‘Task’ Episode 5: The Best Episode Yet?

Summary

The Prestige TV Podcast

'Task' Episode 5: The Best Episode Yet?

Date: October 6, 2025
Hosts: Joanna Robinson, Rob Mahoney, Bill Simmons
Show Discussed: Task Episode 5 – “Vagrant”

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Bill Simmons, Joanna Robinson, and Rob Mahoney dive into episode 5 of HBO’s Task, widely agreed to be the most compelling and dramatic installment yet. The trio unpacks major plot developments—including the reveal of DJ Grasanova as the mole, the highly anticipated Tom and Robbie confrontation, and shifting allegiances across the show's tangled web. The conversation covers standout scenes, motifs of redemption and ineptitude, fan theories, and predictions for the closing episodes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. DJ Grasanova Revealed as the Mole

• Major Reveal: DJ Grasanova is confirmed as the task force’s mole, drastically reframing audience perceptions of the character and injecting tension for the season’s final episodes.
• Comparison: Grasanova’s duplicity draws comparisons to Matt Damon’s character in The Departed.
• Open Questions: The hosts speculate whether Grasanova is the only mole and whether Martha Plimpton’s character could be another.
• [16:02] Bill: “It was a little Matt Damon in the Departed where he's on the phone trying… to alert his biker gang buddies, but couldn't. And he's just all of a sudden very shifty.”
• [17:31] Rob: “I think all we know at this point is that he is one of the moles… the door is open for Martha Plimpton’s character to be mole number two.”

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2. Tom & Robbie’s Electric Car Ride

• Contrast with Heat: The prolonged not-quite-a-standoff car ride between Tom and Robbie is directly compared to the famous diner scene in Heat, but with a more vulnerable, less adversarial spin.
• Character Depth: Robbie, portrayed by Tom Pelfrey, is depicted as a criminal who’s deeply out of his depth—"a bird who's lost his way" rather than a career criminal.
• Critical Quote:
• [01:19] Joanna: “Tom and Robbie finally meet...not like the diner scene from Heat...but the car ride was sort of looking in the rearview mirror into the backseat, which I thought was electric and very good. I really, really liked it.”
• [04:43] Bill: “It's basically two guys who are slightly above average at their jobs. Right. Robbie's smart enough to realize the P didn't sound right. Tom's probably there looking for him. He circles around the back, puts the gun to his head… he's not Neil McCauley.”

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3. Robbie’s Humanity and Ineptitude

• Hosts debate whether Robbie’s repeated mistakes frustrate or humanize him, ultimately concluding his desperation and semi-ineptitude make him relatable.
• His actions, like failing to kill Tom and letting him go, are emblematic of a man out of his criminal depth.
• [05:46] Joanna: “…he's a really compelling character. And his bid for Maeve's safety there at the end, him letting Tom go… that really impacted me. I thought that was just stunning part of this episode.”

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4. God, Guilt, and Existential Motifs

• The episode explores big-picture themes such as faith, meaning, and futility.
• [07:41] Bill: “We get God involved. Because, of course, that's a stealth theme of this show. Robbie says, ‘I never once felt God in my life. I think people want to believe there's more than this because if there's… If this is all there is, it's too fucking depressing…’"
• The group appreciates how this existential undercurrent adds stakes to character decisions and relationships.

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5. Quarry Symbolism, Death, and Predictions

• The quarry is analyzed as a site of death, peace, and pivotal action in Task, compared to its narrative function in other films and series.
• The quarry, birds (the summer tanager), and vagrant metaphors become tools for discussing characters’ dislocation and vulnerability.
• [13:45] Rob: “This kind of backdoors into one of the potential predictions…what is the thing that Aliyah will not be able to smell? That will become a critical plot device and is the answer...she goes for a dip in, like, the foul, toxic part of the quarry.”

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6. Secondary Plots: Task Force Dynamics, Maeve’s Fate, Perry and Jason

• Analysis of task force composition and decision-making, especially in the woods standoff setup.
• Maeve’s arc: Now that she’s brought Sam to the police, her fate is uncertain—she may be legally in peril but likely physically safe.
• Perry’s spiral: He kills Aaron in a moment that’s both emotional and impulsive. The podcasters debate the underrendered nature of Perry and Jason’s connection.
• [32:08] Joanna: “What I would love to know more about…is the Perry Jason connection. Like, why is Perry so protective of, tender towards Jason? Because… he has now killed the mother of Jason's children…”

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7. Humor and Lightness

• Recurring jokes about favorite southern rock bands (“Tuesday’s Gone” and Lynyrd Skynyrd vs. Allman Brothers).
• Playful theorizing about possible sequels (Task season 2: "DJ Grasanova as Matt Damon in The Departed").
• [38:00] Bill: “What would the Allman Brothers—I still like the Tuesday's Gone. I think that's the call.”

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the Tom/Robbie dynamic:
  • [04:04] Rob: “He just needs to be like, a little better than dumb. And I think he clears it...him being in that zone of sometimes kind of inept, but really ultimately quite desperate, I think is what makes him such a good foil for Tom…”
• On the existential bent:
  • [07:41] Bill: “We get God involved. Because, of course, that's a stealth theme of this show...if this is all there is, it's too fucking depressing…”
• On D.J. Grasanova as the mole:
  • [16:02] Bill: “It was a little Matt Damon in the Departed...very shifty…”
• On predictions:
  • [45:16] Joanna: “I thought Pelfrey's…play of emotion on his face with Aaron…and similarly at the end when Tom draws on him...what do I do here before he drops on…”
  • [46:33] Rob: “I'm gonna flip and say [Robbie] survives. I'm talking myself into this in real time. That Robbie will get out of this show alive.”

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Important Timestamps

• 00:00–03:06 – Recap & exclamation point texts, Tom and Robbie finally meet
• 03:06–06:21 – Deconstructing Robbie’s competence, Heat car ride parallels
• 06:38–07:03 – Emotional beats & the pacing of the episode
• 16:02–18:04 – D.J. Grasanova’s reveal as mole, “The Departed” analogy
• 19:32–21:14 – DJ’s history with the biker gang and flashback speculation
• 32:08–33:40 – Perry’s mindset post-murder and the missing Jason connection
• 43:13–44:55 – Discussion about “good people” in the show—who’s left?
• 46:33–48:13 – Prediction corner: Does Robbie survive? Gunfight scenario speculation
• 51:00–53:13 – Theorizing about possible Season 2, structure, and cast
• 54:08–54:47 – Closing basketball humor ("pickup scouting reports" for Tom and Robbie)

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Predictions & Listener Theories

• Will there be a Season 2? The hosts debate a possible second season, speculating that D.J. Grasanova—or Lizzie’s fate—could be the pivot point.
• Who survives? Major tension surrounds Robbie’s likely demise, Grasanova’s arc in the finale, Lizzie’s fate (paralyzed by indecision or finally making a move?), and the fates of Maeve and Sam.
• Quarry as climactic setting: All believe the quarry (or “the bridge”) will serve as the scene for at least one pivotal confrontation.
• Rob: “Wouldn’t [Robbie] getting away be the most subversive thing that the show could do?”
• Bill: Predicts a Tarantino-esque multi-way shootout in the woods; theorizes about characters’ post-show futures (“Maeve drives away with ‘Tuesday’s Gone’ playing”).

