transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:26] Hi, everyone, and welcome back to The Strike & Ellacott Files, an unofficial podcast dedicated to all things Strike and Robin, as written by Robert Galbraith, aka the endlessly talented JK. Rowling. My name is Kenz.

Speaker 2:
[00:37] I'm Lindsay.

Speaker 3:
[00:38] And I'm Pools.

Speaker 1:
[00:39] And today we'll be continuing our reread of The Hallmarked Man, covering chapters 27 and 28, which takes us from Robin and Murphy looking at a house through Strike's interview with Jim Todd. Please be aware, as always, that our discussion of The Hallmarked Man will often reference the ending of this book, as well as the previous books in the series. But before we get into this set of chapters, we have news to get into. And today, I think it's pretty much only Running Grave TV news. Yep.

Speaker 2:
[01:07] Jo's been quiet.

Speaker 1:
[01:08] She has been. She's been hard at work.

Speaker 2:
[01:10] Hopefully.

Speaker 3:
[01:11] She better be.

Speaker 2:
[01:12] What I say hopefully, Pools in this silent creepy whisper, she better be.

Speaker 1:
[01:20] For what?

Speaker 3:
[01:20] For nothing. I will continue to love and read everything.

Speaker 2:
[01:23] What are you going to do?

Speaker 3:
[01:23] Literally nothing.

Speaker 1:
[01:24] But yeah, we had a lot of minor parts that we've gotten worried about for casting, which is exciting. The first one is one that I'm really excited about. It's Nick Cavaliere.

Speaker 2:
[01:33] That is a great name.

Speaker 1:
[01:35] Yeah, honestly, a great name. He's going to be playing Fergus Robertson, which is very exciting.

Speaker 2:
[01:42] I'm excited to see him, especially after being so mad at Culpepper. Yes.

Speaker 1:
[01:46] Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I feel like they really nailed the casting with this one. I hope it means that he'll be back to filming The Hallmarked Man in a couple of years.

Speaker 2:
[01:54] Oh, yes.

Speaker 1:
[01:55] Okay. Moving on to the next person though, we have Emily Casey as Dr. Zhu's receptionist. So going off of this casting, I think this means that we'll get to see those scenes with Tasha and Lynn after she leaves Chapman Farm. So that should be exciting.

Speaker 2:
[02:10] Oh, okay.

Speaker 3:
[02:11] Yeah, that would be exciting.

Speaker 1:
[02:12] Because we're never actually there in the book. We just hear about it.

Speaker 2:
[02:15] Oh, gosh. Tasha stresses me out in those bits.

Speaker 1:
[02:19] Oh, yeah. All right. Next one is a little bit of a head-scratcher. Paris Nash and his role is just described as hooligan. Hooligan.

Speaker 3:
[02:28] Hooligan.

Speaker 1:
[02:29] Hooligan.

Speaker 3:
[02:30] Nice.

Speaker 1:
[02:31] This made me laugh. I'm wondering if this guy is involved in some scenes like showing people protesting UHC or something like that.

Speaker 3:
[02:38] That's not hooligan behavior.

Speaker 2:
[02:40] Protester could be it. I mean, that could work.

Speaker 3:
[02:43] Well, yeah, if the protester is also a hooligan.

Speaker 2:
[02:46] Sometimes protesters are hooligans. The more we say it, the weirder it sounds.

Speaker 3:
[02:51] Hooligan. I'm going to do an impression of an owl casting the running grave. Hooligan.

Speaker 1:
[02:58] Wow. All right. The next one is Adam Loxley and his role is described as just reporter.

Speaker 3:
[03:04] Okay.

Speaker 1:
[03:05] So I'm sure that there are going to be a few news reports that we see as a form of exposition. Plus, there's the whole scene in Strikes Flat with Strike and Robin after Chapman Farm.

Speaker 3:
[03:14] God, I hope we get that.

Speaker 4:
[03:15] Sitting on the bed.

Speaker 1:
[03:16] Yes, please. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 4:
[03:18] That would be so sweet.

Speaker 1:
[03:19] So good. And we have another couple ones here. We have Ashley Mann as a driving double. That is, in fact, a man, by the way. That's a man named Ashley.

Speaker 3:
[03:29] You have to make the second name clarification.

Speaker 1:
[03:32] Oh. It is? I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that this is Tom's driving double because of the likeness with the hair and the sort of general profile because he certainly couldn't be Holliday's driving double. But I hope that this means that we'll get to see car chase and maybe the shooting scene later in the book after Will's out.

Speaker 3:
[03:51] I would really hate it, though, if they made Strike the one driving the car in that car chase. It's really important to me that that be Robin.

Speaker 2:
[03:59] I want the scene.

Speaker 3:
[04:00] I want Robin driving, you know?

Speaker 1:
[04:03] You'll see.

Speaker 3:
[04:03] Now that I'm thinking about it, they could use Strike's driving double when they're escaping from Chapman Farm.

Speaker 1:
[04:10] No, totally.

Speaker 3:
[04:10] Maybe they'll add a bit of a chase there, some extra tension, right?

Speaker 1:
[04:14] Yeah, or some drama.

Speaker 2:
[04:15] That would make sense, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[04:16] Yeah, that would be fun. I could see that.

Speaker 1:
[04:18] Last person, Laura Mobilia as a puppeteer. This is the casting that has caused the most chatter and a minor bit of scandal on Reddit out of everything that we've posted about this bit of casting because we technically don't see any puppeteers in the Running Grave book.

Speaker 2:
[04:37] Wait, what do you mean?

Speaker 1:
[04:39] A minor scandal. So somebody was posting about how it seems that every role has been cast except for Bijou with a screenshot of the post that I made about the puppeteer thing. One of the comments said, weird, isn't TSEF a podcast that just obsesses about the books? Wouldn't they know saying puppeteer would cause confusion as to who and they don't clear anything?

Speaker 3:
[05:01] What would we know?

Speaker 2:
[05:02] We don't know anything. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[05:04] That's just what it says on the CD. Exactly. That was just about to say that what we reported is literally just what's written on this person's acting CD. Wasn't anything that we made up. That's half the fun, honestly, of getting these casting updates, is guessing the context for roles that aren't immediately recognizable.

Speaker 3:
[05:21] We're just getting the same news as everyone else.

Speaker 1:
[05:23] Exactly. We're just making sure to share it.

Speaker 3:
[05:24] I didn't hear whatever.

Speaker 1:
[05:26] Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3:
[05:26] I have no idea.

Speaker 1:
[05:27] But yeah, I feel like there are a few things that this whole puppeteer thing could be. But what I was leaning towards is using puppets while Robbins at the UHC to introduce the concepts of the different prophets.

Speaker 2:
[05:39] That's what I thought.

Speaker 1:
[05:40] Yeah. If you've ever watched the beginning of Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, that's similar to what I'm thinking. I just think that the potential for this as far as the puppeteer and puppet stuff could be really neat, artistically speaking.

Speaker 2:
[05:55] I have not seen it, but I do know what a puppeteer is, so I can imagine it or something like it. It's kind of what I assumed would be for the profits and manifestations, so when I saw puppeteer, that's just immediately what I thought.

Speaker 3:
[06:11] When Robin is, they go on that one trip out to fundraise at-

Speaker 1:
[06:17] In Norwich.

Speaker 3:
[06:17] Yeah, in Norwich. Isn't there like a toy store with little-

Speaker 2:
[06:21] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[06:21] What if they added like a weekend puppet show in the store or something? I could see that.

Speaker 2:
[06:28] Yeah. I'm imagining like Sound of Music.

Speaker 3:
[06:31] I love that scene.

Speaker 2:
[06:32] You know? Yeah. But way worse than that.

Speaker 3:
[06:38] That scene is great.

Speaker 2:
[06:39] No, I know, but a UHC version would be way worse.

Speaker 3:
[06:42] Would be very creepy and horrible. Yes.

Speaker 2:
[06:45] Yeah. So something like that. Man, the UHC, those scenes are going to be hard to watch. Yeah, but also kind of cool. If they have a puppeteer, I just think it could be kind of cool.

Speaker 3:
[06:57] I'm hoping they go for really scary spooky vibe. I know. I want it to be a horror show.

Speaker 2:
[07:02] My cousin and I were at Disneyland last week and we were on Haunted Mansion. She said, how do I get the ghost to work? I was like, oh, it's called the Pepper Ghost. It's, I'll explain later. She's like, how do you know that? Oh, from Strike.

Speaker 3:
[07:15] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[07:15] He just rolls her eyes.

Speaker 3:
[07:17] How do you know anything?

Speaker 2:
[07:21] Chapter 27.

Speaker 1:
[07:23] All right. In this chapter, Robin and Murphy look at a house.

Speaker 2:
[07:29] That's what Robin thinks too.

Speaker 1:
[07:30] We're all on the same page.

Speaker 3:
[07:32] There are so many chapters where Strike and Robin go look at a crime scene, and they're looking at a house, the outside of a house. I'm like, this house is a crime scene because Murphy is there.

Speaker 2:
[07:42] It's a scene of a crime.

Speaker 3:
[07:43] It is a scene of a crime. A crime against me.

Speaker 2:
[07:45] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[07:47] Yes, and also Strike.

Speaker 2:
[07:49] It's a crime against our hearts.

Speaker 3:
[07:51] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[07:52] Against.

Speaker 3:
[07:53] Reason.

Speaker 4:
[07:53] Logic.

Speaker 3:
[07:54] Love.

Speaker 2:
[07:55] It's a crime against love.

Speaker 4:
[07:57] It's a crime against love.

Speaker 2:
[07:58] That's the title of this episode, A Crime Against Love.

Speaker 3:
[08:02] Yeah, we nailed it. All right, we can go home.

Speaker 2:
[08:04] Okay. I think we're done here.

Speaker 3:
[08:06] I am home.

Speaker 1:
[08:06] Right? Yep.

Speaker 2:
[08:07] We're done. Oh, yeah, we are.

Speaker 1:
[08:09] Nailed it. The epigraph for this chapter. The only difficulty was to decide how to look into it, what to do, and how. And that is from Chapter 37 of A Maid of the Silver Sea by John Oxenam.

Speaker 2:
[08:23] I feel like this is sort of an ironic epigraph. The only difficulty was how to look into it, what to do, how. Basically, everything about it is difficult because I don't want to do this thing I'm pretending I want to do. And the reason I don't want to do it is because I'm doing this thing with the wrong person.

Speaker 1:
[08:42] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[08:43] The only difficulty is everything.

Speaker 3:
[08:46] Everything. But also just one thing, really.

Speaker 1:
[08:48] Yeah, just one.

Speaker 3:
[08:49] Yeah, that makes sense to me. And then also you've got a phone call about the case to going over the various things they're going to look into, which is like an early stages of investigation. This feels like an early stage epigraph investigation wise.

Speaker 1:
[09:04] The only difficulty is everything.

Speaker 2:
[09:06] Yes. Going into the chapter, I know I have no right to feel resentful, but any time Robin wakes up in Murphy's flat or he wakes up in hers, betrayal.

Speaker 3:
[09:17] Yeah, it's disgusting. It's disgusting to witness.

Speaker 2:
[09:20] I feel personally betrayed.

Speaker 1:
[09:23] It's a hate crime against Lindsay's everywhere.

Speaker 4:
[09:26] It's a hate crime.

Speaker 2:
[09:28] I feel so betrayed personally.

Speaker 3:
[09:30] I do feel personally victimized by Robin waking up in his bed.

Speaker 4:
[09:34] It's disgusting. No one wants to see it.

Speaker 1:
[09:36] I think that all of us in Strike are on the same page. Yeah. The fact that she's waking up in his bed, in his flat, disgusting.

Speaker 3:
[09:44] I think if we started to petition Robin and Murphy no more bedshare, I think Strike would sign it.

Speaker 1:
[09:50] He'd be at the top of the list. He'd be out there personally making sure that people sign it.

Speaker 2:
[09:55] I remember reading it and I just go, What?

Speaker 3:
[09:58] How dare she?

Speaker 1:
[10:00] Why?

Speaker 2:
[10:01] Come on, Robin.

Speaker 3:
[10:04] But one bright side, at least she spent most of the night being our favorite little workaholic alone on the couch instead of snuggling up with him. So silver linings. I bet they didn't have sex either if she's staying up checking her emails.

Speaker 1:
[10:17] Of course.

Speaker 2:
[10:18] Yes, that's very true. I was pleased about that.

Speaker 1:
[10:22] She's not running her hands through Murphy's chest here, not that he has any.

Speaker 3:
[10:26] Still, don't put that image in my mind, Kenz. I hate that.

Speaker 2:
[10:31] I think it's safe to assume that Murphy's a heavy sleeper, or at least I think he didn't wake up when she came to bed that night because you... I just feel like he'd be annoyed if he knew that she stayed up till 2 a.m. working.

Speaker 3:
[10:43] He'd be so annoyed. He'd be so annoyed. So 100 percent, he's a heavy sleeper, which I don't get. I personally am a super light sleeper, unless I've had a couple of drinks.

Speaker 2:
[10:54] That'll do it.

Speaker 3:
[10:55] Bear with me here because alcohol tends to produce a pretty heavy slumber.

Speaker 2:
[10:59] Okay.

Speaker 3:
[10:59] Am I saying that Murphy was drinking last night? I'm not not saying it, but if Robin didn't wake him up at 2 a.m., yeah, just something to think on.

Speaker 2:
[11:09] When I said that I think that Murphy would be annoyed that Robin was working, I think that the little details show us that. So I don't want to say that Robin is, I don't want to use the word trained now for a human. Maybe it comes from Matthew, but the fact that she knows that she shouldn't say that she's tired the next day. I don't know, maybe that's too harsh, but she doesn't want to say that she's tired. Do you know what I mean?

Speaker 3:
[11:35] No, I totally agree. Because the thing is, I feel like she would get some criticism from Murphy if he realized she was tired for their little house hunt because she'd stayed up working, or at least like a huffy mood from him.

Speaker 2:
[11:47] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[11:47] It seems to me that while Murphy might be...

Speaker 2:
[11:51] You said my Murphy and that made me laugh.

Speaker 3:
[11:54] Sorry. It seems to me that while Murphy might be theoretically okay with her job in general, he's like, oh yeah, hot female detective. That's cool. I'm okay with that minus the strike portion of her job, which he's not at all okay with. He still doesn't want it to be more important than him to her. He's not okay with how important it is to her. He's not okay with the vocation of it, the obsessive workaholic nature.

Speaker 2:
[12:21] Yeah, that's a good assessment. Okay with it, but he wants to be more important.

Speaker 3:
[12:25] Yeah, whereas Matthew wasn't even okay with the general detective idea.

Speaker 1:
[12:28] Had to be there with astronauts and lion tamers.

Speaker 2:
[12:31] She's moving in the right direction.

Speaker 3:
[12:33] In the right direction, she needs to keep going a little bit further.

