Navigating Mr. and Mrs. Smith's First Vacation and a Double Date Drama and Reacher's Final Stand. - Scene N Nerd

Sarah Belmont wishes Dana nerd a happy birthday on the podcast

>> Sarah : Greetings, nerds. This is Scene N Nerd. I'm your host, Sarah Belmont. And with me, as always, is our Mr. Producer, Will Polk. How are you doing tonight, will?

>> Will: Doing very well, Sarah. want to wish you a birthday here on the podcast. I know it was yesterday, but, happy birthday.

>> Sarah : But, yeah, thank you for the birthday wishes.

Will wants to spoil exactly how season four of the boys will debut

Will wants to spoil everyone and explain exactly how season four of the boys will debut. and it's going to drop with three episodes on June 13, so go ahead with your spoilers.

>> Will: Well, it's really not a spoiler. This is from the official Amazon release that dropped the announcement, today that, yes, it is coming back, June 13 with three episodes, and it's going to be an eight episode season. So we'll see the season finale on July 18. And, basically the official description from the show is that, in season, quote, in season four, the world is on the brink. Victoria Newman is closer than ever to the Oval Office under the muscly thumb, of Homelander, who has consolidated his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca's son and his job as the boy's leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it's too late, end quote. So basically, it's just reminding everyone where everything ended at the third season. And if you did watch Jen v, also know a little bit of things about Victoria and her political run. so they are touching on some of the things from that show just to get everybody up to.

>> Sarah : don't they normally drop eight?

>> Will: Yeah, yeah, I think that's sort of been the Amazon run count. Yeah, but the thing know, I think the first season, they dropped them all at once. But I think from the second season, on, they've done this drop three and then the remaining episodes come out weekly.

>> Sarah : The last two seasons. Yeah, for sure they've done that. But, yeah, I was thinking, I was like, it's nothing new that it's eight episodes long. I'm just checking on IMDb. They've always been in eight episode long seasons. but we will be talking about that.

>> Will: Yeah, I was just thinking summer is going to be, June is going to be packed.

>> Sarah : Well, it always happens when there are, quote unquote, shortage of content. Then the water hose just turns on and all this content comes. But all of the important stuff we'll get around to when we, And, and then will loves talking about Star wars, the acolyte yeah, so,

>> Will: That'S what I meant by June being packed, because, it's also, according to Collider, even though Disney and Lucasfilms has not officially released a date yet, but it's also supposedly coming on June the fifth, the latest entry from the Star wars universe. I guess at this point, we'll just sort of wait for Disney to officially confirm it and probably get a trailer here pretty soon, I would think.

>> Sarah : I just love how you confirmed my point by saying, like, this isn't official. Meaning when it is official, I get to talk about the acolyte again.

>> Will: Yeah.

>> Sarah : Just knowing Sarah. Yeah. Okay.

>> Will: Well, you know, there's some folks out there who like you, you know, I know you're worried about it being a bunch of sand, which, I'm still. Speaking of which, I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to go see Dune two or not.

>> Sarah : You haven't even finished the first one.

>> Will: I finished the first one in bits and pieces. That's because most of the time I fall asleep when I'm watching.

>> Sarah : Right. It is a dune one. I'm sorry? Dune one. Snooze fest. Complete waste of time. Complete waste of time. So boring. And then in the last. And Zenday is like, in five minutes of the movie, if you put everything together and there's just a lot of talk. Talk. Walk, walk. Sand. Sand. Sand monster. So it's just so freaking. I also. It's truly a part one of two, so I can't hold too much against it just because probably watching them back to back, it's like, oh, my God, that was so cool. But having to wait years in between. But then again, it's not like I've been waiting for Dune too, so I don't know. I'll probably not see it in theaters.

>> Will: I just always wondered if maybe if I had Scene it in theater the first time, maybe my experience might have been different. But then again, I'm like, dunes has never been one of those ips where I've read the book, watched other iterations of it, but it's never been one of those things that I'm really drawn towards. So we'll.

>> Sarah : Yeah, yeah. I feel like we talked about this before, but I guess it did just get confirmed this week about why Superman and Lois was canceled, and it's because we're going to have Superman legacy. You can't have two Superman things at the same.

>> Will: Yeah, it's just the CW president just said the quiet part out loud, which is just, at the, TCA's television Critics association meeting last week, in addition to. We did talk about it last week, and I just wanted to sort of close that also, you know, speaking of Superman legacy, James Gunn dropped a photo of the cast together after their first, table read. I think it was today or yesterday on. So that is out there. First time we've Scene them all together. and also dropped the, logo that will be utilized for the Superman legacy, which to the Superman kingdom come emblem that he wore. Know, James has just been teasing us all along with that. So I think it'll be like an inverse kingdom come thing or maybe building towards kingdom come, which we saw that in the crisis on if and earth's version, of that character, in the Arrowverse. So we'll see.

>> Sarah : I kind of fell asleep while you were explaining all that. I just realized I'm hearing these words of references, of comic book runs that will has mentioned in the past, but my brain is just not putting pieces together. so I'm just going to do what my dad always tells me. That's wonderful. Moving on.

Will give your thoughts on episodes one and two of the killer paradox

M all right. I don't know, but I'm assuming because you put this on the rundown, you watched at least one episode of a killer paradox.

>> Will: I've watched two, and I had to stop myself so I would actually be coherent this week.

>> Sarah : Okay.

>> Will: I'm really digging the show.

>> Sarah : Okay. It's hard for me, and we've had discussions about this, and this is what I'm worried about. I'm ahead. I haven't finished it. I have my reasons. I don't want to spoil anything for you. So it's hard for me to have a conversation. But so this is just will talking, like, mainly what our news and tv, section usually is. The listeners are used to this. so, will, give us your thoughts on episodes one and two of the killer paradox.

