Jomi Adeniran

Because what I said was, Ciara looks good, and I'm glad that Russell Wilson is continuing to play football. Because if he was at home, he would just get her pregnant again.

Wait, what? I don't give a fuck. I don't understand. I don't even want to fucking get into it. I get it. It's just, God damn it.

Welcome to the Ringerverse. Okay. This is, of course, the Ringer's Nexus podcast feed for all things fandom. We are Steve, the architect almond, the builder and tigger of things. Jomie, the explainer at dinner on. You've got questions. He's got answers. Old man Van, he's the resurgent hairline. No cowboy hat. Yeah, no cowboy hat. You're feeling confident today. Yeah, it's out there.

We'll get to Tay later because I have a perfect comp for who I think Tay is. For who Tay is. I have a perfect comp for Tay from another gigantic movie. But stay on Cassian for one last time before we go. Okay, so you know that Cassian is going to escape the slap dicks. By the way, just to let you know, I hated them. They were so funny though. They annoyed the shit out of me. They were so funny.

There's nothing that I hate. They were slightly plucky. There's nothing that I hate more than dangerous idiots.

I hate dangerous idiots. Wherever you go, just like dangerous idiots. But I will say that to finish off like kind of where Cassian is, there are two things that got me. Number one, when we first see him and then when we last see him. Okay. I'm always fascinated, and I wonder whether or not Gilroy knows what he's doing with Star Wars lore when he's doing it.

As soon as Cassian got into the TIE fighter, I thought about... I'm always going backwards. I'm sorry, guys. I thought about Anakin Skywalker getting into the ship in Phantom Menace. Okay. Anakin, he shoots a couple of times, and then he flies the ship and becomes, like, the hero right away.

I'm about to go to the manosphere. We're on YouTube. No race though. Like, comment, subscribe, share. You can watch every Midnight Boyz the House of R episode on YouTube.com backslash at Ringiverse and also on Spotify. We have to say that. Okay, remind us. Ringiverse is deep on The Last of Us. How many shows do we have that are doing The Last of Us coverage? Why?

Because there's something innate inside of him that makes him just more talented than everybody else. We watch Cassian... Humble around and fuck around with that shit. Shooting the fucking people up. He's going backwards. He's going forward. By the way, that ship is incredibly durable. It didn't blow up inside of the thing and then they were shooting that bitch. It was a very durable ship, right?

And then when he flies out, he crashes it Again, and we watch his learning curve, learning how to fly it, and it makes the chase more exhilarating because there's a chance that he can crash. Yeah. I thought... Which changes the calculus. When you know that there's a chance, you know that Cassian Andor is going to survive that, but there's a chance that he can crash.

And just that little hint of stakes just completely changes the scene.

Now, when he swoops in at the end, Deadly confident. He actually shoots the grain hold to fall on top of the stormtroopers. It is literally one of the more heroic scenes I've seen in Star Wars in recent years.

You're right. Which brings me to the Phoenix crew. That reminded me of Battlestar Galactica.

When you're watching Battlestar Galactica and they're running away from the fucking Cylons and they're jumping one thing before. It's so hopeless. The Empire seems inevitable. The Phoenix crew is my poor baby. My baby be too evil. They're there, but they know that the Empire is coming. And the Empire means them no good. We don't even know...

how sinister the Empire actually is because that guy doesn't just come to capture Biggs. He actually comes to assault her as well. They just take whatever it is that they want and they can only stay one step ahead of them. To maintain that tension in that story for three episodes where nothing actually really happens was just fantastic storytelling. I don't think nothing happens.

We got a lot of people talking about it.

When I'm saying nothing happens, I mean... I mean, there's no combat. When I say nothing happens, I mean nothing that is visual eye candy happens to the end of it.

Chuck, do you think that if it was worth hiding from the Empire, you could be like a, you'd farm the grain? Would you be – how – the Phoenix crew is farming the grain. What's life like as a grain farmer?

They got their IP going strong. House of R will be giving you their Last of Us deep dives as well. I think there's going to be a lot there. Yeah. I think there's going to be a lot there. House of R does really well with the deep dives, and when the show has deep, deep deep, deep lore is when I feel like it's the best. And there's going to be a lot there for the last of us.

It's over. Say goodbye. Poor B2Emo just wants to be reunited with Cassie and it just never seems to happen.

I love you, Boseman. Look at Boseman again. All right, Mothma. This wedding. It's a lot. A lot. A lot going on. A lot going on. A lot. A lot bigger. So it's a three-day wedding that they have on Chandler.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wow.

Wow. You're all crazy. HR? Jomie, would you like to continue talking about race? I don't feel safe. I don't feel safe. No race. No race. No race. I don't even know who the they is. Exactly. But the wedding is, everybody's in their own little perfect pressure cooker.

Cassian's captured.

They have the Empire coming after them. And Mon Mothma, what could be more pressure-filled than having to run point on your daughter's wedding while... also being undercover as an agent of the rebellion, watching all of those things happen.

