Sarah Belmont: Happy birthday to my little brother. Just turned 30 today

Sarah : Greetings. Nerds this is Scene N Nerd. I'm your host, Sarah Belmont, and with me, as always, is our Mr. Producer, Will Polkl. How are you doing tonight?

Will: Will doing very well. Do you remember what day this is? It.

Sarah : This is September 21. To my little brother. Just turned 30 today.

Will: Happy birthday to your brother. I was going to throw in the Earth, Wind of Fire September song as well.

Sarah : That was my mom's hall of fame. One of her top five favorite songs ever.

Will: Oh, yeah. I was going to play it, but then I was like, I don't want to get but then I don't know how much I could play before I get a copyright block.

Sarah : Yeah, like maybe one note.

Will: Yeah, exactly.

Sarah : No, but shout out to my little brother. He never listens to the show, so I can say this, but he is a big old 30 year old today. So shout out to Tim.

There seems to be some movement with the writer strike, Will

Sarah : Will we started off with no news, and, now we got some good bad, some in between news. Like the in between news is the story of this year, which is the multiple, the writers and the actor strike that's currently going on. But as of this week, there seems to be at least some movement with the writer strike. So tell us more, Will.

Will: Yeah, so there is some movement with the writer strike. The CEOs of the Big Four, as far as what am, met with the leadership of the Writers Guild. so Disney, Universal, Netflix, and, let's see, I'm leaving out one anyway. But, the bottom line is they have very good discussions and looks like the residual issue is still one that seems to be a sticking point. But I think there is some movement there. The ampt. The studios want to have a success based residual scheme in the streaming world. Because really, it's really all about the streaming at this point, given that so much content is being produced for streaming versus broadcast. And then the WGA really wants to do a viewership model where, they would get a negotiated increase for every two and a half million views of people who have at least watched a half of the program. So that's one of the things they're still negotiating. another point, is, of course the, issue. The studios are still, basically like, look, people can use AI. It's not going to impact the pay or the credit story credit. But the WGA, the Writers Guild still has some concerns about that, as well as, making sure that AI is not being used to train people, as far as the writing.

Sarah : Right.

Will: So there's still some sticking points on that. also, I know with, the, other issues still deadline has a very good breakdown as far as the residuals, as far as how things are calculated under the old deal versus what could happen in the future. but the other thing is, they've met for two days now. there is a possibility that they'll meet tomorrow. If they don't meet tomorrow, they'll take a break for Yom Kippur, and then meet again next week. but I think as of the article I read just shortly before coming on tonight, they haven't officially scheduled a third meeting yet, but looks like everybody's talking. I know, some of the trades are reporting things are going well. I know CNBC, the business reporter, tweeted out that either a deal has to be made now, or they're not going to get anything done until January. But WGA and everybody's close slow, your know, business reporter, you're out of your lane. yeah, but bottom line is, it looks like progress is being made, and hopefully we'll have some good news. The white smoke will be coming out and we'll hopefully have the writers will have a new deal, and then they can move on to the, Screen Actors Guild next. But we'll see what happens. Stay tuned.

Sarah : Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's a matter of time. Clock is.

Will: I mean, obviously a lot of folks probably saw this. Yeah, clock is ticking. I think all the stuff that happened with Drew Barrymore and Bill Maher and all the things that the talk shows last week, even though Drew's under you know, she was moving forward with her show under the Screen Actors Guild carve out for TV shows and TV talk shows and game shows and, know but clearly everybody's done. People want to get it.

Doom Patrol will return on October 12th after ten years

Sarah : some semi good news is that after what seems like ten years, it was confirmed that Doom Patrol will come back on October twelveTH. we will see it through, however, because we were just talking during our preshow that there is actually, surprisingly, a bunch of new shows and shows returning within the next month, that we've done some priorities. And, so we're going to push Doom Patrol back a bit. No spoilers, you all. No spoilers for us. keep your mouth shut if you watch it. and I hope everyone does watch it, and I hope if you haven't watched it yet, at least check it out, because arguably, the first season is like nearly perfection. It does drag as the seasons go on, but, there's a real charm. And we've grown attached to these characters, so we want to see it through. We want to see how their stories end. and so I'm glad we got confirmation that we're not going to be stuck in a dead end land forever. It will be a proper conclusion. so look forward to that to come within the next few months. Yeah. Will, this week last week I was telling you how I got caught up in a K drama. And so that wrapped up a lot of my watching time. But this week I fell back to my old favorites. Like the amount of random. I've seen some of them like four or five times, if not ten. It's ridiculous. But I just threw it on and I watched some other weird classics in my book.

