The Worst Idea Of All Time - The Pots and Pans of Mattress Pikelet King

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

Guy is beaming in from a hotel room in Australia and Tim is connecting via satellite from beautiful Rotorua on very little sleep, a decent amount of horse tranquilliser and donning a fetching aquamarine dress. But it’s not about the boiz, it’s about Lisa Todd Wexley and Charlotte York Goldenblatt teeing up with none other than Kristen Schaal to participate in the futile activity of enrolling their kids into an ivy league college. Carrie is a prisoner in her own empty mansion and may soon also be a prisoner of thousands of New York’s finest rats, who have already eaten her entire garden. What’s going on with Seema? Glad you asked! She’s enlisted the help of Grown Ups 2’s very own Sherri O’Terry to try and find a suitable suitor but forget all of that because the most important thing is - This show has a new hottie and his name is Adam. Aiden should be worried about his alliterative competitor.Full video episode available at twioat.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you comfortable? It's important to me that you're comfortable because you look like someone who's got a bit on? There's a lot there's a lot on man Boy, do we have a lot on I was First of all, I see that you didn't get dressed up. I am traveling in a foreign land and What can I say I forgot to pack a dress for this. I apologize to our listeners, to you, Tim. But on the other hand, you look somehow more glamorous than you did last week. So tell us a little about what you're wearing and how you're feeling about it. Thank you so much. I have to confess, I'm not sure of the designer, but for those absorbing me via audio only,

I would describe this as a turquoise full-length dress. This is from my friend, it's actually my friend Anna's dress by way of another friend, Crystal, who has lent it to me. I was wearing this for all of last night. I was testing out fits. So I'm out of town. Also, Guy, you're not the only one who can leave Auckland,

okay, you think you're so fucking special, you're not. All right, we can all leave. I've got to know something though, Tim. Did you pack the dress or did you know you'd be traveling with people who are also traveling with dresses? No, I knew that would be. I'd be in fine fashionable company. I'm in the beautiful Routarua. Looks stunning, smells like rotten eggs and Rufus is barking at some neighbors. It's really a situation that I should get on top of. We've brought the

dog. I'm among about six different families. My family plus about six different families. We're partying. We're having a great time. There's about 6,000 kids roaming around and I've sequestered use of the living room. I don't know how long this will last for. But last night I was trying on all the different dresses and this was the winner. So I'm glad you like it. How? Last night I was trying on all the different dresses and this was the winner. So how do you like it? How much of a shared public space are you recording in right now? Like obviously the families are out so if they come in it's it's absolutely... It goes. Front door lounge Timbo's in lounge. Wow and I can't imagine there'd be much more interesting in a child's day than seeing their beloved father or uncle Tim

Broadcasting with a microphone and cable technical equipment to touch and play with Looking glamorous. I mean as a busy mom Tim, how do you fit it all in? It would honestly be a fucking disaster if they get back from the playground slightly early than what I think they will This whole thing's over Well, in which instance let us turn our attention to the cause for this entire situation Which is of course And just like that season three Episode two

Yeah We have obviously watched it independent of one another Yeah We have obviously watched it independent of one another How did you watch it just recently? Well, I look I didn't know if I was gonna get into this I'm just gonna dip my level a little bit. I'm what a professional. I don't know. I didn't know I was gonna broach this topic, but I I subscribe to Multiple streaming services, you know because that's basically's basically how they've made it work for us now,

is we're over a barrel, and they say, give us $17.99 a month for this, and I say, really? And they go, yep, and then I think, all right. So I pay for, in New Zealand, what's called Neon, it's, you know, that's where you can get all your HBO or HBO Max or max or max HBO shows And a couple of others and I thought I'll just you know, I pay for that. I've got a little VPN situation I'll just get it up on that

Wasn't to be I could not get it working I was putting the VPN on the phone hot spot into the computer then the VPN on the computer So like I've got two pieces of technology that are meant to think they're in New Zealand and I'm still not getting neon up on the screen. Oh man. This is a frustration so then I go you know what don't need to watch it on the big screen get it up on the laptop VPN I'm not on the wi-fi my phone is roaming from New Zealand it still thinks it's in New Zealand can't get it up on neon they are out running me and I think this is really annoying. I'm not pirated for a while and also in a really frustrating move which I do to protect my, I suppose, my own time. I'm locked out of everything for the night so there's no social media but also one of the things I lock myself out of is Reddit,

which is the main forum I have to discover where and how, not just to watch shows, but this show. I spent, and this is like honestly, the triumph I felt when I found it. I spent probably two hours after the show last night in my hotel room trying to figure out, I tried to subscribe to Max in Australia, but they told me that I registered for this account in a different country and I was trying to give them money and they wouldn't take my money I came home I spent two and a half hours trying to figure out how to watch and just like that episode two so which I thought was gonna be so straightforward and by the time I cracked it I was too tired so I went to

bed woke up first thing you you know, I'm in bed I'm hanging out with my friends. Yeah carries on the carries on the move, you know Charlotte and Lisa Todd Wexley are out and about and yeah You know, it's interesting because I think It's so easy to take for granted how accessible the show has been for me and to really work for it and then get to Watch an episode but it's early and maybe I didn't sleep as much as it would have liked and Obviously, I came in pretty gun-tot saying this is a good show last week, and I'm not I'm not saying it's not a good show

certainly Outside of the premiere weekend outside of my finery outside of my comfort zone It was a little easier to find fault with some of the aspects of the show. Pray tell. Well it's actually nothing really. I think it's still a lot of fun. I do think that perhaps between season two and season three, in a way that has not yet been shown to us on camera, that Charlotte suffered some like semi-serious blunt head trauma And perhaps that is an explainer for why she carries herself the way she does