There's... Val, Senta, and Kayla. And Kayla? Yeah. Could be. Because it could be. There was a little, between Val and Kayla, there was a little.

At least Cinta gave it a look, though. Because I thought that Santo was just going to play it straight up with Tay. Like, deuces. Yeah, he's like, all right. Speaking of that, Tay. You know who Tay is? OK, who's Tay? Tay is Maury from Goodfellas.

Overplaying his hand. Tay is Maury from Goodfellas. The whole time I was watching. So Maury, if you guys haven't seen Goodfellas before, Maury is a wit guy who helped them scout out the LaTanza Heights, right? And he's asking for his money from Jimmy.

And the whole time he's asking for his money from Jimmy, Jimmy the Gimp played by Robert De Niro, you're watching a movie and you're thinking, shut the fuck up. Yeah. Jimmy is a fucking thug, and he sees mission accomplishment in his future, and you are going to get yourself killed by bothering this guy about money. Wait until the money comes. Shut the fuck up.

And the entire time that Tay is talking, he's talking about money. He's getting drunk. He's doing the same thing that Maury was doing. He's talking to Scolding a lot. Talking to Scolding a lot. He's doing the same thing. He's dropping little hints that he needs a meeting, that there could be dissension, that he might go to somebody else. I'm like, he's dead.

He must die.

Your little boyfriend. Yeah, it's like, no, will you shut up? So all of that stuff's happening at the wedding at the same time, and it seems like... The point of the wedding was to show that the brain trust of the rebellion is a little decentralized. Yeah.

There's no guy in the chair right now, and all it really takes is something to distract them to kind of have them a little bit frazzled, which the wedding kind of was.

We still have steps to get you there. So she hasn't quite been radicalized in the same way we've seen Cassian radicalized. Not quite yet. Has Mon Mothma ever had to kill anyone else? No, and that's kind of not her deal. However, what her deal is is to be the flashpoint for the rebellion, and it's clear that she's not quite comfortable, to your point, being that just yet.

At the clean dubstep over there. I was wondering about that. So a lot of the Star Wars music that we've heard being played before is... What's it called?

Yeah. I didn't name them. Look, look. Because if I say something, then it's going to be Van is a gooner. Van's already a gooner. So we don't, like, yeah.

Luther's like... Ice Cube, Jerry Heller and Eazy-E is eating fucking fettuccine and shrimp and champagne and Ice Cube come through with the fat burger. Must be nice.

Yeah, she was, that, I feel like the scene of her dancing, And the scene of her drinking was symbolic because there will be something that happens sooner rather than later that will completely necessitate Mon Mothma throwing off any airs or pretensions about who she actually is. There will be something that incites her that will actually make her confront the entire apparatus of the empire.

But Mint Edition comes back on Friday as well. Mint Boys. What are they doing? What are you guys doing?

And at the point that she just lets go, she actually relaxes. It was almost as if she was falling into something, even symbolically right there. She had an arc, a very distinct arc. Only second to Cassian's as far as I'm concerned in these three episodes by the end.

Well, she has to be, real quick. She has to be, right? Because she has to be, her job is like all espionage. So the question is, she has to be that person that puts a clean face on it and argues in the Senate and all of that. You need a face. Will she be able to be, to your point, for a long time? The answer is probably not.

She's a redhead, too. They'd be thick. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It wasn't lost on me. That Chandrila is like a whole planet of redheads. Me like. Okay? Redheads be thick. Y'all never notice that redheads be thick? They be thick. So I thought like- Wait, wait, wait. No, no, no. Are we talking every redhead? Not every redhead, but like a lot of redheads. I don't know.

Yeah. What are y'all talking about?

I wasn't watching the Banshees of an issue and noticing everybody was thick. Google that. Google that. Redheads be thick a lot of times. Am I making this up in my head?

Thick. Bryce Dallas Howard, like redheads, they be a little thick. I'm telling you, there's a connection between- Was Will's homegirl thick? Who? Will, the farm girl? She was redhead. She was kind of, I could see the vision.

I'm not making this up in my mind, y'all. I'm telling y'all.

Wait, the first? Yeah, the little.

And then I saw the past. She's doing her thing. She's doing her thing. Whatever. Whatever. Whatever. It's fine. It's fine. Let's get back to it.

All right, sweet. Peter Stormare. One of the best on-screen portrayals of Lucifer ever.

The question that's being asked, first of all, if you're going to do an exposition dump, that's how you exposition dump. That's a great way to do it, yes. Because he's been responsible for a couple of exposition dumps. I still won't forgive the exposition dump in The Dark Knight Rises where it was like, oh, you mean the clean slate? I won't forgive you.

The clean slate, okay. But if you're going to exposition dump, that's how you do it, right? Move the plot forward. However, there is something to be said about the Empire and us getting an inside look on both the economic and the propaganda arms of the Empire. So what you have is the Empire that is trying to figure out how to harness the wealth of the galaxy. Remember, they're doing something new.

