#4443 Better Off Fred

Summary

Podcast Summary: TBTL Episode #4443 "Better Off Fred"

Release Date: April 11, 2025
Hosts: Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh
Duration: Approximately 82 minutes

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1. Ant Infestation Antics

[00:00 – 00:51]

The episode kicks off with Luke Burbank sharing his humorous yet exasperating experience dealing with ants invading his home. Luke describes his unconventional methods to eliminate the ants, including using ant poison designed to trick ants into killing their queen—“Only a human would invent that” ([00:00]). He humorously laments his advanced strategy to execute ant regicide, expressing his initial desire to simply remove the ants from his house rather than destroy them.

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2. Weekend Greetings and Show Introduction

[00:51 – 03:35]

Andrew Walsh contributes with playful banter, interspersed with humorous lines from listeners, setting a lighthearted tone for the episode. Luke introduces the episode from the Madrona Hill studio in Seattle, mentioning their upcoming live show at Benaroya Hall. He reflects on enjoying television, specifically praising the season finale of "The White Lotus" for avoiding spoilers, and humorously nominates Yellowstone National Park as a potential setting for future episodes due to its dramatic natural features.

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3. Blue Sky Posts and B52's "Planet Claire"

[03:35 – 13:50]

The conversation shifts to social media interactions on Blue Sky, where a listener (Andrew) discusses his late-night posting habits and subsequent deletion of a post featuring the B52's song "Planet Claire." Andrew expresses regret over deleting the post, highlighting his admiration for the song and encouraging listeners to watch the iconic rooftop performance:
“Find a video of them performing that song on a rooftop somewhere, it's going to change you forever.” ([05:00])

Luke and Andrew delve into the nuances of the B52's music, reminiscing about Fred Schneider's serious demeanor in "Planet Claire" and comparing it to his typically flamboyant persona. They analyze the music video, noting the intense portrayal of Fred with a walkie-talkie and the over-the-top Christmas tree decorations, reflecting on how these elements contribute to the band's unique artistic expression.

Notable Quote:
Luke Burbank: “Only a human would be like, oh, ants, you are a minor inconvenience to me.” ([00:00])

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4. In-Depth Analysis of "The White Lotus" Season 3

[13:50 – 44:43]

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to dissecting "The White Lotus" Season 3. Luke and Andrew discuss major plot developments, character arcs, and thematic elements, embedding spoilers for listeners unfamiliar with the latest season.

Key Points Discussed:

• Family Dynamics and Moral Decline: They analyze the storyline of a wealthy North Carolina family at the resort, focusing on the father’s descent into desperation as he faces impending legal troubles.
  Andrew Walsh: “[...] he sort of realizes, as long as my son is not dead, I can do anything. I can go to jail. We can lose the house. I don't care what happens, you know,” ([27:12])

• Attempted Poisoning Plot: The hosts explore the father’s extreme measures to protect his family by poisoning them, the ethical dilemmas presented, and the narrative consequences.
  “It's the only way out is through...” ([28:05])

• Character Consistency and Development: They critique character developments, particularly highlighting inconsistencies and abrupt changes, such as the reaction of the wife character and the portrayal of moral frameworks within the show.
  Andrew Walsh: “That was an interesting plot twist. I did not see that coming.” ([27:12])

• Finale Evaluation: The duo assesses the season finale, debating its believability and the resolution of various plot threads, including the handling of mass shootings and character survivals. They express mixed feelings about the ending's combination of violence and beauty, noting the lack of realistic aftermath for the events depicted.
  Luke Burbank: “I felt like that was an interesting plot twist. I did not see that coming.” ([27:12])

Notable Quotes:

• Andrew Walsh: “I feel like some of these lawsuits are pretty dicey.” ([12:03])

• Listener: “I'm very dubious of that number. I think a lot of those are...” ([05:13])

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5. Listener Interactions and Real-Life Anecdotes

[44:43 – 78:01]

Throughout the episode, Luke and Andrew engage with listener voicemails and emails, sharing personal stories and addressing audience comments. Topics range from technical issues with bank transfers to personal experiences with online security and financial fraud. They discuss the frustrations of dealing with flagged bank transactions and the challenges of transferring large sums of money, intertwining these real-life issues with humorous takes and relatable frustrations.

Key Discussions:

• Banking and Financial Security: The hosts highlight the complexities of transferring large amounts of money without alerting bank fraud detection systems, drawing parallels between episodic plot points and real-life banking frustrations.
  Andrew Walsh: “I just think the bank is looking out for you, but I feel like it benefits them.” ([56:20])

• Research Funding and Political Influence: They touch upon the impact of political decisions on research funding for marginalized communities, emphasizing the misuse of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives to suppress important scientific studies.
  Luke Burbank: “...they are trying to strip away everything that is in any way benefited someone who's not just a straight white male.” ([73:58])

• Public Health and Social Issues: The conversation delves into the challenges faced by organizations like the Black Women's Health Imperative, discussing the broader implications of political interference in public health and research.

Notable Quotes:

• Listener Dave: “They were flying a lot closer than they do these days. Reality hits you that they’re supposed to be safe.” ([76:25])

• Andrew Walsh: “Whenever an institution tells me that they're doing something for my benefit, but I can see how it feels to me like it benefits them, I get a little...” ([56:33])

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6. Donor Acknowledgments and Show Closing

[78:01 – 82:37]

The episode concludes with heartfelt thanks to their supporters, specifically highlighting a donor named Mark Bourne. Luke and Andrew express gratitude for the listeners' contributions that make the show possible, incorporating playful and personalized acknowledgments. They briefly mention upcoming episodes, including an interview with Rick Steves, and promote their sister’s business, Atwater Designs, which specializes in cyanotype photography.

Notable Quotes:

• Luke Burbank: “Mark Bourne... What a nice way to describe the early days of TBTL.” ([66:08])

• Andrew Walsh: “Thanks to TBTL for helping us get through another year.” ([68:49])

The hosts wrap up with a blend of humor and genuine appreciation, ensuring listeners feel connected and valued. They tease future content and encourage ongoing support, maintaining the show's friendly and engaging atmosphere.

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Highlighted Quotes with Timestamps:

• Ants and Regicide:
  Luke Burbank: “Only a human would invent that. Only a human would be like, oh, ants, you are a minor inconvenience to me.” ([00:00])

• B52's Influence:
  Listener: “Find a video of them performing that song on a rooftop somewhere, it's going to change you forever.” ([05:00])

• White Lotus Spoilers:
  Andrew Walsh: “As long as my son is not dead, I can do anything. I can go to jail. We can lose the house. I don't care what happens, you know.” ([27:12])

• Banking Frustrations:
  Andrew Walsh: “I just think the bank is looking out for you, but I feel like it benefits them.” ([56:20])

• DEI and Research Funding:
  Luke Burbank: “They are trying to strip away everything that is in any way benefited someone who's not just a straight white male.” ([73:58])

• Donor Appreciation:
  Andrew Walsh: “Thanks to TBTL for helping us get through another year.” ([68:49])

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Conclusion:

Episode #4443 of "TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live" offers a rich blend of humor, in-depth analysis, and personal anecdotes. Luke and Andrew navigate through topics ranging from everyday nuisances like ant infestations to intricate discussions on popular television dramas and societal issues. Their engaging dialogue, peppered with memorable quotes and listener interactions, provides a comprehensive and entertaining experience for both regular listeners and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

I have ants in my house. So I got some ant poison. And the way that the ant poison works is that the ants think it's a treat, and they pick it up and they take it back to their nest and they give it to their queen and it kills her. And then the rest of the ants, I assume, die from grief. I don't know. That's so messed up. Only a human would invent that. Only a human would be like, oh, ants, you are a minor inconvenience to me. So I'm gonna spend years learning how your civilization works and then trick you into committing regicide. I didn't even want to kill the ants, man. I just wanted them to go outside. That's why I've been giving the ants acid. At first, they were having kind of a bad trip, you know? So then I dressed up like an ant, and I was like, nah, bro, you just having a bad trip. You just need to go outside. I may have also taken some of the acid. In fact, I don't even know if I have ants.

[Andrew Walsh]

TBTM.

[Listener]

Guess what day it is. Guess what day it is. It's Friday. Friday. Gonna get down on Friday. Everybody's looking forward to the weekend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do I look like I know what a JPEG is?

[Listener]

I just want a picture of a God.

[Andrew Walsh]

Dang hot dog.

[Listener]

Am I a hero?

[Andrew Walsh]

I really can't say, but yes.

[Listener]

Hey, where's the freaking. I'll do some toot. Now don't get me. I will do some toot, you know?

[Andrew Walsh]

Stay patient, people.

[Listener]

Stay patient.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is gonna be worth it, I promise. Maybe not. Maybe not.

[Listener]

But it's worth it to me.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Friday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Chicken jockey. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. Oh, wow. Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, where it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Oh, ma pa. It's just beautiful. I don't know how long it'll last, but right now we got some blue skies and some wispy white clouds. It's hopefully going to be nice weather for heading north after the show and be heading up to Seattle, where we're going to be doing livewire tonight at Benaroya hall. That I'll see some of you out there. It's going to be a fun show. This is going to be a fun show as well right here. This TBTL. It's episode 4000, 443 in a collector series. Let the fun begin. After I finally finished my work for Livewire last night, my preparation for the show, I was able to treat myself to a little television time. I love television. I've got to have that thing on 24. 7. I love the patter. Finally got to watch the season finale of the White Lotus and I have some thoughts. One, I was proud of myself that it didn't actually get spoiled it the universe. And by that I just mean various web blogs and places were trying so hard to ruin it for me and spoil it for me. And they almost did, but they didn't. Now who knows where White Lotus 4 is going to be located but I just would like to nominate Yellowstone national park because of the craziness going on there. Especially near the geyser known as Old Faithful. It's going to be very hot, going to be very uncomfortable for everybody. We'll talk about that. And we're gonna talk to this guy, the longest running cobra of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He is Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning my friend.

[Listener]

Good morning, Luke. I. The more I think about it, the more I really regret deleting that Blue sky post. I don't know why I deleted was.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's.