I mean Charlotte's always been a highly strung character But it is to an annoyingly two-dimensional degree Which is depicted in the season the physicality with which she's depicted in this season. The physicality with which she's shuffling through a lot of the frames is she's sort of like walking like she's in a farce. Like every moment is sort of played for maximum comedy. It's true, her and Lisa Todd Wexley, they move about like they're in a scooby-doo mystery. Like they're about to unmask like a baddie When what they're trying to do is enlist the help of a Ivy League

College consultant who can get you in on the role of Harvard But they are like they're sneaking around that they're yeah, they're like the roller derby howler I and also amazingly this this episode is plumped and primed with cameos to the point that I my face lit up when I found out that the Ivy League counselor was played by Kristen shal and I was so excited for that storyline to sort of take hold and also Sherry O Terry was introduced introduced as a matchmaker for SEMA and I thought we are like absolutely swimming in relevant to us and more broadly

fantastic comedic actors like that. We're in the muck and the mire of some really good Tim and Guy pop culture here. And I was thinking about it because they bring in the Ivy League consultant Kristen Schaal. Lois, Lois, Lisa, Fingerhead, Lois, is it? We've already got a Lisa in the show, Lisa Todd Wexley, this is Lois Fingerhead, or Lisa Fingerfuck as she is hilariously and frequently referred to. That's right, uh it is Lois, the Ivy whisperer, and I was like, oh wow, I can't wait to have this exciting sort of multi-episode thread in which Kristen Schell really gets to flex her acting and comedy muscles. And then I thought about how they did Rosie O'Donnell

in the last episode. And the fact that, like this really sweet moment to close out episode one is just left for dead, not addressed, like literally one throwaway line in Miranda's storyline for this episode, and I thought It's great to get these people through but we are shuffling cameos through the show When you see someone and you're excited to spend some time with them for the season Check your expectations at the door because we are just getting as many famous faces through the show as we can

Your beloved, predominantly female comedic actors who you see in here, they're gonna go out for cigarettes and I'm so sorry to say they're not coming back. Yeah. They're there and they're gone. That's okay. That's okay. I just, I don't know, I like the episode. I think what I missed was you.

Thanks, man. back at you. And I like watching this show with you and I also actually I went out for I'm in Sydney and I went out for lunch with friend of the podcast Becky Lucas and I've been texting Becky about and just like that and she is she is genuinely angry at me. She is being angry at me the She has been angry at me. The whole time we've been doing this podcast about

and just like that, because I've not watched Sex and the City. And she's saying it's disrespectful. You've got no reading comprehension on what this show is relative to what it was or what it was historically capable of, what it means, how groundbreaking it was and how incredible it was. And I think she was irritated because she thought I wasn't respecting the show.

And I just wanted to sort of address that concern and feeling on the podcast, and I might've already done this in seasons prior, but the thing about, and just like that is, the thing about the entry point that Tim and I have to and just like that and I think why I have a genuine positive Relationship and quite a you know I feel quite a fervor towards enjoying this show

You got a thing about Where you meet something or someone so Tim and I have spent 200 something like 220 hours with these characters. We have spent 220 hours with these characters and in them they've been running through two different scenarios the whole time. So we've watched these characters sort of trapped in this Sisyphean, you know, cycle of making the same mistakes, the same social faux pas the same catastrophic

Leaving a passport and a suit all of all of that kind of stuff And I so vividly remember the feeling of watching there and thinking I just want to see them making different decisions I just want to see them in different situations. And so Watching this show for me will always feel propulsive. It will always feel like we are moving forwards. It will always feel like progress. It will always feel like a treat. It will always feel like a holiday. And inside of that, you have good and bad days on a holiday, but you wake up and you think I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to be out of the house. This is

a circuit breaker. This is new for me and that's important. And so Just because you know, it's a valid criticism. We've not watched Sex and the City. Guess what? It's not canon. And also I do love this show. I'm allowed to criticize an episode I'm allowed to criticize my watch but I love this show. That is an earnest That is true because and I can't emphasize this enough Tim and I broke our brains we engaged in some high-level kind of you know psychological self interrogation which has led me to this place where I sincerely

