‘Task’ Episode 2: The Rat Theory

Hello, welcome back to the Prestige TV podcast feed.

I'm Jonah Robinson.

I'm Rob Mahoney.

We're here today with episode two of Task.

Very exciting.

Very excited, Bill will be joining us once again to break that down here in the studio.

We've also been continuing to do hooked episodes.

Those have been really, really fun.

Just a good excuse to go back to and rediscover some great things about some of the greatest shows that have ever been made.

A lot of opinions from our listeners about what we've gotten wrong and right.

Mostly right.

Okay.

And then at the end of September, we're doing Slow Horses.

It's a great time to be on the Prestige Feed.

An incredible return to Slow Horses for us.

One of our most cherished shows.

I honestly can't wait for it.

All right.

Well, let's get into episode two.

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The Prestige TV Podcast episode two.

Task.

I'm here with Joanna Robinson.

Yeah.

DJ Bassanova.

What was it?

DJ Brassanova.

Look, I got a couple of rules.

No freaking, no grinding, no straddling on this podcast.

I think

what about twerking, though?

We'll see.

Okay.

It's a long pod.

I'm Bill Simmons, and I love this show.

Wow.

Yeah.

We were worried that episode two would be just keep the chains moving, get a couple first downs.

It was not.

A bunch of stuff happened.

I like you're still in your football.

It's not going to stop anytime.

I'm going to start here.

And there's so many things to get to with where the show's going, all the plots that are in play.

The Ruffalo family table scene where they were like, here's the Emmy right here.

Take it.

Just everything going on in that scene.

We have like a dysfunctional, fucked up family drama with great acting on top of all the other stuff that was going.

It was just such a great scene.

And it's like the kind of stuff, if you're going to be a really special show.

You need scenes like that.

And there's all these different things.

Oh, what's going on here?

What's going on there?

It's, it's harrowing.

But that scene was great.

I was listening to another Brad Engelsby interview where he was talking about how he feels like he's good at character, but not.

He's like, I feel very confident about character, but not so much plot.

And he's like, I think of plot as an excuse to spend time with these characters.

So when we get these scenes like the dinner table scene, or I would say DJ Grasanova and Lizzie scene or like

Robbie talking to Sam about making pancakes and all that sort of stuff and chicken, petting chickens and stuff.

That stuff is what Brad Engelsby is so incredibly good at.

It's why we loved that sandwich sharing scene from the first episode.

Like these, just these character moments of like these two people or these group of people really revealing who they are, the specificity of their life.

And then there are these like larger plot mechanics that just

move them around to get us to those scenes.

And that's what really hits.

Yeah, for someone who's bad at plotting, self-admittedly, this is still really good plotting.

I wouldn't say, I don't say he was bad at plotting, but he's like, that's secondary to me wanting to just have these scenes where people talk to each other.

Well, at the heart of this family confrontation, it's like you have basically these two sisters who have very different perspectives on how they should treat the testimony towards their incarcerated brother.

And it's like, Sarah, the older biological sister, is kind of a real piece of work and also 100%, I think, understandable, if not justified in her rage and her anger about like, I mean, Ruffalo kind of lays it out very plainly.

Like, this is a man who like misses his wife and misses his son.

And they're all going through like their version of that sort of agony.

And it's like, you get that consolidated at one table with all these great performances.

Everyone is delivering.

And I feel like twisted up and gnarled just watching it.

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If you care about basketball even though literally you're checking it out today ball over everything and you both you and matt are like can i just go you know what this seems like a very personal moment take my cholula and my piece of slice and go well and you have the faith piece lingering over all of this which is obviously the big picture kind of over here theme for the show but he has that piece about

you know,

trying to figure out how to pray for this and nothing happens.

So we got that answer.

What happened to the family member?

And we got that answer right through the eyeballs because, wow, shoved down the stairs, broken neck.

Yeah.

Pled guilty, third-degree murder.

It's unclear when it happened, but it feels like maybe like a year or two earlier or longer.

I would say like within the last year would be my guess.

I was trying to date, would this be the kind of thing for, again, Sarah, the biological sister, where like her mom wouldn't have even been able to meet her baby?

Like, is that the kind of timing where it could be like especially painful and dicey because of something like that?

Yeah.

All right.

So we have this plot, but at the same time, we have this this whole other, we have, we have the good guys, we have the bad guys, but then we have the good guys.

Who are the good guys?

Yeah.

The good guys are Ruffalo and those guys just trying to figure out.

And the medium guys are Robbie.

They're the bad guys, but they're not because there's bad guys.

The motorcycle club.

We have the batteries.

Dark Arts.

Is the motorcycle club that bad?

Well, is this?

Rob, do you still belong to Dark Arts or no?

Do you still have your jacket?

Do you have the tattoo of the jacket on your back?

So the tattoo was kind of a deal-breaker for me.

I'm trying to get in.

I'm trying to see what their 401k match situation is.

It's all very complicated i do love though with all of these motorcycle gangs the adorable leadership positions i think like there is a like burly dude out there who's like a pure bruiser who's also the treasurer of the dark hearts and if he can do that why can't i take minutes why can't i help them admit to the roles

i would love to be the comptroller of the dark hearts

Is it dark hearts?

I thought they were saying dark arts.

That's the delco accent.

That's what they practice.

Yeah.

What's better?

Dark hearts or dark hearts?

I think dark arts is a better motorcycle name, but like the logo is, you know, the hearts.

Here's what I wrote down for following plots in play.

Yeah.

