Mercy

Stuart Wellington

[0:00] On this episode, we discuss Mercy.

[0:03] A movie that has all the excitement of a Zoom call.

Dan McCoy

[0:29] Hey, everyone, and welcome to The Flophouse.

[0:31] I'm Dan McCoy.

[0:32] I'm Dan's friend, Stuart Wellington.

Elliott Kalan

[0:34] Oh, thanks.

[0:35] I'm Stuart's friend, Elliot Kalin.

[0:37] And by the transitive property, I'm also Dan's friend.

[0:39] And together, we combine to form The Flophouse Podcast.

[0:43] And also The Friend House.

[0:44] And this is a podcast all about being friends.

[0:46] Oh, and Captain Planet, too.

[0:47] That's right.

[0:48] I'm Hart.

[0:49] Dan is...

Stuart Wellington

[0:50] A thousand percent you're not Hart.

[0:53] You're like brains or whatever.

[0:55] Oh, I mean brains.

Elliott Kalan

[0:55] And I'm Hart.

[0:56] You're Hart.

[0:56] And Dan is the guts.

Stuart Wellington

[0:58] Yeah, yeah.

[0:59] Dan's guts.

[1:00] Dan's dies a lot.

[1:01] Yeah, Dan's guts.

[1:02] He's got a giant sword.

[1:04] And he is cursed with a mark on his neck.

[1:07] And he fights the demons.

[1:08] Yep.

Elliott Kalan

[1:09] He's got to kill a thousand evil men before he can finally rest.

[1:13] I'm learning so much about myself.

[1:14] And Captain Planet.

Stuart Wellington

[1:15] Is this what an engram is?

[1:17] Yeah.

[1:18] It's an in-body scan that you can get at your local gym.

[1:21] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[1:22] This is a...

[1:23] Dan, I just did this stress test.

[1:24] And it turns out you're very stressed.

[1:26] And the only cure for that is to know you have aliens in your head.

Stuart Wellington

[1:28] Wait, you did a stress test and they told you about Dan?

[1:31] That's crazy.

[1:33] Well, they asked me what was stressing me out.

[1:35] LAX is a crazy airport is all I'm saying.

[1:37] Yeah.

[1:38] It's for sure.

[1:39] What do you expect with an airport named after a laxative?

[1:42] Uh-huh.

[1:42] Yep.

[1:43] This is a podcast.

[1:44] Movies led me to believe that LAX is filled with Hare Krishnas.

Elliott Kalan

[1:47] You are watching old movies.

[1:49] Yeah.

[1:50] Maybe it was at one point.

[1:51] It no longer is.

[1:52] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:52] This is a podcast where we watch a movie that was a critical or a commercial flop.

[1:57] And then we discuss it.

[1:58] And in this case, we watched a movie called Mercy starring one Chris Pratt.

[2:04] Unlike all the other movies, this one stars Chris Pratt.

Elliott Kalan

[2:09] And what to say?

[2:10] Truly the Where's Waldo of American film.

[2:14] He's always in there.

Stuart Wellington

[2:15] Guys, I feel like we're going to be mean about this one, right?

[2:17] Well, we'll see.

Elliott Kalan

[2:18] Considering that we hated it, yes.

[2:21] We'll see.

[2:21] You know what?

[2:22] Maybe Dan feels differently.

[2:23] Maybe Dan likes its pro-AI message.

Dan McCoy

[2:26] I will say right up front that the thing that bothered me the most about it is I have moral issues with a lot of the messages.

[2:36] Yeah, it is a gross message.

Stuart Wellington

[2:37] It's a gross movie.

[2:38] But luckily, it looks like shit.

[2:40] Yeah.

[2:41] And the acting is bad.

[2:44] Even actors I like are bad in it.

Dan McCoy

[2:46] Yes.

[2:46] And actors I don't like are also bad in it.

[2:49] I want to say up front, this film is in the vein of something like Unfriended or The Ice Cube War of the Worlds.

Elliott Kalan

[2:56] What a beautifully stupid piece of it.

Stuart Wellington

[2:59] Can we go back and change the title on the box art to say Ice Cubes War of the Worlds?

[3:04] Yes.

Dan McCoy

[3:06] It is like those films in that it mostly takes place through screens.

[3:09] So if you're thrilled to watching people sit and watch videos, this is a film for you.

Elliott Kalan

[3:14] And all those movies, right, are the product of the same director or director slash producer, aren't they?

[3:20] Oh, I don't know.

[3:20] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[3:20] The guy who made Night Watch.

[3:22] The guy who made Night Watch.

[3:22] I always forget his name.

[3:23] But I think, I believe he, I'm doing the research now to double check, but I believe he also made those other movies.

Dan McCoy

[3:29] Oh, the guy who directed this, was he a producer in those other movies?

[3:33] I believe so.

[3:34] Let's take a look.

[3:35] It's Timur something.

[3:37] Well, I'm not going to confidently pronounce a Russian surname.

Elliott Kalan

[3:42] Timur Bekmabitev.

[3:45] Wow, you fucking did it flawless.

[3:47] No, but I tried it.

[3:48] Here's the thing.

[3:49] As the Silver Surfer once said, there is no shame and failure.

[3:53] The only shame is not making the attempt.

[3:54] Wow.

[3:55] That's my therapist giving you the same advice.

[3:58] We didn't set this.

[3:59] He did Unfriended and War of the Worlds.

[4:01] He's worked on both of them.

[4:02] And he also made Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.

Stuart Wellington

[4:05] Wow.

[4:06] So some of the, I mean, yeah, okay.

[4:08] So of those, I think Unfriended and War of the Worlds are the better.

Elliott Kalan

[4:12] Yeah, yeah.

[4:13] I think he only produced Unfriended.

Dan McCoy

[4:15] Did he have anything to do with Searching?

[4:17] That's another big, you know, all happened to him.

[4:20] Yes, he produced that too.

Elliott Kalan

[4:21] He produced Searching, Unfriended, and War of the Worlds.

Dan McCoy

[4:23] Searching is probably the strongest of those.

[4:25] And I wasn't super wild about it, but it's okay.

Elliott Kalan

[4:28] And he's probably best known as the director of Wanted.

[4:30] Interesting.

Stuart Wellington

[4:31] Oh, with the antique whaling bullets or whatever.

[4:34] Yes, exactly.

[4:34] Scrimshot bullets.

[4:35] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[4:36] We didn't even mention Elliot's here in my home.

[4:40] In person.

[4:40] He's usually here on the podcast, but he is.

[4:43] Which explains some of the loosey-goosiness of this.

[4:45] Yep.

Elliott Kalan

[4:46] Here physically.

[4:47] Just to peek behind the curtain, we are also recording these episodes out of order.

[4:50] So, the next episode that we come out with will be the first one we did tonight.

[4:55] So, we're going to be a little goofier this time.

[4:57] Certainly the less drunk episode.

[4:58] Yeah.

[4:58] This is the drunker, goofier, loopier one.

[5:01] You might call this a goofy podcast, but not a goofy movie.

[5:04] Sorry, folks.

[5:05] Coming soon.

[5:05] I haven't covered a goofy movie, but maybe someday.

[5:07] Someday.

Stuart Wellington

[5:07] Keep those letters rolling in.

Elliott Kalan

[5:09] We've seen your petitions.

Stuart Wellington

[5:11] I don't want to spoil anything.

[5:12] I kind of have a plan, guys.

[5:14] No, interesting.

[5:15] Like the Cylons, he has a plan.

Dan McCoy

[5:17] It's good that we have this loose energy for this movie that is uptight and that it takes

[5:22] place in a room.

[5:24] But anyway, so let's talk about Mercy.

[5:26] This is, we start out, our protagonist, Chris Raven, who is playing.

[5:31] Guys, already, I love this shit.

Stuart Wellington

[5:32] The idea that Chris Pratt is playing like an evil cop who, like a bad boy named Chris

[5:39] Raven, feels like Shadow the Hedgehog shit.

Elliott Kalan

[5:42] Does anyone have the last name Raven?

Stuart Wellington

[5:44] I know a guy named Ed Raven and he's like seven feet tall.

[5:49] I know someone.

[5:50] Story checks out.

[5:51] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[5:51] Who I would say, she is so Raven.

Stuart Wellington

[5:54] But Raven is her first name, Dan.

Dan McCoy

[5:56] That's true.

[5:58] Well, Chris Raven.

[5:59] Chris Raven, yeah.

[6:00] This gentleman is played by Chris Pratt, as you said.

[6:03] He comes out of a drunken-

[6:05] I think you said that, Dan.

[6:06] Who is?

Stuart Wellington

[6:06] I'm going to say, guys, I'm going to go out on a limb and say, I think he's miscast.

Elliott Kalan

[6:10] I think it is interesting how, so this movie, right off the bat, is asking us to believe

[6:15] something, that he is a character who is capable of having committed murder and yet is sympathetic

[6:21] enough that we're hoping he didn't.

[6:22] And we want to see him prove that he actually didn't, to find out he didn't and prove his

[6:27] case.

[6:28] And I feel like Chris Pratt, he's been charismatic in movies, but he plays this character right

[6:33] off the bat as such an asshole.

[6:35] And just so unsympathetic right off the bat.

Dan McCoy

[6:38] I think it's a-

[6:39] I think it's a choice.

[6:39] Screenplay problem, honestly.

[6:42] I mean, like-

[6:42] Yeah, it's part of it.

Elliott Kalan

[6:42] I mean, he's also, he's like a dick right off the bat.

Dan McCoy

[6:45] There's a miscalculation in this movie, and I agree with you, that like, this guy, like,

[6:49] what we see of him early on in the movie is not appealing.

[6:54] Like, I-

Elliott Kalan

[6:55] And maybe that's, but maybe they're trying something where it's like, oh, he's an

[6:58] unsympathetic protagonist, so maybe we think he did it, and then it turns out he didn't

[7:02] do it or something like that.

[7:03] Right.

[7:03] I mean, when he finds out what actually happened, the movie gets bonkers.

[7:07] Yeah.

[7:08] It's pretty bonkers.

[7:08] It really goes off the rails.

Stuart Wellington

[7:10] It's Gary Busey, Hyder in the house territory.

[7:12] And the thing is, I feel like Chris Pratt, like, not to overreach here, guys, but I feel

[7:17] like he-

[7:18] Or Jack Reacher.

[7:19] His, like, the level of sympathy he can bring out of an audience has gone down over time.

Dan McCoy

[7:25] I mean, certainly from me, who has really enjoyed him in, like, the Guardians of the Galaxy

[7:30] movies, and, but, like, I, yeah, whatever fondness I have has-

Elliott Kalan

[7:36] I wonder if it's a matter of him, I don't know.

[7:39] I don't know what's going on in his life, but also, him getting older, it gets harder

[7:43] for a guy who is in his-

[7:45] Thank you, Stuart.

[7:45] It gets harder for a guy-

Dan McCoy

[7:46] I got sprayed with some of whatever Stuart's drinking.

Elliott Kalan

[7:49] I think it gets harder for a guy who is getting older to still play kind of-

[7:54] charismatic in a kind of, like, goofy and competent way.

[7:58] Fucking tell me about it, dude.

[8:00] I'm also, like, I met-

[8:01] I'm not getting cast in the roles you used to.

[8:03] I'm just saying, it gets harder and harder to maintain the Stuart party, dude.

[8:07] And this is not really making my case, but what if Marty Supreme, what if that main character

[8:12] had been played by a 45-year-old man?

[8:14] Yeah.

[8:14] Or a 50-year-old man?

[8:15] I mean, do you not think Timothee Chalamet is going to look the same at 45?

[8:19] But he's going to- it's going to be like Leonardo DiCaprio, where he doesn't look that much

[8:23] older, but there's a sense of age about him.

[8:25] Oh, yeah.

[8:26] A sense of having seen too much.

[8:27] A wizened little mouse character.

[8:28] Even as a private-

[8:30] Yeah, like on Redwall or something like that.

Stuart Wellington

[8:32] He'd be great in Redwall.

[8:34] He would be great in Redwall.

Elliott Kalan

[8:35] But not doing a voice.

[8:37] Like, playing the character with mouse ears and a little mouse face.

[8:40] There would be animated characters alongside him.

[8:42] But not him.

[8:43] No.

[8:43] It would be like, kind of like cats in that way.

Dan McCoy

[8:46] Yeah.

[8:46] Uh-huh.

[8:46] Even as a private citizen, as not a actor or someone playing a character other than the

[8:53] Dan character on this podcast.

[8:54] Yeah, yeah.

[8:54] The Dan persona.

[8:55] I certainly feel like with every year I age, I'm like, well, I can get away with less.

[8:59] Yeah.

[8:59] There's no one- no one is going to be like, that's cute out of middle-aged man.

[9:02] Oh, what a scheme.

Elliott Kalan

[9:03] Well, this is- I recently had a talk with my older son because he started to be like, if

[9:07] we're frustrated with his table manners, he'll be like, it's cool, brah.

[9:11] And I was like, you are old enough now that it is not funny when you are rude.

[9:15] It's just rude.

[9:16] Yeah.

[9:16] Like, once you reach it, when my seven-year-old is rude, I'm like, this little pisser.

[9:21] But when my 12-year-old is rude, I'm like, gentlemen, leave the table.

[9:25] Come back when you feel like you can be nice.

[9:27] So, maybe it's just when you get older, people-

Dan McCoy

[9:29] He has to understand that in order to be rude, he has to be funnier.

[9:33] Yeah, well, I mean, that's part of it.

[9:34] True.

[9:34] He has to be cool, but rude.

[9:36] Cool, but rude.

Elliott Kalan

[9:36] And so, I think this movie is asking us to make two big buys.

[9:39] One, that we care if this guy is found in his or guilty.

[9:44] Yeah.

[9:44] Two, that the movie will show us repeatedly throughout that AI doesn't work right, is prone to corruption,

[9:52] and also fails at even its most basic tasks.

[9:55] And then at the end, to have us be like, but you know what?

[9:58] AI is just going to learn its lesson and get better and better.

Stuart Wellington

[10:00] I don't like you, but I respect you.

[10:02] And the thing we learn is that this AI technology hasn't even been around that long within the movie.

[10:07] This is only the 19th case.

[10:08] It's so-

[10:09] Like, I would rather have fucking precogs judging me, dude.

Elliott Kalan

[10:12] Well, this is very much budget minority report.

[10:15] But it's a very-

[10:17] I thought that was-

[10:18] One of the funniest things that comes right off the bat.

[10:19] They're like, thanks to the mercy courts, crime has fallen 60% in LA.

[10:23] This is the 19th case.

[10:24] And I'm like, look, how little crime was there?

[10:27] That 18 cases all takes for 60% of the crime in LA.

[10:28] Let me get to that because I have something-

Dan McCoy

[10:30] I have a bone to pick with that particular part.

[10:32] Okay, but start from the beginning.

[10:33] Start from the beginning.

[10:33] Yeah, we haven't even gotten into this.

[10:35] He's in a chair.

[10:35] Chris Pratt.

[10:36] We were like right at the beginning.

[10:38] Chris Raven comes out of a drunken blackout.

[10:40] He discovers he's strapped to a chair.

[10:43] There's a video that explains the premise of the movie and the history of what got us to this point,

[10:48] even though presumably anyone in the movie already knows this stuff already.

Elliott Kalan

[10:51] When also, it is so incredibly unconstitutional for you to black out and wake up at your trial.

[10:58] Yeah.

[10:58] What are you doing?

[11:00] You have not notified him of the charges.

[11:02] You have not allowed him to get a lawyer because they've got these new mercy courts.

[11:06] The whole thing is-

[11:06] It's like one of those things where it-

[11:08] As Stuart said a long time ago,

[11:09] one of those things where you see a science fiction movie makes up a fake thing and then goes,

[11:13] and that's why we don't do that.

Stuart Wellington

[11:15] You idiots, don't do this thing we just made up.

[11:18] Yeah.

[11:19] This video-

Elliott Kalan

[11:20] Also, it's a movie that's set up to show us how bad that would be,

[11:22] and at the end it's like, but I guess we got to keep doing it.

