‘The Pitt’ S2E6. Plus, Apple Takes ‘Severance’ in-House and the ‘Spider-Noir’ Trailer.

What do you mean by "fart"?

At the moment, I check the code. Oh, huh! Homer was warned! It took about 150 euros a year.

“Yeah, right, but how do you know what you mean?”

Why? Why do you say the start of life? That's just the story for all of you. Yes, I mean, that's just the story. Twenty-four-seven and unobamment, that's just the only one who understands us.

You mean, you say it with this story. Now, let's try it out. I need support to have to clear the room. Stand up and walk, now. Hello, and welcome to The Watch.

My name is Chris Ryan. I am an editor at TheRanger.com and join me in the studio on a permanent hiatus from competitive hot dog eating. It's hitting beholds! What are you doing, buddy? The engine needs a little bit of work.

We need a little bit of oil forward in there. You? What's going on? I'm tired, man. We did.

Yeah, did the live show last night for Bill?

First, let's be clear. You didn't perform a solo live show for Bill. We're going to be like, "Dant Monkey. Do wing Jenkins." It was pretty close to that.

I did a lot of Al Pacino last day.

“You were live on stage in front of hundreds of people.”

Yes, at The Wiltern Theatre, we did the Bill Simmons live show. We did heat quotes to explain the NBA season thus far. I mean, what else would one do? Right. It was me and Rob and Van and Bill and it was a lot of fun, but I am feeling it a little

bit today. Because I only had like high roasted almonds and a banana for dinner. What are we doing? Well, I don't like going into any kind of live performance with like a belly full food.

That's fair. What about afterwards? You could go get some. Well, then it was like 10, 30 because we were up there for a long time, it was like fish. You know?

It was like on Stasio, just new to the wing. You know? And so I was like, I got it. I got to go home and then I had to go home. And if you really want to go on a truth Andy, I'll give it to you right now.

You have some news and we're going to talk about the pit. And you can hit us up at the watch at Spotify.com and you can follow us on Instagram at the watchpot underscore and you can watch us on YouTube at the Ring or Dash TV and you should watch us on Spotify where you're also listening to us. But I got from 10 40, 10 50 PM, usually you're way in bed.

I'm big bed. Big big in bed. That's when the Ryan Riley household fired up, tell me, lie, it's dog. Tell me lies. Islands.

It's not even an island anymore. It's an asylum. It's an asylum. These people all belong in Arkham. For people who don't know, tell me lies is a bunch of young folks at a barred college.

Is it barred college? That is a barred college. Is it barred? Yes. No.

Go to beard. On the show. And what they do is occasionally they pursue hobbies like photography and kind of new journalism. For the most part, they terrorize each other emotionally and sexually. And last week, I'll just say it out loud.

I watched the main character listening to a threatening voice mail message from her ex. And she still has this threatening voice mail message where he's just like nobody likes you, your your piece of shit and she masturbated to it. Wow. Yeah.

So I was like, already like, wow. We're already in the red and then this week, you know, they made the mistake of finding two characters with souls and putting them together briefly and then we watch them get destroyed. So can you? I'm sorry.

I'm going to hung up on something.

“Could you do the threatening masturbatory voice mail as Al Pacino?”

But Al Pacino, like 95, 96 out of the channel? Yeah. It's a set of women who's blind masturbating to a voice mail because my ex. It's auditory. Yeah.

It's just been an amazing experience watching the show on it.

Also watching it, it's to use a green wall doesn't break contained because Bill Simmons making IG reels about it. Oh. It's just, it's just caught on. I think it's number one show in Hulu.

This is its final season and it's finale is next week. Is it the final season in the sense of like some right turn pretty? Were they going to do a movie? No. It is a really good question.

I was looking at some stuff about that today. They say that this is the end of the story and that they, you know, could consider a future idea. So like the way it's set up is this college stuff is told basically and flashback from a wedding that is taking place in 2000.

I want to say 15, but I might be wrong. I could, I could be remembering that wrong. And so theoretically, I could imagine a show called Tell Me lies about, I guess this six. These, the wedding.

These doomed people. No. The wedding night is a major story. But I'm saying what else happens at the wedding and you go 25 and they're like, here's some stuff you didn't know about the wedding.

Dude, what if you just, the funniest thing in the world is, if you became the showrunner of the Tell Me lies been off, tell me more lies. Tell me truths. No.

Nobody wants that. No, I know.

“You have no interest in a young person's erotic soap, do you?”

As a hashtag girl dad, I do not. Thank you. You feel good about that for about two more years.

That's, let me, she's firing that up when she's doing the, the third spin through

Tell Me lies. Let me enjoy that she is just rereading the little house on the prairie books right now. Okay. Let me just have this.

In terms of, what if it's the little house on the prairie book cover? But on the inside, it's the novel Tell Me lies. I respect it. Yeah. Do you feel like there are any larger takeaways for those of us who are not going to

engage in the show, like the depravity of the show? Is it saying something about our culture, like, because I do think, it was, like, this is unrelated. I think it's a good, really good depiction of some of the toxic co-dependencies that can emerge out of a culture and partnership between people who are creatively hand-cuffed

to whatever. And who went away. And 2015.

“To me, when I watch it, I'm like, this has all the bones of a prime time soap from the”

odds, maybe even the 90s, where you've got, like, a group of people who are, like, slowly

going through every permutation of coupled them. Yeah. But it takes advantage of all the, like, you know, guardrails that have been removed because now they're streamers, it's not it's on streaming. Right.