Speaker 2:
[12:38] I have some bad news for Murphy though.

Speaker 1:
[12:41] Whomp, whomp, yeah. Let's get the unpleasant stuff out of the way first. So let's talk about Robin and Murphy's drive to go look at a house and Robin's morning in general.

Speaker 3:
[12:51] It is very appropriate that her morning is foggy and cold. It feels to me like that's a reflection of what's going on inside her head in this whole book because she's unable to see clearly. She's in a fog and she's cold. She's not feeling what she's supposed to feel or she's trying to convince herself. It feels like Robin throughout this whole book, right?

Speaker 2:
[13:11] Yeah. Part of me was like, well, isn't it always cold? But it's the fog that makes that so appropriate because she really can't see clearly in this book. She is in a fog, literally.

Speaker 1:
[13:24] Totally.

Speaker 3:
[13:24] I guess it is in the middle of December for them, so it makes sense that it's cold and it's a damn cold if it's foggy, which is the coldest kind.

Speaker 1:
[13:32] Plus it's England, part of the territory, isn't it?

Speaker 3:
[13:35] I think their temperature is generally quite lovely. Relative to mine.

Speaker 2:
[13:40] I can't relate.

Speaker 1:
[13:41] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[13:41] I'm still a little salty about you sending gorgeous sunny photos to the group chat.

Speaker 2:
[13:48] It's already summer here.

Speaker 3:
[13:49] Deliberately, knowing that I'm in the middle of freezing rain nightmare.

Speaker 2:
[13:54] I know. I'm not even sorry.

Speaker 3:
[13:56] I know you did it on purpose.

Speaker 2:
[13:58] I know. I'm not even sorry.

Speaker 3:
[13:59] It's haunting me. Like your lemon tree.

Speaker 2:
[14:03] I'm in miserable heat right now.

Speaker 3:
[14:06] I feel like 90 is happy for you.

Speaker 2:
[14:09] 90 is miserable.

Speaker 3:
[14:11] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[14:11] It's already miserable.

Speaker 3:
[14:12] That would be miserable for me and not boating well.

Speaker 2:
[14:16] It's like 34 in Celsius. That's too hot. We're going to the beach next week, which will be lovely.

Speaker 3:
[14:23] Okay. Well, let's hope you come across a handsome Hairy Merman.

Speaker 2:
[14:27] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[14:28] Merdaddy.

Speaker 4:
[14:29] Fingers crossed for Merdaddy.

Speaker 2:
[14:31] Fingers crossed.

Speaker 3:
[14:34] Fins crossed.

Speaker 1:
[14:35] I don't know.

Speaker 3:
[14:36] But this weather and Robin's mental state, it just feels like a bit of a hint of what's going to come later. When Robin starts wishing she could just run away somewhere sunny and warm, she's hoping that if she changes the weather, she'll force the change of her mood and her mind to match. Does not work that way, and she figures out when she goes to Sardinia. But yeah.

Speaker 2:
[14:57] It really bothers me that you said somewhere sunny and warm instead of somewhere warm and sunny.

Speaker 3:
[15:02] That is weird. Why did I say it that way?

Speaker 2:
[15:05] I don't know because I just need to sing it. Somewhere warm and sunny.

Speaker 3:
[15:09] Oh.

Speaker 2:
[15:11] On an island that I own.

Speaker 3:
[15:19] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[15:20] I literally was, I read your note and I was thinking, why did she mess up the line?

Speaker 4:
[15:26] I don't know why I said it that way.

Speaker 2:
[15:27] I know.

Speaker 3:
[15:28] I too would like to be tanned and rested and alone.

Speaker 2:
[15:32] I will never be tanned.

Speaker 3:
[15:33] I will never be tanned either.

Speaker 2:
[15:35] No, never.

Speaker 1:
[15:35] Man, it really breaks my heart to see Robin continuing to have nightmares about Chapman Farm.

Speaker 2:
[15:40] I wonder how much of Dr. Broccoli will deal with Chapman Farm.

Speaker 3:
[15:44] Probably quite a bit.

Speaker 2:
[15:45] Or if we're going to focus a lot on Strike.

Speaker 3:
[15:46] She really does need to focus on dumping the boyfriend.

Speaker 1:
[15:49] I know.

Speaker 3:
[15:51] If she's going to direct Robin to do something, that should be number one on the to-do list, because I think it would fix a lot of problems.

Speaker 2:
[15:57] How much do I care about Chapman Farm versus that?

Speaker 1:
[16:00] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[16:01] Because my priority list.

Speaker 3:
[16:03] Yeah. Dump Murphy, get with Strike, deal with trauma.

Speaker 2:
[16:07] Exactly. Might be different from Joe's.

Speaker 3:
[16:10] One helps the other. It's building upon building upon.

Speaker 1:
[16:12] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[16:13] We'll see.

Speaker 1:
[16:13] Next up, we're going to talk about the Land Rover. It says, leaving it there, she'd felt not unlike a pet owner waiting to hear whether the vet could save her beloved animal. The car's rattle, which she still hadn't traced to its source, had grown louder.

Speaker 2:
[16:28] The Land Rover has bronchitis, guys.

Speaker 3:
[16:31] RIP Land Rover.

Speaker 1:
[16:32] I knew as soon as I read this that the old Land Rover was a goner.

Speaker 2:
[16:35] Yeah, so did I. I have to take us back to our conversation pre-Hallmarked Man where we argued over the Land Rover versus Round Tree.

Speaker 4:
[16:44] They both died.

Speaker 2:
[16:45] They both died. It's just so funny that Robin herself compares it here to a pet and we were arguing. It's so funny.

Speaker 3:
[16:54] It's tragic. Tragic for our girl. Funny for us a little bit.

Speaker 2:
[16:59] It is funny for us.

Speaker 1:
[17:00] Very funny.

Speaker 2:
[17:02] I think Robin's more sad about the Land Rover than Round Tree, I'm just saying.

Speaker 1:
[17:06] Yeah. Yeah. Something else that made me laugh though, when I was looking up Murphy's car, a Toyota Aventus, again, to reequip myself with what it looked like, was a description that Google gave me for it, which describes it as grown up and sensible rather than exciting.

Speaker 2:
[17:22] Appropriate.

Speaker 1:
[17:23] Right.

Speaker 3:
[17:23] Sounds pretty nice. What's a Toyota Aventus look like?

Speaker 2:
[17:26] I don't know. Let me Google it.

Speaker 1:
[17:27] I feel like both Murphy and Strikes car are pretty representative of them as people. Murphy's is boring and predictable and safe and Strikes is exciting, sleek and sexy. Although since his car is a little older, maybe it's like a metaphorical Noah Wiley. A little beaten up, a little mature.

Speaker 2:
[17:44] Are you calling Noah Wiley beaten up?

Speaker 4:
[17:46] No.

Speaker 1:
[17:46] No, but the car, not Noah Wiley.

Speaker 3:
[17:50] I lost track. I was thinking Toyota Aventus and how it actually looks like a pretty practical, nice car.

Speaker 1:
[17:56] It's very sensible.

Speaker 4:
[17:58] Practical, sensible things.

Speaker 1:
[18:00] Unless your name is Ryan Murphy, in which case, no.

Speaker 3:
[18:04] Yeah, because like Strike have an exciting car. His BMW is old and used.

Speaker 1:
[18:09] But it's still a BMW.

Speaker 3:
[18:10] I think he thought it wasn't as much of a spurge as people might think, or it wasn't like that much of a luxury. At this point, it's battered with gunshots and everything.

Speaker 1:
[18:19] I don't think he's driving around with the bullet holes.

Speaker 3:
[18:22] I'm leading up to something here. He did have to take it into the garage to get fixed. Also, Robin is frequently the one driving it, even though it's technically Strikes, it's a car. What I'm saying is it's totally tracks. The car is sexy but older, battered, less glamorous than people think, follows Robin's instructions. I'd say that a body strike pretty well. The Toyota Aventus looks like if you googled the word car. This is what would pop up. This is what comes to mind when I think car.

Speaker 2:
[18:52] If you googled boyfriend, you get Murphy.

Speaker 3:
[18:55] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[18:56] Which is basically why Robin is staying with him with her list.

Speaker 3:
[19:00] That's exactly.

Speaker 4:
[19:02] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[19:02] That tracks 100 percent. Oh dear, Robin.

Speaker 1:
[19:06] That tracks all the way to the bank.

Speaker 2:
[19:08] Something that I was thinking about is when Robin's a little sad about the Land Rover. She gets into Murphy's car and she thinks it's snug and warm, and it might be nice to get a car with a working heater. So she likes the idea of heat. You know, heat is appealing, but it's Strike who provides the heat, you know, because he gets her the Land Rover. I feel like there's endless symbolism with the Land Rover and Strike getting it to explore. Probably only a fraction of it is going to be close to being right.

Speaker 3:
[19:40] I really felt Robin here because I can personally vouch for how lovely a heated seat is.

Speaker 1:
[19:44] Absolutely.

Speaker 2:
[19:45] I love my booty cheek heaters.

Speaker 3:
[19:47] Would I like Strike to be my heated seat? Yes, I would. I'm not even sure what the innuendo is there, but it's something.

Speaker 2:
[19:54] It doesn't matter. It's working for me. I'm thinking about the cat in Trouble Blood.

Speaker 1:
[20:00] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[20:00] That cat knew what was up.

Speaker 3:
[20:02] We were all jealous of that cat.

Speaker 2:
[20:04] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[20:04] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[20:06] It's still one of my favorite outtakes, which nowadays I would have left it an episode. But when you said it was so nice of Strike to pet the kitty. And I knew exactly what your mind was doing. It's one of my favorites.

Speaker 1:
[20:27] The cat.

Speaker 2:
[20:28] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[20:29] Okay. So what you're saying is we were always extra raunchy and ridiculous. You just leave more of it in now.

Speaker 2:
[20:35] Yes.

Speaker 3:
[20:36] Nice.

Speaker 2:
[20:37] Which is why I'm struggling because I have less and less outtakes, because I just leave it in now.

Speaker 3:
[20:44] I'll have to work harder.

Speaker 2:
[20:45] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[20:45] I'll have to say more outrageous shit that you just cannot leave in.

Speaker 2:
[20:49] I know.

Speaker 3:
[20:50] Take that as a personal challenge.

Speaker 2:
[20:51] It is. It is a bit of a personal challenge.

Speaker 3:
[20:54] I can rise to this.

Speaker 2:
[20:55] There is a Christmas song mentioned here and I am not familiar with it at all. Are either of you or is this a UK only song?

Speaker 1:
[21:04] I have heard of it. I heard it on Glee once during one of their Christmas. Yeah. On one of their Christmas episodes.

Speaker 2:
[21:10] There are so many times where there's-

Speaker 3:
[21:11] Where we know most music from.

Speaker 2:
[21:13] I know. There are so many times where I'm asking if you guys know a song.

Speaker 1:
[21:16] I think it was on Glee.

Speaker 3:
[21:17] The song is Do They Know It's Christmas? Yeah, I've heard that every Christmas for my whole life. Yeah, it's definitely not a UK only thing. It's not on my Christmas playlist though because it's like guilting and depressing. It's not really my vibe, but I know it.

Speaker 2:
[21:33] I have literally never-

Speaker 4:
[21:35] Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

Speaker 2:
[21:39] I have literally never heard this song in my entire life. Kenz, have you ever heard it play on radio stations or anything?

Speaker 1:
[21:47] Very rarely. People tend to play more-

Speaker 3:
[21:48] I've definitely heard it on Christmas radio.

Speaker 2:
[21:50] I've never heard it play, ever. I've never heard the song in my life. Does Canada want to either A, be the UK or B, not be the US? C, both?

Speaker 3:
[22:00] No, we're not the US. Don't worry.

Speaker 2:
[22:04] Well, I know. Kind of weird to me like we're on the same block of land, but we have such different experiences.

Speaker 3:
[22:11] We're part of the Commonwealth, so the king is technically our king. We didn't fight a war against Britain for independence. We just sort of-

Speaker 2:
[22:21] We did.

Speaker 3:
[22:21] We didn't even get. I don't even know, actually. I think we just shook hands. We're like, it's not you, it's us. Let's just sort of take a break.

Speaker 2:
[22:28] What did Canada do during that time?

Speaker 3:
[22:30] I don't fucking know. Well, we were British during the Revolutionary War.

Speaker 2:
[22:36] I literally just thought, what did Canada do during that time? Because it's not in Hamilton, so I don't know.

Speaker 3:
[22:46] I'd have had to pay more attention to my Canadian history class to have a really good idea.

Speaker 2:
[22:52] I mean, we're doing American history.

Speaker 3:
[22:53] I feel like we were British. We weren't in Canada yet, we were British. I don't know actually.

Speaker 2:
[23:00] We're doing American history in our homeschool curriculum, but I haven't really seen anything about that. Interesting.

Speaker 3:
[23:06] I know more US history than I do Canadian history.

Speaker 2:
[23:09] Well, because it's in Hamilton.

Speaker 3:
[23:10] I feel like we do have closer, more recent ties to the UK than the US does.

Speaker 2:
[23:15] Could that be why you know this song?

Speaker 3:
[23:17] Don't know. You'd have to pull someone from other areas of the States. Maybe this is just not a California thing. Maybe the East Coast knows the song.

Speaker 2:
[23:25] Maybe.

Speaker 3:
[23:25] Although my grandparents on my father's side were English, and my dad was actually also born in England. It was a family culture. I might be more English than most just because of that influence. I grew up watching Faulty Towers and stuff.

Speaker 2:
[23:38] Not I Love Lucy.

Speaker 3:
[23:39] No, I did not watch I Love Lucy.

Speaker 4:
[23:42] Anyway, I don't know.

Speaker 3:
[23:43] It's a song I've heard many, many times. I didn't realize people in the States hadn't heard it, or at least in California.

Speaker 2:
[23:49] At least this one.

Speaker 3:
[23:50] I have to do a poll of the rest of our American listeners.

Speaker 2:
[23:53] I had to do whole research on this song.

Speaker 3:
[23:56] What did we find out here?

Speaker 2:
[23:57] Well, it's a charity song written in 84 to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia. From what I've read online, it's pretty controversial, because the lyrics paint all of Africa in a negative and stereotypical image.

Speaker 3:
[24:12] It's a bit paternalistic a little bit.

Speaker 2:
[24:14] It says online that it was originally written to be uplifting. I say with a big question mark. I'm looking at the lyrics, I'm trying to see where the uplifting part is. Is the uplifting part in the room with us?

Speaker 1:
[24:31] I don't think so.

Speaker 3:
[24:32] It's so weird. Guilt trips don't generally make me feel uplifted.

Speaker 2:
[24:36] They say feed the world, let them know it's Christmas time.

Speaker 3:
[24:39] They do have calendars in Africa, but.