Love it. I Don't think you know what you love anymore. That's how broken I think you are it's um, it's interesting you bring this up the sort of relationship to the original source material because I don't think you know what you love anymore. That's how broken I think you are. It's interesting you bring this up, this sort of relationship to the original source material because I certainly don't want to dox anyone who I'm here with, but just to paint a little picture, imagine guy that it is two in the morning,

we've got a lot of heads swirling with all sorts of chemical interactions and you've sat down with a couple of friends, new and old, to try and explain why you have to get up in the morning and not take charge of the parenting like everyone else, but instead set up a live streaming system in the living room and put a blue dress on. Is it Sex and the City? No, it's not Sex and the City, it's called them just like that, but it's Sex and the City? It is Sex and the City, it's a spin-off season that's set after Sex and the City. Why don't they call it Sex and the City? I don't know why they didn't call it Sex

and the City, I guess they wanted to rebrand it for a new audience and leverage both the existing IP but the opportunity to find some fresh eyes on the streaming platform. This is over incredibly loud 80s music, everyone's pretty sleep deprived, everyone's got a big head of steam and there's not full understanding I think on the project that I'm engaged in nor does there need to be. People don't need to know all my business, that's fine. But quite a lot of confusion as to what Timbo's up to on the family holiday. A lot of questions being asked, not all of them being answered in a way that makes sense to people here.

It was a challenge. It sounds like it was a challenging environment to answer the questions in a way which would cite the traditional need for information. They are probably as confused about what you're doing as you might be if you ask them what their job is and they said, I work as a, you know, after sales manager. And you'd be like, well, I don't know what that is. And let me tell you a little bit about my work. And I think honestly, your comfort zone, the areas in which you thrive are probably slightly outside of

Explanation Now I feel as though we've probably been a little too self-reflective in our analysis so far It's time to sort of get into the meat and potatoes of our episode. I haven't even asked him. What did you make of it? I was asked him what did you make of it? I was, well it's hard to say isn't it, I haven't slept a whole lot in the last 48 hours and I woke up bright and early to throw a phone in front of my face and it really took me back to the old days of having to wake up early against my will and just force media into my eyeballs for this project.

It was like not offensively bad, but offensively thin. Which I guess is just my whole read on this show. It's like, what are we doing here guys? What are we grappling with? So to give people a rundown, we've sort of mentioned some of this. Charlotte and Lisa have teamed up. They want to get their kids who are high school seniors the best possible chance to get into an Ivy League college. There is a rule at this school that both their kids...

Lily and Herbert Jr. are the children. Yeah, that's right. And so we've got a lacrosse player. We've got a pianist with a very fulsome resume. And there's a school rule that you're not allowed to use outside help, because they got their own guys for this to help you get into the university system.

But they catch wind that the other mums are using Lois Fingerfuck to get into these Ivy Leagues. And so they tattle, they fucking tattle to the school principal and quite a funny moment I don't know who that comedic actor is do you know who that is who played the principal great job that is very funny stuff they said something highly disturbing is happening outside and he puts on a flak jacket and, I fucking knew this would happen one day. Has anyone called the police yet?

Which is in some ways a reasonable response to the cartoonish sense of emergency that these two women in their 50s have burst into his office with, but also a damning reflection on the current state of the American school systems. That's good satire. That's good satire, they tripped over there. So that's, I'm not, that's that, that's they're following that fucking path. And we do get treated to a pretty brief screen time by Christian Shaw, who does a job when she's on and lovely subtle performance from here. I loved it. I really liked every every moment she was there but there wasn't enough for

me. What's Carrie dealing with? Carrie oh Carrie Bradshaw's got a big empty house oh it's so big in New York City it's the biggest house anyone's ever seen but now the house has rats which again there's so many little so many little I know this isn't true but it feels like when I'm watching the episode you know I'm seeing rats I'm thinking they're talking to us dude this is illusion to Brady I don't disagree and also you know Brady's off camera it's interesting because I think in the last episode I was saying Brady's on sabbatical and he's earned it you know you you don't rise up as a Rat King

and youth without being able to go on you know take it take a break take some time out yourself before you decide to return and I think this is a warning shot from the show that Brady is coming back. This is in the same way I called last episode, you know, Chekhov's Michelle Obama. This is Carrie's Brady. Brady's gonna appear. Here's what I want to have happen.

So Lily, we see her hooking up with the ballet dancer. That was also one of my concerns is we were gonna be, you know, the horniness of the children was gonna become as central to the show as the horniness of the adults because the adults basically... She's a young woman, he's a young man, sometimes those two people pass on stairwells. I'm fine with that, I'm here for it. Good on that. Young love, what an exciting concept. Now what I'm worried about is kind of like in Jurassic Park when you saw the ripples of water as the T-Rex started stomping as an indication of the trouble you're about to be in. I feel like the rats that have appeared at Carrie's house are sort of an early warning sign that Brady is not thrilled

about Lily moving on from the trust and he's sending shockwaves of rats throughout the city which will come just before the storm which is his appearance in the next episode in some sort of like heightened form you know like when you see Freeza's final transformation in Dragon Ball Z Just this like you can see it's it's still but he's still got red curly hair. It's still Brady, but he's Rippling muscles now and he's more powerful than ever then he's just surrounded by rats Yeah He's he arrives like on a chariot and the chariot is like it looks physically it resembles a chariot but all of it is rats who have configured themselves into a seat and rats who have configured themselves into a wheel and

