Latest / Systematic Geekology / What's New(s): Lanterns & Though I Am an Inept Villainess
Transcript
- 1:15I love all beautiful things.
- 1:16I will fight to protect them.
- 1:18Hello systematic geekologists and welcome to another episode of what's News where we talk about all the latest geek happenings.
- 1:26I'm Andy Walsh and I am joined this evening to talk about lanterns.
- 1:33And though I am an inept villainous with Kevin Schaefer, Evan Garcia and Liz and New Baby, if you are watching on the video, get an extra bonus content of cute baby footage.
- 1:47The best.
- 1:48And if you're not, well that's just a good reason to remember next time to check out the video or check it out on YouTube after the fact.
- 1:54You can always watch these things after they happen.
- 1:57But if you're watching live, if you are enjoying cute baby footage as it is happening, please feel free to say hey in the comments.
- 2:04Give us a shout out from where you're watching and listening from and we are happy to say hi and hear from you.
- 2:11Thank you for that.
- 2:13We also appreciate it when folks rate and or review and or like and or subscribe to podcasts videos wherever you happen to be getting this.
- 2:22We do appreciate that.
- 2:24So it helps other people find out about what's going on.
- 2:27It helps us to feel like we are not screaming into the void.
- 2:30So please do go ahead and do that.
- 2:32And as always, if we get 50 likes on a video, Will Rose will do something outrageously entertaining for your amusement.
- 2:40I heard Will's going to get a Green Lantern ring and be the declare himself designated protector of this sector of the dirt.
- 2:50That would be fantastic.
- 2:51So yeah, so we can look forward to that.
- 2:55And we want to thank folks who provide financial support that make it possible to do especially these extra video things.
- 3:02So thank you to Austin Nance and everyone who has provided financial support of one flavor or another one time ongoing whatever you're able to do.
- 3:11We appreciate it.
- 3:11It helps to pay for the things that make this show go so as smoothly as it does.
- 3:17And if you don't think it goes as smoothly as it could, all the more incentive to chip in some more money and see what happens.
- 3:24You can also find all kinds of merch and find out how to become a member and all those good things.
- 3:28If you look for a link in the description of this video that will tell you how to do that, how to get those goodies and so forth.
- 3:36So yeah, thank you again and we appreciate all of you, even if you're just listening.
- 3:40That is also super helpful because again, we don't like screaming into the void.
- 3:43We like knowing that we're having a conversation not just amongst ourselves but among our other fellow geeks as well.
- 3:49All right, that business out of the way, it is time for the lightning round.
- 3:54I am going to call out people in the order that I see them on my screen just so that we can keep things organized.
- 4:02So Kevin, what geek lightning round topics do you have for us?
- 4:06Well, it is Halloween, so I always do.
- 4:09I'm not one who.
- 4:10I wish I had time to watch like a horror movie every night.
- 4:14I haven't had that kind of time.
- 4:16But you know, I always check out a lot of horror stuff around this time.
- 4:19So so far I've done things like I, I rewatched both Black Phone movies which hold up really well.
- 4:26I did Jennifer's Body the other night, which I actually had never seen, which I would.
- 4:31I know that was like a guy like millennial classic and like cult classic that I just.
- 4:36Yeah, but yeah, that was a.
- 4:38So that was a cool first time experience.
- 4:41And then comic wise too.
- 4:43I, because I got a Joe Hill bundle, actually I got a couple like some of his prose fiction and then some of his comics several months ago on Humble Bundle, which is a really good site y' all should
- 4:55check out.
- 4:56And the comics one had this one called the Cape, which is based on one of his short stories.
- 5:01And it's a dark spin on superheroes where this kid gets like a magical cape that lets him fly as a kid, but then he has an accident and that kind of sets him down a path of depression and
- 5:16despair and he ends up becoming really dark as an adult.
- 5:20And it does a very dark superhero story from that point on.
- 5:25So the comic was pretty good.
- 5:27Yeah, so those are some of the things.
- 5:28And then obviously with the topic tonight, you know, I have the DC app and so I've been delving into some of the older Green Lantern stuff.
- 5:39So that's been really fun too.
- 5:41Cool.
- 5:41How about you, Evan?
- 5:43For me, I've been getting back into comics a lot lately and so what, so what's happening?
- 5:52Reading stuff that's been new to me like the Chip the Dark ski run for Daredevil from like the 2020s or whatever.
- 6:00It's phenomenal.
- 6:00It's good.
- 6:01But as for what's new, I picked up the the amazing spider man1000 and that's a pretty fun, it's a pretty fun collection of, of, of of of some stories I've got about halfway through.
- 6:17And it's a pretty cool stories.
- 6:19They, they, they definitely got me hooked for the rest of them because, because some of them continue.
- 6:25So it's pretty cool.
- 6:26To see that.
- 6:27And and I like getting back in the comments.
- 6:29I missed it.
- 6:30Welcome back.
- 6:31Yes.
- 6:32So so then I'd be curious maybe this there's a different venue for this but I'd be curious your thoughts the the first story in Amazing 1000.
- 6:43That's kind of a climax of the ongoing books plot lines if if that made any sense to you.
- 6:49What you what you know, if you enjoyed that.
- 6:51If you didn't enjoy it.
- 6:52What without getting too spoilery.
- 6:54I did.
- 6:54Yes, I did enjoy it.
- 6:57There was a little synopsis at the beginning that I that that was enough for me to to enjoy it.
- 7:06But it is a fun little twist.
- 7:09It's a fun.
- 7:10It's a fun perspective that I've never seen.
- 7:15Cool.
- 7:15I will also use this as an excuse without getting too deep into spoilers, but it might be a good opportunity to check out we did some episodes podcast feed about the faces behind Peter Parker as part of our
- 7:26annual theme.
- 7:27I was on one about Peter Parker's parents and I forget if it's out now yet or not, but I know there is one in the queue if it's not out already about Uncle Ben and Aunt May so that
- 7:36may be of interest thinking about current spread ran events.
- 7:39So I'll plug that as well and then we come to Liz.