Speaker 2:
[24:42] Feed the world could technically maybe be uplifting. Maybe, not really. Yeah. You also have the lyrics that say, there's a world outside your window, and it's a world of dreaded fear, where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears. The Christmas bells that ring are the clanging chimes of doom. Well, tonight, thank God, it's them instead of you. Nah, nah, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[25:09] Thank God, it's them instead of you seems like a very sociopathic, insane way to remind people to be grateful for what they have. Maybe that's just me.

Speaker 2:
[25:17] Imagine writing that lyric and thinking, that's it. Nailed it.

Speaker 1:
[25:22] Fucking nailed it. Note notes. Send it on.

Speaker 2:
[25:26] I was going to guess that the purpose of having this song in the chapter, maybe Jo wanted to find the most depressing Christmas song she could have for Robin in this moment of the dreaded house hunting.

Speaker 1:
[25:37] Which is hilarious because the music itself is quite happy. It's a cheerful sounding song.

Speaker 2:
[25:42] Well that fits nicely though, doesn't it? It seems cheerful but it really isn't just like Robin in this moment in the house hunting.

Speaker 1:
[25:51] Oh, this next part is so annoying. When Strike calls initially and Robin asks him to call her later to discuss this news, Murphy's response when asking what he's not allowed to hear. Oh, I'm annoyed.

Speaker 3:
[26:02] What am I not allowed to hear?

Speaker 1:
[26:04] My phone calls? Am I not allowed privacy?

Speaker 2:
[26:07] There's a lot you're not allowed to hear, Murphy.

Speaker 1:
[26:10] Let's get a list.

Speaker 2:
[26:11] To be honest, I felt another moment of resentment that her phone connects to Murphy's car's Bluetooth. Her phone should connect to Strike's car, not Murphy's. I don't like it. I don't care if it makes no sense.

Speaker 3:
[26:23] No, I mean, I fully agree. Bluetooth connection is way too close to married on the relationship scale for me to be at all comfortable with this.

Speaker 2:
[26:32] For me to be comfortable. It's intimate. In my car, my husband's phone is connected and my cousin's phone is connected.

Speaker 3:
[26:39] It's like, yeah. I was going to say something else but then you said my cousin's phone. I was like, oh no, never mind.

Speaker 2:
[26:45] What were you going to say? Something sexual?

Speaker 3:
[26:46] I was going to say it's like sex but over the air, like airwaves, but it's not.

Speaker 2:
[26:50] Yeah, let's please not. No.

Speaker 3:
[26:52] Maybe she, you know what, maybe she just borrowed Murphy's car for something and then didn't take off the Bluetooth.

Speaker 2:
[26:59] Sure.

Speaker 1:
[27:00] That's what I'm choosing to believe.

Speaker 3:
[27:01] And what does comfort me is my imagining that Murphy has basically never been in the Land Rover because that's Robin and Strike's special place. So she encourages defaulting to taking Murphy's car places and like placates him by connecting her Bluetooth to keep her car pristine from his taint.

Speaker 2:
[27:24] From his taint.

Speaker 3:
[27:25] From him tainting it with his aura.

Speaker 2:
[27:27] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[27:28] You know.

Speaker 2:
[27:28] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[27:29] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[27:30] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[27:30] From his taint.

Speaker 4:
[27:32] The Murphy taint.

Speaker 2:
[27:33] Like, I'm sorry, I'm a child. I'm sorry.

Speaker 1:
[27:45] I was going to say that we can't sully their Land Rover with memories of Murphy. Absolutely not. It's Strike & Robin's special spot. It's her special place. He's not allowed.

Speaker 2:
[27:53] Also, I like imagining that soon Murphy is going to have to disconnect her phone when she dumps him. And that is really fun for me to think about.

Speaker 1:
[28:04] Right. I'm just imagining him angrily jabbing at his car's touch screen now.

Speaker 2:
[28:08] It makes me so happy.

Speaker 3:
[28:09] I'm imagining him not disconnecting it and just sitting there crying, staring at Robin's phone.

Speaker 2:
[28:15] It needs to be raining outside too.

Speaker 3:
[28:17] Yeah, raining.

Speaker 1:
[28:18] Girl dramatic.

Speaker 3:
[28:25] Really kind of fussing about it for him.

Speaker 1:
[28:29] So here's my question. Do you guys think that it's just because Murphy's jealous of Robin and Strike or do you think that Murphy might also be starting to suspect that they're investigating more than they say they are?

Speaker 2:
[28:40] I think he would take any reason to be mad at Strike, but it could be both. One of those things he has a right to be mad about, the other he does not. Yes. I notice now, though, that Robin feels comfortable telling Murphy that she's tired when her tiredness gets her out of talking to Strike and not when it might imply that she's not hyped to go see houses.

Speaker 3:
[29:03] It's acceptable in one of those situations.

Speaker 2:
[29:05] And also, what I think is really funny is that Robin is worried that Strike would say something that would upset Murphy about the case over Bluetooth. Like, hey, I just had a guy from MI5 here warning us off investigating. When what she should really be worried about is Strike proposing marriage to her in front of her boyfriend.

Speaker 3:
[29:26] That would make for an awkward house tour.

Speaker 2:
[29:30] That hand squeeze might be really different. Oh, it just really made me laugh that, you know.

Speaker 3:
[29:37] That's what she's worried about.

Speaker 2:
[29:38] That's what she was worried about.

Speaker 3:
[29:40] I'm very concerned. Because you know, Strike, if Strike knew he was on speakerphone, which Robin would tell him instantly, he'd never say that stuff in front of Murphy anyways.

Speaker 2:
[29:47] No, of course not.

Speaker 1:
[29:49] When Robin changes the subject to their trip to Massim for the holidays, it says, see, she thought, you're the one I'm taking home. You're the one I'm spending Christmas with.

Speaker 2:
[29:57] Gag. Pools, now that you said that thing earlier about fog, this line here is so interesting. It says, they drove on through the fog and after a while, Robin initiated a conversation about their eminent trip to Massim. So they're driving through and Robin is searching through her mind, through the fog of her mind to try and clear her head, to figure herself out, find herself, but she can't.

Speaker 1:
[30:23] Yes.

Speaker 3:
[30:24] I feel like she thinks that this stable relationship with the house hunting and the trips back home will be her lifeline, the thing she holds onto to guide herself back to clean air. She's wrong. It's just more fog. It's making the fog worse.

Speaker 2:
[30:37] Because the fog is coming from inside the relationship.

Speaker 4:
[30:40] Oh my God, the God is coming from inside the relationship.

Speaker 2:
[30:43] Murphy is the fog machine.

Speaker 1:
[30:45] Murphy is the foggy prophet.

Speaker 2:
[30:47] The foggy prophet.

Speaker 3:
[30:49] I can only see froggy prophet.

Speaker 2:
[30:51] I know.

Speaker 1:
[30:52] That's literally what I'm thinking too.

Speaker 2:
[30:55] Then I'm thinking of Kermit the Frog. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[30:59] Also, Robin, don't think I don't see that your supposed proof of loving Murphy, not Strike, has literally nothing to do with her actual feelings for either of them.

Speaker 2:
[31:11] Nothing.

Speaker 3:
[31:12] She doesn't even mention her feelings, just that Murphy is the square peg that she's crammed into her round, the round boyfriend hole. And now that I say that, that sounds wrong, but you know.

Speaker 2:
[31:25] I know.

Speaker 3:
[31:26] He's the boyfriend peg, and she's like, see? I'm just like, no.

Speaker 2:
[31:30] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[31:31] No, Robin.

Speaker 2:
[31:31] I get what you mean.

Speaker 3:
[31:32] Also, I think we know who her heart is going to end up spending Christmas day with. And spoiler alert, it's not Murphy.

Speaker 2:
[31:40] She literally ends up on the floor holding Strike's gift and his love and thinking about how she loves him and texting him. She does spend Christmas with him.

Speaker 3:
[31:50] He successfully Christmas blocks Murphy.

Speaker 2:
[31:52] Oh, he does.

Speaker 3:
[31:54] He does a really good job.

Speaker 4:
[31:56] I'm so proud. He wins that battle.

Speaker 2:
[31:58] Oh, I love him.

Speaker 3:
[31:59] Murphy gets to go home, but it's Strike she's thinking of crying drunk on the bathroom floor.

Speaker 1:
[32:04] I guess this says that Robin is reading Murphy's comment purely as jealousy, but also Robin, girl, get real. You don't seriously want to spend your holidays with this man. Like you wouldn't give anything to have Strike be the one that you're taking home and spending Christmas with.

Speaker 2:
[32:19] Sometimes I wonder if she even likes Murphy.

Speaker 3:
[32:21] I don't know. I don't. So maybe I'm projecting my own feelings onto Robin, but I'm like, you don't even like him, Robin.

Speaker 2:
[32:30] I know she says he's kind and stuff, but.

Speaker 3:
[32:34] Is he in a building with us?

Speaker 2:
[32:36] Anyway, she's saying these words to Murphy in her head, but actually she's quite literally saying them to herself. She's trying to convince herself of this thing, that he is the one she's bringing home. When she knows he's not the one she wants to be bringing home or spending Christmas with.

Speaker 1:
[32:54] Yeah, exactly. That makes total sense. It's like she's trying to brainwash herself.

Speaker 3:
[32:58] She is. She's continuing the work of the UHC.

Speaker 2:
[33:01] Oh, ouc.

Speaker 1:
[33:02] I like that Joe chose to have a married couple with children and a pregnant wife show Robin and Murphy this house. Because it feels like a hazy advertisement to Robin and Murphy too about what her future life with Murphy could look like.

Speaker 3:
[33:15] Robin did not like that.

Speaker 1:
[33:17] Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 2:
[33:18] I have a question though. What the heck does it mean when it says that the house was a band box neat?

Speaker 3:
[33:24] So from what I can gather, I looked it up. Band box neat means exquisitely neat, clean or ordered as if just taken from a band box. Now, band box is, I think, a small lightweight box that holds pieces of clothing, like ruffs, if we're in the 17th century, or like collars or a lightweight hat box for your bonnet, like little accessories and bits. Possibly though, I saw one website that said it specifically holds like the clergyman outfit. I think the implication with this phrase is that whatever piece of clothing you're pulling out of the band box is unworn so it's nice and neat and clean, the same way you put it away, you know?

Speaker 2:
[34:05] I see. Because this was the most unbelievable part of the chapter for me, was that the house was so spotless with two small kids, one who had been sick and then the woman was pregnant.

Speaker 4:
[34:18] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[34:20] Maybe they have a house cleaner or a babysitter that comes in to help.

Speaker 3:
[34:23] Could have hired someone specifically for this morning for the showings.

Speaker 1:
[34:27] Right.

Speaker 2:
[34:28] Only possibility I can see. Or someone just is much tidier than I am.

Speaker 3:
[34:33] Some people are. Fun fact while I was researching this though, in the 18th century, there was a plot to kill the Earl of Oxford by rigging some pistols in a band box to fire when it was opened like a parcel bomb.

Speaker 2:
[34:47] Oh, I know this story.

Speaker 3:
[34:49] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[34:50] Oh, okay.

Speaker 3:
[34:50] No, I don't.

Speaker 2:
[34:51] No, I don't. That was a camera.

Speaker 3:
[34:54] Oh, okay.

Speaker 2:
[34:55] Never mind. I got really excited. It was the same murder plot. Sorry. Go ahead.

Speaker 3:
[34:59] How would the camera kill someone?

Speaker 2:
[35:01] Tell me the story. Maybe I missed.

Speaker 3:
[35:03] Well, so the band box plot, it was foiled by Jonathan Swift, of all people, who saw the strings coming out of the back of the box. I don't know.

Speaker 2:
[35:12] I think this is the story that I know.

Speaker 3:
[35:14] Then he cut them, which is an easy plot to support.

Speaker 2:
[35:18] Okay.

Speaker 3:
[35:19] Not super relevant, just a fun history fact. A band being rigged to kill someone would be a fun murder for Strike & Ellacott to solve.

Speaker 2:
[35:26] Maybe that was the murder plot that I was thinking of, and I just misremembered the box with the camera box. It sounds very familiar.

Speaker 3:
[35:36] They rigged someone rigged like a 19th century camera with a gun, would make sense as a murder plot. Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2:
[35:43] Okay.

Speaker 3:
[35:43] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[35:44] Maybe I'm just mixing up a box.

Speaker 3:
[35:46] Yeah, you might be.

Speaker 2:
[35:47] A gun in a box with another gun in a box.

Speaker 3:
[35:49] Yeah, possible. Anyway, it was a fun, fun, interesting history story.

Speaker 2:
[35:54] Yeah, that is interesting.

Speaker 1:
[35:55] It feels like we get a hint of the old Robin back when we read her thoughts after Murphy squeezes her hand while they look at the kids' room. I will never live in this house. Like, damn right you will.

Speaker 2:
[36:05] I literally cheered out loud when I read that part. I was so happy. I was just like, thank you, Lord. Amen. Can I get an amen for Robin?

Speaker 1:
[36:13] Please and thank you.

Speaker 3:
[36:15] The thought comes into her mind just like how she suddenly knew Strike was there for her. But it's like the opposite. But the feel of it felt the same for me. So that means that I knew she was right.

Speaker 1:
[36:27] It's the truth.

Speaker 3:
[36:27] She was. It's the truth.

Speaker 2:
[36:29] This is the second inner thought she's had in this chapter. But this is the only truthful one. First was the one about who she's taking home. Well, the first is technically truthful, but not the spirit of it. I predict that she's going to get better at distinguishing between the thoughts that are purely her truth and the thoughts that are anxious lies in Sleep Tight Evangeline.

Speaker 3:
[36:54] I hope so. I'm really counting on therapy to help her here.

Speaker 4:
[36:57] I've got all my eggs in that basket.

Speaker 2:
[36:59] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[36:59] Especially with learning to accept her thoughts and investigate where they're coming from rather than instinctively suppressing them. So Dr. Broccoli had better pull her on this one because I'm rooting for her.

Speaker 1:
[37:10] I am already ready to deeply love Dr. Broccoli.

Speaker 3:
[37:14] I'm so ready. I'm primed. I'm ready for her to be my hero. She can be my hero, baby.

Speaker 2:
[37:20] We need a hero.

Speaker 3:
[37:21] She can therapies away my pain.

Speaker 1:
[37:23] That too.

Speaker 3:
[37:24] And we do need a hero.

Speaker 2:
[37:26] We're holding up for the hero of Evangeline.

Speaker 1:
[37:30] Robin, girl, that stomach clenching should be telling you something.

Speaker 3:
[37:34] Oh, God. Yes.

Speaker 1:
[37:35] Listen to your body.

Speaker 3:
[37:36] She should really notice that it's Murphy making her stomach clench. It's not the house. It's Murphy squeezing her hand is the moment where she knows the house is wrong. It's because she knows he's wrong.

Speaker 1:
[37:47] Her come to Jesus moment in Sleep Tight Evangeline is going to be so, so good when she learns to finally start listening to herself.