The morning show on Apple Plus returned this week

Sarah : But the one new thing I did, because it returned this week, was the morning show on Apple Plus. so they dropped two episodes. They dropped two episodes. And now it's going to go one week to week, if I'm not mistaken. Season two, they dropped three episodes. And season one, they definitely dropped three episodes and then did week to week. this show, it's so interesting because I feel like it takes two years before we get a new season. And as soon as you see Alex Jennifer Aniston's character, you're I know, I understand what's going on. It I get it. I don't know, there's something about her in this role that is just really good. I'm not that big of a fan of Reese Witherspoon's character. I think she's actually a weaker character and I just don't like pretty much any of her storyline. but I'm surprised that since the initial premise of, this following the MeToo movement and talking about, male anchor who abused his power and authority in the workplace and how that affected female producers, female, writers his female co hosts and all the ramifications of that, how that was wrapped up, arguably in season one. And then in season two, they did this whole spin on COVID. And now season three. It's not yet clear to me what they're doing, but I do feel like they're doing a little thing with Elon Musk. They're doing a little thing because people are going into space and taking civilians. I don't know where this season is going, but I'm quite intrigued after the first two episodes, because for them to have a show off of a premise that you close out so quickly, and yet, for whatever reason, because the characters are very good in this workplace, you're like, oh, yeah, I remember him, I remember her. They have this connection and then this and that. You're kind of okay, okay, we'll see what the story is this season. We'll see what happens. So it's good. And John Hamm is on this season.

Will: Oh, yeah, I think I did see that. I did see have other than just a, free preview of Apple TV, I saw a little bit of season one. I haven't watched anything, obviously, since. but what I did watch, I did enjoy. And of course, it is one of these shows that, definitely has the cultural zeitgeist, as you said. Very timely topic. So if you're poking fun at Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos at this time, I could totally see it's. Totally.

Sarah : Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

HBO's winning time was canceled Sunday; many fans are upset

Sarah : You, on the other hand, got some disappointing news this week.

Will: Yeah, very disappointing. News. So winning time on HBO was canceled Sunday and literally like I'm watching the episode and then jump on Twitter after it's done and see the news that literally ended at 10:00 and at ten one, the news came out that the show was canceled. We've talked about the show and how really season two was just really overall really good. There were some moments like any show that some parts could have been tightened up or they could have maybe not explored certain characters and all. but yeah, it was canceled. I know a lot of people were very upset with that decision. Change uh.org, petitions have been put out by fans for folks to sign to maybe help have either HBO change their mind or try to find another network for it. But it sometimes works. but many times it doesn't. But like I said, the finale apparently I learned watching Jeff Snyder and Roca on their hot mic show. I didn't know this but I guess HBO actually filmed two finales for season two. one where the one that aired which was a montage of basically they added a scene where Jerry Bus and Jeannie are like on the floor to form and Jerry's just talking about how Jeannie at some point is going to own all this. And then they do a montage of what happens after the Lakers lose that first Classic series in 84 to the Celtics. And of course how the series basically during the 80s, either the Celtics or the Lakers, one of the franchises was in the NBA Finals after that 84 season. and then how basically Magic and Larry basically saved pro basketball. So you had a lot of montage to that and just the know how Genie Bus actually does end up owning the team and all so on. The one is and I saw this montage before I knew that the show was canceled. Of course with that first series in 84, the Lakers lost to Boston at seven. And game seven, I was like very interesting. And then I saw the news and I was just like shit this sucks. I really like this show.

Sarah : Yeah, I know you did.

Will: Yeah. But I think it was a victim of I think strikes didn't help because normally the cast would have been able to get out there and promote. I think also honestly I forgot that it was coming back because they didn't really do a good job of promoting it during the NBA Finals. which is like late summer, early summer, early to midsummer. So it was really like oh it's wintertime's back. I think know saw a tweet about.

Sarah : so like funny you should say that because looking back, I would randomly hear other people talk about winning time because they watch it. But I think maybe in the first season leading up to its premiere is the most trailers I ever saw for that show.

Will: Oh, yeah, you're right. Yeah. First season they were because Adrian Brody plays, so leading up to the series, when it started, even, I think even from our platform here, I was really excited about the show. and I really did like the first season and talked about it some. yeah, but as I said, it did get many, many fans shared their angst to HBO Max, or I guess it's Max now. and hopefully it'll get picked up. But if it doesn't, we did have two solid seasons of some really fine television.

Sarah : Yeah. I mean, some shows, Krypton, just, just suffer that axe way too soon, but it happens. And then there's other shows. Flash, Arrow why are you killing this? Why are you kicking dead, Doc?

Will: Overstaying. they're welcome. But, the sell by date was yeah, but especially Ah. I think the other thing too, is where people were just really like, what the fuck? You finish it on the Lakers losing to the Celtics. There's a famous, podcaster ringer, Bill Simmons. He's a big Boston Celtic fan. It's like Bill Simmons pay the pay HBO to do.

Sarah : No, no, HBO doesn't need other people's money. It just needs, all right, well, let's switch it up and talk about Ahsoka.