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Audience Response

• The hosts reference a strong flow of listener emails, especially regarding timeline theories (“It’s September, not summer!”), quarry/lake distinctions, and vagrant bird metaphors.
• [28:55] Joanna: “We had so many emails…tracking Phillies games, tracking when the water ice places open… I think it is September.”

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Tone & Style

The discussion is lively, warm, and deeply engaged, combining granular plot analysis with big-picture speculation, character affection, pop culture analogies, and runner jokes. Bill’s enthusiasm is punctuated—literally—by his famous text exclamation points, while Joanna and Rob tackle the show’s moral ambiguities, narrative structures, and themes with both seriousness and playful banter.

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Summary: Why This Is the Best Episode Yet

• Confirms major fan theories while keeping new mysteries alive.
• Shines in character depth, pacing, and motif development (guilt, faith, ineptitude vs. competence).
• Achieves an emotional and thematic high point for the series—raising the stakes for the season’s closing episodes.

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Closing Note: The hosts look ahead to episode 6, predicting fireworks and potentially one of the biggest TV moments of the year as the narrative threads converge in the woods near the quarry. The plan is to reconvene in person for the finale, signaling major anticipation for Task’s endgame.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign. The Prestige TV Podcast, Episode five, Task. Joanna Robinson is here. Rob Mahoney is here. This was a wow of an episode. A lot of answers, a lot of drama, a lot of action. Biggest answer. Our guy DJ Grasanova is the mole. Tough, tough beat for everybody. We like this guy. Yeah, I. I had. I had. I had kind of moved myself into. No, no, he's not at somebody else. But now. So we had that. I mean, we had a bunch of stuff in this episode. Where do you want to start, Joanna?

[B]

Well, first, I want to just say for the record that your text to us after you watch this episode was like, eight exclamation points.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

And then we responded. And then you just responded with like, eight more excl points. So you really loved this episode of Television Bill.

[A]

It is true. I watched it right after. Within eight hours of when we recorded our episode four, Breakdown. And I actually sent you the exclamation points halfway through the episode.

[C]

Oh, wow.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Do you remember what it was?

[A]

I went back for more exclamation points at the end. Yeah, it was a double exclamation point text. Anyway, go ahead.

[B]

I think the biggest thing that happens in the episode is that Tom and Robbie finally meet and we get, at long last, not like the diner scene from Heat face to face. But the car ride was sort of looking in the rearview mirror into the backseat, which I thought was electric and very good. I really, really liked it.

[C]

I think having that too, where they're not face to face, weirdly makes it even less adversarial. Like, it's these two guys who are really kind of feeling each other out, even though one of them is being held at gunpoint. And Robbie's finding ways to like Tom over the course of that sequence to, like, kind of appreciate and care about him in a way that, like, Tom Pelfrey can really sell. Like, there's just, like a tenderness to him as a performer that I think makes Robbie impossible to fully root against, even though he's doing some. Some pretty crazy things.

[A]

Yeah, and they. It's a long scene because they cut away and come back. And it's probably like a three part scene of the same scene. I thought the same thing with Heat. They. It's basically the Heat showdown, but they invert it so they're not face to face. Yeah, it's a little more tender and in Heat. They're trying to, you know, find this human connection. And you're rooting for Neil McCauley, who's basically just a sociopath. Like, he has A condo with no fruit. De Niro's character. His condo with no furniture. And if the heat's around the corner, he's out. Like, there's not a lot there. Tom is this really complicated. You're kind of rooting for him. You kind of see it from his side. Like he was really traumatized. I'm sorry, Robbie.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

I would say Don Pelfrey. Yeah, yeah, the Robbie. His. You know, you kind of see it from his side, even though he's also a maniac. And we saw him beat the shit out of somebody in the last episode and he shot people. But you're watching him going like, oh, man, I wish this damage guy could just figure this out. I thought it was really great how they did it.

[B]

It's been interesting because we've gotten a lot of emails from listeners or texts from colleagues or whatever who are frustrated that Robbie is so inept. And I guess the question I have is like, does he need to be a really good criminal for us to. In his story? And if the story of this episode, which is titled Vagrant, and there's this whole runner about, you know, the summer tanager, which we could talk about in a second and all of that, he's a bird who's lost his way. And so he's not a career criminal. He's not De Niro and Heat. Right. He is like a guy who was trying to do a thing in a half hearted sort of attempt at revenge and something else. And he sort of bumbled his way into like, deep waters that he can't find. Find his way out of. And so I don't need him to be really good. I don't mind that he keeps making mistakes because this isn't what he does. This is something that he has been trying. Yeah. And we like him. And he's just floundering. You know what I mean?

[C]

He just needs to be like, a little better than dumb. And I think he clears it. Like, he's just clever enough that it's like, okay, he kind of knows what's going on. He kind of knows. Like, okay, the cop car would be traceable, but this one isn't. We need to get off the highway here so it's a little harder for them to find us. Like, he know just enough that you're not frustrated by his decision making. At least I'm not frustrated by his decision making. And it also, like him being in that zone of sometimes kind of inept, but really ultimately quite desperate, I think is what makes him such a good Foil for Tom, who is an okay cop. Like, good at some things, not so great at other things, but ultimately, like, not an ace detective by any means.

[A]

Yeah. It was funny, the showdown of them. It's basically two guys who are slightly above average at their. At their jobs. Right. Robbie's smart enough to real. The P didn't sound right. Tom's probably there looking for him. He circles around the back, puts the gun to his head. Tom's not smart enough to realize Robbie probably has already figured out who he is and he's in real danger. And then when we get into the car, Robbie's not smart enough to realize, I'm going to let this guy go, and they're just going to probably come find me in the next two hours. Like, if you're like, Neil McCauley shoots him in the leg or something. So he's limping. So it takes him three hours to get out of the woods. Yeah. He's not. He's not Neil McCauley. He doesn't have it all buttoned up. And he. Even Joanna. Just has. He just has to fill that Pennsylvania water on him to make. It's his real kryptonite. He can't make a decision or really start any impact. He's got to get a little of that cold Pennsylvania water on his chest.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And of course, it costs him at the end. Yeah. But, you know, he's the C plus criminal.

[B]

Yeah. And that's. Okay. That's enough. That's passing enough for me. But he's like. He's a really compelling character. And his. His bid for Maeve's safety there at the end, him letting Tom go. And Tom does not think he's gonna let him go when he says, you'll see it. It's beautiful. And I don't know if he means the lake, but that moment when Tom stumbles out of the woods and it's just all these people living their lives when he thought he was about to die. And then he. For his first call is to Emily. Like, that really impacted me. I thought that was just stunning. Part of this episode.

[A]

Cliff. Cliff. Terrible criminal, by the way.

[B]

Cliff.

[A]

Cliff. F plus.

[C]

Well.

[B]

But kept his mouth shut to bitter end. So loyal, you know?

[A]

Sure.

[C]

But also photographic evidence.

[A]

What are you going to say, Rob?

[C]

I just think the fact that we do hit those, like, emotional, contemplative beats, like, this is a huge episode for, like, staring at the sun steepling through the trees. Sometimes that lets Perry catch up and drown you in a lake, but sometimes it's Just this really sweet sort of character beat and moment and, like, pause in what ultimately is, like, a really propulsive, plot heavy episode. And so the fact that we can have all of that at once, I think, is what makes this the most effective episode of the season so far.

[A]

Let's dive into that car scene quickly, and then we'll hit the other stuff, the piss tell. That's where you're like, maybe Tom's even a D as he's just pouring a coke in the toilet. Come on. Bad does not sound like pee.