Bad guys stealing from even badders.

How do we sell these drugs conundrums?

Yes.

A great idea.

What do you do in that situation, Rob?

You just wait, you would lay low for six months and then kind of quietly shop it?

Why do we have to sell these drugs?

Let's not get too hasty.

Facebook Marketplace exists.

Why do we have to sell these drugs?

That's a lot of flushing.

It was a lot of drugs.

Put it in the market.

Are you sure the pipes can handle it i know it's 12 kilos that's me i'm putting it in the woods i'm driving like 10 oh just dumping 10 miles into the woods i'm just dumping it somewhere yeah exactly because they don't have to sell it they don't because there are criminal like undertakings where you do have to sell it because you owe that money to someone you promise that money but whoever they are beholden to is the motorcycle club leak and whoever that person is is in no position to demand money from them.

I think they're beholden to whoever's leaking the information, as you're saying, Joe.

They're also beholden, it seems, to like a sense of retribution or revenge like it it's not all laid out in terms of the dots so far but strongly hinted that robbie's brother was a member of this gang and was basically beaten to death as a result of something that he did by jason so it's like you don't need the money but you need but here's flushing the fentanyl as much you did already inflict the pain i don't think they need to sell this fentanyl that's a great call i don't think they do great conversation it's a social media breakout should they sell the fentanyl uh but those are two other plots the who Who is their leak?

Yeah.

Have we met that person yet?

I have the strongest theory.

And then also, what is the background of him having a grudge where he clearly wants to start stealing from these guys?

We also have two different groups of people chasing the bad guys, which is a great little movie trip.

The good guys chase him, but also the really bad guys.

So we have two people in demand.

We have a missing kid kidnapping plot.

One of my favorites.

Sam.

A favorite of the Simmons family.

We love kidnapping.

Oh, do you?

Oh, just recreationally.

As a story to do.

As a family bonding experience.

Is Sam like the cutest little cream puff of a kid who's ever been on a show?

He just loves animals.

He just wants to pet the chicken and get a Batman toy because he completed Reading Club.

Do chickens have dreams, Rob?

I hope we get to the bottom of that.

He's honestly like...

Disconcertingly adorable.

I'm so worried.

They cast one of the most adorable kids on the planet, as far as I'm concerned.

They swaddle him in in an eagle's blanket

of the world, with his name on it.

I was curious.

I did some digging.

Ben Lewis Doherty, the actor who plays young Sam, self-avowed by his IMDb page.

This is a direct quote, a rabid New York sports fan.

How does he feel about being in the Eagles blanket?

I would love to get his take on it.

Tough.

Here's one thing about Sam.

Here's one thing that's always going to be true about Sam.

He's going to pop up where you don't want him to be.

Back of Maeve's car.

Just wherever you don't want Sam to be, that's where he'll be.

I have a nitpick.

I think this kid is way more fucked up in real life.

When they give the background of what what his seven years were growing up and he basically the foster people foster police had to come multiple times and they pulled him away he's with his grandmother at dementia i think this kid has developed some bad habits we haven't seen the darkness in him yet

well maybe not maybe it's coming what happens if you don't give him his lego set what is what happens if he doesn't get to pet the chicken pulling a pocket knife out

he is going to show up dead one day no for dinner so we have the missed kid kidnapping plot i want to get in that we have the heroine trapped in the middle of everything who might end up taking the fall potentially.

Maeve.

Maeve.

I'm loving Maeve.

I don't know what her move is.

We'll get to that.

We have the dysfunctional family piece.

We have a budding office romance because we need one.

A couple cigarettes, talk logwen, Stefano.

You nailed this one so quickly.

I did.

And then we have bike gang culture and we have solving a crime culture.

Just a lot going on.

So what's your favorite thing about this show?

I think those little character moments that you talked about.

I think watching Anthony Grasso and Lizzie talk about his DJing career over a cigarette that she grudgingly lets him borrow because she has enough left in the pack.

I think learning that Robbie knows how to make pancakes from scratch without a recipe.

I think like all these little specific character moments as like the motorcycle club plot.

Very sons of anarchy.

Like that's not why I'm going to tune into this show.

But the authenticity of the characters and how I care about

so many of these characters who are at cross purposes.

So I want Robbie to be okay and I want Tom to get his guy.

And those two things cannot be true.

And so I'm on the edge of my seat as to how my heart's going to be broken.

What's your favorite Rob?

I think it's the Brandis family drama stuff for me and kind of how all this unfolds with the testimonies, with who wants to participate and who doesn't, how these people are treating each other.

Like those sisters, I mean, I would say the most lukewarm hug I've ever seen.

Maybe at least tepid, maybe downright frosty.

Frosty.

And the giant-ass glug of wine that Sarah took out of her glass when she was asked, Have you visited your brother in prison?

Family clocked.

Oh, yeah.

Who is the guy at the table?

I couldn't figure that out.

He's a lawyer.

Yeah, he's the attorney.

He's their attorney.

But I think a family friend.

Yeah.

I think they were kind of

a head.

He seemed like he had a feel for the family.

Yeah.

And he's like,

he's like, oh boy, here they go.

What's the Brandis's?

Here go the Brandises.

Yeah, exactly.

I think my favorite, I thought thought Maeve,

our girl from Coda, I thought she was great in this episode, but I think I'm the most attached to like,

there's some, she's too in-depth now.

Like, she's probably going to jail no matter how this plays out.