Baylon: I liked this week's episode more than last week's

Sarah : because I do have some thoughts about this week's episode. again, I liked last week's, I just can't stress it enough. I did really like last week's episode, but when I was watching this episode, I know what was missing for me. And it was Motherfucking Balin. Yep, Balin. Okay. I know everyone's like, oh, Thrawn, Thrawn and Thrawn's. Cool. And I like him. Like, perfect bad guy already. Off the bat. However, Balin coming off of an episode that did feature Darth Vader and kind of was much more about, Ahsoka and her issues than but, but for whatever reason, while I was listening to a lot of Balin's dialogue, because he like, Anakin is a fallen Jedi. He's a Jedi turns Sith in all of this madness. Well, yeah, okay, he's not a Sith, but he's also not like green lightsaber or whatever. But anyway, he's not a part of the Order. That is for he, but anyway, what I was getting at is I found it interesting to hear about when Shiv asked, what do you miss about Get? And then you hear him talk about the idea of it, like what the hope was. I'm pretty sure that's what he said. and then you also hear about how when everything was burned to the ground and it was all taken from him, he didn't understand why in a way, he's like a semi historian who's like I looked back and I realized this was always going to happen. It's happened before. I love the line. Just it just is a circle. It's constantly it's a cycle that I want to break, which shout out to Game of Thrones, because for anybody who's watching ahsoka. And who has watched the first series of Game of Thrones, please tell me I'm not the only one who immediately thought of when Daenerys was talking to Tyrion about breaking the wheel. It's the same thing. It's a cycle. There's these families targaryen I don't know my Game of Thrones very well, but I'm telling you it's a very similar thing where all of these families are just switching out who gets to sit on that throne. Here we only have two, we have the Jedi and we have the Sith. But still I was like, oh my God, that is such a cool there I don't know about you, but he gives me such King Arthur vibes. Oh yeah, like one who would sit at the just it's so Shakespearean with him. It's really cool.

Will: It really is cool. And you're mean Baylon. We've talked about rest in peace Ray Stevenson being MVP of the series, but he really mean and you're presence that just it. Is that Arthurian Gravitas that he just brings to the role and the dialogue, as you noted. The and even though at the beginning of the episode, Willie had ahsoka for really the first few minutes but her and Huang talking about the stories and then later it really sets it up. Well, when Balin comes back and talks about being there in a temple and talking to Shen about the fables and the storytelling. As far as hearing about Paridia and all these things at the time, he thought they were just myth and folklore. and now here he is and he feels something about that place calling him to break that cycle that you talked about, where he know, Morgan has her game, Thrawn has his thing, Balin has his agenda and his agenda and his agenda is breaking that cycle. And whatever is on paridia, he feels that first, I thought maybe it was the world between worlds that he was trying to access, but more I think about it. M to your point about bringing Anakin into this and Ah thinking about Anakin being the chosen one, but then when you think about all the lore that they've been bringing up from Clone Wars with the Mortise family and three sisters and the Force and all those kind of things. So the Mortise are like the ballots, the father, son and daughter, the light, the dark in the middle that brings everything together. And I think that's the beginning thing that he's trying to find to break the cycle once and for all, to bring that balance, to end this constant warring cycle between the Jedi and the Sith.

Sarah : You think Mortis is on.

Will: Mean? Yeah, because the three sister, the Night sisters at Dathomir, that the grand sisters there on Tie, they all tie back to that galaxy. And so in that galaxy, of course, they attacked the Force through magic with the K, there is that source power that he's just trying to get to that for once and for all, he will be able to end all this nonsense because he was there, order 66. And clearly he knows what Anakin did.

Sarah : But I took from his speech, he knows that the rebels are just foolish. They won, but they're not governing correctly. They're going to let what happened it's because the genius of having andor run, having andor shown last year so quickly before this, what I took away from that speech was like, yeah, they're in power now. They won. But just winning doesn't mean you get to hold on to that power forever, because your adversary is just regrouping, just like what you did when you weren't in control. And so when he says their weakness, I was like, okay, yes, they're a bit too weak to fully lead, and that's why the cycle is just going to repeat. But to go back to your point about what he's looking for, I think that's why I'm drawn to his storyline, is because Filoni and team have done a really good job with this character of giving him more mystery. Not to say that everyone else is pretty cut and dry. However, we talk about it all the time, like how the parallels between the shows and how there is this habit of repeating some beats with these characters. but with him, he's very different. And I do like the fact that, yeah, he does know what Anakin did, but he almost gives what I think a lot of viewers, whether a common viewer or someone deep in the lore, is really wanting to understand. Is it's more about that mentality change with Anakin, about what his thinking is, because you just don't go overnight from bad to good. Yeah, we won't talk about the prequels.

Will: We won't talk about the sequels. How about that? But also to that, knowing what happened.