[B]

But I really liked his fumble bumble I'm so dumb routine. I'm so old and dumb routine that he was giving, like, I thought that was really fun.

[A]

Did we think that was Robbie?

[C]

Was Robbie flexing on him later with his steady stream? You know, when he stops for his own pee break?

[A]

A prostate versus prostate battle.

[C]

Classic prostate versus prostate. And I have to say, we know who won that one.

[B]

Yeah, we do.

[A]

I wrote that. It was the Mumble Core Heat showdown. It was, like, directed by the Duplass brothers with one guy in the card. Robbie tells them the whole story. We get God involved. Because, of course, that's a stealth theme of this show. Robbie says, I never once felt God in my life. I think people want to believe there's more than this because if there's. If this is all there is, it's too fucking depressing for people. There's nothing else after this. We're just hitting the theme of the show, I guess, like, this is your one life, and sometimes that's not going to work out the way you thought it was, and then you're going to die.

[B]

Sometimes not only your brother gets killed by a psychopath motorcycle gang leader, but also your best friend, and it's your fault. Yeah, sometimes Jason wins twice. And that's terrible for Robbie, but I love when Robbie said he was hashtag Team Susan in the car. On the. On the sort of, like, atheist believer side, I like learning a bit more about Tom and Susan's.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

How they came together in the first place. Tom is doing that thing that. That I learned from Oprah when I was a kid, which is you're supposed to humanize yourself to your kidnapper. Right. So you're supposed to tell them personal details about yourself. Here's my. Here's my main nit to pick with this episode. And in general, there's a lot that I can let task get away with. Why have the cops not interrogated Cliff's garbage colleagues or anything like that? Like, I can let Them get away with that. Robby having serious satellite radio in his car. I'm not sure that's an expense that he is paying for. What do you think?

[C]

I think maybe the reception. Maybe the reception. His area for Eagles games isn't the best, you know, and it's like we really. Like, there's one thing you simply cannot live without and that's enough for him. Also, is that true that anyone with Sirius satellite radio is trackable?

[B]

Surveillance state, baby.

[C]

Apparently.

[A]

I was. I was a little concerned hearing that, that the serious people can track me. My. My take. So I did think about this. I think Robbie was probably signed up for the free trial and then was too stupid to cancel it. And it's just paying for it. It's like, God, I wish I wasn't paying this 1999, but you might need it in the backwoods of wherever he lives.

[B]

That's true. That's true.

[A]

That is a really good note, though, Joanna. I liked when he said, I kidnapped the world's most depressing human. Yeah, really funny. But Tom doing the. Can I just call my kids? Can I just call my kids? Great.

[C]

Yeah, great.

[A]

Here's what to do if you've been kidnapped. I. At some point during this car ride, I realized Tom wasn't going to get killed, which I did. Were you guys on the same thing, or did you think he was going to get shot? And partly because it is Mark Ruffalo, who's the star of the show.

[B]

I didn't see him dying in episode five. Yeah, exactly. That's why I wasn't worried about Tom. But did you feel it all to you? CR texted me after he watched this episode, and he was like, his concern is that they're maybe dragging it out a little bit. Does it feel like in episode five, we see them meet and then release and then we're headed into episode six? For everyone's converging in the woods. What is episode seven? I'm not that worried. I'm eager to see. And I loved this episode. I thought this was the best of the season. So I think we'll have to see, but I don't know. Did you feel that way at all? That it was just sort of like too soon to have all of this converge with two more episodes to go or not worried about it at all?

[A]

Well, it is.

[C]

You know, the heat formula is here, right? The meeting and then the chase, that's all there. But it's still a season of tv. And I feel like a show like this has as much in common with, like, Top of the Lake, where it's like there's kind of an episode of, like, fallout, right?

[B]

It's like, maybe.

[C]

Maybe everything gets kind of, like, technically wrapped up in six, and then seven is more. You know, the brand is home life. It's. You know, if Perry's still alive, reckoning with everything that he's done to get here, it's like, how is this all settling with these characters? And honestly, these characters are rich enough that I think it deserves that kind of introspection.

[A]

He at least sticks up for Maeve, our girl.

[C]

Yeah, Robbie, I'm really.

[B]

I'm really worried about Maeve.

[C]

That just sticks up for her, though. But, like, him, like, ultimately, the fact that their meeting culminates in, like, both of them kind of, like, asking for help is so interesting. It's like Robbie kind of pleading with Tom, like, please, like, you are the only person who can vouch for her, basically, in these circumstances. And Tom, you know, trying to talk him out of doing something dumb and also save his own life in the process. Like, just a really fascinating collision of those characters.

[A]

I just. I just want to call my kids. I just. Can. I just.

[B]

I just.

[A]

Just want to call him. I just. Please, can I call him? We're in the woods a lot in the show, and we're by bodies of water and lake. We had some incredible texts from our friend Dave Jacoby.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

About the quarry, the lake. He doesn't really understand quarries at all, which is a big sidetrack for us. But it does seem like when a quarry is involved in. In any movie or TV show, it's usually a place to either die or get paralyzed or have something horrible happen, while at the times seeming really peaceful. And I was just trying to think of other, like, times where the quarry was just used in a way where it was just fine, just a nice, happy place. No. No violence or negativity at all. And I think Jacoby is right in the.

[B]

It seems negative in Coda, which is like our introduction to Amelia Jones. I feel like she swims in a quarry a couple times in a way that is just, like, nice and idyllic or. Or what's the difference between a lake, one quarry? What's the difference between a lake and a quarry?

[C]

I guess many people are asking. Yeah, I think there's got to be some rock formation distinction.

[B]

Right?

[C]

Like some containment of the body of water. I don't. This is all above our page.

[A]

What's on the bottom? Are there, like, giant rocks? Like, you could dive in and just Hit your head on a rock. Like. I don't know. I just need more information.

[C]

You got to be careful for sure. But I think, look, this. This kind of backdoors into one of the potential predictions coming out of this episode, which is what is the thing that Aliyah will not be able to smell? That will become a critical plot device and is the answer. You know, she goes for a dip in, like, the foul, toxic part of the quarry.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Right?

[B]

Check off sense of smell. Interesting.

[A]

Look. It's coming back. She's gonna. She's gonna smell.

[C]

Aaron, maybe she smell.

[A]

She's like, I decomposed body.

[B]

I thought that was more to, like, show her connection to Lizzie. That exchange was just. Well, two things I got out of that. There is Aliyah can't smell things. That is. You're right, Rob.

[C]

That is just a fact.

[B]

I think her. When. When she describes calling her ex's parole officer and pretending that it's a federal case or something like that, that shows her willingness to slightly bend the rules if there is a greater good involved, right? So in the rat hunt for. For Grasso, which has got to be something that happens at some point, like, how much will Aleyah be? Like playing it by the books or how much will she bend the rules for the greater good or something like that? I don't know.

[A]

Let's take a break and we'll hit the the rest of the. Of the big things that happen this episode.

[D]

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[B]

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[D]

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[A]

All right, in order. The other big revelation, D.J. grassanova was the mole and completely changed how you watched him as a character, but he also did a nice job of. It was. It was a little Matt Damon in the Departed where he's on the phone, trying to figure out how to get. How to alert his biker gang buddies, but couldn't. And he's just all of a sudden very shifty. And I also liked when they. When he met. He met our guy Jason under the bridge. And I like when they have the interactions and at some point Jason's like, remember who you're talking to. Like, there's a lot of good tropes in this episode, but what did we think of DJ Rob? Were you walk us through your emotions?