[Listener]

It's such a good song. So I'll let the listeners in on this if I must. Before the show, you said you knew I was up late. I told you I was tired. I wanted to call in sick to work today. I'm not actually sick. I'm fine. I'm just tired. You said. Yeah, I knew you were up late because of what, around 11 or 11:30 or something. I posted on Blue Sky a link to like one of my favorite. Well, no, my favorite B52's video ever and one of my favorite B52 song Planet Claire. And I think I just said something like maybe the drug's talking but this is the only song that matters. That was the statement by that.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was like that was the part that I was again, I could have been assuming things but I was like Andrew's having a moment with this song. And yeah, the fact that you said this might be the drugs talking.

[Listener]

Oh, I don't think it wasn't actually drugs talking. It was just.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, no, no, I don't think.

[Listener]

But it is so, so good. And then you, you mentioned you're like, oh yeah, I saw that Blue sky post last night. I'm like, oh, that's right. And then I deleted it and I Don't know. Did you notice a typo in it? I remember feel. I remember posting it and then feeling insecure in taking it down and skating and deleting.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know the move.

[Listener]

Then you mentioned. You're right, it's very. I mean, it's. I've learned from the master. I've. I've. I've worked under your tutorial. So anyway. Yeah. But now I'm like, why did. So I guess what I'm going to do is I'm going to use the pot. I only have, like, three people who are following me on Blue sky anyway, so how about me? One of them is, you got a.

[Andrew Walsh]

Friend, you got Luke.

[Listener]

What we're going to do here is we're going to use the power of broadcasting because we have like 10 people following us here.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nice.

[Listener]

I have 1.1 thousand followers, it says. I think that I'm very dubious of that number. I think a lot of those are.

[Andrew Walsh]

The bots gotten over there as well.

[Listener]

I blocked somebody the other day because she was some hottie boombody with a very naughty handle, and it was very clear that what was going on there. And I said, you know, that's my burner. I blocked her. I didn't report her. I blocked her or it. Because it was probably a robot anyway. But anyway. Yeah. So everybody just go. Just do yourself a favor. It's a Friday. You have all weekend to do this. I'm giving you an assignment. Go to Google or Duck. Duck. Go. Or whatever search engine you use and type in B52's Planet Claire and find a video of them performing that song on a rooftop somewhere, it's going to change you forever. It's such a good song and it's such a great video.

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought you were gonna say, if everyone's weekend responsibility or task is to go onto Blue sky and smash that follow button on the Andrew Walsh account, which I also support. People do.

[Listener]

Sure, you could do that if you want to. But the important thing is that we give the B52s their fair share. The reason, by the way, I think I got on a B52s Jag last night is. And this is tough to do because we're trying not to play music on the show. By the way, almost every music we play now does get flat. Remember, we had a. Remember we had a dazzling donor who had us play back a clip of our show from like 2010 or something like that, or 2009 that got flagged and pulled down in some territories on YouTube. I don't know if they're territories we care about.

[Andrew Walsh]

You are allowed to sing any B52 songs that you want to Andrew on the show. So that's important.

[Listener]

You can just sing the B52s.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is that a B52 song?

[Listener]

That was my Kate Pearson imitation there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is that a lyric? Did they say that?

[Listener]

That was my Fred Schneider and I was just riffing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, okay, okay. Well, there's a lot of. Because you know, we do have some. We have a intro tape where two people are Fred Schneidering off. I just didn't know if maybe that was like a. Some kind of a SCTV B52 sketch that escaped my radar because, you know, I'm not nearly as immersed in that band as you are. Except for the fact that I was once on. Wait, wait, don't tell me. When we had Fred Schneider on. And what I was struck by, and I believe I said this to you at the time, was Fred Schneider was actually a pretty serious guy.

[Listener]

Well, that I'm telling. And I think I even remember I might have in that conversation referenced the exact Planet Claire video that I'm talking about right now. Because if you go online, if you go on DuckDuckGo and look up the Planet Claire official video and you see the one I'm talking about, you will see a very serious, very young, mustachioed, svelte, good looking Fred Schneider who for the first two and a half minutes of this song has no lyrics. And so he's just playing a walkie talkie. When I say playing a walkie talkie, I mean making a beep beep beep sound with an old school walkie talkie. And he is playing that thing with so much intensity that you would not be surprised that he's a serious man. He takes the walkie talkie seriously.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, yeah, because you know, he was, I feel like it was around the holidays, I think he was in front of some, you know, huge Christmas trees on video. He was at his house and he, you know, had all of these kind of. I'm watching him, I'm watching him now on this video.

[Listener]

They're on a roof or something like that or they're outdoors.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I mean. You would know that looks like an AM radio to me.

[Listener]

I'm pretty sure it's a beef. I'm pretty sure it's a B52. So I was typing in the B52. I'm pretty sure it's a walkie talkie because, you know, you could make them squelch back in the day doing that at some point. But yeah, I think that that's the term for that. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. He was in front of this kind of over the top Christmas tree that had lots of sort of silly ornaments on it as a certain kind of, you might say, in the style of a kind of certain gay man, a certain John Waters type of approach to life. And then we were asking him about the ornaments. He was deadly serious about the like, yeah, this is a fake pork chop. And this had this for 20 years. You know, it's just like I was expecting him just to be Fred Schneidering, you know, right out of the place. And it was like, no, that's probably what makes the art interesting is that to him this is, you know, this is a serious undertake as you know, and he has every right to feel that way about it. I was just a bit surprised and.

[Listener]

You know, and again, I. I feel like this is a stupid conversation without being able to play the actual music, but. Are you familiar with a band? I'm going to tell you about the journey of how I ended up on planet Claire at 11:30 last night. Deleting Blue Sky.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sending the blue sky message that would change the shape of Friday's episode.

[Listener]

That's absolutely true.

[Andrew Walsh]

That I would be the only person who would see as I was walking from the couch to the bathroom. Because, Andrew, I'm not addicted to my phone. I don't need to look at Blue sky in the four steps between the couch and the bathroom where I'm then going to brush my teeth and go to bed. But that's what I was doing and I saw your blue sky pose.

[Listener]

Nice. Well, I'm glad that it had an audience of one before I deleted it for some reason. I guess that reason was just being insecurity or feeling like maybe the world isn't ready for this 1986 Truth 87. But this song came out in 79. Somebody might have mislabeled this or they did it. This is an 87. Anyway, sorry, I'll stop looking at YouTube now, but are you familiar with a band called Wire? It was like a punk and then kind of like post punk band from the late 70s, early 80s. I think they were British. I didn't know too much about them. I knew a lot of my friends liked them in college and the only thing I knew about them is they have a song that the. The band Elastica. Do you remember Elastica?

[Andrew Walsh]

I do remember Elastica, but it's mostly, I think because I think there might be a Girl Talk song where he mashes up Elastica with somebody because you.

[Listener]

Okay, well, here's the.

[Andrew Walsh]

So that's my way into Elastica.

[Listener]

So. Okay. Most people would probably know this. I'm going to. We might just get into a little bit of trouble here, but let's just try this. This is the Elastica song that a lot of people in our generation knew. This was a big, like, kind of Brit pop song in the 90s.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. This is the Dun, dun, dun. That's a terrible impression, this one.

[Listener]

Oh, I thought that's where it goes.

[Andrew Walsh]

All I can hear is the rapping that's going on over this song in the girl talk version.

[Listener]

Okay, so that's the Elastica song. I think I've probably done this before, but that song is basically. I still don't know if this was a legal dispute, if nobody cared enough. But this is the song by Wire that they basically just rip off.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, geez. Weirdly, they were sued by the estate of Marvin Gaye. Yeah, right. And lost.

[Listener]

Wow. Why did Sheeran get in trouble?

[Andrew Walsh]

I bet you've played this for me before, Andrew and the listeners. But I also bet that I've totally forgotten. And what I can tell you is I am shocked by that.

[Listener]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, that is like. I feel like some of these lawsuits are pretty dicey. If the Wire folks were to come after the. And again, peace and love to Elastica, but that just seems like a wholesale ripoff.

[Listener]

Yeah. And I. Here's my memory of it. I don't remember if there was litigation. I don't know how that. If they said it was an homage. If they like that band, Greta Van Fleet, if they just said, we've never heard of Wire before, I have no idea what end. All I know was that Elastica song, which I like, by the way. I still love that. So that is a jukebox jam for me. If I'm. If I'm rocking the. The. The. The jukebox somewhere. The Touch touching in on those Touch.

[Andrew Walsh]

Tunes, maybe messing with ami. If you're in a. If you're in a dicey neighborhood, maybe doing some ami.

[Listener]

I use Silk touch on the Touch tunes whenever possible. But anyway, so I like the Alaska song, but I remember in the 90s, like, my kind of cool indie rock friends being like, well, you know, that's old Wire.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's the Wire song.

[Listener]

And so I remember getting this album by Wire called Pink Flag. I think I had a copy of it or something in college, but I just never was able to get into it. And it's funny how Sometimes these things can literally take decades. Yesterday I was puttering around. Yes, Luke, and still installing my new audio board. Troubleshooting. I mean everything.

[Andrew Walsh]

Big Friday plans.

[Listener]

No, it is locked in. I mean, it is.

[Andrew Walsh]

We're not used, are we? Am I talking to you on your board? You're talking.

[Listener]

Yes. Everything is so clean, so fresh.

[Andrew Walsh]

Holy moly, Andrew.

[Listener]

I cannot believe how well everything went last night.

[Andrew Walsh]

I can't believe you've been keeping your light under a bushel for as I can tell. Oh, wait, I didn't start my timer today. However long we've been doing the show today. I can't believe this is just coming up 14 minutes.

[Listener]

Nine.

[Andrew Walsh]

14 minutes longer than I thought you'd be able to keep this sugar on the shelf.

[Listener]

No, it was. It was. I had to go back to the store a couple of times because I kind of as tearing up when I was tearing everything apart, I was realizing I had some small, like, sort of patching mistakes in my old setup too. So everything is just like locked in love. Now I'm feeling good. And I remember like, just like usually when you have something like this, there's always one little technical detail that dogs you. Like everything's working, except I'm still getting a little bit of whatever on this channel. Everything is locked in. I remember last night just being like, I, you know, took me maybe a couple of hours. I also took the opportunity to clean some things up in here. I had some like, kind of drawers with a bunch of like microphone cables and stuff. And it was getting worse and worse. So it's just like a day that I was just spending in my office installing all this stuff, cleaning up, and then revisiting this wire record that I never really gave the time of day before. And I listened to it probably three or four times in a row last night. And one of the song, even though it's a very different kind of sound, one of the songs near the end has a keyboard sound that is very much like the B52s. And I started to kind of rumor illuminating the fact that like this era of this late 70s, early 80s in different countries with a. With a sea keeping them apart, these bands were all sort of vibing off of some of the same sounds. And so that's why after listening to wires Pink Flag four times or so, I was like, well, let's maybe revisit those B52s. And then I put on Planet Claire, the first song. Here's the thing about Planet Claire. And then I'll stop. I really got to Stop. I'm sorry, I'm. I went from being too tired to too animated here to too wired to tired to wired.