>> Will: Like you said, I don't want to spoil it for anybody who hasn't watched it yet, but if you really like mysteries, thrillers, police, it's one of those things where it's not paint by the numbers police procedural, but it also has a lot of forensic things that come into play. And, the lead character, first person narratives, as far as how he is perceiving things. And when things happen, you see it from his perspective. I'm just really just digging the cinematography, the storytelling. It just keeps me on the edge of my seat because it's like, what's going to happen next? And, I'm just really enjoying it. I'm just really enjoying it. So it's definitely something that I'll probably finish over the weekend because I've really gotten into the show.

>> Sarah : Cool. awesome. So a killer paradox people can watch on Netflix. So this brings us to, our discussion about reacher, season two, episode eight, flyboy, which is the season finale. and the IMDb summary is reacher and niggly make a final departure. Desperate attempt to save O'Donnell and Dixon and stop am and avenge their friend's murder. How in the summary, do they bring up am? when that man appears in all eight episodes, all about 15 minutes.

>> Will: Yeah.

>> Sarah : See, the biggest sin of this finale, for me, the biggest sin, the biggest crime, is we finally get am and reacher face to face. And am m becomes, like, just a stupid, idiot villain who just claims I'm just the middleman and I don't actually like to use the weapons. And therefore, because I'm claiming this, I'm not the bad guy here, so you shouldn't kill me. M. What the fuck? Who wrote this?

>> Will: Well, I sent you a message earlier in a week when I watched the show, and I was like, yeah, it happened. I was so disappointed by this. I was, yeah, it happened.

>> Sarah : Yeah.

>> Will: And I don't think I was expecting anything grand, but at, the same time, I was like, did they even try?

>> Sarah : Oh, they definitely tied up all of their loose. Pun intended. The line that was said, I don't know, just about as many times as, like, assumptions kill. and I kept thinking about it. I'm like, it fascinates me how there can be action sequences in a show like this, a show like Echo and a show like, we'll just stick to echo and Reacher because we've watched both of them recently and they're kind of in different genres, but because of their genres, there are a lot of fight sequences. And we had issues with the storytelling that occurred in echo in terms of character growth and, development. However, the fight choreography that occurred in Echo for the most part, was really good as long as you could see what was going on. I'm talking about that fucking train sequence then compared to reacher, where I'm pretty sure, there was no issues with lighting during these fight sequences. There was an issue about just boredom. Like, it's so standard. If you're going to have a. Produce a show where M. There's a lot of emphasis on gunplay, on, a hide and seek, trying to build the tension, trying to, play cat and mouse with these characters and then have some hand to hand combat every now and then, like, dear Lord, these sequences we have Scene played out for decades. This is nothing original. And so it's just so boring. And then you have the sequence with the freaking helicopter. Oh, my God, the helicopter sequences. It was bad.

>> Will: It was bad also. Just like the flaw to your point about the fight scenes, we even m got a joke. The only thing that didn't happen was him getting beat by a bit of pipe. But otherwise, they did put him in the chair. But then the fault in logic here, it was like the mustache twirling villain. Granted, it's been that way the whole season, so it's not like I wasn't expecting magically that logic and anything would happen here in the know. Langston just sitting, just going on and on and on, and beach was surrounded by all these mean, really. It was just like, just kill the guy mean. Why do you need to sit there and have some long rant? I don't. I, like I said, I just like. Okay, it's.

>> Sarah : Yeah. And Swan turned out to be him. Die.

>> Will: No, we did see his eyeball, though.

>> Sarah : We saw his eyeball and his finger. But still, that was a whole let down because for episodes, there was all this mystery about it and it was resolved in five minutes and very anticlimactic and not that shocking. The payoff just did not hit at all. They definitely did not. And I'm just going to continue saying they did tie up every loose end they started with. Even the senator, And his backup, who then they tried to make it another plateau. Oh, those guys aren't really even on their side. But rish already figured that out. So he brought in Homeland. It's like, okay, I kind of see why you needed to, because so far it's been so paint by number. But at the same time, who.

>> Will: Know, I guess with the swan thing, they did. I guess they're like, okay. We paid off Reacher's faith in his team, and I guess they tried to do some character growth and development with Reacher at the end. The characters stay consistent with themselves in that. Even when Eagley was. When they were there at the bus station, and at all after he played Santa Claus with the 65 million, he stayed as reacher until they got on the bus. And then he had, here visiting family and town. I guess they were. Tried to show that.

>> Sarah : But just because he says that, to me, that doesn't represent character growth at all. He still gets on the bus.

>> Will: Yeah, I guess he just verbalized it. Yeah, I guess. Which is.

>> Sarah : I guess he verbalizes it, but he's verbalized a lot of stuff. And it's just. I don't know. To me, I feel as though you're bringing up something that probably is more of a root of my issue with this season of where Reacher is the same exact person who we meet in episode one of this season and who leaves in episode. He. He doesn't change. He's just honestly proven right in, like, that one moment where Dixon was like, oh, I want you to meet my family. It turned out to be a complete joke. It's like, see, this is why I couldn't invest in YouTube, because I figured this wasn't going to go anywhere. But I was like, then what was the point of it? What was the point of, like, oh, we're finishing unresolved business. Yeah. Well, as a viewer who barely understands what that unresolved business, was, you had so much time to do these fucking flashbacks that you just wasted on, teasing out other things, and there was a lot of missed opportunity. And at the end of the day, Reacher is the same person. To have a main character go through no growth. And honestly, it doesn't just mean reacher. None of these characters go through any change as a result of this. The one person who probably would have had the most change would have been Gus. And Gus got.