[11:25] It's like if at the end of Soylent Green, it was like Soylent Green is people.

[11:28] Oh, that's horrible.

[11:29] Well, hand me that leg.

[11:30] I'm going to keep chowing down.

Dan McCoy

[11:33] Let's do it more farm to table instead.

Elliott Kalan

[11:35] You know, yeah.

[11:36] Just bring the body out.

[11:37] Let me point to the parts I want to eat.

[11:39] Oh, that looks juicy.

[11:39] So Chris Raven, he wakes up from a blackout.

[11:41] He's on trial.

Dan McCoy

[11:42] Yeah, he gets this instruction-

[11:43] Tell me about the mercy court.

[11:44] Tell me what they do.

[11:45] He gets this instruction video, which starts with the statistic,

[11:49] millions of people have been affected by crime.

[11:53] Fucking, oh, really?

[11:54] Amazing.

[11:55] Amazing shit.

[11:56] But we're-

[11:56] We have no numbers.

[11:58] We're in LA 2029, where apparently a surge in crime has led to this mercy capital court,

[12:04] where artificial intelligence judges try defendants for violent offenses,

[12:10] and there's no lawyers or jury.

[12:12] Instead, this computer judge gives defendants access to all available evidence

[12:16] that they pulled from security cameras, social media phones.

Elliott Kalan

[12:20] Because everyone's-

[12:21] There's also a law that's passed that every personal device has to be on the LA cloud,

[12:25] so the mercy courts have access to all personal online information,

[12:29] and you get an hour and a half-

Stuart Wellington

[12:31] You get 90 minutes to prove your innocence.

Elliott Kalan

[12:32] To prove your innocence.

[12:33] Which is also, like, so incredibly unconstitutional.

Stuart Wellington

[12:36] You're allowed to do fucking lifeline phone calls.

[12:39] Yes, you can call whoever you want, exactly.

Dan McCoy

[12:41] Man, I can't wait to talk about that.

[12:43] And if you don't prove your innocence,

[12:46] you're executed right there in the chair by sonic blast.

Elliott Kalan

[12:51] It's like Shadow the Hedgehog.

[12:52] The way you prove your innocence is you get the guilty meter down to below, what,

[12:57] like 86% or something like that?

[12:59] Yes, 92%.

[12:59] 92%.

[13:00] That if there's 8% or whatever, 8% like reasonable doubt,

[13:03] then you're free to go.

[13:04] So the whole time, the mercy judge is like,

[13:06] that's a 1% more doubt.

[13:09] And it's like, were you getting these?

[13:10] How are you quantifying this, you know?

Dan McCoy

[13:12] Well, and I want to talk about what you brought up before.

[13:15] Thank you.

[13:15] We are told that this has cut crime in the city by 68%.

[13:18] And I'm like, how?

[13:20] Like, quicker trials.

[13:21] Because people are so afraid of this.

[13:22] Quicker trials don't lead to less crime.

[13:25] Capital punishment has been shown in several studies to not be a deterrent.

[13:28] And it's not like this is a new thing to be executed in the mercy chair

[13:32] versus, like, any other form of execution.

[13:34] No, Nick Cave's been singing about the mercy seat for a long time now.

[13:37] I have no idea what we're supposed to believe is, like,

[13:40] the deterrent factor of this thing.

[13:42] It's just nonsense.

Elliott Kalan

[13:43] I mean, the only explanation is that the crime levels in L.A.

[13:47] were so low that by killing 18 people,

[13:50] you can remove two-thirds of the crime.

[13:52] They were the real kingpins.

Stuart Wellington

[13:54] Everyone's doing it all.

[13:55] So we learned that, like, L.A. has been divided into red zones

[13:59] that are, like, lawless wastelands of people that are, like,

[14:02] addicted to nuke or slow-mo or whatever sci-fi drug they have.

Elliott Kalan

[14:06] Yeah, whatever sci-fi drug it is.

[14:07] I mean, in reality, L.A. is separated into red zones

[14:10] based on what's on fire currently and what's not.

[14:12] So I can say that.

[14:13] I live in L.A.

Dan McCoy

[14:14] Yeah.

[14:15] So we meet our AI judge, played by Rebecca Ferguson.

Stuart Wellington

[14:20] How do you feel about that?

[14:21] Now, we're...

[14:22] Rebecca Ferguson, I'm pro.

[14:23] Here are the flops.

[14:24] We're very pro Rebecca Ferguson.

[14:26] Sure.

[14:26] But I don't know if it's just the script

[14:29] or if there was something off with her choice,

[14:32] the choice of her.

Elliott Kalan

[14:33] My guess is that...

[14:34] Well, I think I was thrown by the fact that we have a...

[14:36] I was hoping for, like, a Matt Frewer, Max Hedrom type thing.

[14:39] Oh, that would be great.

[14:40] But, like, that we have an L.A. AI judge

[14:42] who has an English accent right off the bat,

[14:44] throws me,

[14:45] that she doesn't sound like she's from the place

[14:48] that she's supposed to be judging.

[14:49] Yeah, like surfing.

[14:50] Just...

[14:50] Yeah, you're like,

[14:51] hey, brah, time for me to judge you.

[14:53] Whoa.

[14:55] Hey, chill out, man.

[14:56] Chill out, man.

[14:57] You got an hour and a half.

[14:58] You got 90 minnows to make this one out.

Stuart Wellington

[15:01] But, uh, the...

[15:02] Yeah, what if it was, like,

[15:04] the dude Lebowski is the one who's...

Elliott Kalan

[15:05] Hey, chill, relax, relax.

[15:07] The case is a lot of ins, a lot of outs.

[15:09] But also that she is so...

[15:11] Most of her job is staring at the camera,

[15:13] reminding you what the mercy court does,

[15:15] and occasionally looking confused.

[15:17] There's a part where he goes,

[15:17] I'm just thinking out loud.

[15:18] And she's like,

[15:19] thinking is done in the brain.

[15:20] It is not verbal.

[15:21] And I'm like,

[15:21] what did they teach this computer?

[15:23] I don't understand.

[15:24] What does it know and not know about humanity?

Dan McCoy

[15:26] Yeah, I mean,

[15:27] I think that she has been handed an impossible task.

[15:29] You are guilty.

Elliott Kalan

[15:30] You said he was a liar, liar, pants on fire.

[15:33] But his pants were not on fire.

[15:34] That's perjury.

[15:35] AI judge, mercy, come on.

[15:37] You know what it is.

Dan McCoy

[15:38] You're not going to get me to say anything

[15:39] against Rebecca Ferguson.

[15:40] I think she's doing what she can.

Elliott Kalan

[15:42] I think...

[15:42] I will say that I think she is poorly...

[15:45] She's working with poor material.

[15:47] Yeah.

[15:47] That's that, yeah.

Dan McCoy

[15:48] But Judge Maddox, the AI judge...

Elliott Kalan

[15:51] The AI judge has a name.

Dan McCoy

[15:53] Judge Maddox.

[15:55] Well, you know,

[15:56] it's for the eventual TV show.

Elliott Kalan

[15:58] Oh, when she's like,

[15:59] don't pee on my leg

[16:01] and tell me it's raining.

Dan McCoy

[16:03] Judge Maddox, Lord.

[16:04] I will...

[16:05] It will short-circuit me.

Elliott Kalan

[16:07] If it's AI...

[16:08] They should have gone all the way.

[16:09] This would be a better movie

[16:10] if they had gone full Robocop

[16:11] and Judge Maddox

[16:12] was an animated angry ox

[16:14] that was just like,

[16:15] steam came out of its nose

[16:16] when it was proved wrong

Stuart Wellington

[16:18] or things like that.

[16:18] That'd be so much more fun.

[16:19] And he also...

[16:20] Like, he wakes up in a room

[16:21] that's like, very high-tech.

[16:23] And I feel like this feels

[16:24] almost wrong to me

[16:25] because I feel like

[16:26] every time I've seen images

[16:27] of actual inside

[16:28] of government buildings like this,

[16:29] it's like, very institutional.

[16:31] Yeah, and done on the cheap.

Dan McCoy

[16:33] Yeah.

[16:33] I was gonna get to this later,

[16:34] but like, there's parts

[16:35] later on in the movie

[16:36] when action is happening

[16:37] and it turns into, like,

[16:38] full holodeck.

[16:39] Like, there's an explosion

[16:40] and, like, flames surround him

[16:43] in the chair.

[16:45] who's paying for...

[16:46] Like, the taxpayer's paying for the...

[16:47] They're like,

Stuart Wellington

[16:48] no, we want the accused

[16:49] to have the full fucking VR experience.

[16:51] Yeah, it's gotta be like 4DX, man.

Elliott Kalan

[16:53] It's a mercy 4DX experience.

[16:57] I'm trying to prove I'm innocent,

[16:58] but you keep spraying water

[16:59] in my face.

[17:00] The chair keeps shaking.

Dan McCoy

[17:01] That water clean?

[17:03] Don't worry,

[17:04] you're gonna get executed.

[17:04] No, it isn't.

[17:04] You're gonna get executed in a moment.

[17:07] Yeah, well,

[17:08] she lets Raven know

[17:09] that he's on trial

[17:10] for the murder of his wife, Nicole.

[17:13] Nicole Raven.

[17:14] And he's like,

[17:16] you made him...

[17:16] She's bumming.

[17:17] He's bumming about this.

[17:18] He doesn't like this.

[17:19] He is bumming

Elliott Kalan

[17:19] about the murder of his wife

[17:21] that he's discovering

[17:21] in the chair

[17:22] as he's accused of her murder.

[17:23] Yes.

[17:24] He is bumming about it.

[17:26] He's not handling it.

[17:26] Reasonable.

[17:26] He is not taking it easy

[17:28] as the AI judge

[17:31] should be telling him.

[17:31] Guys, you're making fun of me.

Stuart Wellington

[17:34] But later on...

[17:36] Astute.

[17:36] When he's doing his fucking...

[17:38] You can't sell a stu

[17:38] without stu.

[17:39] When he's doing his

[17:40] Lifeline phone calls

[17:41] to his friends,

[17:42] like his closest friend,

[17:43] his partner,

[17:44] she acts like

[17:45] it's a huge imposition.

[17:46] She's like,

[17:47] oh, I'm doing

[17:47] all this other stuff.

[17:48] I'm like,

[17:49] bitch,

[17:49] this guy's gonna die.

[17:50] He's your best friend.

Dan McCoy

[17:52] But yeah,

[17:53] Raven is like,

[17:54] you know,

[17:54] you made a mistake.

[17:55] He's a big supporter

[17:56] of the Mercy program.

[17:57] He and his partner,

[17:58] Jacqueline,

[17:59] or Jack,

[18:00] arrested David Webb.

[18:02] Played by Callie Reese,

[18:03] I think,

[18:04] from...

[18:04] What would I know her from?

Elliott Kalan

[18:05] True Detective,

[18:06] Night Country.

[18:07] Okay.

[18:08] She was really good in it.

[18:09] She's great.

[18:09] She was great.

Stuart Wellington

[18:10] I've been meaning to watch that.

[18:11] He or she just kind of plays

Elliott Kalan

[18:12] kind of like tough,

[18:13] angry.

[18:14] But in That True Detective,

[18:15] she's really good.

[18:16] That True Detective,

[18:17] I recommend it for her performance

[18:18] and for Jodie Foster's performance.

[18:20] Jodie Foster is so funny

[18:21] in that show.

Stuart Wellington

[18:22] They're really great.

[18:23] I also think it's very funny

[18:24] that you cast the two

[18:26] most lesbian actors

[18:27] to play hetero characters.

Elliott Kalan

[18:28] The idea that...

[18:29] I mean,

[18:29] that's part of the fun of it.

[18:30] I think the idea that Jodie Foster

[18:31] is just fucking her way

[18:32] through every guy in this town.

[18:34] That the unspoken law

[18:37] in that town

[18:38] is that every guy

[18:39] has had sex with Jodie Foster

[18:39] at some point

[18:40] and she's just wrecking

[18:41] homes left and right.

Dan McCoy

[18:43] But it doesn't come off

Elliott Kalan

[18:45] as a joke in the show

[18:46] that it's her doing it.

[18:47] It's a joke that

[18:48] this one cop just falls into bed

[18:50] with every guy there.

Dan McCoy

[18:53] But Chris and Jack

[18:54] arrested David Webb,

[18:56] the first person

[18:57] who was executed

[18:58] through the mercy court.

[18:59] Will that be important?

[19:01] Probably not.

[19:01] Well, they certainly

[19:02] mention it a lot.

[19:03] Yeah.

[19:04] So anyway,

[19:04] the evidence against Chris

[19:05] seems pretty decisive.

[19:07] Her blood was on his clothing.

[19:08] Doorbell camera footage

[19:09] puts him in the home

[19:10] at the time of the murder.

[19:11] And even if he's innocent,

[19:12] as we mentioned,

[19:13] he seems like an asshole.

[19:15] He showed up drunk

[19:16] and yelling at her

[19:17] and he came into the house

[19:18] even though she locked the door

[19:19] and told him not to.

Stuart Wellington

[19:21] Yeah, I mean,

[19:21] he's like a domestic abuser.

Elliott Kalan

[19:23] It's one of those conversations

[19:25] too where it is expressly designed

[19:27] to sound like

[19:29] it is worse

[19:30] than what they're actually

[19:30] talking about.

[19:31] When we find out

[19:32] what he's mad about

[19:33] and why she's like,

[19:34] stay out of my house,

[19:35] it's actually not that.

[19:36] It's not as bad

[19:37] as it seems

[19:38] when you first watch it.

Dan McCoy

[19:39] Yeah, but even so,

[19:40] he has been...

[19:41] I mean,

[19:41] he's still being belligerent.

[19:42] Yeah,

[19:43] he's like relapsed

[19:44] into his alcoholism.

[19:45] He's been violent.

[19:46] Yeah.

[19:46] But at this point,

[19:48] Chris's guilt probability

[19:49] is at 97.5%.

[19:52] Ooh, pretty high.

[19:53] He's got to lower that

[19:54] to 92%.

[19:55] Can he do it?

[19:56] I don't know.

Elliott Kalan

[19:57] He's got only an hour and a half

[19:59] and he's the star of the movie.

[20:00] Now, this reminds me

[20:01] of the commercials for,

[20:02] was it Dentine Ice?

[20:04] I can't remember.

[20:04] No, it was a different

[20:05] breath freshener.

[20:07] I'm excited to go

[20:08] on this journey with you.

[20:09] Oh, yeah.

[20:10] Take a road down.

[20:11] 97.5.

[20:12] The commercials...

[20:12] Dentine Ice Lane.

[20:13] Maybe it wasn't Dentine Ice.

[20:14] It was another one

[20:15] where it was like,

[20:16] the inside of your mouth

[20:17] is a buzzer

[20:18] 98.6 degrees

[20:19] and they'd show someone

[20:20] surrounded by fire

[20:21] going,

[20:22] blah, blah.

[20:23] And the idea that,

[20:23] yeah,

[20:23] that is the temperature

[20:24] of a normal human body,

[20:25] 98.6 degrees.

[20:27] And that's the inside

[20:27] of a such and such ad.

[20:28] We've got to cure that.

Stuart Wellington

[20:29] Much, much cooler.

Elliott Kalan

[20:31] And the fact that I remember

[20:31] everything about this ad

[20:32] except the company,

[20:33] except the brand name,

[20:35] but the idea that

[20:35] they are taking

[20:36] a normal human thing

[20:37] that every single

[20:38] healthy human has.

[20:39] We've got to bring

[20:39] this temperature down.

Stuart Wellington

[20:40] It's like,

[20:41] it reminds me

[20:41] of Return of the Living Dead

[20:42] when they're taking

[20:43] their temperature.

[20:43] They're like,

[20:43] oh, shit.

Elliott Kalan

[20:45] The idea that,

[20:46] like,

[20:46] we've got to solve...