Speaker 2:
[37:55] I know this is a possibly dangerous place to be, but I've been feeling really hopeful lately for Sleep Tight Evangeline. It comes and it goes. I have some waves, but I always come back to Eros and Psyche.

Speaker 3:
[38:09] No, because you know what? I'm feeling really hopeful too.

Speaker 2:
[38:12] Okay, good.

Speaker 3:
[38:13] I know many people think that everything going on with Robin is going to get worse in Evangeline before it gets better. But I honestly think that Hallmarked Man was actually her rock bottom because her decision to reach out for help at the end of this book is huge growth for her. It's a turning point moment. And it's setting up something that's going to help her start recovering from all of this in Evangeline. And we know it's coming at the very beginning of the book because of the timeline. You're laughing at me. What did I do?

Speaker 2:
[38:42] Yeah. Well, because last time you abbreviated it to Sleep Tight and now you're just saying Evangeline.

Speaker 3:
[38:47] I'm just saying whatever I feel.

Speaker 2:
[38:48] No, I like it.

Speaker 3:
[38:49] I'm testing out different acronyms, right?

Speaker 2:
[38:51] No, I like Evangeline.

Speaker 3:
[38:53] I'm going to see what feels best to me.

Speaker 2:
[38:55] I didn't know that a lot of people think that. I agree with you, Pools, because I see it as an ink black heart parallel. That was really Strikes Rock Bottom. And then we get the big shock at the end with Robin going off to date Murphy. And he finally admits that he's in love. So I see that as a parallel. And we know that we're going to start five minutes after. So I think that could be a continuation of a rock bottom. But I think that we probably will get a little bit of a time jump to skip over some therapy.

Speaker 1:
[39:30] Yeah, I mean, we still have to find... We still are going to find out about Pat's birthday, though. And that's in May. So that's like a month after.

Speaker 4:
[39:37] That's pretty close.

Speaker 1:
[39:39] In the last book. But we'll see. We'll see. I'm still inclined to think that Sleep Tight Evangeline will be rock bottom, like at least at some point in the book, just because of how much drama is going to ensue in the fallout.

Speaker 3:
[39:49] There's going to be so much drama. It's going to be so messy. I can't wait.

Speaker 1:
[39:52] Yeah, exactly. The drama from her breakup is going to be huge, but I can't fault your logic though. I can see that happening.

Speaker 2:
[39:58] I just think that sometimes the freedom that truth gives you outweighs drama in the sense that you still feel so much happier and lighter. So just because there's drama going on, it doesn't mean that she's going to hit a darker place. She could still be in a much better place even if there's drama going on with Murphy. It's the weight of her trying to lie to herself that I think is really killing her in this book. Even if there's drama with Murphy, I think she could still be in a much better place.

Speaker 3:
[40:32] She's making better choices. She's feeling better. It's just the rest of the world is blowing up because of everything she did in this book.

Speaker 2:
[40:38] But she can still be in a better place.

Speaker 3:
[40:40] Yeah. I've also been thinking more and more that Strikes Confession at the end of this book will be the shock that makes Robin actually confront her true feelings.

Speaker 2:
[40:48] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[40:49] Because in the epigraph for this last chapter, 127, I guess we've just skipped ahead to discuss the last chapter now because I have to sometimes. It says there's the universal collapse. I think that universal collapse will turn out to be the collapse of the lies she's been spinning for herself. They're the impend air of the chamber that will be dissolved under the irresistible pressure of the sea. The underground chamber in the epigraph is Robin and Ryan's relationship, and the air pocket that's supporting the crest is Robin's lies, and the irresistible sea is Robin and Strike's love for each other.

Speaker 2:
[41:27] It is indeed irresistible to me.

Speaker 3:
[41:30] To me, to all of us, to them. I visualized the beginning of Evangeline being the aftermath of this collapse, that moment that Strike says this, it all falls apart. And I don't think that aftermath is going to be Robin saying yes, although I'm very prepared to be proven wrong. And then the end of Evangeline will be that eros and psyche moment on the way to their wedding, right? You see, it all makes perfect sense. I might as well have the direct line to Joe's thoughts here.

Speaker 2:
[41:58] This is how I see it too, which is why it scares me.

Speaker 3:
[42:02] Yeah, I know, which means I'm probably 100% wrong.

Speaker 2:
[42:06] Exactly. I do have to remind myself that my general feelings for The Running Grave were correct.

Speaker 4:
[42:11] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[42:11] So I have a shot at getting this right.

Speaker 3:
[42:14] Our odds are good.

Speaker 2:
[42:15] My even number books predictions were wrong, but my odd number seems to be better. I have better shots at my odd numbers.

Speaker 4:
[42:24] Okay.

Speaker 3:
[42:24] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[42:25] Fingers crossed.

Speaker 3:
[42:26] Fingers crossed.

Speaker 2:
[42:27] I kind of laugh a bit at how Robin just, she cannot get out of that house fast enough.

Speaker 1:
[42:35] Homegirl literally turned into Roadrunner.

Speaker 3:
[42:38] Murphy squeezes her hand and she's like, meep, meep.

Speaker 2:
[42:40] Murphy asks if they should go look upstairs again, and Robin's like, no, there are good pictures online. Let's go. Let's go get a coffee. It's like when Strike wants to go scope out the suspect's houses in Silkworm and Robin says, let's just use Google Maps. She's doing it again.

Speaker 3:
[42:56] You're right. Last time it was because she didn't want to go out in the freezing rain again and who can blame her because putting on a damp scarf is a nightmare. I'm just including that because people really liked the scarf talk. I'm just giving the listeners what they want.

Speaker 2:
[43:09] I was really surprised about that. I'm just thinking about me editing that episode. I'm sitting here thinking, should I delete all this nonsense scarf talk?

Speaker 3:
[43:19] No.

Speaker 2:
[43:19] Who's going to care? I guess it's good I did it.

Speaker 3:
[43:22] Many people very much.

Speaker 2:
[43:24] With the amount of comments and emails we got about scarves.

Speaker 3:
[43:27] Yeah. Anyway, I guess that the idea of spending more time in this house, pretending that she and Murphy have a future here, is about as pleasant as wrapping a cold, damp scarf around your neck and heading out into literal freezing rain.

Speaker 2:
[43:40] The best part of that is if Robin had the choice.

Speaker 3:
[43:44] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[43:44] I think we all know that she'd pick the scarf.

Speaker 3:
[43:47] Surveilling houses? Absolutely. Every time.

Speaker 2:
[43:50] With Strike.

Speaker 3:
[43:50] I also love her saying, we could have a look around the area. Girl, you don't want to know a single thing about this neighborhood. You don't care.

Speaker 2:
[43:57] The only possible good thing in this for Robin, besides getting away, is maybe the coffee.

Speaker 3:
[44:02] She needs it. She needs it. But Murphy is not a good enough detective to notice she's full of it and call her out.

Speaker 2:
[44:07] Or he doesn't know her well enough.

Speaker 3:
[44:09] Or he doesn't. Unlike a certain other detective who called her out about the Google Maps thing and was like, no, we're going to look at the houses.

Speaker 2:
[44:15] He sure did. Have I mentioned yet in this episode that I really love him?

Speaker 3:
[44:20] I don't think so. I wasn't sure if you did still. So it's a good thing you mentioned it.

Speaker 2:
[44:26] I know. I don't want anyone to forget. Hashtag never forgets.

Speaker 1:
[44:30] So notice how when Murphy has to take a work call, that Robin doesn't act like a weirdo and ask Murphy what she's not allowed to hear. You know, almost like he's allowed to have work calls, an incredible concept. Though, I mean, to be fair, that's partly because she wants privacy to call strike back.

Speaker 3:
[44:48] But still, she's using the work call.

Speaker 2:
[44:50] I do kind of want to see Robin act like a weirdo, though. I not necessarily in this kind of context, being jealous, because we see Robin being jealous all the time. Not with Murphy, obviously, but just, what can Robin be weird about? Strike. Just like silly, goofy Robin.

Speaker 3:
[45:06] Oh, okay. Because I'm like, I saw a meme about two characters being weird and abnormal about each other.

Speaker 2:
[45:12] Well.

Speaker 3:
[45:12] And it was on Tumblr, it was Strike and Robin. And I'm like, they are very weird and abnormal about each other. I want to see her be goofy.

Speaker 2:
[45:20] Anyway, I was going to say, she's not being weirdo about it because she doesn't care.

Speaker 3:
[45:24] It's true.

Speaker 2:
[45:25] She's not interested in telling Murphy what he can investigate. And she probably, definitely isn't going to be jealous about female colleagues.

Speaker 3:
[45:34] Right. Can you imagine if Strike was like, oh, Kim's calling, I got to take this and then walked off.

Speaker 1:
[45:40] Oh, he'd be in so much trouble. Dog house, jail immediately, a thousand years.

Speaker 3:
[45:45] She would be spiraling. Absolutely spiraling.

Speaker 2:
[45:50] He would never first of all.

Speaker 3:
[45:51] Keeping with Kim, the difference between how she would react, even if he was just like, oh, I have to take this and walked off, she'd be like, who the fuck is he talking to? Why can't I hear this?

Speaker 1:
[46:00] Yeah. Is he talking to Bijou?

Speaker 3:
[46:01] Totally different. Bijou, is it Kim? Charlotte's back from the dead?

Speaker 2:
[46:08] I think she would literally believe in Charlotte's resurrection over Strike loving her at this point.

Speaker 4:
[46:15] Oh, Robin.

Speaker 3:
[46:17] Bless her heart. Anyway, I agree. The thing is, she already knows she doesn't care enough about Murphy to get jealous. Like she figured that out a couple of chapters ago when she had to pretend to care about him getting information out of Iverson.

Speaker 1:
[46:31] And the fact that she knows that still isn't clicking for her, what she needs to do is like blowing my mind, dude. It's mind-blowing.

Speaker 3:
[46:38] It's mind-blowing. Really, I love her.

Speaker 1:
[46:41] She's ridiculous and I love her.

Speaker 3:
[46:42] Yeah, she is. Also, okay, so I know not everyone will agree with me here.

Speaker 2:
[46:47] Oh, I love when a sentence starts like that.

Speaker 3:
[46:49] I do think it's a bit suspicious that he's being careful to get out of her earshot before he picks up the supposed work call.

Speaker 2:
[46:57] Okay, here we go.

Speaker 3:
[47:00] Just saying.

Speaker 2:
[47:01] Okay.

Speaker 3:
[47:01] I'm not saying he's definitely messing around with Iverson or whatever. I'm just raising my eyebrows because cheaters tend to project their behavior onto their partners. We all know this. We can see patterns. And Murphy getting snarky about not being allowed to listen to her phone call before being careful not to hide his own. I'm just saying.

Speaker 1:
[47:22] Yeah, I see the logic. But I think one of the points here is to show that Murphy's being a little hypocritical. You know, that he has the right to privacy for work calls, but Robin doesn't.

Speaker 3:
[47:30] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[47:30] I think I'm going to remain consistent in my prediction that Murphy won't do anything like cheating. Why are you laughing?

Speaker 3:
[47:37] No, I'm just, you're very consistent.

Speaker 2:
[47:40] Well, thank you.

Speaker 3:
[47:40] It's on brand.

Speaker 1:
[47:42] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[47:42] I don't think that he's going to give Robin an out, because she needs to leave for other reasons. Oh, she does. As we've discussed at length.

Speaker 1:
[47:50] At length.

Speaker 2:
[47:51] I think it would be a normal thing given their jobs for them to both need private phone calls, so that doesn't seem odd to me. I think the purpose of this is to show Murphy's jealousy of Strike, obviously, his investment of Robin and encounter that with her complete lack of those things in him. And that all she cares about is that she's given an opportunity to have this moment with Strike, and that she doesn't even see it.

Speaker 3:
[48:18] Yeah, very true.

Speaker 2:
[48:19] But I think a lot of people will like your idea much better, just because it's Murphy.

Speaker 3:
[48:24] Because it's fun.

Speaker 2:
[48:25] I think that I will be proven right.

Speaker 3:
[48:27] She could be cheating and she doesn't find out until after she already breaks up with him. That way we get her gross and we also get him being a shithead.

Speaker 2:
[48:34] I just don't think that's going to happen.

Speaker 3:
[48:36] Yeah, probably not.

Speaker 2:
[48:38] No, probably not.

Speaker 3:
[48:39] I can't imagine it.

Speaker 1:
[48:40] It's like Schrodinger's shithead. He both is and is not a shithead.

Speaker 2:
[48:44] What did you just say?

Speaker 1:
[48:46] Schrodinger's shithead.

Speaker 3:
[48:47] Yeah. He both is and is not a shithead at the same time. You don't know until you open that box and take a peek.

Speaker 2:
[48:54] It sounds bad like you're opening a toilet. The box is a toilet.

Speaker 3:
[48:59] It does sound gross. It does sound gross.

Speaker 1:
[49:02] Next, moving on to Robin's phone call with Dillis.

Speaker 2:
[49:05] Quick side note, the name Dillis is a Welsh name that means genuine or true. No idea if that was done with intention, but maybe a little hint towards the true identity of the victim or something.

Speaker 3:
[49:17] Was there a Dillis in Harry Potter? I feel like there was. I feel so familiar. I want her last name to be Derwent.

Speaker 1:
[49:24] Isn't that a last name from the Maeve Carrigan series?

Speaker 2:
[49:27] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[49:28] I was right. She was a healer and former headmistress of Hogwarts. Dillis Derwent. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[49:35] Oh my goodness. Look at you.

Speaker 3:
[49:37] So it's good to know that I remember my Harry Potter.

Speaker 2:
[49:39] You're going to be like an old lady who can't remember anything, but you're going to say, wasn't there a Harry Potter character named?

Speaker 3:
[49:46] I can remember very specific things. Not anything I've done or said or heard, but things that I've read. I remember much better. Anyway, I was looking. The meaning of this name, Dillis, meaning like genuine, true, steadfast. I think I saw one definition. The meaning actually with this character would make sense because she is really steadfast in her assertion that the person texting her wasn't Tyler.

Speaker 2:
[50:11] Yeah, she is.

Speaker 3:
[50:12] That he said silver on the phone, and both those things are absolutely true.

Speaker 2:
[50:16] It's sad that because she's older, it's just so easy to say she doesn't know what she's saying. But she absolutely did.

Speaker 3:
[50:22] Yeah, Griff's takes advantage of that. More elder abuse.

Speaker 2:
[50:26] The first thing that I loved about re-reading this phone call was seeing how Robin's mention of the great niece is never heard or acknowledged by Dillis, and therefore it's never disputed.

Speaker 1:
[50:38] I hadn't picked up on that. That's a good catch.

Speaker 3:
[50:40] Yeah, it is because you're right. She doesn't acknowledge it. Later on, Griff's makes sure to tell them not to mention the great niece to Dillis because of her dead cat. But that was a cover to make sure Dillis wouldn't contradict the story.

