I can't find the nose. I am. And I am the other horse Paul joined us tonight. You thought last week's episode was sexy.
Now we've just rammed up the heat. We've got the beautiful, the wonderful, the inviting, the menacing Jake and the beautiful, the purple-haired monster that has came out of the abyss. That is VB. Bye.
I don't think I ever want to see Jake pull that face again. That's just my best of the best TV face. That's how I watch TV shows like good. I feel like they're being put on next week when you hear me talk to Richard O'Brien.
That's going to be an intro. Hell yeah it is. So yes. How are you?
How are you today? Happy Sunday everyone. Happy birthday everyone. Happy holiday everyone.
Yes. That means we can stay up late after this. No, early next to us. I'm going to watch the movie.
I'm not going to do it again. Just here. I think we should all watch the Rocky Carp attack. When it comes out.
We all wore the pictures to celebrate it. Yay. We did actually. We did actually nominate a lead at Driver's.
We said we've got to drive in his name as lead. Well, hi Roman. Many of us will be great. I'm so sorry if you can hear your dogs barking.
I'm just going to apologize now. I don't know what he thought. That was a deal. No, that's really.
Yep. That's Bill. Hi, Bill. You're part of the podcast now.
You're not the naughty child. No. People when I run into the living room, I look like I'm up with it being killed. He's got a sheepskin rug.
Oh yeah. Yeah, we'll do that. Talk about naughty dogies. Why don't you do the disclaimer so we don't get rid of all the naughty dogies in the chat.
Oh, okay. Sorry. Everything goes into days. I was like, okay, it's the Lord.
If you'd like to discuss anything from today's episode, please come and join us in the Facebook group. You can join us in the discord. All the comments section where we have an open description. But what we want to have is anyone coming for us and telling us our opinions are wrong.
Because we cannot agree to disagree in and don't want to kill them. So let's keep it fun. Keep it kind and keep the toxic behavior out of her notism. I well said.
Throw it out. I was going to make it like telling them off at the same time, but just using words because it doesn't clearly understand a big answer. He's a clevers dog. He's a clevers dog in the world.
Little shit bag. Yes. So tonight is going to be an interesting one. We're doing something a little bit different.
Again, I thought it'd be quite an interesting conversation because we can all talk about our favorite shows, even our favorite episodes. But there's a difference, I believe in our favorite because you can love something or have a favorite. That's imperfect. Where the what we're going to talk about tonight is what we believe is the perfect episode of a TV show.
It's going to be any TV show. There can be any type of like one. It could be British comedy, American sitcom, British drama, horror show, it could be a carving, it could be an anime and none of the people that we've gone tonight. You're probably just going to get a whole host of all different those options.
Now, for me, the ones where I've I'm going to open this question to everyone, but I'll answer it first myself. What I would describe to me is a perfect episode is an imperfect show is one that fits one the characters that leaves me personally as a viewer. It's totally fulfilled that everything that you've seen in that episode, there's no nothing that you would change. There's nothing that you felt was out of place.
And it just left you either just done, like either emotionally happy and say, right, that that that is kind of completely due in a way that I'm trying to make it not sound sexual. But I'm very, very bad. That was used there for filled. Well, I'm so I'll say that again.
It's been recorded for watching back at your leisure. That's what they do. So how did everyone approach this task? Because I had some I wouldn't say like issues, but I definitely had some sticking points where I was half of my mind was going like, well, it would be good if it was an episode of a show that anyone could watch.
And then I was like, you know, like, it'd be like a perfect encapsulation sort of thing. And then the other part of me was was like, Oh, but what if it's like the sort of sum of all the best parts and it's like it represents like the best the series got to. But it doesn't work at all for someone who just comes in and watch it. So I can't those a few where I was like, well, no, the whole season is good.
Like, I can't pick a one episode out that kind of does the job to say it's like perfect. Yeah, I got stuck a few items on stuff. I made I'm usually struggled. I'm not gonna lie.
I really did. And because I was talking about it and I was like, talking through my what I had because this is not my list at all. But what I had initially was someone who died in the episode. Someone that they shock.
And all and all and I was like, is that really what gets you in a TV series that somebody's died. And I was like, I know, but I'm thinking that you think of the how it made me think that you went. You really want that to be what you are telling people is that you're okay with the whole. I'm just going to watch this episode over and over again because this person dies.
And I was like, I kind of do that in one episode down to Navi. So, I'm not like high on the tragedy meter. Like, I've gone out of a completely different route to what I was initially because it really was it was episodes that it had some significant death in it. It was like, it's all pinnacle to the series.
And I was like, well, I wouldn't dare say that would be my perfect episode. So I had to really stretch me brain on this one. So I hope I don't regret the choices I made. And again, you could even change your opinion.
When doing it as well. So yeah, so good. No, it's okay. I was going to say I approached it slightly differently in that I was looking for it.
So I like the idea of like the perfect episode of a series being something that encapsulates the series and how that it makes you feel when you think of it. So I was looking for like, like an episode that fundamentally like cemented an image of what that series means to me. But I did have like, and it's like honorable mention to June prophecies. I was going to choose an episode from June prophecies and I literally watched the whole thing twice.
I can't pick. There were a few series that just didn't make the cut like being puppy cat every episode perfect one. I'd say these choice. That's always the interesting one because I guess in my view kind of what's a perfect, it was going to be different from Sami's.
It's going to be different. And that's where I thought when we were planning this episode out, this is where we reached out to like to YouTube because we thought it's going to be such a contrast in ones because to be honest, we've got like, like the exact last way and it would always be quite similar to certain opinions or like someone else in it's such a different viewpoint and different like conversation. We had always missed it. We lost to be out there.
So yeah, so I'm going to start this one because normally I do see all this when I stop it because I'm going to go with because when I thought of this, there was one pick that stood out. It was always going to be in there just because I view it as the perfect kind of reflection on the shore. It's a little bit cheat. So I do apologize.