[Andrew Walsh]

The Andrew Welch story.

[Listener]

But the thing about Planet Claire and I know we're not playing it here, but I need to talk about it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Everyone's picturing it in their mind though.

[Listener]

It is the first song off of the B52's first album, which I believe was 79. Might have been late 78, but I think it was 79. And when you think about this as a band introducing themselves, it is just amazing. Like, it's a four and a half minute song. It's their very first track on their very first record, four and a half minute song that begins with two and a half minutes of a groove. It's not like noisy, but it is a groove of just like keyboards and Kate Pearson and Cindy Wilson, like, making weird sounds with their mouth and Fred Schneider playing the walkie talkie. And I'm just like. And I was just. I couldn't get over the fact. I'm just like, that's how they said, we are here. Hello world. This is what you're in for. And I was just like, I don't know. I just sort of time traveling a little bit and just really feeling myself last night. And that's what led to that post. But then I immediately felt insecure. Re everything. Everything returned to the mean. I felt insecure. I deleted it and then woke up grumpy today.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I saw it and that's what matters. And we got to tell the listeners, I mean, again, all due respect to your Blue sky account, many more people will hear us talking about it here than would have seen your post on Blue sky, certainly.

[Listener]

So please Google that song.

[Andrew Walsh]

You have watched the finale of the White Lotus, right?

[Listener]

Yeah, I kind of want to talk about. Yeah, I do too.

[Andrew Walsh]

Are we within the range of time? I mean, not a lot of time has gone by. It's been less than a week. Right. Since it aired, it debuted or whatever you want to call it.

[Listener]

I think it was just Sunday.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. It was a mirror five days ago.

[Listener]

Yeah. I wouldn't just like this to answer your question. Seriously. I think it's kind of like perfect as everybody's been talking about it. I think we give right now a spoiler alert if you're behind on it. It's been, you know about. It's been five working days. And we are going to now talk about the White Lotus Season 3 in detail with spoilers.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was bobbing and weaving this whole week. My Problem was, as I mentioned the day I had a, like, I think 73 year old roommate who was not up on the White Lotus. And so I e. My dad was staying here and. And so I didn't want to take up an hour and a half of our TV watching time. I didn't want to go watch it on my laptop, like in my room or something. Like I was 16 year old, like I was locky or something. Not that he really does that in the show, but anyway, I. So I didn't get a chance to watch it till last night. And. But so throughout the week I kept seeing little things. Like I saw an article somewhere that was like, is the fruit of that tree really that poisonous? And I was like, ah, shit. Okay. Can I ask you about that poisoning someone?

[Listener]

But you knew that though, because they introduced that like in the first, I feel like, first half hour of the season. They're like, this is a poisonous fruit.

[Andrew Walsh]

Have we not established that? I am a very, very simple viewer of television and movies and I did not realize that was Chekhov's fruit. I did not. It did not occur to me at the time. It should have, but it did not occur to me at the time, like, oh, they're setting this up to be a thing. Later, like, I really didn't. I really didn't have that realization. And so I mean, what I. What I knew, which everybody knew who watched the first episode. And what my brain was really occupied with was what is the gunfire event that is speaking of Chekhov? What is the thing that kicks off the first episode, the end of the first episode, where we know that there are people and they're shooting at each other. We don't know who is doing it and why it's happening. And then you spend the whole season kind of trying to speculate as Becca and I were on, like, who it might be that is responsible for this at the end. So the poison thing had kind of escaped my mind, or I'd never really filed that away as like, oh, that's gonna come back.

[Listener]

But I did they sort of just like, what do they call it in, like magic? It was like they distracted you or.

[Andrew Walsh]

They, they did misdirection. Misdirection is they had me thinking about other things. But so. So I saw that though, and I was like, okay, well that. I mean, when I saw the headline, I was like, okay, that fruit. That's when I realized that, that that poisonous plant is coming back. And that immediately was like, well, that's related to that family. Because they were the ones who were told the thing was poison, but I was like, but I don't know. Is Locky gonna poison everyone? Is the, is. Is the mom gonna use it because she's out of her laraza pan? Is she gonna try to eat the fruit because her husband's been stealing her drugs? Like, and then going on Blue sky and posting about the B52s. That was, that was actually the part of that show that I found most interesting when the dad's posting and then deleting on Blue Sky. But anyway.

[Listener]

Well, it was weird that he was wearing that B52 shirt when he had that very dramatic scene with the handgun by himself.

[Andrew Walsh]

I heard they were mad about that. Have you heard that? Were you the one that told me that or did Becca tell me that?

[Listener]

I don't think I told you that, but I caught a little wind of that.

[Andrew Walsh]

The Duke University was pretty upset that the Jason Isaac's character, the dad, is wearing just Duke gear the whole show.

[Listener]

Well, what do you.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, I'm on that, by the way.

[Listener]

The rule is it's fine.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I don't think HBO Legal was not gonna like let that go if it was gonna be a problem.

[Listener]

But I don't want to get you. I am really interested in hearing your thoughts about this, but I saw another headline related to that yesterday, which is there, Is there what's a famous, like coffee creamer brand? Like a, like a very, like you would go to see it. You would see it in your grocery store.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's just like, oh, gosh. I don't. I know the. I can picture it, but because I don't buy it, I tend to. But I know what you're talking about. I mean, is it the stuff that shelf stable or is it refrigerated?

[Listener]

I think it's shelf stable. I'm looking at various brands now, but supposedly I think it's just Coffee Mate. I think it's Coffee. Coffee is what I'm looking at. I saw a headline that I believe a 10 posted that said Coffee Mate created a special white lotus coconut flavored Coffee Mate. That was literally. That was literally tied in and that now the brand is apparently posting. Well, this is awkward. I don't believe for a moment now. Have I read the article? No, that's okay. I have strong opinions. I don't believe for a moment that Coffee Mate didn't know what they were getting into there. I think because the poison implications of. Of the coconut. But I think Coffee Mate knew and they're like, ooh, this will Be good. We can pretend like we were edgy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, pretty edgy. But I'm with you on that. I guess. I didn't realize that was even happening. I've actually read less about that article than you have, but I have strong opinions from hearing you repeat the headline. So for folks that don't know, I'm not going to try to get super over explain this, but basically, you know, you've got this, this resort, the White Lotus. It's very soap operatic. Andrew, you really changed my entire thinking about soap operas with that comment. And I was thinking about it last night as I was watching it. And one of the families that's coming out to this resort for the week is this very, very wealthy family from North Carolina. And you've got this dad who's a, you know, prestigious businessman and you've got his kind of sort of loopy wife played by Parker Posey, who's got these three kids and she's low key, racist and high key drug addict. Actually, he appears to be more of a drug addict than her because he steals her. He steals her drugs early on in the week when he learns that he is about to be in a lot of legal trouble over his business dealings and is going to pretty much lose everything. So you get this weird kind of liminal state for this family where no one except him and the family knows that everything is about to go to shit when they get home.

[Listener]

I thought that was handled really well, by the way. Like you don't know the details of what he got into. You just hear his side of some very well, maybe sometimes you hear both sides, but you just hear limited conversation with him, you know, and some faceless voices that are freaking out on the other end of phone lines just sort of saying, we're in huge trouble here, we were just raided. But they never actually say what the business dealings were. I actually kind of really liked the way they did that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. Because then you're not into, as the viewer, you're not like into trying to solve it. Like, well, if it's embezzlement, but he can pay it back, it's just a MacGuffin, right? It's just, it's this ominous cloud of somethingness that's then driving him into a complete state the entire week where he goes from being presumably this like pretty with it, pretty active patriarch of this family to just a frigging zombie the whole week.

[Listener]

Because the guy who notably hates drugs, he refuses to try any of his wife's pills. At first he's like, I Do not take drugs. It's part of my personality.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I mean, honestly, this is not an interesting place at all to take this conversation, but I was really struck by. I wonder what it felt like for his family, like, that week. Forget the. You know, forget the. Whatever. The finale of the show, but just, like, what is it like to have a dad who is, again, presumably, like, totally in control of every situation? This is a guy who's made a bunch of money in his life, and I think his dad may have been like, the governor, Attorney general of North Carolina in the plot of the show. And, like, to have him go from being in charge of everything to just being like, a mumbling. Just a mumbling burnout the whole week because he's. He does not know what to do about this horrible. He's con. He. He considers killing himself, but then he misplaces the gun or the gun is taken away from him. So then he can't do that. And then at the end, he. That's what I thought was a pretty intense. And again, we're talking about, as they say on TikTok, unaliving here, people. So just be ready. Like, I thought it was a pretty intense plot to. It would. It never occurred to me was the idea that he would consider taking out his entire family. Like, I thought, this guy is someone who's hanging by a thread. He may take his own life. I did not see the part where he basically blends up four deadly pina coladas to give to his wife, who he clearly now decides in this moment he hates, because she says one of the more iconic lines, I believe, from the show, which is she says something to the. He's trying to float this idea with everyone in the family. Hey, what would it be like if we weren't rich when we got home? And he's getting a bad response from all of them. Pretty much.

[Listener]

Well, he's giving him kind of purity tests, right? Yeah. He's trying to figure out when his. You were about to say, his youngest son kind of says, like, no, I could live without money. That's the only right answer. So he tries to spare him from.