They're forcing. This is not trade. This is not cooperation. This is tyranny. This is oppression. So they want to force people to do it. However, they still have to mitigate the chance of rebellion. So they don't want to just jackboot everything. They're not quite there yet. They don't have the Death Star.

Overhated movie. Overhated. It's a great movie.

The Death Star was going to be the mode by which the Empire said, do what the fuck we tell you to do or you're dead. Is there a Tom and Pat? It's their atomic power, right? So in this case, what you see is them saying, hey, we have to have this planet. This planet is a planet of people that, number one, is well-liked by the rest of the galaxy. And prideful. Prideful, makes beautiful things.

We got to take them. So we have to ruin their reputation.

So the Empire is showing weakness for sure. Showing weakness in that they can't just do what they would want to do.

Yeah. Keanu Reeves. Oh, that movie's great. We should do a whole series here called Overhated. Constantine, I don't think people were really ready for it when it came out. Overhated movie. All I'm saying is it's really good. Constantine? To me, it's good.

Well, no, but there is a commentary on like what you do.

I fell for her in this one because they're going to have... They're basically insinuating that they're going to kill around 800,000 people, and she doesn't want to do it. Either she doesn't want to do it, or she doesn't want to do it in the way that they're saying to do it. She actually says, I don't want this mission. Tell them I don't want to do it. And she gets told, basically, you have to.

To me, it's good. Maybe, maybe people weren't ready for the occult type of shit.

You have to do it.

It's because she's in a weakened position. Exactly.

I'll tell y'all something. I'm going to be real with you. You got to get to a point, and then you got to stay out of it. I know it's... That's the Mind Your Business protocol.

This is what happens. And this is what happens. You talk to your girl. Mm-hmm. You talk to your mom. You say, hey, this is the way I expect my mom to be treated. Hey, this is the way I expect my girl to be treated. And then after that, y'all got to stay out of it. Because you get to a certain point. First of all, you don't want to invite your mom into the problems that you have.

Never tell your mom when you're in a fight with your girl because you and your girl will get over it and your mom will remember it forever. But when it's a thing that they have to work out, Telling you, either you're going to be you. There's nothing you can do. Either you're going to be a mama's boy to her, or you're going to be that bitch more than you love your mama.

So you talk to both of them, and then you go, either y'all figure it out, or we can't go on no vacations. And nobody goes to Angola.

Nobody goes. I'll go by myself. If y'all don't figure it out, nobody goes anywhere. Because I played a fucking game. You know what I'm saying? So that's what you got to do. I'm telling you.

You guys, give us your overrated movies. Make a list on one of these places.

Like nearly crying.

We're done with it. It's over. The cowboy hat will be back, but I just had to show it off today. I gave it to CNN and people were like, why don't you give it to the Ringer? Colt, baby Chuck, the 24-karat closer. Bozeman, the dog. Wait, Bozeman don't have a nickname? I don't know. Bozily Wozily the Wonderpup? Oh, look, he likes it.

All right. I mean, I don't think that that's overrated. I think that most people that were there kind of still remember that movie fondly. Oh, wow. But I think... The second one kind of drags it down a little.

Yeah. I mean, obviously in Jedi, there is Princess Leia and what she's forced to wear, and she's got literally a chain around her neck. But in watching that scene, knowing that the Empire represents the most oppressive, the most maniacal and tyrannical regime in the galaxy, some of that stuff would be happening. You know, some of that stuff would be happening. That stuff happens in conflict.

It happens in war. And it's something that has never really been expressed, at least that I can see like on screen, but it, Obviously very, very, very difficult to watch. Yeah.

But seemed like a very distinct choice to even further, further push us into what it is that we're up against and bring us out of a galaxy far, far away and into some of the horrors of the world that we actually occupy here. So I was so...

And she knew that there would be a cost.

I mean, but there's a brutality to it and, and a desperation to that scene that, you know, they could have played it differently, but they didn't. And we're watching this on Disney plus, man. And I was, I was, I was actually shocked. It, it,

that movie would be at least 10% better to me had they not done like the juggernaut type of stuff.

Yeah. It's just like, they fuck over the shit and they, they spit in the faces of the fans, but it's like, it's also the Phoenix aspect of,

Okay. It worked for narrative purposes, but I fucking just like really could not stand it. the Myers crew on. I hate them. They were bothering the shit out of me. And it was super bold to take Cassian essentially off the board. Yeah. For the first two episodes. For the first two episodes. For the first two episodes. And there was a point where I was wondering, like, is that going to work? It did.

It did. But those groups of, that group of characters to me, I was annoyed being with them as much as I had to be with them.

It isn't. But they have to get it right.

He's like, didn't make it.

What the Brazo? Y'all, any nitpicks?