>> Will: It was a cartoon. Cartoons have more depth sometimes than this show. It had so much potential. But, like I said at the end, Did the writers room just quit? They tied everything up. I guess if they wanted to leave one kind of loose end, it was like, who were the buyers? for the weapon system. But even at that end of the day, all the big plot points were, like, neatly wrapped up in a bow. And Homeland security is going to go off and get. They probably know who the buyers are. So we really don't really added anything to find out who it was. But you're right. Everything pretty much was wrapped up.

>> Sarah : Yeah. All right, well, we are putting a bow on that discussion. They did get greenlit for season three, right?

>> Will: That is correct.

>> Sarah : And reacher is apparently going undercover.

>> Will: I know they're filming season three right now, but I really haven't. Or maybe they just finished filming it, but I really haven't dug much into it. I think they're adapting maybe the fifth book or something. I can't remember.

>> Sarah : I don't know. For some reason, I feel like somebody told me that or saw something about that at one point in time. Who knows? if and when we will, watch season three of the reacher.

Will: Episode three of the series was titled first vacation

we are moving on to Mr. And Mrs. Smith. Season one, episode three, first vacation. Will, what did you think about this episode?

>> Will: each episode I bought more and more fond of this series, because I just love the way that each adventure that dismiss go on the mission is like a metaphor for the growth in the relationship. And this one was titled first vacation. And so the subjects of the mission this time were reflecting, some of the things, the growing pains that couples go through. of course, the subjects of their mission this time were a long married couple whose marriage is hanging on by a thread. But the parallels that they had, even we got this new couple getting started and this old couple with the whole sleeping arrangements, was really well done. So what were your thoughts of the episode?

>> Sarah : it was fine. Yeah, it's staying consistent. M I'll say that. Yeah, so the IMD summary of this episode is John and Jane take a vacation, in the italian Dolma nights. And will new hobbies and friendships lead to romance? Well, they already, there wasn't any consequence with John having saved Gaval.

>> Will: No, I was wondering about that because I know they already had one fell, but he does freelance. No, no, I was wondering at the end of the episode because I guess at the end of the day.

>> Sarah : I.

>> Will: Think they got what they were supposed to do, which was to bug their phones. but then when he freelanced it afterwards, whenever she got kidnapped, I was wondering if that complicated things, what the company wanted or just by the fact that they bugged the phones and got that part done. All the rest of it is just sort of the company is just going to take a blind eye to.

>> Sarah : Right? Yeah, I don't know. And they didn't really give us anything to go off of there. It's more of something that I feel as though they want you to forget about and just feel like it was a successful mission, but it'll be brought up in the last episode. overall, they go on vacation, and they learn to sleep in the same bed together. And Jane learns how to fart in front of essentially what. Yeah. And then they return for episode four, double date, which John and Jane Smith plan a double date with another couple, the other John and Jane Smith, who they randomly bump into. And these new friends prove to be wildly unpredictable, leading to escalating antics over the course of the remaining evening. What do you think about the other John and Jane?

>> Will: so whenever our John, I guess I'll say John won, Donald Glover's John figured out that the guy was a part of the company. And I like the way that with the black card, sort of like the black card super. Only select people in the world get that card or whatever. I thought that was pretty cool. I guess the thing that I was, But also I was like, yeah, I know you found out by accident and you recognized the thing. But I was taking it back about how casual they were about talking to these people, inviting them over to their apartment and stuff. I was always thinking, like, all right, now especially, it was one of those things where I was just like, well, Are they going to be potential double agents or could these folks be like, I did think about back to the very first episode where if they fell too many times, will these John and James Smith be the ones that will come and take them? You know, especially now that where everything is at. Even showing their safe room and everything. I was just like, all right, guys. Y'all are awful trusting for these people you just met.

>> Sarah : Yeah. So the first episode, meaning you think that the first John and Jane who we meet at the very beginning, they failed and that's why they ended up.

>> Will: Getting killed or I think they were planning on getting out, if you know, and I think to that discussion while during a double date about our John and Jane telling the other John and Jane about what their long term plans were and, know, as far as making enough money and getting out and to. I was thinking through know, I think that's what that first couple did at the very beginning. At the very first couple of minutes of the first episode.

>> Sarah : Yeah. When you failed, I was like, that wasn't my interpretation of it. My interpretation is they've been on the run from the company and they were going to stop running and actually tried to face them. And I also think that this couple is the one who killed them at the very beginning.

>> Will: Oh, yeah, I thought that too. I thought that too. And that's what I meant by the fell. When I say fell, not that because it was more like, since they fell in the second episode, I think if they get two more, I think bad things happen to them.

>> Sarah : Why do you say think two more?

>> Will: I thought that, if I recall in episode two, high, high. I thought that they basically had a three strike rule and if they screwed up, then they would be terminated. Literally.

>> Sarah : Yeah. The only way out is going to be death.

>> Will: Yeah.

>> Sarah : Which is ironic. Death. Do your, That makes. Yeah, I think in this episode, because of the other John and are the john and Jane that we've been following, they live in this bubble of, naiveness about their job, about their choices, about what this company is about that they want. And it's interesting how, as a viewer, like, why, like, I still question what was with the freaking fingernail? You give them a fingernail, why fingernail? And you think that this is going to be, like, a company that you can just make a lot of money off, at and then leave. But then they talked about how the delivery men are, like, very low class employees. So there's some ways to get out of, the COVID missions, per se, and quote, unquote, semi retire, I suppose. We don't know how much of that stuff is true, but, yeah, it did come out like, john, Jane still have no idea, really, what they're.