- 7:41And please feel free to use this as an invitation to tell us only as much as you want to tell us about your extra special guest there as well as whatever else you might be geeking out on.
- 7:49Yeah, I mean what's new is motherhood.
- 7:52He's nine and a half weeks old.
- 7:53It's been a roller coaster, so not much geeking out.
- 7:57I have been watching bottom tier character Tomozaki.
- 8:02So that's season one and it's pretty much like you're a nerd who meets up with another nerd like off, you know, offline in real life.
- 8:11And then he finds out that, you know, classic.
- 8:13She's the popular girl and so she's upset that the number one ranked play it and it's pretty much a knockoff.
- 8:18The game he plays is a knockoff of Smash Bros.
- 8:22And so she tries to help him level up his social life.
- 8:25So that's been kind of fun.
- 8:27Other than that, lots of Facebook Marketplace scrolls at 2am Feeding the baby, lots of diapers, lots of dancing vegetables on YouTube.
- 8:42So yeah, not doing too much watching a lot of hgtv because when you get, I don't know, like if it's blaming nesting, I'm not really like into like the whole like, you know, like the cliches and whatnot.
- 8:55But my husband was reading a book when I right before giving birth, I was like, your wife might get really into more as she nests.
- 9:03So I've been like obsessed with Canadian home design on YouTube.
- 9:07This YouTuber called Alexander like greater whoa.
- 9:10She's.
- 9:11I've, you know, it's just, it's very hum.
- 9:14Well, not humbling.
- 9:15It's very interesting.
- 9:15You can watch six years of someone's videos in one month.
- 9:19So voyeurismand is finest.
- 9:22Dude, it was like.
- 9:23And of course I want to redo my whole house, but with what time?
- 9:26Because now I have a little parasite attached to me at all times.
- 9:29Oh wait.
- 9:30I mean I'm keep him.
- 9:31He's cute.
- 9:32Yeah, I did think about giving him back.
- 9:34I asked someone if they would wanted to buy him.
- 9:36Did you keep the receipt?
- 9:38No.
- 9:39Well, the birth certificate, that should work.
- 9:41But that was like all sales of.
- 9:42Final a Blue Light Special.
- 9:45But other than that, it's been good just taking it one day at a time.
- 9:49So I'm excited.
- 9:50Like I had something I finished in anime that's kind of new to geek out with you guys on tonight and.
- 9:55We're looking forward to that and congratulations to you and your family and of course all good things going forward.
- 10:00Thank you.
- 10:01Thank you.
- 10:03I will throw in my lightning round topics real quick.
- 10:07Staying on the comics front, very fresh news, just about 24 hours old.
- 10:11Is that the Marvel Unlimited app of which I have spoken about on comics podcasts, comics book catch up episodes that is going away and being replaced with a webtoon based app that seems like it'll be very similar in
- 10:26terms of library access and so forth.
- 10:27But we'll see what kind of features.
- 10:29I'm excited because there's the option to be able to be only a month behind as opposed to three months behind on new comics.
- 10:35So for the things that I keep up with on Marvel Unlimited, I'll be less out of the loop, at least for a little while.
- 10:41They're letting you try out that feature basically for the same prices as current Marvel Unlimited before for a year before you have to pay the extra.
- 10:48So at least give that a try for a year.
- 10:49I'm choosing to be positive and optimistic and lots of well wishes and sympathy to all the engineers who have a hard deadline in about a month now that's been announced to the whole wide world that they're switching over
- 11:01to this new platform.
- 11:01They have to migrate the profiles and reading histories.
- 11:07However many thousands of geeks who care very much about these things.
- 11:11So I can only imagine what that will be like as that deadline looms and then comes and then happens.
- 11:18And then of course, there's a glitch and of course people are going to be very animated about that.
- 11:22So all the best to those folks that have to deal with that and to any geeks who might be listening, give them an extra day or two, give them some patience and some grace when they make that transition
- 11:33next month.
- 11:34It's going to have some bumps, but it'll be fine.
- 11:36All will be well.
- 11:37Also, give a shout out to the engineers who have to handle HBO Mount plus Paramount, whatever it becomes called, because that's coming too, unfortunately.
- 11:46Sure, yeah, we have less details about that and the deadline for that.
- 11:50But yes, certainly that's going to be its own challenge as well.
- 11:53And then also something actual thing that I have seen, I tried out the Unabomber movie on Netflix.
- 12:03May, you know, it's one of the things that could very well have dropped on Netflix and nobody noticed, but it happened.
- 12:07I guess they want to do.
- 12:09Yeah, a very odd choice of a movie.
- 12:13The apprehension of the Unabomber is not the most cinematic of events.
- 12:18And so they kind of intercut that with a story about the childhood or the early adulthood of Ted Kaczynski, which it's unclear from a little bit of reading that I did.
- 12:29It's unclear how much of that actually played into his later development.
- 12:34But it was a very interesting insight into the kinds of things that you could get away with, the kinds of unethical things that you get away with in psychological studies in the 50s and 60s that were approved and
- 12:45university sponsored and government sponsored and so forth.
- 12:48So if nothing else, it's another insight into the movie, like the Stanford Prison Experiment movie that came out a while back and some of these other things where this is not the most egregious.
- 12:58But Ted Kaczynski, as it happens, was a subject in one of these psychological studies where they did things that were, yes, ill advised.
- 13:08Nevertheless, I did appreciate there was a moment probably about two thirds of the way through where Russell Crowe's character, the lead scientist on this dubious experiment, gives an explanation for why science doesn't always go in a straight line
- 13:24and why you can't always just sort of order up.
- 13:26I want these applied results to my science.
- 13:29I want this technology, and I want it in six months or a year or whatever.
- 13:33And so that feels relevant to the current conversations we're having about science funding and so forth.
- 13:38So I did appreciate that little moment of the movie.
- 13:40The rest of it was a bit of an odd duck, but well acted and an interesting insight into the history of psychology.
- 13:49Like I said, even if it maybe is not so much insightful about the title subject.