Once they get over their divorce, they're like, I'm just like, all right, come on. That's how they dance in real life. Don't know how to use their arms. Yeah. Just me. It's all elbows. Yeah. You like that shit, though, don't you?

Who is the queen of white girl anthems?

Fucking Pyramor. Hailey Williams.

Fall off's crazy. Kesha? Y'all, y'all, y'all, there's a lot of Dr. Luke in this conversation. Anyway. Okay. There's a lot of Dr. Luke. Okay.

Look ahead a little bit. I have four questions, but I'm only going to ask two. Okay. Where are they at with the TIE fighter? So, obviously, they're not going to be able to cruise around the galaxy forever in a stolen TIE fighter. Right. What's their destination? What's happening now? Are we going to jump a year ahead in the next three episodes?

If we're jumping a year ahead... Because I was told by Arjuna, who fucking lied, that every single three-episode tranche was going to be a year. Yes. That definitely didn't happen because... These three episodes took place over the course of... No, no. And then the next three will be another year. Yeah, the next three will be another year.

Okay, so I literally thought that what they meant was the three episodes would cover the course of a year.

The three episodes are a year apart.

So... That's interesting.

Because if the three episodes are a year apart, there is a shit ton of things left over from this that we are going to miss.

2 BBY.

It's not easy to do. It takes a long time to build it up. You get connected to Jean and all of her vulnerability. And then she has to turn into this cosmic force of pure passion. And it's a quick turn. It's tough. It's not easy to do. And you probably need to do it over the course, maybe like four or five movies, actually. Yeah. Yeah.

They should be talking. And they'll let you in on it through action and dialogue.

Like, it's... We haven't seen... Like, none of these motherfuckers in the world.

First of all, they were a little shorter than I thought they were going to be. You're looking at around 42, 43 minutes of these episodes. And they moved quickly. That shit goes. So I don't think that's that much of a problem either now. We also watch television for a living. Yeah. Some of us sometimes.

But we also watch television for a living. So, you know, there are other people who will be at work and all of that stuff like that. Who knows if they have the time and the opportunity to access it the way that we did. But for me, I got through the three of them. I actually watched the last one over again. Like I got to the three of them pretty quickly.

Maybe if you have like a while, we'll see what the MCU does with it. Okay. On today's show, though, we're going to give you our instant reactions to the latest episodes of Andor. Let's fucking go. Andor is fucking back and Charles could not be happier. Spoiler warning. For Andor, everything in what I'm starting to call Tony Gilroy's Star Wars. Because he has his own wing of Star Wars.

So I'll be honest with you. I always wonder all kinds of stuff. Like, no mention of Leia, who is a major, major player in the Rebellion. How old is she at this point?

At 4 BBY? But by the time she was 17, 18, 19, well, she was, like, 19 in the first one, and, like, by that point, she was already running missions for... Yeah, she was in Rebels, yeah.

Yeah, in Rogue One, you know, they delivered the fucking plans to her, so she might be around. If not her, certainly Bail O'Ganna.

Yeah, but anyway... Obviously, we talked about it earlier. The rebellion is not the most centrally organized thing right now. So it's very possible that Ghost Squadron is like... operating with their own directives and their own funding and their own stuff.

We got it. It's fine. It's all good.

I don't know about the lore. I think they give you a lot of backstory. Right. But I think the lore is only heavy if you know where it's going because I think you can watch that and they give you enough to make you wonder what's going to happen next.

Oh, go ahead, John.

He has his own wing. His own wing of Star Wars. The Tony Gilroy wing of Star Wars.

All of that's straight from lore.

But everything that's happening with Gorman is straight from lore.

Honestly, if you ask me, the Gorman Massacre, which we're not going to get too deep into explaining what that is to people, but if you ask me, the Gorman Massacre is the Red Wedding of Andor. It was the thing that Star Wars fans know about that when you are making Andor,

It's the thing that you have to orient the entire show around because that's going to be the North Star narratively as to what actually forms the Empire in the way that we know it to be formed. This is what happens the more durable way. a galaxy or the lore or a story or universe, should I say, is.

You're watching the first three Star Wars movies and you're so into the story that's in front of you, right? I Am Your Father, Luke's Ark, Han and Leia, Cool, Chewbacca, all of that stuff. You watch it, you watch it, you watch it. Then you get to a point in your life and you go, who's paying for all of this? Like, who's paying for it? Like, the Rebels, who's paying for it?

This is like David Filoni. Jon Favreau paid for this wig. Respect it. I'm with it. I'm just saying there's a tone, a feeling, a kinetic energy that exists in his version of Star Wars. But our spoiler warning is for everything Star Wars, and we're going to drop it right now.

Like, how do they get funded? Obviously, the Empire, they're taxing people, they're stealing resources, whatever. But the Rebels have secret base on Hoth. They have communications. They have X-Wings. They have the whole nine. Like, who's paying for it? Yeah. And then you start worrying about the economics of the galaxy, which essentially is what the prequels were.