>> Will: And I'm glad you brought up the tiers of employment with the company, because we did see the delivery guys at the first episode, and then our new John and Jane that we, are introduced to in this episode. They're super high risk, which is, I guess, the highest level of classification, at least that we know of, to date in the company. And the risk that they have to take with these missions, especially whenever in the adrenaline and drunken rush of the night, they were like, oh, you guys can come on with us. We'll double date. Not only at, dinner, but we'll double date on a mission. Which was pretty funny, how that all played out.

>> Sarah : I was so worried that Jane was going to, be drunk enough to randomly just put out there that John is in touch with his mom.

>> Will: I thought that mean, that was one of the things from the third episode. I know we kind of zipped through the third episode, but I'm glad you brought that up about the mom, because, as I said at the beginning of our discussion here, they really are going through the growing pains of relationships and the trust factor, that comes into play, over time, and how Jane really felt in the third episode when it was holding on to his old life and keeping those secrets. and that's with relationships, all the mean. If you, hold things back from your partner, it can definitely be to your detriment. Even though Jane had a pretty extreme example of why she allegedly doesn't want to talk to her father. But I thought that was a bit much. But again, it just sort of shows how she can yank John's chain as far as takes advantage of his curiosity sometimes, and uses it to our benefit, but, to sort of tease him out and figure out what's going on. In his head. But yeah, that trust factor definitely was something that was really at play in that third episode and with all the stuff with the phones and him being childish and turning the locator off. And then when we get to this fourth episode, like you said, I thought she was going to blab something that could even compromise them even more because after know really trusted to some random people off the.

>> Sarah : Yeah, it was John who I don't know if this double date would have ever happened had the two janes run into each, especially with our jane, that wouldn't have happened to John. It makes complete sense based on all of his actions leading up to this. And yeah, in my opinion, they're doing a really good job with Jane just because of all of the random stories or just random little notions about traumatic events to children that I'm thinking about. I want to say even in the very first episode, she tells a story about eating, breakfast with a pedophile. And I think, it's fascinating because in her interview with Hihai at the beginning, she also talks about her secrets and the fact that people have called her a pathological liar and all of this stuff where you're seeing that. So John is a curious person. He likes to figure people out. She is a really hard person to figure out. and I think that's why there's an attraction there, even though they get frustrated about those attributes in each other. that's why they have good chemistry as characters as well as actors. so they're doing that, I guess, going into this week. I know you're really high on everything. and this show is again, well written, well acted. I don't know what it is though, but it's not like I'm disappointed by anything. But I'm also not surprised by anything either. And I'm just. I feel like you said this early on while we were talking about reacher season two, and I'm going to say it right now. I know I could have binged this in one day and I don't know, I have a feeling I would have as an entire 810 episode piece. I would have, been more overwhelmed and enthused about it than having broken it up.

>> Will: Yeah, I can see that. It's definitely a bingeable type series. I think for me it's really the exploration of relationships and it makes sense. It's funny, whenever I was just thinking the other day, why Amazon dropped this during February, I was Valentine's month. I just think the action and the stories and all that kind of stuff. That, to me, is not like, what is drawing me to this show.

>> Sarah : Absolutely.

>> Will: It's really more the exploration of this couple and these use these missions to basically really get into the exploration of people's relationships and how couples grow and change and learn each other and that kind of stuff. I won't say it's necessarily a rom.com. That's like a rom action. but, I think for me, that's where, as I said at the beginning of our discussion tonight, that's where I'm enjoying this episode, because it's just seeing things. As far as prior relationships I've been in, current relationship, whatever, I'm like, oh, yeah, I remember that situation. Oh, yeah. This is seeing these ups and downs, bumps in the roads and stuff. And I think it's just something that, from that standpoint, that's where I'm enjoying the series.

>> Sarah : Yeah.

>> Will: There'S just relatable things that happen along the way where you're just like, oh, yeah, remember that? Or, yeah, I know of friends who've been through this or that kind of thing or had discussions about this with friends or whatever.

>> Sarah : Yeah. I already said it's well written and it's doing what it should be doing. there's just something about it that, I'm not overly enthusiastic about. Still haven't figured out what that is, but I think I will eventually. Hopefully by the end of the season. All right, before we say our goodbyes, will, do you want to explain this contest?

>> Will: Yeah, of course. We always appreciate our listeners and looking at ways to, social media algorithms and stuff being funky and whatnot. we are building up an email list, so if you haven't gone to our website, you'll probably see a little pop up sign up. We're not going to spam or sell your information or anything, but, yeah, we just wanted to be able to deliver our episodes right into your inbox whenever they are released. So, if you have already subscribed to our feeds, wherever you get the podcast, thank you. but also if you just rely on social media to get our episodes and just hope they show up in your timeline, there's a more reliable way of doing so. And by signing up for our email list so you can get it delivered right to it so you don't have to worry about, looking for it on Twitter or wherever you get your pocket as far as whatever social media platform you may find us. So with that, ah, had quite a few people sign up, which, thank you for signing up. And, we did have a winner, and it was Gigi from actually, we geek girls, which is another, great geek platform. If you haven't followed them, definitely, go check them out, and congratulations. and, we'll follow up with you at the email to get your prize to. Again, we appreciate your signing up, and like I said, we won't spam. We don't. And, make sure you subscribe to us on whatever platform you listen to us at.

>> Sarah : Congrats, Gigi. Thank you. All right, well, thank you, Will. on that note, why don't tell our listeners where they can find you.

>> Will: Yes, you can find me on Twitter, also known or X or whatever the hell they're calling it these days, at, Will. At Pulp Willmpolk.

>> Sarah : You can find me on X, formerly known as Twitter, at SJ Belmont. S-J-B-L-M-O-N-T. Please follow our crew there as well at scene and Nerd. Friend us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and threads at scene, underscore n, underscore Nerd, and visit our website, ww dot scenanerdpodcast.com. But most importantly, rate, follow, and comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. Good night. Geek out. You're welcome.

