Coming Of Age At Sterling Point

Clip 00:00 If I need something and I don't have service, what do I Just Young to the Abyss? Oh. Sick. Okay. Dave 00:16 This is the Extra Hot Ray Podcast, episode 626 for the week of August 3rd, 2026. I am Nut Hoarding Cottage Squirrel David T. Cole, and I'm here with the one that makes out with all your friends, Sarah D. Bunting. Sarah 00:35 Have you made out with me? Dave 00:36 75 step skincare routine victim Tara Ariano and 12-year-old asking for a beer, Carrie Race! Tara 00:39 Help me Kari 00:42 I promise I won't shock on it. Tara 00:47 Welcome to Extra Hot Great for another week joining us She is an 80s music expert and the creator of the world's most dangerous musical moments on our sister podcast. Extra, extra hot, great. You've heard her with us many times. It's Carrie Race. Dave 01:02 Welcome back, Carrie. Tara 01:03 Welcome back, Carrie. Sarah 01:04 Carrie. Kari 01:04 Woo, thank you. Glad to be here. Tara 01:08 Well, I mean you say that, but we'll see. We are talking about Sterling Point in which Little orphan Annie, Ella Rubin, lost her mother as a toddler, but grew up rich as Hell in NYC.she's also ambitious and driven, which is why she's devastated to find out she did not get into a prestigious summer program offered by Wharton Business School. It does, however, mean that when she and her twin brother Connor, Keen Ru, yes, he is Mark's son, find out their mother's father Gordon, whom they never knew, died and left them his cottage in Muskoka So that means she's totally free to check it out, and she's all the more eager to do so when she goes into her father Stevens J Duplos safe. and finds not only the letter Gordon left her as part of his bequest, but also a whole life's worth of cards from him that Stephen hid from her. But arriving at the cottage only raises dozens more questions The show is created by Megan Park, who wrote and directed the twenty twenty four feature film My Old Ass and have directed some episodes, all eight of which dropped on Prime Video August fifth, the same day as this podcast episode. We may talk about events from any of them. Let's do the Chen check-in. Carrie, should our listeners watch Sterling Point? Kari 02:25 If you're under the age of twenty-five, yes. Tara 02:29 Okay, shots fired. Kari 02:32 No, no, no. Tara 02:32 Sarah. Sarah 02:34 Shots by Geez, yes, you should Tara 02:38 Dave. Dave 02:38 You don't need to listen to my opinion about a show of this ilk, but this show is daring me to like anybody in it. Tara 02:41 And we won't Sarah 02:46 Wow. Tara 02:47 I mean I get it but y it's Sarah 02:49 Just us old hags over here, Tara Tara 02:51 It's a yes for me. Uh let's get into it. Because I suspect that Dave and Carrie had the same experience of this show. So Carrie, go first. Why did you hate this show? Kari 03:02 I didn't hate the show. The show made me feel so old. Tara 03:08 I see hmm Kari 03:08 I hated the way the show made me feel. Like I just did not relate to these children in any way, shape, or form. And this kind of goes back to I guess the way teenagers have been portrayed as trying to think about like when I was a teenager and watching teenagers on TV, like Beverly Hills 90210, Dawson's Creek. And thinking to myself, well, yeah, this is the same thing that I was seeing and it being reflected at me that I was like, this is not how teenagers behave. This is not how teenagers around me behave. But like I just cannot get on board with a seventeen year old child flying from New York City to Canada telling her father that she's going to Thailand with her boyfriend Tara 03:53 I'm opposed to Kari 03:54 Yes, on a post-it. While her brother is apparently going to Ibiza with his French girlfriend that he doesn't even know how to pronounce her name. It was just so much that I was just it just made me feel old and it just made me feel angry. So I also kind of felt like there was just too much happening. There was so many characters and so many mysteries that I just felt overwhelmed. The anger kept me from wanting to keep going with it. Tara 04:25 Well, Dave, I I suspect some of your reasons for not liking the show crossover with Carries wasn't that it made you feel old. Dave 04:32 No, a lot of stuff makes me feel old because spoiler alert, kind of M net these days. Tara 04:34 Sure. Dave 04:38 I just was wondering who I was supposed to be rooting for here. That's all. And all the characters, yeah, they're young, but they're also all kind of dicks. And there's a place for that in pop culture. You know, everybody loves a show full of dicks, obviously, because that's half of TV now is just people being assholes to each other. But in a show where there is a question of inheritance, there's a question of who is my family really and all this, and then like the person that is at the forefront of all these questions is unlikable. I know as the pilot and we're going to introduce them as some rich snot and I'm sure we'll learn some life lessons as we go along Tara 05:18 Guess what, Dave, they do Dave 05:20 Good, but on the first episode, don't like anybody, and was hard to want to watch more because of that. Tara 05:27 Yeah, I get it. Dave 05:28 Also, are there no Canadians in Muskoka anymore? The show opens with the lead character character being pissed off that her expensive home automation system that opens her drapes at a certain time and has a white noise machine hooked up her phone isn't quite working quite right. That is the character introduction we have Tara 05:49 Mm-hmm. Dave 05:49 So if you can roll with that, that person's journey, then have at it. But for me, it was just like, oh, God, come. Oh Jesus. Tara 05:58 I certainly understand that when we saw the 75-step skincare routine, that was what turned me off of her. Dave 06:04 Yeah. Tara 06:05 Like y you're 17, like relax. Dave 06:13 I'm just saying I don't give a shit about her. Tara 06:13 Right. Well, I think they have to as Sarah 06:18 Okay Tara 06:18 They have to establish like there are certain things that you have and take for granted when you're a rich kid in New York 'Cause these they are real they are rich, rich. Like I mean the trip to Muskoka, it's like this tells me you have a travel agent. like a concierge travel agent on retainer because I don't trust any child or myself frankly to be able to figure out how to arrange a seaplane from Porter Airport to Muskoka, whatever that one is Dave 06:44 Yeah. Tara 06:48 Billy Billy something? Billy famous ama Canadian Billy Bishop. Dave 06:53 Billy Bishop? Hmm. Tara 06:55 Billy Bishop Airport. Dave 06:55 Alright, let me just say this and I'll piece out because obviously nobody needs to hear me. Tara 06:58 Mm-hmm. Dave 06:59 But this encapsulates what I'm feeling quite well. Tara 06:59 Sure. Clip 07:01 I don't have time for your little baby shenanigans. Dave 07:03 All right. Tara 07:05 Okay, Sarah, I I would have expected opposite reactions from you and Carrie. Sarah 07:08 Jesus Tara 07:10 So what what about this did you find interesting enough to theoretically continue? Sarah 07:15 Okay, so I see uh Keen Ruffalo in the cast list and like I am sure this is just like my own information that I'm bringing into it, but he's immediately serving um you can count on me vibes with his character. Tara 07:28 Mm-hmm. Sarah 07:30 He doesn't really actually look that much like his dad in my opinion. Tara 07:33 He has s similar mannerisms, I would say. Sarah 07:36 I think there's just something about the way that they, the twins, tease each other and like get on each other is I mean, it's not exactly necessarily sibling banter, but it's closer than TV sometimes gets. Tara 07:52 Mm-hmm. Sarah 07:52 I just liked his sort of completely entitled abruptness. Sup Pimp's grandpa died is like, I don't know. I didn't mind the delivery of that. I did not mind the lead character, Annie, just being this very rigid, like Hannah from Everwood sort of lane. Like, okay. I mean, does she need that much skincare? No. Do the Marie from Mad Men splash cold water on your face. You're fine. I was a little bit not put off exactly, but like even though I think the average New York City super rich 17-year-old has a different like way of being in the world that we olds non-richies don't get. I just kind of wish like everybody in the cast read enough older that I just wish they'd like aged it up to like they're in college. Tara 08:45 Yeah. Sarah 08:46 Like I was a little alienated by that. Like I found it not charming exactly, but like it's beautiful scenery. Everyone is pretty. There are some fun characters. Like, is it necessarily realistic? Does it understand exactly how a remote resort place like this would operate in its own universe? I'm not sure exactly. Is it awkward now to watch this kind of show and be like the most fuckable one is the parent in the snap cap? I mean Yeah, that's weird, but I didn't mind it and in fact actively liked it and was curious to see what happened and how it would happen. Tara 09:18 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. The parent characters are our age. I mean not Carrie. Sarah 09:30 Yeah, if that Tara 09:30 She's much, much younger than us. There's a there's a scene, there's a moment in the second episode Annie's going through a box of Kari 09:33 No. Tara 09:38 mom's old stuff and like pulls out a cassette and is like, who's Jan Arden? And I was like, okay, so Dead Goldie is my age for sure. Like Sarah 09:47 Mm-hmm. Tara 09:48 She listened to the same she probably listened to CFNY growing up in Barrie or whatever. Like all all of the Canadian details were very charming to me as well. The fact that Annie is freaked out at finding out she just inherited the whole island, you know, 'cause she could potentially sell it for