The prequels were kind of, all right, let's get you guys into the nuts and bolts of the politics and economics of this galaxy that are the backdrop for this huge clash between good and evil. You want to know what the prequels are going to be? You're trying to pitch your train war movie. They're like C-Span. You're trying to pitch your train war movie.

somewhat normal to a bunch of people so that they don't inspire the rebellion. The emperor still has promises. He's like, oh, I promise this to the galaxy. Which is another reason why Mon Mothma is actually a tool of the rebellion, but also of the empire. Because Mon Mothma's dissent in the Senate is seen by the empire as being useful to give the illusion that

of freedom, open thought, discussion, and dissension. So all of that stuff works until it goes too far. And in every single rebellion, something happens where the shit goes too far. Here in the States, they danced around the Civil War to- I mean, the Compromise of 1850, the whole thing. For like 10, 15, 20 years, actually longer than that, until they just went, fuck it! Fort Sumter, baby.

We want to keep... I was going to go race.

I'm a pawn. She hasn't quite been radicalized in the same way that some of the characters on the side of the rebellion haven't quite been radicalized. She's done a lot of fucked up shit, don't get me wrong. But, you know, building up to even potentially, like,

being part of a mass, mass genocide event, right, is something that she doesn't seem to... I'm not saying that she's standing on something moral here, but she's showing hesitation in being a part of this. Now, look, the Empire, they love genocide. They have a little genocide when they wake up in the morning. They kill the whole planet, all of that stuff.

But there's going to be a point in this story where There's no turning back.

Bye. Right. I think that's part of it. That's definitely part of it. But I also think that that's the reason why she was chosen. And you see Krennic and essentially, like, the Empire do this all the time. Like... Palpatine, the Empire, they... Reminds me of somebody else. They find what you want or your weak spot. They go to it. And then they give you something on the other side of it.

The spoilers are coming. Speaking of our reactions, we once again bring you the Midnight Manifest. And boy, am I anxious to hear this. Oh, it's going to be a lot. Go for it, Chuck.

Or they pressure you. And before you know it, you're one of them. And you're wearing a red hat. I'm just joking.

We got to go. Before we get out of here, Steve, you want to say something?

And I think to her, she's just like... And you don't have a choice. They've gotten at you. They've told you what they want you to do. And you got to do it. Last question. It's just a yes or no question. Going around the room. We back?

Nigga, we back.

That's a wrap. Oh, fuck it. Glaze Prime. When the donuts are good, we glaze them. All right. That is a wrap. This week on the Ringiverse feed, the Ringiverse is deep on The Last of Us. House of R will give you their Last of Us deep dive. Butt Mash will be with you on Thursday. Mint Edition comes back Friday as well. Our producers are Alea, SOB Zanaris, Jonathan, the poet, Kerma,

Jomie, explainer at dinner on, on socials, hashtag Jomie the explainer to the rebels. I like that. On social, additional production from Arjuna, the watcher. Ramga pal, Chuck, take us out.

Oh, on here? Yeah.

Oh, this iPad is free of the stuff.

Free of the stuff. Let's just call it the stuff. I don't do any stuff on this iPad. No porn on the work iPad.

The Midnight Collective is back there. Arjuna, Alea S.O.B. Zanaris, Jonathan, Spit Hot Fire, Kerma. You got to follow us on socials, Insta, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok, Jummy.

Was it not too wrong? That was fantastic. I really feel like I have a good sense of what happened there. We're back, baby. Midnight Manifest, we are back.

I'm feeling great being back. There's so much going on in the episodes, though. There's so much happening here. I was wondering if you guys, can we just talk about everything that happened and then get into our feelings about the three episodes at the end? Is that okay?

So he looks to me like when you, when you, when you think about him, it almost feels like Skywalker in return of the Jedi a little bit.

It, When you're introduced to Luke in Return of the Jedi, he walks into Jabba's spot. You're like, oh, he's got it. He's figured it out. He's mind-tricking people. He's confident talking to Jabba about how powerful he is. Luke is a Jedi. He's not a farm boy anymore. He's not a farm boy anymore.

Whatever metamorphosis that he went through from a wide-eyed farm boy on Tatooine to actual Jedi, you feel like it's happened. And part of it happened off-screen.

Right? You watch the parts of it that were formative- You watch him face Vader. You watch him go try to save his friends the whole night. You watched all of that. Part of it happened off screen. When we first see Cassian and he is in disguise, you know, in the Imperial base trying to steal this advanced TIE fighter, you know that things have happened since you left him to where he's become...

Hey, man, we do what we can. Social media is just a powder keg. I saw someone, I saw a woman at you when I was driving. I was like, damn, what did he do on this episode of Ireland? Oh, no, we were talking about... We were talking about whether or not it's okay to comment on how good Ciara looks.

even more adept at espionage and going undercover and at calming down the new people. He reminded me of Lutheran a little bit.