So it doesn't look that different than an ABC show, but it feels like you're watching a sedated version of euphoria. I find it to be actually, like, incredibly watchable. But one of the problems is that, because I expect everybody in here to have their, uh, very beings, like, atomized by each other, when they have something in the, like, the

episode recap, like, before you start the new episode in their, like, last week, couldn't tell me lies. And it's, like, a random little line from three weeks ago and you're like, oh, okay. So they're going to make, like, mom and alcohol. Yeah, they're going to, like, someone's going to masturbate.

What a tell. Yeah. So it's just, like, I assume the worst, and I'm usually rewarded for my assumptions in the show, which I don't know. Is this special kind of pleasure?

“That's the same feeling I had watching my own tell me lies.”

Pam Bondi's, uh, appearance before Congress yesterday. Kai, where, where are you with the show? And I, because I feel like you have been watching. Uh, I'm mid season two out of, sorry, which season are we on three three. So I'm getting there.

I'm kind of, I'm at a summer I turned pretty pace where I'm not on track to, unfortunately, catch up before the season finale airs. And Chris is really worried about spoiling me, but I guess that was the only plot detail. You're worried about spoiling me. The masturbating?

Yeah. There's the, the thing about the couple that I like. I just don't want to give it away because they handle it really well. It emerges over the course of season three. You're like, like, at these two kids, they just, they just want to make it honest.

And are there multiple nice couples that emerged? There's only one. There's only one. There's only one. I would say there's one point five.

What talk me through then before we move on, like, just psychologically, look, doing a live show, you know, your, your nerves are firing, your fire. Yeah. And then you, and also you, your body is in full katosis, I mean, not even. And you choose to fill the nine hole in yourself with this program.

Yeah. Did you enjoy it more? Did you enjoy it less? Did you feel sated at the end of watching it? Yeah.

Because if we were in New York, you would have stopped for a slice or something. Sure. I would have had a whole night in front of me. You know, we would have gone out. We would have chased the, chased the dawn.

Yeah. I feel, I feel like I want to still be the guy who stays up until 12.15 on a week night. Good for you, man. You know?

Yeah. I have nobody, nobody's going to wake me up in the morning and say, Dad, where is breakfast? Yeah. It was super weird to take care.

But I'm just, I was just saying, it's okay for me to stay up late on a week night even if I have to get up and come in and talk about Apple, buying the IP rights for its own show back from a production company. I thought this was interesting. This is the first headline I want to throw at you now.

I like to go to you for this behind the scenes business level stuff. Totally. Comrade Tim Cook, seizing the means of production for severance, going in and paying

a reported 70 million dollars to buy the, basically the IP, the rights.

Yeah. The, the, the, the, the, the, be bought severance from fifth season, which was the original production company who stay on as executive producers. I don't know how ceremonial that is or whether or not they're instrumental going forward and in doing the third season of severance, the reported fourth season of severance,

the hint that there could be more seasons of severance or the hint that there could be spin offs of severance and additionally, although I'd ever really would have thought this was an expo in international version of severance, different countries. So like the way that the office popped up in a couple of different countries. Obviously, let's start with the business side of things.

Look, when you're on a tear like Tim Cook is on from attending the Melania premiere

No.

So it's an interesting for folks who don't understand, it's not uncommon where a different

studio, a different production company is selling the show to the streamer that's, yeah, that is distributing it. I mean, there are some places that generate most of their content in house, if there's some places that have their own robust studio business, but then also our buyers. And Apple, starting from zero, one of the things that the guys in charge of Apple television

from the beginning have been very plain about is that they were coming from, they were the heads of Sony. Yeah, which is a, which is a seller, complete seller, they don't buy, that they wanted to have an in-house studio and they built that up over time, so I think now roughly half of Apple shows are.

“And I think they bought Ted Lasso and Silo, if I remember, Silo is the example that I know”

of something that they, that started as an external show and they bought and brought in house for its second season. Yeah. So that there's precedent for what they're doing with severance. If you read, I thought the article about this was pretty, if you read between the lines

was pretty.

This is in deadline deadline.

I was pretty honest in a way that some of these stories aren't, like obviously it paid lip service to things that are factually true about the growth potential for the series, the importance of the series to Apple's overall strategy in terms of awards in terms of having its own franchises to build larger IP on, it's not, I don't quite see the growth in terms of merchandising unless they're looking forward to selling a lunch box that comes out

every three years. They could sell, they could definitely sell like a severance board game or a severance video game. Sure. Sure.

They could sell desks. Yeah. They could sell desks. Yeah. They could sell desks.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Some of the stuff rooms I can see.

Maybe I should be working. Why don't you go off on this for a minute, lunch and just, no bad ideas in a brainstorm. This is the most animated you've been today. So, the ways in which Apple can get some new revenue going, what you've got all this like capital, right?

Yeah. You're up to midnight. Like what are you gonna do? You're ten. Some thoughts after watching, tell me a lot.

After watching this girl masturbate. Why don't you do it as a voice mentor for him? Yeah. See what he does with it. Yeah.

Gotcha. Yeah, you did. Gotcha. If you read between the lines of the article, there's a lot of the stuff there that is sort of generally understood, but not fully reported or sourced, which is this

“has been a bear of a show to produce that I think there's a passing reference to season”

to starting production at the end of '22 and finishing in '24. Right. Strikes, et cetera. Strikes, et cetera. But also, I believe it's referred to as Ben Stiller's feature background and

exacting vision, ballooning costs, and all the other things that went along with making the show, writer's room turmoil. There's a sense within the article that the show or the demands of the show or now the expectations of the show have far outstretched fifth season's ability to fund it on a tone.