[Andrew Walsh]

The poison, doesn't want to kill him. So he's making him drink a Coca Cola while he's feeding the rest of them this poison pina colada that he's made or trying to. And there's this line where Parker Posey, his wife, says, like, I just think at my age, I'm not meant to. I'm not meant to be in discomfort or something to that effect which, you know, fail of the purity test. So I did not. I thought that was an interesting plot twist. I did not see that coming. That he would try to take out his whole family. He does not take out his whole family. He. At the last second, he sort of thinks better of it. But then, of course, the. The. There's another plot twist, which is the one kid that he's not trying to poison uses the blender the next day, which still has the poison in it and almost dies and doesn't. I guess that arc is Jason Isaac's character, the dad's character, is so distraught over what he thinks is the death of his son Lachlan. By the way, I think it's hilarious that their names are. Well, his name is Lachlan, which Lachlan Murdoch, I think is in line to take over the Murdoch family fortune. And I don't know if that's just a coincidence or Mike White was studying something about these weird dynastic rich families, but Lachlan's a very specific name to me. But anyway, it's like. Is that how you read that? That basically Jason Isaac's character, the dad's character, is so bereft when he thinks his son has died that when his son then turns out not to die, he kind of comes out of it, that he then sort of realizes, well, we can take on anything as a family. Like, that was his kind of getting up to the edge and then realizing, look, as long as my son is not dead, I can do anything. I can go to jail. We can lose the house. I don't care what happens, you know, because he is alive. Like, that was a perspective shift for him. Is that how you read that?

[Listener]

Well, that's an interesting point. I have a question for you. I feel like, yeah, maybe you are right. Although, what if the son hadn't used the blender the next day? For some reason, I thought the father's awakening was after he gives them the pina coladas and then has immediate regret and gets them all to stop drinking the poisoned pina coladas. They don't drink enough. I still wonder, like, well, if one glass of that is enough to kill them, wouldn't a little bit be enough to make them sick? Like, there's something about. There's again, very soap opera y. It's like, all or nothing. It's poison. It's very. It's very, like, Shakespearean, right? Like, you took the poison. It's all or nothing. It's not like, well, I took it and I kind of got sick. Anyway, point is, what do you think would have happened if the boy hadn't done that the next day and accidentally poisoned himself? Wouldn't the father have already sort of had that realization the night before that, like, the only way out of this is just through the. You know, the only way out is.

[Andrew Walsh]

Through, essentially, I think the night before. I think when they're all standing around about to drink these poison pina coladas, and then Jason Isaac stops it. The. The dad who's poisoned it, stops it. I clearly don't know the name of his characters. I have to keep using his real name and then clarifying who the actor is. Apologize.

[Listener]

Yeah, but, like.

[Andrew Walsh]

But, like. Anyway, Timothy.

[Listener]

Timothy, Tim.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, going forward in this contract, this Jason Isaac will be referred to as parenthetically Tim. Yes. Like, I think. I don't. I think Tim was, like, still on Lorazepan, probably just drunk and disheveled and just lost his nerve. The nerve to kill his family. On the night of the. Of the attempted poisoning. I read it to be.

[Listener]

He just.

[Andrew Walsh]

He just literally got cold feet, but not through any kind of, like, moral clarity. Just in, like, I can't do this. And then the next morning, maybe he's feeling differently. And then. I mean, honestly, I think it would have been a more interesting thing if Lachlan just died. Like, not to be mean to the kid, but, like, that would have been an edgier ending because he was. Other than maybe a couple of odd behaviors during the course of the week that we could talk about, you know, off air. Like, he seemed like a pretty innocent character on the show. Like, and the idea that, like, the one, you know, the most innocent character in that family, it would seem. I don't know. I guess the. I don't see his sister as a bad person. She just was a little bit less about that Buddhist life than she hoped she would.

[Listener]

Yeah, that. That was really frustrating for me.

[Andrew Walsh]

That was a bummer because she's set up as this, like, you know, the one moral person in the family was.

[Listener]

Just done so poorly. I feel like I was doing a little. Not much reading. I was just doing a little bit of reading, maybe on Reddit or something. And it sounds like a big part of her, a part of her, like, sort of reversal on that. That character development might have been cut out. Like, I think that there might have been.

[Andrew Walsh]

That would make sense because it's just.

[Listener]

Like, she's sitting there, like, we have no indication the whole. And there's something about storytelling where you can surprise the viewer or the reader or whatever it is. But if you're doing so and it makes no sense or you're withholding information, it's like, that's not really storytelling. That's just like, gotcha. And, like, we had no indication that she was starting to change her mind or having any questions. The only thing we knew is her little brother wanted to tag along on her Buddhist journey. And so maybe that turned her off a little bit, but that didn't make sense where suddenly she's at the dinner table and she's saying, I don't like that lifestyle. They're too poor, essentially, is what she's saying. And honestly, I think that that actor did a really good job of acting. I have no complaints throughout the entire season. Except for that moment, her acting was so bad, I thought that she was lying to her parents. I thought she was pretending like she cared about the poverty issue just to get out of going because she didn't want Lachlan to tag along. But no, apparently that's really the thing. She just went from, yeah, I'm really interested in Buddhism, which, again, kids that age, they experiment. They're pre. She's super privileged. But it was just so hamfish fisted. I felt like was suddenly, it's kind of like, I don't want that life anymore. Now a shot of her and her mom, like, buying a expensive dress that is not like the style she's been wearing the whole time. It's just like this just incredible character turn. Just like that. You're like, all right, okay, fine.

[Andrew Walsh]

Another place where they did that where either they cut something out or they just need. They needed like two minutes of. Of the. Of the show to do way too much lifting was when the. I'm just gonna call him the Uncle Rico character because he played Uncle Rico in Napoleon Diamond. John Grace. I think Greg.

[Listener]

I think his name is Greg.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Listener]

They're in the shows. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

So, you know, there's this moment where they want to. For whatever reason, they want to create a situation where this guy Greg, who's this, like, he's this super wealthy guy who probably got all his wealth from the killing of his wife, who was herself an heiress played by Jennifer Coolidge in the previous season. So she dies this very untimely death, and somehow all her money goes to this kind of rando dude that she was with very briefly. That's Greg. Now. He's got this very attractive, much younger, kind of, I don't know, wife, concubine, something going on. And she approaches Patrick Schwarzenegger's. Character, AKA Saxon, and basically says, my husband Greg would like to watch us having sex. Like that's his thing.

[Listener]

Which is fine, but on the kiss cam.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. And so I'm Arnold Schwarzenegger's son and I'm sitting next to your wife at the game. But the thing is like, none of this had been introduced as a plot line about this Greg character up to this point. And so what they had to try to do was have her character explain the entire cuckold phenomenon in like 1 0.5 minutes. Like he's really jealous about me cheating on him. But then one day he learned that that was actually a turn on. And now what he wants to do is watch me with other people. Like, it was a very almost like clinical bit of exposition to try to like explain very quickly the phenomenon of certain kind of people that are aroused by watching their partner have sex with somebody else. Again, fine, if that's your thing. But it seemed like something that they hadn't really. They hadn't set it up as a deal in the there. In the relationship of these two people or anything. We don't know much about Greg. And it just felt like they wanted to create a moment where the Patrick Schwarzenegger character where Saxon did something that we found to be quote, unquote, morally more normal. It's the only time where he's actually like turned down some sort of a potential sexual thing or whatever. He's like, I don't want to really do that. I feel like they were trying to do something with his character and they needed to have him do something that was affirmative about like him having some sense of a moral framework, I guess you would call it. But in order to do that, they had to like create a created of whole cloth. The fact that Uncle Rico really gets off on watching his lady and another guy. And they'd explain cuckolding in way too short of an amount of time. And two, like, it was like Dr. Pepper Schwartz from the UW, you know, like clinic on sexual behaviors. Like explaining what that. What that sort of sexual, you know, I guess you would call it appeal is or something. It just felt like real shoehorned in. Anyway, point is, I do the one.

[Listener]

Thing that sort of. It didn't seem. You are right that the exposition there was shocking. Although when. What's her name? The. The Rick's girlfriend with the. With. With the. The big smile. I can't remember her name. She's just the star of the season. Oh my God, she's so good.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think she's the breakout of the show.

[Listener]

So, so good. And at some point, like, while she's describing her husband's or her partner's, you know, sexual fetish or whatever you want to call that, she's describing how, like, how these habits dogged him growing up or something. And she's like, everybody turned against him. She's like, yeah, they would. Like, she's always got this sort of like, very. Like, she speaks for the audience sort of. Her name is Chelsea, by the way. She speaks for the audience in this very plain spoken way. But I was going to say Rick's background. Remember the end of season, by the way. I want to be very. Oh, sorry. Greg's background. Not to conflate, like, homosexuality with the desire of cuckolding. Very different things there. But we do know that he has a past of bisexuality that he hung out with because he. Remember, like, on the. On the boat bacchanal, Jennifer Coolidge sees, you know, the photo of him with his past boyfriend or husband or partner, and, like, and the whole thing is he hung out with what they. She called the gays, which was very.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bacchanal that he was connected to that group.

[Listener]

So there's definitely an open sexuality surrounding Greg, certainly. So I would just put it in the. That. But you are right, like, that was. That was one of several scenes where it's just kind of like. Well, also, the. The very famous. What's the very famous monologue by. Oh, my goodness. It was like the scene of the entire season from about two episodes ago. Walton Goggins, buddy that he meets up with, who is Sam Rockwell's back. You know, his sexual backstory, too, that he tells in an uninterrupted monologue that everybody was quoting.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that.

[Listener]

You're right.

[Andrew Walsh]

That was definitely. That was a. That was an episode stealer.

[Listener]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sam Rockwell is great, by the way.

[Listener]

So good.

[Andrew Walsh]

Absolutely love Sam Rockwell. So what I will give this show credit for is there was two. Really. There were two things that I did not see coming. I didn't see the trying to poison the entire family thing. And the end. I will say I was genuinely shocked by the fact that the Rick character played by Walton Goggins, who's. He's this just kind of like very, very sort of like. I guess you could say he's extremely caught up in his emotions the whole week because he's traveled to this very posh resort to confront the owner of the resort who he believes has killed his father. Years ago, when his father was working in some sort of, like, you know, relief work in Thailand. And this guy who now owns this resort killed him because his father was standing up for the locals in some way. So he has come to confront this guy, and he is. I don't want to say depressed, because I don't know what his emotional state is. I can't diagnose him. Andrew, that's the.

[Listener]

No, that'd be irresponsible in this conversation.

[Andrew Walsh]

Highly irresponsible. But his character is just locked up. He just has no joy for life. He's just really, really super duper overwhelmed by how he feels about the fact that this guy killed his dad. And we are led to believe that he has sort of gotten some relief by confronting the guy and calling him some names. And. And. And there's this very sweet moment with him, and. Did you say it's Chelsea?