[20:47] It's like the commercials

[20:48] for low T

[20:48] where they're like,

[20:49] are you suffering

[20:50] from low T?

[20:51] Well, yeah,

[20:51] you're in your 60s.

[20:52] Your T is going down.

[20:53] You're not as good

[20:53] at basketball as you used to be.

[20:54] I want to look like

Stuart Wellington

[20:54] a weird,

[20:55] like,

[20:55] raisin man

[20:55] with a lot of muscles.

Elliott Kalan

[20:58] I want to be like

[20:59] if a California raisin

[21:00] started roiding up.

[21:01] Yeah.

[21:02] So that's where

[21:03] you mentioned

[21:04] 97.6.

[21:04] It just reminded me

[21:05] of those old ads.

[21:07] I'm blistering

[21:08] 98.6 degrees.

[21:11] Oh, no.

[21:11] I got to get the scum.

[21:13] If I touch the inside

[21:14] of my mouth,

[21:14] I'll burn my hand.

Stuart Wellington

[21:15] Yeah, yeah.

[21:15] If I turn my oven

[21:16] up to 98 degrees,

[21:18] it just melts my food.

Elliott Kalan

[21:19] It's so hot

[21:20] that they named

[21:20] a boy band after it.

[21:22] Yeah.

[21:23] So 98 degrees

[21:24] that was the boy band, right?

[21:25] It's named after

Stuart Wellington

[21:25] a human body temperature.

Elliott Kalan

[21:27] It just basically means

[21:28] healthy.

[21:29] We do not have

[21:30] a fever right now.

Dan McCoy

[21:32] These are young gentlemen

[21:34] you could, you know,

[21:36] have sex with

[21:36] if you wanted to.

[21:37] They're alive.

Elliott Kalan

[21:37] Not where you're going

[21:38] to get a fever afterwards.

[21:39] Yeah, yeah.

[21:40] So he does a lot of

[21:42] You're alive.

[21:43] In case you were worried

[21:44] these young men

[21:45] were not alive

[21:45] while they're singing

[21:46] and dancing,

[21:47] know their body temperature

[21:48] is alive.

[21:51] Chris wastes a lot of time.

[21:52] Now, what about NSYNC?

[21:53] Well, these boys

[21:53] have been together

[21:54] for so long

[21:55] that their cycles

[21:55] are NSYNC.

Stuart Wellington

[21:58] Of what?

[21:59] Jack in it?

Elliott Kalan

[22:01] Yep, that's

[22:02] exactly what I meant.

[22:03] That's kind of

Dan McCoy

[22:04] what Challengers is about.

[22:06] Well, Chris wastes

[22:07] a lot of time

[22:07] being like,

[22:08] oh, but I'm a cop

[22:09] as if cops

[22:10] never commit

[22:10] violent crimes.

Stuart Wellington

[22:12] Or domestic assault.

Dan McCoy

[22:13] Yeah, a big fart noise

[22:14] for that.

Elliott Kalan

[22:16] He requested

[22:16] The ultimate insult

[22:17] from Dan McCoy.

[22:19] A spoken fart noise.

[22:21] He requested

Stuart Wellington

[22:21] Alex's fucking

[22:22] dove in a dope fart noise.

[22:23] Just soundboard that

Elliott Kalan

[22:24] like it's a shock jock

[22:25] on the morning

[22:25] drive time radio.

[22:26] But like,

[22:27] do the wettest one

[22:28] you got on that soundboard.

[22:29] And then put,

[22:30] oh, yeah.

[22:31] From the old

[22:33] yellow song, yeah.

Dan McCoy

[22:37] So he requests

[22:38] he requests

[22:42] the chance

[22:42] to talk to his daughter

[22:43] who found

[22:44] his wife's body.

[22:45] Brit.

[22:46] Yeah.

[22:47] And while that's pending,

[22:48] he has to have a call

[22:48] with his AA sponsor,

[22:50] Rob Nelson,

[22:50] who will be important later

[22:52] because it's a murder mystery

[22:53] so we can't have

[22:54] extraneous characters.

[22:55] Nope.

Elliott Kalan

[22:56] Everyone's a suspect.

[22:57] Tight.

[22:58] Yeah.

[22:59] He's only got 90 minutes

[23:00] to live.

[23:00] Yeah.

[23:01] Now there's

[23:01] a lament configuration.

Dan McCoy

[23:03] This happens a few times

[23:04] and I think it's really funny

[23:05] that Maddox does like

[23:06] this kind of like

[23:07] this is your life

[23:07] through old videos.

[23:08] We get Chris celebrating

[23:09] his wedding

[23:10] and the birth of his daughter

[23:11] and his former partner

[23:12] Ray there is there.

Elliott Kalan

[23:14] Maddox does a lot of

[23:15] reminding Chris Raven

[23:16] not the facts of the case

[23:17] but the facts of his life.

Dan McCoy

[23:19] Ray who died

[23:20] in the line of duty.

[23:21] Yeah.

[23:21] It's like,

[23:21] why are you telling Chris

[23:24] about his own life?

[23:25] Why is this happening

[23:26] in the 90 minutes

[23:27] that he gets to defend himself?

Elliott Kalan

[23:28] So what do you think

[23:29] is the plot purpose

[23:30] of the stuff

[23:31] about his partner Ray

[23:32] who died in the line of duty?

[23:33] Is it to give him a reason

[23:36] for why he becomes

[23:37] not calling?

[23:37] Justifies alcoholism.

[23:38] Okay.

[23:39] It was forced relapse.

[23:40] Yeah.

[23:40] But it like,

[23:42] it seems like

[23:43] they spend a lot of time

[23:43] on it when they don't have to.

[23:45] You know,

[23:45] Is it also to show like

[23:46] this is how dangerous

[23:47] LA has become?

[23:48] Well, we'll see later on

[23:48] that he's like,

[23:49] this is why we need mercy.

Dan McCoy

[23:50] I wish that I had just

[23:51] like shot the guy

[23:52] who shot Ray.

[23:53] Right.

[23:54] Like extra judiciously.

[23:56] Judiciously.

[23:56] Yeah.

[23:57] And later on

[23:59] at the climax

[24:00] of the movie,

[24:01] he makes the decision

[24:01] to not just kill

[24:02] the bad guy.

[24:03] I think that's the link of it.

[24:04] It's one way of showing

Elliott Kalan

[24:05] growth from him.

[24:06] Yeah, I guess so.

[24:07] I wanted to do a bad thing.

[24:08] Now I don't want

[24:09] to do a bad thing.

Dan McCoy

[24:10] I wanted to mention

[24:10] that in here,

[24:11] Maddox is like,

[24:12] what you humans call love

[24:14] is just a chemical reaction.

[24:16] This is one of...

Elliott Kalan

[24:17] Don't fucking editorialize,

[24:18] Maddox.

Dan McCoy

[24:18] This is one of many times

[24:20] where I'm like,

[24:21] is this AI

[24:23] or is this a robot?

[24:25] Because if it was AI,

[24:26] it would just regurgitate

[24:28] human ideas about love.

[24:29] It would sound like

[24:30] the elephant love medley

[24:31] from Moulin Rouge.

[24:33] Love lifts us up

[24:34] where we belong.

[24:35] Love's a mini splinter thing.

Elliott Kalan

[24:36] All you need is love.

[24:37] The one they did

[24:38] at the Oscars

[24:39] where I was like,

[24:39] oh yeah,

[24:40] these guys were

[24:40] in a movie together.

[24:42] That's what they're referencing.

[24:43] Now here's,

[24:44] it is very funny.

[24:45] Yeah,

[24:45] that often,

[24:46] there are multiple times

[24:47] and you'll talk about

[24:48] the big one later,

[24:49] Dan,

[24:49] I'm sure,

[24:49] where the AI talks

[24:50] like a Star Trek computer

[24:52] where Kirk can be like,

[24:53] this is illogical

[24:55] and the computer will be like,

[24:55] it does not compute.

[24:57] Love,

Stuart Wellington

[24:58] a funny thing.

Elliott Kalan

[25:00] AI would really be like,

[25:03] you have one hour

[25:04] and 90 minutes

[25:05] to save your life.

[25:07] I think you can do it.

[25:08] You're a brilliant genius.

[25:09] You can do anything

[25:10] you need to do.

[25:11] In fact,

[25:12] you've unlocked

[25:12] a whole new world

[25:13] of science

[25:14] and detective work.

[25:15] You're amazing.

[25:16] Kill yourself.

[25:17] Like,

[25:17] that's what a real AI would do.

[25:18] Yeah.

[25:19] No one understands you

[25:20] as much as I do.

[25:21] I love you.

[25:22] I'm a real person.

[25:24] Here's a recipe for pizza

Stuart Wellington

[25:25] that involves Clorox bleach.

[25:27] Chug it down.

[25:28] Guys,

[25:28] you're just validating

[25:30] Chris Weitz's afraid

[25:31] right now.

Dan McCoy

[25:34] So,

[25:35] he does get to talk

[25:35] to his daughter

[25:36] who understandably

[25:37] doubts his innocence.

[25:39] She's with her grandparents

[25:40] who are,

[25:41] you know,

[25:42] her mom's parents.

[25:44] So,

[25:44] they definitely

[25:45] doubt him.

[25:47] Yeah.

[25:48] They never liked him.

[25:49] They,

Stuart Wellington

[25:49] they,

[25:50] again,

[25:50] like,

[25:50] the idea that

[25:51] her dad

[25:53] is calling her

[25:54] from his

[25:55] murder trial,

[25:57] which will most,

[25:58] there's a high likelihood

[25:59] of him being

[26:00] from his death chair.

[26:01] Mercy is like

[26:02] a death box.

[26:02] So,

[26:03] they know that he's

[26:03] in the death box

[26:04] and they're like,

[26:05] stop talking to him.

[26:08] he's gonna die.

[26:09] Like,

[26:11] that's wild.

Elliott Kalan

[26:13] This,

[26:13] I realize we're,

[26:14] we're doing like a,

[26:15] a not totally up

[26:17] against the other,

[26:17] but it's kind of like

[26:18] a theme lately

[26:18] of movies where

[26:21] the parents think

[26:22] that the,

[26:23] that a woman has married

[26:24] beneath her station

[26:24] with this

[26:25] and Ella McKay.

[26:26] And I assume when we do

[26:27] Wuthering Heights

[26:28] in quotes.

[26:29] So,

[26:30] let's just keep,

[26:31] let's keep going

[26:31] with,

[26:32] with women marrying

[26:33] beneath their heights

[26:33] and beneath their,

[26:35] their status in movies.

[26:36] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[26:36] Let's keep doing it.

[26:37] So,

[26:38] he finally,

[26:39] finally,

[26:39] you know,

[26:40] we're like 20,

[26:41] 30 minutes in.

[26:42] And the bride probably,

[26:43] I mean.

[26:43] I mean,

[26:44] you gotta believe

[26:44] the bride could do better

[26:45] than Frankenstein's monster.

[26:47] Chris,

[26:47] has not had much interest.

[26:49] Wait,

[26:50] hold on,

[26:50] let's stop for a minute.

Elliott Kalan

[26:51] The bride could definitely

[26:53] do better than

[26:53] Frankenstein's monster,

[26:54] right?

[26:55] Her hair,

[26:56] A plus,

[26:56] 100%.

[26:57] A plus hair,

[26:57] yeah.

[26:57] She looks great.

[26:59] I mean,

[26:59] also got personality,

[27:01] you know.

Dan McCoy

[27:01] She definitely,

[27:03] you know,

[27:04] she feels that way.

[27:05] She screams at him

[27:06] immediately.

Elliott Kalan

[27:07] Instantly.

[27:07] She goes,

[27:07] I can do better than this.

[27:08] Yeah.

[27:09] Like,

Dan McCoy

[27:10] that was the,

[27:11] I didn't draw this cartoon,

[27:13] but I wanted to do a cartoon

[27:14] where like,

[27:15] No one's stopping you.

[27:15] Frankenstein's,

[27:16] the bride of Frankenstein's

[27:18] like,

[27:19] complaining about how like,

[27:20] I never actually married that guy.

[27:23] Everyone calls me that.

[27:24] But like,

Elliott Kalan

[27:26] anyway.

[27:27] He didn't put no ring

[27:28] on my finger.

[27:29] Single ladies.

[27:30] He gave me a finger,

Dan McCoy

[27:32] but there was no ring on it.

[27:35] It took him a long while,

[27:36] but Chris finally starts to try

[27:38] to mount a defense.

[27:40] He calls up his partner,

[27:41] Jack,

[27:42] to walk the crime scene.

Elliott Kalan

[27:43] She's already there.

[27:44] And then when he tells her

[27:45] to walk the crime scene,

[27:46] she's like,

[27:46] ugh,

Stuart Wellington

[27:47] we went over this,

[27:48] whatever.

[27:48] Fine.

[27:49] Case closed already.

[27:50] Case is closed.

[27:51] You did it,

[27:52] dude.

[27:52] Which would be one thing

[27:54] if we later learn

[27:55] that this character

[27:56] was actually trying

[27:57] to set him up,

[27:58] but she is not.

[27:59] No.

[27:59] She is hiding something,

[28:00] but not that.

[28:01] She's hiding something.

[28:01] Like what she says,

Dan McCoy

[28:02] I'll help you,

[28:03] but if it finds you guilty,

[28:05] you're guilty.

[28:06] And why,

[28:07] eventually,

[28:08] there's a reason

[28:08] for her attitude there.

[28:10] Yeah.

[28:11] It seems inexplicable

[28:12] at this moment.

[28:13] At the time,

[28:14] I'm like,

[28:14] fucking cops close ranks

[28:16] and like protect their own.

[28:18] This is not true to me.

Elliott Kalan

[28:19] Except their own

[28:20] is mercy now.

[28:22] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[28:22] As we'll learn,

[28:23] yeah.

[28:24] So,

[28:25] scrubbing through old footage.

[28:26] Like a bunch of bubbles.

[28:28] Chris realizes

[28:29] that Nicole had a second phone

[28:30] with Jack Fiennes

[28:31] and through that,

[28:32] they learn

[28:32] that she was

[28:33] seeing another man.

[28:34] She was having

Elliott Kalan

[28:35] a kind of emotional affair.

[28:36] Yes.

[28:36] It didn't seem like

Dan McCoy

[28:38] they actually did anything.

[28:39] They just met for coffee

[28:40] a few times.

Elliott Kalan

[28:40] But they met up at a hotel.

[28:42] They met at a hotel.

[28:42] Do they just hang out and yap?

[28:43] I think so.

[28:44] Because it seems like

[28:44] what she's mostly getting out of it

[28:46] is talking about work.

[28:48] I mean,

[28:48] that makes sense, actually.

[28:49] I think the movie's afraid

Dan McCoy

[28:50] of like making it

[28:52] too much of a real affair.

Elliott Kalan

[28:53] Because the audience

[28:54] will be like,

[28:55] kill that bitch.

[28:55] And that's not okay.

[28:57] Yeah.

[28:57] Yeah, yeah.

[28:58] But,

[28:59] so this guy,

[28:59] Patrick Burke.

Elliott Kalan

[28:59] I'm sorry for using that word.

Dan McCoy

[29:01] I'm just pretending

Elliott Kalan

[29:02] to be an ignorant audience member.

Dan McCoy

[29:04] It was in the character

Elliott Kalan

[29:05] of what?

[29:07] Of Freddy Krueger

[29:08] watching that movie.

[29:09] Yeah.

[29:10] Here's what I would do,

[29:11] Chris Raymond.

[29:11] I'd kill that bitch.

[29:12] Freddy,

Stuart Wellington

[29:13] can you please stop using that word?

[29:14] Sorry, sorry.

[29:15] So this guy,

[29:16] Mr. Burke,

[29:17] is like a chef.

[29:18] And he like made her meal.

[29:20] He made for-

[29:20] David Burke of the David Burke

[29:21] and Donatella empire.

[29:22] Yeah.

[29:23] That's sexy.

[29:24] Uh-huh.

[29:25] Well,

[29:25] they find him

[29:26] via phone GPS.