They were essentially being asked to float the production for many several years in between seasons as things went up and went down and up, obviously, has the pockets to do so. For this, an Apple clearly is invested in paying for it and I think it's interesting. It definitely guarantees the stability of the show or the chance for them to see it all the

way through, whatever it is that it's going. I find Apple building regardless of my relationship to any of these shows, some of which I like in some of which I've kind of maybe enjoyed and then moved on from. I find their relationship to their flagship shows very interesting, because one thing that I admire and appreciate about Apple is their commitment to multi-season runs, and if they

feel like something's working, they're just going to keep doing it, and that's been great for slow horses. It's obviously been great for shrinking in terms of that fan base. The people who really love shrinking, I'm sure, very appreciative that it's not like a shrinking coming back every nine months.

It kind of is getting close to replicating what a television network used to feel like we're every year, my show comes back.

“I know with interest that shrinking is a Warner Brothers show, I believe, comes through”

Bill Lawrence's Warner Deal, but yeah, they continue to mass this sort of war chest of things, and it's like honestly in three or four years, they could do the morning show without Aniston and Withersman. They could come up with a different pairing of people who are working in, you know, morning shows in the 70s. You could do the morning show in the 70s, you know, all the presidents

men's style. What else could you do, Chris? What's another list of things that they could do with the morning show? I'm just throwing you know what they could do? They could make a show about your morning, we're no one wakes you up, and it's just

a very peaceful 15 minutes. I wake up every morning, and I open up the Hollywood reporter at my table, and I say, what are we going to talk about?

And I'm just tired of being mocked for my choices.

“You know, I appreciate that kids. I run this show.”

Honestly, it's a division of labor. I'm very, very comfortable with the, the one thing just to note that we were talking about studios, cell things, cell things to other streamers, et cetera, et cetera. I do find it interesting to note, like the way some of these decisions are connected. So Bill Lawrence has had a, I mean, he's, when the books are written, maybe I'll

answer up and I'll write this book someday about like the most successful creators in the history of TV Bill Lawrence is without question among them even he has a lower profile, maybe because he's in comedy. But he's had a hit show in every decade for the last four decades.

He is also done something that I thought would never happen, which is merged the kind of

sensibilities of multiple eras, often to, and I mean, this is a, as a compliment to his benefit and so much as he is doing a streaming show at the clip that he would do scrubs. Right, with like a lower episode order that was doing scrubs again, yeah, but so Ted Lasso shrinking bad monkey. I think, I think, streaming as well. These are all shows that have found varying levels of success, propping up apples brand, and he's done all this through his long time home at Warner Brothers and the upcoming in the next few weeks.

Steve Correll comedy rooster is both a Bill Lawrence show for HBO, but also does to me feel a little bit like some kind of internal. Wait, why are we letting this guy leave the building? Yes, like we need to develop our in-house talent and we need to have one of his shows that are successful elsewhere here. Yeah, and I haven't not watch enough of that show to, to, to determine like if, oh, this actually is an HBO version of the Bill Lawrence show.

“I've watched one and it's enjoyable, but it's very Bill Lawrence enjoyable and it's interesting to see like is that just, does that brand more important at this point than HBO's, you know, a steamed comedy brand?”

Not that it's belittling it. No, it's just that it is something that has worked elsewhere brought in to, I think they're like a couple of years ago when they were doing like flight attendant, which the first season of flight, it was a match. I liked very much and it was a Mac show and Mac's was going to be this kind of like, TNT version of, of HBO or something. And now I feel like between heated rivalry, maybe the rooster like you're talking about like a couple of other things that are. It's a pit, obviously, a Mac show. It roosters HBO. Yes, you're right. I'm saying HBO has loosened up what is HBO a little bit.

Well, or they're trying to, yes, they've done that and they've also tried to redefine what Max is, did you see that the, the, the trilogy of shows, they've, the medical show, the pit, which we're going to talk about in a moment. We talked about like, what is it like, Rhapsody's and blue, stirring my love into Amelia, that's actually a milk and a Greg Berlante family show, right? Which announced it's Patriarch in Ray Ramano. How about that? Who I think is a really good actor actually. There you go. I enjoy him as an actor these days.

Spider-Nore got its first trailer. This is the Amazon series from Lord Miller, broadly speaking, but has obviously a different showrunners. Nick Cage, he plays a guy named Ben Riley.

Let me talk about that. I don't know if you have time. He's a kind of private investigator in New York in the 30s and he is a Spider-Man. Yeah. Go ahead. Just tell me, because I'm just going to walk into a wall if I try to explain this. Well, for those of us who have watched and loved the Spider-Verse movies, Nick Cage voices Spider-Man were in those movies. And those movies call together, bring together like all the alternate Spider-Man that have existed in the comics and various forms. And a noir version of Spider-Man has a comic book, relatively recent but comic book history.

Is it good? Yeah, I mean, I like both of those things and it tastes real good together. This show comes from a deal that Amazon made with Lord Miller off of the success of, and so many off of the success of the Spider-Verse to bring to the small screen Spider-Allets. Spider-Tent. Spider-Coat. It's the big tent of Spider-Man politics. And it has been a bumpy development road.

“There, I think the first announced one was a series based on a Korean American Spider-Girl that has gone through multiple showrunners.”

I don't even know the current status of it. This one, I told this was your met on this one. And I'm aware of how long a process this has been. This has been multiple years of building up some development and then starting from scratch. Do you think it's weird? And this is also full disclosure that I have not yet heard back about my pitch for Spider-Baga about a guy who refuses to get vaccinated and that gives him Spider-Powers? I think because it's a bidding war. I think everybody wants that right now.