[Listener]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, where. Where it looks like maybe they're gonna ride off into the sunset together, sort of happily ever after. But then, of course, he sees the guy again, and he goes up and he shoots him. And the guy's wife says, why did you do this? And he says, because he killed my father. And she says, he is your father. I did not see that coming. Did you totally see that coming?

[Listener]

I don't know if. You know, I think Genevieve predicted that, like, in the episode where they meet. And so I feel like that idea was already in my head. But I don't want to take credit for the idea. I think I read it somewhere, or Genevieve might have said while we were watching the previous episode, oh, he probably is his father.

[Andrew Walsh]

See, I'm just such a numbskull. Also, I'm watching this in a vacuum. I'm here at my house. It's just me. And I was gonna say, what even is here? I don't know my Livewire books. So I have. I'm not able to bounce this off of other people in real time and get some good theories like that. Like, that had never occurred to me that. That. That he would. But then as soon as that happened, I was like, well, hey, they actually kind of look.

[Listener]

Yeah. When you look at their. Yeah. Their build in there.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I'm surprised that that that didn't immediately, you know, kind of, I don't know, pique my interest or whatever. Also that I didn't remember that I looked that actor up. That's Scott Glenn.

[Listener]

I only know him from the Leftovers, but. What do you know him from?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, he was in Backdraft. He was in. He was like. He was. He was kind of this like sinewy West Texas no nonsense dude in like, he was in like the Hunt for Red October or one of those submarine movies. He was in a lot of stuff where he was just like a. A guy with a. With a graying flat top who was. No nonsense. He was just in a bunch of stuff in, in, you know, my growing up years in the 80s and I had totally forgotten about him. I was like, why does this guy look familiar to me? But yeah, they bear a physical resemblance to each other as, you know, characters like, oh, yeah, of course, that could have been his father. And I do think that's a good plot twist because there's this moment where Walton Goggins, when he's confronting him, the. The guy who he thinks killed his father says some really derogatory stuff about Walton Goggins is about Rick's mother. You know, I knew she was drunk, but I didn't know she was a liar. And. And again, it really got me because I was like, man, this guy's disrespecting his mom, which he still is disrespecting her, regardless of the fact that he's his biological father and still disrespectful. But it was, it really put me off the scent and I was genuine. I was like, oh, when that happened, I was genuinely shocked.

[Listener]

I. So a lot of people were saying throughout the series or throughout the season, I should say people were saying this is the worst season of the show. I was by that. I was really surprised by that too, because people kept saying the pacing is so slow. And I guess Mike White even addressed that. People keep saying like to him. I heard him on a podcast saying, people keep saying to me that, like, you know, nothing's going on. And like, why did you make this so long? He's like, come on, people, I'm. I'm building. I'm world building here or whatever like that. The thing is, my relationship with the show is I go in with pretty low expectations aft like season one, I treated it like prestige Television. Season two, I treated it that way. And then I really thought the ending was so over the top, so, so pop radic. Like I've been saying that it lowered my expectations for the season so much that, like, for me, this whole season was a vibe I never felt like, oh, hurry up. I love just being on this location. I guess people were complaining about, like, get rid of these establishing shots of the beautiful waves. I think I heard Levitard was saying this too. I'm like, oh, geez, Geez Louise. This is why I'm here, my dudes. Like, yeah, and that was sort of. It goes back to the severance conversation, too. I think people really want the plot. Advance plot advancement, which is of course important, but for me, the plot is not everything. You know what I mean? Like, let's continue to create mood. Let's go slowly here. And so anyway, I didn't have many problems with this season. I did think the season finale was just so ridiculous as far as really believability. Like, you just had. You had five people shot. Like, literally, you just had a mass shooting on this. And later that afternoon, everybody involved is just leaving on the same tourist boat waving like.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, that's a good point. There would have been a police investigation, but I would point out that everybody involved in the shooting was dead.

[Listener]

Well, not the driver. I mean, not the security guard driver who shoots Goggins in the back. Like, he's just. Well, no, but he wasn't upgrade to.

[Andrew Walsh]

Was he on the boat with them, though?

[Listener]

No, but he's just. He's just now driving around the. I mean, and again, he did that in the line of duty. It just. You. I mean, listen, I don't want to talk you out of liking the ending if you liked it, but to me, it was just kind of like literally that afternoon, Like, I mean, and all on the same boat. Like, it was just like it had. They didn't even try to make it seem like, well, this is going to be a messy international affair for a while right now.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's. That's a very good point. Here was my take on how things wrapped up. Basically, what happened was it was very sad that Chelsea died because she was just absolutely the most pure human being you could ever imagine and just sweetness and light and shouldn't have anything bad happen. So that really sucked. Rick, more complicated character. Still kind of a bummer he died, but he also killed someone. I was very much pro. Those two jerk security guards getting killed. I had no love for them. And. And I was glad that the security guard who's in love with the woman who's also apparently the world's largest pop star in the band Blackpink in real life.

[Listener]

Oh, yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

She's like one of the world's best. I thought she was great.

[Listener]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

But, you know, he gets his promotion and so he now is. Because the security guards have been killed. He's like driving. By the way, I don't want to get locked up on this one, because I totally agree with you. There's. They should have been. They should have been there for a lot longer. Just debriefing on this. I took. When he's driving the woman around, I took that to be like, the woman who owns a thing. I took that to be like, months later. I don't know why, but she just. The look on the face of the woman. She didn't seem traumatized anymore. Yeah, yeah, I took that to be like a flash forward, but whatever.

[Listener]

Regardless, that makes total.

[Andrew Walsh]

Total What I took it to be was. This was. Other than the death of Chelsea and Rick, this was very much a happy ending. And I felt like I was ready for that because of maybe my emotional state these days. And by that, I just mean the bad. Generally speaking, the bad people got their comeuppance again. Those kind of, like, mean security guards. They're out of the picture. The guy now has his promotion so he can have this relationship with his. This girl he loves. The. I mean, I don't know if you called a good outcome for the rich family from North Carolina, but, like, no one's dead. And there was one other thing. I feel like that was a kind of somebody. Well, the other thing. So I get again, the woman and her son, and they get the $5 million and they're off in the boat, off to their happiness. The woman who had been at the. At the White Lotus in Belinda.

[Listener]

Belinda is her name.

[Andrew Walsh]

Belinda, who was in season one. That was in Italy. Was she in one?

[Listener]

She was in season one in Hawaii, I think.

[Andrew Walsh]

I see.

[Listener]

So.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, got it. And so then the Jennifer Coolidge character carried over to season two and then was eliminated. And then, I mean, her and her son getting. Getting their lives changed and them. Nothing bad happening to them and them leaving in the speedboat as Billy Preston's. Nothing from nothing means nothing. So I felt like a lot of the good people, a lot of people we like, got good outcomes, and it could have been edgier. They could have killed Lachlan. They could have made something bad happen to Belinda and her son, like, but they didn't. And I was sort of okay with that because I just. I basically, in the words of. Of Paul Giamatti, star of White Lotus Season 4, I could really use a win here.

[Listener]

Yeah, that's. For me, this whole thing was kind of about mood. Like I said, I didn't want to take it too seriously. And so therefore, I think I enjoyed it more. I did think the. Let me put it this way. Last Sunday, Viv said to me, oh, there's another. Oh, Tonight's the last White Lotus. And I'm like, oh, that's right. We didn't finish that, like, because I was so just happy to vibe along with the show that I had sort of forgotten that, like. Oh, yeah, we haven't wrapped anything up. In fact, last episode was a cliffhanger, you know, like, so I just didn't. I don't want to nitpick this thing to death, but when people who did love this show are saying, like, that last episode was so. It's getting so much flack for just, like, not making any sense and everything. I'm not too worked up about it. But you know what? I am worked up about Luke. And this is so ridiculous. This is Vivian. I even got into it a little bit. We actually had to rewind the show because I just. You know how, like, by the way, you like the movie Rounders, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I made a Teddy KGB joke this week.

[Listener]

Yesterday, I think.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, which. Which. Which sounded a little bit on the snarky side, I think. I. Let me put it this way. I loved Rounders when it came out, in the same way that I loved the movie Swingers. When it came out, it was a moment in time for me, Rounders, where I was playing a lot of poker. I was very intrigued by the whole community and world. It was very. It was. The movie was very much for me at the time. If I were to watch it now, I probably would think it's a little corny, a little predictable, a little whatever. But at the time that it came out, I thought it was very good.

[Listener]

The reason I ask is because when you brought that up, I thought, oh, that's funny that you like Rounders. They must do gambling well, because you are very keyed into when things seem fake, and it's something that you know a lot about. I'm blanking on the name of that Jennifer Lawrence movie, Silver Linings. Silver Linings Playbook, which had sports betting in it. And it was so. It was so fake seeming to you that it took you out of the whole movie, whereas you mentioned Rounder. So I thought yesterday, oh, you rounders must get something right.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think the poker checks out on Rounder.

[Listener]

Yeah. You know, so anyway, the reason I bring all of that up is there was something that lacked so much verisimilitude in this, and it's not that big of a deal, but it's driving me crazy. It's when Belinda decides that she is going to take Greg's money, and she says to her son, or maybe her son Says to her, he transferred the $5 million into my bank account. Now, Greg is a very rich man. He probably has all kinds of accounts and accountants and lawyers who can maybe move $5 million like that. Belinda is a middle class woman, is the male carrier there. So you wave in there.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was doing that off air, but okay.

[Listener]

No, it's great.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm listening.

[Listener]

No, no, no, I think it's nice. I like her. I think she's becoming a character on the show.

[Andrew Walsh]

Honestly. I heard the sound of the tires of the mail truck pulling into my driveway, and then I spent the next 1.3 minutes bracing for somebody to appear in the glass when I'm not ready for it. It literally terrifies me.

[Listener]

I want to get her on the show. I think that she'll be a good guest at some point. But anyway, so let me put it this way. Well, I was starting to say, I guess Belinda is, you know, she's like. She's probably a middle, let's say middle class woman who's working in Hawaii or whatever. She does not have. She probably has a Bank of America account or a Becu account or whatever, you know, probably not in Hawaii. But my point is, you and I and business boy in chief John Sklaroff have at the end of our fiscal years, had to move money around a little bit from like our business account, other accounts. We know there are so many strictures in place. And let me tell you this. We were not moving 5 mil. We were not moving anywhere near $5 million. And we had.