- 13:54Hey, Liz, I just have to say, your son's laugh is really impressive for.
- 13:58Only nine weeks, you know, and he's doing it all while sleeping.
- 14:02Look at that.
- 14:04Yeah, that's.
- 14:05He's got a future in something.
- 14:06Radio voice, work something, or, you know, super villainy.
- 14:13All right, well, thus ends our lightning round.
- 14:15And so now we will get into our two main topics, starting with, Though I am an inept villainess.
- 14:21And Liz, I don't know if anybody else has seen this.
- 14:24I have not seen this.
- 14:25So I apologize for asking you to monologue a bit, but in the spirit of super villainy, please monologue at us for a little while about Doan am an inept villainess.
- 14:36I feel this is a Chinese anime, so I feel like I like this so much because number one, there's only 11 episodes.
- 14:43It's in English.
- 14:44I know some people hate English dub, but I'm keeping a human alive, so dub is the only way for me right now.
- 14:52It is what it is, but I feel like if I was a villainess, this would be me, the person.
- 14:57So pretty much we have someone who's bitter and jealous and who dabbles in dark magic.
- 15:04And, you know, I watched this so late, I can't even tell you the names at the moment because postpartum brain.
- 15:11But pretty much the one in red is a part of, like, the Fire Clan house.
- 15:17It's the Chinese where the emperor gets pretty much four concubines, four houses, and the emperor in training, the sun.
- 15:27And so they're all competing to try and be the empress, pretty much.
- 15:31And so the red girl switches places with the butterfly.
- 15:36The yellow girl, her name is Rinrin, because that's easy to remember.
- 15:40But pretty much the crown emperor or prince loves the yellow girl, so she's trying to to be the favorite.
- 15:48But the yellow girl is so beautiful, so kind, has a weak body.
- 15:53So when she switches with red girl.
- 15:56I know.
- 15:56Don't you love my commentary?
- 15:58It's so great.
- 15:59Like, she's so thankful that she has a healthy body.
- 16:04Like, she's so excited to be the villainess.
- 16:07Like, everything is going great.
- 16:08You know, her personality didn't change at all.
- 16:11If anything, she tries to help the person who made her switch because, you know, now she's so sick, so she's helping nurse her back to Health.
- 16:18And she keeps on remembering like, oh yeah, I'm a villainess.
- 16:22So she tries to do bad and ends up doing good.
- 16:25So it's just, it's hilarious.
- 16:28And then there's a whole back dark story with their pretty much their guardians.
- 16:34So their guardian is the current emperor's concubines.
- 16:39And so they pretty much each house, they pick their own person to try and get to be the crown empress down the road.
- 16:45So it's drama, it's fantasy, it's romance.
- 16:48You know, I love the romance.
- 16:50But best of all, it's only 11 episodes.
- 16:52So you can really do this in a day.
- 16:54If you like the romance and like the Chinese, I can't.
- 16:58I don't know what you guys will know the term, like the term for it.
- 17:01Like the whole like it's not Meiji error, but the whole like is very.
- 17:07If you like Apothecary Diaries, you would like this.
- 17:10It's very much that area.
- 17:12Yeah.
- 17:12Interesting.
- 17:13So then it sounds like you would say that if somebody wasn't super familiar with anime in general that this might be a gentle introduction because it doesn't ask you to commit the rest of your life to one show.
- 17:23Yeah, I mean I am not caught up on one piece right now.
- 17:27Was it episode 1200 or something?
- 17:30But yeah.
- 17:30So it's a quick, easy, like I said 11 episode.
- 17:34It's not really romance y.
- 17:36So I was a little sad about that.
- 17:38But it, it's more of like the kindred of friendship.
- 17:41So if you enjoy like the Chinese history or folklore or if you enjoy just like friendship like I think a dude would enjoy this anime.
- 17:51Curiously, it reminded me an awful lot of the Wolverine and Kitty Pryde miniseries that came out last year.
- 17:59This is one of these keeping Chris Claremont employed continuity implant miniseries that Marvel has been doing and that one involved Kitty Pride and a rival body swapping and dealing with the limitations and or extra abilities as the case
- 18:17may be of their new bodies and trying to go from being enemies to friends.
- 18:24So perhaps, perhaps there's some crossover there that if you're a comic book geek like me, an X Men nerd who read and enjoyed that miniseries also takes place in a medieval Japanese like setting or at least an inspired
- 18:40setting.
- 18:41So yeah, if you like that miniseries, perhaps this is something crossover.
- 18:45I don't know.
- 18:45And vice versa.
- 18:46If you enjoyed though I am an inept villainess and you're looking for an X Men comic to read that might be one to help crossover that you can read on the new webtoon platform that I Am not being
- 18:57paid to advertise.
- 18:58That launches in a month.
- 18:59Do you have to pay for the webtoon?
- 19:01Yeah.
- 19:02Yes.
- 19:03It's a paid subscription service.
- 19:05I understand.
- 19:05We do not condone piracy.
- 19:07Well, libraries are also available.
- 19:11My local library has lots of comics on Libby.
- 19:15They've throttled our hoopla.
- 19:17But if your library has hoopla and you have access to that, most of the big comic book publisher material is on hoopla.
- 19:25Marvel, DC Image, Dynamite.
- 19:28Idw.
- 19:28All the big names are on hoopla.
- 19:30So you can probably read it for free without having to resort to breaking international laws and pay.
- 19:38Pay your library fees, people.
- 19:40Because I got about like 50 bucks worth of library fees and like, oh boy.
- 19:45But they don't accrue interest, do they?
- 19:47Because I also have library.
- 19:48Oh, that would be wild.
- 19:52I have Libby.
- 19:53So it just like automatically returns it if it's late, but that would be nice.
- 19:58Yeah.
- 19:58Yeah, that's a good.
- 20:00Andy.
- 20:00I just have to say, I know we're all super nerds here, but it's impressive how you can like pull an X Men reference like off the top of your head to something like, like most people wouldn't connect to
- 20:12at all.