millions of Canadian dollars was like Why do you care? Like you're already so rich in New York. Like you don't also need to sell this property. And then when we hear like a similar one sold for nine million, I was like, that seems low to me, actually. Sarah 10:19 Mm-hmm, yeah Tara 10:19 And we find out it's, you know, it is. Then we see Joe, the hot marina manager, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. We have to think he's gonna end up being someone's secret father, and like I'm here for that kind of mystery. More so than all of the murder mysteries that I feel like most other teen shows, including on Prime Video, tend to cluster around. Sarah 10:32 Mm-hmm. Tara 10:40 So like was that aspect of it at least More compelling to you, Carrie, that like it was sort of a parentage mystery versus teens covering up a murder they all created together. Kari 10:51 Yeah, for sure Like I I was I was actually interested in what was going on. And I and I didn't mind the main character. Like I didn't think she was a snob. Like I think she was actually empathetic to the people. Like she seemed very receptive and like open to everyone she met. Like she was not like closed off, like she I don't remember the name, but the blonde girl that she meets and teaches her how to do the boat. Yeah, she was like they had a cute friendship and it there was obviously a lot going on with the parenting and she has a secret sibling or not sibling, who knows? And potentially I I kept thinking that maybe her and her brother were not even really adopted or were the mom's biological children. Who knows? Tara 11:36 Mm-hmm. Sarah 11:36 Yeah, I was a little like, if this goes in some VC Andrews direction, I can't Tara 11:38 I do Kari 11:41 Yeah, I know. Tara 11:42 Yeah. Sarah 11:43 I don't think I can hang with that anymore. Kari 11:44 Um Tara 11:45 Yeah. I definitely felt that too where it's like someone's gotta disclose something before these three try to have a threesome like us. Kari 11:52 The yeah Sarah 11:52 Yeah Tara 11:53 They m they might be related. Kari 11:56 I wanted it to be streamlined because if it had been straightforward, like if the first episode ends with the secret sibling or not sibling, who knows? is showing up. I wish that had happened earlier. I you know, I wish that was like the meat of the story as opposed to kind of all this other stuff happening, like I don't know what's going on with the real estate drama and Missy Pyle's character who is, I don't know, maybe a lesbian, maybe a pedophile, who knows? Sarah 12:24 But it's played by Missy Pyle, so who cares? Like to me this is like sign of quality that I was like, oh it's Missy Pyle, I am in. Tara 12:29 Yeah, mm hmm Kari 12:31 But that's what I mean though. It's like these little things that kinda kept coming out of left field and were just like there for like two minutes and then you're on to the next thing and it's like Just stay focused. Stay with me. Stay with me. Tara 12:46 I appreciated that they they thought of a way around the whole kids being on phone all the time, which is we're on this island, we don't get signal, the rich kid that Annie knows from Sarah 12:52 Mm-hmm Tara 12:57 New York, whose name is Rory and who has a 1992 cute boy haircut, by the way. Like I didn't know what his deal was Sarah 13:02 Uh-huh Tara 13:04 It's like time traveling Rory. He has a Starlink, but everyone else like has to go into town to borrow someone's laptop, like, on the mainland, because otherwise they have to just go to each other to have conversations. I was like I appreciated that that sort of made it feel vintage too. Maybe that was why I responded to it because it it seemed Also in all of their like sort of shitty cottage wardrobe was like, this is the past. This feels like when I was a teenager too. Sarah 13:29 Yeah. Tara 13:31 And I kinda like that aspect of it. So maybe that's why it it imprinted on me. Sarah 13:36 I did appreciate that there are a lot of things that like if you take a second and you're like, wait, so but these are like super rich people, like names are being dropped that I know. People that rich would have hooked up some sort of like net extension thing or like a, you know, Kardashian hotspot. I don't even know. Made out of skims. I don't know how this works. It's not really realistic, but I think that it is designed to be escapist and to send you back to a time where like the summer was its own discreet ETE thing where you just wore the same two and a half outfits until they f fell apart on like August twenty seventh Tara 14:16 Mm-hmm. Sarah 14:21 That world that you were in with these people was a world that like the people did not travel in and out of it with you to like your home world and there's something about that kind of summer that I think is not as common now that kids Tara 14:35 Yeah Sarah 14:37 Either aren't left alone for this kind of thing, or parents can't afford to give it to them because gas costs twenty dollars gallon. So that was appealing even though it wasn't necessarily realistic. I appreciated that they were committed to hand waving certain things and then that was just gonna be the situation, even if it wasn't credible, that they're just like, well, this is the world that we built and these are its rules. So I appreciated that. I th I, you know, I like the confidence. Kari 15:08 Yeah, I d I do think that's interesting. It this idea that we're going from a world where they have complete access because they're rich, so they get to do whatever they want. to a world where they have complete access can do whatever they want because the world is so small that they just there's not that much trouble they can get into. Tara 15:28 Mm-hmm. Kari 15:29 It it it's it's a it's an interesting contrast. Tara 15:29 Yeah. Yeah. Kari 15:32 Yeah. Tara 15:32 It certainly got to a more wholesome place than I expected when we first meet the characters in New York. Alexy, okay, this is their view and they have trees under the windows. Kari 15:38 Mm-hmm. Tara 15:43 Like, again, you're okay, you're rich, rich then. Got it. Like, this is not something everyone can experience. Sarah 15:46 Mm-hmm. Tara 15:49 I thought it was fun and sweet and I can tell anyone who like gets through the first episode and is like I do not want to spend another second with these characters. Everyone does go on a journey. I feel like it earns its eight episodes. And I hope it comes back because I want to go back to this world next summer again. If I can't if I can't live it for real, I'll I'll live it on TV. Clip 16:14 New fangled stories on my electric story box. Dave 16:19 It is time to go around the dial. First up, Tara, Tara, what do you got? Tara 16:22 Yes, I have UNACCEPTABLE! This is a new British panel show, uh newish, it premiered July 5th. It is hosted by Ed Gamble, winner of Taskmasters Season 9 It's a sort of game with two permanent team captains, Richard Ayoade and Joanne McNally. They are each joined in every episode by two guest teammates. And the concept is loosely about panelists defending beliefs that are generally regarded as, guess what, unacceptable, although not so unacceptable that if they were clipped out of context they would get canceled for real. Like And the fourth episode, Joel Dahmit from those recent episodes uh season of Taskmaster says, he thinks attractive people should pay less in taxes The studio audience is pulled on their judgment of acceptability and then the panelist has to try to win over as many people who disagree as they can with like obviously scripted points that they elaborate on in their own specific comic voice and each vote converted to the acceptable side wins the team a point. In that this is just a very slightly tweaked would I lie to you, it is impossible not to see the ways that this version is inferior. One is that Ed Gamble is not a great TV host. He is good on his two podcasts that I listen to, but those can obviously be much looser. Here he seems like he's being hemmed in by the constraints of a TV broadcast with like segments and a commercial break. He has slightly relaxed as the season's gone on, but I still think he would work better as a team captain specifically. In place of Joanne, who is annoying and not as quick with an off the cuff joke as you would want for something like this. Ayuate is more the dry like David Mitchell type, so he is fine to me here leaving aside his whole connection to Graham Linehan. Don't know what's going on with that. Also, one more thing about Ed, he has consented to being dressed for the show like a complete asshole, like multiple bolo ties and very like Kari 18:15 Oh Tara 18:16 different episodes. I mean one at a time, but another issue is that even though panelists obviously work with writer producers on the arguments for their opinions, some of them understand there's a degree of debate showmanship required to make the show fun and some of them act like they think the viewers gonna think they really believe what they're saying and so they were sort of undercutting it as they go, for example. In her episode, Maisie Adam has to say, I wholeheartedly believe that we should let AI run the world. No offense. She has neither the acting talent nor wit to sell it, sorry, and watching her cringe and giggle through her presentation feels like a waste of my time. By contrast when Ivo Graham, who graduated from Eton, argues that private school graduates deserve state support. He is clearly adding it to what he's been given. Keeps up the gag through the entire episode. And finally, even though we all know the points are meaningless on these shows, no one actually wins anything, only the main segments the audience is pulled for seem to affect the scores generally, which seem makes the other