[Andrew Walsh]

Think more. $5.

[Listener]

Yes. And transferring it from ourselves to ourselves, we had to do it in these little bite sized chunks because there are all kinds of little triggers in the system. The banks have them, the government has them. Or when we had a government like you just. I just don't think Greg could just open up his phone and just plop $5 million into Belinda's bank of America account. It lacks so much just truthiness to me. It's driving me. You couldn't have just like put one line in there, like, about how he's got people who knows what they're doing? Because that's not how this works. That's not how any of this works. I guarantee you. I cannot just train, I cannot just easily wire you $5 million without even, you like, signing off on it? Because I think she just finds it in her account or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

She does. And I remember because she's looking at it on her laptop, her account, which they're doing so that we can see the like we can see a screenshot of her laptop or whatever, and literally it's like, you know, normal amounts of money underneath it in her. Like, I guess it's probably her deposits or something.

[Listener]

I didn't even notice this.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then it says her account's like $5 million and change or whatever. Whatever was already in the account. And then above that, it just says like, $5 million direct deposit or something. Like. Like they were trying to kind of. Of give us a little bit of, you know, I don't know, realism around this, but you're absolutely right. One line from like, I will have, you know. You know. You know, or even you could just have had Greg's character say, because, you know, the sun's like, we want $5 million. And you could have Greg's character say, I. I can't even transfer that kind of money to you. And then the kid could say. I say, the kid, you know, he's a thing. Zion could say, as a graduate from the University of Hawaii Business school could say, like, something to the effect. He could say, well, I know you have people that can do that. You could just, like you said, solve that problem where he could be like, well, you could have just written a line that would have somehow explained a different kind of money transfer.

[Listener]

Yeah. Here.

[Andrew Walsh]

That.

[Listener]

Here's. Here's a password, if you want. Here's the log into an account with $5 million. You know what I mean? Like, just, like, somehow, like. Just like that might not even be realistic either, but it's outside of my realm of understanding. So it's like, okay, sure, like, maybe. And that gets the ball rolling. But just this idea that while she's away from the States, in Thailand or.

[Andrew Walsh]

Taiwan, that's another thing I like. You like the.

[Listener]

The Victoria's. Like, your phone is like, Taiwan.

[Andrew Walsh]

Your phone is like, okay, you're in Thailand and you're getting $5 million transferred into your account. Like, are there any red flags around?

[Listener]

Exactly. Like, I mean, honestly, we live in a world where in, you know, the. The banks track us enough to know that if suddenly there is a. There's some sort of activity happening in Thailand with my account, and there's no record of me flying there. Like, it'll raise red flags. Right? We've all seen that before. I think actually, you probably. I'm assuming you kind of don't like it. But I think it's interesting the way, like, banks will flag stuff as, like. Well, this is weird. You don't usually spend money on a 711 in Thailand, do they? Have them there. But if you've gone through the process of buying tickets on an airline and you know, doing other things that are travel related, the banks won't flag it because it's part of a pattern of travel. But anyway, I just, we spent too much time on it. It just drove me bananas that you can't.

[Andrew Walsh]

Genevieve's pushback on it.

[Listener]

She said, yes, you can. She said, I don't know, he's got guys. Guys. I'm like, he can have guys, but she doesn't. And it's just like we know it's her bank account. It's established that it's just her regular bank account. And I'm telling you, just like what? You know, they all have spent, you know, like whatever it is. It's like the, the, the bank of America Super Saver investment account or whatever. They give them all names.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're not going to hear the end of them trying to get her to move that into a cd.

[Listener]

That's exactly right. That's why. What is it? Her checking account. Come on.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, here's, here's what I'll say. I do think Uncle Rico's guys could get the money into the account, but it would be hardcore frozen for a long ass time.

[Listener]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Because what the bank doesn't want to do, her bank, Belinda's bank, the bank of Belinda. And by the way, this is. This, you're right. This is the kind of stuff that makes me mad because I don't mean to get on this hobby horse again. But like whenever a bank is flagging something that I'm. Here's what I have not yet had happen, I'm going to knock wood because I hope it doesn't. I hope I'm not in this spot. I can't remember a time where my bank has flagged activity on my account that was not me. In other words, I have not have it be the case where somebody gets my account number or my identity or my bank card and does something and the bank catches it.

[Listener]

Oh really? Oh wow. That happens to us a lot.

[Andrew Walsh]

Really?

[Listener]

Oh yeah. Genevieve about a month or two ago was just like she would call the bank and. Yeah, and I just had it happen about a half a year ago. I think I talked about on the show like somebody had gotten my card number in some way and was buying like Dazone subscriptions and all these things. I had to go through a banker. I had to like kind of go through item by item with me. Like was this.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I just needed to get that. Sweet.

[Listener]

Sweet, right, Exactly. Well, you had that Dana White T shirt on the next day.

[Andrew Walsh]

How's the dead giveaway?

[Listener]

It was questioning that.

[Andrew Walsh]

So anyway, again I'm very fortunate and I'm sure I have just jinxed this into absolute oblivion. I'm sure that the rest of my life will be trying to whack a mole down erroneous charges. But so far, as far as I remember, I haven't had a lot of that in my life. What I have had is trying to use, I was trying to pay somebody the other day that I was retaining for some help on some financial stuff and they were trying to process the payment and they said we can't process the payment, it's been denied. And I had to go and tell my bank, yes, I'm actually trying to pay this person some money for this sort of financial planning stuff. And so I, in my experience, I find that my bank is much is usually flagging stuff because and this is again, this is the thing that I always say and I'm not, it's kind of annoying from me. But anyway, it's that in my experience the reason that the bank is so concerned about, about charges on, on, on my account is because they don't want to get, they don't want to pay out charges that they are then on the hook to pay because of the fdic, because of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. You know, when your money is in a checking account and somebody steals your card and starts buying stuff, you're not responsible for that money. The bank is or the insurance the bank carries is. And so it does bother me that they frame it as we're looking out for you. Now granted it would suck to have all your money gone from your account and have to pick through that so there is a benefit to you. But and also I would say this tracks with the fact that I spend a lot less time in casinos these days trying to get out money late at night that the bank thinks my card is stolen. A lot of this probably tracks about lifestyle choices for me. Like I'm not, I'm not on the phone with the bank nearly as much anymore going, it's me, give me my money. JG Wentworthing them.

[Listener]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

So, so maybe I'm low keying on this but again, whenever, whenever an institution tells me that they're doing something for my benefit, but I can see how it feels to me like it benefits them, I get a little, as you say, tetchy.

[Listener]

But can I share a couple of things with you about White Lotus? So I must be follow either I'm following the White Lotus account on Reddit or the subreddit, or it just keeps on feeding it to me because I keep interacting with it when it shows up. But that's not the important part. The important part is somebody posted this a few days ago. Mike White was telling us the whole time. And it's a slideshow of about, I think four slides with quotes from Chelsea, you know, Rick's girlfriend. And the first one is her saying, I'm going to help you get your joy back, even if it kills me. And then another time over breakfast. Things happen in threes. One, the robbery. Two, the Snake Show. This could be Final Destination. Shit like death is coming for me. Another one, she says something really bad's gonna happen. Rick's a hothead, he's mental, he's getting into fights, but I'm always there to calm him down. And then the final one is basically her saying we have to embrace your fate, good or bad, whatever it will be, because our fates are tied together. Or something along the lines of that I'm sort of starting to paraphrase.

[Andrew Walsh]

And did you notice where that was really ringing in my head when I was watching the final scene? Did you. I don't know if this means anything, but did you notice where the entry wound was for her? It was literally right over her heart.

[Listener]

Oh, you know that you say that I can.

[Andrew Walsh]

The way the blood was dripping was almost just like a heart shaped, you know, I don't know that I might be over analyzed.

[Listener]

No, I don't think you are.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I think the, you know, and I have to say like again this is, you know, it was a pretty. In certain ways there's a hyper violent ending to this, this season but like it was also very beautiful in the final shot of them in the water. And this sort of almost beatific look on Walt Goggins character's face and how she's face down, he's face up. Like there was. I really appreciated the visuals of the season. Like you said, a lot of the water stuff, the sort of jungle stuff, the fact that it was there was just a lot of like very beautiful, kind of interstitial kind of almost emotional stuff that was going on just through the visuals. I really, really enjoyed that as well.

[Listener]

I'm starting to wonder if there will be a season four. I feel like this season started to get some backlash not just from what was on the screen, but did you see that New York Times piece? I think they sort of stumbled on this story that they were just sitting down to do an interview with the composer who made the famous music for this. But then he just starts opening up about how he's quitting the show because he wasn't respected by Mike White and his original.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then Mike White went on Howard Stern and called that a bitch move.

[Listener]

I knew that Mike White was going on a lot of, like, podcasts and stuff. I didn't know he did that on Stern. But, yeah, like, I just. And then some other people are just, like, really criticizing various aspects of this to the point where I could see Mike. I mean, I'm sure this thing is. Well, I don't know how the business of these things work, honestly. I don't know what is a cash cow for HBO or Max these days. I mean, this definitely, when you have a show that captures the public imagination and discourse like this, maybe you keep that thing rolling. But I sort of feel like this season, it could just feel like next season. There's so much baggage with even Mike White going into this that maybe, like, he just tries something else. I'm just. I'm kind of curious if there will be a season four. It sort of seems like if he wanted to step off this and do something new, this season might be the. A decent coda.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, I really enjoyed it. I don't know what the. What the haters and the losers were. Were chirping about, but if this is the last one, I'd be fine with that. Just because I'd like to go out. Because here's my prediction. If they do a fourth, it probably won't be good.

[Listener]

Yeah, I think that it'll probably continue this trend. And a lot of people didn't like this one. Yeah, but.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I mean, I was. I was here for this. Now I have to get to take my medicine. I have to go back to Severance Andrew, because I.

[Listener]

Did you not watch the final?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I haven't watched. I've been. I've been. You know, again, I've been watching a lot of. Well, here's the irony. My dad had us watching some British show from 10, 15 years ago that stars guess who? The Tim from White Lotus. Oh, it's not a bad show. He's like a former detective who's now a private investigator, and he's going around, forget what English town.