perhaps the movements of Charlotte and Lisa Todd-Wexley are priming us for sort of some of the more cartoonish anime style details that we can look forward to as and just like that explores I suppose different genres and means of visually representing the story that they're trying to tell But you you pick some of this up guy what else is going on so we've covered lisa todd wexley and charlotte's absolutely boring adventures into trying to get their kids into harvard which by the way it's 2025 waste of fucking money get them into the trades get Lily learning how to be a plumber that's where the real money is that's where the job security is in this economy. That's so interesting yeah I was

thinking it's funny for the sort of university admissions storyline to be taking place when like the the value power and interest in all of these institutions is being just completely demystified Wined away. Hey, one thing I have brought with me from the home studio is the dog fucking up a door outside So you keep talking and I'm just gonna go bring him in. All right. That's very exciting. Well, I Think Carrie's story as always is probably the one in which we must have the most emotional investment. It's funny, I do feel as though Sima is kind of the second banana at the moment if we're to grade the bananas. But, as Tim said, Carrie's got the rats there. She's writing again and

that is interesting mostly for the fact that she writes on Apple's Pages mostly for the fact that she writes on Apple's Pages app, or whatever you want to call it. I don't think I've ever seen anyone actually using Pages as a place. Who is Carrie? Yeah, Carrie's using Pages. She's not using Microsoft Word,

she's not using Google Docs, she's not using Evernote, she's not using the Notes app. She's using Apple's specifically designed home office software, which honestly, and I've been a Mac user for like the entire time I've been writing, I don't think I've ever deliberately opened pages.

It is shocking to me that this is what she is doing. And it's not, I guess, a total surprise because like, yeah, she's Carrie Bradshaw, she marches to her own beat. But I was really, the way that she interacts with technology more generally, obviously, they are building towards a reveal with the way that she dictates her texts to Aiden, because she didn't do that for a hot moment guy because she hasn't done this

before, right? Like we haven't seen her talking to her phone for the speech to text. All of this is setting up to explain why she so doesn't like the exchange of emojis later on. So her and Aiden are still unclear on the communication rules with Aiden. And when the rat situation takes place, she's walking around, she screams, she's writing in the garden, she's feeling herself again, she's pretending she's in 1896 or whatever fucking year the building was built. And she gets the rats rats they freak her out she runs upstairs and then she's pacing around dictating this voice note period including all of the punctuation comma

from exclamation points exclamation point to question marks question mark and I just don't think it's a way that in the same way that people don't use pages people do not Dictate punctuation in this way. We trust the technology to get close enough I know she's a writer, but she's texting Aidan and she's putting more energy genuinely into correctly punctuating the Voice notes that she's or the the text that she's dictating and deleting than she is to whatever her fucking work is I it was driving me crazy and it's also that later on because Aidan eventually shows up lovely surprise They sit in what has to be you know in terms of kitchen to house ratio the smallest percentage of floor space

I've ever seen insane They've got this tiny little table that they've bolted onto the wall. I've actually got a similar situation in my kitchen but it's like this it's what you do when you don't have enough room in the house. She's legitimately living in a mansion and they've got them set at what looks like a children's table at a coffee shop. It's like where you put the toddlers when you want to do business or something. Even the reverse shot of Aidan, so Aidan very

clearly I can't remember the actor's name, he's got something to do with his hands while they're having this conversation. So I thought he was turning in a fantastic performance in that scene. He's pouring himself a coffee, he's taking the cream out of the fridge, he's smelling the cream. So that to me speaks to trust issues. You think Kerry can't keep fresh cream in the fridge? You don't have to smell the cream, brother. I think that's disrespectful to the host. He's smelling the cream. He's putting it in the coffee, you know, and I'm thinking this guy's acting. He's performing. He's doing a good job. The whole time in that reverse shot, though, I'm looking at the kitchen. It's all designed into a corner. It is like, it's not just the sitting

space in the kitchen that's small, the entire layout of the kitchen. You know, we go to Lisa Todd Wexley's house. We go to Charlotte Goldenblatt's house They're at these beautiful kitchen on space abounds. They can move around the place You can have a social gathering there and I don't doubt that carries got a dining room in that big old fucking house But you cannot show us footage of her getting lost for two minutes While she's running around because the fucking front door is apparently a jar and in the next episode number one the door problems apparently solved okay that was a pretty big plot line just recently and number two the kitchen is too small you can't have someone being lost in a house for two minutes in the next episode oh by the way this is the kitchen it's too small she's she's

living inside the house that Springfield rebuilds for Ned Flanders in Hurricane Nettie after it's destroyed where there is Layouts that make no logical sense whatsoever and almost defy physics There are rooms that are simply too large to be practical at all and then there is a kitchen built for Maybe the rats to dine in. Undoubtedly. say so I that's a huge problem in this episode It's Aidan he shows up. So he shows up. He says hey, I feel guilty not about just jerking off in the truck to completion or Going there as Carrie loves to say when she's talking sexy No, he's apologizing for blowing Carrie off when she tried to return the favor. And he says,