There's no way to dump the kid, which she kind of tried to do sort of, but it wasn't, it was a quasi-good plan, except the problem is Sam knows her name, Maeve.

He knows Robbie's name.

You know, he knows too many names at this point.

Whether or not he can lead them back to the house is, is incidental.

Here's the real issue.

He would know, like, I was spent some time with this lady, Maeve.

Yeah, Maeve, exactly.

Who happens to work next door to the place I was driving?

Here's the real issue with Maeve: is that Tom has seen her face now, right?

And there's this other thread of the investigation because they mentioned Billy, they mentioned Billy's daughter, and he's like, oh, I'll get Billy's last name for you.

So Tom's going to go talk to Billy's daughter about what happened to Billy and then be like, oh, I know you.

I saw you earlier.

Right.

So you've got to be connected to this.

The most important reveal we had in all of this, other than that, there's a source inside the gang, which we probably could have figured out in the first episode, but

we didn't know what happened to her father.

Who's what's his face's brother?

Robbie's brother, Billy.

Yeah.

Now we know.

We know the biker gag was involved.

And that's going to be easy to move those jigsaw puzzle pieces together as Ruffalo tries to figure out what happened here.

I think when you were were breaking down the components of the show, Joe, like the Sons of Anarchy type show that's happening in the background of the show, I love it in the background as sort of the mechanism that's building pressure for everybody else.

It's like, that's a cool show, but as you said, we've seen it before.

We know how that plays out.

But what if it's just turning the screws on everybody else?

What if that's like the element that's exacting violence?

It's the element that's figuring out.

Honestly, the biker gang has a great intelligence network all its own, it seems like.

They know about the task force.

They know about Ruffalo.

They know about everything happening already.

That's why I think we we have a rat animal situation.

A rat animal.

Do we have a snake?

I don't know.

I think we have

someone inside.

We definitely have someone inside the MC who's ratting on the MC to Robbie, right?

But do we have someone inside either the task force or the police force at large?

They're definitely moling for the most actual.

Yeah, they're moles.

It's

like a furbish.

I like it.

So here's

my question.

Of the three people on the task force,

Lizzie,

DJ Grasso Novo, and Aaliyah.

Aaliyah,

who is most likely to be informing?

The most obviously would be Grasso because he has, like, this is organized crime is his beat.

He's the one to give the intel on the motorcycle club, blah, blah, blah.

Motorcycle clubs need DJs.

They would have the connection.

Exactly.

They're not going to straddle and bend and grind by themselves.

These guys love Kid Cuddy.

But Aaliyah is so interesting because we know nothing about her.

yes and that's an incredible actress and i don't think you cast her to like oh the old joanna robinson you're overqualified for a seemingly meaningless i mean we don't know anything about her and you know she was like the lead of underground railroad and like in the woman king like she's a great actress so like i'm suspicious that we haven't learned anything about her so who do you think she's actually working for the motorcycle club

Informing the motorcycle.

That's a big theory.

No, that's not my biggest theory.

That's one of the theories.

Because I've got the rat theory, too.

That's my mole.

Okay.

And we're going to hear that rat theory right after this.

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All right, what's the rat theory?

Jason, who's the head of this chapter of the dark hearts.

The president.

Refer to him by his text.

I have some respect.

We serve at his pleasure.

His girlfriend, Erin, or wife, Erin, or whatever.

I would say, here's my theory, that she was cheating on him with Billy.

That's how Billy died.

And as part of a I will help you get vengeance plot, she's leaking information to Robbie.

Oh, I like this.

Honestly, my antenna were pointing to the guy who was

gingerbeard with red herring.

Yes.

See, maybe he's too red.

Maybe he's too ginger.

Ginger herring.

Yeah.

I mean, the combination of his sort of like outsized reaction and declaring that Sam was dead when they're first having the conversation and then him kind of like skulking out of the bar during the biker wake later is like, there's obviously something happening with this guy, but maybe it is a red herring.

Joe might just be like four beats ahead of this show.

Erin,

her first question,

because she's there when he gets the phone call.

Her first question is, do they know who did it?

And we're, and she's at the dinner.

We get a shot of her when Perry rolls up.

Also, again, that actress, she was in Daredevil and the acolyte.

Like, I know her.

and i'm just like why are you here why are you here and why would they make they go out of their way to talk about how jason is this really like disciplined by the book president of this chapter he doesn't abide you know them tasting the product like he's got them all in line but he lost his shit on billy and beat him to death for hours yeah for a mysterious infraction we don't know about What's more mysterious than the human heart than love?

How do you run for the president of the dark hearts?

I mean, is it every three years?

Is it every four?

I believe you get your mentor to beat the current president to death, which is what happens at Jason.

That's one message.

You got to throw like a beat to death.

But even then, you got to go to convention.

You got to get the dark hearts super delegate.

It's a very involved process.

Got to go on some podcasts.

You've got to make the rounds.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

All right.

So bad guys stealing from even baddies.

Inglesby has flipped this.

We're not rooting for people who are bad people.

They've kidnapped a kid yes they've just home invasion shot multiple people they've committed murder uh and yet i feel bad for them and i'm rooting for them i i don't know how this happens over and over again

well

but i mean number one i'm cheering for the product to get moved that's really what i'm rooting for the number one thing they should have done already is dump the kid somewhere not murder not take him home yeah not take him home but the kid's half asleep he's like oh there's two guys with a beard like he's not gonna remember everything now you gotta get rid of him yeah now he knows oh they have two other kids there's some lady named maeve

rob are we headed

toward a child murder in like episode five oh my god no because i'm just sam's got to make it are we sure

and would that be one of the dark moments in hbo history i wouldn't put it past the show we wouldn't see it it's not like we're going to see him get a bullet in the head but it'll be one of those am i allowed to spoil merivistown spoilers for merivistown yes came out like five years ago.