It's not just one episode. It's a two part. So I think that's okay. One of mine's a two part.
Yeah. I think that's cheating. One out of the two. It's basically just the same episode.
Just it's all because it was what was originally meant to be the finale. And again, I'll spoil a video of the episode today. It was. So it's season eight episodes, 18 and 19 of scrubs.
So my finale, which again, the reason I told us is a few things. Scrubs was such a powerhouse of a show up to season. It's like, I know season nine get to see it. Season nine's not bad.
It's just not as good as what came before. And it's kind of like a felt wrong doing season nine after this ending as well, because in my mind, the only episode, the only finale that beats this one is black. That is the greatest season finale to any TV show ever made. This one is a close second because it finishes off.
J D story so perfectly because he travels through this and it hits on the right. Nords of nostalgia. It gives you every little thing that you want to happen, like from these conversations with Dr Cox, like the hilarity jorks are giving the book and running back through and going through all the different beats and all the different characters gets like the time to shine. Not only do you get the resolution to his like internal fight with the janitor when they find he gets to find the admit that he did drop the penny into the doors and they have that kind of interaction, which is kind of a kind of a thing.
It's just kind of like a perfect way to kind of finish that tip. And that video at the end where J D is just in front of the screen and the music clear and it just hits the perfect type of melancholy hits and orts. It gives you hope it's again because it's in that's that's a Sean. This is what one future could be.
It's not a few years. It's just in this is what it kind of is and it's like Sean in a bright way. And I just say a lot of shores again, just not just them but like friends didn't didn't hit the home run on the season finale when the show finished. A lot for it a big band did all care but not to the level where I think this if they kept this as a season finale, this would have been gone down in history as one of the greatest and it's just perfect.
I don't know if you guys have seen it or I do just remember it. I don't want to like what's what's the general like spoiler pitch like is it like J D's last day at the hospital sort of thing is that. Yeah, basically. I've seen a lot of scrubs I just I don't think I was watching around season eight time.
It's fine. It's hilarious when it comes to like say the like scrubs because when you watch scrubs and you watch it now there's a lot of stuff that you're kind of cringe at and stuff that's. Like very much of its time but it's all about Giddy's adventure from episode one when he's barmy and he's evolved into this like not just doctor but this human being and because like all we're through. J D is one of the biggest r-swords in any TV show like the things he does to Elliot the very self centred but again it makes quite.
Like relatable because people are selfish people are ourselves at times and people do make wrong decisions but specially and work as well. And I love that and I love when you talk to people who work in hospitals and stuff and they say okay what's the closest adaptation of your life in hospitals and it's like they are. Scrubs actually gets it closer than most players most most shows and but he makes a decision that he's basically going to change at least a part go to a different hospital because he's had a kid with another woman and he wants to basically be a good dad he didn't want the kid to be like a key was going up where his dad was like only there half the time so he made a decision to basically be a kid and it's kind of like a last hurrah like as a sitcom would where he runs through like the greatest hits like he goes through the retell a lot of the jokes but it's just like. It's on such an emotional thing like you get a kid character who just knocks it up hard hilariously like he's just like the dogs body all with through and yeah and Dr Kelso he leaves in this episode and you get fully embraced as he's with a tic and like he gets the hug and like the daddy issues off his back with Dr Cox and it's just everything that you've waited for in the previous seven seasons and says and it is a little moment with Carla as well which is just like I guess it's just sitting on the table because Carla's is firebrand Latino woman that is just beautiful but she tears and you want to just not anyone to think but she never was mean or horrible to to J.D.
And he goes why are we not just get you a bambi someone needed to teach her how to walk and it's kind of like that morning just says thank you for being a teacher and it's just plays on and leading up to the final saying where you get the the projected to go through the hall and all the like like bit par people or people who in for some sort of some seasons that disappear you know in sitcoms like you get like a character that's something just disappears. All there and they have like the one minors as well so they kind of like give J.D. a send off and it just plays on your heartstrings to the right notes and does like so well. And when you watch it back you watch the two episodes.
There's literally just it's got everything it's got humor it's got like emotion and it gives you that sense of closure that finale that you've been that you've kind of lacked. Because you'll get a TV show that kind of ends and you think I want more with that you didn't feel happy to give you more. And you're like God damn it. Yeah.
Yeah it was something similar that I was thinking about over this week because I forgot mention that on the 90s podcast like how we've had so many like final episode revival things because so many people were unsatisfied with you know like cartoons just like trailing off and like they never got the budget to have like the last movie or something. But that's awesome that's like had one of these I know like you say the sort of the carry it on for like money reasons and don't like reverse it and like bring J.D. back to try and like fix it again and. Yeah.
Well, they kind of thought the same back with J.D. and Turk in it and like okay we're gonna try and blend them out and lead into the new class because they're all basically them handing over their thing to the new people and they're going to lead into it. Yeah. And a couple episodes in just not working so they bring them back to finish it and then the right to cancel it was called Miss Diego but again.
That's so cool though that I guess the calm sort of thing actually does get the finale where you like see all the characters and get all the closure. I think that's what everyone wants with like the comedy shows is that you want to show up and like do the best bit like for the end. Yeah, that was my first one that was always going to be on the things just because it has like it's the is with us. I don't know why it doesn't make you cry constantly.
I did cry when I first watched it because it hits it literally hits home because you think because again like put your hands up everyone no one's perfect everyone make mistakes but it's kind of like showing you that. It's just as I said when you watch because American sitcoms are like the so many and there's so many great ones as well we don't get as many good ones these days which is a shame. Well back in the 90s and like through the 90s there were so many amazing ones and scrubs gets talked about but I don't think it does get talked about the high regards as like the friends like the Frasier but I do think it's up there with them as well. Yeah, there's a lot of things that I've ripped scrubs off like since as well like super store and that's the guy who makes those shows and stuff like that but like the good for it though because they've obviously like learnt and like you get those like you know you get the ridiculously silly episodes and then you get like the proper like heartwrenches.