Sarah Belmont wishes Dana nerd a happy birthday on the podcast

>> Sarah : Greetings, nerds. This is Scene N Nerd. I'm your host, Sarah Belmont. And with me, as always, is our Mr. Producer, Will Polk. How are you doing tonight, will?

>> Will: Doing very well, Sarah. want to wish you a birthday here on the podcast. I know it was yesterday, but, happy birthday.

>> Sarah : But, yeah, thank you for the birthday wishes.

Will wants to spoil exactly how season four of the boys will debut

Will wants to spoil everyone and explain exactly how season four of the boys will debut. and it's going to drop with three episodes on June 13, so go ahead with your spoilers.

>> Will: Well, it's really not a spoiler. This is from the official Amazon release that dropped the announcement, today that, yes, it is coming back, June 13 with three episodes, and it's going to be an eight episode season. So we'll see the season finale on July 18. And, basically the official description from the show is that, in season, quote, in season four, the world is on the brink. Victoria Newman is closer than ever to the Oval Office under the muscly thumb, of Homelander, who has consolidated his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca's son and his job as the boy's leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it's too late, end quote. So basically, it's just reminding everyone where everything ended at the third season. And if you did watch Jen v, also know a little bit of things about Victoria and her political run. so they are touching on some of the things from that show just to get everybody up to.

>> Sarah : don't they normally drop eight?

>> Will: Yeah, yeah, I think that's sort of been the Amazon run count. Yeah, but the thing know, I think the first season, they dropped them all at once. But I think from the second season, on, they've done this drop three and then the remaining episodes come out weekly.

>> Sarah : The last two seasons. Yeah, for sure they've done that. But, yeah, I was thinking, I was like, it's nothing new that it's eight episodes long. I'm just checking on IMDb. They've always been in eight episode long seasons. but we will be talking about that.

>> Will: Yeah, I was just thinking summer is going to be, June is going to be packed.

>> Sarah : Well, it always happens when there are, quote unquote, shortage of content. Then the water hose just turns on and all this content comes. But all of the important stuff we'll get around to when we, And, and then will loves talking about Star wars, the acolyte yeah, so,

>> Will: That'S what I meant by June being packed, because, it's also, according to Collider, even though Disney and Lucasfilms has not officially released a date yet, but it's also supposedly coming on June the fifth, the latest entry from the Star wars universe. I guess at this point, we'll just sort of wait for Disney to officially confirm it and probably get a trailer here pretty soon, I would think.

>> Sarah : I just love how you confirmed my point by saying, like, this isn't official. Meaning when it is official, I get to talk about the acolyte again.

>> Will: Yeah.

>> Sarah : Just knowing Sarah. Yeah. Okay.

>> Will: Well, you know, there's some folks out there who like you, you know, I know you're worried about it being a bunch of sand, which, I'm still. Speaking of which, I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to go see Dune two or not.

>> Sarah : You haven't even finished the first one.

>> Will: I finished the first one in bits and pieces. That's because most of the time I fall asleep when I'm watching.

>> Sarah : Right. It is a dune one. I'm sorry? Dune one. Snooze fest. Complete waste of time. Complete waste of time. So boring. And then in the last. And Zenday is like, in five minutes of the movie, if you put everything together and there's just a lot of talk. Talk. Walk, walk. Sand. Sand. Sand monster. So it's just so freaking. I also. It's truly a part one of two, so I can't hold too much against it just because probably watching them back to back, it's like, oh, my God, that was so cool. But having to wait years in between. But then again, it's not like I've been waiting for Dune too, so I don't know. I'll probably not see it in theaters.

>> Will: I just always wondered if maybe if I had Scene it in theater the first time, maybe my experience might have been different. But then again, I'm like, dunes has never been one of those ips where I've read the book, watched other iterations of it, but it's never been one of those things that I'm really drawn towards. So we'll.

>> Sarah : Yeah, yeah. I feel like we talked about this before, but I guess it did just get confirmed this week about why Superman and Lois was canceled, and it's because we're going to have Superman legacy. You can't have two Superman things at the same.

>> Will: Yeah, it's just the CW president just said the quiet part out loud, which is just, at the, TCA's television Critics association meeting last week, in addition to. We did talk about it last week, and I just wanted to sort of close that also, you know, speaking of Superman legacy, James Gunn dropped a photo of the cast together after their first, table read. I think it was today or yesterday on. So that is out there. First time we've Scene them all together. and also dropped the, logo that will be utilized for the Superman legacy, which to the Superman kingdom come emblem that he wore. Know, James has just been teasing us all along with that. So I think it'll be like an inverse kingdom come thing or maybe building towards kingdom come, which we saw that in the crisis on if and earth's version, of that character, in the Arrowverse. So we'll see.

>> Sarah : I kind of fell asleep while you were explaining all that. I just realized I'm hearing these words of references, of comic book runs that will has mentioned in the past, but my brain is just not putting pieces together. so I'm just going to do what my dad always tells me. That's wonderful. Moving on.

Will give your thoughts on episodes one and two of the killer paradox

M all right. I don't know, but I'm assuming because you put this on the rundown, you watched at least one episode of a killer paradox.

>> Will: I've watched two, and I had to stop myself so I would actually be coherent this week.

>> Sarah : Okay.

>> Will: I'm really digging the show.

>> Sarah : Okay. It's hard for me, and we've had discussions about this, and this is what I'm worried about. I'm ahead. I haven't finished it. I have my reasons. I don't want to spoil anything for you. So it's hard for me to have a conversation. But so this is just will talking, like, mainly what our news and tv, section usually is. The listeners are used to this. so, will, give us your thoughts on episodes one and two of the killer paradox.

