Ben Lindbergh

But it just sort of centers me when I watch Freeran.

It's just so calming.

And it's partly the aesthetics because it's a beautiful show and it's got an incredible soundtrack, which I just listen to regularly now, even when I'm not watching Fear.

And so it's partly the aesthetics, but it's also the storytelling and the characters.

And the full title is Fear and Beyond Journey's End.

And that kind of gives away the clever conceit here, which is that it inverts the typical hero's journey or the typical climax of the quest is when you beat the boss, you fight the demon king, the ring gets cast into Mount Doom, whatever it is.

And in Firin, that all happens before the series starts.

And then you pick up.

It's essentially as if Lord of the Rings started at the end of Return of the King when you go back to the Shire or you go to the Grey Havens.

And it's like, well, what do we do now?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Decades have gone by since the original quest.

And Firin is trying to reconnect with her former adventurers by going to the end of the world, essentially, way up in the north to try to connect to their spirits.

In particular, Himil, the leader, the hero who slew the demon king.

And that's the goal.

That's the long-term objective, basically.

But it's a long, winding adventure, and there are a lot of side quests along the way, which is, it's the highlight, really.

Like, last week's episode, half of it was devoted to unearthing this centuries-old liquor.

Yeah.