Scrubbed was never my thing it was I've watched a few episodes but not I just couldn't land in it where it's become that familiar program we all have and I have quite a few of them it could just never fit into that wheelhouse. I loved it like because it was always like reran on like E4 and stuff like that wasn't it. Yeah, like I don't know what it is about some shows I just never like get the urge to like finish them out but maybe it's just because I'm like oh I don't really want this hospital to end. I like to think that they're still working there.
Yeah, it's okay. Jadie finally qualified. I mean Brendan Frasier's not okay. That was a close one I'll be honest.
Because there was other scubs episodes that kind of close. I was one with I said Brendan Frasier's where he's dead and spoiler that and it's kind of like a six cents type moment. That was great. Also there's another one where I've got the name where I think it was season eight as well where Turkin Jadie is going to stay at night and the find a patient who's dying that night but he's gone on family and the spending night just getting to know him.
It's quite a personal episode and it's quite interesting. It's how it's focused on grieving and accepting and that's what I think Scrubbs did well as well that had the great comedy moments but the emotional hits were always there but yeah that was my pick. So we'll go with some. So we'll go with some.
So it's not with my take emotional to death now so it's fine. You'll be wrong. I'm a friend. You'll be absolutely wrong.
It was the route I was going to go down and I have completely changed it and to be honest I could have probably picked quite a few episodes out of this series but I went with the one that it may not be everyone's favorite. I wouldn't dare say it's like my favorite favorite but it's just something every time I watch it it makes me smile. It completely and utterly epitomizes the whole program in this one episode and it is the office. And it is season six episode 13.
It's called oh my god I've totally got a secret Santa. It's the one where Michael dresses up as Jesus because he's not getting his own way by playing Santa Claus and I just feel this episode completely embodies everything that the office is. I'm glad we got a Christmas episode as well. Yeah.
I can hear Chris and Molly Chiron. The amount I could have picked either this one or the first ever Christmas one they did where they did do and white elephant because again that one is out. It just sure was the exact bottom and I thought the limit was only $20. Yeah.
It sure is it's Michael and how we can always turn things right. It can be the worst like the absolute worst person but by the end of the episode manages to turn everything around. Yeah. Because it isn't as horrible as what you think that he is and how he's making himself out for the camera.
There's some really special moments in the office if you pay in cause attention to where Michael when he doesn't know he's being watched by the camera is Michael Scott. He's a lovely lovely person and he is very good at his job. He just when that camera is on he turns into the world's biggest asshole and this episode was written by Mindy Kaelin. She wrote it.
It's just hilarious. Filler's being Santa Claus where Michael gets completely and not least so knocked at it that he ends up losing his temper and be deciding to become Jesus and told me trying to tell them all the ways that it's wrong and if this is where Aaron and Andy's relationship starts to grow because he's doing he's doing the M. The countdown to Christmas with Bertids and she has a face nearly ripped off by them. I can't watch this.
I love that moment. She's like, I don't know what I've done wrong. I don't know what I've done wrong. It's so good.
Yeah, the whole episode just again I could have picked any from the office and I would have been happy with it but I had a narrow down to one and this one. Oh, there's another Christmas special that makes it laugh when Michael and Daryl have an aboard each other and the ends of dress that was Daryl. From the warehouse and yeah this one I was again, like I said, I could just go on and on about home is in the offices but my god that aired on the 10th of December 2009. It's scary.
I can't go because the office still feels quite fresh because I probably discovered it a few years ago because you kept on heart when I was the watcher. Yeah. And I was like, no other one. Then I was like shit, I can't stop watching this.
I've watched it three times in a row constantly. Yeah, everything that really dates is the mobile phone technology. Yes. Absolutely right.
It's one of those cigarettes again. It's with part of the wheelhouse. I miss these people. Oh, wait.
episode one exists and I can go back and start again. Everyone's hair. Look at your office. It's so many good moments.
One of my perfect moments from the office is when Stanley finally laughs. He makes it through so many seasons and so many episodes without ever cracking a smile. And then one time he did like Michael does something and Stanley just loses it. And then it kind of like helps resolve everything.
It's got lovely human moments in the office. It was, I could have gone down the route of the best what would be classed as if you go and have a look at like top episodes in series. And then you can see the episode constantly comes up on each list and it is the fire safety one, which is a carter. Yeah, which where Dwight does the fire.
This episode of one awards and where Dwight sets the alarm off and has the whole fire drill and Stanley has the heart attack and then have to do the life saving, you know, and then. Yeah, and Dwight ends up ripping the face off the dummy and the figure out that Stanley stress is only caused when Michael's next. It doesn't have to do anything. He just has to be near him.
The episode you talk about the Christmas episode because it's such an inflammatory episode as well because my Michael starts off just being like incredulous that or fellas is Santa Claus. And his annoyance that the fact that nobody agrees with them and everyone's okay with it just keeps building and building and this is kind of like the building up between like him and Jim kind of lock in hearts as well. And I just love that kind of antagonistic energy that brings and he doesn't want outright say that a woman can't be Santa Claus. He doesn't want to see anything that would make him unpopular.
It's 20 years he clearly disagrees. When he gets Kevin to sit on his ear he comes to the money little boy you tell me what you want. He's like he's there for ages and clearly said if you look carefully you can see Mindy Keil and Ryan in the background trying their best not to laugh because Kevin just keeps getting squished in and like putting his full weight on to Michael's legs. That's what again it's when he comes out as Jesus.
It's just you don't see a comment. What else would you not what else would you expect from him when he's throwing a tantrum that size. Something about the psychology of Michael Scott which is what can I do that no one can argue with. I know I'll be Jesus.