Baylin trains Shen to be what the Jedi really were supposed to be

Will: And again, I'm glad we started with Baylin, because when he talks about the ideal of a Jedi and the cycles and really getting into, whenever he finds the know identified, the you know, and he talks know, gets into and wanted to train Shen to be. Something gets again, it goes back to his ties, back to his motivation of yeah, thrawn has, morgan has and thrawn have their little thing going here. Everybody else got their own little know, whatever whatever source that he is trying to find to end this cycle of Jedi, Sith rebels, Empire generational conflict. Basically, he's training her to be better, because up to this point, to aspire what the Jedi really were supposed to be. And it really goes back to what Obi Wan said, at least, the idea the Jedi was to be the peacekeepers and to keep things proper in the universe and to keep balance in the Force and be know. But because of, I guess the Temple Jedi, for lack of a better term, lost their way. And instead of relying on the Force, they became relied on the government. And of course, we all know what happened there with Palpatine using them. And then you had these spoken Jedi who the ones in the wild, like Luke, Bray, Ezra. So he's looking at them like, well, they ain't know. I don't know if it's like a purity test or maybe not they're not Temple, not they're just these people who just kind of they learned a few little parlor tricks and can wield the Force, but they're not like what I'm making you to be. Shen, which is something more that can help me execute whatever his master plan is.

Sarah : That will I don't think he has a master plan. I don't think he's necessarily a villain. I think, in a way, while you were talking, I was thinking about this, because your ideas, gave me some more to think about. But I don't think he has a master agenda, but he doesn't want to follow others agenda, whether it's like with Thrawn, he doesn't want to just follow Thrawn on what Thrawn wants to do, and he doesn't want to follow Luke on what Luke wants to do. And what Luke is saying the Jedi way is no, he's like I feel like he's almost looking for more freedom, like, just more of the dark side has its virtues and the good side has its virtues. And in between is really where everyone should be, because, it is interesting how, at the beginning, when they land, the witches sense Sabine right away as being a Jedi.

Thrawn's reaction to learning that Balin was once a well is interesting

Sarah : Right?

Will: Yes.

Sarah : Oh, I was just going to say but none of them say anything about Balin. And what I found to be interesting is Thrawn's reaction to learning that Balin was once a well, he well, it's.

Will: Very clear that Thrawn was around back to the Clone War.

Sarah : he he knew yeah, I know why he had that found. I found it to be a good choice for the witches who are not necessarily going off of their history with the people, but more about the magical sense of oh, I sense the force in you or whatever. And sniffing that out very heavily in Sabine, but not with Balin, which kind of puts him in this place, where whatever, was once a part of him that made him a Jedi. It's clearly not there, or else the.

Will: Magic would have spotted was a that was a very smart story choice. I think that was definitely showing as well as telling, in a good way.

It was interesting whenever they sensed the Jedi taint on Sabine

Will: and it was very interesting whenever they sensed the Jedi taint on Sabine. And as I was watching that, I was wondering, is it as much, of a thing where she can is it, Ahsoka's, echoes around her, or she really is she is Jedi sensitive, Force trained. And given that the witches are familiar with the passage, given that the Wells, the Pergola have come back and forth, they're familiar with things in the other, know, with that being said, I'm glad. And again, a very smart way with introducing Thrawn and his return, because of course, Sabine's putting into another cell, and of course he tries to use the Force. And I love the way they set that whole thing up where after they do the headfick, where they're like, making you got your Jedi and things start to move, and then we realize that it wasn't her. It was just the Star Destroyer coming in and all that. So I really liked that aspect of using that scene as a way to again, do that headfake of like, oh, Sabine's finally going to be able to do it. But no, she.

Sarah : yeah.

Did Thrawn live up to your expectations or do you need more

Sarah : And then that brings us to.

Will: As a so I have to ask, for someone who's heard about Thrawn, but either the Mandalorian and haven't watched Rebels or anything else, did he live up to your expectations, or do you need to see more?

Sarah : Oh, I need to see more. Not that he expectations are a funny thing. I was not underwhelmed. I was not underwhelmed, but I wasn't surprised by anything that he did this episode. Actually. I guess maybe I was just a tiny bit, underwhelmed because I'm like, m, okay, you're clearly overcompensating for something. That's all I'm saying. Huge ships and a lot of undead troopers that stand at your will. And all of his dialogue was great. The acting was great. But I had heard so much about him that when he was finally here, I didn't feel like I got punched in the face. I didn't feel like, oh, my God, best villain, because I haven't seen too much in action. He's just a man who's like, okay, dude, I'm glad you're here. Thank you for doing what I said to do. We got to go because I'm done. I'm done here. I got my plan, I got my troops. And then he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean you brought Ahsoka here? Unknowingly. Fuck you. Now we got to do like and there were hints and dialogue choices that I picked up on where, yeah, he's clearly a bad guy, but, it wasn't a surprise. I'd heard so much about him, I was kind of expecting all of this from him. neither Thrawn nor Ezra punched, me in the face or was like, wow, great. And I know we're going to talk about Ezra because I did I will say right now, thrawn's whole entrance, significantly more on board with it than Ezra, because I have questions. And this also partly stems to my continued disdain for Sabine. I have major, but yeah, Thrawn did give me one of my favorite characters this episode. Tattoo, tattoo.