- 20:13Well, I did do a little bit of pre research.
- 20:15I.
- 20:15I didn't want to.
- 20:17Okay, okay, okay.
- 20:18Be completely unfamiliar with what Liz are talking about.
- 20:20Okay, never mind.
- 20:21I thought, I thought that was literally like right off the top of your head.
- 20:25Like.
- 20:25Yeah, you're very.
- 20:27Well, I, I mean, I will take credit for making that connection.
- 20:31I did not look that up.
- 20:32I just read it.
- 20:32I had read about the, the premise of the anime before this, this show so that I would know what Liz is talking about.
- 20:38Could maybe formulate a question or two.
- 20:41That's fair.
- 20:41Yeah.
- 20:42But yeah, sometimes I prepare, sometimes I don't.
- 20:44Let's see what happens.
- 20:46Nonetheless, I would totally believe with your encyclopedic knowledge, if you could just be like, oh, that reminds me of this time.
- 20:52Cyclops.
- 20:53Silence.
- 21:55Well, and Chris Kramer loved a body swap.
- 21:58So there's any number of body swap stories from X Men lore.
- 22:03So it's a target rich environment in this particular case.
- 22:06Very cool.
- 21:05Is there, is there another.
- 22:09So if we, if we check this one out and we liked it, is there something else that you would recommend that has a similar vibe or you know, maybe because maybe we.
- 22:18Maybe we paid for a month a Crunchyroll and now we want to see what else there is.
- 22:22Like I said, Apothecary Diaries is another one too.
- 22:25That is very similar.
- 22:26But I can't think of the name as some kind of like, psychic princess or something like that.
- 22:31Same, like, you know, Chinese, like his historic era, but.
- 22:36Yeah, but really, Apothecary Diaries is probably the best bet with, like, the whole concubine and trying to get the emperor's favor and whatnot.
- 22:47Gotcha.
- 22:47All right, anybody else have thoughts on this one?
- 22:51Before we move on to Lanterns, Liz,.
- 22:53Does your son have a review?
- 22:55Yes.
- 22:55Shiloh says he asked me how he could get four concubines, and I told him that was frowned upon.
- 23:01And today's age.
- 23:02Little Aubrey.
- 23:03Yeah, but, you know, he was.
- 23:04He was shooting his shot, so we're gonna teach him how to respect women.
- 23:09And I'm definitely gonna have to be careful with the type of anime and shows I watch moving forward.
- 23:14Once he gets older.
- 23:16Very sad.
- 23:16You are gonna quickly be like, oh, he can understand things now.
- 23:21Oops, pause.
- 23:23Yeah, several moments I've been like, I need to not watch this right now.
- 23:26Yeah, definitely not gonna be re.
- 23:28Watching food wars anytime soon.
- 23:30Alrighty.
- 23:31Well, shall we move on then to Lanterns?
- 23:35The latest offering from the DC Universe is that we're calling now this one is the dcu.
- 23:40The dcu.
- 23:42The dc.
- 23:42Yeah.
- 23:43Yeah.
- 23:45Under its new parent company, which.
- 23:47Yeah, right.
- 23:48Yeah.
- 23:48Well, yeah, we can maybe dig into that a little bit.
- 23:53We'll see how the Lantern discussion goes.
- 23:55Maybe I'll set us up a little bit and then you guys can chime in with your thoughts.
- 24:00So this was eight episode miniseries about Hal Jordan and Jon Stewart, primarily the two Green Lanterns, Although Guy Gardner does make some appearances as well.
- 24:14And it is kind of a true detective esque take on the Lanterns.
- 24:20It's a murder mystery in a small town in the middle of America that has a extraterrestrial dimension to it, shall we say, as they investigate what's going.
- 24:34On in this town.
- 24:34Why does it seem to have so few sick people and so much wealth and so many weapons and advanced technology?
- 24:44And in the midst of that, Hal Jordan is training Jon Stewart to be his replacement as a Green Lantern one day.
- 24:52But isn't the most enthusiastic about that.
- 24:54Did not sign up to have a trainee.
- 24:57Did not go through such a process himself.
- 25:00Did not realize that that was an option for the Green Lantern.
- 25:02So he's a bit salty about all that.
- 25:03So they have a strong tense dynamic.
- 25:07And then we learn about Hal's past, John's past, the past of the small town and so forth, and get to go off planet and see a little bit of the wider Green Lantern universe, but not a whole lot.
- 25:19There's definitely room to expand there.
- 25:21We name checks.
- 25:22You know, Mogo and I forget the squirrel's name, but not a lot of other Green Lantern lore.
- 25:29And setting up presumably Aaron Pierre's Jon Stewart to appear in man of Tomorrow next year.
- 25:38Although we'll see how exactly that looks like.
- 25:40But yeah.
- 25:42So I will open up the floor.
- 25:43Kevin Evan, I don't know, Liz, if you've seen this one or not, but I'm guessing not, given your comments about not having seen much recently.
- 25:50The only thing I know about Green Lantern is that cartoon back in the day with the black Green Lantern and Hawk Woman and Wonder Woman and.
- 25:59Yeah, yes, yes.
- 26:03That's the only thing I Justice League Unlimited.
- 26:04I mean, that was my intro as well.
- 26:06Sure.
- 26:07And that's so.
- 26:07So Aaron Pierre is playing that dream Lantern Jon Stewart in this.
- 26:11Okay, so wait, that.
- 26:12That Green Lantern like that.
- 26:14Because then I remember when the movie came out, I was upset it wasn't that Green Lantern.
- 26:18That's how the original and this one has both.
- 26:22Yeah, there are a lot that there are a lot of land.
- 26:25Like the the show only has Hal, John and Guy.
- 26:29There are multiple in the comic.
- 26:30There's Simon Baz, Jessica Cruise, Kyle Rayner.
- 26:34There's a lot.
- 26:35Yeah, I know.
- 26:36Like, there's a whole like almost species of them, but I only want to.
- 26:41Watch the OG no, this has, I mean, and this is very much a John story.
- 26:45Like, I mean, it has to.