One of the stories where he's trying to prove a point that the warehouse is the office is more dangerous in the warehouse and he goes on to the top of the building he's going to go and jump off and hit a bouncy castle and yeah he's just not. The idea is that that man comes up with just to prove a point is ridiculous but Jesus is probably my favorite. So we had a first. Some of you love Jesus.
I'm. I'm ready. Okay, so this one though this one I picked was like a firm favorite like from childhood and so it is a cartoon because that's all I used to watch until I was probably in my later team. So I picked an episode of Batman the animated series entitled feet of clay and it is a two part.
Sorry, it's only 40 minutes long. Yeah, yeah, but like I don't know I might even be like half an hour with the break bits and recaps and stuff. But yeah, so this is the infamous clear face episode which includes his origin story and I think it was a lot of kids first exposure to that character. And the reason I love it is because it was also my first like exposure to that sort of Batman trope of you know guy does something a little bit wrong then accidentally gets mutated and something like a horrible monster.
And like and even through all of that Batman still sees the humanity and tries to help him in the end sort of like the reason I picked this one maybe it's not like the best like because it's quite an early one so like the animation. And it was still like getting the style and stuff and it doesn't like take in you know like yours of history or anything like the ending of like Justice League which is kind of like a big wrap up of this entire sort of animated universe but like for me it's a perfect one for anyone to watch and be like okay do you want to get why everyone loves this show like check this one out. And it's very like adult as well like there's like when I was rewatching it I mean it's freaking like clay faces like Ron Paulman freaking it as knows like the bad guy it's very like. Old school and it's cast in the cast where the animated series in general is like truly like Mark Campbell's Joker best joke easily yeah and again but he didn't show up for a little while in the animated one like so that was like that was an Christmas episode as well.
I think I choice whether company and it's because they wanted to give these characters like great origins like I know I started jumping just because you mentioned a great origin story because I love the clear face one but I also loved the way and cook a crack like how they did the origin story in the show for that as well it was. Yes it didn't play down but it was quite adult it was quite scary yes it was like where he joins the freak show and he sort of like makes he makes friends with everyone but he still betrays them all at the end like how could you portray like. Like the way your friends. Yeah yeah there's that little seal boy who loves them as well yeah but.
But Matt Hagen is a kind of different breed and I love this origin story it's very like you know old Hollywood Universal Monsters where he gets these are this like successful actor who gets disfigured in a car accident and kind of gets addicted to like a putty thing that can make him change his face back like temporarily but. The problem is he gets like addicted hurts when he's not using it he just needs more and then that leads him into like you know he's also being blackmailed to get more of this stuff it's like a really adult story like. Like a kid show. Yeah and there's a lot of like victim of circumstance almost like it's yeah very sympathetic.
Yeah sorry. Some of the way that they animate play face you could freeze like the images like it's very dynamic and very stylish. Oh yeah like especially at the end when he's like morphing it like everything else at the same time like the animators were definitely going crazy on that one. And I love he's got like his little friend as well he's like oh come on Matt you don't need this stuff like like it's actually a story of addiction and how it like destroys is only like a good relationship.
And yeah then of course you get the classic Batman mobsters being like let's give him give him all the gooey ones and now he's all fucked up and like policy in the clear face design is scary because it's like just these like hollow like yellow eyes and like the big like to the grin with like all the gaps and stuff and So like his voice is scary on its own. But also can be quite velvety as well so I can imagine a medicine. Yeah you should watch this one Sammy. Absolutely.
It's got to touch the old Hollywood in there just a little bit. It's very cold. It's old monster films like the thing. Yeah like it's just like so good because it shows like it's human side so you get on board with this clear face guy and he's not as evil as some of the like like like falls in color crux a lot more irredeemable and even Batman's just like you know I'll try and help you and like it is like final moments when he's like freaking out.
He does try he tries to show him who he used to be because that's why he starts like morphing and everyone because he shows him all of his old like film like stills and then he's like no it's not like I can't control it. But yeah it's just so good. It's a good encapsulation of like everything I love about Batman as well like you know like like science monsters gone wrong but then Batman still seeing the human inside like even after everything after like being like knocked out by him and thrown everywhere. He's the bigger person isn't he like in the grand scheme of life like Batman always was the bigger person.
That's what I like about Batman. I think like some fans want them to be like you know the fighter who just like punches things to solve the problems. No because it doesn't always so I was just about to say you know I've always gone to sleep and then one of them's decided no no I'm not going to do that. He heard that he was like Batman definitely.
He had that he just looked over as he said that. Yeah another fun thing to do as well is they don't name him clifface until like right near the end so even though that's like a silly name like it's him who chooses it as well it's not like you know someone making fun of him he's like oh there is no mattering anymore only clifface. It's one of those series that I always see I need to I feel like I need to watch not just as a nurse but just someone who appreciates really good storytelling because every time someone talks about the story just sounds amazing. Oh yeah.
Like Sammy you're a fan of film war and like I think the anime to series is actually like Batman as like the classic film are detective really like that is cool. Yeah. And even like there's lots of very art deco style buildings. Yeah.
In the design. I think you'd love it. You've seen I've seen some of them because believe it or not I actually own it. I own this all the series.
And so I have seen some of them but it's just never been like I've never invested me time. I'll watch it all the way through kind of thing. Well mostly episodes like 15, 20 minutes long so they're not like crazy isn't it? They're a lot than cafe but this like JX said this version of clear face is my like what I was classed as my definitive version of clear face as well because I've always seen him pop up in like other things where he's more of a comedic side.
It's more of a quin show. Yeah. Yeah. I like that as well where he's like this kind of like a bit of you sort of like I'm an actor type of person.
Oh my gosh I have seen that. Is that the kitty cool cool one? Yes it is. Yeah.
That's a fine like interpretation but this guy is very much like I want to be human again like this is awful and like the cool thing is he gets away at the end as well he does a fake actors death like even fools Batman. But do you know what it's so on the nose when it comes down to that era in Hollywood everyone it was the face because it was silent movies and this is all you can like it was your money maker was the face. So it really oh the more we're talking about is more like and that's right the sub-sut and go. Well it's like yeah.