And so I think right now they're just quippling over a dollar figure for you. Thanks.

You're always, this is what you do, you zag.

It's actually kind of cut us up. So it looks like we're super, you know, we're like resistance lived.

You like keep people guessing.

You're like what Michael Jordan said about sneakers. Yes, that's true. Everybody buys them. That's sort of what he said. It's tricky to take something that is an idea and works in a cartoon or works in a comic book and make a live action version of it.

And when I was aware of the conversations, it was meant to be like an inspiration or origin story or alternate version of the character the Nicholas Cage voiced in the cartoon. I don't know what point long after I was done talking with him someone was like, you know Nick could do this. Sure.

I definitely raises the interest and the surreality of it.

“I think to see actually Nick Cage playing a freak.”

The rest of the cast is rounded out by a fantastic group of performers and more members from Fargo and new girl. Legion Lee who I thought was so great in sinners. Karen Rodriguez from hunting wives. Abraham Papula from slow horses for a couple of seasons there. Jack Houston and Brendan Cleason.

So that's a dynamite cast for this. And interestingly enough, this is. It comes from Oran New Zealand who did a loss city and Steve Lightfoot who does the punisher and they're co-show runners. Interestingly enough, I believe this show will be released in both black and white and color versions. I think I will choose to watch it and black and white if I watch it assuming I watch it.

Yeah, I think that was they fight people fight behind the scenes to get that happen. I still can't believe that that that Garrett bashing his producing team got Ripley released in black and white. Yeah. So I think that's really cool.

“I also think we should mention Harry Bradbier who directed on Fleabag and I think on killing Eve.”

Okay. Seems to have brought a really cool visual style to it. I don't know. It looks. It looks pretty fun.

Honestly, like it seems to understand the brief that like what would make it more interesting and more unique at this point in time is less a spider-man or super hero show and more of like a let's really play with more convention. Yeah, it'll be interesting to kind of see what a year from now assuming spider maga isn't a go project and I'm not writing and directing every episode. I mean, fingers crossed. Of course. I was on as a year from now because as we noted in previous episodes Peter Freelander who is the a long time executive and head in charge of scripted at Netflix is now at Amazon.

I saw that they had made some new pickups international titles that they picked up, which I always thought Netflix had pretty pretty good taste in international TV, especially the crime department.

So for a while there, I've been kind of like not dubious, but a little just non-plus about some of the prime video stuff where it's like major IP blockbuster attempts at kind of grappling with the game of forensic reality of television, whether it's fallout or the word or the ring show. And a lot of like pretty good to unwatchable guy with a gun, whether it's creature, terminal list, Bosch until it was actually then kicked down a freebie and whatever it is now. So I mean, I'm just to see the direction that that Amazon goes obviously this goes back to previous administrations, but I'm curious.

So you're saying previous administrations could have released the files.

“Could yeah, who do you think the villains are and by the way, everything you just said great I wasn't thinking about who spider mag is villain is my senses that it's it's obviously I think it's measles.”

Do you know what I mean like he's dominant yeah doctor measles and everything and he's really strong because you only eat meat and ferments. But yeah, but oh measles. Oh no, the webs do nothing. Then he dies and then there's six more episodes of just black screen that's cool. Not black and white just black screen. Very visionary. Yeah.

I was heavily influenced by David Lynch. Yeah, I don't think I don't think this is as chaotic. I don't think we actually have enough actual things to talk about today so that we don't I don't need to fill you in on the background of Ben Riley. In these spider man universe. It's your I mean it's your dime and you can tell me whatever you want.

And here it's just us. It's beautiful. It's that bill told you that's not going to do a patino for the 19th time. No, it's just I Peter Parker can't be in these shows because Peter Parker's rights are controlled for would you know by Sony like all the stuff is micro sliced into so many different like. It's kind of like the NFL package, yeah, who gets to run what went.

Ben Riley is a infamous name among spider fans because there was a pretty controversial plot line.

And at the real spider man was a guy named Ben Riley and and then that guy took over the suit and became the scarlet spider everyone's like and I believe I can sort of paraphrase comic book fans who's reacting to this was what the fuck. Do you participate in online discourse about comic books or are you just like are my real name right, but I have a number of. You know, I was wondering whether or not because you know there's some there's some art forms or some you know popular culture things that you're like.

You and I will both be like what are people saying about this new this record or this new this movie. But then there are things where I'm like I actually don't care what people think I like to read spy about novels. Yeah, like I literally don't care what any literary critic would ever say about all over Harris for instance. Oh sure. It's just like that's mine. I dig it. Yeah, that guy just wants to stand in a hotel in Kazakhstan for 15 books. I will read it. Yeah, I feel the same way. But do you go like when you're reading comic books or you're like I'm curious whether or not this is playing with the crowd. Well, first I brush the Dorito dust from my fingers.

Get dressed.

Well, black a couple of voice mail. No, because my involvement in my, you never know my involvement with comic books at this point of my life.

It's garland spider. Your opinions about me are terrible. I'm driven by market forces. I am not a, you know, I'd like to think that sometimes like within television or industry so we're more active and we're like. Ah, we have found the diamond and the rough and let us drive culture. Sure. With comic books like, like, you know, the other week we were talking about what DC was doing with these absolute versions of their characters.

I know about that because it percolated long enough to cross over into the main stream. I was not in these comic books streets being like, oh, this guy's really good. I'm not in, no.

