Too Scary; Didn't Watch - EDDINGTON

Episode Date: August 6, 2025

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This is Emily, Henley, and Sammy, and you're listening to Too Scary didn't watch. Hi everyone. Welcome to Too Scary Didn't Watch the horror movie recap podcast for those too scared to watch for themselves. I'm Emily and I am too scared to watch scary movies. I'm Emily and I'm also too scared to watch scary movies. I'm Sammy and I love watching scary movies and so I watch them so that you don't have to. And this week is it a horror movie? Is it not a horror movie? Look, we're not sure. We're not sure. And we'll talk about it. We might not come to the answer. And that's okay. We don't have to have all the answers.

But guess what? Our podcast, our rules. We wanted to talk about this movie. So we did. And that's that. That is that. And we will, obviously, get into it. But before we do, we have a little bit of haunted housekeeping.

Kind of an exciting announcement. Hell, Jella, obviously, continues. But the gifts keep on coming. and we will be covering the FX series Alien Earth that is premiering August 12th. It will be on our Patreon and episodes will come out the next day. So it comes out, Alien Earth will come out on Tuesdays, I believe, and our episodes will drop on Wednesdays. And we're really excited. I'm really excited.

I can't wait. The series was created by Noah Hawley, who also. also did Fargo and Legion. And so I'm really curious to see his take on Alien. Stars Timothy Oliphant, who is perfect. Perfect in every way. As far as I know. And if he's not, don't tell me. But I mean, I guess tell me, but it's fine. I still love him. You should listen to he did an episode on Conan O'Brien's podcast when he first started it like five years ago, six years ago. And it's the craziest podcast episode I've ever listened to in my entire life. Because Timothy Oliphant refuses their friends, him and Conan are friends. And he refused to

to act like a normal podcast guest the entire time. Like he wouldn't take any of his questions seriously. He was like diverting, distracting, avoiding saying the weird little scurly guy, which I do really like. Like the weird as shit. And I almost want to go back and listen to it again because I remember at the time being like, this is too avant-garde for me, whatever he's doing. An avant-garde interview on Conan O'Brien's podcast.

Now I'm intrigued. Yeah. I think it's going to be a good show. It's going to be scary. I'll be scared, but I'm very excited to watch it and to get to talk about it. Yeah. Henley, do you think you'll be watching or no? I'll watch anything that's on TV.

Nice. If it's on TV, I'll watch it. What are we calling it? TV Scary didn't watch? TV scary didn't watch. TVSGW. Perfect. So, yeah, we will be posting that on our Patreon.

So check there for updates and... episodes eventually yeah yeah uh that's all the haunted housekeeping for today week six of hell it's halfway there whoa whoa war it became australianian all the way um did anything scary happen to you guys this week it's not a big deal but i can't shut up about it which is that i went to a workout class on friday you guys and i had a into a workout class in a while because I've been working late and just like couldn't get it in. And you guys, I'm so sore. I'm so sore in a way that, like, it's making me feel like I have a fever.

Do you know what I mean? Yeah, like you feel like nauseous. Yeah, because it's like the lactic acid or something and the muscles. And it's like the ache, it's like every time I move, like how when you have a fever, you're just like achy. And like it's like over. it's like the core muscles that are like going across my rib cage and it's just like it what kind of workout was it it was a bar class but i just went too hard i went to bar for the first

time in a long time the other day too what well i guess maybe we shouldn't say but um i i hadn't been to bar in probably eight years and it's hard it's really hard and like uh and i just like it's like when I like can't take a really deep breath like because it's like it like hurt and so part of what's scary is I like also like I think I've told Joel how sorry I'm like every 20 minutes for the past two days like he's like so over it and I am too but I also can't think about anything else and it's just like it's killing me I hate it to go to we need to go to we spa oh god that sounds nice I haven't done a workout class in like years like it's in like half a decade don't do it. It's not worth it. I can't remember the last time I went to one. I just want to leave. That's the thing is I get five minutes in and I'm like, I want to get the fuck out of here. That's why they say getting there is the hardest part. I know, but then I will leave. That's the thing about me is I will leave. Staying is the hardest part. Honestly, like, I will just leave if I want to. That's kind of my, you know last year around this time, I signed up for a personal trainer five package session. And I just didn't do the last. three. Still had to pay for it. Didn't do the last three. Thought that I was locking myself in. I said if I spend this money. Probably expensive too. Yeah. Oh, so expensive. I said if I spend this money, if I spend this money, for sure I'm going to go. No. No. But you know what? Nobody can make you do anything you don't want to do, Henley. And I respect that. Absolutely not. I will leave the second

I need to, the second I need to. Yeah. I think I've only left one workout class and it was because I literally thought I was going to die. It was a spin class. And I was, like, seeing spots. Not going to die, but I thought I was going to pass out. And I was like, I'm embarrassed to leave, but I'll be more embarrassed to pass out in front of everybody. So I should go. Leaving a spin class is particularly hard because you got to unlock. You got a literally locked. There's a lot of steps to it. Yeah. Was it at least one of those classes that's like kind of dark? And you're like crammed into the middle. I was in the middle. Yeah. That's tough. So you have to kind of go like around all the bikes. Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. One time I wore a tie-dye shirt to a

sole cycle class in Los Angeles and the instructor gave me so much shit the entire class. Wow. He was like, tie-dye shirt in a spinning class. What a choice. And I didn't think twice about it. I was like, why is that? Why is that weird? I don't know. What year was this? Because I don't think that would happen in 2025. It was in like 2018. Yeah. I feel like tie-dye is more normal again since then. I think he was normal back then. But even still, it's like, you're just going to a workout class. You're just throwing on a shirt you can sweat in. That's very true.

It's like, yeah, it's workout. It's not like you were like going out to fine dining. I think, yeah, I think he was like really, he was really joshed me in a way like we knew each other. And I never met this man before in my life. I don't care for that. I do not care for that. I don't like that either. But my scary thing is also soreness related.

Okay. take it away i you guys i'm really upset to say that i bought a bad couch a really bad couch no wait your new couch is a bad couch is a bad couch oh shit it's easier to do that than you'd think it was a couch was it an online purchase it was an online purchase and i might call them out and say nobody buy this couch okay is it from west elm because it's always from west elm no our couch that we like is from west elm so i'll defend west elm okay just in this one particular setting. I don't have any other West Elm experience. But no, this couch is from Anabai, which I think is, it like wasn't cheap also. It's, but I feel like it's super like sponsored

everywhere. So it's like paying to have it be the first thing that pops up when you look for couches. And all the reviews on the website are like five star reviews. And I realized later that they must all be fake. They must all be fake. People do that. I didn't really. know that until recently that a lot of those are fake reviews it's i never heard of this yeah and okay so get this you guys the couch arrived in five boxes it's a build it yourself couch no so we built this whole fucking couch um so sore from it and then it's like horrible oh my god because of course a couch that you build yourself is not going to be good it's it's like it's not terrible if it were really cheap, I would say great value for the money. But it's not that cheap. Durable eco-friendly

sofas is what their website claims. And pet friendly. So I was really interested in a lot of these things. Oh, it says patent pending too, which really makes you think they're legit. Free returns. Risk free 30 day. We are returning it. And that means we have to unbuild it. We have to repackage it and send it back and I'm so upset. Oh, no. That's awful. But I like feel better having decided that we're doing it. You know, when like the moment when you're like, I've made a huge mistake. Can I live with this mistake? I've made a huge mistake. Or do I need to take steps to write this wrong? And after making the decision of like, okay, it's going to suck, but we are going to disassemble this couch and package it back up and send it back. Yeah. Because it was

thousands of dollars and it's like yeah yeah it's and it's it's it's a couch is so important you should go to watch all my movies and tv yeah you should go to um take my nap helms the helms bakery zone in culver there there's like a bunch of furniture stores right in that like plaza that's what we did and we literally like went to every furniture store and like sat on the couches and looked at the furniture and it's like fucking annoying but then they'll also deliver it to you and you don't have to build the couch Yeah, I think And it's not cheap But like,

Couches aren't cheap Sometimes I have sales And it's like Then you at least know What are you sitting on? Yeah, it's I'm okay spending money on a couch If it's a really comfortable nice couch

Because I spend a lot of time on the couch And you have couches For years and years So it should be worth it Exactly But this one was not And I can't believe we like Again it came in five boxes

So we built it like one piece at a time I don't know why we didn't stop at any point. It just kind of felt like maybe when it's all together, it'll be good. But we're suspecting like, no, it doesn't seem good. It's like a camping chair with cushions on it. No. What a scam. They say 100,000 happy customers on their website.

That's a lie. Yeah. Well, there's a lot of people in the world. But it's a good reminder. Anytime you're making a big purchase or any purchase or anything is happening in your life if it's me, you just, you Google. it and you type in Reddit also and you see what Redis says. Have you done this sense? Yes, everybody hates this couch. Oh no. And you love Reddit. I know. I usually always do that. I don't know

it came over me. No. She was so ready to buy a couch. She was just so ready to buy that couch. That's the thing is when you're like, I really was. I really was just like, we got to get some furniture in here. And I've been doing that like crazy because when you move, you want so much stuff. And you're like, I need a, I need a shelving for this little spot. And I need a little thing for my under sink organizer and like buy, buy, buy, I need it all right now. And so just, uh, take a, take a breath and slow down. If you're in a position where you're buying like things nonstop left and right, just like, if something costs more than a thousand dollars, especially, just like, slow down. Slow down. Go on Reddit. Take a deep breath. Go to Reddit.

Calm yourself. Look at what strangers on the internet have had to say. I, I, I, I, I, I saw, there's an article in New York Magazine that's all about Reddit and it says the website at the end of the internet. Reddit is the last thriving island of the old web. True. It is true. I love Reddit. More and more people are using Reddit because it's like one of the last reliable places that doesn't have AI all over it like fucking everything up. Although we talked about that study where there were AI bots like in Reddit answering things. So who knows. Yeah. It's only a matter of time. I did go to Reddit this morning to figure out what I should do about how. sorry I am and if I should eat a hundred bananas. Well, oh my God, that actually is a good idea. But I was like, should I like exercise again? You know how sometimes it's like, you know, you should do like light exercise, like a walk.

Yeah, but they're so, I found myself on like a fucking bodybuilding Reddit thread where they were like, you got to just jump back in. If you make excuse for yourself, you're never going to get. That's how you end up going to only one exercise a week. And I was like, I already only go to one exercise a week. Like you're not, this is not actually the right thread for me. Can't end up there if you start there. I mean, that would be me achieving all my goals if I actually worked out once a week. Anyway, I'm really sorry.

Samusat really sucks. Thank you. But it's going to be okay. It is a learning experience. It is. Okay, well, speaking of building furniture, mine has to do with building furniture. So there we go. There we go, you guys.

Sometimes it just works. So right now, I'm inhaling in my room. And, oh, wow, it's that beautiful smell of IKEA furniture. And if you can smell it, there's something kind of right in front of the fireplace. There's this huge fucking dresser right behind me that Tim and I built a solid like eight days ago. But I'm yet to move it into Silas and May's room because I have to sell their other dresser. And basically the scary thing is how quickly inertia sets in. Like we built that thing.