If you decide to watch it from the beginning as well it's like episode five or six so you get to the family. And also I know something else is going to pop up and I'm going to go watch that because I saw like reminds on Tuesday. Then Samuels it's on Netflix as well. If you have a sort of Nelly of North we'll do it on the anime Batman the anime series.
So I'm going to show you the watch though. Oh that means we get to pick all of the best episodes and be like Samuels you need to hit like you need to hit on leather wings feet of clear heart. You know I don't have seen heart of eyes because I know you're serious well really highly of it before so I have watched heart of eyes. That was up there but I wanted to like this one when I was a kid.
I think like I had like the toy of this guy as well Paul like we had like he had like the nast hand I used to shoot out when he squeezed him he was like a big action figure. I think it was just yeah like monster design I'm happy with like you know it's like the back story. This is probably what set my imagination off being like what people can turn at a mutants that sounds really cool. I know what that happens to me.
You just reminded us on Tuesday Jake when we were recording because I know what I'm like I'll hear something else and I'm like oh my god I need to watch this now. Oh yeah I'm going to watch Scrubs in the office. I'm going to watch these things. But yeah that's my first one.
And it's a good one as well because I know the art doing a clear-fierce movie as well and the art going to go out there and so it's going to be a real. I don't know what the hell are going to do with that. Is either just going to make up a new art and like is Batman even going to be involved or what. I thought the book was going to do it in modern day like the addiction is right.
It could be a new chemical. It could be a new science and stuff like that. I think it might be good if they could do like oh he was an old Hollywood actor who's like aged out. I don't know if they could pull it off with an age difference.
Is it true? Or is it true? Because I feel like that like story addiction and like a child acting is so like in a child actor now grown. I think Sammy was supposed to say it was an all-in-tutica.
I think so. I think so. I remember that I was kicking about. I don't know if it's being confirmed but that would be interesting.
I think the voice range would be good. Yeah. Do you know the language that makes me look like I should be an art on the side of the mouth. That's crazy.
I read Harley Calm down. It's so weird. So faves what is your first pick? I'm going to go.
So I'm going to choose my sci-fi. Actually I've got a very kind of sci-fi. I'm going to go with the mild sci-fi. I said I wouldn't do it to all anime instead of doing it to sci-fi.
My first one is sci-fi classic. It's battle style Galactica. Oh yeah. Specifically the season three finale crossroads.
So in the lead up to this. Like honestly this is and the reason I picked it is because for me this was one of those TV episodes and I watched this before like internet spoilers were probably a thing. Yeah. So I remember watching this.
I remember watching this and literally as the episode played out of my jaw dropping to the floor and just like having this and I feel like there are lots of moments in battle where you're understanding of what's happening fundamentally shifts and you're like, oh, fuck. But also it's so perfectly breadcrumbs you so that you almost feel like an idiot for noticing. Like it's really really a masterpiece. That's just me when I watch anything phoebe.
I don't get anything until it's absolutely explained to me. Well crossroads would rock you. And I think there's so like in the lead up to this basically what's happening is that people have learned that there are silons among them on the ships that attract like the colony ships that are having to escape from this war with the robots. And slowly they've been revealing each silon.
And this isn't the last silon to be revealed in crossroads. I think the most shocking reveal because it's a character who you just have complete and utter faith in. Yeah. Like complete faith in.
And when you find out that they're not human you're like genuinely like my heart sank and I just couldn't believe what was happening. Like my whole world crumbled and it's perfect. It also has one of the best soundtracks because they, so this is one of the breadcrumbs that they give you throughout the series is all along the watchtower. You know, the open part of it.
Yeah. So they like that is just been playing at like key moments and you realize suddenly the significance of it as a song in the series during the crossroads episode. And I just think master piece. I keep you on the line and then just give them that when you get a peel.
Yeah. Yeah. Because I had it planned all along. Yeah.
Because it was planned all it was genuinely planned all along and you watch back and you go, oh no really they have planned it to get to this point and they've made very deliberate decisions from the first episode. Yeah. Up until season and they wait until season three to give you this pay off. But I bet they don't make you feel stupid for it though which a lot of shows can kind of do.
Yeah. I think when you watch it back you're like, how did I how did I not see this but you don't feel stupid. You feel stunned. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. The only thing I have with that is there's beats by the circle. It's great.
That's a whole episode. So just because like I've seen I think I've only seen like a handful of the first season of the new battle stuff but like how does but I did know that that's a thing people talk about a lot is that you know there are characters that you know will become like the triers and stuff and then like goes back and forth and stuff. What's like the impact of this like I don't know how much you want to spoil but like you know when this reveal happens like how impactful is it like you know does it ruin everyone's time like all the humans time and everything. I think what it does is it shifts the understanding of what asylum is and then they take it off.
There is also something about so it's a season three finale so you have to wait a hell of a long time until you see. Like a yo probably. Full year. And then you're only getting it one episode a week none of this like binge release.
Yeah. But I think one of the things is that you realize you can't trust anyone. Like even the characters that you thought you could trust you suddenly realize that no one is like no one's perfect. Everyone is going to at some point have a few degrees and I think every character goes through that form from Grace and the ones that stick the characters you root for are the ones that you watch do that and kind of like get back up again and sometimes they don't sometimes they fail again and again and again and you're like you need to get your shit together.
That's why you don't work as a power size like I've heard so many people talk about it's one of those ones that's never crossed me path. Like I've always got on the expensive channels like back of the day. I can't remember what it was. Because when I was at like.
No time to put posh at the same year as it's fun. And with me it was because like when it comes to sci-fi I grew up with me dad to love sci-fi so I used to be watch what my dad watched. So they love Quant and Leap. He loved Sliders Star Trek of course and huge on Next Generation.