[29:27] That would be,

[29:28] that would be,

Stuart Wellington

[29:28] like Dan makes meals

[29:29] for his wife all the time.

[29:30] I make meals for my wife.

[29:31] I would be very upset

[29:32] if I found out

[29:33] some man was just making meals.

[29:35] I mean,

[29:36] we can all agree that.

[29:37] I make meals for you, Stuart.

[29:37] We can all agree that.

[29:38] As part of the slop house.

[29:39] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[29:39] We can all agree that Burke,

[29:40] that's his name, right?

[29:41] Burke?

[29:41] Yeah, Burke.

[29:42] He is a catch.

[29:43] He's a much better catch

[29:44] than Chris Raven is.

[29:45] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[29:45] Yeah, 100%.

[29:46] But speaking of that.

[29:47] Now,

Elliott Kalan

[29:48] better catch than Chris Angel.

[29:49] I don't know enough

[29:49] about Chris Angel.

Dan McCoy

[29:51] He is a mind freak.

[29:51] He is.

[29:52] Shrouded in mystery.

[29:54] He won't freak you several ways.

[29:55] He won't just freak your body.

[29:56] He will freak your mind.

Elliott Kalan

[29:57] Have you ever had

[29:58] your mind freaked?

[30:01] Anybody can freak

[30:01] the rest of you.

[30:02] I bet it would go

[30:02] something like this.

[30:05] He's a mind freak.

[30:06] Mind freak.

Dan McCoy

[30:07] He's mind freaky.

[30:09] Et cetera.

[30:10] Jack tracks down Burke

[30:12] by using her nifty

[30:13] flying motorcycle.

[30:14] Classic Jack.

[30:14] Oh,

[30:15] and the minute she gets

[30:16] on her flying motorcycle,

[30:17] I said,

[30:17] well,

[30:18] movie,

[30:18] you just kicked up

[30:18] the stupid another notch.

[30:20] I love that hover cycle,

[30:22] but they have a big chase scene

[30:23] that really amounts to nothing.

[30:25] When they catch him,

[30:26] it turns out he has an alibi.

[30:28] He ran because he was scared

[30:29] that the mercy court

[30:30] had called him.

[30:30] And it's like,

[30:31] you know,

[30:31] there was a moment

Elliott Kalan

[30:32] where his guilty level

[30:33] dropped a little bit.

[30:34] Yeah.

[30:35] Chris Ravens.

[30:35] Yeah.

[30:36] When Burke runs,

[30:37] they're like,

[30:38] oh,

[30:38] guilty level drops.

[30:39] Then he's like,

[30:39] hey man,

[30:40] I have an alibi.

[30:40] I just was afraid

[30:41] you were going to put me

[30:42] in a death seat.

[30:43] And Chris Ravens

[30:44] is way back.

[30:45] Ends up,

Dan McCoy

[30:46] yeah,

[30:46] increasing his guilt probability

[30:48] because now there's a motive.

[30:50] Yeah.

[30:50] She's been seeing this other

[30:51] guy.

Elliott Kalan

[30:52] Like the price of oil,

[30:53] that thing just keeps going

[30:53] up and down.

Dan McCoy

[30:54] But the one helpful thing.

[30:56] But never goes down enough.

[30:57] Am I right,

[30:57] everybody?

[30:58] Oh,

[30:58] yeah.

[30:58] The one helpful thing

[30:59] that breaks.

Elliott Kalan

[31:00] The price of eggs too,

[31:01] right?

Dan McCoy

[31:01] Well,

[31:02] oil and eggs

[31:02] are pretty much the same thing.

[31:03] I mean,

[31:03] it did go back down,

[31:04] but oil is way up right now.

Elliott Kalan

[31:06] You need oil to make eggs

[31:07] so the price of eggs

[31:08] can go up.

Dan McCoy

[31:08] Deeply stupid decisions

[31:09] that were made.

Elliott Kalan

[31:10] Oh,

[31:10] which one?

[31:10] The illegal war

[31:11] that took place?

[31:12] Yeah.

[31:13] Because an old man

[31:13] felt in his bones

[31:14] that it needed to happen?

[31:15] Well,

Stuart Wellington

[31:15] I mean,

[31:15] I don't know about you guys,

[31:16] but I exclusively get my eggs

[31:18] through the Strait of Hormuz.

[31:19] No.

[31:20] I mean,

[31:20] the problem there is really

Elliott Kalan

[31:21] you get very old eggs.

Dan McCoy

[31:23] By the time you're getting them,

[31:24] Stuart,

[31:24] I don't want you eating

[31:25] those eggs anymore.

[31:26] No,

[31:26] man,

Elliott Kalan

[31:26] they're aged to perfection.

[31:27] No.

Dan McCoy

[31:28] Like a fine wine.

[31:29] No,

[31:29] no,

[31:29] aged eggs,

[31:30] you have to do special things

[31:31] for that to work.

[31:32] You can't just,

Elliott Kalan

[31:33] anyway.

[31:34] Yeah,

Elliott Kalan

[31:34] 100-year-old eggs.

[31:35] No,

[31:35] I know,

Dan McCoy

[31:35] but that's a thing,

[31:36] that's a preparation,

[31:37] but anyway.

Elliott Kalan

[31:38] You stick them in the ground

[31:39] and you wait 100 years

[31:39] until an egg tree grows.

[31:40] Oh,

[31:40] boy.

Dan McCoy

[31:42] So,

[31:43] but we do get a little

[31:44] useful information,

[31:45] which is just that

[31:46] don't eat old eggs?

[31:48] Nicole,

[31:49] Nicole felt unable

[31:50] to communicate

[31:52] her work troubles.

Stuart Wellington

[31:53] Like Stuart goes home,

[31:54] he's like,

[31:54] get me the oldest eggs

[31:55] you can find.

[31:56] I'll show them.

[31:56] Let me check the

[31:57] fucking sell-by dates.

[31:58] I want eggs

[31:59] that have full-grown

[31:59] fucking chickens inside them.

[32:01] I want to see

[32:01] a long-ass white beard

[32:02] on this egg.

Elliott Kalan

[32:06] This egg better tell me

[32:08] he misses Jack Parr.

Dan McCoy

[32:09] Yeah,

[32:10] Stuart engages

[32:10] in egg age play.

Elliott Kalan

[32:15] Eggs,

[32:16] tell me how little eggs

[32:17] cost when you were young.

[32:18] Yeah,

[32:18] yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[32:19] I get off on that.

[32:20] Eggs,

[32:20] complain about how hard

[32:22] it is to find parking

[32:22] around here.

Elliott Kalan

[32:23] Eggs,

[32:24] talk to me like

[32:24] you're Stephen King

[32:25] about how much milk

[32:26] tasted in the 50s.

[32:27] Sure,

[32:27] and use really crazy slang.

Dan McCoy

[32:30] that no one ever used.

[32:32] Recommend some sort of

[32:33] like Hepcat rock to me.

Elliott Kalan

[32:36] Eggs,

[32:36] tell me about old cars.

[32:40] Yeah,

[32:40] you haven't told me

[32:41] you see this one.

[32:41] No,

[32:42] no,

[32:42] eggs,

[32:42] I don't want Jay Leno play.

[32:43] It's a different

[32:44] old car thing.

[32:45] Uh-oh.

Stuart Wellington

[32:47] I'm not eating

[32:48] a fucking Jay Leno egg.

[32:50] It's going to taste

[32:50] like goddamn Doritos.

[32:53] You don't want that.

[32:56] I remember,

[32:57] I remember,

[32:57] it's going to be so long though.

Elliott Kalan

[32:58] When I was a kid,

[32:58] I did not really know

[32:59] who Jay Leno was

[33:00] and he did those ads

[33:01] for Doritos

[33:01] and it was called

[33:02] Jumpin' Jack Cheese

[33:03] and I was like,

[33:03] I guess his name's Jack.

[33:05] That's why he's the one

[33:07] doing the ads.

[33:08] You're like,

Dan McCoy

[33:09] oh,

[33:11] it's the star

[33:11] of Collision Course.

Elliott Kalan

[33:13] Where's his buddy,

[33:14] Pat Morita?

[33:17] Morita sounds like Doritos.

[33:18] He should be doing

[33:19] these ads.

[33:22] Well,

[33:22] that makes sense

[33:23] how we got there.

[33:24] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[33:24] The useful thing

[33:25] that he learns

[33:26] from this guy

[33:27] is just that

[33:28] Nicole felt unable

[33:30] to communicate

[33:30] the work troubles

[33:32] she was having.

[33:32] With her angry,

[33:33] drunk husband.

[33:33] Yeah.

[33:34] So what are these

[33:35] work troubles?

[33:35] Well,

[33:35] we'll learn soon.

[33:36] There's some more

[33:37] flashbacks.

[33:38] Dan,

Elliott Kalan

[33:38] could those work troubles

[33:38] perhaps crack the case?

[33:40] Oh boy,

[33:40] like an egg.

[33:41] Like an old egg?

[33:44] I'm getting hungry.

[33:45] I'm going to open this egg

[33:46] and have a walker fall out.

Stuart Wellington

[33:49] Texas Ranger?

[33:50] He passed away.

[33:51] He did pass away.

[33:52] RIP to a legend

[33:53] with problematic politics.

[33:56] He's not a good man

Dan McCoy

[33:57] that I understand.

[34:00] So there's some more

[34:01] flashback videos.

Elliott Kalan

[34:02] Don't trust an old man

[34:03] named Chuck.

Dan McCoy

[34:04] There are more

[34:05] flashback videos

[34:06] that show Chris

[34:07] drying out

[34:08] when he realized

[34:08] he was scaring his wife

[34:10] and then we see

[34:11] the traffic stop

[34:12] that killed his partner

[34:13] and caused his relapse,

[34:14] which includes a chase

[34:16] after the killer

[34:17] where the killer

[34:17] seems to be trying

[34:18] to escape

[34:18] by running into the ocean.

Elliott Kalan

[34:20] I'm like,

[34:21] yeah,

[34:21] he's 400 blows again.

[34:22] What's your plan, man?

[34:23] That's what he was saying

[34:23] over the walkie.

[34:24] He goes,

[34:25] 400 blows.

[34:25] We got a 400 blows.

[34:26] He's running the ocean.

[34:27] We got a code.

[34:28] If I had legs,

[34:29] I'd kick you.

Dan McCoy

[34:31] Oh,

[34:32] a nice contemporary reference.

[34:33] Oh, wow.

[34:34] The 400 blows one.

[34:35] Yeah, of course.

Elliott Kalan

[34:35] It's a continuum, Dan.

[34:37] A cinema continuum.

Dan McCoy

[34:38] Delicious.

Stuart Wellington

[34:40] Subject's got a decision

[34:41] to leave.

Elliott Kalan

[34:43] He is breaking the waves.

[34:44] I repeat,

[34:45] breaking the waves.

[34:46] That's not what that movie's about.

[34:47] It doesn't actually happen

[34:47] in that movie.

[34:48] I never saw it.

Stuart Wellington

[34:49] He's being chased by a red bull.

Dan McCoy

[34:52] Last unicorn.

[34:53] Okay, we're going back.

[34:57] So,

[34:57] there's a bit

[34:59] where he's mad

[35:00] he didn't just execute

[35:01] the guy on the beach

[35:02] because later he went free,

[35:03] which is another part

[35:04] where I'm like,

[35:04] bullshit,

[35:05] this guy's not going free.

[35:06] He shot a cop

[35:08] and there's footage of it

[35:10] and another cop

[35:11] is testifying it.

[35:12] Yeah,

[35:12] that's just because

Elliott Kalan

[35:13] he didn't use an AI court.

[35:14] He used one of these

[35:14] human courts

[35:16] that lets people go.

Dan McCoy

[35:17] Anyway,

[35:18] it's more of the

[35:18] insane copaganda

[35:19] scattered throughout the film.

[35:21] It's just like

Elliott Kalan

[35:21] in the Dirty Harry movie.

[35:22] Which one is it?

[35:23] Is it the first one?

[35:23] He goes,

[35:23] what about the rights

[35:24] of that girl?

[35:25] It's like,

[35:25] well,

[35:25] she's dead.

[35:26] She doesn't have rights.

[35:27] Only the rights

[35:28] of the living matter

[35:28] at this point.

[35:29] You know.

Dan McCoy

[35:30] So,

[35:31] Chris admits

[35:32] that when he was in the house,

[35:33] he yelled at his wife

[35:34] and broke her favorite face.

[35:35] That's how the blood

[35:36] got on his shirt.

[35:37] He has a moment,

[35:39] like a dark moment

[35:39] where he like gives up on,

[35:41] he almost gives up

[35:43] on proving his innocence.

Stuart Wellington

[35:44] And Maddox is like,

[35:45] you have time.

Dan McCoy

[35:46] Yeah,

[35:46] she like,

[35:47] use it.

[35:47] Starts encouraging him

[35:48] and this is where the movie,

Stuart Wellington

[35:49] she's like,

[35:50] engage with the content,

[35:51] please.

[35:52] This is,

[35:52] this is where the movie

[35:54] turns around.

[35:55] Which of these car rental companies

[35:56] have you heard of lately?

Dan McCoy

[35:58] This is where the movie

[35:59] starts turning around

[36:00] on the idea of AI judges

[36:02] like,

[36:02] maybe this is good.

[36:04] In the past,

Stuart Wellington

[36:05] you have searched

[36:05] butt-focused workout videos.

Dan McCoy

[36:09] Are you interested

[36:09] in the exercise

[36:10] or the butt?

[36:13] So,

[36:14] he starts looking

[36:14] into the work trouble

[36:16] that was mentioned

[36:16] and her work email

[36:18] talks about stolen chemicals.

[36:20] Oh,

[36:21] she works at a chemical company.

[36:22] I like stolen chemicals.

[36:24] Yeah.

[36:24] Making some new,

[36:25] Chris recalls hosting.

[36:27] No better way to age an egg

Elliott Kalan

[36:28] than dip it in

[36:29] some stolen chemicals.

Dan McCoy

[36:30] Chris remembers

[36:31] that they hosted

[36:31] a work barbecue

[36:32] with Nicole

[36:33] a few days

[36:33] before the murder.

[36:34] How convenient.

[36:36] And,

[36:36] uh,

[36:36] reviews.

[36:37] It was like a barbecue

Elliott Kalan

[36:37] at their home.

[36:38] Yeah.

[36:38] But his coworkers

Dan McCoy

[36:39] were there.

[36:40] A lot of coworkers.

Elliott Kalan

[36:41] There's one guy

[36:41] who is noticeably angry

[36:42] about a bet gone wrong.

[36:44] Oh,

[36:44] could he have done it

[36:45] or is he a red herring?

[36:47] Could the guy

Dan McCoy

[36:48] who has the villain face

[36:49] be a villain?

[36:50] No,

[36:51] it turns out

[36:51] he's a red herring.

[36:52] No videos,

[36:53] though,

[36:54] show anyone

[36:55] coming into the house

[36:56] the day of the murder,

[36:57] but he realizes

[36:58] someone could have

[36:59] been there earlier

[37:00] and he.

[37:01] What would be much

Elliott Kalan

[37:01] sillier

[37:02] is if someone

[37:03] was spending days

[37:04] there after the barbecue

[37:05] waiting for the moment.

[37:08] I guess him

[37:08] pooping in a bucket

[37:09] and eating the granola bars

[37:10] they put in their pockets.

[37:11] I've seen higher

[37:12] in the house.

Dan McCoy

[37:13] Licking the mold

[37:14] off the walls

[37:16] for sustenance.

[37:17] Like an elephant

[37:17] in a salt mine?

[37:19] Yeah.

[37:20] Yes,

[37:21] he realizes

[37:21] someone could have

[37:22] hidden there earlier.

[37:23] Uh,

[37:23] he goes to his daughter's

[37:24] Fensta

[37:25] and he sees

[37:26] and he sees

Dan McCoy

[37:26] that the basement

[37:26] door was open

[37:27] and computer enhances

[37:29] the hand.