I mean, like, a kid did it in Merovistown, so I guess Brad's not above like involving kids in dark crimes.

It's going to get to some bleak places.

And even if it doesn't happen, they're going to talk about doing it for sure.

It has to be my theory.

Yes.

I have a bill theory.

Oh, I love a bill theory.

Out of nowhere, a monologue about deer.

Okay.

Yeah.

Episode five.

Hey, let's go see this deer that's been floating around the form.

We go in the back.

The kids walking around.

There he is.

Oh.

and then wide shot bullet crows scattering yeah yeah i love the scattering crows scattering oh yeah otherwise

otherwise you don't know how else would they we know that they're dead yeah exactly and then it becomes like a godfather to fredo then we go back and it's he's no longer standing looking at the deer we just see the kid in the ground and we see the guy just is it robbie who does it I think it has to be Robbie.

I don't think the other guy has it in him.

Cliff is freaking out already.

He could barely cut hair five days a week.

There's no way he's...

But see, I feel like Cliff might be more capable of it, even though he seems like a relative sweetheart relative to a biker gang himself.

Like getting bullied into doing it?

Well, just that so far what we've seen, Robbie, not the brightest guy in the world.

If anything, the way the show is being set up, Maeve seems like a little sharper in terms of at least coming up with some sort of plan to ditch Sam somewhere to get out of this situation.

She remembers the lost and found films.

Yeah.

She's putting pieces together.

Robbie's a guy who's just like reacting to stuff in over his head and like clearly has a bit of a bleeding heart.

And I think that's what's ultimately going to bump up against this issue.

Like, what do we do with this kid?

He just wants to be a dad and go to some little league games.

Kind of be a dad.

I have a question.

Father-daughter dance that's on Thursday that he swears he's been looking forward to.

Yes.

Does he make it to the father-daughter dance?

And he goes, and it's like tender and beautiful, and that makes it even sadder?

Yeah.

Or does he not make it to the father-daughter dance?

I think it's a tender and beautiful.

We have that event, and we have the potential release slash hearing sentencing thing that's going to be like episode four yeah so that's coming and then cliff just has to die within i think the first five or six episodes if he doesn't seem long for fandom's odds for cliff over under episodes probably five and a half peaches wasn't even on the board to make it past episode one so he's gone understandable and his fiancé kaylee and really her dad

put a very tough I think Sam is the the over-under would be six and a half I think Sam is making it.

Sam is making it.

I don't know.

I'm going under.

Sam's not making it.

That kid is so cute.

You cannot kill that kid.

I don't know if I'm prepared to come on here and have the cheery, jokey child murder podcast for episode 20.

I think Inglesby's going for it in this.

I think he wants to get as dark as possible and really get into faith and how far can human beings go.

Oh my gosh.

It's the feeling.

Here's what I'll say.

I definitely think they'll talk about it.

I think Robbie will struggle with this is the thing I should do.

But ultimately, I don't think Robbie is that guy.

I don't think Robbie is the guy who can kill the cat.

I think DJ Grassonoma does too.

I mean, one of the task force probably has to die.

Definitely.

Takes one in the neck where he's doing this thing and the blood.

He's trying to hold Lizzie.

And Lizzie's like, no.

When he did the thing about pizza on Fridays,

I was like, this guy's dying.

But he likes it.

He's too big of a

poppy.

Yeah, Fabian Frank.

I actually thought he might really be from somewhere in the East Coast, and then I found out he's from England.

He was from Westeros.

Rob's from England.

Rob uses an accent.

I hide it very well.

Rob's from Newcastle.

Right, right.

He moved to America to learn how to talk about basketball in an American accent.

Big Lou Alden guy, though.

Just a proud culture of British basketball.

You're saying someone named Mahoney is from Newcastle?

Yeah, that's probably

how do we feel about Maeve completely blowing the whole not locking the car door?

Not completely blowing it because, I mean, yes, she slightly blew it.

Locked the car.

But also, she escaped trunk search.

That was quick thinking from Maeve.

Sat nip pick.

I'm not sure the kid's quiet for seven minutes.

I mean, this is the most well-behaved kid on the planet we've already seen.

I'm not sure that kid doesn't just like show up to the lineup of kids and he's like, Maeve?

He's just at the end of the line.

Who are you?

For like, that's not quite a set piece.

It is a woman in a car trying to get out of a parking lot.

It's tense.

I thought it was like as pulse pounding a thing that we've seen on TV all year, basically, which for episode two, like we're getting the incredible B ⁇ E stuff in episode one, we're getting these sorts of sequences in episode two.

I'm just like along for the dramatic ride of all of these, again, like very concentrated sequences.

It's a great show.

That one part when he's talking about the guy getting beaten to death and brains going everywhere.

And then they kind of seamlessly edit right into Maeve to make it clear that it was.

Yeah, I was talking to him.

Hey, here's the connection with David.

They did that a couple times.

Oh, okay.

They did that a couple times where he's like, where he was like, when Robbie was talking to Sam, and he's like, my brother used to work with your dad before you were born, and then they cut to the motorcycle club while he's still talking.

Very helpful for all of us.

For sure.