>> Will: Like you said, I don't want to spoil it for anybody who hasn't watched it yet, but if you really like mysteries, thrillers, police, it's one of those things where it's not paint by the numbers police procedural, but it also has a lot of forensic things that come into play. And, the lead character, first person narratives, as far as how he is perceiving things. And when things happen, you see it from his perspective. I'm just really just digging the cinematography, the storytelling. It just keeps me on the edge of my seat because it's like, what's going to happen next? And, I'm just really enjoying it. I'm just really enjoying it. So it's definitely something that I'll probably finish over the weekend because I've really gotten into the show.

>> Sarah : Cool. awesome. So a killer paradox people can watch on Netflix. So this brings us to, our discussion about reacher, season two, episode eight, flyboy, which is the season finale. and the IMDb summary is reacher and niggly make a final departure. Desperate attempt to save O'Donnell and Dixon and stop am and avenge their friend's murder. How in the summary, do they bring up am? when that man appears in all eight episodes, all about 15 minutes.

>> Will: Yeah.

>> Sarah : See, the biggest sin of this finale, for me, the biggest sin, the biggest crime, is we finally get am and reacher face to face. And am m becomes, like, just a stupid, idiot villain who just claims I'm just the middleman and I don't actually like to use the weapons. And therefore, because I'm claiming this, I'm not the bad guy here, so you shouldn't kill me. M. What the fuck? Who wrote this?

>> Will: Well, I sent you a message earlier in a week when I watched the show, and I was like, yeah, it happened. I was so disappointed by this. I was, yeah, it happened.

>> Sarah : Yeah.

>> Will: And I don't think I was expecting anything grand, but at, the same time, I was like, did they even try?

>> Sarah : Oh, they definitely tied up all of their loose. Pun intended. The line that was said, I don't know, just about as many times as, like, assumptions kill. and I kept thinking about it. I'm like, it fascinates me how there can be action sequences in a show like this, a show like Echo and a show like, we'll just stick to echo and Reacher because we've watched both of them recently and they're kind of in different genres, but because of their genres, there are a lot of fight sequences. And we had issues with the storytelling that occurred in echo in terms of character growth and, development. However, the fight choreography that occurred in Echo for the most part, was really good as long as you could see what was going on. I'm talking about that fucking train sequence then compared to reacher, where I'm pretty sure, there was no issues with lighting during these fight sequences. There was an issue about just boredom. Like, it's so standard. If you're going to have a. Produce a show where M. There's a lot of emphasis on gunplay, on, a hide and seek, trying to build the tension, trying to, play cat and mouse with these characters and then have some hand to hand combat every now and then, like, dear Lord, these sequences we have Scene played out for decades. This is nothing original. And so it's just so boring. And then you have the sequence with the freaking helicopter. Oh, my God, the helicopter sequences. It was bad.

>> Will: It was bad also. Just like the flaw to your point about the fight scenes, we even m got a joke. The only thing that didn't happen was him getting beat by a bit of pipe. But otherwise, they did put him in the chair. But then the fault in logic here, it was like the mustache twirling villain. Granted, it's been that way the whole season, so it's not like I wasn't expecting magically that logic and anything would happen here in the know. Langston just sitting, just going on and on and on, and beach was surrounded by all these mean, really. It was just like, just kill the guy mean. Why do you need to sit there and have some long rant? I don't. I, like I said, I just like. Okay, it's.

>> Sarah : Yeah. And Swan turned out to be him. Die.

>> Will: No, we did see his eyeball, though.

>> Sarah : We saw his eyeball and his finger. But still, that was a whole let down because for episodes, there was all this mystery about it and it was resolved in five minutes and very anticlimactic and not that shocking. The payoff just did not hit at all. They definitely did not. And I'm just going to continue saying they did tie up every loose end they started with. Even the senator, And his backup, who then they tried to make it another plateau. Oh, those guys aren't really even on their side. But rish already figured that out. So he brought in Homeland. It's like, okay, I kind of see why you needed to, because so far it's been so paint by number. But at the same time, who.

>> Will: Know, I guess with the swan thing, they did. I guess they're like, okay. We paid off Reacher's faith in his team, and I guess they tried to do some character growth and development with Reacher at the end. The characters stay consistent with themselves in that. Even when Eagley was. When they were there at the bus station, and at all after he played Santa Claus with the 65 million, he stayed as reacher until they got on the bus. And then he had, here visiting family and town. I guess they were. Tried to show that.

>> Sarah : But just because he says that, to me, that doesn't represent character growth at all. He still gets on the bus.

>> Will: Yeah, I guess he just verbalized it. Yeah, I guess. Which is.

>> Sarah : I guess he verbalizes it, but he's verbalized a lot of stuff. And it's just. I don't know. To me, I feel as though you're bringing up something that probably is more of a root of my issue with this season of where Reacher is the same exact person who we meet in episode one of this season and who leaves in episode. He. He doesn't change. He's just honestly proven right in, like, that one moment where Dixon was like, oh, I want you to meet my family. It turned out to be a complete joke. It's like, see, this is why I couldn't invest in YouTube, because I figured this wasn't going to go anywhere. But I was like, then what was the point of it? What was the point of, like, oh, we're finishing unresolved business. Yeah. Well, as a viewer who barely understands what that unresolved business, was, you had so much time to do these fucking flashbacks that you just wasted on, teasing out other things, and there was a lot of missed opportunity. And at the end of the day, Reacher is the same person. To have a main character go through no growth. And honestly, it doesn't just mean reacher. None of these characters go through any change as a result of this. The one person who probably would have had the most change would have been Gus. And Gus got.