And

And even to the point to where when he saves the day at the end, he comes back as sort of the anti-Jedi, the person that doesn't have the force, but is there to save the day just based on guile and his understanding of how to maneuver in and out of bad situations. I, at first, was getting annoyed with him with the slap dicks from my side.

However, it was incredibly important, not just to build to the last moment where Cassian comes in to save the day, but also to show you that he is in a position where he is so deadly focused that there are not many circumstances you can put him in.

Am I going to have to kill someone?

Well, she negotiated it with him. She said, he actually said, he says, give me a 12-minute head start. And then he says, is that enough?

So there was at least, because we're still watching the kid, there was at least... He's to the point to where he has some sort of concern for his compatriots in this fight.

They're dangerous. Oh, yeah. Because they're so incompetent that they're dangerous. So he starts looking around and going, no, who's in charge? He peeps it very soon that if he doesn't find his way out of that, he's going to end up accidentally or purposefully dead.

How do you feel when, I was like, I love what Kevyn O'Hara is doing, and I was a little like, oh, when she's talking to Tommy and she's basically like... yeah, you know, some people like Joe, Ellie, lost causes. What are you going to do? I was like, hey, yo, yo, I don't know if Ellie's a lost cause at this point.

But to sit there and be like, yeah, she about to crash.

No, Jesse looked at her after when he left, when he was helping her with the bag, like,

From, like, a resources standpoint. I mean, well, first of all, when the old white girl got up to start talking, I agreed with her. She's just like, hey, yo, we all love Joe, but we all lost some people. What the fuck are we doing?

What's the top five foods that we can make from corn? Because we got tortillas. We got popcorn now. You got popcorn. We got corn syrup. We could get it in some sugar. We could get cornmeal.

You got all kinds of stuff.

You can buy some corn liquor. Wait, so what are they so versatile? What are the crops that they're making besides corn?

We're going to eat the corn. Marie was talking to him. Like, Marie and Tom was just like, hey, yo, fuck you and your corn. It's time for the real.

The court is the important conversation. No, no, we are rebuilding. Going on an execution dummy mission, I was just like, nobody hears me. When I knew shit was going left, when Seth, the homophobe, stood up, and he started talking, I was like, all right, y'all don't love me.

How do you get to that? Like, who recommended you, like, you need to see us on the TV show?

That's when you know your boy ain't talking. Like, he ain't saying shit when he starts doing this motion. You know, you know.

What the fuck is going on? You're going to lose me, okay? There were a couple years after Black Panther, when niggas was just trying to do to kill monks. I was like, ah.

And guess what? The only motherfuckers who got vibranium now are fucking government agents like Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes.

The worst scene in that whole movie is when T'Challa and Sherri bring the spaceship to Oakland.

If it was my movie, they would land and Sherry would see some sisters twerking on the street and Tata would be like, Y'all don't have to do this.

And then preacher boy walks through. All right, we got to get back.

All right, so Ellie leaves. Wait, before Ellie leaves, I want to talk about something that was really interesting that Tommy says to Catherine O'Hara's character where he almost, like, obviously he loves his brother. He loves Joel. But he kind of hints at the fact that he always knew that Joel was a shoot first motherfucker, find the justification later.

And like pointing out that like while he loved Joel, there was probably something about his death that he brought about.

on himself and I think a lot of this episode was even when the one homie got up and he's just like yo I don't believe in revenge it doesn't lead to anything I just thought it was very interesting for Tommy to be like he lost his brother three months ago and to still kind of have the clarity to be like yo he was a soldier and I've seen him do things that this was always kind of the path that he was going down well mm-hmm

But even when I was playing the first game, from what I remember, like, Joel got, like, skeletons in his closet from being a soldier. Yeah, he's been a while. And, like, Tommy, even in the game, is very much like... Joel was kind of the hothead. And he's always been the brother who's like... that's him.

Like, I don't know what y'all want me to tell you, but, and I think that's why he's almost, it's hard for him to not raise Ellie, but be there for Ellie because it's a foregone conclusion that this girl is leaving, whether he co-signs it or not.

The first time you go home and they're not there, I was like... Yeah, it was weird.

I mean, before we move on, what are your thoughts on Cherokee the Ass?

It's that one, and then when he's in the bathroom, and it's like... Fucking spoiled it. You don't know what I... Son of a bitch. This has been out for a year. Let's not spoil it. But I will say, now that you're talking about Wikipedia, back when I couldn't, like, we didn't have that much money. I remember for fun, sometimes I'd just, like, click on a movie and just imagine it in my mind.

And then Ellie offers her a cookie back.

I'm telling you.

So can I ask this? If I'm Jesse, do you think he saw Dina making the cookies? He's like, oh, it smells so good in the house because they back together now. He tries to get a cookie. She's like, it's not for you.

Yeah. A situation should be in the apocalypse, though, man. I mean, even Jesse was kind of like, Jesse wasn't even tripping over it. He was like, hey, yo, Ellie.