And the difference between just like a show with an ensemble where we jump, jump, jump, jump, jump to one that feels a little bit more manicured in the way it's transitioning with all this stuff.

Remember, I had my thing about

how much do you look down at the iPad during a show?

Yes.

Is it like a 70% watching?

Friends and neighbors was like a high percentage.

Yeah, that was in like the 50s, 60s.

There's been some other ones in the 30s.

This is like I put the iPod down.

Nice.

You can't miss anything.

Yeah.

There's too much going on.

He's putting too many Easter eggs all over the place.

And even like, in the family scene, I lost attention for one second.

And then I was like, wait, is she saying she's the wife or the mother?

And I got, I was like, I had to rewind.

I'm like, all right, that's it.

iPad's down.

We need a New York Times style needle of the Bill Simmons like focus meter, zero to 100 for every show.

Like, why, why does that mean?

I want to give, were you thinking about our time with the staircase at all when she was talking about her mom going down the stairs?

Flashback?

Totally.

Digital or something.

Not just flashback to the staircase, but will we get, we're getting the flashback episode.

It's got to happen.

I mean, again, you know, Casmarinos for a photograph.

But so Phoebe Foxy plays Sarah, who I know from The Great, another English actor.

She's really great.

She's not to, I mean, sorry, but yeah.

She's really great on the great and she's really great in this.

But the sound she she made when Emily's like, she's my mom too.

And she was like,

is she?

I was like, that is cold as ice and really well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

My wife is really tough.

Really engaging.

Really tough.

Especially when you foreground it with, we get the sequence earlier in the episode of Emily in Therapy.

And she's talking about like the thing that she's most, the thing that she's afraid of is that her brother is going to be in prison and not get help.

for the mental health problems he clearly has and has been struggling with for a long time.

The thing that she's even more afraid of is that he's going to come back to their home in five years, which is like as soon as he could get out of prison.

Which is what Sarah lays out is like, can you imagine?

So they're on the same page, but can't communicate that to each other.

And also the way in which Emily is like thirsty for family, like the way that she holds her nephew on her lap, like that baby, it's just like she wants to be connected to her family.

I was really happy that.

Tom Went and found her and was sober enough to find her and take her home, you know?

As far as like little callbacks and grace notes go, like her going to the dugout where her brother was after that previous blow up when they were kids like yeah just these little things that sort of wrenches your heart you know what i realized watching this episode mark ruffalo is really good at playing these guys that their life has just kind of beaten them down they had that one wide shot of him just mowing a sandwich at his desk

it's just perfect the sandwich performance

not even chewing not even chewing like the first three bites before he's on to the fourth having no napkin so having to use the wrapper to like he had someone on his like sauce on his glasses it was a whole thing and we can remember that in spotlight he's great in spotlight but the pizza scene yeah when that guy when he comes by and he's just he hasn't like decorated his apartment yet and then the guy's like i brought you a pizza he's like oh thank you yeah he's just good at playing like these kind of life beat me down losers when he and gross are having the conversation in the car about his previous life as a chaplain you see him like when you when you go to these places people want to know why god let it happen i mean was god the original he knew when he let it happen

right

He's been there the whole time.

Crazy.

Here's a really, I think, key piece of Tom Intel that we get in that car scene is that he sounds like he left the priesthood for his wife in 2003.

In part, at least.

So in, it's like the fleabag season to what if he made the other choice.

But it's like, that's how important Susan was to him.

Yeah.

Is that he left his like vocation that he had studied for to marry her and

she's dead.

And like that he's he's protective of Emily and he's frustrated with Sarah for her behavior at the dinner table, but he is also not making that family statement, not visiting his son in jail.

You know, so he is in between Emily and Sarah in terms of like, he's defensive of him.

He says, I miss my son, but he won't go see him and he won't make a statement on his behalf.

And he's struggling with it.

I thought that it's easy to talk about forgiveness when it's not your lost speech in that family meeting.

Like that is heavyweight, heavyweight shit.

And it's so funny, like, all of these ways in which he is kind of a mess.

He's also the person best positioned to sort of hold the family together by the nature of his role in it.

We talked about you can count on me last week.

He's almost doing like the Laura Linney role, where it's like he's falling apart, but he's trying to get his arms around this thing that you just cannot get your arms around.

There's a slight whiff of Manchester by the Sea in this show in this show.

For sure, for sure.

Where he's ruffled in like episode six, it's just going to do the, I can't beat it.

I can't beat it.

to get him we need to get him a hoodie he can't do that in a button down he has to do it the fact of the vhs being heat meets manchester by the sea for this show is accurate but with a little signs and departed and this wrinkled in yeah and like whatever what biker gang movie are we i guess sons of anarchy

anarchy we're throwing there yeah so there's a lot of stuff on the table that i feel like there's only seven episodes like we're already two sevenths of the way I know through here.

Every time we're in the biker bar, I'm in.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

Did you watch, were you a Sons of Anarchy fan?

Did you watch that show?

I never did.

What did I miss out on?

Should I have watched it?

The first couple seasons were absolute.

I love that you watched that but not the Sopranos.

I'll never figure out.

It was on after the Sopranos.

The Sopranos, I was in college.

I was not watching TV.

I like the whole, I like the whole hierarchy.

I like how they have their own little, their gimmicks and their cute little

matching vests.

Like when they go see Peaches's, I guess, ex, Kaylee.

tough one, which I had to re-watch.

It was the

guy that was next to her, yeah, yeah, her dad because they didn't do a good job, they should have showed him open in the door so you specifically knew it was her, but I guess you're trying to infer it's her dad, I guess.