- 26:47But this was like an example extended origin.
- 26:50Yeah, I guess.
- 26:51I guess.
- 26:52All right, take the mic.
- 26:53I'll go ahead and share my thoughts.
- 26:55So, yeah, I know we've done several episodes on this series, both in the build up to it and then the early episodes.
- 27:02And I would say I went from always intrigued, very excited for the show to intrigued by the pilot, but still like, okay, this is a lot of tackle and I'm not sure about spoiler alert, but Hal's dead at
- 27:14the very beginning.
- 27:16Or, you know, at least like, we know he's going to Die in 2026 and the main storyline takes place in 2016.
- 27:22So it'll build up to that.
- 27:25And I wasn't sure how I felt about that at first, but over the course of these eight episodes, I have come to really love this show.
- 27:34I think it's an excellent character study, an excellent mystery.
- 27:38And the finale, even though it pretty much did nothing that the fans expected.
- 27:44Like, there were few theories circulating all the whole time about like, oh, what if Hal's not really dead?
- 27:50What if he becomes Parallax?
- 27:51Oh, what If Sinestro leads the corpse and all these things and pretty much none of that happened.
- 27:59And you could almost classify the season finale as anticlimactic.
- 28:05I would argue that it's not.
- 28:07I think it really ties in the emotional threads that have been laid out all season.
- 28:13Because, like I was saying, like Liz, this really is an extended John origin.
- 28:19It's about.
- 28:20But also the relationship with him and Hal, which starts off super sour.
- 28:26And how they become.
- 28:27They come to have a respect for one another.
- 28:29I love how that story played out.
- 28:31I love how Jon, who in this series, he is trained from birth to become the Green Lantern.
- 28:38His parents have literally.
- 28:40And the Guardians have, like, chosen him and are training him in his whole life.
- 28:43And he's conditioned to not have fear whatsoever.
- 28:48And it all builds up to this one scene with the hologram.
- 28:53Because this is like the hologram of Hal, of his memories after he's dead, but is his consciousness is embedded here.
- 29:00And one line where Hal says to John, don't be afraid to be afraid.
- 29:06Because the more they reveal about these characters as the season goes on, particularly, like, Evan, you and I were talking about, you know, a few weeks ago, like, okay, this is really good, but I do want to see
- 29:18more of Hal's backstory explored.
- 29:20And they did that about.
- 29:22Was that two episodes.
- 29:23I was gonna ask you about that.
- 29:24Yeah.
- 29:24Or no la.
- 29:25Or wait, no.
- 29:26Last week's episode.
- 29:27So episode seven, when they do a flashback to Howls origin and the struggles with mental health that ran through generations of his family.
- 29:36And we learned that his father took his own life and.
- 29:40And how has been conditioned to put aside his feelings.
- 29:44And that's changed the directory of his character.
- 29:46And ultimately at the end, he learns to say no.
- 29:49Like, this is B.S.
- 29:51Like, I think the.
- 29:52Where we're stronger as Lanterns and we're stronger as people if we actually embrace our emotions.
- 29:58So I loved all of that.
- 29:59How that handled.
- 30:01And then the mystery element of, you know, who killed Hal and it turns out to be Carrie.
- 30:05And.
- 30:06Oh, yeah, I do have a question about this, because I was watching a podcast the other day and like, you know, because that scene, it was shot in an interesting manner.
- 30:14And I.
- 30:15So I took it as.
- 30:17When they reveal that Carrie, like, in a moment of panic, shoots how.
- 30:23Anyways, it was because when he.
- 30:25I gathered what he was saying to her was, we need to get away from Noah.
- 30:31Because once he learns that Noah is a Manhunter and has the power to do things that.
- 30:37They already saw this with Zoe previously.
- 30:41He's saying to Carrie let's run away together.
- 30:45Liz, for context.
- 30:47So Hal has a thing with the Sheriff in the show that explored over this 10 year gap.
- 30:54And her son turns out to be one of the Manhunters that are programmed to basically eliminate civilizations and, and proposes a massive threat.
- 31:04But I read that people are debating whether he was saying to her, oh, let's all three of us run away together to another planet, figure something out, or was he saying, let's you and I run away away from
- 31:18him.
- 31:18And, and that was what prompted Liz, I mean, prompted Carrie to act so rashly and kill her?
- 31:24I think so.
- 31:25I was curious what your thoughts were.
- 31:27Yeah.
- 31:28Because she's like, how, how can I leave if, like, I, I, I trained him.
- 31:34I raised him.
- 31:37I raised him.
- 31:39So she did such a good job in raising him.
- 31:43And I could see how him saying to leave because he, he's dangerous.
- 31:48What caused a cognitive dissonance.
- 31:52And she freaked out.
- 31:53She freaked out, right?
- 31:54And it's like, I mean, and she is also a character who is running from her past.
- 31:59She has this conflicted relationship really, with the Manta as a whole.
- 32:03She was saved by a Manhunter, so who is like Noah's grandmother.
- 32:08And so she carries all this baggage.
- 32:10And I think it just came out and in a moment.
- 32:12And anyway, there was also like, I mean, of course, I've read a lot of discourse and you look at complaints, we'll get into a minute like, you know, whether they should have had more of the Grand Lantern mythos
- 32:22and more traditional superhero fare in this or not.
- 32:26But I think because he was rescued by Zoe, he had all his baggage.
- 32:32I mean.
- 32:33Yeah, not that I just.
- 32:35Oh, I know.
- 32:36I was going to say there were people were mad that she wasn't brought to justice here in this episode, but I also got.
- 32:41She said she was going to turn herself in after the game, and I don't.
- 32:47I kind of do believe her there because she knows she carries the weight and the guilt and, and a lot of it that is reinforced when she sees Hal's hologram in that was, Was that last week's episode too?
- 33:01I think it was, yeah.
- 33:01When John and Hal, or Hal, like, goes to visit her and she's like, devastated, like this mix of emotions in her face when she sees him again.