It's sitting behind us. It's in our bedroom. It's blocking like part of our wall. And now we're just using it like it's another table in our room. It just has shit all over it. It's like, I'm not going to put this in Salas and May's room. I'm going to use it as a weird table. It lives here now.

It lives here now. I'm staring as we speak at a TV. Joel and I took off the wall months ago. And it's just been against the wall. Now it's just a thing that leans against the wall. And it's like, why? Why would we ever move this at this point? No, it's good.

It lives here now. I have an unplugged in TV that's just a part of the ambiance. Yeah. So the reason we bought this is because right now, Silas and May are still using, they're sharing the tiny little dresser that I bought for Silas when you were still in New York living in like, and his room was like a closet.

So I had to get like a three drawer, tiny dresser. So that's where all their clothes are plus where my clothes are supposed to go. So my clothes, everything needs to be like rearranged because like my clothes are on the floor. Silas and May's clothes are half on the floor. And then we have this full empty dresser now that no one's using still. That's a table. For like four items.

Yeah, exactly. But speaking of like trying things out, that was one thing that happened when we were building this was that I realized Tim had put in like all the drawers, almost all the drawers. But he hadn't actually built the drawer part yet. He just put in all the like, what are those called? the, you know, the rivets, whatever, the things, you put the drawer in. The little sly things. Oh, yeah, yeah. And then he did all of them. And then we realized that they were all backwards. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's happened a couple times over here as well. Yeah. And it's like just a reminder to everyone out there building furniture. If you're going to be repeating an action multiple times, just really. Check it after the

first. Check it after the first time. Because then you got to go and it wasn't that big of a deal. You just unscrewed it and turned it around and it didn't actually take that long but it was that moment of just like sometimes you have to like take a lot of it apart because it was like that had to go in and then this thing had to go in and then uh-oh none of it have to you know we are building a lot of furniture in this modern age you know like we're our parents generation building their own furniture no they were going to a furniture store buying a piece of furniture I don't really have anything to say about that, but I just, it's strange. Well, at the end of this experience of building this huge fucking dresser, because you can't

really tell, but it is like the biggest dresser you can buy at IKEA. Tim was like, I feel like I'm an expert at this now, but like to what end? Like, it's not like I've learned actually anything useful. It's not like I actually know how to build furniture. I just know how to put together this one specific dresser. I've done this one puzzle. And I'm really good at this one puzzle. I think there's something to that.

It was good for your brain. I think it applies. I'm also very good at building IKEA furniture and because I really do like following directions. But sometimes I also do mess up. I'm not trying to shame, Tim. But it's like satisfies a part of my brain where I'm just like, yes, yes, I can do that and I'll do that. Just like the little diagram shows. And I don't know, it makes me feel good about myself.

I feel confident when I am confronted with something that needs to be built. say, you know what? I bet I can do it because I've done it in the past. Yes. Yeah. There's something to that. Yeah. And I like, I also, I'm right there with you. I like really understanding the instructions. I like reading the instructions really thoroughly, really understanding them. That's why when Tim and I started a project like this, he basically has to do it himself because he does, he's a typical man brain. Weirdly like wants to look at the instructions for 0.5 seconds. It's almost like he has like a deadline in his brain where he's like, I can look at this instruction booklet for four seconds. And then I have to put it.

down. And for me, I'm like, no, no, no, we're going to study. We're going to look ahead even. We're going to make sure. I jump right in. I jump right in. Who has the time? I'll figure it out as I go. I mean, I have just, I know myself and I know my brain is like dyslexic, totally backwards. I know I'll fuck the whole thing up. So I have to be good about instructions. Anyway, we're going to talk about this. We're here to talk about a different thing. We are here to talk about a different thing. I do like talking about a different thing. But we are going to But we have to talk about a different thing. Because we can talk about, I've got more to say, but you're right.

We're here to talk about it. I mean, I don't want to stop it. I mean, if there's more, we need to add. Okay. It's probably stop to talk about something else, the other thing. Yes, we should talk about what we're here to talk about, which is Eddington, a movie that is in theaters currently written and directed by Ari Astor, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pasquale, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, Michael Ward, and Deidra O'Connell. Emily and I both saw this movie because again, is it

a horror movie? I have no idea what this movie is about. I've avoided every single possible thing. I've never seen a trailer, never seen even like a one-line description. I've just seen like a picture of... It's about COVID. It takes place May through June

of 2020. A.k.a. the craziest stretch of time in all of our brains. Truly, truly truly What a two months What a two months

What a two months Which was like a horror A horrifying two months A traumatic two months For a lot of people And revisiting a lot of these moments That's what kind of makes this a horror movie Truly revisiting a lot of these moments

Was like I'm not like I'm not okay yet This is actually I do want to talk about this a little bit And I'm sure we will But like I do feel like As a society it's almost like we've just forgotten about the pandemic or we've just, to me anyway, it feels like we kind of just, it's referenced, but like we don't, we haven't ever really dealt with it. I mean, I don't think we never will. Tools. Yeah. I don't think we can as a society. Joel often talks about how crazy it is that there isn't like a day of remembrance for like the, I mean, millions of people who died. Did millions of people die? Yes. Yeah. Like, but we're just sort of like, well. Just that.

Yeah, that almost would be enough in a way, if there was even just like a collective day of morning or like something just to be like, but it's because we want to be like, don't look over there. Yeah, we don't want to acknowledge the pain. And the thing that's funny about it is like, I feel bothered by that. But then hearing you say this movie's about COVID immediately makes me like, no. Yeah. And I think it made a lot of people feel like that also because it's been very divisive, not dissimilar to Ariaster's previous film, Beau's Afraid. But yeah, we did see some comments. Why are they covering this not a horror movie?

And just a reminder, our very first episode of this podcast was Midsomar, written and directed by Ari Aster. We kind of started it because of Ari Aster and Hereditary and Midsomar were like really big zeitgeisty horror movies that made this kind of, what is it called? Art House Horror, which a lot of people have a problem with that term. But that's what we were interested. And taking it back The point of this podcast, again,

it's also, we can do whatever the hell we want with it. Sorry, suckers. But it is about wanting to be in on the conversation of a movie that people are talking about. And usually it is horror movies because it's, that's, you know, a lot of people can't see a horror movie.

But I think that similarly, a lot of people like won't see this movie. I mean, a lot of people haven't. They really have lost money. But we'll want to know what the deal is with it. Yeah. And so...

So that's what we're going to do. So we're going to do that. I think it's going to be an interesting one to talk about because some crazy shit happens in this movie. This is now only the second Ariaster movie I've seen with my own eyes. And I'm on board. I'm very on board. I really like, I think we were talking about he probably is going to have to do

a straight up horror movie. movie again next because his previous two movies have not performed well didn't land and like I might go see it just because I'm like really I like him very into him as a filmmaker I love this trajectory because I think a lot of people would feel the opposite where they like saw hereditary in midsummer and then like checked out after Bo's Afraid are not seeing Eddington and are probably now like not interested in Ariaster but I agree I think he's an incredible filmmaker his first movie which I think we've talked about before or his like thesis film for school is the strange thing about the Johnson's which is so crazy and I think he just has yeah like a freaky weird

little brain and that's what we are interested here on this podcast tell us about your freaky little weird brain. We want to know more. I think this movie and Bo is Afraid are fully just expressions of Ariaster's own anxieties. They're like less plot driven and more just like feel almost like Bo Burnham's inside to me, like feel like here's what I'm freaking out about right now. Here's what this experience is like for me. Yeah. And that I can see why people aren't liking it, but for me personally, I like it. Yeah, I'll, I mean, again, this is a divisive movie.

A lot of people really hated it. I'll come out and say, I loved it. Okay. I really loved it. I liked it more than Bo is afraid. I don't know that I'll choose to watch it again. Sure. But I'm really glad I watched it.

And I honestly had a really good time, which is kind of weird to say, considering what this movie is. But I had a really good time. It's unexpected. Yeah. Wow. Okay. I wasn't expecting that. I don't know.

I don't know what to think. We'll see. We'll have to see. You may have heard of HelloFresh. They send chef crafted recipes and fresh ingredients to your home. But this summer, they made their biggest menu upgrade yet. This isn't the Hello Fresh you remember. It's bigger.

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Go to quince.com slash Too Scary for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-C-E dot com slash Too Scary to get free shipping. and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash too scary. Eddington has a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 64% on Metacritic, and a 7.1 on IMDB, which is pretty consistent, which I feel surprised by. Those are like across the board pretty even. Yeah.

But when you're like looking at the reviews, it's a lot of one star, a lot of five stars. So it's like highs and lows averaging out. to meet at that middle number. It's not that people are giving this movie. Yeah, I don't think a lot of people feel neutral about it or like sort of like, yeah, highs and lows. I think you're either like on board with it or you're not. That's a fun.

That's a fun one to recap. It's why I was interested to see it because I was like, well, I'm either going to love it or hate it, right? Like I kind of want to know what that is. Yeah. Yeah. I also really loved it. I listened to Pop Culture Happy Hour talk about it.

They all varying degrees of hated it. And it was interesting listening. I often disagree with them. That's true. I do as well. They're so much smarter than me. And I'm not trying to be smart about fucking anything. Yeah.

Yeah. And I guess we can talk more at the end about some of the like overall criticisms of the movie. Yeah, I'd be curious. The budget was somewhere between 25 and 50 million. I saw a couple different estimates. And, yeah, so far it's made $8.1 million. Oh, no. That is pretty bad.

Yeah, it's not. Yeah. And second. We are recording it opening weekend, but... Also, is this a weird time for them to release it, like a summer blockbuster moment, this movie? I don't know. I don't know when it would have done great, to be completely honest. Like, this seems like...

I mean, Dead Zone, January, February. That's what I always say for bad movies. And I don't think this is opening weekend, unfortunately. Oh, is it the weekend after? You're right. It's two weeks in, yeah. Yeah, so. Nah.

Really not great. And Bo's Afraid had a budget of 30 million and it made 12 million. So these are two like kind of box office failures. I don't want to. I feel bad saying that because it's, you know, not the only value of a film, but it will matter to some people. Yes, I think it will matter. in terms of what he has given the green light to do next.

Yeah. I mean, yeah, even Pedro Pascal, who is having a really big year. Right. Couldn't. But, I mean, I guess if you love Pedro Pascal, you have got currently several other movies you can go to the movie theater and watch him in. True, true. So.

True. But some trivia for this movie, I feel like right away will say, because this is the first thing that happens when you Google Eddington is one of the stars of this film, Michael Ward, was just accused of rape and sexual assault, which is a real freaking bummer. Yeah. You just absolutely hate to see it. And I guess we'll get into more reasons of why. I mean, we don't need more reasons.