He's the manager. He's like, I'm about to be the president of this motherfucker.

He's like, I don't give a fuck.

I thought it was rushed. I was like, I was, I was like, maybe it'll get on the road in the next episode. I was like, I thought the episode was going to be like, she goes to Joel's grave. She has that big moment. And then we get another episode of them finally. And it was like, nah, it ain't. And then they go. I mean, so look, it worked, but I was like, oh shit.

I'm not, I don't know if this will be a hard conversation to have, but like the thing that I was worried about at the end of the last episode kind of happened this episode where it just to me was a fundamentally different show where I think when, when Dina and Ellie get on the horse, there was a level where it was like,

it almost felt like YA, like young adult fiction-y, where I'm just like... Not in a bad way.

Yeah, and it was like... It has to be that. It's going to be young people fighting young people. And it was like, that's like...

whiplash almost because I feel like so much of the first season and the first story because you're following Joel it feels like a little bit more than an adult series it wasn't even that it was bad it's just it was so kind of like I was like when the probably the thought process you had when like oh they're back on the road this is the this is the version of the show when it was like the two of them on the horse playing little games and in the tent and them being like cute and funny and developing this romance and all this stuff it wasn't bad at all it just didn't

it didn't feel like the last of us like it felt like something a little different is it the aesthetics of abby and dina and then just them being on the road or is it the seemingly same formula of season one being honest they're they look like kids like it was like do you get what i mean like i'm like i completely i was just like oh these are and maybe that's the point i'm like these are kids in the apocalypse that whole that whole scene when they're like on the on the horse i'm just like

They always do that thing where they like... Oh, the wind is coming from the north. You don't know. There's got to be a fit.

Everybody has. It seems like a rite of passage. Yeah. Is it a spoiler to tell us the name of this group?

once he started talking about like the profit, what, it's been like 30 years. I'm sorry. Motherfuckers are already being like, this person is telling the future. I'm like, my nigga Steve from Chicago, he don't know what the fuck he's going, he's talking about, you know?

You never know. Steve.

I'd be a prophet. Honestly, can you imagine? I'd be like, Oh, Ben is going to die tomorrow. And I'm just like. Go kill Ben.

If it was my plan, if it was my cult, I'd get the finest sister ever. Like, nice BBR. I'd be like, you the prophet.

It's about some guy that wants to have sex with all the women in the town. I'm trying to say like, yo, it's the fucking end of the world. It's the apocalypse. Everybody's dirty, smelly and shit. You find a fine assistant. You be like, all right, you a prophet now. We're going to put like a shroud on you. You're going to start.

Honestly, honestly, shit. The Bene Gesserit, shit. Like, I'm getting my sisters. We drinking a blue drink. You know what I'm saying? We having a baby.

You are literally... You are a fucking Negan-ass motherfucker. Have a harem of women. Because you're so genteel and awesome now.

Me, Van Steve, we come to your settlement. We're like, oh, Jomie, is there any way we can get some food and clothing? We need to plant corn again. He's just like, kill him.

This motherfucker would take Bozeman with him. He's like, you're mine. Bozeman would love it, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's kind of looking bad. This is why also it's a dummy mission to me. If I'm the council, I'm like, this dumb motherfucker is about to lead this army back to our enclosure. Because basically, Ellie and Dina were kind of just like, how many of them could there be? And I'm just like, I don't know. They seem very well trained. There's a lot of them.

Because they did see, like, Abby's people were looking at the compound. And they're like, God damn, they have generator. Because that's what I was like, do they not have that in Seattle? Because they're like, they have electricity. They have this. They have that. If I go back to WLF, I'm like, hey, yo. Look, we take a tank over there. We ambush him at night. We got free corn.

How do you think people will... And not the bad faith actors. If you're just someone who was watching the show, maybe didn't know Joel was going to die. How do you think they're going to feel about this pilot and them being so kind of unceremonious about like, all right, now that we got that out of the way, here's our new story.

Because I was just like, it was jarring for me and I knew it was going to happen. I don't know.

HBO and the creators must have a feeling like, not only do we have enough story to tell to make a third season, but we trust in the actors and the world that we built that we can get you back on board after the Joel thing. And I mean, if I'm going to be honest, if there's an MVP for the season, I was just like, oh, The actress that plays Dina is so charming. She's really good.

She's so magnetic that I'm just like, even though it's not filling the Joel role, I'm like, oh, there's somebody for Ellie to play off of that.

No, Seinfeld is funny, but I feel like it's more contained where it's like Curb. Curb is long in the tooth. There's a lot of seasons where I'm like, eh.

I'm going to be honest, though. If it's the apocalypse...

of all the places you could live i'm not living in seattle i'm like i have had this conversation first it was jackson hall now it was seattle i'm going to like i'm going to like a nice suburb like why am i going to the ruins of a city there's nothing happening there there's no tgi fridays anymore you know what i'm saying there's no there's no nothing there's but you got more stuff there more resources to pick over

But you also got more infected, probably.