So I gravitated towards them so he never watched Battlestar like even with like like back when it was the guy from the 18 minute was I was saying one or something different. So they have like the original films and then they have the longer TV series that happens later. Yeah. So them never kind of crossed me path because we never watched them.
And I was hugely into the Star Trek movies like we really I loved. Well everyone loved Grafra Khan but I actually like started to start to one motion page. I think it's a great film. I love seeing it.
I loved like I said for your charm as well. Like with the wheels makes no fucking sense but it's fucking hilarious. But yeah. But yeah.
And Battlestar just never come across as well. I was a huge kitty sapper fan and like she used to always be part of that. She's fantastic. Yeah.
So probably it's something that I should like go back and revisit but it's just then now trying to work out time and place to have that moments to watch that now. I think for me there was a lot of prestige TV that kind of missed around that time period. Like Sopranos and stuff like that. And I think it is like it's kind of hard to go back because they're still sometimes keep them on like the more expensive streaming services to be able to like keep the procedure.
You know like how you can't watch a game of thrones without having like the sky now thing. Yeah. They're still trying to keep them a little bit too much. Actually, some of the put like sales is a bit like that as well.
Yeah. It's one of the best pirate series of all time. But also the thing I love about Battlestar Galactica and this episode in particular is that sci-fi it like fundamentally it's a philosophical conversation about what does it mean to be human in an age of progression. Right.
So there's like and Battlestar Galactica goes through like a like an evolution of humanity and this is like a point of like this whole question of like because one of the other thing is that you realize the silence don't even know that they're silent sometimes. So there's a kind of like a like like what is real. I'm going to blurb. I'm going to blurb and revive as well.
It's very very blabran. It's also very like it's like very like this is me getting all cleared like ponzi but like Harold Pinter who's a British playwright talks a lot about like the conversation between ourselves and our own memory right. Right. Like plays around with that idea of like different people within a scene can have an entirely different perception of what's happening and what you realize in crossroads is that is happening to each character everyone has a different version of what's real to them.
And then you as the audience have another version that is also contradictory to what's going on. Like it's a proper headfuck. Sounds quite a personal thing as well. That's quite interesting.
So you know, they go take it so quite like that. I do like that idea though that the you know like that you've all sort of text civilization is like, is this the perfect spy the one that doesn't know what's this by? It doesn't know it's a spy. It's a spy completely is the person you think would fight to like his dying breath.
I don't want to kind of spoil it but it's like it is honestly the last person you expect. Yeah. And then you're left with like okay but then now that it's revealed that it would they not still join the good side. Then you'll have all the questions.
You don't have those questions and also what you also know is there is still another one. So you know that this is this person is a silent and we also know that there's one other person and now you spend a whole like whole another load of episodes trying to like find out who is the other silent. Yeah, that's a good TV. If you want people to come back for the first episode of season four, give them a give them a crossroads finale.
Great. No, but moving on to my next big and I'll pick this one because Jake has mentioned it there. I'm going to put something underneath my bottom. Oh, yeah.
Sorry. I'm sitting on an actual dining room chair and it's really uncomfortable. Yes. I'm glad you're wearing trousers though because we could see your reflection in the window.
Don't get it wrong. It could have happened at the time but that's it. Why is this video getting so many views? It's because it's Sami's posterior.
And I like it's so bad. I look horrible. Sorry. Go ahead.
You look lovely Sami. So yes. It's very odd. So my next pick is one of the prestige when it was on the posh channels.
Yes. Season three episode 11. The Pine Barons for the sopranos. Which in essence as a sure it is one of my favorite.
Again, I wouldn't say it's bad because there's a lot of things like frustrated to the folks when you're watching the sopranos as literally it's on apologetic. It's like this is the story they want to tell and this is the don't give the fuck if they give you all the answers or tell you like all around this. I love this episode because again, you don't get much comedy in the sopranos because it's it's brutal. It's like dirty, it's rugged, it's these characters, you don't want to love them but you're falling over them because the nice people but they do some horrendous acts.
And this one is just, as I said, from start to finish, has some grit grit and he has an act in the start with. The two main characters in this episode are Pauli and Christopher, like Tony's nephew and his captain. Now Pauli's out of stage in his life where he's questioning things, he's questioning things he's done, he's questioning Tony's leadership. And his question where he is in the group as well, because he's getting overlooked for things, he's getting this issues going on with other people that's kind of like Tony's side in with when he's saying, so he's questioning his friendship with Tony.
And then you've got Christopher who's this up and coming youngster who's making all the wrong decisions, he's got a mouth on him, he's just like, he's when you watch it, you start here, initially you hear Christopher, you think he's a thing but he's just a child in this situation where he's trying to be an adult. And there gets set a task to go and just take somebody from a Russian and that's all they're going to do. And Pauli's in a bad mood, this Russian mouth's after him. So he attacks the Russian the agentra fight and it escalates to the point where Pauli thinks he's killed him.
And the company in it is because the phone Tony's getting frustrated because he's going to see the Russians boss that dear to do some money long run. And if he finds out then Tony could be killed because it's like it's like it's like it's life in depth situations. So he tells Christopher and Pauli to get rid of the body and make sure that no one thinks. So the rabbit up in the carpet, as I said, this shouldn't work because it's like an absolute one of the most brutal things they've got, you're watching it.
And it's the communication between Christopher and Pauli that are just hilarious because like it's like father and son or sorry brothers that's probably the thing all the brothers and younger brothers start to catch up. So it's like resentment then they're kind of like biting each other. And they say oh she'll take him to the river. No it's too dumptake to the pine barons which is basically the woods in the middle of the winter in New Jersey where it's thick of snow.
So the drive out, the trunk and the Russians are dead. His head's popping out, he's chewed off the table of these things and he's swam up in Russian city. He's got to fuck them, others, he's got to kill them. He's going to do all those things.