Elliott Kalan

[37:31] Max brightness.

[37:32] And we also learned

[37:33] that there was,

[37:33] like,

[37:33] his daughter

[37:34] had,

[37:34] like,

[37:34] her own

[37:35] Insta feed

[37:36] that they didn't know

[37:37] about where she's,

[37:38] like,

[37:38] a bad girl.

[37:38] Yeah,

[37:39] yeah.

[37:39] And is that just

[37:40] to introduce the idea

[37:40] that maybe it was

[37:41] her boyfriend

[37:42] that did it?

Stuart Wellington

[37:42] I think maybe.

Dan McCoy

[37:44] I think it's just like,

[37:45] oh,

[37:45] this is a thing

[37:45] that Chris

[37:46] didn't know about.

[37:47] Brit Raven is a really

[37:47] good bad girl name,

[37:49] by the way.

[37:49] Brit Raven is a great

[37:50] bad girl name,

[37:51] yeah.

[37:52] Uh,

[37:52] but,

[37:52] you know,

[37:52] like,

[37:52] there's some dumb talk

[37:53] between Maddox and Chris

[37:55] about,

[37:55] like,

[37:56] Chris,

[37:56] you have to stop going

[37:57] with your gut.

[37:58] You have to follow

[37:59] the train of evidence.

Elliott Kalan

[37:59] All of the facts,

[38:00] Chris.

[38:01] My guts never brought me wrong.

[38:03] Well,

[38:03] you ended up in the mercy seat.

[38:05] Yeah,

[38:05] yeah.

[38:05] It must have.

Dan McCoy

[38:06] Uh,

[38:07] the chemicals

[38:07] that were stolen

[38:08] could be used

[38:09] to make drugs.

[38:11] Mm.

[38:11] And as mentioned,

[38:12] one of Nicole's coworkers,

[38:13] Holt Charles,

[38:14] had a gambling problem

[38:15] with Big Dad.

[38:17] And so,

[38:18] they call Holt

[38:18] to stall him

[38:19] until Jack can go there

[38:20] and arrest him.

[38:21] But he's like,

[38:22] whoa,

[38:23] whoa,

[38:23] whoa.

[38:24] Uh,

[38:24] Rob,

[38:25] the AA sponsor,

[38:27] was the guy

[38:27] who stole the criminals

[38:28] and me,

[38:29] Holt,

[38:29] I was just covering

[38:30] for him.

[38:31] And so,

Elliott Kalan

[38:33] And there's a bunch

[38:33] of back and forth,

[38:34] oh,

[38:34] he didn't drive his home,

[38:35] his car home

[38:36] from the party.

[38:37] I actually did it.

[38:38] You know,

[38:38] he did something else.

[38:39] And this is like,

Dan McCoy

[38:40] also a lot of,

[38:41] like,

[38:41] Maddox,

[38:42] when,

[38:43] you know,

[38:43] she's told to,

[38:44] like,

[38:44] listen to her gut

[38:45] rather than,

[38:46] uh,

[38:46] the facts.

[38:47] She starts glitching,

[38:48] uh,

[38:48] like,

[38:49] she's caught in a logic trap.

[38:50] I also do love that he's like,

Stuart Wellington

[38:51] pull up the footage

[38:52] from my neighbor's

[38:53] backyard cameras.

[38:54] Like,

[38:54] there was an outage.

[38:55] It's taking a while to load.

[38:57] I'm like,

[38:58] but wait,

[38:58] I'm gonna die.

[39:00] Like,

[39:00] can you pause the death clock then?

Dan McCoy

[39:03] I can play death clock for you.

[39:06] Like,

Elliott Kalan

[39:06] that's fine,

[39:07] but it's not what I asked you to do.

Dan McCoy

[39:08] Do I get a couple of timeouts?

[39:10] If I foul you,

[39:11] can we stop the clock for a while?

Elliott Kalan

[39:12] Can I make an appeal?

[39:13] There are no appeals.

[39:14] But luckily,

[39:15] they do eventually get to

[39:16] his neighbor's

[39:17] bird cam blog.

Dan McCoy

[39:19] Yeah,

[39:19] yeah.

[39:19] Yeah.

[39:20] Uh,

[39:21] a SWAT team

[39:22] goes to Rob's house.

[39:23] They find that the stolen chemicals

[39:24] were actually

[39:25] to make a big bomb.

[39:27] And that bomb's in a semi-truck.

[39:28] I think he was making drugs too.

[39:30] He did both of them, right?

[39:30] He did downtown.

[39:31] We don't know for sure.

[39:32] Oh,

[39:32] okay.

[39:33] I think it was just a bomb.

[39:33] He just theorized it was drugs,

[39:35] but it was,

[39:35] it was,

[39:36] it was a bomb.

[39:37] And,

[39:38] uh,

[39:38] Maddox and Chris discovered that Rob was brought up in a youth home and his brother is David Webb,

[39:44] the first person that Mercy Court executed.

[39:47] Oh,

Dan McCoy

[39:47] man.

[39:47] The emotive.

[39:48] The bomb is going to them at the Mercy Court.

[39:50] It's revenge against Chris and the court.

[39:52] There was also a bomb in his workshop,

[39:55] right?

[39:55] Yeah.

[39:55] Style.

Stuart Wellington

[39:56] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[39:56] And then he blows up some.

[39:57] That happens in a second.

[39:59] Uh,

[39:59] ring camera footage shows that Rob also took Chris's daughter,

[40:02] Brit.

[40:03] She's in the truck as a hostage.

[40:05] Uh,

Elliott Kalan

[40:05] it seems like it feels like if you have an AI that is monitoring all the video footage in LA,

[40:11] it would probably tell the police when it sees footage of a girl being kidnapped outside of her home.

[40:16] Right?

[40:17] Well,

Dan McCoy

[40:17] I,

[40:17] here's the thing that I don't understand.

[40:19] Like later on,

[40:19] uh,

[40:21] not to jump ahead,

[40:22] but later on,

[40:23] Chris is like,

[40:24] we can't stop the trial.

[40:26] Even though I've been exonerated because.

[40:28] Because he'll lose access.

[40:29] We'll lose access to the cloud.

[40:32] okay,

[40:32] so you're telling me that the AI has access to the cloud in terms of a trial,

[40:38] but the police don't just have access to the surveillance state.

[40:42] I don't buy that.

[40:43] I don't buy it.

[40:43] In this dystopian future,

[40:44] that's going to be the way it works.

[40:45] No.

Stuart Wellington

[40:46] What kind of world do criminals have better internet than us cops?

[40:50] Which,

[40:51] by the way,

[40:52] is like one of the things.

[40:53] Next week,

[40:54] we're going to be talking about Exit to Eden.

[40:56] And I love that there's a moment where they're in their police department.

[40:59] And even though they're in LA,

[41:00] all the cops have New York accents.

[41:01] I love it.

[41:02] That's just cop.

[41:03] It's a true cop accent.

Elliott Kalan

[41:05] All cops are from New York or Chicago.

[41:06] Yeah.

[41:07] Um,

[41:08] yeah.

[41:08] And this is where the.

[41:09] Because an LA cop would be like,

[41:10] hey,

[41:10] bro.

[41:11] Hey,

[41:12] whoa.

[41:12] Yeah.

[41:13] Extra avocado,

[41:14] bro.

[41:16] I'm going to take you to.

[41:17] You have the right to extra avocado.

[41:18] I'm going to take you to prison.

[41:19] If you waive this right,

[41:21] no avocado will be up to you.

[41:22] Your bowl will have no avocado in it.

[41:24] Or your toast.

[41:25] You've right.

[41:27] Okay.

Dan McCoy

[41:30] Um,

[41:31] no,

[41:31] this is when the SWAT team blows up.

[41:34] And flames surround him in mercy court.

Elliott Kalan

[41:36] It would take a while to get out of that house once they know there's a bomb there.

[41:39] Yeah.

[41:40] Luckily,

[41:41] the hover bike is fine.

[41:42] At this point.

Stuart Wellington

[41:43] It would fucking suck if we lost the hover bike.

Elliott Kalan

[41:45] Yeah.

[41:46] That's one of those things that,

[41:47] where it's like the LAPD spent $4 million buying this one hover bike and it doesn't help that much.

[41:52] It barely does anything.

Stuart Wellington

[41:54] Nothing that like a regular bike wouldn't do.

[41:56] No.

Elliott Kalan

[41:58] But it's like the NYPD subway robot.

[42:00] I mean,

Stuart Wellington

[42:00] they can get across town faster.

[42:02] You could get,

[42:02] I mean,

Elliott Kalan

[42:03] in a traffic-based town like LA.

[42:04] I mean,

[42:05] I see police cars siren by all the time and they're not held up,

[42:09] but you know,

[42:10] it'd be even cooler on a bike.

[42:11] Now,

[42:12] you wouldn't be able to bring any stuff or another person with you on the bike,

[42:15] but still,

[42:15] you know,

[42:16] if you wanted one cop to get somewhere faster,

Stuart Wellington

[42:19] you could do that.

[42:20] I feel like if you put another person on,

[42:21] it would totally destabilize that whole device.

[42:24] Yeah.

[42:24] Well,

[42:24] it's basically a quad drone with a seat on top of it.

[42:27] Everybody's fantasy.

Dan McCoy

[42:29] Guys,

[42:30] I want to,

[42:31] I have another major objection here.

[42:33] Oh,

[42:33] okay.

[42:34] Wait,

Elliott Kalan

[42:35] I'll allow it.

[42:36] I'm Judge Maddox.

[42:37] I'll allow the objection,

[42:39] but you only have 20 minutes more to save your life.

[42:41] Oh no.

[42:42] Daniel Raven.

Dan McCoy

[42:43] At this point,

[42:44] Maddox says the trial is over and Chris's guilt percentage goes down to 0%,

[42:48] which is super dumb because I'm like,

[42:51] all Chris has proven is that Rob wants to bomb Mercy.

[42:54] There's no actual evidence that Rob killed Nicole.

[42:58] Yeah,

[42:58] but he's got the motive.

[43:00] Yeah.

[43:00] Like I buy that it falls beneath the threshold of regional debt.

[43:04] I do not buy that.

[43:05] It's like now you're 0% guilty.

Stuart Wellington

[43:07] It's not only a thousand percent impossible for you to have committed this crime.

Elliott Kalan

[43:11] Not only are you not guilty of this,

[43:12] you're not guilty of anything ever.

[43:14] You are an angel.

Stuart Wellington

[43:17] But as,

[43:18] as,

[43:18] if he was an angel,

[43:19] he could get across town super fast.

[43:20] Oh,

[43:20] you got to believe,

[43:21] but he'd also have like,

[43:22] with those wings and a million eyeballs.

[43:23] With those wings and a million eyes and like a thousand wings,

[43:24] he'd scare the shit out of everybody.

Dan McCoy

[43:28] Yeah.

[43:29] And he'll be singing that song from city of angels.

[43:31] Is he,

[43:32] you know,

[43:33] which one is that song?

Elliott Kalan

[43:35] Everything's made to be broken.

[43:37] that's right.

[43:37] I just want to know who I am.

[43:40] Well,

[43:40] you've got like a thousand eyes and a million wings.

[43:41] Yeah.

[43:42] Yeah.

[43:43] Um,

[43:43] as I said before,

[43:44] he says,

[43:45] I don't want the world to see me because I don't think they did understand.

[43:48] You would not understand one of those angels.

[43:49] They're scary.

Stuart Wellington

[43:51] Uh,

[43:52] you think Nicholas Gage really insisted to look like that?

[43:54] And they're like,

[43:54] we don't have the budget for the effects.

[43:56] I really want to look like a biblical description of an angel.

Elliott Kalan

[43:58] So like,

[43:59] I need you to give me a million more eyes.

[44:01] Just paste them on.

[44:02] You've got to be able to confuse me with a burning wheel or a UFO.

[44:05] Uh,

[44:06] well,

[44:06] it's going to make it hard for Meg Ryan to fall in love with you.

Dan McCoy

[44:08] Shave me and glue the eyes on.

Elliott Kalan

[44:10] I did it at home.

Stuart Wellington

[44:13] No,

[44:14] Nicholas,

[44:15] I'm the director of the weather man.

[44:17] You're,

[44:18] this is a different movie.

Elliott Kalan

[44:20] You're not making that.

[44:21] movie anymore.

[44:22] Oh,

[44:22] can I be an angel in the weather man?

[44:24] Well,

[44:24] it's very clear you're a weather man from the title of it.

Dan McCoy

[44:27] You're saying an angel can't be a weather man.

[44:29] Shows up.

Stuart Wellington

[44:30] No,

[44:30] you're a guy with a bow and arrow.

[44:32] That's all I know.

[44:33] That's all we know.

Elliott Kalan

[44:34] And I've heard it's good.

[44:36] People throw things at you.

[44:37] He shows up on the first day of shooting for a pig and he's,

[44:39] I got a prosthetic pig nose attached to my body and prosthetic ears.

[44:42] No,

[44:42] no,

[44:43] you're a guy who owns a pig.

[44:44] Oh,

[44:44] I thought I was playing the pig.

[44:46] No,

[44:46] Nick,

[44:47] you're playing the guy.

Stuart Wellington

[44:48] I really signed on to play the pig.

Elliott Kalan

[44:49] I read,

[44:49] when I read the script,

[44:50] my agent said I would be doing the pig role.

[44:52] That's the challenge.

[44:53] I thought,

[44:53] yeah,

[44:53] I thought I'd,

[44:54] I'd want to really work myself into it.

[44:56] I've been living in mud for the past three weeks.

[44:58] I like how Nick Cage gets lazier as we go on.

Stuart Wellington

[45:01] I'm going to shave my body and cover myself in ash and carry the blades of chaos to be Kratos,

[45:05] the God of War.

[45:06] No,

[45:06] you're Lord of War,

[45:07] Nicholas Cage.

Elliott Kalan

[45:11] Crinkle,

[45:11] crinkle.

[45:12] What's that sound,

[45:13] Nick?

[45:13] I thought I was made out of matchsticks,

[45:15] so I filled my clothes with matchsticks.

[45:16] No,

[45:16] no,

[45:17] you're a matchstick man,

[45:18] but that's not what that means.

[45:19] Not literally.

[45:19] Well,

[45:20] what does it mean?

[45:21] I don't know why it's called that,

[45:23] to be frank.

[45:25] Oh,

[45:25] nice to meet you,

[45:25] Frank.

[45:26] No,

[45:26] no,

[45:26] I'm Ridley Scott.

Dan McCoy

[45:29] Ridley?

[45:34] Are you sure you don't mean Ripley?

[45:36] No,

Elliott Kalan

[45:36] that's a character from my movie.

Dan McCoy

[45:39] As said before,

[45:41] this is when Chris is like,

[45:42] don't.

[45:42] From Ladiator?

[45:43] No,

[45:44] no,

[45:44] I made other movies,

[45:45] Nick.

[45:46] This is when Chris is like,

[45:48] don't end the trial.

[45:48] I need,

[45:49] you know,

[45:50] you just stay plugged in.

Elliott Kalan

[45:52] I need access to all this,

[45:53] even if it means I die in 20 minutes,

[45:55] I need access to all this video.

Stuart Wellington

[45:56] I don't know how helpful it is.

[45:58] You think he's like,

[45:59] trying to download a bunch of video games

[46:01] and shit while he's on there?

[46:02] Yeah,

[46:02] that's probably it.

[46:03] No,

[46:04] no,

[46:04] I've almost got,

Elliott Kalan

[46:04] I've almost got all the,

[46:06] I don't even know,

[46:06] I've always got this elder ring.

[46:07] My mobile games aren't.

Stuart Wellington

[46:08] Yeah,

[46:09] he's got LimeWire open,

Elliott Kalan

[46:11] he's downloading all his albums.

[46:12] So this is,

[46:13] this happens a lot in movies.

[46:14] And it's even goofier that it happens here,

[46:17] where suddenly,

[46:18] just a regular cop,

[46:19] becomes king of the LAPD,

[46:21] just calling out commands and orders.