“Would you say that the arena where you find most of this discourse is Facebook?”

No, Facebook is just mostly sending me. Like, I clicked on one. Thanks for the opportunity to update everyone. And we didn't want to talk about this with, you know, not joking, but like I did click on story about James Vanderby could pass away. Yeah. And this morning when I, when I did run out of things to look at and I looked at Facebook, it was all really, really personal memories of people's loved ones dying written by people I don't know.

So that was really cool that it found my interest to click passion.

Yeah, that was, that was great. Why are you on Facebook again? Is it just an addiction at this point? Is there something in there that's like, oh, I got to, I got to share this with my like high school class or something or oh, I don't share. Okay. No. I just told you just look, it's really because I ran out of stuff to look at to avoid starting my day. You know, at any time you're like, I don't want to go to Facebook, but I've run out of things to look at on the internet.

Hit me up. How are you going to show me some stuff? What do you mean? Text me and I'll send you some links. Yeah. Okay. On the dark web? No. Just stuff that out there that I'm reading.

Like, for example, what would you send me? Um, I've been reading some cool sub stacks. There's one called the hunt for Tom Clancy that I've been really enjoying. This seems useful. Why don't you share the stuff? I will. I will.

I mean, like, I thought the Michael Pollan interview about existence and perception was interesting, but I didn't send it to you. So if you're like, you're good on perception, you don't have kids. Like, I eat when I'm hungry and I go to sleep but I'm tired. I don't need to know about how I'm experiencing reality. Everything's great.

That's not how it goes, man. Please, please. Are there other worlds out there? Not to be too meta about it, but sometimes I feel like the pit is getting short tripped from this podcast.

“Uh, at least in the first five or six episodes, is that what we're at?”

Like, this was six. It's so it's noon, right? It was noon. Yeah. Noon or 1pm actually. I think we started it. And this episode is directed by Noel Wiley and we'll get into a--

What can't that guy do? I know, man. Young citizen Noah. She's the king of television. Um, and I feel like sometimes I like move it down the run down a little bit. Like, there are some shows where I'm like immediately let's get into this.

And let's start breaking down this amazing TV show.

And it's really no testament as I think to do with how I feel about the pit or its quality. It's really more like, I think that a week or two ago, I became at peace with the idea that I was like, this is the first movement of this season. You know, like, they-- You're talking about the old lady.

No. Oh, different kinds of things. You've got a logical with your humor today. I think because it kind of gets you. I don't like it.

I know.

“And I think part of keeping our partnerships spicy.”

Okay. Because I'm just making you a little uncomfortable. Um, and I think that I just adount shifted the amount that we talk about

there's just wasn't a lot to note.

“You know, we've talked about how she made the character,”

the new attending physician at the emergency department. We've talked about LinkedIn. I can go through the patients that we have. There are some that are incredibly affecting some that are pretty gross. Some that are seemingly there as springboards to talk about larger social issues,

which the hit the pit has often dove headfirst into. Yep. Um, but the way that this episode ends, I thought signaled a, uh, start your engines moment for the season.

Okay. So we get probably the first big, wallup emotional beat at the end of this episode with Louise passing at the beginning of the episode and a lot of, um, time spent with Dana as she prepares his body.

Yes. And teaches. And teaches this first day on the job, new nurse. Um, what, what, what do that entails?

I thought that was quite new moving quite beautiful. Catherine LaNasa has a lot more to do this season. Yeah. Quite obviously and for good reason.

And I thought she was incredible in this episode.

And I thought, I thought that last scene was great. You know, the sangu Baida Louie and, and the fact that Robbie was the only one who knew a sort of personal biography for this character. And why there would be nobody coming to claim his body or spend time with him. But it, it did it. You know what I mean?

“Like I think that there have been parts of this first season with this second season where I've been like,”

I don't really know if the chemistry is this same level that it was in the first season or that the internal drama of the department is clicking for me the way it did in the first season. But it is now. I've never wavered. Yes.

Uh, I, well, that's not true. I was a little like, oh, we're doing this again in the first few minutes or first three quarters the first episode. But since then, I've just been so happy to be watching the show. I'm so dialed into its rhythms and it's just not unique, but it's almost old-fashioned. Just satisfaction ratio.

I thought this episode was incredible. And one of the reasons why I liked it so much is it's not just that the pit is executing classic television.

At the highest possible level, I do think that they are challenging themselves to honor the traditions of why we've always loved TV within its own challenging framework.

Meaning this is, this is real time, you know, like 24, we're getting, you know, everything is accumulative, everything is building. And yet somehow within that, they've been able to carve out space for Robby to be one of the most compelling lead characters. Star performances on television. And beyond that, what I thought was really impressive about this episode and maybe this link to the larger conversation about when it's going to quote unquote get going is, in a way, this was the pit's version of a bottle episode.

The framing of Louie from his final moment at the beginning to the moments of respect at the end, served as a spine for the episode that really was about dignity. And the part of the life experience that we, who are lucky enough to be floating above it for as long as we can, don't think about and don't worry about. And there were moments in it that I found, this is, this is really remarkable for a show that let's just say governs and prose to the degree that this show does. If not governed fully in like press releases written by the American nurses.

It's very declarative. Yeah, it never misses an opportunity to educate in the issues part of the idea. I think that it's done. It's, it's doing better in terms of having some ambiguity and some mystery to the characters. But but there is still, it doesn't miss an opportunity to educate like you know, most penicillin allergies are real. Okay, good to know. But even even in the midst of that, like there were moments that were borderline poetic to me.