>> Will: It was a cartoon. Cartoons have more depth sometimes than this show. It had so much potential. But, like I said at the end, Did the writers room just quit? They tied everything up. I guess if they wanted to leave one kind of loose end, it was like, who were the buyers? for the weapon system. But even at that end of the day, all the big plot points were, like, neatly wrapped up in a bow. And Homeland security is going to go off and get. They probably know who the buyers are. So we really don't really added anything to find out who it was. But you're right. Everything pretty much was wrapped up.

>> Sarah : Yeah. All right, well, we are putting a bow on that discussion. They did get greenlit for season three, right?

>> Will: That is correct.

>> Sarah : And reacher is apparently going undercover.

>> Will: I know they're filming season three right now, but I really haven't. Or maybe they just finished filming it, but I really haven't dug much into it. I think they're adapting maybe the fifth book or something. I can't remember.

>> Sarah : I don't know. For some reason, I feel like somebody told me that or saw something about that at one point in time. Who knows? if and when we will, watch season three of the reacher.

Will: Episode three of the series was titled first vacation

we are moving on to Mr. And Mrs. Smith. Season one, episode three, first vacation. Will, what did you think about this episode?

>> Will: each episode I bought more and more fond of this series, because I just love the way that each adventure that dismiss go on the mission is like a metaphor for the growth in the relationship. And this one was titled first vacation. And so the subjects of the mission this time were reflecting, some of the things, the growing pains that couples go through. of course, the subjects of their mission this time were a long married couple whose marriage is hanging on by a thread. But the parallels that they had, even we got this new couple getting started and this old couple with the whole sleeping arrangements, was really well done. So what were your thoughts of the episode?

>> Sarah : it was fine. Yeah, it's staying consistent. M I'll say that. Yeah, so the IMD summary of this episode is John and Jane take a vacation, in the italian Dolma nights. And will new hobbies and friendships lead to romance? Well, they already, there wasn't any consequence with John having saved Gaval.

>> Will: No, I was wondering about that because I know they already had one fell, but he does freelance. No, no, I was wondering at the end of the episode because I guess at the end of the day.

>> Sarah : I.

>> Will: Think they got what they were supposed to do, which was to bug their phones. but then when he freelanced it afterwards, whenever she got kidnapped, I was wondering if that complicated things, what the company wanted or just by the fact that they bugged the phones and got that part done. All the rest of it is just sort of the company is just going to take a blind eye to.

>> Sarah : Right? Yeah, I don't know. And they didn't really give us anything to go off of there. It's more of something that I feel as though they want you to forget about and just feel like it was a successful mission, but it'll be brought up in the last episode. overall, they go on vacation, and they learn to sleep in the same bed together. And Jane learns how to fart in front of essentially what. Yeah. And then they return for episode four, double date, which John and Jane Smith plan a double date with another couple, the other John and Jane Smith, who they randomly bump into. And these new friends prove to be wildly unpredictable, leading to escalating antics over the course of the remaining evening. What do you think about the other John and Jane?

>> Will: so whenever our John, I guess I'll say John won, Donald Glover's John figured out that the guy was a part of the company. And I like the way that with the black card, sort of like the black card super. Only select people in the world get that card or whatever. I thought that was pretty cool. I guess the thing that I was, But also I was like, yeah, I know you found out by accident and you recognized the thing. But I was taking it back about how casual they were about talking to these people, inviting them over to their apartment and stuff. I was always thinking, like, all right, now especially, it was one of those things where I was just like, well, Are they going to be potential double agents or could these folks be like, I did think about back to the very first episode where if they fell too many times, will these John and James Smith be the ones that will come and take them? You know, especially now that where everything is at. Even showing their safe room and everything. I was just like, all right, guys. Y'all are awful trusting for these people you just met.

>> Sarah : Yeah. So the first episode, meaning you think that the first John and Jane who we meet at the very beginning, they failed and that's why they ended up.

>> Will: Getting killed or I think they were planning on getting out, if you know, and I think to that discussion while during a double date about our John and Jane telling the other John and Jane about what their long term plans were and, know, as far as making enough money and getting out and to. I was thinking through know, I think that's what that first couple did at the very beginning. At the very first couple of minutes of the first episode.

>> Sarah : Yeah. When you failed, I was like, that wasn't my interpretation of it. My interpretation is they've been on the run from the company and they were going to stop running and actually tried to face them. And I also think that this couple is the one who killed them at the very beginning.

>> Will: Oh, yeah, I thought that too. I thought that too. And that's what I meant by the fell. When I say fell, not that because it was more like, since they fell in the second episode, I think if they get two more, I think bad things happen to them.

>> Sarah : Why do you say think two more?

>> Will: I thought that, if I recall in episode two, high, high. I thought that they basically had a three strike rule and if they screwed up, then they would be terminated. Literally.

>> Sarah : Yeah. The only way out is going to be death.

>> Will: Yeah.

>> Sarah : Which is ironic. Death. Do your, That makes. Yeah, I think in this episode, because of the other John and are the john and Jane that we've been following, they live in this bubble of, naiveness about their job, about their choices, about what this company is about that they want. And it's interesting how, as a viewer, like, why, like, I still question what was with the freaking fingernail? You give them a fingernail, why fingernail? And you think that this is going to be, like, a company that you can just make a lot of money off, at and then leave. But then they talked about how the delivery men are, like, very low class employees. So there's some ways to get out of, the COVID missions, per se, and quote, unquote, semi retire, I suppose. We don't know how much of that stuff is true, but, yeah, it did come out like, john, Jane still have no idea, really, what they're.

>> Will: And I'm glad you brought up the tiers of employment with the company, because we did see the delivery guys at the first episode, and then our new John and Jane that we, are introduced to in this episode. They're super high risk, which is, I guess, the highest level of classification, at least that we know of, to date in the company. And the risk that they have to take with these missions, especially whenever in the adrenaline and drunken rush of the night, they were like, oh, you guys can come on with us. We'll double date. Not only at, dinner, but we'll double date on a mission. Which was pretty funny, how that all played out.