Will: Tattoo.

Sarah : Was howler freaking scene stealer.

Will: The howler was a stealer. Yeah.

Sarah : Okay. The Howler made 25% of Sabine's scenes work.

Will: They really did. no lies have been told.

Sarah : No lies. And then on top of that, they brought in not turtle people. Somebody please tell me. After watching this episode, you have now begun to write fan fiction of where Grogu and the non Turtle Rock people become friends and family.

Will: Yeah, the show writes itself. I mean, the naughty and grogu. Yeah, that's your next story in the New Republic time frame filoni.

Sarah : Yeah. But, enough about the cute little creatures. What about you, Will? One episode off, but did they deliver? What are your thoughts about how they were like here's? Brawn. Yeah, here we go.

Will: I thought they delivered for me as a Rebels fan, and seeing the tactician. The quintessential scene for me with Thrawn was after he learned about yep. And where he turned to Morgan and said, I need to know who was she trained? Know, just going down all the things because that is Quintessential rebel Thrawn, where he sizes up an opponent because he's not going to throw hands and beat you physically. Even though in Rebels, they used to show him fighting with combat droids and stuff so he can hold his own because the Chiss, which is his race, they are warriors. but it's the tactical mind that really i, thought they really captured.

I did have a quibble about the Introduction, where I Think they Did Not

Will: Well, obviously, the physical aspect with the voice, having Lars portray him in live action after doing the voice work in Rebels, that was so clear. the devotion that is both probably dead and undead. The zombie Night Troopers. some of them probably did Survive, the voyage between the Galaxies, I Guess ten years ago at this point in the Timeline, Star Wars timeline, that was the one thing if I did have a quibble about the Introduction, where I Think they Did Not do not saying it was a little detraction. I wish they had just had a little bit of dialogue just to show how Thrawn kept all this together.

Sarah : Yeah, it's something where you're just like, for the past few episodes, we got to get to this place to get this guy. They get to the place immediately. He gets called upon. He's here, and he's like, okay, let's go. And it's kind of like, well, how are you alive? What's going on with these troopers? Got a new lieutenant. Person with a gold plated mask. Enoch, you got all this stuff, and it's so casual. But I do agree with you. I did find it very good choice where Thrawns throughout 75% of this episode, and yet I don't feel like I got a real good glimpse of Thrawn until he finds out, Ahsoka's, coming. It's until that moment where I almost want to say there's a change in even his eyes, where suddenly it's. Like, for up until now, I am someone who's clearly being rescued and brought back, and I just want to get out of here. And now I hear that I'm assuming an old enemy is coming. and I know this enemy. I'm familiar, so I have to deal with this. Now, while can that tactical mindset started to play was, I was like, okay, now we're getting somewhere with.

Will: Yeah, definitely that one. And also just how he handled Sabine was also a very that was another thrawn move as far as one okay. She's the wild card to okay, yeah, we're not going to kill you. We're going to honor Balin's word. We're going to let you go find your why that's why that's why the Morgan, thing stood out more than I mean, the other one was also good and consistent. It was a very, like, okay, yeah, we know this is going to happen. We know where this is going to go. And then sending Bala and Shin, after them and basically being cold thrawn if the four of them get left behind, screw it. Fine, whatever. Yeah, bigger picture.

Sarah : I did find that to be very Thrawn move of saying and then after them. But I like that because, again, it goes.

Back to Balin. It's so similar between my feelings about Ezra and Sabine

Will: Back to Balin.

Sarah : It's so similar between my feelings about Ezra because again, we get introduced him. Granted, he's not in 75% of the episode, only like, maybe ten minutes, but still, I go back and forth on this will I know we're going to get your thoughts on it, but I get back and forth on this idea that, hey, Sabine, thank you for finding going to I'm going to make sure we won. And it I'm m, I don't think he really asked her, how did you get here? Or did he did he ask her, how did you get here? Okay.

Will: He was like, yeah, we did it. And then she's like, well, let's table that for now.

Sarah : We did it, as in, we got here.

Will: Well, they found him. and he wanted more details, but she didn't want to get into the.

Sarah : Details because then, how did you find me? Got it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I get it. At the end of the episode, you just want to reunite them and kind of dramatically pause on this realization that Sabine has where oh, I didn't really think this through. Well, no shit. because yeah, you find him. But Sabine, now you have to get off the planet. You have to get out of here. You got a one way ticket, but thankfully, Ahsoka was eaten by a whale.

The scene between Sabine and Ezra seemed awkward to me at first

Sarah : but I did see your tweet last night about you having some debate of your own. more of a family debate about Ezra. But why don't you give us your.