[Listener]

So is he a British actor? You keep saying his name. I was not familiar with Jason Isaacs.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, he was in Harry Potter. He was Draco Malfoy's dad in Harry Potter. He played Becca. And I have this inside joke about him. Because when we were staying in New York, I don't know, some time ago, we were in Times Square. And, you know, Times Square has those like crazy jumbotrons everywhere. And sometimes they'll just be one of those jumbotrons that some company has decided to just buy out for their advertising. And I forget which TV network it was, but there was a. There was a TV show that was about the life of Cary Grant, the actor, Cary Grant. And I think Cary Grant's real name was Archie something, Archibald something. And so there was a show, I think it was called Archie. And it just was this three second loop of a guy playing Cary Grant who's falling backwards into a swimming pool.

[Listener]

Oh, yeah, I remember you telling me about that while you were.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it was just over and over. And we would always joke, we'd be like, I wonder what, you know, like, I wonder what that show's about. Or like, hey, do you want to watch that show where the guy falls into the swimming pool or something? Like for a week all we saw was the dude falling backwards into the swimming pool. That's also Jason Isaacs playing Cary Grant. So he's been kind of bouncing around the periphery of my brain. But. But all that is to say, no, I've not watched Severance, though. The last. What is it? Well, you don't know when I stopped watching, but basically I think. What, what, what was the Easter Sounds?

[Listener]

Was it Salt Snack? Was that the last one?

[Andrew Walsh]

I think Salt's Neck might have been the last one that I watched.

[Listener]

Two more than maybe, maybe three, but I think two.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I'm going back to it. I'm going back to it. But I will say that I think what I've learned about myself is I'm a white orchid girly. I think. I think. I think Severance is. Maybe Severance is above my brain's pay grade, but I am going to watch it because I want to see the rest of it. But I was loving the White Lotus. That is intellectually where I'm at, Andrew, if you need to know.

[Listener]

I'm worried about. Let's see here. Oh, Sweet Vitriol was the name of the episode because Sweet Vitriol is apparently a nickname for Aether. Did you know that?

[Andrew Walsh]

No.

[Listener]

Yes. The recap podcast I was listening to was explaining the name of that episode of Sweet Vitriol because that was what ether was called at one point. So you only have two more episodes after that. Salt Snack 1. I'm a little bit worried about that. This is going to Sound insulting, but knowing that you were struggling somewhat with the other one and the details that you've now taken a month or like two or three weeks off makes me a little bit nervous about that.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think what is going to help me is I started reading this New York magazine recap of each episode. So it's clarified some things for me.

[Listener]

And then also is that Vulture, I always get that confused. But Vulture is a good recap.

[Andrew Walsh]

So maybe it's Vulture.

[Listener]

I don't know. I was just.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, no. But I probably is. And so I started bringing some supplementary material in. And then also I have. And this is going to sound like a diss. I just now have really low expectations for the final two episodes. Like I don't expect to understand anything. I expect it just to be Brienne of Tarth just riding a goat around in a room and me being like, what? So going in with that expectation probably helps me because I, you know, if I'm. If I'm flummoxed by the whole thing, that will, that will be the outcome that I'm expecting. And if it's anything north of that, that'll just be pleasant. And again, I like the characters, I'm interested in the plot. I just find myself confused by. By a lot of it. But. But I am going to watch it. Maybe even this weekend. I might have big weekend plans. Andrew. Of getting a. Getting a, A big. Well, no, I'm flying to San Francisco on Sunday night. My big weekend plans just got canceled. Andrew. I was thinking that I could maybe do some lawn stuff on Sunday. Have a nice day of listening to the Mariners and get in the lawn ship shape and then spend a nice evening watching Severance.

[Listener]

Would you binge the last two? Because I think the last one was long. Was that when I would.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, but then I forgot. I'm actually going to be on an airplane Sunday night. So I don't know what. I'll figure it out. I can maybe watch it on Saturday night. I do want to catch up on it though.

[Listener]

And this isn't. I just will swell this. This is an interesting question. I think, although we really should probably move on. This was a long opening segment.

[Andrew Walsh]

I would say.

[Listener]

Would you not watch it on the plane because you still hold Severin sort of in like a. Well, this is an at home watch or maybe even in a hotel room. But like you're not gonna watch that on a plane because you want one.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't really know how to download things to my comp for watching on the plane. I Like I think with Netflix you need, it needs to be the app which I think only works on my phone.

[Listener]

And also this thing isn't hbo, isn't Severance. Apple. Apple.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I don't know what the rules are on Apple. I am Andrew at. You know, as a, as a 48 year old person and a person who's, you know, I'm not a digital native, but I've been, I've been through it with the technology. I am really, really foggy on how to get content onto my devices for the airplane because I feel like, like, you know, it's. I don't know, I've always got the wrong setup or something. And then also, yes, I think I would like to watch it in the at home environment. So maybe, maybe Saturday night I can, I can watch some Severance and, and then we can talk about it on Monday potentially. So we was hoping for some razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle dazzle. On your mark. On your mark. Get set, get set now.

[Listener]

Ready?

[Andrew Walsh]

Ready. Go. Everybody razzle. All right, let's thank some dazzling donors. These folks are donating a dazzling amount of dough. It is the only way that TBTL is possible. And look who it is, Andrew. It's our pal Mark Bourne.

[Listener]

How do you pronounce Mark?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, Mark says it rhymes with FARC and I. I assume he's talking about the paramilitary group in Colombia.

[Listener]

The fact that it's spelled in all caps makes me think that as well.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then Bourne, like the identity Mark Bourne.

[Listener]

Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

Who's out in Westchester. Pennsy days. Mark's been all over. Mark says what seems like yesterday and a lifetime ago. I drove through drizzly northwest nights delivering produce and catching snippets of a curious AM radio show that I completely fell in love with. It seemed indeed too beautiful to live. Oh, Mark. What a nice way to describe the early days of tbtl. I'm glad, I'm glad that we found you.

[Listener]

You didn't pre read this? The next line says he was talking about coast to coast.

[Andrew Walsh]

Uh huh. God, I'm so, so invested in that biopic being made with Paul Giamatti as Art Bell. A lot of you know, there's a lot of projects that get greenlit and then they run out of funding or they just don't, for whatever reason, come to fruition. That's one I really need to see come to fruition.

[Listener]

I worry about that for you though, because of what we just talked about. Like when you're so close to a topic and it lacks, you know, I, I have faith.

[Andrew Walsh]

I have faith that the only kind of people that would want to make an Art Bell film would. It's not, it's not the emojis movie. Right. It's not like something that's this broad topic that you just kind of throw your best up and coming screenwriters at. It's like my guess is these are people that, like me, are deeply and weirdly obsessed with Art Bell. That's my hope anyway.

[Listener]

I hope you're right.

[Andrew Walsh]

I do too. Mark says now I listen mostly while killing time in airports. And as it happens, the show has turned out to be just beautiful enough to live. This is because, of course, our friend Mark. I always like to talk about how Mark has. Mark has really mastered every version of conveyance of ways to get around this country and the world. Because Mark was delivering produce in Seattle when he found the show and then I believe was an over the road truck driver for some years and is now an airline pilot.

[Listener]

Oh, wow.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I think it's pretty much blimps after this or tunneling that. That's all that's left for Mark.

[Listener]

Stay aw from the zeppelins.

[Andrew Walsh]

I feel so fortunate this year to be able to increase my donation to the dazzling level thanks to the power of a good union. Suffice it to say pilots aren't paid well because airlines are generous. Good point. But should we, should we overpay pilots, Andrew? Or should we make it? Should we try to grind them down to where they're very stressed about money and they're working longer hours than they should? That seems like a good, A good outcome.

[Listener]

Pilots are like fried chicken at sars. You don't want to overpay.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. Wait till it's on the deepest discount possible and then get on that flight.

[Listener]

That's right.

[Andrew Walsh]

As much as I love the power of a good union, I'm going to plug something less ambiguously great than labor unions. And that's my sister's business.

[Listener]

Oh, cool.

[Andrew Walsh]

If you're in the market for art or home decor made using the early photographic process known as the cyanotype, please check out Atwater Designs. Are you familiar with the cyanotype photography?

[Listener]

Boy, looking at this now. And this is. Look at this.

[Andrew Walsh]

Wow. Yeah, I'm looking at it too. Atwater Designs. Really handsome website too as well. So a cyanotype. Now, cyan is blue, right? Is that the color that cyan? Is that why it's called a cyanotype?

[Listener]

Maybe it's like a light blue.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think this is really beautiful stuff that Mark's sister is doing here. Again, it's Otter Designs. The website is Atwater, like the village in the LA area. Atwater. Go check out attwaterdesigns.com for some very cool art for your home or business. Thanks Luke and Andrew for filling my time away from home with the chatting of my imaginary friendos. Mark, thanks for being a real friendo to the show for all these years and sending in lots of interesting messages. And when you sharpshoot me, it's you're very gentle, you're very nice about it. You have a very, you have a very nice ability to gently correct me on things or inform me on things without causing me to feel deeply criticized, which is easy to do because I'm very thin skinned. So Mark, thanks for the support. We couldn't do this without you. Maestro. On your mark. On your mark. Get set now. Ready, ready. Go. Everybody Rattles Daddle It's Allison Scheiderer of Edmonds, Washington. Culturally, Rick Steves indeed. Who I'm interviewing tonight at Benaroya. That'll be fun. Did I tell you that we don't usually do pre interviews, but Rick Steves was dead set on us doing a pre interview. So he and I had a phone call the other night.

[Listener]

So you know what all of his stories, how you're gonna lead him into it. I heard you had an encounter at the airport recently.

[Andrew Walsh]

I heard you've been doing a lot of karaoke lately, Rick. But Rick is not the only luminary from Edmonds, Washington. Allison's also, also from there. Allison says this year I will just put in a plug for a great organization to support. In case any tens are looking for smaller organizations that support important causes, I would encourage them to consider donating to the black women's health imperative. My smartest elementary school friend works with this organization and they are working to support the health and well being of black women. And thanks to TBTL for helping us get through another year. I'm guessing if you were to google black women's health imperative you might end up at the website because I don't think there's one listed in the. Yeah, I'm guessing in the thing it looks to me like now I'm just doing this kind of. I'm on the fly here, but it looks like it might be bwhi.org bwhi.org is the black women's health imperative. And they come. Their work comes highly recommended from Alison and yeah, yeah, I mean without the thing about messages like this and about looking at a website like the Black Women's Health Imperative is that it immediately wants. It threatens to drive me into a whole conversation about the people that are most at threat from all of the changes that are being railroaded through. And you know, it seems like it's all over the place and that it's just, it's inconsistent. But I actually do think there's a consistency there. I think what they are trying to do in the current administration is take away every small bit of progress that has been made that has benefited anyone who's not a straight white male. That's the through line.

