Better Cast Saul - 404 – Talk

Okay, okay, perhaps we shouldn’t have used the dreaded “b”-word when describing this episode of AMC’s Better Call Saul, “Talk”. But we’re just saying, sometimes the show’s “stately” pace dips into the realm of the “staid”, and it’s times likes this two fan boys can hope for some Cousins’ fueled mayhem. Still, the episode had its stand out moments; Mike’s intense reaction to Stacey trying to move on from the death of his son; and Kim’s soul searching by way of low stakes courtroom drama. But we’re already looking ahead to the job Gus has for Mike. We discuss all this plus tons of feedback… see you next week!

Bald Move Pulp - Sharp Objects Ep. 8 – Milk

We thoroughly enjoyed the experience of watching Sharp Objects these past few months. While we could, and do, nitpick a few storytelling elements here and there, we found the finale to be of a piece with the whole. Maybe there weren’t satisfying answers to every single element or question raised by the series, but isn’t that the way life goes? We feel we got enough through Camille’s point of view to understand what motivated Adora and Amma, and liked that the show left some things ambiguous and open to interpretation. But what did everyone else think? We’ll be back next week to discuss the next few episodes of Castle Rock and bat clean up for Sharp Objects. See you then!

HOTD: A House of the Dragon Podcast - 307 – The Bear and the Maiden Fair

On this week’s episode of our summer Game of Thrones rewatch, “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”, Brienne picks on someone her own size, Joffery tries talking politics with his grandpa, Robb YOLOs his way through a fraught political position to buy some extra time to consort with his queen, and Sansa and Tyrion lament their respective fates. For feedback we discuss the relative intelligence of wights, debate the apparent height of the Wall, and consider people’s pet theories on what things will look like post series-finale of Thrones. See you back here next week!

Better Cast Saul - 403 – Something Beautiful

We continue to be pleased at the pace Better Call Saul is maintaining in the early stretches of season 4. Checkov’s letter? Bam! Here it is. Waiting to see how long it will take for the other shoe to drop on Nacho’s flip by Gus? Blam! Blam! You got it. There’s also some suggestion of how Jimmy eventually becomes an important underworld connector in the Breaking Bad timeline, if you know how to connect the dots. Plus, we get a pair of nifty back-alley surgery/thievery sequences. All this and tons of feedback, coming your way!

Bald Move Pulp - Sharp Objects Ep. 7 – Falling, Castle Rock

On today’s BMTV, we discuss the penultimate episode of HBO’s Sharp Objects, “Falling”, as well as our thoughts on the first six episodes of Hulu’s Castle Rock. Sharp was an especially wild hour, chock full of stomach churning child abuse and problematic sex scenes between damaged and self-destructive people, before promising a truly epic conclusion from the setup of a five way collision between Camille, Amma, Adora, Alan, and Chief Vickers. Will Detective Willis find his way into the middle of this perfect storm? 

Bald Move Pulp - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002)

Special thanks to Brian Strader, previous commissioner of the podcast for the underrated sci-fi saga, Babylon 5. This time he’s back to, as he says, “play ‘TV Show Dumpster Fire’ roulette.” Unfortunately we think he may have lost by betting on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. We were suitably impressed with the detail of the animations, certain aspects of world building, and the themes were philosophically engaging here and there. Unfortunately, other aspects of the world building struck us as silly or worse, the dubs and probably general translation on the version we watched were almost universally bad, and the themes that were otherwise engaging have been either dated or made more engaging by later works such as Altered Carbon.

HOTD: A House of the Dragon Podcast - 306 – The Climb

We’re back with another terrific season three episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones, “The Climb”. Of course the title refers to the Wildlings’ epic climb of The Wall, but also Littlefinger’s unhinged speech about chaos delivered to a shell shocked Varys. Both are amazing in their way, as is Lady Olena and Lord Tywin’s political duel in the Hand’s chambers. We discuss all this plus tons of fan commentary and questions!

Better Cast Saul - 402 – Breathe

AMC’s Better Call Saul delivers the goods in another tense episode, reminding us to “Breathe”. Between Gus’s high stakes plot to squeeze the Salamanca gang by taking ownership of Nacho to Kim’s blistering of Howard in his own firm over his callous treatment of Jimmy, this episode had plenty of fireworks. Speaking of Jimmy, the real mystery that is driving a lot of the intrigue this season is the man himself. What’s going on with him? Why is he going through the motions with Kim? Why can’t he get out of his own ways? Is the ghost of Chuck still haunting him, or are there deeper problems going on in his mental machinery? We ponder all this and more with the help of plenty of fan feedback!