Will: actor? He nails Ezra, I have to say. Let me just start with that. M, as far as the spirit of know from the mannerisms, the voice, he nails them where I have problems with that. Where the scene worked for me was this is exactly where we would find Ezra with the Nazi. I mean, that was something that I could totally ball, totally got. It was fine. Where the scene didn't work for me at first was this seems to be a directing choice, I think was the first part of the scene worked when he's like, I knew you would find me. No issues there. It was just after that, the pause. maybe they shot it different ways, and maybe this is where they landed. Maybe they shot it where they did have the embrace sooner, the more emotional scene versus what we got, which seemed to kind of pause. Like, I don't know if it was a thing where Sabine was just so overwhelmed that she just, holy fuck. maybe that was the point. And now that I think about it, she's like, holy fuck, we actually did this. I did. We made it work. And maybe that was why they held off on, the emotional part of them with the embrace and stuff, just to sort of hold on to the bean, to be like, we really did. Awkward.

Sarah : I know exactly what you're talking about. But it just makes me go back to a few episodes ago where we had this discussion about her decision to give Balin the map. And everyone being like, oh my god. And I told you about this argument that I heard that if she didn't do that, she would have died. So in a way, it was a survival move. If you can view it. it didn't play that way. And it's very similar here, where on one, like, watching it without thinking about it, but just watching it, you're like, yeah, that's him. So you're just going to stand there? Dude, you just saw Thrawn and everything that he's getting going FYI, you have no ship off this planet. And you did it all to just stare at Ezra, even as someone who doesn't know their history. I was like, where's the kiss? come on. Here.

Will: Yeah, you gave up the galaxy.

Sarah : You thought this man had died, and you gave up the galaxy to just stare at him and to high five. I don't know. A part of me I'm sure it's just a writing thing, or just, directing writing. Because if they were supposed to kiss, that wouldn't have been an acting choice. That would have been, written in the script. So I'm not going to just blame the director on this. I think it's also a writing choice. but I know exactly what you're talking about. And I've heard similar things where, yeah, you can rationalize it after the fact and say, literally, she thought Ezra was dead. And so the fact that now she's seeing him, he's talking to her, she's like, frozen and just stunned. Did it play that way upon first. Way too awkward.

Will: It did.

Sarah : so, yeah, I don't know what it is. Sabine started off really strong in the series in the first two episodes. But there's something about the choices, whether it's directing acting well, maybe not acting, but directing and writing wise, where they're making her such a I'm going to just say a dumb.

Will: Yeah. No, you called it before. Starlord. That's a very starlord thing to do. But yeah, because the acting I think she hits the spirit of Sabine very I don't it's definitely not an acting thing. I think she's doing a wonderful job as far as the fierceness of Sabe and other things about the character. But yeah, that scene first impression, it did not give a good first impression. I did watch the episode again, and even on a second watch, actually, it reinforced to me, like, it did not work as far as what they were trying to achieve there. now, the rest of the scene yeah, it played normal. It played fine. They just should have just gone right to that. And it would have just been fine. Because everything else, like I said at the beginning, how he greeted her, where she found him, with the naughty, all those things, everything that's totally ezra, everything was great about that scene except for just that initial her initial reaction. as you said, you can rationalize it now, what they intended to do, but as far as execution, it just did not execute it well.

Sarah : Yeah. I don't know. I felt like there was something about the whole scene that felt awkward to me, where it was a good reunion. But I guess what I'm still missing from a lot of this is, as a casual viewer, I'm not getting emotionally punched.

Will: Yeah. And for me, as someone who did watch Rebels, it felt emotionally flat to me.

Sarah : Yeah, it felt emotionally what to you?

Will: Flat.

Sarah : Oh, wow. I was not expecting that.

Will: It did. It was flat once they finally did hug, but it was just flat. I'm trying to rationalize it now, but first impressions is everything, and it just did not land.

Sarah : Yeah. Especially when you sacrifice the universe and.

Will: You start the episode with Ahsoka, and Huang talking about the choices that were so you really need to make it hit whenever they do get reunited. but I will say I'm glad they had all the reunifications all in this episode. They didn't drag it on.

Sarah : Yeah, definitely. sorry. But we do have two episodes of one piece to talk about. More like one episode. and we're going to continue talking about Ahsoka next week. hopefully get some Ahsoka thrawn action next week. We shall see. We got two more episodes there.

Episode four ended with a cliffhanger that I liked very much

Sarah : And so now we're off to the East Blue Sea with one I'm just okay, episode four. You and I were talking this week. We're both on the same page about this, and we knew it. We knew it. We kind of figured. However, one of the best cliffhangers I just like this idea. And maybe why I like it so much is because I was semi right about something with this one line of dialogue. Because at the very end of episode four, and I was very surprised by how quickly the marines caught up, but we see the marines are set in their sights on Luffy and Luffy's grand Mary ship, and he hears Cannonball, and then he's looking out, and then he sees, Admiral Garf, and he says, grandpa. And I'm just like, Are you kidding me, Grandpa?

Will: Yeah.