Speaker 2:
[50:55] That should have been way more suspicious to me.

Speaker 3:
[50:57] Right?

Speaker 2:
[50:58] Someone telling them not to mention something for any reason.

Speaker 3:
[51:02] The first thing they should do is mention it to that person to find out why, right?

Speaker 2:
[51:07] So suspicious.

Speaker 3:
[51:08] So suspicious. We should have been on that alert being like, excuse me.

Speaker 2:
[51:12] Nobody ever would say that to the police.

Speaker 3:
[51:15] No.

Speaker 2:
[51:15] Nobody ever would say, hey, officer so-and-so, detective so-and-so, don't bring this up because it would really bother them because their cat's dead. Nobody would say that because you don't tell the detective not to investigate.

Speaker 3:
[51:28] Stuff to bring up.

Speaker 2:
[51:29] My God. Exactly. I'm really annoyed with myself for not picking that one up.

Speaker 3:
[51:36] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[51:37] She really made sure to distract us with all the misery and everything.

Speaker 3:
[51:40] I was so distracted by hating Murphy.

Speaker 1:
[51:43] I was like, Murphy, hating Kim, being worried, being miserable.

Speaker 3:
[51:48] I don't know. These clues slipping right under my radar.

Speaker 1:
[51:51] Well, you got to hand it to her. She really has kept it fresh with ways to keep us distracted from clues in the writing, right?

Speaker 3:
[51:58] Yes. She's really good at it.

Speaker 1:
[52:00] She's like, first, we distracted you with the shippy stuff, and now we're going to make you so miserable and worried about other stuff that I don't have a single ounce of attention for mystery.

Speaker 2:
[52:10] Yeah. She heard all the talk around Trouble Blood. Oh, you liked all that shippy stuff to distract you? Well, guess what?

Speaker 1:
[52:18] They'll give you the exact answer.

Speaker 2:
[52:19] That's what's coming your way, book eight. That's Joe.

Speaker 1:
[52:24] Definitely.

Speaker 2:
[52:25] Planning to distract us with Strike and Robin's misery and their relationship.

Speaker 3:
[52:30] It's absolutely.

Speaker 2:
[52:31] She's ha ha ha ha.

Speaker 3:
[52:33] She's evil though laughing.

Speaker 1:
[52:35] Definitely.

Speaker 2:
[52:36] She'll make it up to us.

Speaker 4:
[52:38] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[52:38] Right?

Speaker 1:
[52:38] Yes. Right?

Speaker 4:
[52:40] Yes. I have.

Speaker 2:
[52:41] Yes.

Speaker 1:
[52:41] Every every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Speaker 2:
[52:44] So I've heard that somewhere.

Speaker 4:
[52:47] Science.

Speaker 2:
[52:48] Oh, that too. I was obviously thinking of Hamilton.

Speaker 1:
[52:54] Oh, obviously. I was thinking of science, but hey, if it works, it works.

Speaker 2:
[53:00] Robin says, your great niece told me you were in hospital. What? I hope you're better now, Robin said loudly. Well, I'm home, mumbled Dillis Powell. So the other thing that's never disputed is whether or not she was in the hospital. So I don't know if she was or not.

Speaker 3:
[53:16] I don't think we ever get confirmation that she was from her, but I believe that she was.

Speaker 2:
[53:21] Okay.

Speaker 3:
[53:21] Because Griff's story about what happened to her, like falling down the icy hill, it was really detailed and it made sense. I don't see why he would want to make up a lie about where she'd been, because it didn't really serve a purpose. And easily disproven. Although, I bet that Griff's was the one who was actually supposed to look after her cat and killed it, that bastard.

Speaker 2:
[53:43] On purpose?

Speaker 3:
[53:44] Probably, or accidentally.

Speaker 1:
[53:45] I mean, psychopaths like that, that's like what they start with, like growing up and stuff. They'll start with small animals and then work their way up.

Speaker 3:
[53:52] I'm sure he would have no problem killing if he was annoyed with it, or just let it die because he's a piece of shit.

Speaker 2:
[53:56] When did that turn her against him and isn't that risky?

Speaker 3:
[54:00] Or maybe he just failed to take care of the cat, you know? I just think that it's easy and smart to change one small detail of the truth to create the lie, because he had the story about the great niece and the cat ready to go.

Speaker 1:
[54:14] Like a troubled blood sort of thing, like Janice, where it's just the truth, but there's just enough of a lie in there.

Speaker 3:
[54:21] Of course, he was the one who was supposed to feed the cat, because that's how he got access to the answering machine, and the messages that Robin left for Dillis, and that's how he knew they were investigating what happened to Tyler.

Speaker 2:
[54:30] Surprised that she still has an answering machine.

Speaker 3:
[54:33] I know.

Speaker 1:
[54:34] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[54:34] But so we know Griffs is the one who sends Wade King. I was looking at the timelines.

Speaker 2:
[54:39] Hold on. Is his name really Wade King?

Speaker 3:
[54:42] Is it? I think so.

Speaker 2:
[54:44] Yeah. You didn't just take that from the guy from, what's the show called? What's the fish tank show called?

Speaker 3:
[54:50] I don't know. I don't watch a fish tank show.

Speaker 2:
[54:53] You guys don't watch the Aquarium guys?

Speaker 3:
[54:55] No. What?

Speaker 1:
[54:57] No, that's his actual name in the book.

Speaker 3:
[55:00] Yeah. In the book, the guy who keeps attacking Robin is Wade King.

Speaker 1:
[55:03] And fuck that guy.

Speaker 3:
[55:04] Fuck that guy. And Griffs sent him, I think.

Speaker 2:
[55:09] And Wade King, you guys.

Speaker 3:
[55:10] I don't know. I genuinely have zero idea what you're talking about.

Speaker 2:
[55:13] Tanked from Animal Planet?

Speaker 3:
[55:15] No.

Speaker 2:
[55:15] Their names are Brett and Wade King.

Speaker 3:
[55:18] I don't have Cable either. I have too many shows to catch up on in streaming, to be wasting time watching Cable.

Speaker 2:
[55:24] I loved watching Tanked because you guys know I love an Aquarium. I mean, the show is kind of silly because it's all scripted silliness, but they make beautiful tanks for their clients. It's just about how they make the tanks and then they show the finished product. Anyway, their names are Brett and Wade King.

Speaker 3:
[55:44] Well, interesting.

Speaker 1:
[55:46] Apparently, Wade's had a little bit of a career pivot. It's never clicked with me before.

Speaker 3:
[55:52] It might be a coincidence. I don't know. Or maybe Joe also launches this.

Speaker 2:
[55:56] It must be a coincidence.

Speaker 1:
[55:57] I got a bone to pick with you, Wade.

Speaker 2:
[56:02] It's a family business and yeah, they.

Speaker 3:
[56:05] Okay. Interesting.

Speaker 2:
[56:07] How funny. I don't know why that's never clicked with me before because I'm a big fan of that show.

Speaker 3:
[56:13] That's funny. Anyway, I was trying to figure out when Griff sent Wade King after Robin. When would he have found out that they were looking into him and then immediately sent a guy after her? So I went to the timeline on strikefans.com. On December 15th, Robin talks to Sapphire pretending to be the Great Niece. So she has that call. So we know that Griff knows they're investigating then. On the 17th, today, she talks to Dillis. So that's two days later. And then it's the 19th when Wade King grabs her. I think it's Wade King and forces the Robert Gorilla into her hand. That's four days after she talked to the fake Great Niece. That's really quick. Just because you know that they're looking into Tyler a bit. Yeah, I think that Griff did a bit of research on Strike & Ellacott after that call with Sapphire and realized how good they are.

Speaker 2:
[57:04] They were scared.

Speaker 1:
[57:05] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[57:05] And he got scared. He's like, oh, fuck.

Speaker 1:
[57:07] For good reason.

Speaker 3:
[57:08] I do not want them sniffing around.

Speaker 2:
[57:10] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[57:10] And then decided, yeah, OK, I'll scare them off because I can't risk this. They have.

Speaker 2:
[57:14] Guess how scared he must have been when they showed up in Iron Breach.

Speaker 3:
[57:17] He must have shit his pants.

Speaker 2:
[57:19] I know.

Speaker 3:
[57:20] I love that. Oh, my God. Anyway, it's funny how quick he sent Wade King, and it's definitely because he was like, oh shit, oh shit.

Speaker 1:
[57:32] We have a 100 percent success rate. So best agency in London.

Speaker 3:
[57:36] Oh, no. They're the protagonists. Oh, fuck.

Speaker 1:
[57:39] Oh, no.

Speaker 3:
[57:40] I'm fucked.

Speaker 1:
[57:41] Oh, no. They're protagonists. I'm.

Speaker 3:
[57:44] Oh, God.

Speaker 1:
[57:44] No. Speaking of Griff, this is our first mention of Griff that we get here during this phone call.

Speaker 2:
[57:50] Now, this is interesting because Dillis says that Tyler told Griffs where he was going, but he didn't tell her. Obviously, I don't think this is true because Tyler was hiding from Griffs unless he gave him a fake story. What really happened? I wanted someone else to look this up so that I didn't have to.

Speaker 3:
[58:10] Hey, that's the dream team.

Speaker 2:
[58:12] Dream team.

Speaker 3:
[58:13] Dream team.

Speaker 2:
[58:13] Somebody else do my work for me.

Speaker 3:
[58:16] Set it. From what I can figure out, so we hear from Dillis that Tyler told Griff where he was going, never told me. Presumably, this means it was Griffs who told Dillis that Tyler told him. That originally came from Griffs, which means it's very likely a total lie. It could very easily be a total lie. It could be possible, I guess, that Tyler pretended to Griffs that he was going to work in a pub as an attempt to hide his real intentions. But I think I'd lean towards it being a lie just because I don't think that Tyler was the type of person to fake friendliness with this creep once he knew the truth about Yolanda and Chloe. He doesn't have that artifice in him. He doesn't have that cleverness. He's not going to do that. He's too honest. He's too sweet in my mind to come up with that. So I think it was bullshit. I call the bullshit on that one.

Speaker 2:
[59:10] Like Carl Pilkington.

Speaker 1:
[59:14] Well, shit.

Speaker 2:
[59:16] I don't care if that's 15 years old. It's still funny.

Speaker 3:
[59:19] It's still funny. It's a great superpower.

Speaker 1:
[59:21] All right. Moving on to Robin's phone call with Strike. There is something that I really like when Strike is talking about his conversation with Ralph Lawrence about Nile Semple and he starts talking in depth about army stuff. Maybe it's just because it's another area of expertise for him and competency is super attractive. But in any case, I really like it.

Speaker 2:
[59:40] I was with Robin on all of it when she says, what does that mean?

Speaker 1:
[59:45] Like translation into English, please.

Speaker 3:
[59:47] Yeah, I too had no idea what the hell he was on about. Although it is very sexy that he's like talking about stuff. I agree.

Speaker 2:
[59:54] Talking about stuff.

Speaker 1:
[59:55] He's just talking about stuff.

Speaker 3:
[59:57] Although so we do learn the interesting fact that no one in the military is apparently allowed to have a beard except for special forces.

Speaker 2:
[60:05] I think that's just rude.

Speaker 3:
[60:07] Yeah. All I can say is good things strike left so that he's allowed to look like that sexy girl leader that Robin loves so much.

Speaker 2:
[60:14] I love how you just added sexy to that and Robin didn't say that at all.

Speaker 1:
[60:18] It was heavily implied. It was.

Speaker 3:
[60:20] I think it was very heavily implied that she found him.

Speaker 2:
[60:24] Yes.

Speaker 3:
[60:25] I think we can assume she's one of those women who likes beards. Yes.

Speaker 2:
[60:28] I hope so.

Speaker 1:
[60:29] I hope we get official confirmation. That would be great.

Speaker 2:
[60:33] I would love to get confirmation.

Speaker 3:
[60:34] I'm certain we will.

Speaker 1:
[60:35] Please, please grow a beard.

Speaker 3:
[60:38] Do I ask Strike to grow a beard every single book? Yes. Am I going to continue to ask for this? Yes.

Speaker 1:
[60:45] We've got two more books left. We still have time.

Speaker 2:
[60:48] I have to hope that Joe herself being married to a bearded man.

Speaker 3:
[60:53] Not all beards.

Speaker 2:
[60:54] Yes. Surely she should give this to us.

Speaker 3:
[60:57] I agree. Then when Strike has the beard and we get Robin's internal monologue on it.

Speaker 2:
[61:02] Then she could say, she will say, she'll think it.

Speaker 3:
[61:06] She'll think it.

Speaker 2:
[61:07] We need to know.

Speaker 1:
[61:08] We all need to know. He needs to know, we need to know, everyone needs to know. It's an unexplored area that needs to be explored.

Speaker 3:
[61:16] I volunteer to do a study.

Speaker 2:
[61:18] How would the study be done?

Speaker 3:
[61:19] Me looking at dudes with beards mostly. I'm rating them to some kind of scale.

Speaker 1:
[61:25] I don't know.

Speaker 2:
[61:26] I'm very interested to know if Chase is in the room right now.

Speaker 4:
[61:28] He's playing his video game. He has a beard though, so he's fine.

Speaker 2:
[61:32] Oh, does he?

Speaker 4:
[61:33] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[61:33] Okay. David has a beard too, so we're allowed to say these things.

Speaker 3:
[61:36] A hundred percent. Okay. Anyway, I looked it up because I could not believe that they would be so cruel to the women of this country to not allow military men to have beards. I'm not sure it's entirely correct because Wikipedia said that infantry pioneer warrant officers, color sergeants, and sergeants traditionally wear and are permitted to wear beards. I'm not sure what that is. Apparently, pioneer is something like engineers, so maybe it's just a small group of them. I don't know.

Speaker 2:
[62:07] Also Wikipedia says.

Speaker 3:
[62:09] Yeah, I know. It does say that special forces were allowed to have beards when doing intelligent missions or behind enemy lines. So that's correct. In any case, good news, everyone. In 2024, the Army changed the rules so that everyone could have a beard.

Speaker 2:
[62:26] She said, good news, everyone.

Speaker 3:
[62:28] Good news, everyone.

Speaker 1:
[62:31] Oh, hooray.

Speaker 3:
[62:31] In your alternate universe where Strike never left the military, he can now wear a beard.

Speaker 1:
[62:35] Good for him.

Speaker 3:
[62:35] When he's not undercover, you're welcome.

Speaker 2:
[62:37] I think it should be allowed.

Speaker 3:
[62:39] I agree. Well, it is.

Speaker 2:
[62:41] Well, okay. Then I agree. It has my approval.

Speaker 3:
[62:46] Seal of approval. Next law, we will discuss. I wish I had final approval over all the laws.

Speaker 2:
[62:52] Please let us know what other laws we should discuss and approve.

Speaker 3:
[62:56] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[62:56] Immediately, like right up there with our sentencing, like Strike sentencing things. Call the cunt, give him 10 years.