ones feel like filler, because they are pointless literally like just make the episodes a half hour it doesn't have to be an hour you're gonna see a lot of your British comedy faves come through unacceptable is unfortunately not unforgettable and Dave you have been watching this as well your thoughts Dave 19:32 I don't need structured scoring, but that is a problem that some of them have points, some of them don't, but also they have these various segments like would I lie to you, you know, the stitch up. And they go back and forth, there's no flow to it. Like they could have a stitch up and then two other things and they do another stitch up. Like it's very built by committee. Tara 19:53 Mm-hmm. Dave 19:53 Like there was too many chefs in the kitchen and they all wanted their particular version of the show and what they got was this sort of confused mess. And the other thing is that nobody really ever really changes anybody's mind about a thing. So like the whole idea that you're presenting in unacceptable viewpoint and your task is to change the audience's opinion about that from their first reaction. Like it swings maybe ten points at anything. Like there's no drama to it. Unacceptable, I just I guess nobody's committing to the bit because the bit is inherently dangerous to people that they have on the show. Tara 20:25 Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes. The latest F uh episode Fatia Algory from a couple of seasons of Taskmaster ago came on and her unacceptable opinion was all marriages should be arranged. And when they were like, okay, the audience can vote on it and she just goes You better vote vote yes or else if you want to leave here with your legs. Like her her attitude really suits the show more. Like she was way more committed to just being very aggressive and that was funny. Dave 20:57 Mm-hmm. Tara 20:58 But overall, you don't have to fly to England to watch this. It's fine. For my plug, I filed it over one earth month ago and finally it is live. I wrote for GQ an essay about why TVfinales tend to not stick a landing divided into various broad categories of like how specifically they failed. So we'll link that in the show notes. Dave 21:22 All right, Carrie, what do you got for us? Kari 21:24 I watched Heartstopper Forever, which was the wrap-up two-hour movie to the TV series. Heartstopper. It's a really beautiful story that's based on a graphic novel by Alice Osman about two teenage boys who fall in love. The wrap up story was was really beautiful. I a little bit repetitive. It probably could have been a little bit shorter or maybe devoted more time to the side characters as opposed to having the main characters kind of go back and forth. so often. You know I had to bring up Heated Rivalry, but this is a show that I have tried to recommend to many people over the years, including uh certain people on this podcast. and have not successfully gotten people on board, but I have recommended it to my heated rivalry watchers that if you want to sort of go back in time and maybe uh see the sort of PG version of Heated Rivalry. This is for you. It's just such a lovely, beautiful story about Queer teens finding each other, finding themselves. It gets uh into PG-13 territory, so you do have something to look forward to, yes. Tara 22:38 Sweet Sarah 22:39 Hello, Kari 22:43 Um, I was a little scandalized in the in the two hour movie about some of the places they were going. Tara 22:49 As it were Sarah 22:51 Second base, is that one of the places? Kari 22:54 And just lovely acting from Kit Connor and Joe Locke, the two leads And besides the main story, the like I said, there's lots of side characters that are exploring a lot of different identities and there's just really something for everyone, I think. Try the first three episodes, I would say, and if you're not hooked by then, then fine, but they're so breezy, they're like 20, 25 minutes. So please give Heartstopper a try Tara 23:24 And for your plug Kari 23:25 Have a podcast called Hey Remember the Eighties that I do with my best friend Joe. And we just dropped our three hundredth episode. Um I'm really proud of that. It's crazy. We started it on a whim seven years ago. We had absolutely no ex Experience. We still don't. I was editing the latest episode yesterday and was getting really frustrated because I am still a very amateur editor. Sarah 23:53 Relatable Kari 23:56 We talk about eighties music. In our latest episode, we have a segment called Just a Bit Outside, where we um cover uh songs that hit between 41 and 100 on the top 100. We covered uh Van Halen, Bullet Boys Are you Speedwagon and Erasure? So you're getting the gamut with us. We're and we have a fun time. So if you like 80s music, check it out. Really proud of everything we've done for the last seven years. Tara 24:27 Congratulations Kari 24:29 Thank you. Dave 24:32 Sarah D bunting Sarah 24:33 Oops, so yeah, fun's over, folks. The latest surfacing of longstanding allegations Against Erwile Catalano Jared Leto. It was called Jared Leto Colon, Hollywood's Dark Secret. It aired on BBC last week. It is now available on YouTube. It is not an easy sit, obviously, but it does do a few things well. It keeps the runtime trim. It's not quite an hour long. It's not larded up with corny reenactments. I was sort of sitting in front of it like, oh God, like I I know this is important and significant testimony, but I just am the so tired of this, like the depressing sameness of this exact story, and then boom, it's our esteemed colleague Mo Ryan in a talking head interview with F Fabulous Necklace, commenting on why alleged predations like Leto's The Open Secret of Longstanding Kind never seem to resolve or see justice. The answer is as usual, follow the money. Famous slash powerful creative people have entire economies surrounding them, and seldom is anyone feeling like they're in a position to make a change. motivated to crash those economies, not bound by NDAs, etc. The director of this one, Alice McShane, is experienced in this sub-genre and gets good material from that interviewee and the others and is compassionate in their questioning. There are a couple of bracingly repellent moments here. You don't need to make yourself watch it, obviously. Most of the headline making material has been out in like wrap-up form for a few days by now. But overall it is well done and not too rubbernecky. I think it has a couple of striking moments too that are worthwhile. I had a longer write up of the documentary at bestevidence. fyi. I will link that for thee in the show notes, and you can, as of this recording, buy Mo Ryan's book, Burn It Down, at my True Crime Bookstore, Exhibit B Books. We will link that in the show notes as well. Tara 26:36 I also added a gift link for uh Mo's essay at the New York Times, Jared Leto and Hollywood's Open Secrets. So You can find that in the show notes too. Sarah 26:43 Yes, an excellent read that uh sums up her position far better than I can. Dave 26:49 Alright, here's what's coming up this Friday. An extra Extra Hot Great. It is the Shards. Which is an interesting name for a TV show. That is available to club members. We'll talk about that and so much more. extrahotgreat. com slash club is where you want to go up for more info and to sign up and then come back here. EHG Prime in one week's time will welcome back Omar Gayaga to talk about Anna Pigeon. Tara 27:18 Is that the noise pigeons make? Dave 27:19 Yep. Sarah 27:21 Well, they wish Tara 27:21 Okay. Great Clip 27:31 FPS First Person Shooter Video Games Digital Entertainment Dave 27:43 It is time for the Extra Hot Great no knack presenting this week. It is David T. Cole. I bring you the X-Files season 7, Episode 13. First. person shooter. It is the year 2000. It has been, count 'em, five years since the Fox Series VR5 took the world by storm. To situate you in time, the video games of 2000 included Final Fantasy IX, The Sims, SSX, a snowboarding game I fell in love with, Tech and Tag Tournament Tara. Tara 28:13 Yeah Dave 28:14 Along with the first person shooter video games, Counter-Strike, Perfect Dark, and Duis X, which this episode looks a lot like Sarah 28:14 Yeah. Dave 28:21 So, David T. Cole, why is this episode of The X-Files no knackworthy? I have six easy reasons for you. Reason number one, it's terrible depiction of video games. The episode starts with three gamers in tactical specialized gear and they're psyching themselves up to enter a VR video game sort of situation. There's the alpha guy, his name is Retro. The nondescript guy is Moxie. And then the party animal, LoFat, is played by Michael Bauer, who played Donkey Lips on Salute Your Shorts. Tara 28:49 Yeah. Dave 28:54 Since then, the guy who played low fat has these low lights in his CV party guy, big cult guard, fat guy, and fat schlub on CSI. Kari 28:54 Oh Tara 29:01 Oh dear. Dave 29:05 So thanks guys. The first problem with the depiction of video games here is that there's no real gameplay design in evidence, level design or world design. It's just like this generic box of a video game. They are fighting in what I assume is an alleyway between Fox Studio buildings. It's just like a big long giant corridor. You know those games where you just shoot down the long corridor? The first thing they encounter is this motorcycle gang forms a straight line and just rides straight at the players who are behind a little bunker. Tara 29:28 Yeah Dave 29:37 It's like code from like Call of Duty War of 1812 somehow got into this game. Real dumb. They explode all the motorcycles in the alleyway, and then of course after the motorcycle gang Typically then you have the SS officers shooting at you with Tommy guns. It's just ABC. It just makes sense that