Why can't I go to the Hollywood Hills, get, like, nice, like, little bachelor pad, whatever? You're acting like there's still Wi-Fi, man.

Wait, can a horse go up to Hollywood? It probably could, right? Yeah, but that's bad for the joints.

I will say, my last thing, I hate when shows do this, where you take the real racist character or the homophobic character, and then you're like, yeah, he's helping him out now. He's like, take this. And I was like, I was with Ellie the other time.

It was a better rifle. That was also, that was also, does that happen in the video game? They're like, here's an upgraded rifle for you.

See? Gross. They had a hard time. But also, it didn't seem like they had much food. I'm like, what the fuck they eating out? If it's me, I'm like, we can get rid of some of the grenades and let's put some steaks out because I would have been like to Seth. I'm like, you got some steak sandwiches first?

I mean, I want to see, I need to see what Abby's cooking. Like, where's Abby been the last three months? Has she gotten a little flabby now that she's got, she's finally had the thing, she's kicked back. She's like, I completed the mission. You know what I'm saying? Because if I'm being honest, the training montage with Ellie wasn't, I'm like, you

you hit a punching bag a couple of times and you on the road, like she's not ready for you.

I will say, I think J.B. Smoove is the funniest sitcom character ever. Act like we've ever had. Like, I'm just like, when he shows up on the show, I'm just like, oh, shit.

Dina has a strong indigenous spirit. Where we're going in season two, we'll see. Shout out to an icon of the sport, Miss Cherokee.

Yeah, but you can use that popcorn maker in your house. I feel like it's going to smell like popcorn for days.

Should we have either a... I feel like we should do a draft of the funniest TV shows.

Martin's in... Wait, no, wait. All right, wait. Curb is funnier than Martin. Damn. There's not a lot of shows funnier than Curb. Like, I don't... It's hard. It's very hard. Oh, no. No. I think early office is like. I just. I think early office. It's up there.

Oh, I think New Girl is funnier than.

Like that to me is like the perfect band show. New Girl is?

That is actually his show. You're going to love Schmidt, bro. You're going to love Schmidt.

He'll be very upset with one Winston arc. Oh, yeah. White women? No.

What do you mean? Don't sneak Thunderbolts.

There's police. He becomes a cop.

All right, here's your Midnight Manifest for The Last of Us episode three of the second season, directed by Peter Hoare, written by Craig Mazin. Ellie wakes up from the death of Joel screaming, and then we flash three months later. The town is still struggling after the Hoare attack from the previous episode. Ellie is given a clean bill of health and returns to Joel's house unharmed.

grief-stricken and alone. Dina arrives to reveal she lied to Ellie and does know more about Abby and her group. Then she led on at the hospital. Abby is part of the Washington Liberation Front, a small regional army based in Seattle. Tommy says Ellie has to ask the council about her Seattle revenge mission.

Unfortunately, the council decides that the town doesn't have the resources to allow her to take a 16-man unit to Seattle in order to execute the Abby and the WLF members that murdered Joel. Ellie decides to take matters into her own hands with Dina and and homophobic Seth and take on the mission herself. Ellie visits Joel's grave for the first time and then sets out with Dina on the road.

But before they get far, they run into a group of murdered cult members in the forest. That's been your Midnight Manifest. My first question for you, Van. Obviously, second episode of this season was kind of everything that we've been waiting for. Super explosive. How do you feel like the creators...

Did they land the plane on the third episode in terms of just like getting us where we need to go for, honestly, the second version of this show, a new version of the show?

No, you tried to sneak in. We have two good shows. Thunderbolt still has to show and prove. But at this point, I done seen 45 minutes of the movie already from the fucking trailers.

So for this episode, when Ellie and Dina end up leaving Jackson Hole, I had this feeling of I was like, I'm a little bit more interested in Tommy and Catherine O'Hara and our boy Jesse. That was the weird thing when I was so happy story-wise when they just flash forward three months later. I was just like, I can't. I don't know if I can. You don't need to see her in the hospital for three months.

Yeah, once she did the scream, I'm like, this is emotionally enough. This is so arresting. Like, let's get the story moving, which I really, really enjoyed. But yeah, and I think this is kudos to Craig Mazin. I was just like, I'm really interested in the council, when Jesse gets a seat, like how they're governing, who wants to do what.

That was actually the moment I was like, oh, this is kind of like fascinating. Even Catherine O'Hara, It was such a funny scene when she's watching the little kids play baseball where it's just like, oh shit, they don't have sports teams here.

I love Tommy Luna as an actor. He's such a good... Because even those small moments where it's like when Ellie and Dina come to him to tell him about like, oh, we actually do know Abby, whatever. And he's trying to be like a good uncle and fill this paternal role. And right as the scene ends, he looks at Dina and be like... Don't ever give me information.