Yeah, I'm confused about the timeline, so she and her dad just moved there a couple weeks ago.

I think she just moved there.

Oh, and her dad's there to be with Peaches.

Okay, so she was in the home that she shares with Peaches, yes, and her dad was like, I'm here to help you through this time, but also I fucking told you so, and I knew that guy was a piece of shit.

It's hard because he's not 100% wrong.

Yeah.

Like, Peaches did not seem like the best, most upstanding citizen, but also this is a devastating situation for our girl, Kaylee.

I don't think they're surviving this evening.

Kaylee

maybe.

No, that is.

That has to be bloodbath.

Yeah.

Just nitpick.

I thought that was a pretty bad actress.

Kaylee.

Pretty bad acting performance.

That was my soulmate.

It was like, what are you doing?

Everybody else is up.

But like, what kind of girl is going to be with a guy like Peaches?

That's the question you have to ask yourself.

I need a little more.

Might have got one more take.

It's also tough being the one person in the lineup who's like, everyone else is delivering on such a high level.

If you're even just good, you're going to get a lot of people.

Okay, I had one, I had a performance beat question.

Yes.

Perry, who plays like, you know, he's on the board that sits above Jason

President.

Yeah.

They got cute little patches and everything.

Yeah.

I just love it.

The 12.

That he,

when he grabs Jason's face and he's like, it's a kid.

That felt a little overwrought to me.

A little overwrought moment.

Interesting.

A little overacting?

Never on a show like this?

That being said, when he's talking to the bartender,

I love that moment.

She's like, who's asking?

You?

I'm cleaning my toilet.

Great.

Great another nitpick.

I just think the whole police lineup with Maeve

poorly handled.

I would still look in the trunk of her car.

More questions.

I'm like, wait a second.

So, why'd you call us?

What's going on with you?

Like, I just feel they've been looking, this is the biggest story in the whole area.

Well, I don't think that they know that she's the one who called.

They don't.

She was just saying, oh, I saw a kid that looked lost.

And then she's like, that's the kid that looked lost.

And they just assume bad, bad move from the cops, but just assume that that's the same kid.

I'm pulling her aside for 15 more minutes.

I agree.

That would be good police work.

I agree with you.

They also know the call came from that store.

No, they know it came from a cell phone.

From a cell phone

located within a certain radius.

Her coworker, though, is like, what's going on?

The girl with the red braids is like, that ZD invitation has been recently.

I thought everything about the plan was terrible.

She thought that was a bad?

I thought it was bad.

She brings the kid right to where she works.

Like, pick another shopping center.

I think because she knew that she could get to a phone that she wasn't linked to.

Yes.

Because how else are you getting to a phone that wouldn't be like on a surveillance camera?

Because payphones aren't a thing anymore.

So what phone do you call from?

I miss payphones.

We do see a lot of burners, you know.

You know, the drug dealers buy their burners on this show for sure, but Maeve does not.

Yeah, but how about buy a burner?

But then you're on camera buying a burner.

Is that enough?

I don't know.

God, I think that stores that sell burners should not have cameras.

That's what I think.

Counterproductive to business at minimum.

What'd you think of the ending with she brings the kid back?

What have you done to us?

Yeah.

Double somebody, a kid kid getting carried.

Little,

what have you done to us?

I thought was good.

I mean, I think it's really interesting to know that Maeve was brought up in the motorcycle club.

Yes.

Like, not just that Billy was connected, but like she knew Joanne.

She knew Derek.

When Derek, when Robbie with his mask on is threatening Derek and Derek, the guy who got his brains blown out, he's like, I know your voice.

Why do I know you?

So it's not just that like Maeve was brought up in the motorcycle club, but like they knew Robbie.

They know these people.

Yeah, yeah.

And how quickly Maeve puts together exactly who Sam is.

It's like 12, 12 minutes, basically, between the moment where Robbie is selling her this bill of goods.

Oh, this is my friend,

my friend's kid, his mom is sick, yada, yada, yada.

And it's like, oh, no, we're not spending even an episode believing that.

It is sorted and done, and we are trying to get this kid out of the house.

Great Google.

But I think that

knowing that Maeve grew up in that culture and also knowing, you know, the title of the episode is Family Statements, which deals directly with Sarah and Emily and Tom and that table scene but like the way that the motorcycle club thinks of everyone in the club as family so billy was maeve was family at a certain point um i think those ties are really interesting we were wondering like how closely connected is maeve to all of this and now she's just in the heart of this story she's from the motorcycle club can't escape it yeah

maeve over under six and a half episodes i think she i think maeve lives i really hope she i really hope she makes maeve and sam and the chicken all live that's how I feel.

You would have said the same thing in Merovistown about corresponding characters and been very wrong.

Yeah, that's true.

Luke, Robbie, there's a deer.

Bill, we need to get you on the record.

I thought one of my favorite moments of this is when Robbie and Cliff are waiting at the restaurant for their source to show up.

No shows.

And you get this like...

Longing curl jam look with a woman at the bar.

Where it's a big deal for them to green light a song.

Their favorite They're never stingy.

Yeah.

Even like in the 30-30 last dance, like just getting them to use present intense for the ending.

It took forever.

Do you think they got final cut on this?

Well, there was one other Pro Jam show where they used some of the music for.

I think they have to like the creator or have some sort of

relationship.

But yeah, I was like, oh, that was working nicely.

Yeah, that was good.

I loved it.