Speaker 4:
[63:03] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[63:05] It cuts out the red tape.

Speaker 1:
[63:08] So much red tape.

Speaker 4:
[63:09] It drinks the bureaucracy.

Speaker 1:
[63:10] Another thing that I like about this whole conversation is when Strike is absolutely spot on about simple being involved in something that the intelligence forces didn't want the general public to know about, it was just right on the money.

Speaker 2:
[63:22] Spooky stuff.

Speaker 1:
[63:24] This next part that I really like is the sense of release that Robin feels after telling Strike that the house viewing didn't go well. It's just so good to read because it's a bit of the truth peeking out, and I like that she's acknowledging internally that it's not really the house that's the problem, but it's the squeeze of Murphy's hand where she's not really quite sure what it means, whether it's consolation or encouragement or hope. All she knows is that she does not want a future with this man.

Speaker 2:
[63:53] Sorry, I love that. That was so sassy. That was the sassiest I've ever heard. I'll be honest, I have never considered that his hand squeeze was consolation. Does anyone here think it was consolation? Does anyone listening think that it was consolation, not that I can hear you?

Speaker 3:
[64:14] I never really gave it any thought because I don't really care about having insight into why Murphy does whatever he does. I just want him to stop doing it and go away.

Speaker 1:
[64:28] And the choir said, Amen.

Speaker 3:
[64:30] I'm like, yeah, I'm like, squeeze her hand for whatever I want. The problem is that you're squeezing the hand. I don't care.

Speaker 1:
[64:36] It should be somebody else squeezing her hand. Yeah, and for different reasons.

Speaker 3:
[64:40] And then I will analyze the hell out of what he meant by the hand squeeze and what she took from the hand squeeze and what parts of the hand were squeezed, et cetera.

Speaker 1:
[64:49] But until then, thank you for your notions.

Speaker 3:
[64:53] Diagram it for me. It is intriguing to me, though, that Robin can't figure out what Murphy meant by it either. So whatever he was trying to communicate with that, it definitely did not come through.

Speaker 1:
[65:04] Very much lost in translation.

Speaker 2:
[65:05] Well, I would like to try and talk about it.

Speaker 1:
[65:08] Sure.

Speaker 2:
[65:09] I read this as a man who is wanting children and is wanting them with Robin. He's excited because he thinks buying a house with three bedrooms that are already inhabited and decorated for children must mean that Robin's reconsidering and she's leaning towards wanting that too now. Oh, that's what I always thought that this meant. I hate that. Well, I hate it too. I thought that that's what this meant. Again, I don't think there's anything wrong with Murphy wanting kids and hoping for a future. But coming right after that conversation where Robin's told him that she doesn't know if she wants kids, the hand squeeze felt inappropriate because I can see why Robin would take that as pressure. However, I could also see the argument that he's squeezing her hand because they're looking at a toddler's room and she's just lost a baby. I hadn't considered that before. I think that we're naturally more inclined to see something negative because we're hoping he suddenly develops amnesia becomes really into brunettes or something. The truth is, I don't think Murphy's motivations for the hand squeeze matters. You're right. It's Robin's reaction to it that matters. Her visceral, I will never live here. It's just this clear response that she doesn't want this with him. But she can't see that yet.

Speaker 3:
[66:32] I'm sorry. Amnesia and a sudden taste for brunettes? I don't know. I hadn't heard that specific wish before.

Speaker 1:
[66:39] I love that.

Speaker 3:
[66:43] Maybe Murphy's the one who gets hit by the bus. I feel like that could cause amnesia judging by my soap operas.

Speaker 2:
[66:49] I'll take it. I was just trying to be creative. Most people want him to get thrown off a cliff or hit by a bus.

Speaker 1:
[66:55] I was just taking out the bad action.

Speaker 3:
[66:57] The bad thing is that if he had amnesia, Robin would feel even guiltier and needing to nurse him through it.

Speaker 1:
[67:04] Have the exact opposite effect.

Speaker 2:
[67:06] Oh, God. Okay. Probably not that then.

Speaker 3:
[67:09] Anyway, I agree. It is what Robin is thinking and feeling that matters here, to the story, to us, not whatever's going on with Murphy's head. That can wait until he has his own book series to matter. This one is Robin's and Strikes.

Speaker 2:
[67:23] That would be a terrible book series, I imagine.

Speaker 1:
[67:26] Absolutely dreadful.

Speaker 3:
[67:27] I would not read it.

Speaker 2:
[67:28] You would never solve the crime.

Speaker 4:
[67:30] You would never solve the crime.

Speaker 1:
[67:31] You would always be the wrong person.

Speaker 3:
[67:33] A spiral.

Speaker 2:
[67:34] It would be so boring.

Speaker 4:
[67:36] It would be just his struggles, stings.

Speaker 3:
[67:38] It's a depressing book. It's a depressing book about a divorced man who struggles staying sober, who can't solve a crime.

Speaker 4:
[67:51] I'm sorry. Two stars.

Speaker 3:
[67:52] I wouldn't read.

Speaker 1:
[67:53] Man, two stars. That's generous.

Speaker 3:
[67:55] I felt bad for him.

Speaker 1:
[67:56] That's why he got the extra star. He gave him pity star.

Speaker 4:
[67:59] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[67:59] He would not be a good main character.

Speaker 4:
[68:01] No, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1:
[68:03] No, he would not.

Speaker 2:
[68:04] There are some characters in books that people give spinoffs and then they write. I'm not a fan of that, but he would make a really bad one.

Speaker 3:
[68:13] He'd make a terrible spinoff.

Speaker 2:
[68:15] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[68:16] Who would I want a spinoff of in these books?

Speaker 2:
[68:18] I'm surprised you haven't already said it. Pat.

Speaker 3:
[68:21] She could have all kinds of shit going on that we'd never know about. I want Pat's books.

Speaker 2:
[68:26] I feel like she would not have full length novels, but she would make really fun short stories.

Speaker 3:
[68:31] She would make the best short stories. I'd read a whole book. Give me Pat's spinoff now. Who were you thinking I was going to say?

Speaker 2:
[68:39] I thought you would say Barclay.

Speaker 3:
[68:40] Yeah. I mean, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[68:42] Can I say something that is controversial yet brave?

Speaker 3:
[68:45] Okay.

Speaker 1:
[68:46] I don't want any spinoffs for any characters in these books. I just want Strike and Robin.

Speaker 3:
[68:51] I just want more Strike and Robin.

Speaker 1:
[68:53] God damn it. I agree. I don't like when series especially flog the shit out of that IP until it is dead and twitching. No, I know.

Speaker 2:
[69:02] I don't want Marauder's stuff.

Speaker 1:
[69:04] You neither.

Speaker 2:
[69:05] A lot of people want pre-early Strike stuff. I don't want that because Robin wouldn't be there.

Speaker 3:
[69:11] Yeah. What's the point?

Speaker 2:
[69:13] Kenz, I'm so with you. But for fun, I would love little short Pat stories.

Speaker 3:
[69:18] 100 percent. Strike and Robin could appear in them. After the book series, we get to see little glimpses of them through Pat.

Speaker 2:
[69:28] We are introduced to dangerous Dick DeLion here.

Speaker 1:
[69:32] Dangerous Dick.

Speaker 2:
[69:34] Dangerous Dick. I love Robin. So sweet and innocent, thinking he sounds like a cartoon character.

Speaker 3:
[69:41] I would have thought the same thing in her shoes. He sounds like the name of a villain from a classic Looney Tunes cartoon, who's actually like a lion and Richard the Lionheart, but it's a play on it.

Speaker 2:
[69:54] What creepy animator of a children's cartoon.

Speaker 3:
[69:57] There are a lot of creepy animators of the classic Looney Tunes shit. It's a play on Richard the Lionheart, but it's Dick short for Richard and dangerous Dick the Lion. I could see it in my head.

Speaker 2:
[70:10] Okay, I don't know.

Speaker 3:
[70:13] Yeah, also too sweet.

Speaker 1:
[70:16] Perhaps.

Speaker 2:
[70:17] You're also too sweet.

Speaker 1:
[70:18] Yeah, this guy's name just screamed porn star to me.

Speaker 2:
[70:21] When Strike says he looked him up, I was thinking, I hope you didn't have to look too much up.

Speaker 3:
[70:26] No, he's saving that for his sister's Christmas party.

Speaker 2:
[70:29] Yeah, I know. Oh, God.

Speaker 4:
[70:31] I'm so dreading that.

Speaker 2:
[70:34] Also, just for the record, I personally wouldn't want a dangerous stick anywhere near my lady bits.

Speaker 3:
[70:45] No, that makes me think, riddled with STDs to be honest, hard pass.

Speaker 2:
[70:49] It makes me think painful.

Speaker 1:
[70:51] Not worth the UTI, or STI for that matter.

Speaker 2:
[70:55] Or stitches.

Speaker 1:
[70:56] Unless it is with Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings theory, that's worth the UTI.

Speaker 3:
[71:02] Random choice, but yeah, I agree. I mean, random, but yeah, 100 percent.

Speaker 2:
[71:07] Wait, I don't know Lord of the Rings, so I don't understand this reference.

Speaker 1:
[71:11] But- Oh, dude, Viggo Mortensen.

Speaker 3:
[71:15] My God, as Aragorn was just-

Speaker 1:
[71:19] Whoo, man.

Speaker 2:
[71:21] I don't know what's happening.

Speaker 3:
[71:22] This is crazy that you've never seen Lord of the Rings, but I should have expected it.

Speaker 2:
[71:26] I've tried multiple times, but I'm so bored out of my mind that I just have to stop every time. I get to the same part every time and I think, why am I doing this to myself?

Speaker 3:
[71:37] Which part?

Speaker 2:
[71:38] It's the part where the two dudes are fighting and they're spinning up a tower and I'm just, I don't know what's going on. I can't focus. Why are you laughing?

Speaker 3:
[71:50] It's a really funny part to get stuck on. I can't. Because yeah, it's pretty stupid.

Speaker 2:
[71:55] I just can't do it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Rachel, specifically, because I know I'm killing her right now in this moment.

Speaker 3:
[72:02] You're killing me. You're killing me. Because that's crazy. I don't even want to look up how far into the movie that is, because I'm going to be outraged and I can't remember because I haven't rewatched it in a while. But now I will, just to make up for your lack of watching it. Chase, we've got a Lord of the Rings marathon coming up.

Speaker 1:
[72:23] Extended edition.

Speaker 2:
[72:24] OK, but I don't understand why this man would have a dangerous dick.

Speaker 3:
[72:29] Well, I don't either.

Speaker 1:
[72:30] Because he's dirty.

Speaker 3:
[72:31] Oh, he is dirty.

Speaker 1:
[72:33] He's constantly dirty.

Speaker 3:
[72:35] He could take a bath.

Speaker 1:
[72:36] Yeah, he could.

Speaker 3:
[72:37] He took a bath by the end of the movie when he was crowned king.

Speaker 1:
[72:41] Well, yes, after he's crowned king. But like 98 percent of the time, like the dirt really accounts for like it's carrying a lot of the sex appeal, I feel like.

Speaker 3:
[72:51] In any case, if there's any man I'm going to marry in Lord of the Rings, it's going to be that one right there.

Speaker 2:
[72:55] But you can just watch that part of him.

Speaker 1:
[72:57] Yeah, I know.

Speaker 3:
[72:59] You're just thinking about Aragorn, Kenz. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[73:03] I'm just imagining like a penis with spikes or something.

Speaker 1:
[73:06] Oh, God.

Speaker 3:
[73:08] Like an orc penis probably.

Speaker 2:
[73:10] Someone's like, dangerous dick. I'm like, it has spikes.

Speaker 3:
[73:14] Yeah, or like ducks with the spirals.

Speaker 2:
[73:16] Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3:
[73:18] Yeah, I don't like to think about that.

Speaker 2:
[73:20] Ducks with the spirals.

Speaker 3:
[73:21] I'd rather think about Samoyinsky, MG Cooking Me Potatoes, to be honest.

Speaker 2:
[73:25] What?

Speaker 3:
[73:26] You wouldn't get it because you've never seen Lord of the Rings.

Speaker 2:
[73:28] Okay.

Speaker 1:
[73:28] He's the guy that travels with Frodo, the red-handed guy.

Speaker 3:
[73:31] He's when you become a woman, you realize you're like, oh, it's Sam. It's always been Sam.

Speaker 2:
[73:36] Where are we?

Speaker 3:
[73:37] Two.

Speaker 2:
[73:38] Let's move on from that. It really makes me laugh that for so long, we were thinking about Sark and how romantic it was all going to be, and it was so beautiful. And really, they went there just because they were tracking down a porn star named Dangerous Dick DeLion.

Speaker 3:
[73:59] Well, it was still romantic in the end. Maybe Robin crying to her past and getting sauce on her hair isn't romantic per se.

Speaker 2:
[74:08] Strike getting hit in the face.

Speaker 3:
[74:10] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[74:10] I'm talking to some dude about how large his bits are.

Speaker 3:
[74:15] But her opening up to Strike and him being supportive and sweet is still super romantic in my book. The romance is what you make of it. Saucy hair, black eyes and all.

Speaker 1:
[74:24] Joe herself has said that Saucy is a very important place for them in the book. But still, I get what you mean. All this build up and it boils down to a guy who didn't realize there were other career opportunities besides dry stonewalling and getting his cock out. Which to this day is, I think, one of the best lines from this book.

Speaker 2:
[74:39] I don't think that Strike gets enough credit for how genuinely hilarious he is. When they're talking about how the note says, the note that the woman had left for Strike, the one that was in Pigpen Cipher, remember? So the note says the same thing that Shanker had said, that this guy in the vault was killed by someone on TV. And Robin asks how this woman porn star would have known that Strike and Robin are investigating the body in the vault, right? So Strike says, and I quote, that to me is far more interesting than the dimensions of Dangerous Dick DeLion, which you can look up for yourself if you're interested. Robin just ignores that.

Speaker 1:
[75:18] She ignores it.

Speaker 2:
[75:20] Not good for her. That was hilarious, Robin.

Speaker 1:
[75:25] Come on.

Speaker 3:
[75:25] Beneath her notice.

Speaker 2:
[75:26] No, that's funny. And I'm sitting here like, well, I kind of want to know.

Speaker 1:
[75:33] Come on.

Speaker 2:
[75:34] That's so funny. And Robin doesn't even laugh or anything. I mean, come on. You guys know that's funny.

Speaker 1:
[75:39] I can't acknowledge that penises exist around Strike.

Speaker 3:
[75:43] She can't. It's a dangerous road.

Speaker 2:
[75:45] That's a dangerous stick right there.

Speaker 1:
[75:47] It is.

Speaker 3:
[75:48] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[75:49] I mean, doesn't she do like a very similar sort of like moving on sort of thing whenever she's talking to Valentine and it comes up? Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2:
[75:57] It's one of those things that if you blink, you'll miss it kind of joke.