Look, why it's with his mom. I hit it. I had a night off and here I am. I'm here to see you. And it's quite it's actually quite nice. I was thinking as I watched this. I don't think personally, I have the energy to deal with Carrie just spending the whole fucking time pining like I can see the way that they're setting up the Carrie Aidan storyline this season and Just keeps coming back to the fact that Carrie has nothing to do and she is You know on paper the star of this show. This is this is Carrie Bradshaw is the central pillar you know of this whole universe she simply has nothing to do she's just walking around in her big

house we didn't even mention what we opened on in this episode we get to see the beautiful young jeweler who Carrie gives her brownstone to at the end of season two in a sort of passing of the torch and from memory you and I were very hopeful because that woman is the character is quite good quite well written we found her performance very charming she's very charismatic energy and the show and we were looking forward to perhaps a passing of the torch and maybe we get to follow her stories and her journey She was got you abandoned in episode 1 and now she's back in episode 2 briefly

Also accidentally throws her phone at a hot get this New York City. Am I right? You can't fucking throw phone around for hitting I did dialogue that was written for that actor and character was absolutely fucking Catastrophe it was like that. I couldn't believe what I was watching she's like saying oh my god dating so hard I'm sick of it sort of good I just want to throw it away I I'm frustrated now because I really let me make a little bit you got to hold on to that hold on I wish that I had had written down the dialogue in that scene for you and I to really get into because it is an entry point to the episode it's insane because it is so poorly written. She's flip-flopping all over the place one moment it's she's got this sort of frivolous

line about how you know challenging dating can be on your phone but in the next she's like kind of emotionally breaking down at the frustration the whole thing is dog shit. Well look I agree but we have to we have to not give them credit but we have to be accurate in our criticism which is at the start she's sort of going through the conversation saying it's great to see you Carrie and then it's like one of the craziest pivots it is Bob Catter level now if you don't know who Bob Catter is he is an Australian politician Who's given some of the funniest interviews of all time?

He's on the wrong side of history, but oh my god. This guy is crack up. If you look up Bob Catter Crocodile will put it in the show notes pray. I pray I hope he's giving an interview He's talking about marriage equality. He's look as far as I'm concerned, a thousand blossoms bloom, you know, but I'm not going to spend any time on it because every three months a crocodile kills someone in the Northern Territory. And that is the extent to which this actor has to flip from listening to Carrie and engaging and being like, but I hate my fucking phone because men are hard to date and they're all on hair, you know, and it's such an insane

She's given a mural. She's given a mural strip sized acting challenge Without any of the writing to sort of and back up those kind of pivots then so then throws the phone away I just want to do this throws it behind it and then the dialogue that was written is like from six years ago or something she goes, just I just did that I did that I just did that and then they sort of keep talking to each other for a moment can you imagine me on fucking barely any sleep in a room with my wife and my three-year-old and my one-year-old in a cell phone burning cancer into my eyes and the first thing I'm greeted with for the the fucking the responsibility of getting up

when I should not be awake and that's the first thing that greets me. The day's not got off to a fantastic start. That would be scary. It bummed me out. That would and I do think the episode lifts from there because I was like This is this is really this is it We're in a dangerous and I thought of you because I know I've got a greater appetite for this I can handle it for longer. I thought of you and I thought Tim's not gonna be good when I meet Tim If this is the standard that's it. He's not gonna be doing so well, but then afterwards There's just one more line which drove me crazy

Which is throws the phone and then sort of talking talking forgets about the phone and it says I should probably get my phone I didn't guy comes and returns the phone he said which one of you should I be suing and then it's a really I gotta learn her name but the jewelers is you know that's me and then he buys her and carry a drink and then their storylines abandoned I assume we'll never see her again such as the care and attention they place to little stories that they open up You know well these strings that they hold in front of us They're they're keeping us guessing aren't they I kind of do respect in a way that they have enough They're keeping us guessing aren't they? I kind of do respect in a way that they have enough

They have enough characters on the boil And they'll you know, and there's sort of like they're they're they're sprinkling flavors all around stuff and you'll see them reaching their hand Towards one of the characters you think oh we're gonna go there and then they go no, no, no, no, no, no No, take it off. It's like they've got a 30, you know, like a a stove cooker with 30 different hobs a 30, you know, like a stove cooker with 30 different hobs. I actually, I love this idea of of a kitchen stuff by one person that has way too many dishes. That is what it feels like. It's like Michael, Michael Patrick King has got this huge gas cooker and he's got all these pots on the boil and he keeps being like, you know, and I guess it's like there's not enough gas. Here's the analogy. There's not enough gas for all of them to be on the boil the whole time.