[C]

I mean, on one level we were expecting it. On the other, I have been. Look, Joe has been spot on on predictions all season. Joe, I feel like you've been. You've been nailing development after development. I have been in my approach a little more like drooping Pepsi dribbles into the toilet and barely hitting the bowl. So we've hit at some point that Grasso could be the mole, but it also seemed like they were fainting maybe and it would actually end up being someone else. I think all we know at this point is that he is one of the moles and one of the dangling loose ends is still like, we don't know what overdressed Connor came up with in terms of digging into the task force. And maybe that is just a means for them all to find Grasso in the end, but maybe it could have some other little complicating reveal along the way.

[A]

So. And so we still think the door is open for Martha Plimpton's character to be mole number two.

[C]

Maybe. I don't know.

[B]

Here's my main question about good old DJ Grasanova. How much would you guys pay for a post divorced house exorcism? Which is something that he was looking into.

[C]

Well then Izzy sent him as a shitpost.

[B]

Basically. Yeah.

[A]

What was.

[C]

It was 199the going rate.

[B]

It was. It was more than I would personally.

[A]

You're. You're not getting the couple from the conjuring, I'm guessing. Yeah, probably like somebody way more discount.

[B]

The grass is slang to like rat on someone, right? Like, to grass on someone is a snitch on someone.

[C]

News to me.

[B]

Isn't that.

[A]

Wow. You always learn slang from Joanne. It's always an unexpected bonus of posting a pot with her. I think that what it is. Is that true?

[B]

I think to grass on someone is to like to snitch on someone.

[A]

Can we walk through? How does he meet these guys? What's the history? Because you talked about. We have two episodes left.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What are the two episodes? There's still A lot of flashback stuff we haven't done yet. We don't know the history of him with the biker gang. We still know. We. We. We deeply, deeply, deeply believe there was going to be a 2017 flashback to. Where was that fight in Reading.

[C]

Reading, right.

[A]

Yeah. I'm feeling that battle.

[B]

I feel like less like that's gonna happen.

[C]

Yeah. Maybe there's not enough time.

[B]

Like Perry, there's a lot of time.

[A]

We have everybody converging at the end of episode five, with two hours left.

[B]

The information he needs. He knows that it was Billy's gun. He knows that it's Robbie. Like, we know every. Like, what is there left to learn from reading flashback? You know what I mean?

[A]

Well, I mean, there is one thing left to learn. If. If our guy DJ Grassanova was.

[B]

Oh, was there in the footage.

[A]

They're studying the footage and they see him.

[C]

See, I feel like they probably go way back, you know, like, we know that he was DJ Grasanova. We don't necessarily know that he worked alone. Like, Grossanova feels to me like the DJ who is all technique, just, you know, behind, behind the scenes, doesn't want to be the vocal emcee presence. Maybe Jason is the front man. Maybe he's the hype man.

[B]

You think Jason has the charisma to be the frontman of a two person DJ team?

[C]

You know what? Not all of us have the luxury of our theories being correct, Joe. Some of us are just out here throwing things.

[B]

Good old Jason who walks in covered in blood and like, grunts in Aaron's direction. That guy, I don't know.

[A]

Can I posit this one? He said he. He was a DJ in college. Yeah, it's possible. Never went to college.

[B]

I'm beating the question.

[A]

Like, he was the DJ for the biker gang and said, oh, a bike.

[B]

Do you think he was DJing the.

[A]

Cookout in Redding with the biker gang? Okay, yeah, I don't know. I. I just.

[C]

We can do these.

[B]

The Reading shootout footage. And behind the turntable is DJ Kraft. I think Fabian. I think Fabian Frankel, who's the actor who's playing our good old DJ Grasanova, is so good. He's really good on House of the Dragon, a show that I know you guys, or I know that Bill doesn't watch. But, like, the way that he's trained, there's a lot in common between his two characters, especially now that I know that he's a double crosser. So there's a lot in common. But he's. He's convincing Me of his sort of, I'm an American, you know, Philly accent, and I don't know, I just. I feel like this is going to be a big launching point for him. Like, I feel like other people are going to cast him out of this show.

[A]

I couldn't agree more. I think he's a leading man guy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There's no question.

[B]

Really good.

[A]

I could totally see him in all kinds of stuff, so.

[C]

Well, here's a question about Grasso as a character, though. Like, we see this meeting with Jason, Bill, you're right. We get the trope of, like, remember who you're talking to. We also get, though, by the end, Grasso in his desperation, kind of barking orders of his own, which also makes me think, like, they have a longer history than just, like, a guy who is subservient to the assistant regional manager of the Dark Hearts or whatever. But what is it that we think that Grosso is after? Because he seems to be, like, kind of like he's concerned about Tom. It seems genuinely he's helping Jason. Is he trying to help the Dark Hearts get their drugs back, but also get. Whether it's the valor or the commendation or just to save this kid's life, to, like, also bring in Sam? Are those the goals? And is it possible he's, like, kind of straddling both lines in a way that's attempting to be somewhat helpful, if not entirely honest?

[B]

I mean, I think he cares about Lizzie, and I think he cares about Tom, like, I genuinely do. And so that puts him in this huge, conflicted space. As we head into this, everyone's converging on the cabin showdown in the next episode. And I am very worried because he's paired off with Lizzie. It's like Grasso and Lizzie are paired off walking into the woods where all the, like, the MC is. And that is really scary. Can I. Can I read you the part of the craziest email we got? Do you see this email, Rob?

[C]

No. I just can't believe it took us this long to put MC and MC together. Like, again, Grasso and Jason. I think there's something there.

[B]

The motorcycle emcee. Okay, so our listener Maria was, like, going back to the whole Sam talking about deer crossing the road. And we do see a dead deer on the side of the road as Tom and Robbie are driving. She's like, sam's not the deer. She's like, lizzie is the deer. Lizzie is the one who freezes when. When it. When it's most important. This is what she wrote. She Said Lizzie. And the chase isn't the hunter, but the runner, not the prey, but not the full blown predator either. Grasso and Aleyah tackle the robbers like wolves. As Lizzie bolts over fences and through traffic just to get a position where she's in over her head and her life is in danger. She tells Grasso in the moment that she is paralyzed by the pressure of making the right choice. We've been talking about this all season of like if grass is, you know, a rat or a mole rather and, or Lizzie is, there will be a confrontation. This is something that we had wondered about because Lizzie freezing has been sort of stressed so much and so like is, is this, is she going, is she the deer that's going to freeze in the headlights and. And get got because she can't make a move or is she going to, as we were sort of wondering, finally be able to make her move that she hasn't been able to make all season? Like, what kind of show are we watching?

[A]

You know, I'm glad. Well, this was going to be one of my predictions later. I'm doing it now.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

The bridge was that wide shot of the bridge with people going two different ways was really interesting. Lizzie going with DJ Grassanova.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Scary.

[A]

Made me think we're headed toward a moment where they run into at least a couple of the biker gang people.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And somebody says, Grasso, what are you? Like she realizes they know him and freezes and then he has to kill her.

[C]

Oh, I hope that one out there, I mean.

[B]

Yeah, go ahead, Bill.