Speaker 1:
[76:02] It's just so funny.

Speaker 2:
[76:04] It just made me laugh. Does it say specifically in the Sark chapter? The dimensions?

Speaker 1:
[76:09] It's definitely not little.

Speaker 2:
[76:10] Well, it's a mystery that must be solved now because I'm now I'm curious.

Speaker 3:
[76:15] I think if there's only one man whose dimensions Robin would be interested in looking up.

Speaker 1:
[76:21] It's not dangerous.

Speaker 3:
[76:22] It's hands on research.

Speaker 2:
[76:23] It wouldn't be a dangerous one.

Speaker 4:
[76:25] And it would not be.

Speaker 1:
[76:26] No.

Speaker 2:
[76:26] I just thought that was so funny. It was a funny joke. Barclay would have played along.

Speaker 3:
[76:32] Barclay would have loved it. He needs his real 12 inch tartan audience.

Speaker 2:
[76:38] I was going to say his penis buddy, penis joke buddy, but that did not sound right. That didn't sound right at all.

Speaker 1:
[76:46] He needed somebody to laugh in solidarity at his dick jokes.

Speaker 2:
[76:50] It was a good one.

Speaker 3:
[76:51] I wish we had gotten some of Barclay in this dangerous to lie and plot, he would have been funny.

Speaker 2:
[76:57] I know, there's a range of jokes you can make. I feel like we've said the word dick too much.

Speaker 3:
[77:03] Barclay would have made some of them.

Speaker 2:
[77:05] I also feel like Strike misses out on an opportunity here because he tells Robin that they need to take safety precautions more seriously because it looks like Schenker's warning has validity to it and he wants to know where she's at at all times. Robin asks if she's going to get to know where he's at at all times. His response is, if you want, he should have said something better.

Speaker 3:
[77:26] I would have loved something flirty.

Speaker 1:
[77:28] Oh, I know.

Speaker 2:
[77:30] He should have said something like, I'd love for you to know where I'm at at all times.

Speaker 3:
[77:35] It's like, oh, if you want to know. Happy to tell you, Robin.

Speaker 2:
[77:39] Happy to share. We need it.

Speaker 3:
[77:41] I would have loved flirty strike. I need flirty strike. I need him to just turn on all cylinders. That's his new plan.

Speaker 2:
[77:47] I know.

Speaker 3:
[77:48] I need it.

Speaker 1:
[77:48] Turn on the charm bomb.

Speaker 3:
[77:49] Right. He can do it. We know he can do it.

Speaker 2:
[77:52] We know he can.

Speaker 1:
[77:53] One of the last things in this chapter, we have Strike and Robin bantering back and forth about how Midge and Tasha have broken up, and the not being a bastard works too was so funny. Also, Pools, I'm sending you my sincere condolences at this time. I know that your heart is very broken.

Speaker 3:
[78:11] It is. Thank you, Kenz, for your thoughts and prayers. It really helps. It's a trying time for me, but I have to bravely soldier on and hope that the love of Midge's life is just right around the corner. It would be so funny if it turned out to be Ellen. I'm reading with it. And she could just be like, guess who doesn't have to wish she was with Ellen now?

Speaker 1:
[78:33] You know what? What the hell? I'll root for it. Here's to a Midge-Ellen end game.

Speaker 2:
[78:38] Midge and Tasha's couple name should have been Masha.

Speaker 4:
[78:42] It should have been Masha. Oh, that's such a good couple name. What a waste.

Speaker 2:
[78:46] I know.

Speaker 3:
[78:47] Oh, that's so sad. Well, so Midge and Ellen will be Mellon?

Speaker 2:
[78:51] Even better.

Speaker 3:
[78:54] Mellon is pretty good. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[78:56] There we go.

Speaker 2:
[78:57] I want to make a Mellon joke.

Speaker 3:
[78:59] We named it.

Speaker 1:
[79:00] There we go.

Speaker 3:
[79:02] We did it, you guys.

Speaker 2:
[79:03] The face that Pools just gave me. Like how... you're disgusting.

Speaker 3:
[79:09] I dare you. That's the love of her life. You're...

Speaker 2:
[79:14] You... That was so good. You guys both just got really quiet, which is how-

Speaker 3:
[79:28] I'm just thinking about Ellen now.

Speaker 2:
[79:29] We don't know anything about Ellen.

Speaker 3:
[79:31] I gotta go back and find out more about Ellen. Midge always thought she was hot.

Speaker 2:
[79:36] Wait a minute, didn't her ex cheat with Ellen?

Speaker 3:
[79:39] No, her ex didn't cheat with Ellen. Her ex wanted to, but Ellen wouldn't take her back, from what I hear. Cause Beth's thing was, wait, did she? From what she hears. I can't remember, did she cheat with Ellen?

Speaker 2:
[79:49] I need to know. Someone please look right now and ink Blackheart.

Speaker 3:
[79:52] Okay, I'm looking. Fuck.

Speaker 2:
[79:54] Because if she cheated with Ellen, then you can't want her to be with Ellen, because Ellen's just going to cheat as well, right?

Speaker 3:
[80:00] Well, if Ellen wasn't in a relationship, Beth might have not even told her.

Speaker 1:
[80:05] So Ellen is Beth's ex, right?

Speaker 3:
[80:07] Yes, Ellen is Beth's ex. But it might not have been with her, because when she gives her the password, she's like, Ellen was her ex before me. Might have been cheating with someone else.

Speaker 2:
[80:17] I guess I'll have to look it up later.

Speaker 3:
[80:18] She was unfaithful. I don't think she cheated with Ellen. Because it says Ellen was her ex before me, and that's the first time we mentioned Ellen.

Speaker 2:
[80:25] I thought it was maybe a possibility.

Speaker 1:
[80:27] I love that we're discussing the moral implications of whether or not this would be an okay ship to get behind.

Speaker 3:
[80:33] Now I'm going to have to go completely reread Ink Black Heart, which I was going to have to do anyway.

Speaker 1:
[80:38] What a sacrifice.

Speaker 2:
[80:39] You're welcome.

Speaker 3:
[80:40] To really beef up this melonship that I'm now on.

Speaker 2:
[80:43] The melonship.

Speaker 3:
[80:44] Full steam ahead. Where were we?

Speaker 2:
[80:46] Sure. I was going to make an objection. Why did I say that like Chandler?

Speaker 3:
[80:51] I thought you were like Ace Attorney.

Speaker 2:
[80:54] Objection. Ace Attorney.

Speaker 1:
[80:57] I know what you're talking about.

Speaker 3:
[80:59] A game that you wouldn't know.

Speaker 2:
[81:00] I guess I'll try and say that without sounding like a TV character.

Speaker 3:
[81:03] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[81:04] Who is a little Chandler, a little Seinfeld.

Speaker 3:
[81:06] A cross between the two.

Speaker 2:
[81:08] But the thing is, if I tried to do it like either of them, I couldn't do it on purpose.

Speaker 3:
[81:12] The thing about Midge is what's the deal with Midge?

Speaker 2:
[81:18] Oh my God. I ask myself that all the time.

Speaker 3:
[81:24] Could she be any more Midge?

Speaker 2:
[81:27] That is a great mix of the two characters.

Speaker 3:
[81:30] That is pretty good. I'm amazed because I rarely watch Seinfeld and only sometimes watch Friends.

Speaker 2:
[81:36] Well, you got them both down.

Speaker 3:
[81:38] I think some things just become culture in the osmosis.

Speaker 2:
[81:41] Yeah. I really want to try and do the Seinfeld voice, but I know that I can't do it. So I can't. I don't want to try.

Speaker 4:
[81:51] What's the deal?

Speaker 2:
[81:52] I can't do it. I can't do it.

Speaker 4:
[81:53] What's the deal?

Speaker 3:
[81:54] I can't do it, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[81:55] My objection was just The Strike's own joke about himself. Because of course, I mean, obviously, I don't think he's a bastard to Midge.

Speaker 3:
[82:04] Yeah. You're right. He's not a bastard to her. He's not. I think it's an inside joke for these two, definitely. Like a humorous exaggeration of him being less touchy-feely one with the staff, you know.

Speaker 2:
[82:16] I like how you put that in quotes because of our previous conversations about touchy-feely.

Speaker 4:
[82:22] Yeah. I'm like, touchy-feely.

Speaker 2:
[82:25] In the way that I think of as touchy-feely, he could be that way all he wants, not with Midge, with Robin, please.

Speaker 3:
[82:34] Barclay, if he wants, I guess.

Speaker 2:
[82:36] Well, that would be weird.

Speaker 4:
[82:37] It would be.

Speaker 3:
[82:38] The touchy-feely thing has me thinking back to Troubled Blood, when, and this is related, I swear. When Morris kept-

Speaker 2:
[82:47] No, we're always on topic.

Speaker 3:
[82:48] I'm so on topic. When Morris kept pushing back against what Robin was telling him to do, and she tried to talk him around by explaining why he's doing it, and pointing out they've all agreed on this, Strike agrees on it, we agreed on it, this is why we're doing it, and he still was arguing back.

Speaker 2:
[83:04] Yeah. I mean, he was a bastard though.

Speaker 3:
[83:06] That is 100 percent bastard behavior. But so Robin is, that's her, she's trying to talk them into it, whereas Strike, Strike is just going to give instructions and expect them to be followed.

Speaker 2:
[83:17] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[83:17] And then he might be a bit snappish, the second time he has to give instructions because someone's arguing back. So then the joke that becomes, oh, you're a bastard.

Speaker 2:
[83:26] Well, that's relatable to me.

Speaker 3:
[83:28] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[83:28] I mean, maybe I could be the TSEF bastard then.

Speaker 3:
[83:31] You know what? I think it kind of works.

Speaker 2:
[83:33] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[83:33] I think it's a bit catchy. Okay.

Speaker 3:
[83:36] But also, Midge is the only subcontractor who ever really argues against whatever Strike is telling her to do. So because of that, Strike has maybe been a bit snappish with her more often than the others, which leads to don't be a bastard to Midge.

Speaker 2:
[83:50] With Robin and Morris, from my perspective, I was thinking, why is Robin explaining? Snap at him. Tell him to shut up. You're the boss, right? She doesn't owe an explanation to Morris. That's kind of how I see Strike and Midge.

Speaker 3:
[84:07] Robin 100% didn't. I had been wishing the whole time that Robin would channel some of Strike's energy, that I'm the boss, do what I say energy, to use on people like Morris and Kim. Because she could do with a bit more of, because I said so. She could do with that.

Speaker 2:
[84:28] Big agree. I think that could also be where maybe we see things differently too, because of how we feel about characters. Yeah. What I mean is since we all dislike Morris and Kim and because they're questioning Robin, instead of Strike, the pushing back against instructions isn't seen as, I don't want to say bad because I think that the three of them have very different motivations. But I think my point is that it's fair to feel frustrated with all of them, which is how I feel. Whereas with Midge, it feels like because she's a well-liked character and because she's pushing back against Strike, it's much easier to see it as funny instead of disrespectful, like when Morris and Kim did it to Robin. But like I said, the motivations are really different, which is a big part of it. So Morris only sees Robin as good for one thing. Kim, she's trying to devalue Robin in Strike size and get with Strike. Idiot move.

Speaker 3:
[85:29] It's a really bad strategy.

Speaker 2:
[85:32] Idiot move to say the least.

Speaker 3:
[85:33] Yeah. You're right about both of their motivations. They're really the same thing. Morris is just a straight up misogynistic sexist pig. And Kim too, she is full of internalized misogyny, and it shines through every interaction she has with Robin.

Speaker 2:
[85:47] But let's talk about Midge's motivations. I might argue that she's pushing back with Strike because he's a man. I don't know if anyone else gets that vibe. It's kind of just the vibe I get from her. She never acts that way with Robin. And maybe the counter argument is that Robin's the more touchy-feely one. I'll use it. But is that a chicken egg situation? What came first? I don't know. If that's the case, maybe it's just where we have a fundamental difference in how we see it. Because I think that you'd be more likely to be like, heck yeah, and I'm not.

Speaker 3:
[86:24] Yeah, I'll admit that possibility.

Speaker 2:
[86:26] Oh, I can't hear that without thinking of voice though.

Speaker 3:
[86:29] I think that's what made me say it. I will admit the possibility. Although I'd have to go through and check to see if we've ever actually seen Robin give Midge any direction that's comparable to what Strike has told her to do, to do something that she disagrees with. Because the two incidents that I'm thinking of that are like this pushing back thing are the bit with Tasha in the coffee, and Robin was in the cult there. And when Midge and Tasha were following the van with Lynn in it, when Robin was there but Strike was the one on the phone being like, stop following this van right now.

Speaker 2:
[87:02] That was tense.

Speaker 3:
[87:03] That was tense. Has there ever been a situation where Robin actually had to tell Midge to do something that Midge thought was wrong, that she disagreed with?

Speaker 2:
[87:11] So I don't think so, but I have a theory.

Speaker 3:
[87:14] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[87:14] Although I definitely could use a series reread.

Speaker 3:
[87:18] I mean, I do too. Well, I need to go through and I need to find all the alchemy symbols. So maybe I'll pay attention to this other stuff too.

Speaker 2:
[87:25] There's so much to pay attention to.

Speaker 3:
[87:26] I should have had a list with the things I've set to put a pin in and check.

Speaker 2:
[87:32] Wait a minute. You were making a pin list this whole time?

Speaker 3:
[87:36] No.

Speaker 2:
[87:36] Have we not been making a pin list?

Speaker 3:
[87:38] Just putting a mental pin in it and then translate it into a list. Unfortunately, that's not good. It's not good because those things are in the e-pins. Can someone do an AI search through the backlogs for put a pin in it? Maybe that would help.

Speaker 2:
[87:55] Is that a thing that we could do?

Speaker 3:
[87:57] If not, then what's the point?

Speaker 2:
[87:58] Anyway, I have a theory.

Speaker 3:
[88:00] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[88:00] Okay. I was going to say personally about the Tasha and Coffee thing. I know I'm strong in my opinion on this, so perhaps it colors how I see it. I do think that Robin would have agreed with Strike and that possibly Midge could have blown her cover, she should be removed from the case just in case Frank saw her. But I think that Robin can handle conflict with certain people in the agency better than others. I think it depends on how much she likes the person, really how much she doesn't like the person. If it's someone that she gets along with really well, like Midge or Barkley, I think her troubles with conflict would be an issue. So I think that conflict and discipline is something that naturally falls to Strike. So if she had not been inside the cult, I think she would have agreed with Strike, that confrontation still would have been handled by Strike.

Speaker 3:
[88:54] Remember when he called to fire Little John and he was like, Barkley would have paid to hear this? I don't remember what Robin's reaction was to the firing.

Speaker 2:
[89:02] Yeah, let's look that up real quick. That's interesting.