So he's got to, and his job, his only job is to keep all of the pots on simmer. And so he's looking at the pots, he's on top of a ladder, he's looking down at the pots and there's some boiling over here and he goes, okay, these ones are boiling okay. And he looks down the bottom left and he goes, oh no, oh no, the gas is out. So he's got to turn the gas down on one of the ones

at the top and he's got to turn the gas up down here. And it's like, he'll do it for a second. He'll see that a bubble come up and be like, okay That one's under control back over here. And that is what we are experiencing He is flitting from place to place with reckless abandon and I'm kind of okay with it. I'm kind of okay Seema's storyline was kind of interesting. It's also by the way. I got a correction from one of our listeners last week We were criticizing Seema for having people make her beard The listener said no She burned her mattress. They were the mattress replacement people. Seema is grounded. She's down to earth. She's relatable

That's our bad But the fact that she burns her house down was kind of treated so weirdly in the show that it's I forgot it happened Of course, there's a little on me that's a little on me but like I sat down and watched that episode with you and we were both like oh yeah fucking house burnt down well we were pretty pumped up we were pretty excited to be there as is our lot of pots to pay attention to and and as we all do if we're watching we've all got a lot of stuff to pay attention to now I want to talk a little bit about Oh, sorry. Did you say well you're gonna say what Seam's storyline was in this episode? Oh, yes

This is that we are now experiencing the The subplot the version of trying to describe Michael Patrick King's cooking technique, which is in many ways as challenging as his cooking technique. The mattress pikelet king method of just like get every pan and pot that is in the kitchen out and let's start cooking. If we put all of the cooking materials out and we take all of the ingredients out of the pantry and we just put all of it on top of the stove yeah meal will be made okay yes right there's so much so many pots there's so many pans surely a meal is in here somewhere and some pockets of the meal just by virtue of how much we've got going they're actually gonna taste

really good some of what is happening on this cooker is actually going to taste really good. Others, of course, it's not going to taste as good because he's not paying attention. He's just pouring it all out there. So, yeah, Seema's broken up with a director and then she's sort of, you know, we even get it like a sort of almost family guy style cutaway montage of her dismissing different people out of hand for not meeting whatever it is she's looking for in a man. And her boss, this quite funny, the oldest man in the world, that eccentric old man, who by the way got a fantastic- It looks like he's stepped off a train from Frontier Times. He's dressed very classically as well as I okay so good he's he's like hey you know what I've watched this happen for too long it's time to interfere I'm gonna

introduce you to I can't remember the characters name let's call them Sherry because it's Sherry O'Teary and that person's I did write this down but keep going because she had a funny name the character funny I just want to know do you got a big laugh line out of me which is he's like well we I'm gonna set you up with this person and then see me goes You mean the 78 year old Pringles here with a colostomy bag and he said and this was probably my biggest laugh of the episode The old man says no Jerome passed away He absolutely fucking ran a train through me on that line. I was before it was so good

Anyway, then see me get set up on a date with Sherry Terry Sydney Cherkoff Sydney Cherkoff. That's right and Sydney Cherkoff, it's kind of it's kind of an intriguing storyline is as a dating coach and matchmaker and says to see me you're too Confident you're too outspoken you love to choose where you're going and you dictate the terms of everything and you need to take a back seat a little bit. She says you wear leopard print and too much metal I guess, and she said the metal is cold and the leopard print reads as predator so she gets her to start dressing in pastels and wearing fake pearl necklaces to go on a date. But it's, it was, I guess it's a curiosity that the storyline is Seema has to compromise

her womanhood or her assertiveness in the interest of partnering up with someone. And it sort of goes on a date and is fulfilling the sort of KP eyes as said to her by sherry Terry and the guys loving the date and then she's like, I'm sorry. This is not what I'm like I actually don't like to just listen and I like to talk and sometimes I'll choose what food I want from the menu And it's like I'm gonna go to the bathroom and then late. No, he said no festival. He says hey, I really respect your honesty There's nothing sexier than an honest woman now if you excuse me I'm just gonna nip to the bathroom she says yeah please and then he goes to and Cheryl Terry's like yeah that's what you get you dumb bitch just shut the fuck up

smile and nod eat what he orders and you know be a good girl and it is interesting I think that is the storyline in which because I assume this will get to follow this for a while Se Seema's journey. Seema's like taking up a lot of the the generation of women who we historically have watched date on this show as I understand it. Seema is basically representative and Miranda, but you know in a different way I think Miranda's got a softer storyline than she did in season 2, but Seema is representative of you know watching these women out in the dating world, dealing with men that we're not getting from anyone else. The original IP title of Sex and the City is being carried on the back of Seema. And

I tell you what, I don't know if those shoulders are broad enough. She's just not a well drawn enough character. Do you know what the real problem is? There's a big Samantha-sized hole in this show. And they've really tried to plug it with Seema and I do not envy the position that as an actor this woman's been put in. Also, I don't know if she gives a shit. Maybe she does, maybe she doesn't. I imagine this would be a pretty good payday. Maybe you leverage this into some better projects. No, I don't. No better projects but no no no no no we're now we're crying i'm crying now for Samantha now you're being nasty now you're just being nasty we can be i mean look i know that they've been dangling the Samantha Carrot in front of us for

two and a bit seasons now but we we cannot be chastising the show for its absence of Samantha you know and to their credit Samantha's name is not past anyone's lips this episode. Just like Carrie Bradshaw in the wake of a horrific Peloton accident, I too need to let go and move on with my life. Yeah, and so Miranda's storyline at the same time, Miranda is here, she's queer, and we're used to it. She becomes totally consumed. And what I wanted to talk to you about is whether or not there was another meta-textual thing happening in which Miranda's at work, where she was rocketing up the sort of the ladder