Sarah : And why I want to go back and say I was semi right is because I told you at the beginning of this series, we have our introduction of Garp, and they find word about a pirate in a straw hat. And there there was something about the way Garp reacted, where I was like, now, I did go on and say, Chosen One. There was some kind of myth or didn't I didn't take the Star Wars route and say they're related. They were clearly related, because they don't look anything. So I was surprised. But I like it because the fifth episode worked so well, considering with that small bit of information, because it just makes so many, whether it's Luffy, Colby or Garp, like, the shades of gray that are happening with these characters. And this world is just beautiful.

Will: Yeah, I completely agree.

Um, really all the thing that really stood out to me in episode four

Will: really all the thing that really stood out to me well, there are a couple of things stood out to me. Episode four. Really don't need to spend too much time on that. The pirates are coming. we are introduced to usop, but also focusing on Usopp and his introduction and how we learn about him, that his father was tied back to, the straw hat pirate, gosh. I'm blanking on his name, Shanks. He was part of the exposition to find the one piece, which was really cool. But the one thing I felt that everybody has a dream, and that's going to get to, Zoro here in a got I guess I got some glimpse of he wants to be a captain like Luffy and sail the seas, but I was hoping to get a little bit more. I felt like I got more about him and his feelings for Kaia than I got. What was his sense of his grand dream as far as being willing to go with Luffy? after all, that what transpired in the episode, but.

Sarah : I agree with you where they didn't do as well as they've done with some of the other characters with the Usop. And the more I think about his character, especially when we see him, part of the crew in episode five is, he's not like Luffy. He's not like, I want to be king of the pirates. I want my own crew. But what we do get is this idea of adventure, this wanting to be a part of something. He's a storyteller. And so his whole life, he's had to tell these stories, because at the end of the day, it's all fiction. And so he wants that. He craves that. But he's never had the opportunity going with Luffy and the crew. He's now going to be able to experience. so I don't think they've said it as directly, with him about his dream, which, granted, we don't really have a dream for Nami yet either.

Will: No, we don't. But we're getting bits and pieces of her background and her motivations as far as why she is sticking around, with the other straw hat pirates, which I feel it will probably get some more with usop as we go further. But I just felt that you're introducing a new character, especially the way they introduced him, as with the flashback to whenever it was a kid. To your point about telling stories, it's kind of like the kid who grabbed Wolf too many, were so there were elements about him that we learned. But I just felt like, in contrast that with Zorro's story, zoro's story, I was like, locked in. and I love,

Sarah : The bottom.

Will: Of the cave as a well and having to climb out of the well, allah Dark Knight, arises. But the flashbacks, really the bigger thing is the flashbacks to him and his, koya and Sparring and really setting up who is going to be the greatest source person in the world.

Sarah : Chloe is not dead, by the way. Not dead. I'm saying that now. Have you watched when she appears? I called it. Hey, don't see them die on screen. They're not dead.

Will: That's right. Yeah, we learned that from the Flash. yeah. but his story, he's just a fascinating character and it really set up what we talked about. I'll put a pin in it till we talked about the fifth episode. But it really does set things up really well to give that story arc in that episode more heft as far as what goes on there, makes sense.

Sarah : You need that background and that history to know why he wants to duel. What's, his face written somewhere.

Will: Yeah, I know you're talking.

Sarah : Yeah, I don't I keep looking at Mihawk and I'm like, that's not him.

Will: For some, really, Zoro's story was like and finding and were really the highlights for me as far as episode four. I mean, the stuff for Kuro, that was the one time in this series where I was kind of like, I did kind of reach I have to admit, I did reach for my phone on that one because he just wasn't compelling. It was just like, yeah.

Sarah : the Captain Black, pirates, whatever they are.

Will: Yeah. I almost wish they could have consolidated episodes three and four, because there was.

Sarah : Not to me, I go back and forth on it. I think that if they had truncated that even more, because you're dealing with usup. You got to get to know usup within that. it has to make sense how they get the ship in the long run. They also have to tell Zoro's backstory. you're also simultaneously dealing with a lot of Garp and Colby's newfound, mentorship thing happening, which you think is just, oh, that's like a C storyline, but no, that's B. That's storyline b throughout this entire season, because that plays in so heavily with what's going on with Luffy especially now that we know that going into episode five, which starts off showing a flashback of Luffy and his grandpa and the idea that his grandpa really wanted him to be a marine but he wanted to be a pirate, Now, I didn't notice he's already wearing the straw hat, so I don't know where Grandpa was just when Luffy was spending all this time with Shanks. So, grant that you had your time. You fucked up. You missed.

Will: I, think I'm glad you brought that up, because if Luffy has a straw hat, shanks already. Yeah.

Sarah : So it's like, we didn't see Grandpa before, and we were told Luffy has no family, like, he's an orphan. And then we see him playing in the sand, and Grandpa comes acting like it's just another Saturday afternoon. I know that they're not going to tell us the whole story. I mean, they got renewed for another season, and there's 27,000 episodes, if not more, of this show. But at the same time, it was a bit like, okay, I know we're going to do some funny things this time, but, dude, you just learn about Garp, why this is so personal for him.