way There's more thought put into your struggling like mall laser tag shop than there is the level design in this episode's video game. It is real terrible. Lo fat is down, his VR suit keeps shocking him to enforce his like wounded reality in the game. Retro goes into one of the warehouses. and meets Maitreya's ass, an ass that is part of a scantily clad woman named Maitreya in her plus three lingerie armor of enchantment, whatever she's got on here. Retro, having met only one woman in his life, his mother, kneels and kisses Maitreya's hand before she pulls a flintlock pistol out of like, I don't know, her ass or something. Tara 30:39 Thank you. I have that question as well. Dave 30:41 Shoots him in the chest, killing him, like kill kill him in oh like IRL death So if you want an explanation of how that's possible, you're not gonna get it. You're not even gonna get like a Mulder-esque ancient aliens hypothesis on what could be in play here. Doesn't happen in this episode That's number one. Video game design is terrible. Number two is video games are bad. Okay. This episode has a lot. not to say about video games, like topics it wants to approach and does, and then backs off very quickly, not actually adding any opinionated content to things that are just very ephemeral in the episode. Video games are sexist is one of them. The tech industry is sexist. The tech industry is corrupt and evil, and video games are emblematic of a society conditioning boys to be thugs. All these could have been the thrust of the episode. None of them are. There is no thrust of the episode, really, which is the big problem with this episode. There is nothing driving this episode beyond the visuals of it. It's like production started with storyboarding and forgot to write a script, so this episode could actually mean something. Like at one point Scully takes the sort of present-day slam dunk political opinion that video games might be making people violent and therefore need to be regulated, etc. etc. Mulder just replies, maybe it's the other way around, that they are the salve for everything that i is wrong with society and they're great. And that's it. That's the discussion. It ends there. We don't get any more on that. We don't go into that. That could have been like the crux of it. Nope, it's not. Despite Scully calling out the immaturity of the game and its players, the episode is more concerned about making the Enterprise of the episode sexy rather than pointing out that it is sexist. Maitreya's ass introduction is only one of many scenes designed to titillate, but not hook into any crater purpose. There is a Craven video game company that is more concerned with the effect dead gamers will have on their IPO than the human cost of it. That could have been the episode. It is not. They even do some light a character assassination of the lone gunmen who are in this episode, who are suddenly stock option bros. Who call in Mulder and Scully to try to make this go away as quickly as possible? Lots of avenues into the disaster that they are trying to present the industry is at this point in time. And Perhaps then bubbling up from that could be a theory, an ex-philian hook into it, but it just doesn't happen. That's number two. Number three, tits and ass, guys. Tits and ass. Beyond the model purpose of the episode, beyond like the strange things are happening. There is so much scream time devoted to the female body here that it's like Troy McClure's sex ed movie, Fuzzy Bunny's Guide to You Know What, like Where he superficially explains sex and then caps it off with, and now that you know how it's done, don't do it. That's sort of like what this episode wants to do. It's like Now that we've shown you ass and breasts and perhaps fleeting basic instinct style glimpses of somebody's vagina. Tara 34:00 Uh yeah. Dave 34:01 Don't do it. That was sort of like what I got from the episode. Tara 34:04 Yeah Dave 34:05 Like there's a scene where the LAPD Have arrested a woman because basically she looks exactly like Maitreya. I don't know how they made that comparison because the only thing they had to go off is a Super low res 3 polygon version of her that they printed out from the game. But anyways, there are like 10,000 cops in front of the interrogation room just oggling this person, including the detective biting his fist like, oh, ladies She's wearing a silver, I guess, Lame skirt that is like two dental bibs put together, chained by, you know, the necklace chain they use with the clasps. Tara 34:45 Yeah. Mm-hmm. Dave 34:49 Basically, that's how big it is. So Mulder and Scully arrive, start to interrogate. She does the basic instincts maneuver here And in other points in the episode, we see her as a medieval knight, the kind that wear thigh-high boots and skin type uniforms. We see her as Bikini Top Cowgirl in an old West shootout where she clones herself a few times and there's like five of her. And in case you're wondering, that's ten boobs. So that's great. My favorite part of that scene is when Scully shoots her, she dies like somebody from Hogan's Alley, the light game from the Nintendo NES. Tara 35:21 Mm-hmm. Dave 35:24 They just spin around and disappear. That was a good. It's only commentary if you actually comment on it. Otherwise, you just have TNA in your show because you want TNA in your show. Number four, let lesbians be lesbians. One of the techs on the site when the first murder happens is named Phoebe, who after staring at her for ten minutes, I finally realized it was Constant Zimmer. And I was like, of course it's Constant Zimmer's right here and her name. She's always been Constant Zimmer. Anyways, the closest thing we get to a reason why this might be happening is that Phoebe is the one who scanned Maitreya's body from the model we saw at the interrogation room. But for her own game she was working on in her own time on her own computer that somehow, through methods, spilled into this one. That is the Closest we get to an explanation is why this is happening. Not how, but just she's here now and she's mad and she's feeding off male aggression. We don't know anything about that game except at some point Phoebe whispers goddess when Maitreya first pops up in the episode. But Phoebe could have been the the throughput, you know, the POV for all this, but it just like spread too thin. Everybody's attacking it from every vector all the time. Nobody gets a chance to like, you know, be the highlight So if they like did explore her character more, like maybe, maybe it would have made more sense when after multiple in-game deaths and just when Mulder and Scully are about to get sexy killed by Maitreya. She like just enters a kill switch she's had all along and that's the end of the episode. But there's like a real like lesbian undercurrent here happening between the fake character and the real character and like why that is we never really find out. That could have been an interesting avenue into this, but again, it's just there and disappears. We don't get it. The dialogue in this episode is terrible. Let me walk you through some. The gamers at the beginning of the episode are gearing up their psych. Do we get this? Clip 37:29 Do you see him? They're up their gigs, looking to fry your wavels. Dave 37:34 You know when gamers talk to each other and they call each other geeks and tell you they're gonna fry your huevos. Uh we got more from that gang. Clip 37:43 Ready, knuckleheads? Flank right! Flank left! Go! Dave 37:48 Is Retro sixty-seven calling people knuckleheads in the year two thousand? So the Lone Government, I was talking about them earlier. They have stock options, but Clip 37:58 Game ships on Friday, 50 malls across the United States and Japan. Only there's a dead body between you and untold wretches. I don't know about you guys, but I'd be checking my shorts for cake. Dave 38:13 I I was so confused by this, it's like I Kari 38:16 What yeah, what does it mean? Dave 38:21 I had to Google it. The only result was Mulder in this one episode of The X-Files. Not a thing. Not a thing. The very accurate gamer slang? Clip 38:32 It happened so fast. Moxie's covering Retro, who's going inside after the enemy to rack up Bluku points. And then Goosh. Dave 38:43 Buckoo points. Sarah 38:44 Buckoo points. Dave 38:45 God. Sarah 38:46 Again, when are we? Dave 38:47 Yeah, at the beginning of the episode, Maitreya has claimed her first victim, retro shot him in the chest with a flint lock. And the gang back at first person shooter headquarters is sort of trying to piece it all together. They see a wireframe version of that scene, and then we get this. Clip 39:05 It's a chick. Can't be. Can you text your wrapper? Dave 39:18 And then the first meeting with the detector from the LAPD, the one who later will be biting his fist because he can't. That's all he can do to stop from jerking off right there in the moment. We get this scene. Clip 39:28 My partner, Agent Mulder. This is Detective Lacour. Have you got something? Yeah, our killer, I believe. Dave 39:35 Shows the printout. Clip 39:37 Hey, I'll put out an APB for Fredericks of Hollywood. Dave 39:43 If this wasn't the X Files and you just told me to identify the show, I would have been oh that's Law and Order. Tara 39:48 For sure, yes. Dave 39:50 First reactions to the Flintlock killing Clip 39:54 Holy Toledo. She's packing a flintwork. That ain't all she's packing. Can you print that out for me? Dave 40:01 I don't even know what that means. That's not all she's packing. Tara 40:04 She's back in boobs. Dave 40:05 I guess. Kari 40:06 Yeah, yeah. Tara 40:06 She packed him into her teddy or whatever Dave 40:07 Yeah. Yeah. We haven't heard a lot from Scully. She gets she doesn't get a lot of bad