- 33:12So I, Yeah, I mean, I, I think she was going to turn herself in and it's not like she's a raging maniac and, and is like a major threat, but she did something horrible in the moment.
- 33:25But I, I wasn't really needing to Just, oh, I need to see her behind bars by the end of the episode.
- 33:32Like I, I kind of figured she would be.
- 33:35But yeah, the discourse was.
- 33:36Evan, what are your thoughts though on the finale?
- 33:38I know we've talked about the show.
- 33:40In previous, so this is the first time in a while where I watch a show and I'm not a part of the discourse because I'm not on social media right now.
- 33:50And it gives me kind of like some room to breathe and stuff.
- 33:53So in a way I miss it and in a way I don't, but I really liked it.
- 33:59I, I loved how HBO it felt like the whole thing was just Kashf Kiss and, and it was very.
- 34:08The top tier mystery.
- 34:10I felt I was like two steps behind the show.
- 34:14Like, I felt I was kind of dumb.
- 34:16But this show was this just kind of nice enough to drop some clues here and there on things and.
- 34:23But I love the way it or the ended with Hal and John's relationship.
- 34:32It was.
- 34:33I, I generally did not think, I thought they were going to, to keep the tension going after this because I didn't think that the two people could, could, could, could.
- 34:46Could reconcile themselves just to pretty much all that you said.
- 34:52I can't really think of a lot there right now, but as in, I don't know.
- 34:58I thought I had my thoughts together, but I don't.
- 35:00So.
- 35:01No, you're good.
- 35:02And Andy, right before I get your thoughts, one thing I just want to say is like, you know, the.
- 35:07Because Evan, one of the things about the discourse was people were just disappointed by the quote unquote, like lack of comic book elements in the finale especially.
- 35:16And it was a lot.
- 35:16And, and I, you know, I get, I mean I, you know, I'm a obviously a huge superhero fan.
- 35:20Super, huge comics.
- 35:22And you and I were talking about like, hey, it would be nice to show even some flashbacks like Hal in.
- 35:28I thought there was going to be.
- 35:29Something doing some right.
- 35:31Doing something like I still would have liked that, don't get me wrong.
- 35:34But I also thought it was kind of Chef's Kiss in this show in particular to have a put storytelling first above all.
- 35:42But also like I'm thinking about the John and Noah storyline and yeah, the expectation there would have been to have a big fight with the like, you know, the teenage manhunter goes wild and, and that's where John.
- 35:57Yeah, that would have been fine.
- 35:59But also it proved it was a harder test for Jon to see how he handled that moment in that conversation.
- 36:08That is what proved him.
- 36:10Oh, it was Beautiful.
- 36:12Like that's what proved him as, oh, you're the Green Lantern and you're take up the mantle.
- 36:18The way he handled that and so like, and gave the kid confidence that, oh no, you can choose your own path just because of your program.
- 36:27And it doesn't actually mean anything like, because also condition.
- 36:32I didn't think about that because he was literally programmed.
- 36:37But.
- 36:38But like, I'm thinking back to the conversation that John had with, with the Guardian and how she didn't know the difference between programmed and race.
- 36:51I thought that was interesting.
- 37:53So I thought that was beautifully handled.
- 37:55But Andy, I'm curious on your thoughts because we talked, I think, at the beginning of the season and in the build up to it.
- 38:00But what have your thoughts on the finale and the season as a whole.
- 38:04Yeah.
- 38:05So I think.
- 38:06I think I ended up pretty much in a similar place to where I started.
- 38:09I think it's a very well executed version of what it seemed like they were going for.
- 38:15They were obviously interested in doing certain kinds of things and not doing certain kinds of things.
- 38:20And I think they did a good job.
- 38:23I just think that it's not, to me, much of a Green Lantern story.
- 38:28It's an interesting story and asks some interesting questions.
- 38:35I just think that it missed out on taking advantage, full advantage of what you can do with a Green Lantern story.
- 38:42Specifically.
- 38:43You know, I joked on an episode with Christian recently, you know, nobody gets called poozer at any point in the show.
- 38:50And, you know, there's definitely that superficial element of, you know, there's a lot of the Green Lantern lore that isn't there, whether it's Kilowog or much.
- 39:00You know, we don't really see the Guardians and all their smurfiness.
- 39:02We do.
- 39:03They are represented, but not in their usual guys.
- 39:08We don't get any of the multicolor rings until maybe kind of at the end.
- 39:13Although I'll get back to that in a minute.
- 39:16But yeah, so.
- 39:18But I think more to the core of what makes a Green Lantern story a Green Lantern story.
- 39:25Right.
- 39:26The whole premise of Green Lantern asks the question, how would you make the world better if you were only limited by your imagination and your willpower?
- 39:34And there were definitely some themes of willpower in the show, but not very much imagination.
- 39:44On one level, Jon Stewart's arc is he goes from solving problems by shooting things in the head, shooting someone in the head, to when confronted with a similar scenario, not shooting that person in the head.
- 39:55And yes, that is good character growth, but it's not terribly imaginative.
- 40:01And as somebody who was very excited to see Aaron Pierre in this, based off of his performance in Rebel Ridge and the story in Rebel Ridge, to me that's a story where you take away the magic wishing ring.
- 40:12But it's very much a story about what can you do to make the world better if using your imagination and your willpower.
- 40:20Because he is not interested in just killing people.
- 40:25He's very much trying to solve the problems in that story with by being more imaginative than that and finding ways to resolve issues without resorting to lethal violence.
- 40:36And so, yeah, in a lot of ways, to me, that was the more interesting Green Lantern esque story starring Aaron Pierre and dealing with questions of racial justice and police authority and so forth.
- 40:48But yeah, I mean, I don't necessarily have a problem with the themes that the story was engaging with, the its approach to different topics.
- 40:58You know, I thought one thing I did appreciate was another thing maybe will stick with me the most is the observation that Jon Stewart's dad, Jon Stewart Sr.
- 41:08Was presented with the opportunity to be a Green Lantern and asked, you know, are you afraid?
- 41:14Do you have fear?