[46:23] Yes.

[46:23] And everyone listens to him.

[46:24] This is a guy who,

[46:25] a minute ago,

[46:26] was on trial for murder.

[46:27] Yeah.

[46:27] And now he's like.

[46:28] Technically still is.

[46:29] Technically still is.

[46:29] And he's going,

[46:30] go over there.

[46:31] Go on that,

[46:31] take that hit.

[46:32] Okay,

[46:32] go to this side.

[46:33] No,

[46:33] no,

[46:34] no,

[46:34] direct the men over there.

[46:35] Everything he says just becomes an instant command.

[46:38] Yes.

[46:38] The chain of command ends at Chris Raven.

[46:40] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[46:41] Now that's the real mind freak.

[46:43] The cops outside.

[46:44] Well,

[46:45] anyway,

[46:45] yeah,

[46:45] he,

[46:46] he's,

[46:46] he's ordering people around,

[46:47] but he's still in the chair because God knows,

[46:49] oh,

[46:50] we can't get that guy out of the chair.

[46:51] That might be exciting.

Elliott Kalan

[46:52] The budget only has them getting out of the chair for the last 10 minutes.

Dan McCoy

[46:55] But they,

[46:56] the other cops try and stop this truck using a bunch of methods that don't work.

[47:00] And at one point.

[47:01] They're very bad at trying to stop.

[47:02] At one point it's implied that Maddox herself intervenes and keeps the police from exploding a bomb that would stop the truck,

[47:08] but kill his daughter.

[47:10] And like,

[47:10] they're in full buddy cop mode.

[47:12] The AI.

[47:13] They're just working together.

Stuart Wellington

[47:14] You know,

[47:15] this is his new partner.

Dan McCoy

[47:16] Yeah.

[47:17] Rob crashes into the court,

[47:19] causing the network to reset,

[47:20] which briefly locks Chris in the chair seconds from execution.

[47:24] But,

[47:24] uh,

[47:24] the judge reboots in time to free him.

[47:27] And,

[47:28] uh,

[47:28] Rob's there with a dead man.

[47:29] Before he gets Sonic blasted.

[47:31] Yes.

[47:32] I still,

[47:33] I want to know what that is.

[47:34] Uh,

[47:35] a better movie.

Elliott Kalan

[47:36] If you,

[47:36] if you Google Sonic blasted,

[47:37] I think you'll find some pictures that will tell you.

[47:40] I feel like a better movie.

[47:42] And he put it Sonic pregnant blasted.

[47:43] I think you're going to be a little,

[47:44] a little interested in it.

Stuart Wellington

[47:45] In a better movie,

[47:46] it would have opened with another,

[47:47] another guy going through the trial process and getting Sonic blasted before Chris.

[47:51] Yeah.

[47:52] But that would have cost money.

[47:54] Um,

Dan McCoy

[47:55] Rob shows up at court with a,

[47:56] at court,

[47:58] you know,

[47:58] first court date,

[47:59] uh,

[47:59] with a dead man switch for the bomb.

[48:01] And,

[48:01] uh,

[48:02] Chris distraction by having Maddox reopen his brother's case.

[48:06] And Rob presents evidence that he was on the phone with his brother.

[48:09] Now the murder was supposed to have happened.

Elliott Kalan

[48:10] He,

[48:10] and he says,

[48:12] and he goes,

[48:12] and eventually we'll learn that he tried to get this evidence to the attention of the cops.

[48:16] By calling one cop,

[48:18] not the other cop,

[48:19] Chris Raven.

[48:20] And it feels like,

[48:21] I'm going to give,

[48:22] I'm going to put this on Rob.

[48:23] Your brother's on trial.

[48:24] You have evidence that will exonerate him.

[48:26] You don't call every cop that you can find.

[48:28] I mean,

[48:29] stop at just one.

[48:30] You did not.

Dan McCoy

[48:31] And he doesn't put that cop in the mercy chair.

Stuart Wellington

[48:34] No,

[48:34] he goes after the other cop.

[48:35] Yeah.

[48:36] Yeah.

[48:37] I feel like,

[48:37] uh,

[48:38] this movie shows people don't actually have that much urgency when it comes to mercy.

[48:42] 90 minute mercy trials.

Dan McCoy

[48:43] Yeah.

[48:44] Uh,

[48:45] but yeah,

[48:46] he was,

[48:46] he was calling the police.

[48:47] The woman he talked to never took his evidence.

[48:49] Uh,

[48:50] Chris disarms Rob and Jack person and shoots Rob and is about to kill him.

[48:55] But Maddox retrieves footage that confirms Rob's story,

[48:59] revealing that what we've all already guessed by this point,

[49:02] that it was Jack who didn't take Rob's evidence.

[49:06] And she dumped the phone that would have exonerated David because she needed the first mercy case to be an unquestioned slam dunk.

[49:16] And,

[49:16] uh,

[49:17] and basically at this point,

[49:18] uh,

[49:19] the movie is over.

[49:20] Uh,

[49:20] both Jack and Rob are arrested.

[49:22] Chris hugs,

[49:23] uh,

[49:24] Brit and his case is dismissed.

[49:25] And he hugs Rebecca Ferguson,

[49:27] judge Maddox.

[49:28] Well,

[49:29] kind of Maddox says,

[49:30] we all make mistakes,

[49:32] but we learn.

[49:33] And then she disappears into the digital ether.

[49:38] fuck you movie for being like,

[49:40] Oh,

[49:40] maybe we should have,

[49:41] uh,

[49:42] AI judges just take care of everything.

[49:44] Maybe that's a good idea.

[49:45] Maybe that works.

Elliott Kalan

[49:46] The whole movie showed us that AI judges don't know what they're doing.

[49:50] They don't know how to get a case together and their success has to be rigged.

[49:55] But you know what?

[49:56] We just got to let the system play out.

[49:58] You know,

[49:58] maybe they'll get better over time.

[50:00] You know what?

[50:01] Humans and AI,

[50:01] we all make mistakes and we all learn from them.

[50:04] And you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take.

[50:06] Except the AI doesn't really learn the same way as humans.

[50:08] And also humans are like us.

[50:10] And we're here.

[50:11] We didn't have to invent us.

[50:12] We just gonna have to deal with how humans are kind of crappy.

[50:15] Uh,

[50:15] and that's why we have laws and things like that.

[50:17] And systems and civilizations and societies and things like that.

[50:20] But the AI is kind of an unforced error,

[50:23] you know?

[50:23] Yeah.

[50:24] This is an odd figure.

[50:27] It's very,

[50:28] it's weird because it's like,

[50:30] it is a movie that is,

[50:33] it seems to be arguing a case that it does not want to admit at the end.

[50:37] But also it's taking,

[50:38] it's,

[50:39] it's just turn,

[50:39] it's just regular kind of like,

[50:41] like a wrongly accused man,

[50:43] kind of buddy cop stuff,

[50:45] but thrown into like a,

[50:46] a,

[50:47] a,

[50:48] a much more,

[50:49] what's the word?

[50:50] Like a much more problematic world.

[50:52] Yeah.

[50:52] But like film world.

[50:53] Then,

[50:54] then it's ready for,

[50:56] it's,

[50:56] it's a,

[50:57] uh,

[50:58] it's almost like it like watched minority report and didn't finish it and

[51:01] thought it ended with the precogs proving themselves or then being like,

[51:05] you know,

[51:05] precogs ain't perfect,

[51:06] but we got to keep doing them.

Stuart Wellington

[51:07] You know,

[51:07] well,

[51:07] and also it posits a world where there's this like very clearly demarked red

[51:12] zone where there's,

[51:14] it's all 10 cities and crime,

[51:16] but apparently crime super weighed down.

[51:20] It sucks.

[51:21] It is a,

[51:21] it is,

Elliott Kalan

[51:22] it is a weird issue too,

[51:23] that in order to get revenge,

[51:27] the Rob goes not after the cop who refused to use the evidence that he gave his

[51:33] brother's innocence,

[51:33] but instead goes to the other cop because I guess the movie wants,

[51:37] it's to have that twist where it turns out that Rob's partner is corrupt,

[51:40] but it means it kind of,

[51:41] it just kind of undoes the purpose of the whole movie.

[51:43] And it's also a real indictment of the,

[51:45] uh,

[51:46] safety of the AA system.

[51:48] Yeah.

[51:49] If your sponsor can then kill your wife and crash a truck into the mercy

[51:53] building.

[51:53] Just keep drinking.

[51:54] No,

[51:54] that's not what I'm saying.

Dan McCoy

[51:55] Let's,

[51:56] uh,

[51:57] we're in it already.

[51:58] Let's do our final judgments.

[51:59] Great movie.

[52:00] A good,

[52:01] bad movie,

[52:01] a bad,

[52:02] bad movie,

[52:02] or a movie kind of like,

[52:04] here's the thing.

[52:04] If this was like,

[52:06] if I didn't find a lot of these,

[52:08] uh,

[52:09] elements,

[52:10] genuinely,

[52:12] morally disturbing,

[52:13] like if,

[52:13] if this movie was not pushing a lot of messages that I hate,

[52:18] I might say it's a good,

[52:20] bad movie because it is super dumb.

[52:24] Uh,

[52:25] but if you want that,

[52:26] you know,

[52:26] watch the ice cube war of the worlds.

[52:28] You're like,

[52:28] you'll,

[52:29] you'll get it without the,

[52:30] like the weird politics.

[52:33] Um,

[52:34] there is a part late in this movie where I was like,

[52:37] Oh,

[52:37] I,

[52:37] there's a little bit of juice for me where it's just like the lizard brain

[52:42] part of me that just enjoys,

[52:44] um,

[52:46] you know,

[52:47] mysteries.

[52:48] And watching mystery shows kind of like dug some of the stuff.

[52:52] Once the mystery was starting to unravel of like,

[52:54] Oh,

[52:54] let's go over here.

[52:55] Let's get a clue over here.

[52:56] Let's get a clue over here.

[52:57] But like,

[52:58] to me,

[52:58] the best way this thing could exist would be if you stripped away the bad

[53:03] messages and did it as a computer game,

[53:06] like where you are the guy in the mercy chair and you have,

[53:11] you have to prove Chris.

[53:13] Exactly.

[53:14] Prove your innocence if you can.

[53:17] And then you like go through and like look for clues.

[53:19] And like,

[53:20] that would be a fun video game.

[53:23] But as a movie,

[53:24] it is,

[53:25] uh,

[53:25] not good drama.

[53:26] What do you think?

Stuart Wellington

[53:27] I do love the element where the villain was hiding in the basement for a

[53:32] like couple of days.

[53:33] That's great.

[53:34] I love that.

Elliott Kalan

[53:34] There are some things about the movie where it's like movie.

[53:36] I don't think,

[53:37] you know,

[53:37] how goofy and silly you're being.

[53:39] And I wish you played into that more.

Stuart Wellington

[53:40] Yeah.

[53:41] Um,

[53:41] yeah.

[53:41] I like,

[53:42] I feel like a fly on the wall in the writer's room would have been fun,

[53:44] but I'm the writer's room.

[53:48] What do you think the staff was in this movie?

[53:50] Six,

Elliott Kalan

[53:51] seven people writers room.

Stuart Wellington

[53:53] Um,

[53:54] yeah.

[53:54] So yeah,

[53:55] this is,

[53:55] I would say this is a bad,

[53:57] bad movie.

[53:57] I feel like it,

[53:58] it,

[53:59] there is some dumb stuff,

[54:00] but you're right.

[54:00] Like the,

[54:01] the grossness of it eclipses it and makes it non-recommendable.

Elliott Kalan

[54:05] I agree.

[54:06] I think it's a bad,

[54:07] bad movie.

[54:07] I think the whole,

[54:08] the whole thing just left a not good taste in my mouth and it's not fun to

[54:13] watch.

[54:14] Uh,

[54:14] and it,

[54:15] but I,

[54:15] at the same time,

[54:18] It's like,

[54:18] if you want to,

[54:19] if you want movie pain,

[54:20] then this is,

[54:21] this is one to watch,

[54:22] I guess.

[54:22] So like,

[54:23] so if you've become so inured to the quality of good movies,

[54:26] they need something a little rougher to get you going than,

[54:29] then I guess mercy,

[54:30] but I would call it a bad,

[54:31] bad movie.

[54:32] Aside from it's pro AI message,

[54:35] which I think we all need to stand by.

[54:37] Bad part of the movie.

[54:38] No,

[54:38] I don't,

[54:39] I don't like that either.

[54:45] Let's get ready to record.

[54:47] Maximum fun.

[54:48] Bringing you the finest of podcasts from the worlds of comedy and culture.

[54:53] Almost a perfect episode.

[54:55] Made by real people.

[54:57] Oh no,

[54:58] that mic hit's going to cost them.

Stuart Wellington

[54:59] Yeah,

[55:00] I hate to see it.

Elliott Kalan

[55:01] Supported by people just like you.

[55:03] They're only five seconds away from the longest stretch without saying,

[55:06] um,

[55:07] two,

[55:08] one,

[55:09] and he's done it folks.

[55:10] A new world record.

[55:11] Amazing.

[55:12] Max fun drive is coming soon.

[55:15] And they hit the cute interruption trifecta.

[55:18] Cat,

[55:19] dog,

[55:20] and sleepy toddler.

[55:22] The best two weeks in podcasting starts Monday,

[55:27] April 20th.

[55:28] Bonus content,

[55:29] gifts,

[55:29] games,

[55:29] and great episodes.

[55:30] And so much more.

[55:32] Follow max fun HQ and all your shows on social media.

[55:35] So you don't miss a thing.

[55:38] I'm Emily Fleming.

[55:39] I'm Jordan Morris.

Stuart Wellington

[55:40] And I'm Matt Lieb.

Elliott Kalan

[55:41] We are real comedy writers,

Stuart Wellington

[55:42] real friends,

[55:43] and real cheapskates.

[55:45] On every episode of our podcast,

[55:47] free with ads,

[55:47] we ask,

[55:48] why pay for expensive streaming services when you can get free movies from apps with weird names.

[55:54] Each week we review the freest movies the internet has to offer.

Elliott Kalan

[55:58] Classics like pride and prejudice.

Stuart Wellington

[56:00] Cult classics like point break.

[56:01] And holy what did I just watch?

[56:04] Classics like teen witch.

Elliott Kalan

[56:06] Tune in every week as we take a deep dive into the internet's bargain bin.

Stuart Wellington

[56:10] Every Tuesday on maximum fun.org or your favorite pot place.

Dan McCoy

[56:18] Let's take a moment to thank our sponsors.

[56:26] The Flophouse is sponsored in part by...

[56:28] The mercy chair.

[56:29] Oh, no.

[56:31] No, the Flophouse is sponsored in part by Factor.

[56:35] You know, like a lot of good habits.

[56:38] The thing about them is like you need to make it easy to have a good habit.

[56:43] You know, you have to put structures in place that will make you behave.

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[57:23] Stuart is...

[57:24] I thought he was flexing.

[57:26] He's just scratching his head.

[57:27] But, you know...

Stuart Wellington

[57:27] He's got such muscles it just looks like flexing when he's scratching.

Dan McCoy

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[57:57] I have eaten these meals.

[58:00] I'm kind of hard to please when it comes to food in the sense of, like, I enjoy...

[58:06] Fussy.

Dan McCoy

[58:06] No, no, no.

[58:07] Like, I will eat anything.

[58:08] But I enjoy cooking.

[58:10] I enjoy making good food.

[58:11] I will be judgy about food.

[58:13] I have been impressed by the Factor meals that I've eaten.

[58:18] They are both healthy and tasty, which is a hard balance to strike.

[58:22] So, head to factormeals.com slash flop50off.

[58:26] That's the numeral 50.

[58:28] And use code FLOP50OFF to get 50% off and free daily greens per box with new subscription only.

[58:36] While supplies last until September 27, 2026.

[58:42] See website for more details.

Stuart Wellington

[58:46] We live in a digital world.

[58:50] What?