No, we don't need more reasons. But more context as relates to this movie, why that is particularly. Upsetting, timing. Oh, that's awful. It sucks. And, yeah, it also just obviously sucks. It also just sucks. because that's yeah yeah it just is bad it's just bad bad all around yeah um and

other trivia i have ari aster wrote this before hereditary and then kind of put it aside for a couple years while he was making hereditary midsummer and bow's afraid and after 2020 or like updated it to be about COVID. So it was not originally set during COVID, and that was added later. And this is the first feature of Ari Aster's not to have Paul Pogorzelski as a cinematographer. This is shot by Darius Conji, and it looks amazing. I'm, so do his other films. They're both extremely talented cinematographers, but Darius Conjee also shot Delicateson, seven uncut gems, and funny games. Oh, wow. What a little freak. We love these little freaks. Is it the same composer? That is a good question. I don't think so, but I don't think he has worked with the same

composer for any of his films. I think he has for one or two, but I don't think it's been consistent as consistent as cinematographer. Feels weird to call it a score because it's like, It's not really music, but the sounds are really, really excellently made for this film. Let's see, composers, the hacks and cloak. I think they did, yeah, that is the same as at least midsummer. Oh, Daniel Pemberton was part of this one, which I don't think he has been before. It did feel like midsummer like sounds. Yeah.

Really good at, yeah, punctuating a feeling with, like, a sort of dissonant kind of weird sound. Yeah. But yeah, that's all the trivia that I have. And there's a teaser, so I think we should watch this. Ooh, let's watch the teaser. Okay. Ooh, it's only a minute long. I love that.

Just a little tease. I don't want too much information. I don't know if I've seen this, honestly. I'm excited. I went into it knowing it was like a Western about COVID, but I don't think I had any, like, other information to go on. So I'm excited to see this little teaser. Let's take a look.

I got a call into the office about a disturbance. Last night, the family was murdered. Shooters on charitable ground. This is a Pueblo case. This is our crime. Get out of here. I'm running from there. You can't keep your own office going,

but you're going to run mine. They're your streets to keep safe. Ted Garcia, the man is simply. Evil. Can we shut this bitch up? You want things simple and neat. There was some allegations, mate. Allegations like what?

You were in his house. Well, here's a quote from you. Arm yourselves. I don't mean literal arms. I have motive, but we need evidence. People are going to be looking here now. He's aggressive. He's dangerous.

He needs to be locked up. I don't trust him. Maybe he's been spying this all time. We are in a fight against evil. You know what? I lied. I think I'd like, I was just going to say, say,

I think I will watch it again. I kind of want to watch it again. How did I miss that Emma Stone was in this movie? You must have said that. I did too. Even as we like, I had heard that she was in it and just like kept wiping it from. my brain until seeing it and then seeing her again and be like,

all right. I was so. And same with Austin Butler. Same with Austin Butler. Who's like in it very little. We'll get into it. But it is like everyone in it is so good. I think this is Joaquin's best performance.

Which is crazy because he's always so good. He's so good. He is. I was. Yeah. He's incredible in this movie. Incredible. And we were talking about he's in like,

basically every single scene. Like there is almost no moment of the movie that he is not driving forward. And it's like such, it is such a good performance. Yeah, I don't know. I really liked this movie. Also, the case with Beau's Afraid. Yeah.

Reminder that Joaquin Phoenix is Bo and that movie also is like basically him wall to wall like the entire movie. He's so good. It's interesting how Walking Phoenix clearly likes to, like, pick a director and, like, go hard into those films. I get that. I feel like... That's common amongst actors in Walking Phoenix is, like, definitely doing that. Trust.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Wow. Okay. I... Yeah, definitely looks more fun than I was expecting. At least that teaser made it seem like... I mean, it both is and isn't fun.

They're certainly fun and there's certainly some not fun. I laughed a lot. Same. I laughed a lot. Great. And I was mouth hanging open, shocked a lot. It is wild to watch a movie and truly be like, like multiple times. I kept continuing.

I was continuously shocked. Oh my God. It's just hard to do because it feels like once you've been shocked, that's your new threshold. But he still got me. He freaking got me. Shock me again. Shock me. Shock me.

Shock me. Shock me again. Shock me. Shame on you. Shock me twice. Shock my cage and shock again. Shock again. Yeah, get shocked again.

Okay. Ari Aster. I'm excited, you guys. I'm excited to tell you about it. Guess what I have. I have my M&Ms from when I went to the movie theater with Silas. Amazing. So I'm going to sit back and eat my Mems and pretend like I'm in the movie theater right now.

Except I won't be chomping on the podcast. Don't chop on the pod. Don't chop on the pod. Don't do that to you. Let's talk about thongs. Thought the thong thongs. I never liked thongs, always found them extremely uncomfortable and thought, you know, I guess they're just not for me. And I have to live with a VPL my whole life, a horrible, a horrible sacrifice. But guess who came along and proved me wrong?

You better believe it was skims. skim's fits everybody thong has somehow shockingly made thongs my underwear of choice i'm wearing a fits everybody thong right now don't you dare picture it you perves now there's nowhere digging in or riding up because the fits everybody thong is so comfortable you can't even feel it the fabric is soft and molds to your body without losing its shape i have probably ten pairs of these in all different colors wear them all the time and they still all fit exactly like the first first time I wore them, wash after wash. They keep their perfect, wonderful shape. No more panty lines for me. I'm a thong girl now, thanks to Skims. And you better believe I'm also a big, big fan of the whole Fits Everybody collection. My other go-to is the Fits Everybody Scoop Bralette. If you're looking to get yourself a matching set, shop my favorite bras and underwear at skims.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you. select podcast in the survey, and be sure to select our show in the drop down menu that follows.

Whenever I'm feeling a little overwhelmed or stressed, something I do to relax is play a fun little game on my phone. Really, that is really something I do basically every day. It helps me slow my mind down and focus on something other than work or my to-do list. It's kind of like unwinding with a comfort TV show or rewatching a favorite movie. And my latest go-to game is Cookie Jam. Cookie Jam is a free match three game. You play on your phone or tablet. You just match three cookies or candies to clear the board and solve puzzles. I love the adorable little chef panda that joins you as you swap, crush, and jam your way through, fantastical bakery-themed islands. All the little treats are so cute, and my favorite part is when you line up

three of them. The phone gives you this satisfying little buzz, lets you know you're doing a good job. I don't know. It just feels nice, and I am all about finding things that lower my stress levels and make me feel good. You deserve a treat. Join over 100 million match three players and download Cookie Jam today. Okay. I will give us a trigger warning. There are mentions of statutory rape and sexual abuse. And then also just a disclaimer that we just saw this once in movies. And it's a long, once in movies, once in theaters and it's a long movie. And it's a long movie. We'll probably go through. We're going to miss some stuff. And that's fine. You don't need to know everything, but we'll tell you what you need to know. It's a long movie. You don't want us to tell you everything, honestly. As long as you shock me at least twice, I'm fine with it. You'll be shocked. Yeah. Okay.

You'll be shocked. You'll be shocked. Okay. We begin in 2020. We see a homeless man that is like babbling kind of incoherently to himself, wandering through the desert, barefoot. We see him pass a sign for a development that is coming to town for solid gold mass. Magic carp, which is a data center, like a power center for AI, essentially. There's a little thing on it that says, what is artificial intelligence?

And one of these data centers is going to be coming to Eddington, New Mexico. This drunk homeless guy, by the way, is played by Clifton Collins, Jr., who I think was amazing in it. He was amazing. So good. Again, everyone's so good in this. And his name is Lodge, which I didn't know, but according to IMDB, that is the case. And so then we cut to Joaquin Phoenix. This is the sheriff of the county that Eddington is in.

His name is Joe Cross, top cop of Seville County. He's in his like sheriff truck and another truck with two. Pueblo officers pulls up next to him, and he's not wearing a mask. They are both wearing masks. And they say, you're past the like county line. You need to be wearing a mask. An argument ensues. He's refusing to put on a mask. And it's kind of like escalating. Neither of them are backing down, but then the sheriff gets a call about a disturbance in town. And so he crosses the county line again. Even just these moments of like they did such a good job of of conveying without being overt about it. Like that fear we all had of seeing someone without a mask. And then just that like

that little like just that like little bit you sort of like pull your head back ever so slim. Emily, did you in the theater start getting nervous when anyone would cough? Yes. Because I just from like being dropped back into the 2020 mindset the person in front of us coughed a couple times and I found myself being like he should leave and then being like wait that's fine now um it's really yeah but i mean it's also like it will never be fine again will never be fine yeah we're not fine but to be specifically it's like it came back so fucking sharp in my brain of like all of those feelings which i know that some people still feel. I was going to say, yeah, we should say there's immunocompromise people and people with long COVID that are like still very much dealing with this. And so it really not that long in the,

yeah, it feels in the rearview mirror a little bit, but not to everybody. Circumstances are. I also feel it like the opposite, remembering the opposite feeling of drive. Because Tim and I drove cross country in August of 2020. And we drove through towns where no one was wearing a mask. And we were the only ones wearing a mask. And like getting out of a gas. And like getting out of a gas, station or you're like surrounded by people who aren't wearing masks and like big like trucker guys like not wearing masks and they're mad at you for wearing a mask and they're obviously looking at you like you fucking like live weak pieces of shit like wearing your fucking mask and like that was scary too because it was like are you going to harass me right now for wearing a mask like

oh it became so divisive for no fucking reason it really it really was buckle up head It's going to happen a lot in this movie. But also, I should mention that Sheriff Joe is before this interaction watching a YouTube video in his car about like five ways to convince your wife to have a baby. Oh, Jesus. And I will also just say that there's very often in this movie like phones or screens playing the news in the background or YouTube videos or whatever. like there's a lot of presence of the internet and media social media and like news in this movie in a way that is constantly like just makes me feel that like buzz of I don't like it I don't know how to describe it but agitat I call it computer energy yeah it's like

agitating yeah exactly yeah so joe has been called to this uh disturbance It is Lodge, homeless guy, is at a bar. He's locked outside of a bar, banging on the glass, screaming to let him in. We see inside the bar is Pedro Pascal. He is Ted Garcia, the mayor of Eddington. And he's wearing a mask. And again, Joe is not. And so Ted calls out to Joe through the glass with the mask on like, can you help me deal with this? And Joe's like, I can't understand you. And he's like, yes, you can. Yes, you definitely can. That really made me laugh. But these two guys clearly do not like each other. They're both like figures of authority in this town with on opposite sides of the spectrum is the sense that we're getting eventually.

Lodge breaks down the glass door and runs to the bar and starts just chugging various alcohols. Coughing like crazy. And the sheriff's not doing anything? The sheriff does come in now and it's a total mess. He tries to like physically pull out Lodge, but then they get in a fight that's kind of a funny fight. It doesn't look like bad. They're just, it's a scuffle. Slaping each other.

Yeah, they're kind of fallen and slapping. But Ted's son, Eric, is filming on his iPhone. And the whole thing is honestly, like, embarrassing for the sheriff. He just comes in and doesn't really solve the problem. But it's, like, humiliating. Yeah, okay. He also gets lodged coughs right in his face. Oh, yeah.