dialogue, but she gets this stinker. As Mulder is probably dying, she takes time out for this. Clip 40:17 What is that? Walter's vitals are wiggy. What? They're all over the map. This is your fault. You put her here. Hey. No fair picking on a girl. Dave 40:35 And the worst piece of writing But also this might be the part of the show that is so bad, and I'm not saying it's an intentionally good bad, but it's so bad that I enjoyed it on its own sake. This is The start of Mulder's end of show Coda narration. Here we go. Sarah 40:53 Uh Clip 40:58 We came, we saw, we conquered. And if the taste of victory is sweet, the taste of virtual victory is not sweet and low, nor the bullets made of sugar. Sarah 41:14 Jesus. Tara 41:14 That's like a Simpsons parody of a Mulder wrap-up Dave 41:15 Ah, it really is, yeah And my God, two hundred dollars for camera footage of DuCovny in the recording booth, first getting this piece of dialogue. He's like, all right, fine. Tara 41:28 I gotta get off this show. Dave 41:29 I mean, I need a new garage, I guess, yeah. Tara 41:31 Yeah. Sarah 41:31 Yeah yeah, you move to LA for me, I guess we're doing this. Dave 41:35 It's so poorly written. The dialogue is so bad. And there is obviously not a real gamer involved in this enterprise at all. It is so confused. a mishmash of things they've heard about, right? It's like old man. Old man tries to explain video games to a young crowd. Tara 41:52 Yes Dave 41:53 All right. That was number five. The number six reason and the final one is one I'm calling Sugar on Top, which is this episode was co-written by William Neuromancer Gibson and it is as bad as it is. Sarah 42:07 Thank you Dave 42:10 Woo Stinky Sarah 42:11 Have you have you read Neuromancer lately? It's not good. Dave 42:16 I A bunch of people recommended it to me. Sarah 42:16 This is not a surprise. Dave 42:19 I got through one chapter and I haven't been back, so Sarah 42:22 There you go. Dave 42:22 Um yeah. In conclusion, the worst holodeck episode is not Enterprises, these are the voyages. It is this episode of the X-Files. First person shooter. There are some things I enjoyed about it, but I want everybody to have their say and perhaps they'll come up then. If not, I will bring them up later. So who wants to go first talking about first person shooter? Tara 42:43 Well, we should go with our guest, because she picked it. Kari 42:45 Yes, hello. Uh I'm trying to recover from that Sarah 42:50 Damn you Kari 42:52 I was a big X-Files fan. I am a big X-Files fan. I picked this because I did not remember what it was and just wanted to, you know, revisit the X-Files. This sucked so bad for all of the reasons that that they have said. But but here's where I'm coming from. I am not a video games f person. I have played Mario Super Mario Bros. Like that that is my uh experience with with video games so I do not have any background for this a TV episode, but I can tell you that everything in it is garbage. Like that's that's how bad it is. Like just you don't need to have any experience to know that like everything that's happening is so ludicrous. Dave 43:41 Yeah. Kari 43:41 Like i it doesn't even make any sense. Like they're playing this game in like a virtual environment and then they're talking about shipping this out to stores and I'm like, so someone goes to a store and buys this game and then where do they play it? Like in their Dave 43:54 I think what they're saying is when one of the lone gunmen says is going to fifty malls in the US and Japan, is that they're like event Kari 44:01 Oh okay. Dave 44:02 things in those malls and you I don't understand the mass market potential for this. Tara 44:07 Right. Dave 44:08 Feels like you'd have to charge like $200 a pop to make it worth your while. Kari 44:08 Yeah. Tara 44:12 Mm-hmm. Kari 44:13 Uh for sure, for sure. Dave 44:15 That makes sense in the dialogue. It makes absolutely no sense for a business that's about to have an IPO.like somebody's gonna look at this as like, okay. Sarah 44:21 No Kari 44:23 Well then they'd already be built, right? And they like I what uh and what are they shipping? Dave 44:26 Yeah. Sarah 44:27 Yeah. Kari 44:29 I'd like whatever. Okay, fine. Sarah 44:31 Yeah, just lean into this snuff film of it all, cause Kari 44:34 Yeah Sarah 44:35 These things are already built. Like at next to the sparrows. Dave 44:39 Just to quickly clarify the actual nature of the game, I've been calling it VR, but it's this weird thing. They're not wearing like goggles, they're just going into this Kari 44:47 No, mm-hmm. Dave 44:48 this white room of a setting that has magical projectors all over it that makes it look like it is a different reality, which is of course not even technology we have today, nor really for the next forty years probably. Sarah 45:00 Well, it's sort of like the haunted rides at Disneyland used to be. Dave 45:01 But anyways. Yeah. Tara 45:05 Mm-hmm. Kari 45:05 Yeah. Tara 45:06 But yes, it is the Kari 45:06 It yeah. Tara 45:07 the most dramatic hallway you ever entered. Sarah 45:10 Mm-hmm. Tara 45:10 Even even when it's digitally projected, this is as much imagination as anyone has. Sarah 45:11 Yeah. Dave 45:14 Yeah. And then on top of that, there's the question of like people go into the game and then the game ends, but they're still in there. What's the mechanism for that? Tara 45:21 Mm-hmm. Dave 45:21 Never even really questioned. It's just Malders in the game still, even though it's been shut down. Okay. Tara 45:26 Yeah, and no one says, why don't they just play this game at a laser tag facility? Because that's essentially what it is. Anyway, back to you, Carrie. Kari 45:34 Wild. Um yeah, they also kind of sell out Mulder's character because uh Mulder is of the two of them, he's kind of like the technophobe. So this idea that he is like suddenly calling for a texture wrap is is completely insane. Dave 45:50 Yeah Kari 45:52 Like you know, he uh his big hobby at home was pornography, not playing video games. So it it's just it's really wild. I I just hated it. So much. Dave 46:04 Yeah. Kari 46:05 It was it the i everything you said about it was on point in that it was trying to say so much that it said nothing at all. I didn't think that the lesbian not happening between Constance Zimmer and Scully, like she was like I thought she was like gaga for Scully. Tara 46:19 Mm-hmm. Kari 46:23 Um and Scully as always was blissfully ignorant to Dave 46:24 Yeah. Well at the end of at the end of the episode after Maitreya has been, I don't know, derezzed or whatever happened at the end of that episode. Kari 46:28 The church. Yeah. Dave 46:34 The CEO is all sad because his game's been somehow erased from existence, like there's no such thing as backup servers or anything like that. But then like the computers boot up by themselves because X Files and then Maitreya's back except they pan around in in universe. And it's maybe Scully's face is so bad I mean it's supposed to be Scully, but it's so bad that I was like, is that Scully? Kari 46:56 Yes Dave 46:59 So, you know, I to your point, Phoebe has created her next digital uh muse. Kari 47:05 Oh, we were meant to believe that Phoebe had created that seed. Dave 47:08 I think so. Kari 47:08 This I oh my gosh. Tara 47:10 Oh, I thought we were just supposed to think like the magic enchanted slash cursed game copied Scully after she went in it or whatever. Kari 47:10 Okay Dave 47:17 Sure, but Phoebe is Dr. Sarah 47:18 Mm-hmm. Dave 47:19 Frankenstein here, right? Tara 47:19 Yes, yes, yes. Dave 47:20 Okay. Kari 47:20 Hmm. Yeah, and one final note, I would like to say that the so this came out in like 2000, right? Dave 47:26 Yep, yep. Kari 47:27 Like early 2000. Dave 47:28 February. Kari 47:28 The basic instinct came out in nineteen ninety-two Tara 47:31 I I had the same note Dave 47:33 The classics never go out of style, guys. Kari 47:35 Like, I mean, we're reaching back eight years for like the most disgusting sexist joke possible. Tara 47:43 Mm-hmm. Kari 47:44 So yeah, tragedy all around. Tara 47:44 Yeah Sarah 47:46 I had to read Gibson's Neuromancer for a college postmodernism class. It was a really long couple weeks. But I saw that writing credit and was like, oh boy. And then you got the fucking lawnmower man access denied level graphics. Eight or nine years after that movie came out, lots of War Gamesy exposition while people are doing that. Like, we're just gonna like twiddle our fingers on the keyboard and there's not actually any result or outcome that would line up with the with the keystrokes. Then we're just gonna talk about how the computer has sealed off entry from the humans, that there's no failsafe. You know, he's get like Joshua's got the codes. Guys, this has been done better by cuter actors and if Duchovny just wanted to wear s wanted to go sleeveless, just find some other way. But this was just like completely off tone, copying from all the wrong things and not really paying them homage so much as Copying them with and taking the wrong ideas from them. The phrase virtual mayhem should only be used once, if at all, not two or three times. everything about it was bad enough that it stopped being even amusing in its terribility was like, fine, I'm gonna list things I enjoy. One is that we are at the in the beginning of the Scully Perfect Lob Wimple Hairstyle Era, flawless. Kari 49:15 Yes Sarah 49:18 And number two is that Krista Allen's ass is perfect. Fortunately, because we see a lot of it. Dave 49:26 Sure do Sarah 49:26 Like one of my first notes was like, that's a lot of cheek for Primetime. Excellent no-nack pick. This was like it just kept uh peeling it like a you know rotten onion. I just kept peeling it, and there were more layers of like baffling terribility. Dave 