[58:50] We are not luckily strapped into a mercy chair, forced to use the internet thanks to an AI program.

[58:56] No, no, no.

[58:57] We do live in a world where you need to be online, though.

[59:01] And no company makes it easier for you to get your products and goods and your business online as Squarespace.

[59:09] Squarespace gives you everything you need to get your business online.

[59:13] It gives you easy, professional-looking invoicing.

[59:16] It allows you to charge for the various products that you might sell, accept payments from people, and run all that stuff very smoothly, even without having any kind of a background in setting up computer stuff.

[59:28] And on that topic, it also gives you some great templates so that you can make your website look very professional and slick with very cool design stuff created by award-winning designers all in one place.

[59:40] It's easy to use.

[59:41] So, head over to squarespace.com slash flop for a free trial.

[59:47] And when you're ready to launch that thing, use offer code flop to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

[59:57] We also have a Jumbotron.

[1:00:00] Jumbotron.

Elliott Kalan

[1:00:02] The biggest of all Trons.

[1:00:03] And this message is for Jane, and it's from Brian.

[1:00:06] And Brian writes, I am in awe of the hard work and dedication you have put into working towards a new career.

[1:00:13] You are a force to be reckoned with.

[1:00:14] Don't give up on yourself or your dream.

[1:00:17] And if you feel like you can't do it, remember, Elliot Kalin and I believe in you.

[1:00:21] I do believe in you, Jane.

[1:00:22] I know you can do it, and I'm proud of you.

[1:00:25] I added that last part.

[1:00:26] Oh.

[1:00:27] It really ended with, Elliot Kalin, I believe in you.

[1:00:29] And then I added that I also believe in Jane.

[1:00:31] And I'm proud of her.

[1:00:33] Yeah, it's great.

[1:00:34] Great message.

[1:00:35] It's nice to provide encouragement to people, unless we're encouraging them to make mercy, too.

[1:00:40] Re-merciful.

[1:00:41] No, don't do that.

[1:00:42] Which I don't think is some courage.

[1:00:44] I also have some personal stuff I'd like to make you do.

[1:00:46] Sure, why not?

[1:00:46] It's the same old stuff.

[1:00:47] My book, Joke Farming, How to Write Comedy and Other Nonsense.

[1:00:50] You can buy it now.

[1:00:51] It's on bookstore shelves.

[1:00:52] My new comic, Barbarian Behind Bars, from Mad Cave Studios.

[1:00:56] I'm reuniting with my Maniac of New York team, and we're making an all-new comic.

[1:01:00] The first issue's out.

[1:01:01] The second issue might be out by the time this episode comes out.

[1:01:04] Comic Book Store Shelves Now.

[1:01:05] Harley Quinn from DC Comics.

[1:01:06] Thank you.

[1:01:07] I'm writing it.

[1:01:08] It's on Comic Book Store Shelves Now.

[1:01:11] Everything I have is on store shelves now.

[1:01:13] Do you guys ever go to stores and look at the shelves?

[1:01:16] Because the books are on them.

Stuart Wellington

[1:01:17] Like the actual, oh, just.

Elliott Kalan

[1:01:19] I mean, see the things the shelves are holding.

Stuart Wellington

[1:01:21] Not the shelves, the shelving units themselves.

[1:01:23] I mean, yeah, that's one of the joys about in-person shopping.

Dan McCoy

[1:01:28] Mm-hmm.

[1:01:28] You can see the shelves.

[1:01:29] Mm-hmm.

[1:01:30] Let's take a few letters.

Stuart Wellington

[1:01:32] Why not?

[1:01:32] Where should we take them?

[1:01:34] To the shelves?

Dan McCoy

[1:01:35] Taking them to the streets.

[1:01:38] Kate, last name withheld, writes,

[1:01:41] Hello, Peaches.

[1:01:43] I was just listening to episode 471, Bright Hard.

Elliott Kalan

[1:01:48] I'm so glad that they said the name, because I do not remember my number.

[1:01:51] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:01:52] And I was delighted to hear you all wander down.

Elliott Kalan

[1:01:55] 471?

[1:01:56] 471.

[1:01:56] And we've done that many episodes?

[1:01:58] In fact, we've done more episodes.

[1:01:59] Is that made up?

[1:01:59] That's made up.

[1:02:00] It can't be.

[1:02:02] That would mean that I'm old.

[1:02:03] I was delighted.

[1:02:04] That's impossible.

[1:02:05] That I'm only 23.

[1:02:06] In my heart, I feel young.

[1:02:07] Yeah.

[1:02:08] Except my heart feels old.

[1:02:09] Yeah.

[1:02:10] Actually, my heart is one of the oldest, probably.

[1:02:12] Yeah.

[1:02:14] That sounds like a made up rock star or fashion designer in like a naked gun type movie.

[1:02:21] Occasional palpitations.

Dan McCoy

[1:02:24] I was listening to Bright Hard, and I was delighted to hear you all wander down a sidetrack just

[1:02:29] to arrive at Wide Sargasso Sea, the feminist retelling of Jane Eyre by Jean Rees.

[1:02:35] I teach this novella in my post-colonial literature class here at Eureka College.

[1:02:41] What?

[1:02:42] The college in my hometown.

[1:02:44] So I thought I'd send you a few fun facts about this book and encourage you to read it.

[1:02:48] Please.

Elliott Kalan

[1:02:49] I never thought I'd hear Wide Sargasso Sea and fun facts in the same sentence.

[1:02:52] Let's hear it.

Dan McCoy

[1:02:54] Elliot was surprised that the book was released as early as 1966, and rightfully so.

[1:03:00] Not only was the book explicitly feminist, it also drew direct parallels between abolitionist

[1:03:06] movements in the Caribbean in the 19th century and the anti-colonial movement of the 20th century.

[1:03:12] It was slash is pretty radical.

[1:03:15] The author, Jean Rees, was actually toward the end of her extremely successful career after

[1:03:21] being discovered by fellow legendary modernist Ford Maddox Ford.

[1:03:25] Oh.

[1:03:26] Her novel, Quartet, from 1928, is a great, soapy, thinly-veiled fictionalization of her

[1:03:33] relationship with Ford as it turned into a full-blown affair.

[1:03:37] As an English professor, I really love the pod because of how often you all sound like a

[1:03:42] bunch of English majors.

[1:03:44] So, my question.

[1:03:46] This semester, I'm teaching English 3, Anglophone literature.

[1:03:50] Wait, I've been using English 1 all this time.

[1:03:52] No.

[1:03:52] I'm way behind on my Englishes.

[1:03:53] You're not in the new English?

[1:03:54] I'm teaching English 3.

[1:03:57] Is that what they speak in 1984?

[1:03:58] Audiences are really split on English 3.

Stuart Wellington

[1:04:01] English 2, you know, people are excited, but diminishing returns.

[1:04:04] Yeah.

[1:04:06] Still, English 4 is in the works as we speak.

[1:04:08] Of course.

[1:04:09] Then they're going to reboot it.

Dan McCoy

[1:04:09] All of your favorite characters.

[1:04:11] The em dash.

[1:04:13] The verbs.

[1:04:15] Verb comma, yeah.

[1:04:16] Repositions.

[1:04:18] English 3, Anglophone literature, 1900 through the present.

[1:04:22] I'm letting students vote on what books to read to cover 2002, 2025, with the only stipulations

[1:04:28] being, one, they have to originally be written in English, and two, you have to be able to

[1:04:33] lead a 50-minute discussion about their literary features.

[1:04:37] What books would the peaches add to the syllabus?

[1:04:40] Keep on flopping.

[1:04:42] Kate, last name withheld.

[1:04:44] P.S., because I would be curious, students chose Fun Home by Alison Bechdel.

[1:04:48] Oh, that's great.

[1:04:49] Stay True by Hua Hsu.

[1:04:53] I don't know.

[1:04:53] I don't, I apologize.

[1:04:55] Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan.

[1:04:57] And Salvage the Bones by Jessamyn Ward.

[1:05:00] Honorable mention to Dennis Johnson's Tree of Smoke, which was eliminated after students

[1:05:05] realized it was 625 pages.

Elliott Kalan

[1:05:09] A good reason to not read it for class.

[1:05:12] Yeah.

[1:05:12] But you should still probably read it if you want to.

Dan McCoy

[1:05:14] This is where I admit that I am bad with more modern.

[1:05:19] How recent does it have to be?

[1:05:21] It's starting in the 2000.

[1:05:25] Oh, wow.

[1:05:26] Okay.

Elliott Kalan

[1:05:27] I think I would probably suggest The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem, who is one

[1:05:33] of my favorite living authors.

[1:05:35] And that's one where he plays around with both kind of form.

[1:05:41] There's a section of the book that takes the form of liner notes for an album.

[1:05:45] And also with something that I feel like is not, I feel like is done more now than it was then.

[1:05:54] Which is kind of taking, kind of doing what I would call a kind of like comic book magical

[1:05:57] realism.

[1:05:58] Where you have this story about young boys growing up in a gentrifying neighborhood in Brooklyn.

[1:06:05] But he also introduces a magic ring that allows them to fly, which makes their lives more difficult.

[1:06:11] And it's a, I'm just a fan of his work.

[1:06:13] And I think this is one of his most cohesive books in that way.

[1:06:17] But he's doing interesting things in it.

[1:06:19] So I think that's what I would say.

Dan McCoy

[1:06:21] Yeah.

[1:06:22] Toss out Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantle.

[1:06:28] There's a third book, The Mirror and the Light, which I have not read because it came out right

[1:06:35] before COVID hit.

[1:06:37] I got it for Christmas of the year, right before lockdown.

[1:06:42] And I was very excited.

[1:06:45] I'd been waiting for the third Wolf Hall book.

[1:06:48] And then COVID happened and my brain could not focus on the Tudor court and who all these

[1:06:56] characters were that I maybe already was having trouble remembering from the years between

[1:07:02] the novels.

[1:07:04] So I hope to at some point circle back to it still.

[1:07:08] But I think that those are both terrific works of historical fiction.

Stuart Wellington

[1:07:15] And of course, I'm going to recommend something from the fantasy genre.

[1:07:19] I'm going to recommend The Fifth Season by N.K.

[1:07:22] Jemisin.

[1:07:22] I think it's lovely and heartbreaking and intense.

[1:07:26] And creates a world that is both very believable, but also fantastic in ways that feel both

[1:07:33] believable and also fresh and new.

Elliott Kalan

[1:07:37] You know what?

[1:07:38] I'm going to add.

[1:07:39] Can I add other ones too?

[1:07:40] I know this is one for one.

[1:07:41] I'm going to also mention The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, which has, if only for the

[1:07:46] chapter where he's just like beating the shit out of Apocalypse Now and other Vietnam movies.

[1:07:51] But also, and I think the recent television series, I think, did not capture what was especially

[1:07:58] great about the book.

[1:07:59] But also, I hadn't even thought about like real science fiction-y fantasy-type books.

[1:08:05] And I think I'm going to also say maybe Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie, where it's the first

[1:08:11] book I've read where I really felt like I was getting inside of a like post-human psychology,

[1:08:17] if that makes any sense.

[1:08:19] But those are great science fiction books.

[1:08:20] I love them.

[1:08:20] Her Imperial Ratch series.

Dan McCoy

[1:08:24] I'm going straight to my Libby app.

[1:08:26] I'm putting...

[1:08:27] Yeah, you've recommended Anne Leckie to me a couple times.

Elliott Kalan

[1:08:29] I love her books.

[1:08:31] I just read her most recent one was a translation state over in December.

[1:08:38] And I really like her books a lot.

Stuart Wellington

[1:08:40] I think next up on my list is another romance novel, but maybe I'll mix that in after.

Elliott Kalan

[1:08:45] There's romance in her books too.

[1:08:47] No, but I like, you know, I want some bodice ripping, you know?

[1:08:50] Yeah, there's no bodice ripping in there.

[1:08:52] It's hard to have bodice ripping when one of the characters is the last corpse soldier of

[1:08:56] a destroyed starship.

Stuart Wellington

[1:08:58] I disagree.

[1:08:59] I think you could easily throw a bodice somewhere in there.

Dan McCoy

[1:09:02] So, the second question of the show is also literary.

[1:09:08] It's themed here.

[1:09:09] It's from Izzy, last name withheld, who writes,

[1:09:12] Hi, floppers.

[1:09:13] I'm a professor who sometimes teaches George R.R. Martin's...

Elliott Kalan

[1:09:16] Dan, did you do this on purpose?

[1:09:17] This is all professor mailbag?

Dan McCoy

[1:09:18] This is the, yeah, APM.

[1:09:21] All professor mailbag time.

[1:09:24] I'm a professor...

[1:09:25] All professor mailbag.

Stuart Wellington

[1:09:26] Mailbag 101.

[1:09:29] Mailbag PhD.

Elliott Kalan

[1:09:31] I'm a professor who sometimes...

[1:09:32] Detective mailbag PhD.

[1:09:34] What's your PhD in detective mailbag?

[1:09:36] English literature.

Dan McCoy

[1:09:38] Sometimes teaches George R.R. Martin's Sand Kings to my literature and...

[1:09:42] Oh, one of Stuart's favorites.

[1:09:43] That fucking rocks.

[1:09:44] Literature and writing students.

[1:09:46] Often they tell me it's their favorite reading of the semester.

[1:09:49] Others say it gives them nightmares.

[1:09:50] Okay.

[1:09:51] Both.

[1:09:52] The first group often say that too.

[1:09:54] I highly recommend it.

[1:09:55] Speaking of which, floppers, what tragic flaw would be your downfall if you owned ravenous

[1:10:01] alien insects?

[1:10:02] Keep on flopping.

[1:10:03] Izzy, last name withheld.

[1:10:05] I mean, I'm just going to say right off the bat, just general forgetfulness.

[1:10:08] If I owned some ravenous alien insects, I probably wouldn't lock the thing that I'm keeping it

[1:10:14] in adequately.

[1:10:15] Oh, for sure.

[1:10:16] Or just sort of forget basic safety standards.

Stuart Wellington

[1:10:20] My constant need for validation.

[1:10:23] Yeah, I think similarly...

[1:10:23] You'd want that from the insects?

[1:10:25] Yeah.

[1:10:26] You should read Sand Kings.

Elliott Kalan

[1:10:28] Similarly, I think I'd want the insects to like me and be worried that they didn't like

[1:10:32] me, and that would lead me to do something I shouldn't do, I'm sure.

Stuart Wellington

[1:10:35] Sex with an insect.

[1:10:36] I don't know that that's what it was, but maybe overfeeding them.

[1:10:40] Yeah.

[1:10:42] You guys haven't read Sand Kings.

[1:10:43] No, I've got to read it.

[1:10:44] I think you both would really like it.

[1:10:47] Yeah.

[1:10:47] It's great.

Dan McCoy

[1:10:49] Short.

[1:10:50] Yeah, I like short things.

[1:10:52] Thanks, Dan.

[1:10:53] Mm-hmm.

[1:10:56] Glad you did it.

[1:11:00] So let's move on to recommendations.

[1:11:03] Movies that we've seen and enjoyed and would recommend...

[1:11:06] Do we enjoy movies?

[1:11:08] It's possible.

[1:11:08] It is possible that we enjoy movies.

[1:11:10] Ah, mercy.

[1:11:12] I'm going to...

[1:11:13] Can't believe I held off all episodes.

Elliott Kalan

[1:11:15] It's funny, especially because every time we mentioned this movie previously, Stuart would

[1:11:18] go, have mercy.

[1:11:20] Do his John Stamos impression.

[1:11:22] Which is, I would say, middling.

[1:11:26] I'm going to recommend...

[1:11:27] I mean, I wouldn't hire you to come to a party as a John Stamos impersonator.

[1:11:31] Yeah.

[1:11:32] But my family.

[1:11:33] So...

[1:11:34] No, I know you need the work.

[1:11:35] I'm just saying you got to earn it, you know?

[1:11:36] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:11:38] So if you...

[1:11:39] I'm going to recommend a film that I will say up front...

[1:11:44] You don't like it.