Another clue for my theory that it's the girlfriend is the mole.

They don't say, he's not coming.

They say, not coming.

Both Robbie and Cliff go, not coming.

He's not coming.

We just go.

We need the mole to clarify their pronouns, is what you're saying.

If they said, she's not coming, we would know.

So they just go, not coming, not coming.

So, characters we haven't met yet, have we met the Dominican drug lord?

Just a photo of

Freddie Freas.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So Freddie Frias, there's going to be a Freddy Freas scene.

And then he's kind of has to work with the bike gang, even though they're competition, which I always enjoy.

I like when the competition has to band together because somebody's breached.

By the way, the guy who plays Perry was on a major character on Sons of Anarchy.

So he knows how to do motorcycle club storylines.

And then we, and then we have, we're going to get a flashback with the lady from the killing.

Yeah, for sure.

Did I ever tell you how

a buddy of mine from high school who moved out here to become an actor in the 90s

might have bartended in a couple Melrose Place episodes.

Oh, nice.

I've seen Melrose Place as well.

Never really happened.

But

his big break was Michelle Pfeiffer in what lies beneath us.

What lies beneath?

Yeah.

What lies beneath.

He played her first husband before Harrison Ford picture

of them in a photo.

That's what we're like,

this is amazing.

He's as good as he is.

We were so excited.

So that was the peak.

But he was married to Michelle Pfeiffer in a movie.

You're telling your grandkids about that.

Absolutely.

The fact that you were cast at all.

Yeah.

So anyway, my point is usually it's people like my old friend Scott in those pictures, not the lady who's the lead of the killing.

So I think we'll come backwards.

Big questions about that.

I also have questions about the task force.

Are they living in this mold-infested house?

I think they're working out of it.

But they were working late.

And it seemed like when Ruffalo leaves for the night to deal with his family situation,

they're just kind of hanging, having cigarettes, like monitoring calls.

Like, are they just sleeping here?

I hope not.

They'll be knocking some poots on the bottom.

Well, he said, take a bedroom as an office, not like pick a bedroom.

Not like this is the real world house and first first come first bedroom sort of thing they should have seen like in the real world when they all run into yeah yeah yeah

i'm gonna take that room with the mold i very nearly wanted to pick nits on dj gross and nova's a quick id of lizzie's i would say just horrendous gwen stefani rendition with the headphones on there is no way a normal human being could have made that call but then but wait

There's an explanation for everything.

I don't think they could clear the song.

The Gwen Stefani song?

It was weird that we couldn't hear the song.

I thought it was really funny.

I think that was great.

I think she's great, Lizzie.

No thanks.

I'm a big Lizzie fan, I got to say.

She's been fun so far.

We should also say I was heartbroken to not get the snickerdoodle223 at gmail.com email address for this show.

We did, however, lock down DJ Grasanova at gmail.com.

If you have any questions that you're just about this show, email us.

I texted Rob last night.

I was like, should we get this email?

And he sent me proof that he already got it.

I was lying.

The second the words came out of his top of your game.

So grass

and OVA.

That's correct.

Yeah, grass and other two S's.

Yeah, two S's.

CJ, grass A-N-O-V-A at gmail.com.

Or as always, prestige TV at spotify.com.

Great job by you.

Predictions?

What do we got?

The ones you already made?

Yeah.

I'm so shaken up on the mole slash rat situation because I really did think it was Gingerbeard guy.

But I think Joe's really onto something, I think, with the girlfriend plug.

That makes a lot of sense to me.

So your prediction is prediction I mean what else what else what else have we got what else do we have to predict

it's the mole like what's the source of intel from the police from the task force to the motorcycle club well the most important thing that's going to happen in episode three is this another double murder that we're now going to have with the people getting

so they're going to be obviously they went and interviewed those people so now they're going to be like oh shit this went to a whole other level i'm actually going to say lizzie is the mole who's leaking information to the motorcycle club.

And Aaliyah is so well positioned at this point, by virtue of how little we know about her, to be the person who catches the mole.

Like she's going to be the person who starts putting together the weird clues.

Yes.

Yeah, okay.

Gotcha.

By the way, that reminds me of another small nitpick.

So

we have a triple murder or a quadruple murder.

Every time I walk in, I'm going to drink

my stomach growls, by the way.

That's an anti-endorsement for LaCroix.

So

we got a mother murder,

third-degree murder by Ethan.

Then we have the four dead bodies in the house and then the kidnapping.

Right, but we have four dead bodies of kidnapping and now two more murders.

At what point are they like, maybe Mark Ruffalo's character isn't, maybe Tom Brandis isn't the guy.

And Tom's like, guess what?

I agree.

Take me off the cage.

Why am I here?

Even the motorcycle game.

Even the big guns.

Yeah.

Well, they're underestimating him.

Clearly.

They don't know.

But superpower.

I think they're problems with the music.

Which is vodka.

And God.

Yeah.

That is another good one when the bad guys in the movie are like, oh, that guy's doing it.

He sucks.

Tony worries.

You don't have to worry about him.

It's like, no, you're going to have to worry about him.

Yeah, yeah.

They're like,

he just wants to eat his sandwich.

It's like, no, he wants to eat his sandwich and solve crimes.

Cannot blame him.

Both.

I have a small prediction.

I think we see the Dominican drug lord in episode three.

I think there's a showdown.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah.

And is it an actor we've heard of?

Elvis Velasco.

It's our scouting report on Elvis.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I have seen him in some things, not a ton of things, but yeah, he's been around.