49:44 I'm a little surprised, Sarah, that you didn't bring up the crime scene part of it, which is After the first guy dies and gets the flintlock to the chest, they bring in like a pro gamer to deal with the problem in the universe. He'll have to go into the game and It's like an active crime scene, and they're just like, oh, it's Daryl Masashi. Sarah 49:58 Oh yeah. Tara 50:01 Musashi. Dave 50:03 It's like, oh, they're all whispering, Daryl Masashi. And they just let him in, and he's like just wandering through where somebody just died doing his virtual thing. Tara 50:09 Yep Sarah 50:10 Mm-hmm. Dave 50:11 And the cops are like All right. Sarah 50:13 And then he gets Yeah, uh huh Dave 50:14 He got chopped into bits. Tara 50:16 He sure does. Dave 50:16 Yeah. Yeah. All right. Tara 50:18 Just to piggyback on what everyone sorry, what everyone else was saying about basic instinct, there was already a whole spoof of basic instinct called Fatal Instinct that Carl Reiner directed that was seven years older than this episode. Sarah 50:28 Yeah. Tara 50:33 So it's like it's doubly embarrassing that they're still doing this shit. Sarah 50:38 Mm-hmm. Tara 50:38 As soon as I saw that company that makes this video game is called FPS, I was like, this is so first thought. Dave 50:45 Mm-hmm. Tara 50:46 It was so like, not this, but this, we'll fix it later, and then no one else came back to fix it. Dave 50:49 Yeah. And also their their logo on their computers is a flaming logo, so you know it's the year two thousand. Tara 50:55 Oh God. It's yeah, I I can't really add to much else th other than what everyone else said. Dave 50:56 I was like, oh, that takes me back. Tara 51:03 It's like The guy who gets shot with a flint lock having uh n I think no one has said he's got like resting Jake Busey face, he's got like perma pout mouth Dave 51:12 Yeah, yeah. Tara 51:12 It's very off putting and unappealing. He's like if Jake Bucey and Gil Bellows had a baby and it was all fucked up. Kari 51:19 Oh, yeah. Tara 51:19 That's this guy. Sarah 51:21 And it smiled at you. Tara 51:23 Yes. Krista Allen is I agree, body is tea. Like, you know, she should be putting it on camera. That's what it's essentially for. But it's So embarrassing how this episode, like Dave said, cannot portray the idea of sexist exploitation without being equally as sexistly exploitative itself. Dave 51:43 Mm-hmm. Can't or doesn't want to. Tara 51:48 Well, exactly. Dave 51:49 Yeah. Tara 51:49 I mean we're we what talked about Furious last week, which is like largely revolves around film of child sexual abuse, which you don't see a frame of in the actual show. Like For good reason, because we've learned better and I would love to think that if this episode were made again it wouldn't, but who knows? It's you know It's humiliating, especially all of the like these are the different kinds of sexy lady you can be in a video game. It's like Dominatrix Sarah 52:16 Mm-hmm. Tara 52:17 Or cowgirl or sexy soldier sitting on a tank suggestively. Kari 52:19 Yeah. Dave 52:22 Yeah Tara 52:22 It's uh brutal. Sarah 52:23 Yeah. Tara 52:24 But I will also say the one thing I liked about this Which is it's from the era where they finally started dressing Scully in costumes that fit Jillian Anderson and that's great for her. Sarah 52:35 Mm-hmm Tara 52:38 It was a dark era with the gigantic blazers prior to this, so Sarah 52:42 Yeah, white tights as well. Tara 52:44 Oh, yeah. One plus against the dozens of minuses. Dave 52:48 Great. Tara 52:48 Woof Dave 52:49 Alright, before I make this official, I just got a couple notes that nobody's mentioned, and I do want to bring them up. Just the visuals on the interfaces of things. We were talking about the FPS being a flaming logo. Tara 52:59 mm Dave 53:00 But it's the year 2000, everybody's still got the giant chunky VGA uh Catha Ray tube monitors, you know, with 10 pixels either way. Tara 53:07 Yeah. Dave 53:10 And the interface for everything just has like bevels in places just because, you know, because we all had to fire up Kai's Power Tools in Photoshop and do these interfaces. We're like. Bebels why not? Brushed metal textures on absolutely everything. Remember the first iTunes and how brushed metal it all looked Tara 53:28 Sure Dave 53:29 This is then there is an autopsy where the guy is very visibly shaking because the room they're filming in is cold. And my favorite Maitreya scene is one where she starts doing super fast sped-up flips from like the 50 yard line towards Mulder. Sarah 53:40 Well. Dave 53:50 It goes on for like 30 seconds of her flipping. before she like karate kicks him or something at the end of it. It was so ridiculous. It looked like something from Benny Hill. Anyways, let's make this official. Sarah D. Bunting, we're talking about this episode for the no nag. No nak worthy, yes or no? Sarah 54:05 Mm-hmm. Yes, Professor Falcon, it absolutely is Dave 54:10 Gary and Tara. Kari 54:11 Yes Tara 54:13 The bloodthirst is unquenchable. Yes Dave 54:18 All right, so What if this is the first episode of this podcast you've ever heard? Tara 54:53 Welcome, if so Dave 55:01 That means The X-File Season Seven, Episode Thirteen. First person shooter. You are hereby inducted into the Extra Hot Great no-neck Kari 55:20 Oh, God Clip 55:33 Americans love a winner. Yeah. And will not tolerate a loser. Nope. Dave 55:38 It's time to find out who is our winner and who is our loser of the week, Sarah has this week's winner. Sarah 55:44 Uh, it's me. Every time a no knack rings, uh, Buntsy gets her wigs. Um, actually it's task. Force, adding, among other actors, Tim Blake Nelson, Kevin Fuck you, Cole Dunn, and Gerald Jerome for season two. I am very excited, especially for that last one. Dave 56:07 And loser the week. Tara 56:08 Well when Tim was here last week talking about his profile of Yaya Abdul Mateen II, Peg to Wonder Man, we were all very happy for him to talk to him because we did not know Tim was about to lose a weekend updating that profile because Wonder Man has been unrenewed for season two at Disney Plus. Dave 56:27 Unrenewed Tara 56:28 Well, they renewed it and then they were like, just kidding, so Sarah 56:32 That should be illegal, like Tara said. Tara 56:33 Yes, I sent that in an email. It happened to glow, now it's happened to Wonder Man. Dave 56:39 Hmm. Tara 56:39 Marvel, do better Dave 56:40 Well, speaking about Do you know what time it is? Clip 56:41 Oh, for Christ's sake, Fuck off, Cole. Tara 56:43 Yeah, it's good dime Sarah 56:45 Get up. Kari 56:45 Game time Dave 56:58 Welcome back to Game Time. This is the ninth of the season. The scores are Tara with four, she wins today, she wins the season, Sarah right behind with three, and value guests sitting at one. Today we are playing the X-Files, that's EX, from Seth, who earns himself an extra credit. Topic of their choosing plus a free shirt from the EHG store at throughmethods.com. Seth writes, the X-Files featured many great guest stars, but the X-Files delighted in killing most of them in gruesome and horrific ways. Players will be provided with an obituary of a doomed exfiles star and must determine the actor from the details of their funeral service. After the actor is revealed, you must correctly identify their cause of death from the multiple choice list for an additional point. So there are three pieces of information about the funeral and then an additional point if you can figure out the cause of death. Maximum four points a question. Serving bunting! I know what you're gonna ask, but let's just hear it. Sarah 58:02 Can we guess at every level? Dave 58:04 Sure. Sarah 58:05 Thanks Dave 58:07 All right, uh steel meal situation, please start Tara 58:10 Thank you, Dave. Sarah has one. I have four. Valued guest has one plus Eric's meal for a total of two. Clip 58:19 We will start with Sarah. Dave 58:20 Alright, Sarah, Carrie, Tara is our order today. 18 questions, no equalizer challenge zones. Are we ready to play the EX files? Tara 58:29 Yes Kari 58:29 Yes. Dave 58:31 Alright, here's an example. The first two pieces of information are from the obituary. The first part lists from the X files. The second part lists from the actor's CV.here's an example of that. FBI agent killed on duty in Dallas. That is the X-Files part of it. If you could guess there it would be worth three points, seeing shaking of heads. So here comes the second part of the obituary. Service will be held at six sixty six Park Avenue. Attendees include Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. So put those two things together. If you had a guess there, it would be Terry O'Quinn is correct. Sarah 59:10 Serial claims Clip 59:11 I want the control because I want to want to go with that bowl. Dave 59:13 If you needed one more hint, I would have given you a couple shows that he's been in that we were talking about in that obituary. Clip 59:18 I want the control. Dave 59:19 Alright, so did he die in the X-Files from exploding vending machine, alien fetus, burst through chest, or killer bees? Any ideas? Carrie, what do you think? Kari 59:31 Exploding vending machine. Clip 59:32 Okay And bull it and want to come to go and pull it. Dave 59:34 You are actually correct. Tara 59:35 Whoa. Dave 59:35 It was from that. Sarah 59:36 Wow. Dave 59:36 That was from the movie. Tara 59:38 Ah Dave 59:38 The rest of our questions are from the TV show. Kari 59:39 Yes. Sarah 59:40 Mm. Dave 59:41 All right. Sarah D. Bunting, you are first, here we go. Obituary reads, local stoner dies in mysterious circumstances. Not a lot of info to go on, but if you can name the actor from that X file's description, you get three points. Sarah 59:57 Local stoner. Dave 59:59 Yep. Sarah 59:59 Ah, I don't know Dave 01:00:03 He is survived