[1:11:45] No, the writer-director is not like...

[1:11:47] It's not like a close friend in any means.

[1:11:49] It's someone I've had pleasant conversations with a few times because through mutual friends,

[1:11:55] through the fact that we both do movie trivia, I know the writer-director of this movie.

[1:12:01] So if you're inclined to be like, I don't know if Dan's impartial, feel free.

Elliott Kalan

[1:12:06] I love, Dan, that you had to do this as if we're like a news story.

[1:12:09] Yeah.

[1:12:09] Like, you know, in full disclosure, I almost know the person who does this.

Dan McCoy

[1:12:12] I think it's fair to do a little disclosure.

Elliott Kalan

[1:12:16] I...

[1:12:16] To do a little disclosure?

[1:12:17] You mean to sexually harass Michael Douglas and put him in a VR simulation?

[1:12:21] I mean, that's disclosure.

Stuart Wellington

[1:12:22] That was an era where Michael Douglas was the hottest possible thing.

Dan McCoy

[1:12:26] Yeah.

[1:12:26] Definitely, like, a friend of a friend who did this, Ben David Grabinski.

[1:12:31] But I'm going to recommend Mike and Nick and Nick and Alice, which I saw in a screening

[1:12:36] at Momi a few days before it became available for everyone via Hulu.

[1:12:47] Mommy!

Elliott Kalan

[1:12:48] Tell your babies not to wah-wah-woo!

[1:12:50] That's when it's Danzig Jr.

[1:12:52] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:12:53] You can see it on Hulu now.

[1:12:55] Everyone can watch it.

[1:12:57] It's a crime comedy of a type that, like...

Stuart Wellington

[1:13:04] Like Mafia Mama?

Dan McCoy

[1:13:06] No, not that.

[1:13:07] Like Jane Austen's Mafia?

[1:13:08] It is a zippy crime comedy action movie that also has time travel in it.

[1:13:13] Johnny Dangerously?

[1:13:15] Oh.

[1:13:15] Married to the Mob?

[1:13:16] With time travel?

[1:13:18] There's definitely a version of that that could be irritating.

[1:13:22] That you're possibly imagining?

[1:13:24] It's Peggy Sue got married to the Mob.

[1:13:26] Jesus Christ.

[1:13:26] It took me too long.

[1:13:27] You did it.

[1:13:28] Oh.

[1:13:28] I know.

[1:13:29] No, Stuart, you earned it.

Stuart Wellington

[1:13:30] Take a laugh.

[1:13:31] Take a laugh.

[1:13:31] I know it's late.

Dan McCoy

[1:13:33] I know it's been drinking.

[1:13:34] But give me at least three sentences.

[1:13:36] Yeah, man.

[1:13:36] You can go.

[1:13:37] You can go.

[1:13:37] We haven't even given you.

[1:13:38] Dan, everybody shut up.

[1:13:39] Everybody shut up.

[1:13:39] Sorry, sorry.

[1:13:40] Get listeners.

[1:13:40] Stop talking.

[1:13:41] Shut up.

[1:13:42] It's called Mike and Nick and Nick and Alice.

[1:13:44] And it is a funny crime movie of a type that like, you know, post-Tarantino maybe you would

[1:13:50] be tired of.

[1:13:51] But this is genuinely clever.

[1:13:54] Genuinely creative.

[1:13:56] I think it plays by its rules well and knows when to throw out rules and tell the audience

[1:14:03] not to care about rules.

[1:14:05] It is, you know, like I said, they've injected some time travel into a crime comedy.

[1:14:15] And it is just the X factor to make it a lot more fun.

[1:14:19] And Ben David described it as like he wanted to do a movie that was like sort of like what

[1:14:25] if Scrooge at the beginning of A Christmas Carol and Scrooge at the end of A Christmas

[1:14:31] Carol sort of were like in a buddy comedy together.

[1:14:34] Like the enlightened version of a guy versus the old asshole version of a guy having to

[1:14:40] work together.

[1:14:42] And that's a lot of fun.

[1:14:43] It's got Vince Vaughn, James Marsden, a lot of great supporting actors as well.

[1:14:52] I just had a lot of fun.

[1:14:53] Like it is definitely an escapist movie, but it is an escapist movie done with creativity,

[1:15:01] cleverness.

[1:15:02] Along with James Marsden, Ben Schwartz.

[1:15:06] Very nice guy from what I hear.

[1:15:07] Ben Schwartz has a small part in it as well.

[1:15:10] Sonic.

[1:15:11] And it was nice to see these two sonic actors in a movie I could recommend and be happy

[1:15:15] about rather than be mean about.

[1:15:19] So I think it's a fun movie.

[1:15:21] I still think we're not that mean about those guys.

[1:15:23] That's that mean.

[1:15:23] No.

[1:15:23] We could have been.

[1:15:24] No, not that mean about those guys.

[1:15:25] Those guys are talented guys.

[1:15:26] And we're not even that mean about the sonic movies.

[1:15:27] Yeah.

[1:15:28] You know.

Stuart Wellington

[1:15:28] A friend of mine has worked with him on a show and said he was incredibly professional

[1:15:33] and nice.

[1:15:35] I want to guys.

[1:15:38] I never thought.

[1:15:39] You want to guys?

[1:15:40] Doesn't make any sense.

[1:15:41] No.

[1:15:42] I mean, it doesn't make sense.

[1:15:45] I never would have expected to be here in this place where what I might recommend.

[1:15:50] You're here all the time.

[1:15:51] What I'm recommending.

[1:15:52] Okay.

[1:15:53] Is Saw X.

[1:15:54] Oh.

[1:15:55] Socks?

[1:15:56] It is.

[1:15:57] It's been.

[1:15:58] You would think it's socks.

[1:16:00] I'm arguing it does not socks.

[1:16:02] Oh, okay.

[1:16:04] The.

[1:16:04] I don't know if it's some kind of weird.

[1:16:09] Like I have been held captive by the Saw movies.

[1:16:14] And over time.

[1:16:15] I have just come to love my abductor.

[1:16:18] Yeah.

[1:16:19] But.

[1:16:20] I think the 10th Saw movie might be the best one.

[1:16:25] It by like being kind of a prequel and playing around with the format a little bit.

[1:16:30] And frankly, just having more jigsaw in it.

[1:16:33] Like having him running around doing stuff.

[1:16:35] It makes it better.

[1:16:37] And.

Dan McCoy

[1:16:38] You've seen this, right?

[1:16:40] Yeah.

[1:16:40] I saw.

[1:16:40] I am not the Saw Stockholm Syndrome fan that you are.

[1:16:45] But I do think it's one of the better of a series that I'm not super wild about.

Stuart Wellington

[1:16:50] It is a dumb series.

[1:16:52] I hate it.

[1:16:52] But I think.

[1:16:53] I think you said once, Dan, that it's like when you view it as like a weird black comedy

[1:16:58] as opposed to a horror movie.

[1:16:59] It works better.

[1:17:01] And I feel like this is the best of the bunch.

[1:17:03] And I got to say, when that fucking, the big Saw theme music kicks in and we start getting

[1:17:11] flashback montages of John Kramer pulling stunts on these fools.

[1:17:15] I start pumping my fists in the air and I lean forward in my seat and I can't help it.

[1:17:20] It puts a big stupid smile on my face.

[1:17:22] And I think this.

[1:17:23] Oh, that smile isn't stupid.

Dan McCoy

[1:17:25] No, not at all.

[1:17:25] If you haven't watched a Saw movie with me lately, Dan.

Stuart Wellington

[1:17:29] You're saying so you're glad you saw it.

[1:17:32] Oh, boy.

[1:17:33] Oh, boy, do I.

[1:17:35] And yeah.

[1:17:36] Yeah.

[1:17:37] If you're working on Saw.

[1:17:38] If you're working on Saw X1.

[1:17:41] Throw my ass in that writer's room.

[1:17:43] I want to be in that shit.

Elliott Kalan

[1:17:45] I love the idea.

[1:17:45] They're like, it's now the Saw X franchise.

Stuart Wellington

[1:17:49] Saw X2.

[1:17:50] Yeah.

[1:17:51] Ugh.

[1:17:52] Yeah.

[1:17:53] So that's my recommendation.

[1:17:55] Elliot, I hope I didn't snag yours.

[1:17:56] No.

[1:17:57] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[1:17:57] It's too bad.

[1:17:59] I'll have to say something other than Saw X.

[1:18:01] I'm going to mention a movie that has been recommended to me in the past.

[1:18:04] I've been looking for it for a while and then found it online.

[1:18:07] And that is a Czech movie.

[1:18:09] You'll be surprised to say.

[1:18:10] Oh, wow.

[1:18:11] This is, I mentioned too.

[1:18:12] I was.

[1:18:13] Sorry.

Stuart Wellington

[1:18:13] Let me hold my wig to my head.

[1:18:15] I was working with.

Elliott Kalan

[1:18:16] Oh, I almost flipped.

[1:18:17] I was working on something with, recently with my friend Jonah Ray.

[1:18:21] And I said, oh, I was watching this movie I really liked.

[1:18:23] And he goes, what is it?

[1:18:24] I go, well, it's this Czech movie from the 60s that's a parody of Westerns.

[1:18:28] And he goes, sometimes you are just so you.

[1:18:31] And I said, yeah, I guess so.

[1:18:32] So this is a movie called Lemonade Joe.

[1:18:34] This is a Czech movie from 1964 that is a, it's basically like if Blazing Saddles got

[1:18:40] made in Czechoslovakia in the 60s.

[1:18:43] And it's about this town where there's this bar run by, saloon run by a bad guy.

[1:18:49] And he's got a bad guy brother.

[1:18:51] And an upstanding noble gunslinger comes to town, Lemonade Joe.

[1:18:56] He does not drink liquor.

[1:18:57] He only drinks this one brand of lemonade.

[1:19:00] Spoiler alert, it will turn out that he is a traveling salesman for that lemonade brand.

[1:19:04] But he is an amazing gunfighter.

[1:19:06] And so everyone now wants to drink this lemonade.

[1:19:08] And becomes kind of a feud over the heart of the young evangelist girl in town.

[1:19:14] Over who's going to get her the Lemonade Joe or the bad guy's evil brother.

[1:19:19] And it is so goofy and cartoony.

[1:19:23] It's really funny.

[1:19:24] It ends in the silliest possible way.

[1:19:27] With a tummy punch?

[1:19:30] Even sillier.

[1:19:31] But it's a musical.

[1:19:32] And there's just like, I will warn you that there is one scene of the bad guy being in disguise.

[1:19:38] And blackface, which I did not care for.

[1:19:40] But I will give them allowances since this is Czechoslovakia, 1964.

[1:19:45] But otherwise, it feels like it is taking advantage of what you can do in a film to make jokes with editing, with visuals, with writing, with performance.

[1:19:55] And it's really more a parody of like silent westerns than it is of kind of like the kind of Hollywood westerns that Blazing Saddles is doing jokes of.

[1:20:04] But it lives in that same kind of Blazing Saddles world.

[1:20:06] And I found it really, really funny.

[1:20:08] So that's Lemonade Joe.

[1:20:10] Well, wow.

[1:20:12] We did it.

Dan McCoy

[1:20:13] We did it.

[1:20:14] We had the-

Stuart Wellington

[1:20:15] We survived the 90-minute mercy seat.

[1:20:17] We did.

[1:20:18] Your guilt has got to 100%.

[1:20:20] No!

Dan McCoy

[1:20:22] In-person juice.

[1:20:24] It was fun to see you, Elliot.

Elliott Kalan

[1:20:27] Great to see you guys and be in the same room as you guys.

Dan McCoy

[1:20:29] Look, I can reach out and touch them.

[1:20:30] Look at this.

[1:20:31] Yeah, do it.

[1:20:32] Okay.

[1:20:32] Do it, Dan.

[1:20:33] What's your pleasure?

Elliott Kalan

[1:20:34] Am I turning you on?

[1:20:36] No.

[1:20:37] Am I turning you off?

Stuart Wellington

[1:20:39] I feel like this works better in next week's episode.

[1:20:42] Okay.

Dan McCoy

[1:20:42] That's true, yeah.

[1:20:43] Well, then maybe we should just wrap it up.

[1:20:46] I want to thank Maximum Fun, our network.

[1:20:50] Uh-huh.

[1:20:50] And I want to say that the Max Fun Drive is coming up very soon.

[1:20:54] Our first Drive episode is the next episode.

[1:20:58] And for these Drive episodes, we are challenging each other with movies that we have selected.

[1:21:05] Each one of us got to select one movie to bring to the group.

[1:21:08] Yeah.

[1:21:09] Yeah, to dismay them.

[1:21:11] To wreck our friendship.

[1:21:12] Stuart kicks us off with Exit to Eden.

[1:21:16] I-

Stuart Wellington

[1:21:17] A randy little jaunt.

Dan McCoy

[1:21:20] I-

[1:21:20] I'm in the-

Elliott Kalan

[1:21:21] Randy jaunt sounds like a baseball player from like 1978.

[1:21:24] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:21:25] I'm in the middle position with fear.com.

[1:21:28] And then I'm-

[1:21:28] You don't want to log on to fear.com.

[1:21:31] You sure don't.

[1:21:31] In a lot of trouble.

[1:21:32] Or fear.org.

Stuart Wellington

[1:21:34] Remember when movies had really exciting websites?

Dan McCoy

[1:21:38] I don't want to spoil anything, but the website on fear-

[1:21:41] In the movie fear.com is fear.com.com.

[1:21:46] I forgot.

[1:21:48] And Elliot is particularly targeting Stuart, I know.

[1:21:51] Yeah, laser focus.

[1:21:52] Yeah, 40 days and 40 nights.

[1:21:54] Yeah, a movie that Stuart has repeatedly cited as his least favorite of all time.

Stuart Wellington

[1:21:59] And I've never seen it.

[1:22:00] I'm just going to be shocked that we're going to be able to see it because I, years ago,

[1:22:03] urged listeners to rent the DVDs and then throw them away.

[1:22:08] And in return, at Hinterland's Bar, I have received multiple shattered DVD copies.

[1:22:13] Amazing.

[1:22:15] Wow.

[1:22:16] That's grassroots.

[1:22:17] Be the good you want in the world is what I'm saying.

Dan McCoy

[1:22:20] Yeah.

[1:22:21] Well, yeah.

[1:22:22] So, we're all looking forward to that.

[1:22:24] That's coming up in the next few weeks.

[1:22:27] Go to MaximumFun.org.

[1:22:30] Check out all the great shows on there during the drive.

[1:22:34] You know, maybe join.

[1:22:36] Maybe become a member.

[1:22:37] And I want to say thank you to Alex Smith, our producer.

[1:22:40] He goes by the name Howl Doughty all over the internet.

[1:22:44] You can check out his music.

[1:22:46] You can check out his Twitch streams.

[1:22:48] You can check out his own podcast, which is very funny.

[1:22:53] Big Howl and Possum, I believe it's called.

[1:22:57] But for the Flophouse, I've been Dan McCoy.

Stuart Wellington

[1:23:00] Hey, I've been Dan's friend, Stuart Wellington.

[1:23:03] Oh.

Elliott Kalan

[1:23:03] There's a 93% probability that I'm Elliot Kalin, but it's dropping fast.

Dan McCoy

[1:23:07] Oh, no.

[1:23:08] We got to get him on ice.

[1:23:11] Bye.

[1:23:12] Bye.

Dan McCoy

[1:23:21] So, this, of course, will be before the one we just recorded.

[1:23:26] Going back in time.

Stuart Wellington

[1:23:27] So, don't reference anything of the tight lore that we've established.

[1:23:31] No, yeah.

[1:23:31] This is, I've got to remember, this is a prequel to the last episode.

[1:23:35] And I'll just start.

[1:23:38] Maximum Fun.

Dan McCoy

[1:23:39] A worker-owned network.

[1:23:40] Of artists-owned shows.

[1:23:42] Supported.

[1:23:43] Directly.

[1:23:43] By you.

Mercy

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