>> Sarah : I was so worried that Jane was going to, be drunk enough to randomly just put out there that John is in touch with his mom.

>> Will: I thought that mean, that was one of the things from the third episode. I know we kind of zipped through the third episode, but I'm glad you brought that up about the mom, because, as I said at the beginning of our discussion here, they really are going through the growing pains of relationships and the trust factor, that comes into play, over time, and how Jane really felt in the third episode when it was holding on to his old life and keeping those secrets. and that's with relationships, all the mean. If you, hold things back from your partner, it can definitely be to your detriment. Even though Jane had a pretty extreme example of why she allegedly doesn't want to talk to her father. But I thought that was a bit much. But again, it just sort of shows how she can yank John's chain as far as takes advantage of his curiosity sometimes, and uses it to our benefit, but, to sort of tease him out and figure out what's going on. In his head. But yeah, that trust factor definitely was something that was really at play in that third episode and with all the stuff with the phones and him being childish and turning the locator off. And then when we get to this fourth episode, like you said, I thought she was going to blab something that could even compromise them even more because after know really trusted to some random people off the.

>> Sarah : Yeah, it was John who I don't know if this double date would have ever happened had the two janes run into each, especially with our jane, that wouldn't have happened to John. It makes complete sense based on all of his actions leading up to this. And yeah, in my opinion, they're doing a really good job with Jane just because of all of the random stories or just random little notions about traumatic events to children that I'm thinking about. I want to say even in the very first episode, she tells a story about eating, breakfast with a pedophile. And I think, it's fascinating because in her interview with Hihai at the beginning, she also talks about her secrets and the fact that people have called her a pathological liar and all of this stuff where you're seeing that. So John is a curious person. He likes to figure people out. She is a really hard person to figure out. and I think that's why there's an attraction there, even though they get frustrated about those attributes in each other. that's why they have good chemistry as characters as well as actors. so they're doing that, I guess, going into this week. I know you're really high on everything. and this show is again, well written, well acted. I don't know what it is though, but it's not like I'm disappointed by anything. But I'm also not surprised by anything either. And I'm just. I feel like you said this early on while we were talking about reacher season two, and I'm going to say it right now. I know I could have binged this in one day and I don't know, I have a feeling I would have as an entire 810 episode piece. I would have, been more overwhelmed and enthused about it than having broken it up.

>> Will: Yeah, I can see that. It's definitely a bingeable type series. I think for me it's really the exploration of relationships and it makes sense. It's funny, whenever I was just thinking the other day, why Amazon dropped this during February, I was Valentine's month. I just think the action and the stories and all that kind of stuff. That, to me, is not like, what is drawing me to this show.

>> Sarah : Absolutely.

>> Will: It's really more the exploration of this couple and these use these missions to basically really get into the exploration of people's relationships and how couples grow and change and learn each other and that kind of stuff. I won't say it's necessarily a rom.com. That's like a rom action. but, I think for me, that's where, as I said at the beginning of our discussion tonight, that's where I'm enjoying this episode, because it's just seeing things. As far as prior relationships I've been in, current relationship, whatever, I'm like, oh, yeah, I remember that situation. Oh, yeah. This is seeing these ups and downs, bumps in the roads and stuff. And I think it's just something that, from that standpoint, that's where I'm enjoying the series.

>> Sarah : Yeah.

>> Will: There'S just relatable things that happen along the way where you're just like, oh, yeah, remember that? Or, yeah, I know of friends who've been through this or that kind of thing or had discussions about this with friends or whatever.

>> Sarah : Yeah. I already said it's well written and it's doing what it should be doing. there's just something about it that, I'm not overly enthusiastic about. Still haven't figured out what that is, but I think I will eventually. Hopefully by the end of the season. All right, before we say our goodbyes, will, do you want to explain this contest?

>> Will: Yeah, of course. We always appreciate our listeners and looking at ways to, social media algorithms and stuff being funky and whatnot. we are building up an email list, so if you haven't gone to our website, you'll probably see a little pop up sign up. We're not going to spam or sell your information or anything, but, yeah, we just wanted to be able to deliver our episodes right into your inbox whenever they are released. So, if you have already subscribed to our feeds, wherever you get the podcast, thank you. but also if you just rely on social media to get our episodes and just hope they show up in your timeline, there's a more reliable way of doing so. And by signing up for our email list so you can get it delivered right to it so you don't have to worry about, looking for it on Twitter or wherever you get your pocket as far as whatever social media platform you may find us. So with that, ah, had quite a few people sign up, which, thank you for signing up. And, we did have a winner, and it was Gigi from actually, we geek girls, which is another, great geek platform. If you haven't followed them, definitely, go check them out, and congratulations. and, we'll follow up with you at the email to get your prize to. Again, we appreciate your signing up, and like I said, we won't spam. We don't. And, make sure you subscribe to us on whatever platform you listen to us at.

>> Sarah : Congrats, Gigi. Thank you. All right, well, thank you, Will. on that note, why don't tell our listeners where they can find you.

>> Will: Yes, you can find me on Twitter, also known or X or whatever the hell they're calling it these days, at, Will M Polk Willmpolk.

>> Sarah : You can find me on X, formerly known as Twitter, at SJ Belmont. S-J-B-L-M-O-N-T. Please follow our crew there as well at scene and Nerd. Friend us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and threads at scene, underscore n, underscore Nerd, and visit our website, ww dot scenanerdpodcast.com. But most importantly, rate, follow, and comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. Good night. Geek out. You're welcome.