was more of a symbol of Cammy. Now, Cammy not wait in 18 months. You know, Cammy's, we're six weeks after Monty's dead. This is a great point. I'm not saying she should have rushed into it, but I'm trying to set a
Starting point is 01:07:15 benchmark here. This woman was married to John Hamm. That is what anyone in the future is competing against. I just really hope that the guy who played the dude at the bar. This is like, I love the watch. Here's a fucking thing. This is how this show works. She's going to clip this. We can.
Starting point is 01:07:33 And this guy is going to be like, I'm I finally got a job on a major television show. Here's what I know about 14 years in of podcasting for this show. We can glaze the finest actors in Hollywood forever. Crickets. Crickets. I make one passing comment about how crazy it is that suits is popular now. And Patrick J. Adams, the star of suits, records a fucking reel being like,
Starting point is 01:08:01 they're mentioning my show. Oh, they've ripped my heart out. I like suits. And that's how you win. That's how you win. I don't know how to do this. I am still bad at this. I think that you have had the full Taylor-Shared experience.
Starting point is 01:08:15 And just a few months of Landman. You've experienced the high highs, the confusing middle, and the lowest of lows. We'll see the next two episodes if he can pull it back together. Do you think... I just don't even know what the next two episodes... You could just tell me the next two episodes were going to be exactly like the last three episodes.
Starting point is 01:08:36 There's no story. Yeah. There's no villain. There's no stakes. My hope, if I could just prescribe, I think the next two episodes should be about the fallout in the marriage of the woman at the nursing home after she has been working this beautiful job, making the best life she can for her and her husband, who I believe works at a high school.
Starting point is 01:08:56 He was wearing some sort of athletic garb. And how the first time he's shown interest in her was after the Angela makeover. I'm just worried. I'm curious about the next day. You know? You think that's what Landman should be about? I think it should be entirely like a kitchen sink drama about those two. All right. That's what I think. I think we did a good job today. We surveyed a lot of stuff.
Starting point is 01:09:17 We're going to be back on Thursday with the first episode of the second season of the pit to talk about. I can't believe you missed the opportunity to be like, you now have the full Taylor shared and experience. Just like America woke up to the full Taylor Sherin experience on Saturday. Turns out lying, this is a documentary. This is all we're saying. Thanks to Kai. Thanks to Kai. We'll be back on Thursday with the Pit.
Starting point is 01:09:37 Everybody take care. Everybody just watch it when you're eating salads. Be careful. Ordering room service. Be careful. Jets. Be safe. Be safe out there.
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