The ritualistic cleaning of the body and while Dana's explaining it felt like something, totem it. Like something like it made me think about how and I think they make a reference to this, or Robbie does at some point that like other cultures throughout history have treated death differently than we do in America. Yeah, certainly in terms of honoring or respecting or having ritual that end the life as well as rituals that begin a life. Even just within that context, even the small bits of like factoids of like, well, if no one claims the ashes, it gets thrown into a mass grave.

Like that, it was heavy stuff. Yeah.

“And I thought that it was remarkably, remarkably done for a show that can be heavy handed, even in ways that I think are educational or important.”

Like I thought that it had a relatively artistic touch for this episode that kept me, I'm always entertained, but I found myself moved.

Yes. You might be in the debate that's sort of going on between Alashimi and Robbie about whether or not they can really afford to keep him in the hospital simply to feed him better than he is being fed at the, at the prison and whether or not. I think Robbie is taking the long view that like that's just a drop in the ocean, like that's a bed somebody else could be using and we're not really in the business of making sure a guy has enough protein and nutrients. We're here to like save lives and it's like this is a triage area, not a rehabilitation area. And Alashimi is just like I believe that like you just the way you change the world is to do good at every moment you can.

And you know, I don't think that Robbie is being intentionally inhumane about anything, but it was really interesting to see the kindness and obviously the like sort of the soul come out of him when it was talking about Louis.

Who has also been coming into the hospital basically for maintenance, you know what I mean at this point. They were his emergency contact.

Exactly. And that's like sort of is like weird second family or the extent to the has one and used asking land in about his kids and he seems to know everybody and it's like he knows the procedures as well as the attendings do. So I just thought it was like a really thoughtful and uncommented upon within the show.

“Like it's not like anybody goes up to Robbie after he gives this Louis ulogy and says, you know, you should think about that. And if that's how you feel about Louis think about all the other people out.”

There's a trickle down effect of the emotion like the fact that a lot of like the Louis passing landed hard on Perla who's a character who we don't often linger on. Yeah, was a really beautiful opportunity that the show took to be like, well, she has a history and she has an inner life. The other story that I thought you were going to mention that that that that dovetailed nicely with it is the terminal cancer patient who doesn't want to go home. Yeah, you know, because she doesn't want.

She is in a different place with the objective reality of her death as opposed to the subjective emotional experience that her adoring husband is fully engaged in.

And again, that it's like in the presence of the other the night charge nurse as the death duela. It was it was it was heavy. I mean, there's a there's a scene in a show that we didn't really cover dying for sex where Paul a pal plays the comedian from mess and Allen girls five ever she plays a death duela similarly and there's a not and it's like a long quite powerful scene where she's like, do you want to know what happens. And it is a relatively uncelebrated opportunity that TV has to educate in that way, and play it across multiple storylines.

I don't know if that's a universal experience for people, but yes, I agree with you. Which the explanations for sure, but I'm saying there are things that we don't like to think about in our daily life, there are things that we don't like to think about in our entertainment and there are things that people who make entertainment don't really want to spend time with either.

“Yes, but there are certain shows and certain stories and certain scaffolded story structures that allow for that in ways that I think are pretty fascinating and commendable.”

I did wonder to your point about the prisoner. Do you think that Robby has any kind of like meta-versal awareness about what happened when David Crumholz stabbed him and Kelly back in ER and thus he doesn't want potentially violent criminals in the emergency room?

Like the show is aware of our pre-existing relationship with Dr. Noah Wiley.

So I do wonder if that ever comes into it. Well, that certainly informs the way I watch him interact with Langdon. Because it's like, because Carter had such a, you know, pronounced drug problem in ER. No, he didn't. Did he?

Well, he maybe did. I don't remember. He was addicted to fentanyl. God damn, ahead of his time when he was in the product pain following the death of Lucy following her death. Wow. So I would go into season seven.

I was probably going to parties with my fellow comic book fans. They were called conventions.

“Honestly, but in my mind, they were fun as parties.”

So it's very rare that I'm like, I got this piece of TV history and you don't. I know because you were probably doing travel baseball then, and yet. No, but you see just seven ER, I was partying. We've also established that at the end of all of the season seven. Like, 2000.

Oh my God. You couldn't keep me off the streets. I didn't know we'd try to bring out 11. But the city was yours. It was the hour before the 25th hour.

Yeah, for you. It was the 24th hour. It's so to speak. Yeah. But we've already, already established in this podcast that there's nothing you like more after a, you know,

You know, it's also funny that you're mentioning the sort of better textual relationship.

We have to actors and there are other roles because the terminal cancer patients husband. I was hoping.

“Is played by Taylor Hanley, who plays Kyle and Mayor of Kingstown?”

Oh, but wasn't he also cousin Oliver on the OC? Oh, I don't know. In my mind, I'm like, that guy's really seen some shit. You know, he was taken prisoner. He's Oliver from the OC.

Okay. This is like two wolves. One is kind of a puppy. One's Mayor of Kingstown. And the other, like, it's the ocean.

One of those, like, actually Ben Riley was the Scarlet Spider. Um, that's cool. Let's talk about some other storylines going on in the pit right now. I wanted to ask you. We were talking about Robbie just now.

So I'll mention this. How can his Cavalier attitude about helmet safety on a motorcycle really manifested self? Yeah, so I was wondering. I wanted to talk about this because they've now made this a big thing. Not all of them made it a big thing.

It now seems six episodes into season two of the pit. It appears that all of the characters on the pit are watching season two of the pit. They know that we know that Robbie is a little cavalier about this.