And then Pauli's going to say right to go to make them walk. So they've got these two Italian gangsters when leather jackets, jeans in the middle of the woods, brazen their asses off, pointing goods at this Serbian warrior who's basically who they find out is a war soldier from the Ukrainian who's basically survived, killed 16 Chechens and stuff like that in the war and he's like a decorate soldier. And the Tony's freaking out, taking shit, shit, this is going to come back. I'm going to die.
And in the meantime, data's like marching this Russian in the thing to dig his own grave and shit goes wrong. He escapes by smashing Chris in the face with a shovel and hitting Pauli in the nuts and the chasing him. He gets clipped in the head and he keeps on running. This is how much of a monster this guy is.
And they get lost in the woods in the middle of the snow. Pauli loses a shoe, so he's freaking out, he's got his foot's gonna fall off. And then there's bigger like two old women all the way through this episode to the point where the relationship completely changed. And the reason why I think this is a perfect episode as well, and I know this sounds really strange, you don't get an answer of what happens to the Russian.
The Russian disappears in the store. Yeah, the Russian disappears. And these two, like, arguing, thinking, shit, what's gonna happen. And in the end, Tony comes in, like, finds in the next year, they find a van, they catch up like there's loads of this.
But they don't interviews with the writers of the show and like, the things is, and people always ask the question, what happened to the Russian Valerie? And he goes, what do you think happened to him? And like, well, it's like, did he get away? Because to be fair, if he got out and he had recognition, they would have all died because they would have sent the Russians to kill them.
And the Russians were just mental, like, when it comes to like, vendettas and stuff like that. But it's like, he disappeared. There's no evidence of it. There was no mention of this Valerie, all the way through the rest of the show.
It's just, it becomes like a little bit of a legend. And I love that. It's kind of, and again, I know how on about like not saying or not knowing things that leaves it to your imagination. It gives you that little thing to think about as well, but it's just so brilliantly pierced.
And a show that's about like, brutality and stuff. And it has these little like personal moments in it. It's just done perfectly. Yeah, it sounds like it's the letting the fans be in on the little secret as well.
That's what it sounds like. It's a show that I have my sister adores the Sopranos. She watches it at least once, twice a year. I tried.
I've saw tried because it's sort of my street that's very character driven, very, you know, character focused. And I love stuff like that. I just can't seem to get past the first series to where I'm like, okay, I'm gonna. I love this prana.
I haven't watched it all the way through though. At some point, I always seem to drop off. But it's not for like lack of quality. With the, with the, it's bad, it's bad, isn't it?
The Serbian. Valerie. I always saw him as a kind of like Rasputin character. You know, like the story of like Rasputin's death of like being like, like, I'm back.
He just kept coming back. They tried to poison him. He wouldn't die. They just been in a river.
He would drown. They shot him. He kept going. Like, I always picture like Valerie as having a kind of Rasputin style, like, conspirating is it dead?
Is he alive? Does it really matter? Because he's a legend. Yeah.
It's just how that like, again, like not just like the act of anything. It's like, how this is shot because the Sopranos is not quite dark and muted and quite dingy, like, because it's like showing like the granny of New Jersey, the granny mug seat. It's because it's so bright and white and like, open and stuff. It's such a different nature as well, which is unusual for the show.
Yeah. Probably Sammy's probably not best to watch because a dia gets one in the neck by accident as well. So I watched extra. Yeah.
Yeah. But yeah, yeah. So yeah, so that's my big one. The Sopranos shall we see it?
So yeah. So what's your next one, Sammy? I'm going to take the torn down a little bit with this one. One from Keline Russian's in the forest.
From Keline. I think it's very good. It's going to be really hard to explain. So this, no, I haven't actually seen it all the way through.
And even though I love that show, it's obvious reasons. And anyways, so this show, this whole series is one of my all time favorites. Me and I've literally just finished a whole rerun where we watched it from start to finish, which I've never managed to do because it is a series where you can jump in and out, you don't, it's no continuity. But it has some of the strongest messages at a time when they weren't, it wasn't the normal to do.
Right. This is the Golden Girls. All right. This episode.
Thank you for being my friend. Yeah. That one. And this episode.
No, I get it. You can finish it off if you need to because I don't understand. It's one of those e-worms, but you can't get rid of. But this episode is called 72 Hours.
It first aired on in February 1990. And it is probably one of the strongest episodes that the Golden Girls were so progressive with the language that they used and actions that they took. But this one took on a whole different level. This episode focuses on Betty White's character, Rose Nyland, where she gets told she when she had an operation to have her gallbladder removed, they had to do a blood transfusion on her.
And potentially she has blood that had HIV in it. And she has to wait 72 hours to find out the results. And it is the most, it's Jaren. It's Haruen, but it is also one of the most beautiful ones.
It's ranked in Vanity Fair's top television shows of all time. And all of this hits a number 10 list because of how powerful the message is. And I actually have part of the script, which is the reason I picked this one is because Rose goes through the works with this. She starts off completely fine.
Oh, it's okay. It's one of those things. And then it goes to denial. It goes to anger.
And the anger then leads to why me? I'm a good person. This should not be happening to me. And Blanche has to sit down and say, I've been there exactly the same.
It's scary, but it's not the, you know, we can deal with this. And Rose, she's like, Rose goes, where is it? No, no, I'm just, I'm just saying I'm a good person. Hell, I'm a goodie tutus.
And Blanche just literally, I love the character Blanche, but rumor clan of hand delivered this with so much punch that you cannot not cry when you hear what she says next. He goes, Hey, wait a minute. Are you saying this should have happened to me? No, no, I'm just saying that I'm a good person.
Hell, I'm a goodie tutus. It is not a bad person's disease. Rose, it's not God punishing people for their sins. It breaks me every time.