- 41:15Something along those lines.
- 41:16And he doesn't pass the test.
- 41:18And so that's how Hal Jordan eventually winds up as the green lantern in 2006 or whatever.
- 41:23However exactly the timeline shakes out.
- 41:25I guess no, I guess must be sooner than that because Jon Stewart is more than 18 or 20 years old in the show.
- 41:30But anyway, whatever the past timeline was there and you know, they bring up that, you know, asking a black man in America in the 90s or 2000s or whenever that was, you know, if he, if he's afraid of
- 41:45anything, has very different ramifications than asking a white man in the same circumstances.
- 41:50And so I thought that was a very pointed way of underlining that theme.
- 41:57There's a lot of questions about nature and nurture and programming and raising and free will and all that that I thought were interesting.
- 42:04I'll do another poll here on the Mindscape podcast with Sean Carroll.
- 42:10He had Greg Caruso on just last week talking about free will and whether we have free will.
- 42:15And I think his answer to that question, that by and large we don't have free will, I think would echo a lot of what this show was talking about.
- 42:23That so much of our choices, the choices we are even able to make, the options that are available to us when we are confronted with a choice, and then the decisions that we do make in those moments have
- 42:33a lot to do with our past experiences and things that we had no control Over.
- 42:39So if you're interested in engaging in that topic, that's a way to get a little bit further.
- 42:43As a counterpoint, Kevin Mitchell was also a guest on that podcast.
- 42:46A Little Bit further in the past comes from the opposite perspective of we do have free will.
- 42:51Both gentlemen have books on the topic, and there are of course a million other points of view on those subjects, but those are things that were rattling around in my head when I was watching the show.
- 43:01But yeah, so a lot of good stuff there.
- 43:03Just, I would have preferred that if you're doing a Green Lantern show, it makes sense to me that you want to lean a little bit more into what's distinctive about Green Lantern show as opposed to a story that
- 43:14you could tell in a variety of contexts.
- 43:17And I'm still a little bit bummed that so much of the DCU output is only for adults when you were the steward of characters that have been embraced by all ages and are so important to people of all
- 43:32ages.
- 43:33I would like to see them have a few more things that were a bit more widely accessible.
- 43:37Not everything has to be Spidey and His Amazing Friends, you know, for four year olds, but similarly, not everything has to be R rated and for 40 year olds, so.
- 43:46No, that's fair.
- 43:47It's R rated.
- 43:48The Green Lantern TV show, I mean,.
- 43:51So it's not technically R rated in that sense, but it's definitely for mature viewers only.
- 43:55Whatever the TV show.
- 43:56How many F bombs they be dropping just for fun?
- 43:58Oh, a lot.
- 43:59Yeah.
- 43:59At least a dozen every episode.
- 44:01Like, I don't mind, I don't mind room.
- 44:03Right.
- 44:04But when they just drop it just to further.
- 44:07I don't even know why it's so annoying.
- 44:09I wouldn't say it just for the sake of it, but like it's.
- 44:13I mean.
- 44:13But yeah, no, it's definitely an adult audience.
- 44:16Yeah, there's definitely a flavor of, hey, we're on, you know, streaming.
- 44:20We can do whatever we wish.
- 44:21Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 44:23I felt like this was a show that they had to get out.
- 44:27Like they felt like this was the right time to do this, so they went for it.
- 44:33And now that they got it out of the way, they get, they can get into the more, you know, silly and the more superficial and the more alien.
- 44:43But I think they just needed to get this out of the way.
- 44:46That's kind of what I felt.
- 44:48And.
- 44:49And all I got to say is guys just go to therapy.
- 44:52Guys, like, damn.
- 44:53And so many times during this series, I'm like, just, you know, go to better help.
- 44:59Go.
- 45:00Go to better help.
- 45:01You do you just download the app, man, When.
- 45:03When Hal and his dad in his flashback episode, and he was basically downloading his trauma to his son, I'm like, bro, what the.
- 45:13Just.
- 45:13Just go to therapy.
- 45:15Do something that.
- 45:16Not that.
- 45:18It really shook me.
- 45:19I'm like, oh, it's.
- 45:21It's getting me, like, hyped right now.
- 45:24Like, don't do that.
- 45:26I mean, it could be the epilogue for pretty much every superhero story.
- 45:29Just go to therapy.
- 45:30Just go to therapy.
- 45:31As much as we love these characters.
- 45:34Under the heading of, wait, don't do that, I'm curious how you guys reacted to John embracing the corrupted lantern, the Sinestro Lantern.
- 45:45I was waiting for that.
- 45:46And to turn yellow.
- 45:48Yeah.
- 45:48Like, maybe I'm just too biased by the.
- 45:51The comics and especially the Geoff Johns rainbow saga, but I'm just like, okay, Jon Stewart just cracked the door open for Parallax.
- 45:59That's what I said to my wife.
- 46:03How's he gonna be a hero in the next Superman movie when he has just gone.
- 46:09Not full Parallax yet, but certainly invited that in.
- 46:12But maybe I'm reading too much into it, based on what I expect.
- 46:15I read that too, but.
- 46:17But they apparently just didn't go that way.
- 46:19They focus more on John creating his own space, which is pretty cool.
- 46:25But.
- 46:25Yeah.
- 46:26What were we gonna say, Kev?
- 46:27Oh, yeah, no, that was about my only.
- 46:28I mean, wasn't crazy about Sinister stuff ended.
- 46:32I love the actor for it.
- 46:33He was fantastic.
- 46:34But.
- 46:34But I wanted a little more there.
- 46:37So if I have, like, criticisms of the finale, I would lean it toward that.
- 46:41Granted, with how much, like, reinvention they've done, it could be something else.
- 46:45Like, what that's setting up.
- 46:46I don't know.
- 46:47But, yeah, no, I.
- 46:49That was, you know, not my favorite.
- 46:52But I have.
- 46:53And I do agree, what you said about this felt like, okay, they had a clear vision for what they wanted to do here.
- 47:00And, yes, like, with the offering of the new dcu, so far it has been more adult, skewered.