Thus, one third of the patients are motorcycle related to this year.

And everyone keeps looking at him like you moron. Yeah. You absolutely fool. So I don't know how this shakes out unless they are building. I mean, there's a number of ways to get shake out.

One of the ways it could shake out is the season could end and he could write off. And then we linger on the night nurse and play. I guess who's coming back in this time is a patient. That's on that's in play for them. I guess I appreciate the fact again with the sense of like firm hand on the wheel or on the handlebars in this case.

That they are running towards it. That they're not trying to hide the fact that that's. I also think it's pretty it's pretty realistically human to have somebody who's like 98% safe. But the two percent are pretty it's pretty bad pretty wild. Yeah.

You know, because the two percent is just is like if it goes wrong, it's over.

What do you think about one of the other things that I just admire structurally on the show is the way that it takes the quieter moments with any each episode. If not the quieter moments in the season to just subtly address things that we're lingering last week. It was what happened to Dr. Collins this week. Langdon asked Dana about the guy who punched her. Oh yeah, if there was any resolution there and he talks about that what is it how many months to be alone 10 months that he was basically on the shelf alone with his thoughts to make us remember the amount of time that it's better for them.

“And then the other thing that they're doing just expertly I think is.”

Bringing up the you know on the on the big mixing board of life just pushing up slowly on the supporting characters to give them a little bit more the biggest. Yeah. Yeah. For example of that this week is nurse no longer nurse nurse practitioner. Donnie yes, who is who is given a moment to show like his extreme level of expertise.

When it comes suturing, but is also putting a position where he's like. I think Mohan or somebody comes over. I can't remember who grabs a patient from him. Yeah, I got this and he was just like I'm an MP now so like I can handle that. He has that they have so Brandon Mendez Homer is the actor.

Juliard fit nice and if you cast like really talented stage actors they probably do more than just like you know push crash cards in the background for sure. Hot dog guy was pretty gross didn't need to really see him barf multiple times the deflady I'm curious where that's going. I think that that is also like being used as an example of like. Santos is kind of like she's not she's just not not on on the ball when it comes to paint patient relation detail orient. Yes, but she is still a badass in the in the room though and is dating.

The surgeon yes, they're having early save a situation ship. Yeah. Can I ask maybe a dumb question. Yeah, there's no dumb questions. Well, I don't want to be insensitive but I couldn't the death patient right.

I had this conversation with my wife while watching this I do feel like they're making it a little hard. I'm sure it would be painstaking to be like here I'm going to write it down but if. She could just write down like can you tell me how you were feeling in your head stomach. I'll everywhere and then the death patient. Not because princess was like.

How are you feeling you know and she was like. She's like you know, but they speak to the amount of detail that they for sure. And if this is like she may have said stomach or she may have been waiting for five hours. Give her a whiteboard she could write the great American novel. Right.

But how she's feeling right. Right. That's just me.

“I thought that was strange too, but I think it's also like.”

The procedures that they're supposed to go through at the hospital and they had this situation. At the beginning of last season with the woman who I can't remember she was maybe from Nepal. Yeah, they didn't like they can figure out the line. And they couldn't even find out like what kind of interpreter they need. Yeah.

Until they use Google. So sometimes maybe the most obvious answer is right there. Can I can I recite a line of dialogue from this episode of television?

As I mentioned to Dr. Santos, generative AI is not perfect.

We just speak on it. We got it. We got to switch things up with this character. Yes. Dr. Alshimi has been brought in to be a.

She is now right now just a character foil and she is a tweet.

“And I like the performer and I think that there's potential here for the character.”

But I don't know what we're doing with this character. We are entering this part of the season now. Everything can change and you know, it's the beauty of the show is that people can surprise you as they emerge over time. Like like two weeks ago, we were like, what's up with Joy and then two weeks later. We're like, oh, we understand a little bit more. She doesn't even want to beat.

Mhm. A representative. She's figuring out what might be wrong with people. Which is the kind of doctor you've like since the days of house. Yes.

We are at the point where I think it's fair. Since we have a twice weekly podcast to say, this character is not working. Yeah. And we can praise the performer all we want. But like it could potentially be a case of a mismatch because

I, she's now actively dragging the show down.

I would say the character.

It also doesn't reflect great on Robby though because clearly other people are starting to gravitate towards her a little bit. Santos might be a little bit annoyed that she's like, make sure you're up on your charting. But for the most part, everybody seems to be like, Okay, like, I'll go along with what your ideas are.

The generative AI stuff aside. Yeah. Much like the show itself. I think we need to get for the back, the back nine of the season. I think that's just to see where she's at.

“Do you relate to, I think you don't because we already discussed your feelings about”

scatology? Mhm. But I thought that was a remarkable rebound for Ogovi, who 90 minutes ago was being sprayed with shit. And then he's like, I was born to do this.

Yes. I thought for a second, he might not have been born to do it. I feel like that would have, I feel like that would have wavered almost any confident young man. I mean, like at least given you like weight to the second day before you decided you were born to do.

That's definitely the first thing they tell you at that school. It's like you guys signed up for this. But just so you know, you can get just sprayed down with all sorts of fluids. I honestly appreciated the honesty of the show most when the hot dog guy was bazooka bar thing because it did, you kind of like, if you are ill, for example,

you want the professionals around you to be, you know, to be professional. At all times, like they've seen worse. This is part of it. They support you. I appreciated in terms of like real pull back the curtain honesty that Linden was super grossed out.