Just the way that Blanche delivers it, it becomes silent in the 90s. This is such a series of conversations that are happening and they're not good conversations. The scary, they put 90s in the people's heads about this disease that is, you know, yes, it was scary, but it didn't need to be handled the way that it had been. And the fact that it's the Gordon girls got that message out.
It's one of the most powerful episodes. It doesn't get the greatest write-ups in some places. People think because Rose really is on the thickness of I'm a good person, so this shouldn't be happening to me. But at the same time, it is how people were feeling.
And it's just that line from Blanche, Brix, it's not a bad person's disease. It's not God punishing your finger sins. No, and I think that's a good thing because I think anyone in them type of situations, you instantly start, as you said, when you're going through all the different areas of grief, you can let your mind wander or even let your thoughts wander to a place where it normally wouldn't. You would say things that probably in your head, context-wise, I mean it this way, or to someone else, you're saying it like this.
The context is completely different. And again, it's been brave enough, and again, Blanche, brave enough to not let it go. Because as I said, if you didn't put a stop to it, I'd have that type of conversation in real life, that could escalate to a place where it might be a miscere to somewhere where they could develop into not nice, like kids or and stuff. Yeah, and I also think it's part of the discord around the queer community religion and sexually transmitted diseases of the time.
And you look at other like satirical shows like Brasi, and they have got an episode where they have good AIDS bad AIDS. You also have it in Star Trek, in Star Trek Enterprise, where Tepole contracts a telepathically transmitted disease, but is a kind of metaphor for AIDS. But because it was unwilling, like the the scientific community, she didn't. We've lost AIDS.
Oh no, we've got to throw the truth back. We asked you was telling us about the scientific community. Sorry, the Vulcans are like only willing to help her because it's like because she didn't mean to contract it. And again, like, you know, if you're straight and get AIDS, it's not your fault.
If you're gay and get AIDS, it's your fault. And that's part of the discord around HIV at the time. So like the Golden Girls having that in it doesn't make Rose a bad character. Rose is like reflecting an opinion that is held around HIV and how you can track it.
100% in a brought it was the 90s, 1990 this episode came out. So it's literally bringing AIDS into your home at five o'clock in the afternoon. That's not heard of that's not done. But the the Golden Girls who were like your grandma's.
Yeah, even though they're in their 40s when they start, it's crazy. I think that's what's important, isn't it? Like, that's what we should be able to rely on like the older generation to do to like take a smarter outlook on things and kind of like guide like, you know, the younger generations. So having celebrities as well come out and say these things like it really does change minds like more than people I think give like, you know, TV shows credit for the Golden Girls has a lot to answer for because you had four women who knew their status within the gay community.
And they knew the impact that they had the offer. All her money went into the LGBTQ community. She literally just went have it split it, you take it. And they would not have anyone on the shore who was going to take the piss out of anyone who was in that community.
That wasn't going to happen. Not under the cell gap anyway, because she wouldn't have it. And there was a lot of there was a lot of progression because there is some episodes, especially Blanche, they always use Blanche as the catalyst because she is the Southern Bell. She comes, you know, she still calls them Yankees and she's from the South and so they always use Blanche for the progression side.
So Blanche was always the one who went through, you know, a daughter who was going to adopt and not have a surrogate child and it wasn't going to be the natural cause of how, you know, things should go. And it was always blanch who learned their lessons. So to have it now be rose, it really changed the dynamic and it's Blanche who's the one who's on the progression outside. Honestly, that short is fine.
Season five of the Gordon girls are some of the best written television that has ever been created. I barely laugh at them. Like, and it's what, how many years later? And it's still fucking hilarious.
But that episode of law and that touches a nerve. I think Jacob had a good point as well with the celebrity things, but because there's so many people like, again, of different generations, because I know, like, say, my parents' generation, it goes from it's on TV. So it must be true. So having something watching, like someone tell the story, I'll give them that information is important because there's so many different things to it.
Cause there was so many times that you can have an all where it's smarter now when it comes to media and how it can be manipulated and changed. But back then it was like, oh, it's on the news. It's timeless. This is bad.
This must be bad. It's like, okay, instead of being someone's viewpoint. So again, having someone like high profile or things. And I think it's something that messages need to be shown today as well.
And like again, we had the conversation with Linus, with the Ravi horror interview. It's important now more never because of like the things that kind of represents and the message it tries to give across. Cause now there's so much negativity, so much bad stuff, so much stuff that comes out, especially with social media. We need more positivity.
We need more voices to try and like shout up and say, this is okay. This is what is right and stuff like that. It's normal. I mean, not to get like too conspiratorial, but there's has been like a totally like manufactured outrage to stuff just like this where everyone's like, oh, it's woke now.
Like, you know, which they've like made to mean bad in like certain people's eyes. And like what it normally means is like a character is like, oh, I'm not, I'm not gonna be, I'm not gonna be intolerant. My view challenge. Yeah.
What it also would have done as well at the time. Now, I've gone down rabbit holes with the ears epidemic in the 90s, not just within the other community, but also people who were straight. The figures for people who were straight who contracted the disease is staggering. And it really did help people recognize that it's not just, it's, you know, it's not the game is things.
It's not gonna kill you. It doesn't have any prejudice at all. So it really does highlight that is even just for its only 20 minute episode, like it's not even the longest, but it still manages to get that message in there. If anyone is interested, obviously go watchable goals.
There is a fantastic documentary on the BBC that just cover everything that happened in the 90s. It's, it's important. It needs to be watched. So, Jake, watch, how can you follow the Golden Girls?
I'm sorry. Golden Girls changing society, Jake, you're up. Well, don't you worry. I'm not, I can't follow that in the Golden Girls rule.
But I'm going to another legendary filmmaker, TV producer who has since left us, Mr David Lynch. I need to talk about an episode of Twin Peaks. That is absolutely insane that it got put on television. But I am saying that no one thought well it was in his revival, which was very like self-serving where he basically got enough like control to make the sort of final series that he actually did want to make.