by KG and a talking motorcycle that sounds just like Owen Wilson. Clip 01:00:06 Oh, yeah. Dave 01:00:10 Raisins to be served. Sarah 01:00:13 K. G. Dave 01:00:14 Yep. Sarah 01:00:14 And a talking motorcycle that sounds just like Owen Wilson. Dave 01:00:18 Correct. Sarah 01:00:18 I don't know it from this either. Next. Dave 01:00:21 The actor CV includes Tenacious D, Heat Vision, and Jack, Clone High. Those are all the clues there. Tara 01:00:28 Raisins, clone high. Sarah 01:00:30 Yeah, no, that doesn't that doesn't help me for some reason. Jack Black. Dave 01:00:34 You are correct, one point. On the X-Files did Jack Black's character die from Ghost of Executed Death Row Inmates Seeking Vengeance Clip 01:00:37 Oh Dave 01:00:44 Electrocution by friend in control of lightning and currents? Or murderous cockroaches, possibly from space. How did he die? Sarah 01:00:55 Uh, I think it's the first one, Ghosty Dave 01:00:58 Incorrect electrocution by friend. But you got one point there. Sarah 01:01:01 Oh, I'm not sure what I'm saying. Dave 01:01:02 Over to Carrie. Morose Minnesotan psychic passes away at the age of sixty. Kari 01:01:09 Um that was what's his face? Clip 01:01:13 Kato wope oring the bow and bang it. Dave 01:01:13 Who is the actor? Kari 01:01:15 Oh my god, Peter Boyle Dave 01:01:16 Peter Boyle's good for three points. Clip 01:01:18 Oh bugged on Kobo. Dave 01:01:18 Yes Sarah 01:01:18 Nice Dave 01:01:19 Nicely done. Clip 01:01:19 Cause I'm bad. Dave 01:01:20 Alright, Peter Boyle's character in the X-Files. Clip 01:01:20 Kato woke or in the bow. Dave 01:01:23 How did he die? Was it broken skull resulting from slipping in pie? Suicide via pills and asphyxiation, or stab by a rival psychic compelled by dark visions. Kari 01:01:37 It was suicide. Dave 01:01:39 You are correct. That is a full four points. Tara 01:01:42 Noise. Sarah 01:01:42 Well done. Dave 01:01:42 Tara. Kari 01:01:43 Yay Tara 01:01:43 Yeah Dave 01:01:44 Bronx-based cult leader slash mad scientist suffers macabre fate. Tara 01:01:51 And then we'll see. Dave 01:01:52 Memorial to take place in a high-end RV. The casket on top of a tanning bed, surrounded by footage of women's tennis, Angie Tribeca expected to attend. Tara 01:02:04 Oh, uh, this is Jerry Burns Dave 01:02:06 Jerry Burns is correct from Justified and Angie Tribeca. Did he die, Tara? Devoured by cannibal cultists to prevent aging. Bludgeon with a hammer in order to save the woman grafted to his back to prevent aging, or staked in the chest while harvesting human organs for consumption to prevent aging. Tara 01:02:28 Sure. Uh given the two cult references, I'm gonna say it's number one. Dave 01:02:32 Devoured by cannibal cultists. Tara 01:02:34 Yes. Dave 01:02:34 Incorrect. Bludgeoned with a hammer in order to save the woman grafted onto his back. Tara 01:02:35 Oh fell right into Seth's trap. Kari 01:02:40 God, I don't remember that one. Dave 01:02:40 That was season eleven, so yeah. Tara 01:02:42 Wow, okay Sarah 01:02:43 Ooh, yeah. Dave 01:02:44 Sarah! Sarah 01:02:45 Yeah. Dave 01:02:46 Roanoke polygamist killed a series of sinister events Tara 01:02:51 Fan and nickel Sarah 01:02:52 Yeah, really. Um, hint. Dave 01:02:55 Funeral executive produced by Sam Raimi with Wild West themed decor and miniature chainsaws distributed by Michael Weston as parting gifts. That is your CV laden clue. Sarah 01:03:08 Michael Weston as bar. Dave 01:03:11 If you need the actual shows, just not the clues, I can give you that as your next one. Sarah 01:03:11 Yeah Michael Weston is parting gifts. Uh uh Yeah, I need the next tense, sorry. Dave 01:03:22 All right, the shows in that hint were Burr Notice, The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr.. Clip 01:03:23 I'll want to call it and want to call it Dave 01:03:29 , and Ash vs. Evil Dead. Sarah 01:03:31 Yeah, I just uh should have pulled the name sooner. Clip 01:03:33 Condomba, cause or medical. Sarah 01:03:34 Bruce Campbell. Dave 01:03:34 Good for one. Alright, did he die? Clip 01:03:36 You both know the bomb game and both of you and all the one candle because I'm now Dave 01:03:37 Injected with deadly nanomachines that multiply carbon in the bloodstream. Yuck Car crash and freak hailstorm. Or shot by the police, though his demonic soul likely invaded a new body. Sarah 01:03:53 Hailstorm. Dave 01:03:56 Shot by the cops. Tara 01:03:57 I recall this one being kinda good. Dave 01:03:59 This is season six seven Terms of Endearment Back to Gary. Navadian decease following high-speed chase. Who is that actor? Kari 01:04:12 Is that Bryan Cranston? Dave 01:04:13 It is Brian Gras that amazing three points Uh maybe I don't think so. Sarah 01:04:15 Yeah. Tara 01:04:15 Damn Kari 01:04:16 Yay. That's in the canon, isn't it? Sarah 01:04:18 Wow. Kari 01:04:19 That one Sarah 01:04:20 I bet it is. Dave 01:04:22 Did he die in this episode? Body used to incubate alien lifearm which letally exploded from abdomen. Resonating skull leading to head explosion. Shot by time-traveling Nazis in the Bermuda Triangle. Kari 01:04:37 I I think it's the second one. Dave 01:04:39 Resonating skull is correct. That is a four-point sweep. That is season six, episode two, drive. Kari 01:04:44 Yay. Tara 01:04:46 Carrie is killing us. Dave 01:04:47 Yep. Kari 01:04:48 I got the two those are like the the two two of the most recognizable episodes Tara 01:04:53 Nevertheless Yep Dave 01:04:54 All right, this will take us into our score break. Sarah 01:04:54 Okay Dave 01:04:56 Tara. No trace of missing research scientist begins the obituary. Tara 01:05:01 Next, please Dave 01:05:03 Outdoor Memorial held on Westeria Lane with play-by-play provided by Dan Redell and Pacey McCall. Small possibility of American crime protest signage Clip 01:05:12 Kate the load ring bullet I bought out and bowl it. Tara 01:05:15 Felicity Huffman. Dave 01:05:16 Is good for two now on the X-Piles. How'd she die? Choked by the ghost of her murdered boss, the Jersey Devil. Clip 01:05:20 Oh I want to let I want the correct ball. Dave 01:05:26 Or mind controlled by an Arctic worm and taken by the CDC for study. Tara 01:05:32 That one. Dave 01:05:33 You are correct for an additional point. Tara 01:05:34 Wow. Dave 01:05:35 That was season one's ICE. Sarah 01:05:36 Nice Dave 01:05:37 ICE Tara 01:05:38 Ice Dave 01:05:38 All right, we are almost done. Let's get the scores. Tara 01:05:42 Okay, uh Sarah has four, I have five, Carrie has eight. Sarah, do you concur? Sarah 01:05:48 Yes, I do concur. Tara 01:05:49 Very good Dave 01:05:50 Back to Sarah D. Bunting. Your obituary starts. Body of experimental super soldier found on local beach. Sarah 01:06:02 Sumerton Man, famous sitcom star Dave 01:06:06 The obituary continues. Expected speakers at the memorial include Hercules, Gabrielle, and Ron Swanson. In lieu of flowers, donations to pro-AI causes are appreciated. Tara 01:06:20 Oh now Kari 01:06:20 What Clip 01:06:21 Yeah, one day I will want to go, and both green both the goat, and both play, and Sarah 01:06:22 Lucy Lawless? Dave 01:06:23 Yeah, Lucy Lawless, yes, the AI was in relation to Battlestar Galactica. Sarah 01:06:27 Oh wow. Dave 01:06:28 Alright, how'd she die? Sarah 01:06:28 Oh, right. Dave 01:06:31 Murdered by a serial killer hobgoblin, fun word to say, with snakes sewn into her chest cavity. Insects fed on the Insects fed on the inside of her head to such a degree that it simply collapsed. Clip 01:06:44 I want to go and go back. Dave 01:06:44 Or headless body punched through her abdomen. Clip 01:06:46 I want to get around control. Dave 01:06:49 A headless body punched through her abdomen. Clip 01:06:51 I want to go and get around Dave 01:06:51 Fun. Which one of those? Sarah 01:06:54 First one. Dave 01:06:55 Not murdered by a serial killer hobgoblin, in fact, a headless body punched through her abdomen. Sarah 01:07:00 Oh wow, I hate it when that happens. Dave 01:07:01 Yep. Sarah 01:07:03 Especially during game time. God damn it. Dave 01:07:05 All right. Your obituary starts with the ex-philian bit. Pittsburgh EMT perishes following FBI investigation. Clip 01:07:15 Go with them over there, and one does it go and control. Dave 01:07:15 That's what happened in the X Files, you know who it is. Kari 01:07:18 Pomegrane Dave 01:07:19 You do know who it is. Jesus. Sarah 01:07:21 Holy shit. Dave 01:07:22 Alright. Nicely done. We didn't even get to the helicopter bit of the obituary, but you know, that's the way things go. Sarah 01:07:25 Wow. Dave 01:07:29 How did he die? Struck by a truck and decapitated Cancer Electrocuted with a defibrillator unit. Kari 01:07:42 Oh, cancer was the second one. Dave 01:07:44 Yeah. Kari 01:07:44 Okay. Uh electrocuted by a defibrillator unit. Dave 01:07:47 Did you think it was struck by a truck and decapitated then also cancer got him? Clip 01:07:48 Kato and I have all the colours and both I want it a bowl. Kari 01:07:52 Yeah, I yes. Dave 01:07:54 Well, you're right, he was electrocuted. Clip 01:07:56 Kato vote to it. Dave 01:07:57 And that was from season four's Leonard Betts. Clip 01:07:57 Oh, you Tara 01:08:00 Sure. Dave 01:08:00 Back to Tara. Tara 01:08:01 Yes Dave 01:08:02 The obituary begins, remains of a shadowy NSA operative discovered. Tara 01:08:09 Um Robert Patrick Dave 01:08:13 Patriotic Service held at Perpetual Grace Limited. Attendees include Hurley, Said, and Sun. Clip 01:08:20 Oh wait Tara 01:08:23 Oh my god, why can't I remember who else was in Perpetual Grace Limited? Fu Fuck. Um next. That was a crossover. Dave 01:08:34 Yeah, Blizzard's over. Sarah 01:08:35 Uh uh Clip 01:08:36 Fuck. Tara 01:08:37 There it is. Dave 01:08:38 Your shows are Lost, Patriot, Perpetual Grace Limited. Tara 01:08:39 Mm-hmm. Yep. Sure. Dave 01:08:44 Who is that actor? Tara 01:08:46 Oh, I