[C]

Let me, let me ask your managerial opinion on something. If you were running a task force and you had a moment like this where you're all converging in the woods and you have a team of three and a team of two, which team are you putting the woman who freezes on? Are you putting her on the team of three or the team of three?

[A]

I want a three. Yeah. I want a three person. It's not having a non shooter. You can't have two on shooters together in the NBA.

[C]

Lizzie's Andre Robertson just waiting in the corner for her moment. But it's tough, right.

[A]

I think what Rob said earlier, I think this is going to be how they land the plane on this show. Whether this ends up being a great show or not. And I don't know where it's going to go. I think we, we felt after two episodes this had a potential to be a hall of fame HBO show. Right. How they land the plane with Grasso is going to determine that. Yeah, because they'll have two hours left if I'm not convinced. Like, oh, that was fudgeing stupid. Like, he's like the classic, oh, he was working for the other side, but then he still. He cares about Tom and he cares about Lizzie.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There's too much going on with him and if they don't unwind that, I don't think the show is going to hit the levels that it needs to.

[B]

Here's my question. We're talking so much about, like, Lizzie and Grasso from the start. Robbie has. We're like, Robbie's cooked, right? This, this episode. All the talk about, you know, vagrant birds and stuff like that makes it more clear than ever before that, you know, he knows he's done, like, he's done right. And so that's never been the tension. And so what if, like, sort of hidden is the real tension is what's going on with Grasso and Lizzie and agendas and will they figure it out and all of that like that. That the back couple episodes are less about what will happen to Robbie. We know.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

How it will happen, we don't know, but we know that. Like, I mean, I don't think he's surviving this series. We've said that from the start. Right. But, like, so that's not a tension, but, like, what's gonna happen to Grasso, a character we, like, kind of do care about, even as we're like, this guy is responsible for Cliff getting brutally beaten to death in last episode and stuff like that. Like that. That's sort of the hidden denouement of the whole story, you know?

[C]

But if that is our assumption, and it has been that Robbie is going to get caught or got in the end, wouldn't him getting away be the most subversive thing that the show could do? Like, if there's all this fallout, including maybe to Maeve and. Or Sam, but Robbie somehow gets away, I could see that being something that the show is interesting in, interested in. I could also see a situation with Grasso where Lizzie dies and maybe even Jason dies. Like, the two people he's kind of connected to on both sides, but he, in kind of straddling the line, winds up surviving, but also, like, paying a really huge price for everything that's happened.

[A]

Can I give you one more scenario?

[B]

Please.

[A]

The biker gang takes Lizzie.

[B]

Oh, no.

[A]

Second kidnapping.

[C]

Oh, boy.

[B]

Oh, no.

[A]

And then they try to get information from her, but Grasso is on that side. And then has to be in the position of, I like Lizzy, do I Protect her. We did make out on a couch once.

[B]

We. We got the most number of emails from people were about our request to try to identify what season we're. We're in. And we could talk about that whether or not we want to. But, like, as we go into this shootout, Lizzie is already, like, slick with sweat. Like, she is already pouring sweat. And it's not summer. We know that for sure because Tom made so much about the fact that the summer tanager is here. And so it's not Tanner season baseball.

[A]

So it can't be later than September.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I think basically we've. We had. Right. Rob. We had so many emails about so many people were like tracking Phillies games, tracking when the water ice places open.

[C]

Bird migration, migration patterns. It was amazing.

[B]

The fact that Tom has tomatoes from his garden. So. And then the kids are all. We saw Emily in school in this episode. The kids are in school. So I think it is September. I think that's. That's what we've figured out.

[A]

We had some other things happen in this episode. We had Robbie went to see Freddy. We got Freddie Frius back in our life, sort of. That was really fun.

[B]

I mean, I don't know, it felt a little like anticlimactic to me. Like, I was just.

[A]

I was happy to see him again. Well, I think they had to set the tone for. He's going to be more involved in these last two episodes. Right. It was a little tester, but I like that he had his protege. He had. He had his. He. He's the Vito Corleone. He had his little Michael Corleone at his side that he was talking about.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

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[A]

Today we had Perry sniffing out the Aaron thing and just going like really dark villain. Yeah. Nice. Goes to the Maeve's house. I really like that scene, the tension of it because it wasn't really good. They're both. I thought she handled it really well, but the tension of that, of all of that. But he's just, he's like, something stinks here. I'm gonna figure this out. I. And then all of a sudden finds the landing space. And now we have a little quarry. Little quarry race.

[C]

Little.

[A]

A little 100 meter freestyle. And guess what, Aaron, Too many cigarettes for her.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Harry's in boots. He's setting records out there somehow. It was an amazing technique from him.

[A]

What an athlete.

[B]

Here's my, here's my question about Aaron drowning in the quarry. Does that now mean we don't expect Sammy to drown the quarry if, like, can we have two.

[A]

Well, that's the other thing. Sam's and the police might not seem to. Yeah, I'm not going to get my crows scattering as he gets shot in the woods moment that I predicted. I guess I'll take the L on that one. But yeah. Do we see Sam again? Like, so I don't know. There's a lot going on here. I also like Perry being surprised he killed Aaron after he drowned her was just. I thought that was a kind of a weird scene.

[B]

It felt kind of like of mice and many to me and sort of like, I don't know, my own strength sort of thing. Yeah. That he was so concerned with keeping her quiet. I, I think what I'm really missing this season, what I would love to know more about. And we've already, I've already raised. This is like the Perry Jason connection. Like, why is Perry so protective of tender towards Jason? Because the fact that he has now killed the mother of Jason's children is of course this big ticking time bomb inside of the mc. And so the level of that betrayal, like, why he would feel so guilty about. I mean, you should feel guilty if you kill a woman. Like that's, you know, whatever, but like.

[C]

A bold stance, Joe.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Even throwing all human beings.

[C]

Oh, you know what? Anybody.

[B]

You're right.

[C]

Animals kill anything, sure, you guys, why.

[B]

Not spread it around?

[A]

But murder should bring some guilt.

[B]

But the fact that it's Jason's like the mother of Jason's kids, Jason's wife.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, is an extra layer of something for Perry. And I would really like to know why Perry and Jason have this connection and what counter, you know.

[A]

Yeah, counter. She, she. She did this whole, basically this drug stealing ring against the biker gang. She had to go. They got to keep their rep.

[B]

I.

[A]

She went against the gang.

[B]

But that needs to be there. A decision Jason's involved in. You know what I mean? The whole like mother of my children, like weird sort of Omer top shit inside of.

[C]

We got to get the council together on that.

[A]

Yeah. I don't know where you have that combo, but hey, your wife has to go. She's stole a lot of drugs from us. I don't know how she comes back from that with the rules and laws of the biker gang, Rob.

[C]

Oh, I thought you meant back from the dead in the lake. No, I don't, I don't think she was coming back. And ultimately, like, Jason probably would have understood if presented in that way. I do agree with you, Joe, though. It feels like we're missing like one Perry Jason beat. I like that we get to a place where this guy who we have seen just be like so hard edged, is kind of breaking down and a little shaken up by what he has proven to be capable of. And I think that is because this is a personal thing, because he's reacting to Eren the way that Jason reacted to finding out that Eren cheated on him. Right. It's like this emotional, impulsive outburst from this person who has been so procedural and like that part. I like how we got here. I feel like I'm just like missing a little bit of thread.