[Listener]

Yeah. Not just benefit, but just education. Just like we are not allowed to talk about. We're not allowed to talk about. I was gonna say racism even really race, but I saw somebody on bluesky just like, I'm not sure if I can teach my course on racism next semester. And it's like, what do you mean you can't teach a course on racism? It's like, oh, wow. Yeah, you can't, because a half a billion dollars will be pulled from your organization if you. I. Racism. Like we are living. I mean, the level of just racism that is happening right now, just like right out in the open with bullhorns, is so unbelievably scary. Like, I just, I do not know how history will look back on this and I don't even know what history. I don't know whose history it's going to be, if that makes sense to you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's the thing that's been emerging to me as again, a consistent thing. And all this is. It's like, well, they're. They're get. Canceling this and they're getting rid of that and they're defunding that and they're. And it just seems like they're just swinging wildly and they are. But what they're hitting every single time is something that either helped like lift up a marginalized community or helped the non marginalized folks have more of a sense of what might be going on for the marginalized folks. Like, that's the consistent point. That's the consistent thing they're doing is they're trying to strip away everything that is in any way benefited someone who's not just a straight white male, like I am and like you are. And so, you know, the support of something like the black Women's Health Imperative is, as the name would indicate, imperative, imperative.

[Listener]

And again, I know that we should move on to other things like fart jokes or Whatever we do. But.

[Andrew Walsh]

Or fart jokes.

[Listener]

Fart jokes. Although those tend to be a little bit more dicey.

[Andrew Walsh]

Who farked it? Is that a show?

[Listener]

I don't know, but I was gonna say I happened to be listening to the public radio show here and now the other day when I was driving somewhere and they were talking specifically about this. They were talking with somebody who, you know, kind of, I think, reports on health research. And because of this, and I don't even like using their language, but because of this, like, supposed. Like the stoppage of dei, you know, kind of in quotes there. As I say, it programs or whatever, it means that they're pulling funding for any kind of health research that involves women or black women or black men, too. I mean, there are specific. I mean, I don't need to tell our audience this, but, like, obviously there are. When you're doing research, there are specific considerations when looking at various populations. It's not about dei. It's just like. It's just science. They hate science. And like, you cannot.

[Andrew Walsh]

If the science happens to in any way illuminate something about, let's say, black health outcomes, it is then by definition, somehow dei.

[Listener]

Exactly. And it is so infuriating because you can't do and. But, like, I guess the only thing that isn't DEI is. Is research on men's health or research.

[Andrew Walsh]

On my boner problems.

[Listener]

Geez Louise. I really hope we can get through.

[Andrew Walsh]

This show without you saying white men who want. Who've tried new genics and it hasn't worked, and they're still trying to wow their partner in the bedroom. That's where all of the research money now goes.

[Listener]

Yeah, we're lucky if this administration just uses new genics and not.

[Andrew Walsh]

There you go. Thank you to our donors for making TV Chill possible. We couldn't do this without.

[Listener]

Here I go once again with the email. Every week, I hope that it's from a female. Oh, man.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's not from a female. All right. We didn't get to talk to Yellowstone about Yellowstone today. I do mean, of course, the Kevin Costner TV epic Yellowstone, but no, the. The park Yellowstone. Maybe we can talk about that on Monday because there's some wild stuff going on there. But in the meantime, do we have any emails or vmails that you like before we wrap the week up?

[Listener]

Yes, I got this voicemail from listener Dave in New York City who wanted to weigh in on my Blue Angels VHS discovery. I told you, I found a.

[Andrew Walsh]

My Blue Angels.

[Listener]

What year was it? It was, like, 1990. 3. I think the 1993 air show in a town in California that I'm already blanking on the name of. It was like.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was like, Was it Point Magoo?

[Listener]

It was Point Magoo. Thank you. I was gonna say Hulu, but I knew it wasn't hulu. Anyway, point 2B, I found a amazing local broadcast that included a performance by the Blue Angels from 1993. And I was telling you that something has changed in me because I used to just love airplanes and seeing daring do and hear the planes just rip the sky apart. But I was watching this on the VHS from several decades ago, and I was getting literally mad and concerned about how close these planes were flying together. I was like, I know that you're doing a stunt, but, like, that is too close for these jets to be flying that fast. That close together. Something bad is going to happen. And Dave wanted to weigh in on that. Hey, Andrew, it's listener Dave from New York City.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're talking about cringing because the Blue.

[Listener]

Angels were flying so close in that 93 video. One of the reasons you were cringing is they were flying a lot closer than they do these days. Really bad crashes since.

[Andrew Walsh]

Since 1993. So now they.

[Listener]

They fly a lot further apart.

[Andrew Walsh]

So you're not wrong for thinking that.

[Listener]

They were a little crazy for flying, like, six inches from each other because people died. Okay, love you guys. Power out. You know what they do now?

[Andrew Walsh]

Angels lied. People died.

[Listener]

I did a little bit of research. What they do now to make sure the planes don't fly too close together is they get balloons and they put balloons between them.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Listener]

And if the plane.

[Andrew Walsh]

I heard it was bubble wrap.

[Listener]

Did they use bubble wrap in your school? I only heard. I only know this is a TV trope. Putting balloons between middle schoolers who are dancing is what I was learning.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I didn't. I didn't even know they didn't do that at my school. I do think that they measured skirts from knees, if you can believe that. I do remember occasionally a teacher walking around with a ruler saying that that skirt is too high above the knee. But the balloons. We didn't even have dances, Andrew.

[Listener]

Oh, yeah, sure.

[Andrew Walsh]

We weren't even allowed to have dances. Real footloose territory. Where I was from. I. You know, I have to say I'm okay with the Blue Angels and the other, you know, aeronautics performing planes being a little further away from each other from the ground. If I'm watching it. If they're four, if the wings are four feet apart versus one Feet apart. I don't think I could even tell. Like, let's not. Let's not have any crashes. Let's not have people dying unduly trying to get the absolute bare minimum of space in between the wings of the airplane. Airplanes.

[Listener]

It made me. It made me scared, Luke. I don't need that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Would you, like, this summer? You know, you live in Seattle, obviously, and I'm assuming seafare will happen again. That seems like something that's Trump proof.

[Listener]

Unless they got extra funding.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it's. Unless. Unless there's any aspect of it that somehow involves lifting up of anybody that's not, you know, straight white males.

[Listener]

If there's a celebration of Jackie Robinson, it will be canceled.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, exactly. Then, you know, forget it. Would you go to. Would you ever go down to, like, you know, the. I don't know, the shorelines of. Of Lake Washington and watch the Blue Angels perform? I don't see you being on a boat for it, but you'd watch it from the shore.

[Listener]

I'm not scared of boats, but I. Yeah, I would. I. If. If the timing is right. I mean, that's the thing. Sundays are usually bad for me, so I don't think that I would watch the actual. I've never been to actual C C Fair, but they start practicing, like, days in advance. Right. That's why you and I were on. Yeah. No, I mean, I remember trying to get little glimpses of it from my roof in my old apartment, but we were, you know, so far away from the action. You would. Only every now and then you'd see Big Bertha rumble by or something like that. Is it Big Bertha? Did I get that right? Whatever. No. Fat Albert boy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Fat Albert.

[Listener]

Fat Albert.

[Andrew Walsh]

But anyway. Yeah.

[Listener]

No, I love that stuff. I absolutely love it. I. I have never been to Seafair. It is. I would probably enjoy seafare. I think you would if you went in.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think if you. Yeah, like with the hydros and everything. I think if you. Like. If you sort of, like, prepared yourself for a day of quote unquote, going there, if that makes sense.

[Listener]

Yeah, you just, like in the. The hassle of getting there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, the hassle, the clientele, the. Just the vibe, you know, It's. It's definitely kind of. It's. It's. It's. It's a different energy than we'll have at Benaroya hall tonight when we're doing Livewire. Let's say it's got a kind of a suburban, ex, urban sort of thing going on.

[Listener]

Yeah, it sounds like. I Like this.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. A lot of public drinking, a lot of I. You probably see a fair amount of people who would like to not be treaded on.

[Listener]

Sure.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know.

[Listener]

Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, that's kind of the sort of NASCAR on the water.

[Listener]

Oh, they don't want to be treaded on. So they're like, really into, like women's reproductive rights and stuff. They don't want the government.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, no, that kind of treading is fine, actually.

[Listener]

Oh, oh, wait, I thought they didn't want the government treading.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's where you. Well, I'm sure someone will explain it to you at the Stand sayers after about 40 Bud Lights on that Sunday. But I do think it can be a really fun thing. Again, if you go into it with the kind of mentality of like, I'm gonna. I'm gonna be going to this thing that's gonna present a lot of. A lot of examples of the sort of other part of America than I tend to normally kind of hang with. But the actual stuff is. I mean, those hydroplanes are flipping cool, too. They also flip a lot. They literally flip because they're going so fast on the water. Water. So.

[Listener]

All right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. Well, I guess that's probably going to do it. For this week of tbtl. We are here at the end of our broadcast week and I want to thank you all so much for spending this time with us. Thanks for making this possible as the listeners of the show. If you're not out there listening, we don't have a job doing this. So thank you. We are going to be back here Monday. I'll be in the greater San Francisco area, I'm sure, with many stories to share from the intervening two days.

[Listener]

So please do about how well your.

[Andrew Walsh]

Travels went, but I was absolutely drama free. All right, we'll see you on Monday. In the meantime, have a great weekend. Take care of yourselves. And please remember, don't mountain too tall.

[Listener]

And good luck to all.

[Andrew Walsh]

You get a lot of B52s. Yes.

[Listener]

I have no idea why I have.

[Andrew Walsh]

Fred Schneider's solo album.

[Listener]

Why did I buy this funky little purchase? Is that your Fred Schneider?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Why did I buy this funky little purchase?

[Listener]

We have our own Fred's. Okay, power out.