don't know. I don't remember. Clip 01:08:50 Juvenile Dave 01:08:51 Whoops Oh boy All right. Anybody know this one? Steelmeal? Know it? That is Mr. Terry O'Quinegan. Tara 01:09:03 Fuck Sarah 01:09:04 Oh Fuck Dave 01:09:04 How'd he die? Skinned by a reincarnated coal miner from the eighteen hundreds. Disintegrated and absorbed into a vein of Maganite, shot in the head by a member of the Millennium Group. Tara 01:09:21 Chat Dave 01:09:23 Incorrect! He was disintegrated and absorbed into a vein of magnetite. That was from the Trust No One episode. Tara 01:09:31 No. Dave 01:09:32 Alright, back to Sarah, Kentucky-based conspiracy theorist dead, extending lineage of family tragedy. Sarah 01:09:40 Oh yeah. Dave 01:09:42 Vastly different eulogies given by parental figures Murphy Brown and Jeff Foxworthy. Additional attendees include Scott Aukerman. Sad Soberman and Walker Texas Ranger who came to deliver some bad news. Tara 01:09:57 Wow Dave 01:09:57 That's pretty good. Sarah 01:09:58 What the Fuck? I d still don't know. Shows please Dave 01:10:03 Murphy Brown, the Jeff Foxworthy Show, comedy Bang Bang, Walker, Texas Ranger. Sarah 01:10:09 Oh my god. What was that guy's name? Grant Shawd? I don't remember. I don't know. Grant someone. Tara 01:10:15 That was a person on Murphy Brown. Nice pull, by the way. Sarah 01:10:17 Thank you. Kari 01:10:18 I will use my Eric's meal. Dave 01:10:19 Yeah. All right, what is it? Kari 01:10:22 Haley Joel Osmet Dave 01:10:24 Yes. Tara 01:10:25 Uh yeah. Dave 01:10:25 Walker told me I have AIDS. Sarah 01:10:26 Oh that mofo Tara 01:10:29 We got a tiny can of that. That's pretty good. Dave 01:10:32 Yeah. Clip 01:10:32 Oh, the code low point. Sarah 01:10:32 Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Dave 01:10:33 Alright, how'd he die, Sarah? Shot by Scully while trying to burn Skinner alive Stabbed by a slender men-esque monster called a ghoulie, transformed into human sushi by a malevolent AI-controlled restaurant. Sarah 01:10:49 Uh, Slender Man Dave 01:10:51 Shop I Scully. Sarah 01:10:53 Oh my gosh, I haven't got a single one of these. Tara 01:10:53 Carrie, you still have one more steel meal left, should you wish to use it Kari 01:10:54 Jesus. Clip 01:10:55 Kind of embodied. Dave 01:10:56 All right. Kari 01:10:57 Yeah. Dave 01:10:58 Carrie, body of student found in New Hampshire Kari 01:10:58 Thanks yes Clip 01:11:00 I want to take a cut out. Kari 01:11:03 Okay, thank you. Clip 01:11:04 Oh Kari 01:11:06 Um Dave 01:11:08 I'm enjoying this clue coming at you. Alright. Service to be held at Pizza Place. Attendees include one guy, one girl, and a Welsh football team. Clip 01:11:17 Kidova quick bowing because I'm bonding out and both I want to take around Kaidova because I'm going to Kidova Green Boy Kari 01:11:18 Ryan Reynolds Dave 01:11:19 Ryan Reynolds is correct, yes. How did Ryan Reynolds die in the third season of the X-Files? Vengeful telekinetic teen girls powered by a rare planetary alignment. Killed by a serial killer and incorporated into a gargoyle statue, or radiation poisoning from a French salvage ship. Kari 01:11:40 Teen girls Clip 01:11:40 Kato and it's all wrong because I will go back. Dave 01:11:41 Yes, correct! An additional point for you there. Alright, Tara. Clip 01:11:46 Because I might call Killaboat Dave 01:11:47 Memorial to be held for missing Virginia Doctor Tara 01:11:51 Next Dave 01:11:52 Air travel provided by Sandpiper Commuter Service. Expect some intermittently topless stand-up comedy at this very clean organized event. Clip 01:11:58 With Dambo Via, our does it go back. Tara 01:12:03 Crystal Bernard? Hmm Dave 01:12:07 We're talking about Wings and the marvelous Mrs. Clip 01:12:10 Don't vote ring both now both like it. Dave 01:12:11 Mazelle Mazel Tara 01:12:12 Mais Tony Schlup Sarah 01:12:12 Maison Dave 01:12:14 Tony Shaloub is good for one point. How did he die? Needle to the back of the neck via the alien bounty hunter. Consumed by a cannibalistic cult operating out of a chicken processing plant, seemingly killed by his own shadow composed of dark matter and held captive by the government. Tara 01:12:27 Oh my god, they're back. Yes. I think I'm pretty sure Shadow is one, but was it this one? I'll say sure. Dave 01:12:40 You are correct. Tara 01:12:40 Woo! Dave 01:12:41 Soft light from season two. Tara 01:12:43 Mmm Dave 01:12:44 All right. Everybody's last question is here. Sarah D. Bunting. Sarah 01:12:47 Thank God. Dave 01:12:48 The first part of your That's the Spirit. Long delayed funeral finally scheduled after body of missing woman discovered. Ooh, an obituary referring to another funeral. Meta. Sarah 01:13:02 Um, hint Dave 01:13:04 Event to be held in beautiful downtown Burbank with remains interned in the joke wall. Transportation provided via school bus, though there may be some unexpected detours. Tara 01:13:15 Yeah. Dave 01:13:15 Either Frankie or Grace expected to attend. Clip 01:13:17 Kind of green ball, I want and over it. I want the car and cut the car. Dave 01:13:22 I would expect Sarah 01:13:22 Yeah, that just doesn't oh wait. Clip 01:13:24 Kind of look like Sarah 01:13:26 Yeah, no I know. Fucking no, they can't be right. Ruth Buzzy? Dave 01:13:33 Your shows are Grace and Frankie, Ronan Martin's Laughin', and The Magic School Bus. Clip 01:13:39 Kind of cutoff cut kind of Sarah 01:13:39 Who Fuck was on all those? Goldie Hawn? I don't know. Dave 01:13:43 Anybody? That is Lily Tomlin. Tara 01:13:45 Lily Tomlin. Sarah 01:13:47 Okay, but if she's not attending okay, never mind. Dave 01:13:48 How'd she die? Perish in a murder-suicide lovers pact. Or phased into a rock in Area 51. Or eviscerated by a man-sized bat Perish in the Murder Suicide Lovers Pact. Tara 01:14:05 Mm-hmm. Sarah 01:14:07 Since I didn't get the baseball one, I gotta answer bat at some point. Gah! Dave 01:14:12 This is question 17 for Carrie. Sarah 01:14:12 Why am I so bad at this? Tara 01:14:15 Speed up Kari 01:14:15 Spread eagle. Sarah 01:14:15 Sparty goal. Dave 01:14:16 Eco-terrorists in Washington vanished. Clip 01:14:20 No, I Kari 01:14:20 Uh pass. Dave 01:14:22 Services to be held at the Gem Theater with peaches and cinnamon served All attendees, including Ballard or fellow boys in blue, must wear Bubba Bubba Black. Clip 01:14:32 Don't vote when the gold and the bomb game thing. Tara 01:14:33 Oh, Piggy. Clip 01:14:34 I'll not go and go there. Kari 01:14:35 Titus Welliver Sarah 01:14:35 God. Dave 01:14:36 Titus Welliver is good for two points. Sarah 01:14:38 Oh Jesus PICCI Clip 01:14:39 Don't vote when you go and think I'll buy it. Dave 01:14:39 Yes. Alright, how'd he die? Torn apart by a logger possessed with a mana to spirit. Sucked dry by a swarm of ancient bioluminescent insects, liver ripped out and consumed by an eternal and extremely stretchy man Kari 01:14:57 Oh the second one. Dave 01:15:00 Sucked dry by a swarm of ancient insects? Kari 01:15:03 Yes. Dave 01:15:05 Correct. Tara 01:15:05 Wow Dave 01:15:05 Season one's Darkness Falls. Sarah 01:15:06 Wow Kari 01:15:06 Oh. Dave 01:15:07 I remember that scene. Alright, last question is for Tara. Tara 01:15:11 Yes. Dave 01:15:13 Attempts to find missing scientists have ceased. Tara 01:15:17 Next Dave 01:15:17 Family and friends to gather in a scale replica of the Oval Office. Clip 01:15:21 I want to take a cut. Dave 01:15:22 Matt Elbe, Serena Joy, and a deeply upset Jake Peralta expected to attend. Clip 01:15:24 I'll walk the green ball Tara 01:15:32 Oh, Bradley Whitford. Dave 01:15:33 Did you see that guy's balls? Tara 01:15:35 They were weird. Dave 01:15:35 They were weird. Sarah 01:15:36 No Dave 01:15:36 Correct for two. How'd he die? Clip 01:15:39 Kind of grip. Dave 01:15:39 Descended into a volcano Clip 01:15:40 I want to buy it. Dave 01:15:41 Spore tendrils burst from neck. Clip 01:15:43 I want to cut the cut. Dave 01:15:44 Shot with a flare gun and set ablaze. Clip 01:15:46 Kind of grip. Tara 01:15:47 Volcano. Dave 01:15:48 Volcano is correct. An additional point for you, and that is regulation. Clip 01:15:52 No, that's not bad. Dave 01:15:52 I want the scores. Gimme gimme Sarah 01:15:54 Oh Tara 01:15:54 Okay, are you a fan of extremely uneven scoring? Because if so, this is the game for you. Sarah finished with six, I had ten. Carrie Nineteen Nana Nana Nineteen Dave 01:16:06 Wow, all right. Kari 01:16:07 Yeah, no nineteen. Sarah 01:16:08 Fuck. Dave 01:16:09 Nicely done Sarah 01:16:09 Good. Wow Clip 01:16:12 Valued guest. Valued guest. Dave 01:16:16 Wow, blowout. Nicely done. Alright, the season continues. Sarah 01:16:18 Yeah Dave 01:16:20 And that is it for another episode of Extra Hot Gray. We arrived in Kottish Country to discuss the chances of the Muskoka Travelers winning the big basketball tournament in Sterley Point! Before going around the dial with stops at Unacceptable, Heartstopper Forever and Jared. Jared is a cursed name. We we gotta keep our eyes on Jared Harris. Tara 01:16:40 Kind of. Yeah, it's true. Sarah 01:16:42 Yeah. Dave 01:16:42 He's the only one we got left. Sarah 01:16:43 Mm-hmm. Tara 01:16:43 Oh God. Oh Sarah 01:16:45 Oh no, take it back Dave 01:16:46 Dave caught the X Files into the no-neck. We crowned winners and losers. And Carrie was the decisive winner of this week's game time from Seth. Next up, it's the Shards. Remember. Clip 01:17:00 We're listening. Dave 01:17:03 I am David T. Cole, and on behalf of Tara Ariano, Sarah D. Bunting. Tara 01:17:05 Did I get my HPV vaccine? 'Cause she's right, this shit is everywhere. Sarah 01:17:11 I no longer want to believe Dave 01:17:13 And carry race. Kari 01:17:14 Get off my lawn. Dave 01:17:16 Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time right here on Extra Hot Grip. Clip 01:17:28 What kind of moron gets his yayas out like that?