So maybe it's a one-seener.

Is he the drug dealer they have to go to with the fentanyl because they have so much weight, or is that a different guy we have yet to see?

No, that's the guy.

That's the guy.

The Dominican drug dealer is the guy that now Robbie and Cliff need to go to to unload the fentanyl.

According to the biker game.

The biker gang.

And I think we get murderous Not On My Med brother in jail.

I think we get our first two-way glass scene.

And I don't know who goes visit him.

It's probably the adopted.

Emily's the only one who will.

We're probably due for that.

They don't want me to stick up for you.

They did physically describe him.

He's skinnier.

His hair is shorter.

It's going to surprise you to see him.

Going through some stuff.

Yeah.

Some solid points about what it's going to be like in five years when he's just back in the room upstairs making cereal.

I'm saying we can let him out of jail.

We don't have to invite him back into the family home.

There's like a middle grass.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Maybe a hotel, those hostile hotels.

Forgiveness can have a ceiling to it.

It could be not in my backyard.

You know what I mean?

Wow.

And more strong sense.

Yeah, I'm nimbying on

my last question.

degree murder?

More animal talk with Sam.

I think he's got some thoughts on rabbits.

Oh, my God.

Why does Sam want to talk to deer?

Especially.

He said especially instead of especially.

He's like, especially.

Especially.

That's when they know they got you.

When they threw in the especially.

That's a writing scene.

A bald eagle scene.

Yeah.

Something, a majestic animal encounter will be coming.

Maybe it's a deer, maybe not.

And maybe some, there's an interaction with the other two kids scene, although one of them's older.

But there's another kid that's around his age

who loves a fart joke yeah yeah who loves a

chicken butt joke absolutely but i think maeve has to make a move and what her

her move in this third episode she's either she's either got to get out of this or she's in for good now i'm worried that she's going to go to the motorcycle club at some point that's what i'm she's going to try to solve things herself yeah talk to someone she thinks is sympathetic in the motorcycle club.

The woman bartender,

the woman that I think is the rapper.

They're just called bartenders, Joe.

I just don't know the character's name.

I didn't say female bartender.

I liked it.

Also, we might have a Darkheart Dark Hearts primary.

D.

He calls her D.

I don't know what that's short for.

We might have a Dark Hearts primary.

It might be primary season.

It's October.

The show's running.

I mean, that's what Perry's saying.

Perry's like, Jason, you're

at risk.

Yeah, you are at risk.

You're going to be impeached if you keep this up.

But who's going to replace him?

Gingerbeard?

There's not a lot of good...

There's no

pipeline.

You know what?

It's a common problem we're finding out.

The pipeline of supplanting.

I feel like Derek was well positioned and now he's gone.

So did Sounds of Anarchy have like that hierarchy thing with a president and all that stuff?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

I think I would like that show.

Oh, you would.

Ron Perlman.

Yeah, I met him.

Charlie Hunnam.

Yep.

Yeah.

It's a great show.

I missed out on that one.

It's never too bad.

There's prospects.

I know a lot about motorcycle culture.

I watched every single episode of that show.

And now I know why it was for this moment.

There's you preparing.

Yeah.

All right.

So task through two episodes.

You're still A-plus.

Oh, yeah.

Huge thumbs up.

Just the the kind of premiere Sunday night entertainment we deserve.

I'm going to pull a Molly Rubin and say I'm already sad that we only have five more episodes left at this show.

I'm already sad at whoever's going to die.

And if it is a child,

if Sam dies before he gets his Batman Lego set, I'm going to be very upset.

Do I get enough credit for breaking Joe from watching four episodes ahead of time?

We need that.

This is better, right?

This is a better process for the pod.

This is better.

Although, I think you nailed like five of the predictions.

It's concerning.

Inglesby is watching this going, God damn it, this this Joanne.

Joanna Robinson?

She was in the room with me.

The animal.

HBO can tell when I've watched screeners when I haven't, so they know I'm telling the truth.

I've only watched two episodes.

She hasn't seen it, but she has been skulking around in Brad Inglesby's house, watching the boards, seeing what's up there.

Going through his trial, you know, it's the only way to know for sure.

Her version, I'm going to go basketball nerd for a second.

Her version of how Sam Presty likes length is

figuring out with the IMDb who's overqualified for the seemingly meaningless.

That's her Sam Presti.

Who's falling into the Roger Ebert economy of characters?

You know, there's just too many people here who are going to shake loose.

Yeah.

Why is that for this?

Hmm.

Yeah, you've taught me that.

All right.

Prestige TV.

Thanks, Justin.

Thanks, Kai.

We'll be back probably on Zoom for episode three.

Sounds fun.

But we'll have to reconvene for the last two.

I mean, Jesus.

Yeah.

We need you.

We need to do the first six screeners and then.

I need your sympathy for us when Sam does die.

And you can gloat and say you were right, but also I I need your sympathy.

There'd be no gloating, more of a like, look, I'm a veteran in the process.

The dear monologue, call my, raise my hackles.

This is the thing that I found podcasting with you is that you will say things.

I'm like, there's no way that can happen.

And then it happens.

So that's, that's the bill effect.

He's not making it.

We're going dark all the way through.

Okay.

Well, protect Sam.

Meanwhile, I'm just Anthony Grosso over here.

I'm just playing Calvin.

I'm just bumping Calvin Harris, hoping that it does the job.

Just having pepperoni pizza on Fridays.

You're just living your life.

Absolutely.

All right.

Good to see you both.

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