Colby learns about an alliance of pirate captains in this world

Sarah : And, when we see Luffy's able to get away and escape again, I thought it was a very cool thing to hear about this pirate marine alliance in this world, where we hear that, Colby overhears that Garp calls Mihawk, who's a well known pirate captain. but he's one of, I think, five or seven. And there was an alliance that was formed. and then Colby, being so naive about the world and the way the world works, learns about this and then calls Garp out of it, out on it. And then he's like, no, kid, you don't know anything. And I like it because Garp is right. And I will say it in this episode, haircut is actually right, too.

Will: Yeah, haircut is.

Sarah : Yeah, haircut is. And Haircut, especially, is the character who really could be like, that draco, malfoy, evil little, like, oh, I really don't like that character. But there are moments when A, he's right, b, he doesn't hate Colby. They're in competition with one another, and he's annoyed but at the end of the day, so far, we haven't seen him do anything really evil. He just has his own perspective on the world. And so I just think that's a really interesting thing to do.

Will: The thing with haircut and Kobe, too, is I think he's indebted to Kobe, at least for saving his life, because the mast came down, when, like, redirected, the cannonball.

I do really like this episode. It's not just the cliffhangers

Will: back to Grandpa's ship, the Garp ship.

Sarah : I do really like this episode. we get introduced to, they leave us with a duel between Mihawk and Zoro. and it sounds like Zoro isn't.

Will: Like the way they left it. And again, to your point about, the cliffhangers, I had to fight the urge to continue on, because with this ending, and it definitely lends itself to I was talking to a friend of mine today about this show and sharing with them how much I've been enjoying it and they should watch it. and I shared with her that it is bingeable in the sense that the way they have these cliffhangers set up, you don't want to wait till I know we've just made a conscious decision to do it weekly and approach them weekly. But it was hard last night. I have to tell you, because I want to know what's happening to Zoro.

Sarah : It was so far, this show, there has been some awkward writing, there has been some bad acting. Personally, the flashbacks of Zoro I thought were fine, but, I really don't like that kid actor. I didn't think he did a good job at all. I'm like, I can't see you growing up to become Zorro that we know. I just don't see it. but at the end of the day, the characters that we're constantly getting, the history that we're constantly learning about, but not to an extent of where we have to hear five different monologues or it's still simple. yet it really flushes out a very colorful world. and so far, the connections haven't been too so far, Luffy's only related to one Marine. Okay, we'll keep it at that. hey, we haven't met Colby's parents or grandparents yet, so I'm sure he's related to someone which we'll meet down the line. Probably a pirate. Probably shakes. Yeah. but it's good so far. It's not just the cliffhangers. I think it's just like, okay, who are we going to meet next? What's the next adventure? So, it's fun.

Will: Yeah. just thinking, we met several new people whenever we meet Mihawk and we see the bounty, and it's, like, canceled because the Garp and the pirates having an alliance. And as you noted, Kobe's naivete of the world. This is a lived in world, and they do a great job of world building, where all these connections make sense. We meet Sanji, and learns that he loves to cook. And the thing is, he's a very giving person, especially, like, whenever the pirate comes in and he's like, look, everyone is going to get fed here. We're not going to let this guy not have a meal. And it really builds on the thing of how we were introduced to him at the beginning as far as his background. And, even like, whenever he got busted for not wanting to he wanted to make nice meals, but they have a menu that they got to follow. And then it gets shipped out, to be a waiter. But whenever he has an introduction to the straw hat pirates, how the interplay is there with the crew. And you can sort of already see the early formations of like, oh, yeah, he's going to join up with the crew here. I don't need to see the promotional material to realize that. So they really do a great job of just pulling all these various stories together and make it believable that these folks are bonding. And especially like in this fifth episode with Nami and Zoro and how she's finally admits, I care about you. You're my friend. I don't want you to get into this duel because I don't want anything to happen to you. When you think back to whenever, I don't think we've heard that we're not a crew anymore. At least in this episode. Before, they used to joke about, no, we're not a crew. But now they are starting to become a crew. And it's cool, really, seeing that all to come together.

Sarah : Definitely.

Will: Yeah.

Please follow our crew on Twitter or X at Scene and Nerd

Sarah : All right, well, that is it for us tonight. Will, why don't you tell our listeners where they can find you?

Will: Yes, you can find me on Twitter, I guess currently known as X at ah. Willmpolk. Willmmpolk.

Sarah : And you can find me there too at SJ. Belmont S-J-B-E-L-M-O-N-T. Please follow our crew on Twitter or X, whatever you prefer, at Scene and Nerd. Friend us on Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and threads at scene underscore N, underscore Nerd, and visit our website, WW scenanderdpodcast.com. But most importantly, rate follow and comment on Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Good night. Geek out. You're welcome.