[A]

Well, I have a friend who has a smoking hot theory that Perry and Jason might. Might be romantically involved a little.

[B]

Wow, Love this.

[C]

I need the Perry Jason.

[A]

That one scene when, when Perry was like their heads were really close and they're spitting on each other, it was like. Yeah, it was a little weird.

[C]

That was like foreplay.

[A]

Yeah, it was like something, something about that interaction. Anyway, I don't agree with that theory, but I thought it was interesting. But that, that certainly would fill in some blanks with what we're talking about, sure. Perry also might just be a homicidal maniac. Could be.

[B]

But I like what Rob's point about it. He's been so in control. Well, to a certain degree. But, like, he's been the one we were just remarking last episode about, like, Detective Perry. And then he shows up at Maeve's house and he gets. He sees the photo of Cliff and Robbie. You know, he does miss the kid hiding in the chicken coop, which actually one of our listeners called that that Sammy would be hiding in the chicken coop. At one point I was like, that's really good prediction. Well done. But, like, that whole thing was so tense. Perry definitely was like, fuck your clean floors. Even though that was a lie they may have told. I love how later he just, like, walked in with his boots. He's like, I don't give a shit about your floor story. He knows Maeve is lying when he says, remember your family. It's such a threat. It's so scary. So to have, like, yeah, Perry, menacing, in control, all this sort of stuff, just lose it on Aaron, but. And now have to hide that from Jason. I mean, I think you're right, Bill, that if he told Jason, like, Aaron betrayed. Betrayed the family. She had to go. But that's not the route he's taking. He's taking. I got to hide this. And now that is definitely going to explode on him somehow. Right.

[A]

So he's got to make up with his girlfriend after the bathroom door incident. That was pretty rough.

[B]

D. You can do better. I swear to you, you can.

[A]

So step up from the. From the coffee. Well, then the other one is May brought Sam to the police. She said, fuck it. Which, it's funny because we've wasted, you know, I think some. Some minutes in the first four episodes. And then the whole Sam going to the police, we don't even see him in the holding thing. He's just gone. Like, we don't even see where he is. Yeah, I thought that was a pretty good scene with Martha Plimpton, though. But. So what happens to Maeve now?

[C]

I think she might also be off the board in terms of potential tragic death, because if she's at least going to be in custody for questioning, I would think, in connection to all this. And maybe Tom gets her off the hook, maybe he doesn't. We'll have to see kind of what her fate is, but I don't think she's getting caught in a crossfire anytime soon.

[A]

What do you think, Jeff?

[B]

Yeah, I do think Maeve is safe from death. But I'm worried. Is she safe from being blamed for all of this criminally so, yeah, that's the question. Can Tom get Maeve off the hook in a way that he kind of promised Robbie that he could, you know?

[A]

Or does Maeve get out of all this and the show ends with Maeve on the highway? Tuesday's gone away. We get the Altman Brothers and we just see the car.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Zooming off in the distance.

[B]

Bill, I hate to do this to you. We did get a lot of emails that Tuesday's Gone is a Lynyrd Skynyrd song and not an Allman Brothers song.

[A]

Good point. Yeah, I did mix that up.

[B]

I was not saying anything.

[A]

I. I just want to say I've been mixing up those bands since the. Since the.

[B]

And I think that's fair.

[C]

Not the only one.

[B]

I think that's fair.

[A]

What would the Allman Brothers. I still like the Tuesday's Gone. I think that's the call.

[C]

Yeah, They're. They're both on smooth, serious country radio or whatever, you know, or at least adjacent to it.

[B]

Do you think Robbie sprang for the family plan? Does like Maeve also have serious.

[C]

That man is not bought a thing for Ma.

[A]

Ain't wasting time no more. Doesn't work for the Mave Driving away. I think it's got to be. Tuesday's Gone.

[B]

Okay. Some Skinner.

[A]

Sorry, Leonard Skynyrd. Sorry I gave you the wrong thing.

[C]

So as she is driving off into the distance, does she just have to raise her two cousins as her own children? Like, is that just her fate for.

[A]

The rest of life? She's moving to Hollywood to become a waitress at Mel's Diner. Try to get some acting.

[B]

She promised that girl she would not leave her. You think she's gonna leave her with her co worker?

[C]

I don't know.

[A]

She's out.

[B]

I love how her co worker was like, for how long, though?

[C]

Reasonable question. Very reasonable.

[B]

How long am I watching these children?

[A]

The other piece. Well, we forgot at the beginning. Robbie goes to. To kill Scary Face Ray and then runs into the wife and the wife's face. I'm a good person. Take me with you.

[C]

I'm a good person. That's why I want to sell all this dope. Come on.

[A]

Yeah, that's why I broke into your house with a ski. Or Cliff's house with a ski mask. I wrote down in all caps here after this scene. Are there any good people on the show other than Maeve? I guess. Tom. Who else?

[B]

We.

[A]

If you just had your good people rankings do we have five?

[C]

Gertie, number one. Unimpeachable.

[B]

Yeah. Sammy. Good old Sammy.

[A]

Yeah. Sam. Fine. There's four.

[B]

We don't know if Martha Plimpton. If Martha Plimpton isn't a mole, but merely an emotional eater, I'm willing to put her on the good person list, you know, look.

[A]

Very emotional eater.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was pretty funny, though, to. To go back to our bagel conversation previously. That was one of the, like, worst looking bagels I've ever seen in my entire life.

[C]

The poll. She has to get that bite. It was like a bagel.

[B]

No, no. Tough. Not good.

[A]

And Tom, I mean, I'm sorry, Robbie. There might be a good person deep down there, but he's also a violent sociopath. So I don't. I can't put him in the rankings. I think we're less than five total for the show. Makes it a classic hbo. Brad.

[B]

That's fair. I think Lizzie's a good person. Right.

[C]

Ish. We don't know about her.

[B]

I think we've known, like, they've given us so many Lizzie scenes explaining who she is. So, like, that's good. A good person. If. Probably should not be in this job person, you know, but not about. And Aaliyah. Right?

[C]

Yes. I think Aaliyah. We have no reason to think or suspect that she's not a good person.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So how did we feel about that whole subplot? Because they. They had the two sisters in the kitchen, and they're still Emily. They want us to care about this, and I don't. And every time I don't care. And it's just no matter how good the show is, they always have to have this one plot that's happening over here, and you're like, oh, here we go. Yeah, I got another four minutes with these two.

[B]

I think it's. It's too bad that that is a. Like, I cared that Emily answered the phone that Tom called Emily. Like, I cared about that. But Sarah and Emily in the kitchen. I had a hard time with Sarah's whole story about her husband and the infidelity. I did like Sarah asking, like, how long have you felt like you could only feel gratitude? I did like that moment. But, yeah, that whole everything with Sarah, Emily, and Ethan, like, it's not jelly the way that the rest of the story. Like, I'm so invested in Maeve, and I'm just, like, not invested in Emily and Sarah the way that the show.

[C]

Wants me to be interesting on paper. Like, again, they're like, Some of the ideas and as you're saying, Jill like them having a moment to confront this idea of what has been hanging over Emily her whole life. Like that could be a good scene. This one just felt like really a little stale, to be honest with you. Like very flat. And I think some of it, like, I know there are many different kinds of families. There are many different kinds of affection. The Brandises are not huggers. So the idea of having your like heart to heart be. I don't want you to feel that way anymore. And my response is to put out my cigarette and walk away. It just felt very cold.