Right in his face. Yeah. Okay. And we're clocking clocking that. Lodge's cough is really bad. It's one, we know the cough. It's a bad cough. So Sheriff Joe leaves the bar looking like a fool.

And he goes home and we meet his wife, Louise, played by Emma Stone. And his mother-in-law, Dawn, played by Deidre O'Connell. And I think the first thing we see, and hearing is that Dawn, mother-in-law is like pretty deep in a lot of conspiracy theories. She's got her laptop open. There was one article she printed out for, for Louise, that's about how the Titanic was intentionally sunk. Great, great.

For insurance money. The Titanic just keeps coming back. I love it. I think I'm going to make a new tag on Letterbox about when any movie mentions Titanic. It's important to me and I would like to know. we see that Louise makes these funky little dolls as her as her hobby and she sells them. They're kind of creepy, pointy fingers, not quite labuboo-y. They're pointier, sharper, sharper features, weirder.

Like one has like tongues for eyes and like a weird, freaky, you know, it's like, it's very strange. Yeah, they're kikis and, yeah, Labubu's a booba. Got it, of course. Buba, yeah. Okay. Louise, I'd say seems extremely depressed. She seems like she doesn't really leave the bedroom. She's basically in pajamas all day.

And there's a little bit of a slight bickering. Job says, like, your mother-in-law or your mother's been here for more time than we agreed on. And she says, you know, there's still a pandemic, so she's still here. Sorry, I don't know what me to do. And Joe seems like very timid around her and is, I don't know, I guess based also on the context of us seeing that he's been Googling how to convince her to have a baby. It seems like they're not, they don't have the best communication. And he's being really gentle with her and timid and kind of. like oh yeah oh your dolls are so beautiful and then they get like a little bit intimate and

they lay down next to each other and kiss for about a minute and then Louise just kind of goes limp and then starts apologizing and Joe is like it's okay it's okay like and she says I swear I like I promise I am getting better though and he says I know you are I know you are really upsetting moment there so it's supposed to be May of 2020 right is that what you said yes yeah okay just trying to understand how long the pandemic's been happening at this point yeah two months ish month and a half yeah uh so she turns over and goes to sleep and we're just again getting the sense of like joe being kind of rejected and maybe feeling a little emasculated in most of his interactions in this town.

That's not going to have any bad consequences whatsoever. The next day we see him going to the supermarket and there is an older man being thrown out for not wearing a mask and the store owner is like shoving him physically and so Joe steps in and is like you can't you can't touch him like that you can't like we all need to be decent to each other and like and the old man is like i can't breathe in the mask right and he's like you hear him he can't breathe in the mask you're going to make him starve too like and so joe who is the sheriff says like you you have to let him in and there's a lot of arguing i mean we all remember they're like it's a mandate it's a statewide mandate and he's like i don't care i'm the sheriff type of thing

so they they let him in And eventually another employee drags out the guy without a mask and everybody, everybody claps. Everybody in the store starts clapping. And Ted is in the store and him and Joe have another confrontation where... Joe, who is not wearing a mask inside the store as well. And is getting a lot of looks from people who are like, you know, giving him birth because they're scared of him.

Yep. And Ted is saying, you know, come on. we just wear mask and he's like, I have asthma. I don't want to wear mask. And again, it's like an embarrassing scene in front of all the townspeople. It's a really small town, by the way. There seems to be like a couple hundred people that live there. So, you know, not great. He's just having kind of humiliating scene after humiliating scene. So after this, he goes out to his truck, props his cell phone up on the like little mount in the car and he starts recording a video announcing that he is going to be running for mayor. So Ted is running for reelection right now. So it's a, it's an election

year. Ted is the mayor unopposed. And Joe decides, you know, I'm going to run for mayor because we all need to be kinder to each other. This is madness out there. People throw in each other out of stores and we need to heal each other's hearts we need to be coming together as a community not pushing each other away the way you just said community is that he all he talks about community a lot and that is how he says it it's like so specific the way he says it he's got he is so good at playing this like truly small man um it's really it's like it's yeah it's a very very good So it seems like this is an impulsive decision to run from here. He's not,

he hasn't put any forethought of this. Yeah, he's just embarrassed. He's just embarrassed. He's like, you know what I'll do? I'll run for mayor. Oh, it's, well, sometimes it works. So. Yep.

Oh, Jesus. So he posts this video and then he goes back to the sheriff station where we meet his two deputies guy played by Luke Grimes and Michael played by Michael, played by Michael, Ward and Michael is notably the only black character in the movie, and that's going to become important. And they've seen the post, and they're like, are you for real sheriff? Is this happening? He's like, yep, and this is like our campaign headquarters. We need to start, start working. He rolls out of whiteboards, writes slogan ideas on it, and they're kind of brainstorming. And then he gets a call from Ted.

who's like, I'm outside the station. Like, I need to talk to you. So, Joe goes out. Can you guys see? I see a little kitty cat looking right at you. He's blocking my view. So Joe goes outside to talk to Ted. And as Ted's approaching him, Joe is like six feet, six feet makes him stay back.

Ted's not wearing a mask now. They are outside. But Ted is basically saying, like what are you doing this is going to be really embarrassing for you i want to save you from this embarrassment what's this all about is this about the person whose name you don't want me to say like i think we should talk about that if that's what this is about and there's i i can't remember exactly how but there's already i think an implication that this is about louise but we don't know what it is but there's like something something that has happened

happened between them, that is potentially a cause of some of the tension between them. But Joe sticks to it. He says, nope, not dropping out. I'm running from here. Okay. Okay. All right. We see Ted having a Zoom conference with, I think, like some city council members,

maybe open to some members of the public that they're talking about the development of solid gold magic harp. What a crazy name. It's a really crazy name. And there's one woman in the meeting that's not as pro, not pro building this. Everyone else seems to be kind of on board with it. And she's like, no, why aren't we talking about the environmental implications of this and like the negative consequences? And you see Ted mute himself, I think, and like turn to his campaign manager and is like, can we fucking shut this bitch up?

and he's like starting to kind of lose his cool a bit on the Zoom and his campaign managers like off on a couch to the side being like you need to chill you need to chill his campaign manager's name is Warren so I think there's also been mentioned by now that Ted is like really well funded by donors and has the support of the governor of New Mexico and he's kind of like the Gavin Newsom of New Mexico he's the staff he's the estate Yes, but he's liberal, but, uh, he should be listening about those environmental impacts because your water is not, you're not going to have any water after they build that, by the way. Yeah, that's what she does say that. She's like, we've been in a drought for forever. Um, so the meeting

finishes, he's annoyed and, and him and the campaign manager go outside and they're kind of talking and debriefing and then Warren says so what's going on with Joe is this about his wife Louise about what happened and Ted rolls his eyes he's like oh my god like I don't know that was 20 years ago something weird happened between the two of them yeah and he says I never touched her we went on a couple dates and then six months later her crazy mom came after me told me she was pregnant and like made up all these lies about me and I'm not it's none of it's true wow okay does louise have a child no okay uh then Ted sees his son eric getting into a car to it's like a teenager erics like 16 and he stops him he's like where are you going what do you think you're doing it's

like you can't go see other people and he's like I'm just going to see Brian and he says I'm mayor and what does that make me look like if my own son is not following my uh whatever rule about gatherings yeah and so they get into a little bit of an argument they bring up Eric's mom at one point and it's just like getting a little glimpse that Ted might not be like the best dad either Ted seems like kind of a piece of shit He's kind of an asshole, yeah And so eventually he's like, fine, whatever, just go But make sure it's just Brian

So Eric drives off In their conversation, is this where we learn That Eric's mom is not around? Yes. Yeah, it's just Ted and his son Yeah And so then we see Joe Driving around in his

self-decorated campaign car that he has made that has a bunch of signs on it. There's one that people are referencing a lot that says you're being manipulated, but it's why you are the wrong form of your. I believe there's a 24 merch with that on it. If anyone's interested. I don't know why, but this is reminding me of a Simpsons episode. It's like not a Simpsons episode. I've seen before.

Well, because Simpsons predicts everything accurately, so they probably did one of exactly this. This, like, feels like a Simpsons episode to me so far. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty, like, funny and light and kind of silly so far, honestly. Right. I like a little triggering, but it's still, like, we're laughing, you know? Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. So, he's driving through the streets, which are completely empty because it's locked down, I think. And he's got a loudspeaker and he's just saying all the ways that he's better than Ted. And like, this is Homer. Okay. Right. So this is the Pedro Pascal character, though, like the principal of the school. What's his name?

Principal. I can't remember his name. Skinner. Skinner. Yeah. So he's driving around talking to no one. And he has a little, like, interaction with Eric in this scene, maybe. be out of order. But he, Eric makes fun of him. He's like, who are you talking to? There's nobody

here. So it's just like, he even says he's like, you're mad because my dad fucks your wife. Oh, right. Whoa. So. Eric is also a little piece of shit. Everyone is like, is kind of a piece of shit in this movie, which I really love. Yeah. Uh, Joe eventually goes home and Louise is not happy that he's made the decision to run for mayor without asking her which is completely fair uh she says like it seems like it seems like she has uh like a mental illness or like she's like I'm doing well I've been doing well and this is going to like set me on a bad path I can't have stress I can't have stress it seems like she's like battling something that's difficult like difficult for her and and he has

is not considered this at all. And so she's really angry at him. And he asks if he can make it up to her by making her dinner that night. He says, like, I won't run for mayor. I mean, yeah, like, we'll have dinner. We can discuss it. And we'll make a decision as a team. Meanwhile, he has, like, fully decked out his car with campaign posters and, like,

truly, like, huge American flags. It's like, he's gone a whole hog on this thing. But he's like, we'll make the decision together. And he's, like, posting on Facebook constantly. and just, yeah, definitely made the decision already. And I think in here he does notice that the laptop or computer is on a website for Vernon Jefferson Peak. We see a photo of Austin Butler, and this seems like some sort of culty conspiracy website about, like, pedophile sex trafficking, rings.

Yeah. And so we're like, okay, that's what that's what they're doing. Emma Stone does agree to have dinner with him at eight o'clock that night. We have also seen, I think this was like earlier. So Louise's father has passed away seven years ago. He was the sheriff of this town. Yep. And there's like a big framed picture.

There's like an altar to him on the wall in the house, like a framed photo with like flowers underneath it. And the mom. Don references him a lot and like he was a real man and he was a better sheriff and like she's really also really emasculating Joe with the mention of this other better man. Yeah. And I will say this movie like Bo's Afraid, there's a lot happening in the frame at all times. I think it'll be a good rewatch actually because there's like a lot of detail to like the set

set design, and there's oftentimes multiple people talking at once or someone talking while someone else is reading something. So it's kind of like a sensory overload, especially scenes with Dawn in them because she's always just rambling about conspiracy theories in the background, which like adds to the anxiety that the movie gives you because it's like overwhelming. So yeah, so she agrees to dinner. We cut to Eric. and his friend Brian at a party with a bunch of other teenagers. They're outside. There's some people wearing masks, some people not, and they're drinking beer.