in the last season to the sort of frustration and chagrin of some of her more senior colleagues and experience at the workplace, but junior and age and they're on the lunch break They're watching this reality show on a phone together and man is like, oh, what's this shit? And then she comes on. She's like, oh no, i'm gonna get addicted to this and I wondered maybe if they were just seeding Uh a response to criticism that might have been leveled at and just like that historically if they are making fun of people Who you know because the difference between watching a show ironically and watching it in earnest is zero because it all looks the same on the back end and so I wondered if they were sort

of looking at us and being like yeah you talk your shit but guess what you fucking love it and it actually socially greases the wheels on your life, you know, so she goes out to lunch with SEMA and Carrie and The waitress comes over who by the way If you want to talk about New York City Improv watch, I would not be surprised to find out quite a high up sort of Hard cast member unlike a legacy a really women well respected Women's lead in ask it or two in her time. That was That was my suspicion as well in fact while we're in this sidebar I've got a couple of other suspicions on the New York City Improv watch, and I just want to shout them out Hope you had a viewing party. I hope you post enough big on social media number one Ernesto the gardener stroke rat exterminator

Carrie's got a rat problem in the garden She says I'm gonna get a guy the guy is called Ernesto comes in fucking clears out the whole thing it is Carrie takes it in stride you would be absolutely devastated this most beautiful like really old garden and this guy this sort of hapless guy Ernesto has just taken everything out it was actually so funny like I wish that they had you know realized this would have played it for laughs a bit more because they go to pains to show Carrie writing on her Macbook in this beautiful garden situation that she's got in New York City. Like this is a completely idyllic

scene that she's got for herself surrounded by bird life and greenery which is interrupted by the tremors of Brady as a string of rats stream past her feet walking into her house as a warning shot across the bough to Lily. But that freaks her out so much that she just gets an exterminator on the phone and says take out every place where rats could be. And they do that literally and turn her backyard into a desert. It's just dirt. And I suspect that that was an improviser.

Also, the other improviser I thought that might have crossed our screen was the second exterminator, Roy, who gets to have a pretty fun job where Carrie's saying, I just want them gone. And he's sort of playing this gormless looking guy

with a funny, slightly twirly mustache looking into the middle distance with a thousand yard stare being like, yeah, whatever lady, I'm going to do do it and he has a line where he says ma'am I will use the deadliest poison I've got and He was nice with it. He's just trying to shut Carrie up. Carrie's like are you sure you'll get rid of all of them? Please make sure there's no rats. He's like yeah. Yeah. Yeah, listen. I will put Agent Orange all over your shirt Don't worry about it. Just want to give that improvise a little bit of flower.

So that was my New York City ImprovWatch. And this was inside of the Miranda sidebar. Oh, okay. Please continue. She's flirting with the waitress. And actually, I'm excited for Miranda to be given, to be thrown a fucking bone, like just to be able to enjoy her late in life sexual awakening in a way that she's not mixed up with Shay who is as a character and a talking point I continue to miss but I want Miranda

to actually find a match that is you know appropriate for her and so flirting with the waitress builds up mostly about the shitty reality show builds up the courage to hit on her and then the waitress is like I'm married with kids. I just watched TV. Yeah, it's like a very funny line from here It's a see. I thought I thought you were gay because you watched the show. She said it's a TV show I also watch walking dead. I'm not a zombie And you know all of that could also be meta meta commentary about and just like that. Were there any other, so we've covered a bit of Carrie, we've covered a bit of Brandon.

Honestly, we'll be wrapping up very shortly but the main thing I wanted to talk to you about this entire time guide, god it's been a long road getting here, it is appropriate that it's at the end because chronologically this is the last thing that happens in the episode. We are inviting into the Garden of Eden that used to be the Garden of Kerry but now a garden is not there. A man like Adam. It used to be the Garden of Aden. Hey nice and this is apropos because another biblical figure Adam appears who is the landscape architect and can I tell you something it is like this man has walked in from a different show to him suit himself and to end just like that his lines were fantastic well-written beautifully delivered

quippy witty he's hot as hell he's got charisma up and down and they had seeded this like they're bad at writing in the show but they had seeded this thing where Carrie're bad at writing in the show, but they had seeded this thing where Carrie is talking about what a relationship actually should be. And she says what a relationship is, is you say to your partner, what do you think? And your partner says, what do you think? And so we've got that earlier in the episode. I've never seen a callback this skillfully implemented in the two and you know, one third season so far and just like that. When this landscape architect, this hottie, funny good-looking man called Adam comes in he says what do you want to do with the space give me your vision here and she says what do

you think and he says what do you think and I you want to hear what Timbo thinks Timbo thinks Aidan's about to get some devastating fucking news in the wake of him looking after his alcoholic son. He's going to lose his girl to a hot landscape architect named Adam. I reckon Adam walked in from a Tom Hardy lookalike competition in Central Park. I was like, because I was so blown away by the cameos when that guy showed up, I was like, don't tell me they've got fucking Tom Hardy walking around here. Do you know what his best line was? He said know what his best line was? He said what happened here and she said rats and he said they must have been hungry