- 47:08It's not been a lot of family friendly.
- 47:10But, you know, they've said from the beginning that each project is going to have a distinctive feel to it, and for the most part.
- 47:17So, I mean, we want to limit it, but, like, yeah, Superman is very different from this.
- 47:22You know, Superman, Supergirl, a little more similar, but there's still differences there.
- 47:27And, you know, I.
- 47:30I'm glad that they had such a unique vision here and they wanted to tell the story, and it still has a place here, and they can also have the character carry over in the movies and probably do more
- 47:42of the traditional superhero stuff we expect from the comics.
- 47:47So I like that there's room for different genres in this universe and different spaces.
- 47:54So I think that's another reason why I did really enjoy it.
- 47:57That's fair.
- 47:57And, you know, hopefully, yes, we will see more.
- 48:00More genres.
- 48:01We'll see the DCU widen up.
- 48:02It is.
- 48:03It is early days, but, yeah, hopefully it'll expand.
- 48:06And, yeah, I would love to have been more excited about Jon Stewart sort of forging his own path and embracing his own, you know, destiny or what have you.
- 48:14I mean, it has your shades of the Last Jedi and Rey and all that.
- 48:18And so, yeah, I really wanted to be behind him in that moment, and maybe I should have been, but.
- 48:22Yeah, I couldn't let go of my.
- 48:24But.
- 48:24But.
- 48:25No, you shouldn't.
- 48:26You shouldn't embrace this.
- 48:27You should want.
- 48:27I got over it quick because of just the way, like, I loved his speech.
- 48:32His speech was so perfect.
- 48:34Yeah, he was so him.
- 48:35The fact that he changed blackest night to darkest night, I was like, hell, yeah, that.
- 48:42Yeah, that.
- 48:43That could not have been an accidental.
- 48:46Yeah, exactly.
- 48:47I was just like, there we go.
- 48:49There we go.
- 48:49And then he fly to me, like, I thought there was, like, Neo at the end of the first Matrix movie where he flies by.
- 48:59Yep, yep.
- 49:00I will give you that.
- 49:01That was definitely, definitely a solid moment.
- 49:03But, yeah, it's.
- 49:05It's a great show.
- 49:06It makes me want to watch the first season of True Detective again.
- 49:10I really like that one.
- 49:12The.
- 49:13My spoiler question is, is how really dead?
- 49:17Because who was.
- 49:19Who was the Manhunter?
- 49:21The.
- 49:22What's his name?
- 49:23The kid, the.
- 49:24Noah.
- 49:25Noah.
- 49:25He was talking to Hal when he was on the floor of his facility.
- 49:30I'm assuming that was a clone.
- 49:32And why didn't we see them again?
- 49:35Or.
- 49:36Or was that the one who died?
- 49:38I have no idea.
- 49:39I am.
- 49:39I'm just confused.
- 49:40Wait, are you talking.
- 49:42Wait, are you talking, like, was that around with the fire?
- 49:46Like, when.
- 49:47The house before that.
- 49:48That scene where.
- 49:50Where Hal is on the floor of the meatpacking facility and he has that little.
- 49:56That little scar on his arm?
- 49:58And that's when we see that Noah is a Manhunter and he says that he created him or something or.
- 50:06I don't know.
- 50:07Oh, wait.
- 50:08Yeah, yeah, no, that's.
- 50:09That's.
- 50:10That was still flashback.
- 50:11Okay.
- 50:12Yeah, yeah.
- 50:13Okay.
- 50:13Yeah, yeah.
- 50:14That was filling in some of the gap.
- 50:15I see now what happened.
- 50:17I See now, yeah, the time jumps did get a little disorienting, especially once we got to the 2026 timeline, because, yeah, it was all really cool, but.
- 50:25But, yeah, because all of it happened, like, within a week, like his death and then the finale, all that.
- 50:32But, yeah, that was like.
- 50:33Right.
- 50:33Yeah, yeah.
- 50:34They could have done a little bit more to make the errors visually distinct, the characters visually distinct across the time series or something.
- 50:41But.
- 50:42Yeah, yeah, but if it.
- 50:43If it meant we were spared some bad wigs, then maybe it's all for the best.
- 50:47But that's always the go to solution for that.
- 50:50Right?
- 50:51Or be paste on mustaches.
- 50:53Yeah.
- 50:53Or.
- 50:54Yeah, exactly.
- 50:54Yeah.
- 50:55But I did appreciate for being like.
- 50:59When we talked about it, Kevin, I said to not hold your breath, to see about getting answers to the questions that we had, but I surprisingly felt like they did answer most of their questions.
- 51:11Like.
- 51:12Yeah, they did.
- 51:12Yeah.
- 51:13Yeah, they did it in their own way, but I think they were all answered.
- 51:18I think it was all kind of.
- 51:19It wasn't like it just left everything.
- 51:21Yeah, there was still some ambiguity, but I kind of praise it for that as much as.
- 51:26Yeah, I agree.
- 51:27Yeah, it definitely feels like it could be done right.
- 51:30They could come back into a Lantern Season two.
- 51:32There are things to pick up on, but if this was it, it wouldn't feel like, oh, you know, where's the rest of the story?
- 51:39And frankly, the list of things that you rattled off, Kevin, that people were expecting to happen in the finale, I'm not sure where they were getting most of that.
- 51:45I mean, you might as well ask, which one of these people is Mephisto?
- 51:49Yeah, I know.
- 51:49I know.
- 51:52You got some fan, like, hardcore fans that just want to see everything from the comics come into play.
- 51:59That would have been a lot.
- 52:00Sure.
- 52:00All right, well, I think we have.
- 52:03I think we've covered a lot of ground here and want to be respectful of everybody's time, especially that of our youngest, that we know these moments don't last forever.
- 52:13Eventually, he will wake up and need something, and so we should move on before that comes.
- 52:19So thank you, everybody, for sticking with us.
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- 53:04we are happy to have you do that as well to listen to past and or future episodes jump around in time just like the lanterns.
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