Brian sees a girl that he seems to have a crush on, that he's eyeing from across the way, sees that she's reading an Angela Davis book, and Google's Angela Davis, and then goes up to her and hits on her by being like, God, I love Angela Davis. That book is so great. And she is skeptical of him and is kind of like testing how social justice warrior is type of thing. She's like, oh, yeah, like, we'll get into it more. She says a lot of very funny things that I certainly remember for this time in terms of being a white lady and being like, oh, well, we need to, we need, taking up the mantle.

Yeah. Are you doing the work, that kind of thing? Yeah. So we see that she is kind of flirting with Eric instead of Brian. She goes off with him to grab a beer. And Sarah's friend says to Brian like, oh, she's probably just trying to make her ex jealous. And then Brian asks who's her ex?

and she says, oh, Michael, and shows him Michael's Instagram, and we see that it is deputy Michael. And I think this is where we get a scene where Brian goes home and tells his parents how whiteness needs to be, like, eliminated from the world. And his two, like, middle-aged white parents are like, what the fuck are you talking about? You're white.

Yeah, his dad's like, yeah, he calls him an idiot and then it's like, you're white. And it's so, it got like the biggest laugh. of the movie, this moment of this teen just regurgitating. Yeah. Then we see Joe as made a dinner

for Louise, spent a lot of time on it, and sets the table outside, looking very romantic, checks his watch. It's almost eight, and then hard cut to him asleep in the chair and it's like 9.45. Louise and Don stroll in with Vernon from the website.

We also saw on the website that he was doing like a live event nearby. So they went to that. And there's two other people with them too. Joe looks confused. Who are these people? Vernon seems very at home. Austin Butler is very good in this role. He gives, like, cult leader vibes.

He is super confident, walks in, lets, invites himself in and sits down wherever he wants. And he starts telling Joe, like, oh, you want things to be, like, simple and easy. But that's not how it. He's just really taking command of the. And it's throwing Joe. Yeah. Also just woke up in his own house. I mean, at 9.45 p.m.

I would be disoriented as well. Yeah. Yeah. And I can't remember how it really gets into it, but Vernon talks about how this like program or whatever that he has started, it's a cult, but he's been, he's like talks about how he was sex trafficked as a child. And he says that, oh, he says like he didn't have any memories of it. Oh, it's because. So he walks into the house. He's giving himself a little tour of the house. He sees Louise's art. on the walls, her dolls and stuff and art. And he comes out and he says, God is speaking through you. Whoa.

And then he sees the portrait of the sheriff, Louise's father, and asks about him. And they say he died seven years ago. And Vernon says, like, when my father died, it, like, I had a whole, like, breakdown and I have resurfaced all these memories

that I hadn't had before. And, like, you know how, It's like a, I don't know the exact what this is called, but there's like this, I feel like this kind of therapy that has come up in the past years, a few years of like resurfacing like hidden memories. But again, I'm going to really butcher this and maybe this song has cut out. But like I feel like there's like debate around whether those are actual resurfaced memories or people are like creating stories and trauma. This is like historically a problem with analysis, I think. is that like there's a whole line of therapy where it's about resurfacing old memories

but oftentimes people are like are you just manipulating people into thinking that they're remembering trauma that didn't happen. That's like what this feels like is that he's like. The scene is played to seem like Joe obviously does not believe the things that he is saying but they're also like

really horrifying things and so as an audience member you're kind of like is this real? Is this not real? but yeah that's interesting about that type of therapy because that yeah i was thinking for this character he believes it but i think the story that he's telling is not probably true the way that he's telling it but that so yeah he like says that he was his father like took him to a camp with other children who got like stripped down and released to be like hunted by by rich men and all the children died

like got killed except for him he escaped but then right after that his father committed suicide and it's like horrible but also feels very far-fetched yeah and also the memories he repressed until his father died

and then his father admitted suicide right afterwards so how long were those memories repressed sorry I'm just finding holes so it is it is like I think it's supposed to be kind of like what's happening right now. Right. Yeah.

And, but it, his story triggers something in Louise, who starts getting really worked up about how many children out there get abused by people in their lives. Oh, I hate this. And her story, she doesn't tell her story, but you can tell that hers is for real. Like, oh, that's awful. That's awful. It's quite obvious that she is talking about that she was abused as a child. Yeah.

And her mom gets. really angry. Dawn is like gets mad and is like I don't know why you're saying these things now like what's what's wrong with you and she like storms off and she's like I have to go to bed it's so late I'm going to bed and so there's like clearly something. Wait Don's mad at Louise for saying those things

oh god this really gets to the core of some really fucked up shit that happens all the time yeah and so it's also obvious why Louise is buying into the cult that Austin Butler is selling because for her it is real and yes yeah yeah oh it's tough yeah and so eventually vernon and the two other people get in their little bus vernon as he's leaving though he had like had a glass of water and he'd take it ready to leave and he just goes i'm just going to go wash this and he like goes that leads himself into the

kitchen to wash his glass at it again it was just a funny little specific like confidence with which this man moves about the space it's really great very funny um and a very good Yeah, contrast to Joe. And Louise seems really enamored. And also a good contrast to Louise. Like a person who, like, has experienced something as clearly traumatized, has been dealing with it her whole life. And, like, she didn't come out of a cult leader. I mean, I know it's possible.

But, like, you know. Yeah. Interesting. But also interesting that you would be vulnerable to. Completely. To this. This is why, oh, God, it just makes me so mad because people are, like, taking advantage in talking about this thing that is a real problem.

Well, that's all conspiracies. I feel like they all have like a hint of truth to them. And that's what I feel like makes them so effective for some people is like. And it is like, yeah, there are structures in place that like really abuse children. But it's not the thing that you guys are talking about. Like it, yeah. So it's feeling a lot like that. Oh, God.

Makes me, makes my skin crawl. Yeah. So in bed that night. Joe asks Louise very, like, slowly, it's like, I want to ask you something. Yeah, I've been wanting to ask you for a long time, and I'll never ask you again after tonight. But those things you were talking about tonight, did your dad ever do those things to you? Or did Ted do those things to you? She just does not answer.

then we get newscasts of George Floyd George Floyd has been killed and now Joe's phone is ringing he's getting calls for there's riots happening in the streets as he says he runs to the station the riots again because this town is very very small It's like maybe 15 people.

They did smash a window. But this, not even yet. They haven't smashed a window yet. It's just, he's driving to the police station. They're like blocking, they're in the road blocking the police station. And it is truly, it's like 10 to 15 white people. Channing Black Lives Matter. And it is like comical because who are they, you know, like who are they protesting to and for what?

But it's the 2020 thing of being like, I got to do something. And it's also funny because literally, seemingly the only black person in town is Michael, who is a cop. And so Michael is in the cop car here and gets out to try to disperse the crowd. And they're all like yelling at him. Basically just being like, can you just get on the sidewalk? He's like, can you just get out of the road? And they're like, we have a right to be here. And they're like screaming in his face. Sarah's there and like yelling at Michael. Michael, you should be on our side. You should be here with us. And like the people are yelling and Joe is. kind of like what are you guys talking about like can you just get out of the road he's like so clearly just like actually confused just like what's uh what's the problem yeah and some girl is like filming him at one point and he like snatches the phone out of her hand and she's like that's a salt that's a salt and he like gives a bag and he's like no sorry i just was grabbing it and at this point someone has i guess eric has posted the video of joe and lodge fighting in the box And so it's like police brutality in Eddington and, and Joe is like very overwhelmed by

this. And so he like snashes the phone. And then he's like, no, wait, sorry. I didn't mean to do that. And it is like seeming a little out of hand. But then someone like yells, we're taking a knee. And they all take a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds in honor of George Floyd. And again, Joe and Michael are just kind of like looking around like, okay. And one guy is like yelling, this is the way to protest. This is the right way to protest. Like peacefully, it should be peaceful. Yeah.

And there's a moment in here where Brian and Sarah are talking. And Brian is like fully like in order to get Sarah to like him. he's just like going full into the um he says that he's an anti-racist and she's like do you really mean that because there's actually like a huge thing to claim like i'm not even an anti-racist yet i like aspire to be and it's like what are you guys saying she says we're maybe white critical but we see that he organized the protest with a new instagram account that he's made called uh like it's like black lives matter dot brian or something Like Brian says

Black Lives Matter Oh god But we see at this little protest I've kind of blended the two protests together Because yeah It's fine Yeah there's it's fine It kind of moves to a different section

But whatever But somewhere in here Brian sees Sarah kissing Eric Eric Eric sends him a photo of him kissing Sarah Because he's a little dick Yeah he's a little shit head And we see, yeah, Brian receives the photo.

And he's so jealous and upset that he DMs it to Michael. There's also, because there have been, like, there were two little protests. We've sort of blended them together because that's fine. But there was some moment where Joe, they like are back in the sheriff's office and Joe and Guy, the other white cop are like looking at the news and like literally like learning about. what happened to George Floyd, like a full 24 hours later, like they had just, like, not known or paid any attention. And Michael is like, they keep, like, cutting to Michael who's, like, staring off into space, like, very traumatized

by what has happened. And they keep asking him, like, Mike, you okay? And he's like, what? Yep. Like, and just, like, try, like, just like. Mind to pretend. Yeah. And, and they ask you, they're like, how did you know about this? And he says, it's everywhere. Yeah, everybody knows.

It's everywhere. And so... Which is also a metaphor for racism in general. Right. And being like, wait, I've never heard of this before. These two guys for the first time are like, oh, he's black. Like they're like, you know, like they're just like, it's just they just have not been... They woke up a little bit.

Anyway, so that's like just a little thing that's also brewing and the background is that. Yeah. So wait, and also the thing with Michael and Sarah is that there's a rumor that they used to date or they did use to date? Sarah's friend said that they used to date. But there's... Also, how old is Sarah? She looks to be in high school. That's confusing to me, too.

And Michael is an adult because he's a cop. But there is, well, there's a little bit more on that later, but I think some of these things are a little, I don't know, would you say they're intentionally ambiguous? Like, questions don't get, like, fully answered necessarily. but yeah we are we are noticing that that's maybe weird the uh yeah the sarah's friend at one point did call him like her old boyfriend she's like she's trying to make like her old boyfriend like literally like old man boyfriend yeah jealous um so they yeah but they're not together but they they have some sort of relationship because in these protests she's like really getting up in his face and it's like michael you should be here with us

this is for you i shouldn't she's like i should even be here like it's you like it's you it's your protest is your fight yikes that's no that's she's getting the wrong message from that okay so we see that Joe has been

organizing a town hall type meeting he shows up it's at like a Mexican restaurant and there's six people there maybe but he's like oh all right we're going to do it anyways so he gets

up to the microphone guy is there recording with a little what do you call him the lights like a cell phone like a ring light yeah ring light recording him and joe is talking again about like all the ways that ted is not a good mayor and then pivots into like he's also not a good person because he said I'm going to call it what it is he's a predator he's a predator and he had a sexual relationship with my wife when she was 16 so I'll call that what it is that's rape statutory rape and he says he got her pregnant got her pregnant and made her abort the baby may and he does he says the whole like murdered and murdered an innocent baby whoa and he definitely ran this past Louise first, right?