There's nothing there's no green whatsoever there great line beautifully delivered didn't oversource it, you know Man, I'm in love. I'm in love with Adam and I'm not afraid to say it. Yeah, I I'm not I'm not I'm not discreet I think what I'm bothered by with this Kerry Aiden situation so the subplot of the Kerry Aiden one she's seen these long dictating texts which is to show that this is what she values is this crazy not this crazy level of communication it's actually normal but like the way she's going about getting it down on the phone. I think is crazy anyway

Aiden comes over picks her up. Come to the last time I picked Chelsea up Picks her up and that's meant to be storybook love. We saw so you picked up Zoe by the way Our wedding. Yeah, cuz you're normal picks her up walks into the room You know assume they have great sex and then goes away and carries like all the communication channels back open sends me a picture Of a table. So what do you think about this table? And he's just a thumbs down emoji What do you think about this table? She sees the wood speaks to me because you are a woodsman and what is the thing that she likes it to herself about?

Which is like it's from the late 19th century So it speaks to the house and this component speak as a fucking three paragraph 19th century so it speaks to the house and this component speak as a fucking three paragraph Text message that he's receiving about a fucking table after he's just said hey every now and then if you want to text me like That's okay. You can you can see me a text and she's like cool Here is a fucking Bible verse about some table that I want to buy for my big big house I'm just devastated by the like the will they won't they the Aiden's back on the scene and I You know even as a fan you've got to appreciate that

I there's a there's a limit to which you can continue to dangle the like the aided carrot is Initially look fantastic delicious looking organic carrot It looks so good, but if you leave the same carrot on the stick for too long, it's gonna you know, it's gonna buy the gray It's gonna weather on this. It's gonna become a less than this appealing carrot and you know It's fine. If this is what they're doing and we're just gonna watch the carrot completely decompose Okay, that's fine. But it's driving me crazy because I'm sure I'm sure that they're gonna bring the carrot back up and be like Oh, but if you look at it from this angle, it's actually a pretty good-looking care Michael Patrick King Go down to the store and buy some fresh carrots actually no, no, no, no

He's taking care its name is Adam. I take it back if your carrots in the fridge are off But you're still putting everything you've got in the kitchen into the meal Just work with what is not yet rotten You've got a lot of stuff going on. Okay, we do not need more flavors Work with what you've got You can't keep bringing over to dinner to make the vibe better if the vibes not right More people aren't gonna fix it. Okay

That's what I think. Shining light. Let's hear him for me Sherry O'Teary saying to one of the waitstaff after she is upset Seema and their meat cute and Seema has stormed off I think she's asking for a piece of cutlery so Seema has stormed off after monologue about how she's an empowered woman who shouldn't have to acquiesce just to get a partner and she shouldn't have to essentially hide her light under a bushel. She's powerful and she'll continue to be. And she fucks right up. She said, I don't need you. And she fucks right off. And Sherry

O'Teary just says, kitten? A spoon? I love it. She I like everyone kitten I love that about here everyone kitten at one point at a different restaurant she orders a martini five minutes ago she's oh that was sublime my shining light it's actually an offline and it was I think written to just re-emphasize that Charlotte has a job as a gallerist because we cut to like there's no confidence from Michael Patrick that we will all hold this information our head and remember that at a gallery because before we see Charlotte at her gallery like you know which is incidental to her storyline of um being crazy towards Kristen Schaal uh you hear an offline which says that painting goes on the South Gallery wall and you don't see who says it.

It's like absolute offline ADR and I was like, God I'm so glad I know where that painting that I cannot see goes. It is such a relief to me that there is someone in the gallery who is making sure the South Gallery wall is populated with the appropriate art. Believe it. Look, it was a harder watch than last week but I still enjoyed the episode and I'm still grateful to be watching Michael Patrick King do what he does best, which is make a meal. Make a meal with every pot and pan in the kitchen. For me as well was challenging circumstances, strange circumstances. Sort of had about four hours sleep in the last 48 hours

and what I would describe as an Elon Musk amount of ketamine this weekend. So it really did bring an interesting perspective to proceedings on HBO Max. Do you know what I like about making a meal? Okay. Is if you I like about making a meal? Okay? Is if you say someone's making a meal or made a meal out of that, it's open to interpretation.

Someone could see someone making a meal and think that looks fantastic. And if you say someone's made a meal out of that, that is a colloquial phrase, which means they've made an absolute hash of it. And I feel like today and in this season, this season we can look at the same meal being made and have completely different perspectives and that is that's love that's the health of our relationship it's the magic of the show. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to discuss this with me and thank you so much to you who are watching now or listening along later if you want to watch all of the live streams for the season

It's it substack dot twiowat dot com Yeah, and if you're listening Sarah Jessica Parker or the HBO Max intern who runs there just like that account, please accept our Collaboration invitations it can feel pretty embarrassing when you put yourself out like that and you don our collaboration invitations. It can feel pretty embarrassing when you put yourself out like that and you don't even get a response. Otherwise, peace and love to all who celebrate. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed.

I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed.

I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed.

I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to go to bed.