And couldn't hide it. You know what I mean? Like that he wasn't like, I see. I'm sorry. This has happened to you, sir.

Yeah. He was like, that's not really.

I will never eat that again.

Put a pin in it there. I guess it would be like, baby Jane Doe. Yeah, do it. That's become a thing. I haven't really been following the story, but people have been praising as they should.

The great Catherine Linasa. Yeah. But then didn't she say that she was like studying Maravis town, but it's like they're in Pittsburgh. I don't know what Dana's. Well, she made fun of Philadelphia in that.

Like remember last season, wasn't they're like a whole crowd scene.

“And she's just like, what do you think we're in Philadelphia or something?”

And she allows the prisoner to stay because he used to work at a bar where she had her first kiss. She is Pittsburgh a yinzer. Yes, they say. But you don't think she's doing a Pittsburgh accent. I don't know that she is, but I thought that was a little baby Jane Doe.

Sounds super filly to me. I gotta say I've never spent any time in Pittsburgh, so I don't know the accent. Yeah, I'm busy. Any time? No.

Really great city. Okay. I'm not saying this just like a peel to the. You have a more of like a wider swath of Pennsylvania under your resume. I don't.

I'm just like a filly guy. You're kind of a coastal guy. Yeah. You gotta get on the streets and like see the real the real deal of America. Like Western Massachusetts.

That's a little far. Yeah, but like I did that, you know. What'd you think? It was awesome. It's beautiful out there.

Do you see any people or just like, that's not some people. Did you? You know I did. The dark arts? No man.

What was in college? But would you do in Western. You were losing your girl in Western Massachusetts? Yeah. Yes.

Is this the after dark segment? I don't know. Let's go in after dark. I don't remember this at all. Well, maybe you and I weren't cool.

Yeah. Maybe this is Prius. Well, no. So I'm glad we're talking about this because it was this like circuit like 97. 96.

95. No, 95. 90. This is a thing. It's weird.

Because I was thinking about anything right now. I was thinking about how in summer of 97. I went. I did like though. I'm going to go into Europe.

But you're real past and like went to some cities. And I was like, hey, why didn't we do that? Yeah. That would have been fun. Because I probably couldn't hang.

Because you're like this. No. 97 is still pretty PG-13. But the question is, what's shocking considering the complete like web of interconnected life that we now share? Yeah.

I probably didn't call you. Like I feel like what was our, what was our, you, you didn't figure into that trip in a way.

Yeah. And then in 96.

And you were driving up to, to Holyoke.

No. But I would try to get to Holyoke when I was still living in Philadelphia. Oh, well, that's a whole. But when I moved to Boston in 96, I was already, we were talking on the phone. We were talking to the phone.

But then was I like some news, friend. I will be leaving the continental United States. I don't think he's going anywhere. Was that in the summer? Summer, yeah.

What were you doing? I was hanging out by then. Hell yeah.

“I think that was my first Boston summer.”

That was pretty. How would you define a Boston summer? I was smoking six and working at the record store. No. Yeah.

So I go and see bands. You did that in Boston winters too. Yeah. That's kind of a, I didn't have school. You know, I don't have to worry about school.

Were you worried about school? Not much. Not enough. Yeah. Looky now.

Um.

Anything else you wanted to get off your chest?

I felt like you had a couple cultural takes. You wanted to fire off. I just wanted to say that there's a record coming out in nine hours. Cold to the touch. The new album by Angel Dust comes out.

Tell me. I saw Angel Dust in Boston last two weekends ago at the something in the way fest. And it's one of the best live shows you can spend money to see. And it's kind of a. Definitely hardcore rooted band because just as the singer for Angel Dust was also in

Trapped under ice. But I would also say that if you. Our fan of like I honestly for me it gives me the same feeling. And it's not not the same thing as like the punk garage aggression of hot snakes. But it's also very tunful.

And it's got like some like hyper aggressive power pop moves in it too. So it's it's just a great band. You want to cut and paste that onto the sub stack Rex. You're going to text me. Yeah.

Sure. Sure. I wouldn't mind that. Um, but that's that's my big wreck for Friday when it drops. That's a good right in a couple hours.

Uh, and then that's it. That's it. Yeah. I think true detective season two. I think I told you this is sending me back to Illinois.

Then I haven't read James. I'll really sincerely. Probably since. American tabloid called 6000. So I went back and started reading big nowhere.

And it's fucking good. He in in the LA books. He was really, really in his bag. But I feel like it's that's a little aggro for you. No, no, I've.

I've. I had you you heard me last week's podcast. I'm much more politicized than I used to be. Yeah. But I don't know what to say.

But did you read like LA confidential and big nowhere and Lushing the whole job? Yeah. No, I think it's good to revisit books.

“If you're not like the worst thing that has it can happen.”

It's happened to me.

Is you're like, that was one of the most important books I've ever read.

I love that book. And you go back and you're like. Yeah. Yeah. That's these types of writers have it.

You know, it's also a tough feeling is if you pick up an old Elmore Leonard or James on the book. And you're like. Boy, this is like reading it the first time. I don't remember any of this.

And then you get 180 pages in and you're like shit. I remember everything that's about to happen. Like you basically it hits you like your brain unlocks. Yeah, but then it's just like the light path all the way to the end. Because you're not worried about.

Yeah. Kind of it is. It is. It is. It is.

And you can actually be like. I remember what happens here. I can give you. Just give me five pages if you want to. Um.

I said, that's all I got. Okay. I think music. A new rap voice record is really good. You like them?

Chicago band. I do. Really. I've been a ton of time on them. I've been a ton of time on them.

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