[A]

Yeah. And it's like maybe your husband traded you in for a younger version of yourself because the younger version isn't drinking wine like it's a 50 ounce Diet Coke at a Dodger game.

[B]

We don't know.

[A]

Maybe that's one of the reasons we.

[B]

Don'T know when the wine goes. That feels like a post infidelity.

[C]

It's a compensation.

[A]

Oh, you think, you think it's a response.

[C]

He is the reason she is like, it's not, it's not Sarah's fault. I don't think that Andy found new co counsel. Like, I just don't think that that's necessarily her bag.

[A]

I don't think you just immediately start drinking 20 ounce wines. That'd be my take.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

You got to, you got to be at 16 ounces. Yeah. You're not just graduate into that right away. Anyway, I don't like that character. And, and I wish she wasn't on the show.

[B]

It's. It's not great. And I think you, you referenced this earlier that we're in this like riveting car chase or car scene and cutting away a couple times. And when we cut away to Tom's colleagues frantically trying to figure out where he is, that's one kind of energy. But to cut away to this like resolution between two characters that we're, we're having trouble sort of relating to and it's taking us away from this other scene that is so good. Doesn't do it any favors either.

[A]

We could have, we could have seen Robbie touch the Pennsylvania water for a third time.

[B]

I mean, listen, what about nine more flashbacks of Robbie and his brother jumping in a quarry? I would like it.

[C]

You know, you know what? I'm not mad. I'm not mad at any of it. The water on the shoulders, the flashbacks, the bird metaphors, the talk about God. Like hell, yeah, brother, for me, honestly, come on. Like this is this is why I'm here.

[B]

The vagrant stuff was really good. Rob, I have a really important question for you. When after he's talking to Aaron, Robbie looks up and sees the bird in the sky, did it remind you of the episode of the Sopranos college when after Tony Soprano kills someone, he looks up in the sky and sort of regards the flying birds? Did that ping for you, Rob?

[C]

Look at us. To people who have now seen some episodes of the Sopranos, proud dad we are but fledgling ducks flying out of the pool ourselves.

[A]

I wrote down the quarry flashback to start the show with the two brothers, where it's like they're putting the water on themselves. I wrote down, thank God Robbie had the peace and calm of that quarry growing up, because he never would have become a murdering fentanyl dealing garbage man. Thank God. Thank God that was his happy place. What could have gone wrong if he didn't have it?

[B]

I do like the back tattoos, though, and the fact that, like, Robbie's tattoo now has the dates of Billy's birth and death underneath that matching tattoo on my back. I like it as a visual shorthand for these brothers. And, like, you know, every time we've seen their bare backs, whether as teens or as adults, it's like this is this thing that unites them.

[A]

I think he really loved his brother. All right, prediction time.

[C]

Well, I also do love the water stuff as, like, I mean, the conversation between Robbie and Eren at the quarry, I think is just really, really great. And in particular, Pelfrey in that scene, like, the don't touch me right now, like, he's this. This character is like losing his shit in slow motion and constantly having to, like, calm himself.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And so from that perspective, like, I like the water as a moment as, like, you know, self soothing in a moment of absolute panic.

[B]

I thought Pelfrey's. Pelfrey was so good there. All the play of emotion on his face with Aaron. And then similarly at the end when Tom draws on him, says his name loud enough for Jason to hear, not great, but Tom draws on him. And then all the play of emotion on Robbie's face of, like, what do I do here before he drops on.

[A]

Well, you get the sound piece of it too. Whatever they did with the audio for that, the water picked up, the voices really dropped. I thought it was cool.

[B]

I thought it was really good.

[A]

Well done. Really good predictions. What do we got for episode six? Does. Does. Right. My first prediction question, does Robbie make it to episode seven?

[C]

I'm gonna flip and say he survives I'm talking myself into this in real time. That Robbie will get out of this show a lot.

[A]

Slithers out of it somehow.

[C]

Somehow like he'll be the last man standing on a. On like a standoff in which everyone else dies, basically, and somehow he gets out of it.

[A]

Are we getting a Tarantino three way shootout? One can only hope because we had the triangle coming in.

[B]

Yeah, I. Here's my question. I like Rob's point about the fact that this is the kind like if we use Mare of Eastown as a blueprint, that's a show that had a lot of like, how does Julia Nicholson feel about everything? That like a lot of wrap up room at the end of sort of the climax of that show. So Robbie either dying in episode six or at the beginning of seven, you know what I mean? Like gets shot at the end of 6 and then makes it to 7 or something like that kind of makes sense for me that it. That it won't be what's happening with Robbie up until the very end. We can't possibly do that for two more episodes when everyone is surrounding him at the. At the river. I'm actually most excited to see what Grasso does with the. All of the things pulling on him between his motorcycle allegiance and Lizzie and Tom. How does he handle all of that inside of one of these situations where as Martha Plimpton was careful to tell us, they don't have any reception so he can't send any sneaky texts. It's. It's all got to be like on the ground sort of communication. How is. How is that going to work out?

[A]

Well, key point here, the bridge. They went two separate rays. Right. We know where. Where Tom is, is where all the action is going to be. Right. So Lizzie and Grasso are all the way. If there's any gunfire, it's going to take them probably six, seven minutes just to run the other way to catch up with what happens. Right. So all the action is going to be who else was with Tom? Aaliyah and.

[B]

And Martha Plimpton. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

So it's the three of them in that gunfight and then Grasso coming in late.

[B]

Where's that emcee? Which side of the bridge is the emcee on?

[C]

And they could split up. Right. Like you could see Perry taking some guys one way, Jason taking some guys the other way. Like Grasso and Lizzie have to run into the dark hearts.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Like, I think narratively speaking, they have to do it.

[A]

So Lizzie, the options are get shot, gets kidnapped, changes Grasshows them all and shoots him.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Any other possibilities?

[B]

Not that I can think of. I'm really nervous. I'm really nervous. They've done a good job. Even though we've been like theorizing this from the beginning. Like the Lizzie Grasso flirtation and affection and that connection into this trap again. I'm not nervous about Robbie because I don't think he's gonna make it. So I'm just sort of like, Robbie's gonna die one way or another is how I feel.

[C]

Joanna Robinson doesn't care that Robbie's kids are gonna be orphaned by episode seven. Just absolutely.

[B]

Maeve exists for a reason in the plot.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. It's a. Maeve sticks around probably. And then Sam we just never see again.

[C]

We gotta see him by seven. He has to have a landing spot. I would.

[B]

Yeah. Where does he has to be? Okay, so where does he land? Hopefully not in the system somehow. Do they put it back with Maeve? That seems like an insane thing to do. But, like, is that something that they would do? We did have that listener suggest that he winds up with Tom because they both like animals so much. So does Tom do like a do over adoption with a new kid?

[A]

Oh, Raph's making a major face right.

[C]

Now because it's tough.

[B]

It's not great.

[C]

I don't love my first adopted son murder. Like manslaughtered slash third degree murdered my wife. So I'm just gonna adopt a new son.

[B]

I agree.

[C]

That's toug.

[B]

It is tough.

[A]

So Maeve's driving away to the Almond brother. Leonard Skinner. Tuesday gone. She's. She's going away. Sam and Maeve's oldest one that she said we're going to protect. Both now living with Tom and they're feeding animals in the back and that's how the show ends.

[B]

Does Tom also adopt Gertie? That's my question.