You know, she's like 100% on board with... Of course. Yikes. Yeah, he's always, he's always doing that. They're a team. So these are obviously some pretty intense accusations. And Guy looks a little stunned that he's done this and is like, are you sure you want to do this? Is this real?

And he's like, yep, post it. Post it to Facebook. guy even is like in his hesitation Joe just says like don't maybe think about it just do it you really should have thought about it he really should have thought about it yeah

that's the type of thing you really want to think about before you do it and he goes home and Louise has packed her bags oh so she saw it and news travels fast he's posting it to Facebook yeah he's posting all this shit to Facebook

there's a lot of like people looking at their Facebook feeds right in this right especially of course especially if you're a conspiracy theorist like that's the breeding ground for conspiracy theories yeah so she's Vernon is there in his little tour van looking thing picking her up she's not speaking to Joe she's just like I'm I'm done I'm going he's begging her to stay she gets in the gets in the bus drives off Austin Beller says have a good night brother brother don says to joe she may not know it but that's the best thing you've ever done for her what you did tonight is the best thing you've ever done for her yikes which yeah the under current of

that is upsetting as well uh and then pretty quickly louise posts a response video saying what my husband said at the town hall was not true that Ted has never touched me. That is a lie that my mother and husband have perpetuated to protect the identity of my real abuser. And we see Dawn yelling at this, like, what is she talking about? Who does she think her abuser is? What is?

She's so full of shit. Like, just like, it's, at this point, we know it's her dad. Oh, this is so awful. It's really, really, really bad. And at some point after this, Joe gets a call from Guy who says we're getting a noise complaint from the mayor's fundraiser that he's having at his house. He's like, I know this is an awkward time. Should we just like let it be? And Joe's like, nope, we're going to go deal with it. Gets in his campaign

truck with all his stickers and shit all over it. Drives to Ted's house. It's filled with people. It's a big, fancy fundraiser. He's got a really nice house, and they are blasting Katie Perry's firework. Oh, that's funny. I like that. Such a fun. Really good choice. And Joe wordlessly struts in, goes straight up to the DJ, just unplugs the music.

Getting a lot of looks from people. Getting a lot of looks, yeah. Because they, he's just very publicly humiliated himself. Louise's video is playing on a TV for the fundraiser on loop. And Ted makes a comment to him like, oh, you here to accuse me of something else that's like not true or something? Like, that didn't really pan out for you last time. Or like he is, this is like the most humiliating yet in a string of humiliations.

And Ted just turns the music back on as he's walking away. And Joe struts back, turns it down again. Ted turns it back up. Just absolutely fighting over the volume of Katie Perry's firework is so funny. And it's this back and forth and back and forth until Ted just slaps Joe across the face and Joe is stunned into silence

and then Ted slaps him again. And everybody sees and it's just like this hush and Joe like wide-eyed just turns, walks to his car, gets in his car, he's, like, parked beneath a tree. So as he drives off, all of the signage on his car just, like, gets ripped off. He's also, like, sniffling. Like, you can tell he's, like, holding back tears. This was the, I mean, again, his performance is so good the whole time.

But it was, like, like, I felt so bad for him here. This was, like, very, very hard to watch. Like, you just watching somebody, even a piece of shit be, like, that humility it was like it was really fucking brutal and like also like this is again why ted is also such a piece of shit like you didn't have to do that like that's crazy right to slap him across the face twice twice yeah but it's also fun to think of in the context of like a modern western it's the like i challenge you to a dual type of thing yeah there's not room in this town for the both of us which by the way just flagging that it feels like it should be illegal

for the sheriff to run against the mayor. Like it, do, you know what I mean? Like, it's like, that's a conflict of interest right there. You shouldn't be, I know, but, like, you shouldn't be in charge of the police and, like, trying to be like, I guess sheriffs are elected. You should have to, like, they are elected, yeah. Sheriffs are elected in general. But, like, do you know what I mean?

Like, to be, like, fighting for power of the town and you have the police behind you seems immediately probably. But that's how it is. A lot of times that's the case. whether or not you are in the police or sheriff's department, a lot of them have the backing of police and their extremely bloated budgets. So, yeah, it does seem like it should be a conflict of interest.

But I don't think that legally it's, yeah, I don't think people cares. No one cares. So after this truly devastatingly humiliating, scene. He just is like, looks like, like shell-shocked almost. He goes like vacant almost and just drives away and he's driving through town and he drives past and sees lodge broken into the bar again, just drinking, drinking. He pulls over the side. He walks into the bar and he watches Lodge for a little bit as Lodges is mumbling to himself, uh, incoherent, drinking different bottles, drinking from different bottles. And then he

turns around and notices that Joe is there. And Joe pulls out his gun, unloads, shoots him, kills him. Holy shit. First jaw-dropping moment of the movie. It was shocking moment. So shocking. Oh my God. I, yeah. I, I, count me shocked. Didn't see that coming. So Joe has fully snapped. And he... This is like an American Psycho moment. This is giving American Psycho.

Yeah. It is like it gets obviously a scary place. His like the way that his face is like blank through all of this is really freaking. And he seems like, I don't know. I guess it's a sort of thing where it's a performance where you put things. onto it because I feel like he looks shocked by what he's doing, but it's also it's like he's giving nothing. He's giving nothing. So he's also giving everything. Yeah, like he he looks like a little, yeah, shocked that he's done it, but not like remorseful. It's more just like, yes. Okay. I just did that.

And he follows through by like cleaning up the crime scene, taking away the shells and putting the body in a trash bag and dumping it in the river. You know what this is also reminding me of Breaking Bad? It's reminded, but like the reverse where it's like we, you know, love Walter White for what he's doing. I mean, we're meant to in the show. Right. But like this is the exact same thing except he's, do you know what I mean? Like, except it's horrible.

It's horrible what's happening. Yeah. Yeah. And in Breaking Bad, you're like, cool, he just blew up the entire. you know drug ring fuck yeah yeah he's gained his power back hell yeah and this you're like no that's not it's not actually we don't do that we shouldn't be doing we shouldn't be doing that

but this is also just like a mentally ill unhoused person that is not done nothing to not that we should be killing drug cartel people either I don't think anyone should kill anyone personally you can you can take my word on that you're already here first I don't think you should kill anybody I don't know if they should kill anybody. But this is a tough one. And so, yeah, he dumps the body in the river. And then we cut to Ted's house.

We see Ted sitting in an armchair watching the news. And he notices a girl's purse on the table. Calls out to Eric in his bedroom. He's like, Eric, I told you nobody over. And Eric's kind of like, nobody's here. I don't know what you're talking about. And he's like, who's this, this is a girl's purse on the table. And he's like, I don't know what you're talking about, dad.

There's nobody here. And then mid-sentence, Ted is saying something. And we hear a shot, look down. Ted has been shot through the back and is dead. Wait, what? Second jaw-dropping moment. Yep. What?

Yep. Shot dead. And his son hears the commotion. Yep. walks out dad comes out sees his dad slumped over dead

in an armchair blood pooling on his chest has a moment of recognition of that another shot Eric gets shot and killed holy shit oh my god this is going in the direction

I wasn't seen I know and then we reveal out in the desert with a fucking sniper rifle it was Joe I mean Duh.

Yeah. And he once again is pocketing the shell casings. We see him stand on one and like push it further into the dirt. And so he can't, then he can't find one of them. And he's kind of like, oh, well, leaves it behind. And he puts on little booties and gloves to come into the place. Or maybe that's just later. No, I think he's not.

I think it's now. He's once again entering the crime scene to remove any evidence. and he brings a can of spray paint and spray paints on the wall no justice, no peace to make it look like not him, obviously. Next day he gets the call of the call to the crime scene, obviously,

is the sheriff. And it's like, oh, it must be Antifa. He's like, that's Black Lives Matter speech. That's got to be what this is. Yep. And we see there is a Pueblo officer there named Butterfly who is, has been at the crime scene seemingly for a couple hours before Joe arrives. And he's like, I found a casing. And I found some tire tracks. Seems like, seems like a large truck. And Joe is obviously like not happy about this. He's like, what are you doing here? This is like, this is Seville County. And he's like, no, the casing. was in in our land and so this is going to be shooter was on our land shooter was on our land so this is our investigation as well he's such a fucking idiot oh my god very funny that he's just like uh well no get out of here like we've got it covered i think we're going to be fine um and then

butterfly points out he's like we should also get like a handwriting expert like the ease on no justice no peace are very specific like we could figure out like probably through some handwriting samples. And Joe just keeps people like, shut up, shut up. Like, what are you doing here? You need to get out of here. Get out of here. It wasn't me. I think here or pretty soon is where we get a shot of a private jet flying. Oh, because Joe gives a press conference. Oh, he gives a press conference and he's basically like, this is Antifa and anyone who's going to be threatening public officials or anybody just know that like we in eddington are armed and i encourage everyone to sleep with your guns and if someone breaks in your home you can kill them like he's like implying

that basically and somewhat explicitly and then we cut to a shot of a private jet and you get this like tracking shot down the aisle of the private jet and it is antifa they're real it's just like looks like kind of like black ops operatives with all the like black lives matter signs and just like loaded with military grade weaponry and like seeing this press conference on the news and being like okay it's so funny um and at the crime scene joe's kind of figure like on the fly trying to figure out who he can pin this on he's like sarah's bag was there and so they like pull in Sarah for some interrogation. When Joe came into the house after he killed Ted and his son,

we see there was like a little like, thank you, little like pocket watch gift from the governor of New Mexico to Ted. Basically be like, thank you for your fine service to the town of Eddington. And Joe like pockets that because he's jealous of it. so he had taken that from the crime scene yeah so now we're we're maybe gonna we're thinking about pinning this on sarah we look at her social media and she has a recent post like calling people to arm their themselves but then as she's being like interrogated by the police they're they're like so your stuff was in this house where people were killed and you're calling for people to arm themselves

and she's like so nervous she's like not literally not literally arm yourself but we saw that Brian was also at the crime scene the next morning because I think just like seeing that there were a lot of cop cars outside of his best friend's house. So they go and they interrogate him as well. And he's like freaked out. And he says, I don't know. I don't know. But there is something that I feel like I should tell you. I did send this photo to Michael of his ex-girlfriend kissing Eric and now Eric's dead. And so, yeah, this, this moment's real tough. So you see Joe kind of have a little light bulb moment of like, okay, maybe we can pin this on Michael.

Oh, great. First they, sorry, Joe, like, gets this information from Brian, pulls Guy into a meeting with him. And it's just the two of them. And he tells Guy that, like, it seems like it could be Michael. and guy is like honestly like I it wasn't until this week that I even like noticed like I would I didn't even notice that he's black like do you think he's like really mad about like the black

I think it's like I didn't even like to me he like wasn't even black until this week but he's clearly also using racially motivated justification to easily believe that this is something Michael would do which is completely insane. Yeah. But yeah. So. Yeah.