[A]

Tom's adopting everybody. Tom adopts Lizzie. Lizzie's moving in too.

[C]

It's a real Brady Bunch situation by the end.

[B]

Are the.

[A]

Speaking of Tom, we. When do we get the trial?

[C]

Maybe never.

[A]

Like the. Or the hearing to see if the son wasn't that like right around the timeline we have right now. Well, we have two episodes left for that.

[B]

Right? He talked about like, yeah, he's got it. He's got to figure his shit out enough to go to the trials and things like that. Most. I just googled this because I didn't know most of the Allman brothers are not alive anymore, but I think some are and it is not too late maybe for there to be an Allman Brothers cover of Tuesday's Gone just for Bill.

[A]

Well, they both had the Allman Brothers and Leonard Skinner both lost band members at like the peak of their power.

[B]

Yeah, I know, but there's like some.

[A]

Surviving members, you know, they always should just combine.

[C]

Does Robbie play bass? Like maybe there's a future career for him off the grid somewhere, you know, just get out of this life.

[B]

Maybe, maybe it's time for DJ Grassanova to give us like a mashup of Leonard's dinner's Tuesday's Gone and an Almond Brothers song just to like really classic girl talk material. Yeah.

[A]

Does DJ Grasanova make it to the end of episode seven?

[C]

I think he does the end of.

[B]

The show, but he makes it alive. Alive but in custody or that part, I don't know.

[A]

Well, here's my next question. And this is gonna get, I think a lean back mouth face thing from Joanna. Are we sure this is a one season show?

[C]

Asking you shall receive because you always do this.

[B]

You always do this to me.

[A]

The smart move if this is going to be a more than one season show is for everything gets resolved. But DJ Grassanova still on the floor of this and becomes the centerpiece of season two as they try to realize, like, wait a second. And now he's with the biker gang and he's trying to juggle these two identities. Basically Matt Damon in the last 20 minutes of the Departed after he actually gets away because spoiler alert, Leo got shot. Movie's been out for 20 years. Sorry. But when Damon like gets away and gets away with it, maybe that could be season two of this show.

[B]

Who's Donnie Wahlberg in season two of the show? That's my question.

[A]

Oh yeah, but, yeah, but that's like Mayor of Eastown. We knew that was a one and done. I don't know if this is a one and done. They've never said anything.

[B]

Oh yeah. I haven't seen whether or not they said. They might have said one way or another. That would be interesting. I don't know.

[C]

It would be. It would be an amazing like post finale like Task is renewed for season two news drop. But I think Mark. Mark Ruffalo's involvement tells us this is a one season show or at least that Tom Brandis is a one season.

[B]

But imagine doing season two with like, what is Martha Love and respect to Martha Plimpton. Is Martha Plimpton like anchoring the show?

[A]

And it sounds like John Ham's right there. He's more than willing to come into.

[B]

All streaming franchises for the second season.

[A]

Ten weeks. And he's right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Moved around with a Pennsylvania accent.

[C]

He's playing cops.

[A]

Anything else before we go?

[C]

I am professionally obligated to comment on. Robbie makes a joke when they're having their nice car ride together. He and Tom that actually the duffel bag is full of basketballs and actually they're headed to a pickup basketball game together. Scouting report on Tom Brandis as a pickup basketball player. Really moves the ball.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Can only score between 4 and 6ft on weird little flip shots. Horribly out of shape. I've played with that guy a million times. Robbie Scott.

[A]

Definitely, definitely get somebody hurt.

[C]

Oh, 100% gets blue guy.

[A]

But. But undercut somebody on a rebound. Everyone's mad at him. He's apologizing. He's a nice guy. So you don't stay mad at him. Yeah, we've played with him.

[C]

He gets to come back but everyone is still kind of quietly pissed at him. The Robbie scouting report. He is the guy who takes the worst possible shot in the worst possible moment because he has decided it is Robbie Pendergrass time. So I have also played with that guy unfortunately. But such as life.

[A]

Yeah, his and his brother was way better than him. But sometimes he could he check it up. But his brother was awesome.

[B]

Oh, Billy, everyone. Billy was great.

[A]

Billy was just great at everything. Except apparently pleasing his way or not. Oh, no. That was Jason.

[B]

How dare you.

[A]

That was such a great joke.

[C]

Yeah. Billy is unimpeachable. He had everything Billy was good at.

[B]

Please. Sure was.

[A]

Damn, I almost landed that one. Any other things we have to have before we go other than episode six? First ten minutes is going to be one of the TV moments of the year.

[B]

I'm really excited for this.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I look forward to getting eight more exclamation points from Bill on whatever happens in those first six minutes. Minutes.

[A]

Are we together for the last episode?

[C]

I hope so. Joe, are you coming through?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You'll be in town. Are we going to be able to get a screener of the last episode?

[B]

Don't we have it?

[C]

I think we.

[A]

The seventh.

[B]

I think we have it.

[A]

Oh, I haven't. Look, I'm afraid in the way they do the screeners. I don't even go past the episode I'm watching because they actually have a lot of. They don't a lot of description of the next episode.

[B]

They don't description. But what I really like about them screeners on the HBO site is that they don't have thumbnails.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

You know what I mean? So you're not like, well, I know so and so survives till this episode or something like that. So I like that, you know, the.

[C]

The thumbnail for the finale is just Aaliyah, like, really smelling something strongly.

[B]

Bob, I hope this happens for you. I really do.

[A]

This is. Yeah, this is your best one.

[C]

Chekhov's sense of smell. And also Chekhov's. Perry's claw marks around his neck. Like, look, they're gonna come back. I don't know what to tell you.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Because he did. He lied about whatever. Jason's gonna figure out at some point during the sixth episode that Perry killed his wife. And it might just be as simple as she just pops out of the water dead. Like, what lies beneath style. Who knows?

[B]

Did he not do something with that body?

[A]

And he's just in the water. He probably tied a rock.

[C]

I also don't understand, like, he kills Aaron, and his explanation to Jason for why his face is all messed up is, I slipped in the shower. My guy, you're middle management for the dark hearts. Like, you can just say, I had to take care of some things. It's cool. You don't have to make up the shower story. Just an own goal by him.

[B]

You think Perry's gonna start wearing a lot of turtlenecks in this unseasonably warm early fall?

[A]

He's got, like, his dark car. It's got the logo, turtleneck. All right. Thanks to Joanne and Rob. Thanks to Donnie. Thanks to Justin Sales. Thanks to Leonard Skynyrd and the Altman brothers. Hopefully they'll combine for the. For the. For the end credits. Good luck to all the people. We want to survive. I really hope DJ Grassanova doesn't shoot Lizzie, because that would be depressing. We'll be back for episode six, and then we'll do the season finale in person, hopefully. Great to see both of you.

[B]

Yeah, likewise.

[C]

Thanks, Bill.

[E]

Adjective used to describe an individual whose spirit is unyielding, unconstrained. One who navigates life on their own terms, effortlessly. They do not always show up on time, but when they arrive, you notice an individual confident in their contradictions. They know the rules, but behave as if they do not exist. New Teen, the new fragrance by Miu Miu, defined by you. Your teen. Adjective used to describe an individual whose spirit is unyielding, unconstrained. One who navigates life on their own terms, effortlessly. They do not always show up on time, but when they arrive, you notice an individual confident in their contradictions. They know the rules, but behave as if they do not exist. New Teen the new fragrance by Miu Miu defined by you.