And yeah, we're all like, we know what's coming. And no one's thinking, Joe. No one's like this guy. Well, uh, I will say butterfly is, is there. And he's always like kind of 20 feet away because Joe keeps yelling at him to get away. But butterfly seems like pretty on the case as well. He feels responsible for his side of the investigation. So he's just always kind of.

in the in the vicinity and as they're about there like we need to search your car they see that he had the photo in his DMs and so they ask if they can search his car which has a sniper rifle in it but we learned earlier in the movie that he was practicing his sniping because uh joe had told him to so they had that conversation about that earlier and he's like you know you know about that like you're the one who was told me to check out the sniper rifle or whatever uh but then we see that Joe has indeed planted the evidence in Michael's patrol car, and so this pocket watch of Ted's is in the glove compartment, and they arrest Michael for the murder of Ted at Eric. Butterfly is like looking a little suspicious. As they're locking Michael in the holding cell,

he asked for his phone call, and Butterfly is listening to him. as he's talking to his uncle, I think, and he's like, they're framing, someone setting me up, like, I didn't do this. They're framing me. And Butterfly is, like, looking convinced and, like, he believe, like, he's, like, something else is up. And then he sees the whiteboard that they had been writing on earlier that says slogan ideas and sees that the E is the same as the E's in no justice, no peace. And Joe kind of sees him putting this together, too.

And Butterfly runs in his truck and drives off and Joe kind of pursues him, but doesn't like, they don't have another confrontation right here yet. But there is, we see a vigil happening that night for Ted and Eric and Brian is speaking. And he's saying, like, I shouldn't be giving this speech for many reasons, but like number one of which that this is a stolen land and we shouldn't even be here. And I'm here to listen, which I'm going to do as soon as I'm done with. this speech he starts it by saying Ted Ted Garcia he went from a person of color to a person of power

it's like so so tough it is yeah uh Joe while he's trying to follow butterfly gets called back to the station for a literal dumpster fire which I thought was very funny uh Michael is no longer in the holding cell him and Guy are both kind of like, what the fuck? Where do you go? Guys like, I don't, you know as much as I know. So they go in, like, try to find Michael. They both get in their individual cars driving around where we stay with Joe as he's driving through town looking. He eventually comes upon a arrow drawn in fire, like gasoline lit up arrow pointing in a direction. And like he follows the fire arrow. to find Guy and Michael, they're like in the middle of the desert, just outside of town,

in this kind of standoff. I would say this is like, well, this was one of the scarier scenes for me. I was, it's like at least very, you're on edge in this scene. Yeah. When you see like the fiery arrow, this is where I was like, because we should also point out that over the course of the movie, Jo has been getting more and more ill like he definitely has COVID

he won 100% has COVID he got we saw him get a COVID test at one point he like went to one of those drive-through places where they like swabbed his nose he's been coughing more he's like looking and acting ill at one point he takes a sip of coffee and spits it back out and like takes the grounds and it's like okay he's lost a sense of taste and smell

he's like fully sick like very sick And infecting everyone else Everywhere he goes And so at this point You see like this flaming arrow And I'm like is he like having a fever Like it's like all of a sudden it's like what?

This is crazy like what is happening now? And he's infected not just with COVID But also with toxic masculinity And white supremacy But yeah this scene is very scary And Guy is really scared And he's like holding the gun up to Michael Michael's like not moving

He's got something in his mouth so we, like, can't really talk. But he's, like, only in the distance, so we can't, we also can't see it. Yeah, it's nighttime. And, and he's, like, Michael's standing next to, like, a flaming trash can with fire inside of it. And, yeah, we can see and hear that there's something in his mouth and that he's, like, kind of desperately, he's, like, holding his hands up, like, boom, woo, woo, woo, and guy is like, I don't know what he's saying.

I don't know what he's saying. And, like, and Joe's trying to, like, calm every day. buddy down but everyone's freaked down and nobody knows what's happening and then guy is like i'm gonna go closer and like he's about to take a step and you see michael really go like no and as guy takes a step there is a huge explosion it just sounded like trump huge that was not trump again but um trump has never mentioned in this movie by the way but i mentioned him just now so yeah uh we see joe stumbling up, his ears are ringing. He's looking around. He sees guys, like, blown off limbs. Guy is

dead. Very dead. Very dead. But Joe walks to Michael and sees that he is still alive, but he's really badly injured. His face is, like, all cut up, and his eyes are rolled up in his head. He's kind of, like, convulsing a little bit and, like, gasping for air. And Joe just leaves him. And the explosion has ignited a message in fire that was written out that says no peace. So the Antifa does this? And there's a drone overhead. It's Antifa. And it's Antifa.

And Joe looks up and sees the drone. And then from like the distance, a black truck, a man all black starts shooting at Joe, Joe starts shooting back. And yeah, it's Antifa. They're real and they're here. They're real. They're real. I really love it. Joe briefly runs home, gun drawn.

He's, like, crazed and panicked. And it seems that Louise is back home, and he's, like, pointing the gun at her. And it's almost like, you kind of think he's going to kill her for a second. He's like, is this what? Because, yeah, again, he's like feverish and crazy also in his own mind. And so he's like, is this what God is asking me to do right now? Is like, are you here? He calls a rabbit.

So he's like, Rabbit, are you here for this moment? Is this what it's leading up to? And you're kind of thinking like he's going to kill her. Then he can shakes his head and blinks. And we see that's actually Dawn. It's not, Louise has not returned home. And Dawn is like, Vernon and Louise must have killed Ted and Eric. And she's like going off on conspiracies again.

And she's like, they're going to kill me next. And Joe kind of is brushing her aside. And then gunshots are happening in his. He also goes, I killed Ted. Oh, right. Like immediately he's like, I did it. Antifa's outside shooting in now, so he runs out again.

He leaves Louise, and he's running through the streets. We see Brian has seen him in like kind of an abandoned part of like near a gas station or something. And Joe runs straight into a gun store. Oh, we should notice that we should know too. I don't know how important it is, but like Joe also does have asthma. he's like mentioned in his earlier video about running for mayor that he's like it's hard for me to breathe in the mask too because i have asthma yes he has used his inhaler a few times and he's really wheezing now because he's running away from antifa and he has really bad COVID and he like

tries to use his inhaler his inhalers out so we like when brian sees him running it's because he hears him like running through the desert like he like really can't breathe he's like naughty he's nasty and yeah he runs into an ammunition and gun store which is very funny and comes out firing the biggest gun i've ever seen it's insane it's one of those like circle ones that goes like it's like rambo style yeah it's like math he's like you have to wear like a like a holster to like hole it's like a full assault right full i don't know what it's specifically called but it's a weapon of war and it should not be in this tiny fucking town right and he's just spinning around in circles firing in all directions in the town where people live and it seems like you you can't

really see if if any antifa are around him at this moment but they we have seen them they're like in the shadows and so he's just firing in all directions and the camera is panning with him until it's so stressful we know there's a teenage boy out on the streets like the camera is like turning with him so it's very like paranormal activity style like you can't see something until he does but he's just fucking shooting at will And it is so stressful. And then as he turns one more 360 degrees, we see butterfly approaching. And he shoots off butterfly's leg. Oh, my God.

And then stop shooting. And it's like, oh, my God. And, like, is about to run to help him when Antifa shoots and kills butterfly. Oh, my God. And this shootout goes on for a long time. So this is just, like, now in the streets climax of the. movie like a, I don't know, five to ten minute gun fight of just like chasing each other through the streets. He does kill a few members of Antifa, but they just keep coming. And eventually one,

and yeah, there's like a scene where he's like spinning again and just like, that was really stressful also. And eventually one of the masked Antifa members makes it up to him. And stabs him in the top of the head with a knife, just plunges a knife straight down through the skull. Yuck. And then I think stabs him again, but then we see Brian running

out from behind a car filming as he's shooting the Antifa guy. And I don't know if he's live streaming it, but he's like saying like, I'll save you, Sheriff. I'm saving you, Sheriff. Sheriff Joe has been stabbed in the head twice, like right through the top of the skull. And so this is kind of intercut with a full like split vision shot of Joe being wheeled into the emergency room.

We're like seeing it from his eyes. From his POV. And they're like closed because he's like very much dying. And one of the nurses or doctors is like he, why we're, we even bothering like this guy's absolutely going to die like there's no fucking way uh but they do take him into surgery well no they take his temperature outside the hospital when they're wheeling him in and the nurse says like you got to you can't bring him in you got to put him out in the tent he has a temperature of 105 so they wouldn't bring him into the hospital because he has fucking COVID and the person says like the other attend is like there's no way we're going to be able to take care of this guy out in the tent and the person's like what do you want me to do

temperature of 105, bring him back out there. So he gets like treated for this knife through the head in a tent outside the hospital. I missed that. And I think it at some point cuts to black and then I think comes back up on kind of a montage of Brian's social media posts. First we see obviously the footage of him

saving Sheriff Joe has gone by. And the video says, like, one year ago, I say, so it's been a year. And he has now gone down the path of becoming, like, a right-wing icon. We see him after this video of saving the sheriff. He's starting- Wait, did he save him, though? He killed the Antifa guy. Oh, but Joe's dead. Well, we don't know yet.

We've just come back up on, like, one year later this, yeah. And he started a podcast. He's bought a house with his girlfriend. In Gainesville. His girlfriend's like vaping next to him as he's like, bought a house. We see him, his director Cameron, he's like, hey, Bri, Hive, like. And we see him posing with Marjorie Taylor Green. Nice, nice.

All the hits. Oh, man, it's, it's good. It really feels, feels real. And so then we go to a ribbon cutting ceremony. Well, we like pan, the camera is like, the video's filling up the whole frame, the cell phone. And then the camera sort of like pulls back and you see Warren, who is Ted's campaign manager, is holding the phone to someone who's watching it. And so he's like showing us the viewer, but somebody. So that's why and how we're like seeing this video.

and then yeah we cut to this ribbon-cutting ceremony yeah and we see dawn is speaking into the microphone dressed in a suit looking fancy she's not looking all crazy cat lady like she had been earlier in the movie and she is speaking to the crowd saying like we're so excited for the official opening of solid gold magic carp and the mayor and i are absolutely thrilled the mayor my son-in-law, Pan 2. Joe is alive. He is in a wheelchair in a seemingly vegetative state. We see Michael in the audience scarred and but alive filming Joe like with a disdain in his eyes. And we see them like, you know, cut the ribbon. Everybody's clapping. Joe's the mayor

But Don seems to be the de facto mayor And Don and Joe's nurse Or like caretaker are taking hit They're all going back to their big house now Big fancy house Big fancy house And I wrote this in my notes here I think this was earlier

There's a part where Dawn is like And that's not how buildings collapse When a plane hits them That's how buildings collapse when they're detonated Oh, my God. And we see Joe being given a bath by the nurse, and he has a muscle spasm and, like, accidentally hits the nurse, and the nurse just immediately hits him back. But then immediately feels bad and it's like, I'm sorry. Also, we're getting full frontal male nudity.

Oh, yes. Of the nurse, like, strips Joaquin down and, like, drags his fully limp body over to, like, give him a bath. It is... I mean devastating and meant to oh it's yeah it's walking really goes for it man and it seems like his real dick it does seem like his real dick but we haven't done the research but it does seem and I would believe that he would be like yeah the whole point is to like show this man humiliated so like it'll be me naked and limp um uh in every sense of the word yeah and yeah and he's He is then put on the couch.

Him and Don are watching TV together when Dawn stumbles upon a clip of Vernon, giving a speech to a crowd. His cult is thriving. And we see in the background, Louise, smiling for the first time in the whole movie looking genuinely happy and looking very pregnant. She shows it to Joe. And we just hear Joe kind of moaning. He's just like, he can't speak.

So it's just a sad moan. And then we see as he is put in like a thing that carries him into bed. Don gets him kind of settled in bed, props him up how he needs to be. Clearly this is something they, you know, it's the routine. They do it every night. Don is there. and, like, gets him in bed, then walks around the bed, climbs in bed next to him. And is, like, turning the lights down and saying good night.

And then the caretaker walks in and his scrubs, takes them off and gets in bed with Don and Joe. and all three of them turn the lights off and we see outside in the desert Michael doing target practice with a sniper rifle and pan out to a wide shot of the town of Eddington which is now next to solid gold magic carp data center which is bigger than Eddington and it's just like this huge glowing monstrosity that makes

Eddington look even smaller and tinier and that's the end of the movie okay didn't see that coming did you Henley you didn't fucking see that one coming now did you couldn't predict that couldn't predict that one hen could jump okay so I'm trying to distill my feelings. Yeah. And I feel like my main feeling coming out of this is like I was shocked by the turn of events and how they happened. I was shocked by that. That did shock me.

Everything else in this film doesn't feel shocking and it just feels like a rehashing of what you experience when you go online. You just go online and you experience all of this. I think that's the point. Because, yes, okay, so let's talk a little bit about the criticism. of it a lot of people are like it's not saying anything it's just like what it felt like at this time or whatever and like or like right now like today feels like that right now and i totally understand people having negative reactions to that but i also don't think the intention of the movie is to say anything and i think this and beau is afraid are both just like very much

expressions of ari aster's own like anxieties and fears and are not really necessarily meant to have a larger message other than depicting, like, his own feelings. Right, right. Hmm. Which I like. I think it's art. Yeah.

It's art. This is art. I think it's art. And I think it is, it's like. I just want to see, okay, I want to see, like, Jordan Peel make Eddington. I want to see, like, a black filmmaker make the same movie. Do you know what I mean? if we're going to go there.

But, um, I, I, I, I, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, it's giving like, to me anyway, it's giving like South Park, which I love. Okay, wait, a lot of people have said this. Okay, the criticisms are it's like South Park. It's like, uh, what was the other one that it's getting compared to a lot? Oh, Civil War. Um.

it's just interesting a lot of the same i did yeah i prefer this no this is like no i definitely i just i think the thing about it is like i wanted to make me think about something oh yeah no sorry we should have let you know at the top it wasn't going to make you it it makes you ruminate but not think like it makes like yeah it makes you feel i kept getting flashes of different moments from this movie like in we watched it Friday night so like a little over a day ago. And I keep getting hit with like flashes and moments. And I think really what it like, it did feel like being inside May in June of 2020 in a way that like is awful. But also right now. It really like it feels like not just COVID. It feels like right

now. Like all the like just the imagery of this like man who has taken his need to be loved to the nth degree, like to the final moment, which makes you crazy. And then it makes him a carcass of himself, which is then a puppet used by conspiracy theorists. And that's literally Donald Trump in office right now. He is, Donald Trump is a puppet, clearly, of like Stephen Miller and all the people who are like, yes, ha ha ha, ha, like now I can finally do my evil things. It's like that, you're seeing that happen. But everyone, it's not just, it's not just, it's. not just Joe, it's every single person using intention for like

consciously and unconsciously, the fear and confusion and desperation of that moment to soothe themselves, to empower themselves, to like feel important, to feel, it's like everyone's doing it, right? Like, even people who are trying to do the right thing or who are like lesser of the evils or whatever, it's everyone is so fucking confused and over.

overwhelmed and scared fear is the mind killer fear is the mind killer um like it was really that's what i mean i how much i enjoyed how like everybody was kind of a piece of shit but not like necessarily on purpose and it's just everyone is just like this is crazy this is so scary what the fuck what the fuck i guess i'm going to do this thing right and And yeah, and also just being in a room full of people who all lived through the same moment and are still living through it, watching this movie together, feeling incredibly on edge. Anytime someone like coughs because of their popcorn or so. Like we're all just like, it just brought. It's like a muscle memory. It was so surreal. I've just felt like really. I'm glad I saw it. I'm glad I saw it in a theater because it is such a fascinating and deeply accurate. depiction of right now and it is crazy but to your point henley it is like very much from a white perspective because ari aster is white and uh and that was some of the criticisms as well was

like michael is the only black character and uh yeah so i can see having a negative reaction to some of those things as well but but yeah i would agree that like i'd be i'd be curious to see Jordan Peel's version of it, but I also understand why not a lot of filmmakers would necessarily want to tackle this period of time. And why I think Ariaster isn't trying to say anything other than this is what it felt like, this is what I do feel like, because how could he leave us with any sort of message on this? Because, yeah, yeah, and I think that's, maybe that's part of the message. It's like, it's still, we're still in it.

Yeah, we're still in it. I think that's the biggest takeaway is I'm feel, that's what I'm feeling, is it's like, I'm not, yeah, you guys keep saying like, this is like a moment, it's a moment of time. No, it's like not a moment. For me, it's like, it feels like, it feels like today. This is what I mean. Like, it is a horror movie, but it's also like not, and also. And it's also so fun. So fun.

It also is like, when it gets violent, it is like insanely violent. The violence is like very intense. There are some gnarly shots in this movie. So I will say if you have a problem with seeing those things, like, it's pretty tough, pretty tough moments. Yeah. But you know, you know when it's happening. Say overall the experience of watching it

is not necessarily like watching a horror movie, but I think the feeling it leaves you with is similar to the feelings of watching a horror movie. It's because you're like, or worse than a lot of other horror movies because it's like, real. Yeah. And I guess a lot of horror movies explore trauma. This is a trauma that everybody experienced, which is rare.

And so it's effective as a horror movie in that sense of like tapping into a collective trauma that we haven't really tapped into yet. The only other thing I'll say, which I want to hear your guys's point of view on, is like everything in it felt kind of realistic. Like it could actually happen. The only thing that felt unrealistic to me, but maybe this is my own liberal bias poking through, the Antifa being in like a private jet, like fully U.S. militarized. That's clearly supposed to be fake, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's supposed to be funny. It's like meant as a joke. It's, it's. So, so Bo's Afraid, I keep comparing it to it because I think there's a lot in common with them. Like, Bo's Afraid is all of his personal anxieties. Like, what if they were all true? And so I think that similarly applies.

lies here of like, what if everything that Joe's afraid of were real? Like, what if the things we were collectively talking about? Like, let's say it's just all real. Like, I think it's meant to be a heightened joke. Yeah. Okay. But the thing is, like, everything else is kind of real. Like, it's like, like, the cult stuff is real. Like, someone who is a conspiracy theorist becoming Marjorie Taylor Green, that's kind of real. Like, the data center stuff is real. The racism stuff is real. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All of it's real, except for the antifist stuff, which just felt like way out of, like, that's fun.

It is funny. Yeah. But it's confusing if you're trying to like parse out. Yeah. What's real and what's not real in Ariaster's break. And I think in the world of the movie, I think it is meant to be real. But it could also just be walking Phoenix being in a fever dream, like we said. So I think it's...

up to you to decide, I guess. Oh my God, well, I'm definitely watching this tonight before, bud. Yeah. For sure, for sure, for sure. I did have, like, Eddington dreams, I think, where there were, like, wars in the streets. I just had, like, violent dreams the night after this, which I never have dreams from horror movies. So that's also shows that this is maybe more of a horror movie than most horror movies. This was, like, bringing up, gosh,

things that I haven't thought about in a while just for my like personal experience of this moment in time not exact so I were I went back to work in person in a hair salon at the end of 2020 when things started reopening but with like mask mandates and I was remembering working with a mask sometimes a face shield behind like a lusite thing cleaning everything with sterilizing equipment like every time a person like came or left being scared of everything we had one client because it was in fucking Beverly Hills where people were not on board with this who wore like a paper thin like a literal like mesh mask that had printed on it this is tyranny and she would just sit with her fucking stupid like mask that she had to wear

and it was tyranny and just like so there I mean yeah it's like it's so real it's so so painfully real and I hadn't thought about those things in a while and and most people don't want to and that's why it's not doing great well that was yeah shocking shocking and not shocking at the same time like it was a good combination of both actually it was kind of a good balance of both I think the biggest takeaway and maybe the biggest criticism is that something about it did feel a little nice to laugh at some of these things that were like the scariest darkest times of our lives like there is nice it does feel a little bit good to have a little laugh at some of the silliness that happened there but at the same time I can see how people can be like it's not funny yeah this isn't fucking funny

so both and it's not over right so it's not over yeah so I think that's probably part of why it's so divisive, so it just probably depends if you're, you know, your own personal experience. Take your temp on that one. But also, Joaquin's performance is really good. It's really worth watching if you could do it. I will also say Deidre O'Connell, who plays the mother-in-law. I mean, everyone's amazing in it.

Was so good. Yeah, she was fucking great. I mean, yeah, it's, but it's a lot and it will leave you feeling. it will leave you feeling bad yeah so which is not something I usually recommend no but

you know see for yourself what feel it out for yourself what you want to do and yeah I'm curious to see if this episode will make people as mad as the Beau's Afraid episode did

don't don't say its name Ariaster our controversial King. Our controversial king. We will cover all of your movies, even if it kills us. No, not then.

Not then. We won't take it that far. We'll draw a line before that. We have to be reasonable. You guys, thank you. That was an incredible recap from one movie viewing. Very impressive. She did a great job.

Love you guys so much. Love you guys so much. Love you listeners so much. Halchella forever. It's for real horror movies for the rest of Hellchella, we promise. Yep. We appreciate you sticking with us through this slightly less typical horror movie. But we stayed at our case and we hope you understand.

That's all we can do. No voices from this movie. I guess they're doing that. I unintentionally did a Joaquin Phoenix voice, but I don't think I can. can do it on command so I'll do a little mumbly's kind of mumbly we got to free our hearts can free each other's hearts in this community this community so from all of us here at too scary didn't watch goodbye goodbye that was pretty good we did it we made it thank you all for listening to another episode of Too Scary Didn't Watch.

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