Speaker 3:
[89:05] Okay, here it is. Fucking excellent, he said. Now I can sack Little John. Not in here, said Robin. No, agreed Strike, glancing around, not very discreet. There's a beer garden, let's do it there. Is my presence necessary, said Robin, smiling. But she was already gathering up her glass, peanuts and bag. Kill Joy, said Strike, as they set off to the pub. Barkley would have paid good money to hear this. So then he does the whole firing. He's so funny. I'm sure he did by Little John. At the end of it, Robin was laughing but shaking her head. What? said Strike, grinning. It's lucky we haven't got an HR department. He's a subcontractor. All I owe him is cash, not he's getting any cash. He could sue you for it. I could tell the court he posted a snake through Tashamino's door. So she's-

Speaker 2:
[89:53] I think she's laughing but a little uncomfortable.

Speaker 3:
[89:56] Yeah. She does seem to be a little uncomfortable with that. Yeah. More conscious, more worried about how they are. Well- Like more uncomfortable with the conflict?

Speaker 2:
[90:04] I think it's the conflict and the confrontation. So the way I see it is where some things like being touchy-feely or handling the emotional things like with clients or staff, those things fall to Robin. But there are things that naturally fall to strike like being the one to handle more of the discipline and conflict with staff and clients.

Speaker 3:
[90:26] That's a good point. They really are. They're playing out the good cop, bad cop every single day. They need to switch it up, keep it spicy. See how bad Robin can be.

Speaker 2:
[90:36] Conflict and discipline isn't necessarily bad.

Speaker 3:
[90:39] No.

Speaker 2:
[90:39] We've definitely talked about this as kind of a shortcoming of strikes, where he's putting something on to Robin. But it kind of happens in a lot of parenting duos too. You know, one person ends up with more of the emotional responsibility, the other one handles discipline and rules. They both have their challenges. And I think that they do need to work on having more of a balance with their partnership. But while that emotional weight might carry some burden for Robin, I think that Strike also has that burden, where everyone thinks I'm the bad guy on him. I think that I really relate to that in a lot of areas in my life. And I think that that's why I feel more on strike side with this kind of thing. And so going through all this stuff is now turning out to be a therapy edition when I'm thinking through.

Speaker 3:
[91:29] Therapy edition, we need a jingle. Oh, it's like, listen, I listen. So, you know, I listen to Three Bean Salad. They have little funny jingles for when norm like repetitive talk, but come up like Henry Packer's Glamorous London Life or Digestive Tracked Talk. You know, can we put jingles in funny little jingles? So yeah, something comes up and it's like, so, oh, therapy edition, play the therapy edition jingle.

Speaker 2:
[91:51] But one of us would have to be able to write jingles or I'm sure we have talented listeners, somebody help us out.

Speaker 3:
[91:58] Guys, can someone make us a therapy edition jingle? Or it can't be a strike is sexy jingle because the episodes would be nothing but that. Maybe a strike is sexy bell. We should start ringing the strike is sexy bell.

Speaker 4:
[92:09] You know what this podcast needs?

Speaker 3:
[92:11] More to sound effects. I just realized.

Speaker 4:
[92:14] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[92:15] Like those radios, stupid radio shows. The strike is sexy.

Speaker 2:
[92:20] Yeah, that doesn't add any work for me at all.

Speaker 3:
[92:26] Oh, nevermind. Nevermind. I'll take it back.

Speaker 2:
[92:28] No, it's fine.

Speaker 1:
[92:28] Take it back. It's fine.

Speaker 2:
[92:30] It's fine. It's fine.

Speaker 3:
[92:32] Anyway, sorry. That was just, that came to mind. But going back to what you were actually saying.

Speaker 2:
[92:37] It's not actually that much work. It's fine.

Speaker 3:
[92:40] Ding ding ding. Making more work for the Lindsay buzzer. Lindsay, I should be able to pronounce your name because it's literally my name.

Speaker 2:
[92:49] You should be able to pronounce your own name.

Speaker 3:
[92:51] One would think, right? But no, what you say makes a lot of sense to me. Although now I'm just thinking of Mother Gothel being like, you want me to be the bad guy? Okay. So I'm the bad guy, except she actually was the bad guy.

Speaker 2:
[93:04] Now I'm going to be singing Mother knows best. Yeah. I would like to see Robin be.

Speaker 3:
[93:12] I want her to be in the case like bad cop.

Speaker 2:
[93:14] I think it would be interesting to see her handle conflict with Midge or Barclay. Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[93:21] I would like to see that too.

Speaker 2:
[93:23] Because it just doesn't feel like it's ever going to happen because she, I don't feel like she could do it right now. That is something that falls to strike. That is a burden. It's hard for the parent. I know that I'm talking about them as parents. It is hard for the parent who is always the one to do the discipline because they feel like they're always the bad one or something.

Speaker 3:
[93:45] They're never the Disney parent.

Speaker 2:
[93:47] I do enjoy the thought though that JK Rowling could be using parenting dynamics in how she's writing Strike & Robin, handling the agency because it does feel like a if you know, you know kind of thing where you can pick up on it.

Speaker 3:
[94:00] These are literally their children because the agency is their child.

Speaker 2:
[94:04] That kind of is the dynamic is there.

Speaker 3:
[94:07] Going back, I forget where we were, but I think we're talking about Midge. The other thing we're talking about is the pushing back. What's the deal with Midge?

Speaker 2:
[94:15] What's the deal with Midge?

Speaker 3:
[94:17] So the other thing, so we talked about the pushing back, but the other thing you find annoying about Midge is her tendency to gossip. I think that's what drives you really crazy too.

Speaker 2:
[94:28] Well, okay. But the thing is, we all love a good cup of tea, right? Metaphorical tea?

Speaker 3:
[94:34] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[94:34] Literal tea, I suppose.

Speaker 3:
[94:36] I will always listen to the tea and sip the tea.

Speaker 2:
[94:39] But the thing is, Midge is not smart with her tea. She loves the tea.

Speaker 3:
[94:45] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[94:46] She loves to sip it. She loves to taste it. She loves to spread it.

Speaker 3:
[94:49] Pour it for other people. Have a tea party.

Speaker 2:
[94:52] She's not good at it.

Speaker 3:
[94:54] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[94:55] She's great at having tea parties the way my toddler is good at having tea parties.

Speaker 3:
[94:59] Okay. I bet Abby throws great tea parties.

Speaker 2:
[95:02] Abby loves a tea party.

Speaker 3:
[95:03] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[95:04] She gets the water from the fridge. She pours it out. The dog comes and drinks it. And then she drinks the dog tea. Disgusting. That's true. Okay. That's how Midge is. She drinks the dog tea. Okay. Because Midge's tea is never true. Has she ever said one true thing?

Speaker 3:
[95:27] I can't remember.

Speaker 2:
[95:28] Okay. I don't think so. I don't think so.

Speaker 3:
[95:31] String did in fact sleep with her with the tits though.

Speaker 2:
[95:35] Okay, that's...

Speaker 3:
[95:36] To be fair.

Speaker 1:
[95:38] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[95:38] Well, first of all, every woman, every woman has had those.

Speaker 3:
[95:44] Sorry.

Speaker 2:
[95:45] Bijous just happened to be the fake ones.

Speaker 3:
[95:49] So noticeable that they're her identifier. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I can't remember how much of Midge's...

Speaker 2:
[95:58] Spoiler alert. I think it's been none. Okay. So it's never true. And then she tells the one person, either Strike or Robin, that she should not be telling. And it results in so much pain for them and for me and for us. The Hugh Jacks thing. The Hugh Jacks thing.

Speaker 3:
[96:18] That was rough.

Speaker 2:
[96:19] And then it was the opposite with the next time, right?

Speaker 3:
[96:22] Kim.

Speaker 2:
[96:23] I just feel like we should be able to sue either fictional characters or their creators for emotional damage. Because I think I can make a pretty good case against Midge and or Joe for this one.

Speaker 3:
[96:37] We can sue fictional characters. Then you're going to have to get in line behind me, because I have some charges to lay on a certain someone. And it is a long list.

Speaker 2:
[96:46] Do you mean JK Rowling?

Speaker 3:
[96:48] No.

Speaker 2:
[96:48] Oh, I was going to say, we're going to have to get in line behind Amain Khalif.

Speaker 3:
[96:54] That would be a pretty long way.

Speaker 2:
[96:55] We're all waiting.

Speaker 3:
[96:56] We're all waiting on that one.

Speaker 2:
[96:59] By the way, can I brag?

Speaker 3:
[97:00] She liked your tweet or she responded.

Speaker 2:
[97:02] Let me just say, the fan mail that I got.

Speaker 3:
[97:06] I'm sure it was lovely and pleasant.

Speaker 2:
[97:08] I would say a solid two weeks. It's pretty bad. I was accused of raping children. Wow. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[97:18] Wow. Wow. Wow. I flipped my shit.

Speaker 2:
[97:22] What are you going to do? I was actually quite proud of one response where someone said, you're just another mentally ill, uninformed turf and I said, how dare you? I am not uninformed.

Speaker 3:
[97:34] That was good. That was very pithy.

Speaker 2:
[97:36] Thank you. I enjoy that one. Anyway, sorry.

Speaker 3:
[97:38] Anyway, yeah, I was thinking that I'm going to sue Mr. Ryan Murphy.

Speaker 2:
[97:43] Oh, okay.

Speaker 3:
[97:44] Charge one. Unreasonably continuing to date. Strike's wife.

Speaker 2:
[97:49] Guilty.

Speaker 3:
[97:49] I'm going to add on. Insighting to house hunt. Guilty. Malicious shushing.

Speaker 2:
[97:54] Guilty.

Speaker 3:
[97:55] Very, very guilty.

Speaker 2:
[97:57] I need a gavel. I need a gavel. I need a gavel.

Speaker 3:
[97:59] Guilty, guilty, guilty. You took away all my stuff to hit my desk with.

Speaker 2:
[98:02] Sorry. I know. The one time.

Speaker 1:
[98:04] I want you to make noise.

Speaker 4:
[98:05] I need to hit my desk. I have a list of charges.

Speaker 3:
[98:08] Tweeted us everyone think what we should charge some fictional characters with. But I'm going to have to hire Ilsa. The gossip is a different issue than the Strikes Authority thing.

Speaker 2:
[98:19] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[98:19] In fairness, she does seem to be a pretty equal opportunity gossip where she's-

Speaker 2:
[98:24] Yes, she does.

Speaker 4:
[98:24] Going to do it about both of them.

Speaker 2:
[98:26] Yes, she does.

Speaker 3:
[98:27] Not sure if that's a strength.

Speaker 2:
[98:28] It's not.

Speaker 3:
[98:29] I think what I really need to do here is carefully analyze every single one of the Midge Moments that gets under your skin.

Speaker 2:
[98:37] That could be another jingle.

Speaker 3:
[98:38] For Midge Moments, for Patterns, because we got to have accurate data to base all this on.

Speaker 2:
[98:45] I bet you anything that JK Rowling has a file of Midge gossips here. She puts this here. Midge is going to push back here.

Speaker 3:
[98:53] Yeah, I bet. Midge is a very useful narrative tool to sow conflict and cause discord. She's a pretty good narrative tool, very helpful to Joe.

Speaker 2:
[99:05] I wonder if that changes how a writer enjoys a character. It probably does. When she says, oh, I love Midge. Not that she can't just love her because I don't love her. You know what I mean?

Speaker 3:
[99:16] She also loves her because she's a very easy way to do those.

Speaker 2:
[99:19] That's what I want. Yeah. That's what I'm, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[99:22] Because if you need an inconvenient piece of information, spread, hey, Midge my girl coming in clutch.

Speaker 2:
[99:30] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[99:31] I'm thinking of the comparison between Midge and other people in the agency because I'm thinking about Dev's approach to The Strike possibly causing a scandal, gossip, stuff, because he goes straight to Strike in private rather than going to Robin the way Midge does to ask if it's true, which I like. That's good. But of course, he also then believes Kim's bullshit and is almost ready to leave the agency because of it. Whereas Midge had Kim pretty accurately pegged his trouble right from the get-go.

Speaker 2:
[99:59] That's interesting too, yeah. One of the things that bothers me about Midge believing gossip over Dev is that she seems to believe tabloids, which is something I find hard to respect in adults because how? My mind goes straight to Men in Black. Where they use the tabloids to find the leads on the alien encounters and that's how they find Eggr. I know Eggr and that wasn't Eggr.

Speaker 3:
[100:26] But it was true. It was founded.

Speaker 2:
[100:28] Are you talking about Eggr?

Speaker 3:
[100:29] Yeah, because he was an alien.

Speaker 2:
[100:31] Yes, in Men in Black, not in real life.

Speaker 3:
[100:34] Well, yeah. There might be difference between the daily mail level of stuff and then weekly world news level of stuff. So daily mail, some shit that they print is that the good newspapers won't print. Sometimes they're the only ones reporting on shit that is actually happening. The daily mail is a terrible paper, but they're the only ones who will write a story about it when the independent wouldn't. So sometimes, but most of the time, yes, it's trash.

Speaker 2:
[100:59] I think you just have to use discretion when you're an adult.

Speaker 3:
[101:02] Use your brain, your thinking thoughts.

Speaker 2:
[101:05] She might lack a little bit of that when it comes to the gossip.

Speaker 3:
[101:08] Yeah, maybe.

Speaker 2:
[101:09] I would love it though, if she read the tabloids and found an alien or Bigfoot or something.

Speaker 3:
[101:16] Bigfoot, I don't think there's Bigfeet in them.

Speaker 2:
[101:19] In England?

Speaker 3:
[101:20] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[101:21] Well, that's a shame. You know where I found Bigfoot recently?

Speaker 3:
[101:25] Where?

Speaker 2:
[101:26] In my iPhone update, because I got a new emoji.

Speaker 3:
[101:29] Oh, is there an emoji? Yeah. I bet that's going right to the top of your recently used list.

Speaker 2:
[101:35] It absolutely did. What I find fascinating about Dev, this is interesting because like you said, Midge was able to clock Kim right away.

Speaker 3:
[101:44] Because she's another woman.

Speaker 2:
[101:46] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[101:46] Women clock Kim. Although some of the men do too. Borda was pretty on the ball with her.

Speaker 2:
[101:52] Yeah. Well, he had experience.

Speaker 3:
[101:54] He had experience, right?

Speaker 2:
[101:55] But I wonder if Dev believed Kim or was more willing to believe her because she was a police officer and he was just willing to give her the benefit of the doubt because she was ex-police. Kind of like how with Strike where he was more willing to give Janice the benefit of the doubt because she was a nice old lady and a former nurse. But then of course, didn't Dev's wife also was reading the tabloids and- Yes.

Speaker 3:
[102:23] You know what? I do generally like a man who listens to and believes his wife generally unless she's a lunatic or mistaken.

Speaker 2:
[102:32] Mistakenly or anywhere on that spectrum. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[102:36] I'm just going to need to talk to Aisha. I feel like his wife's name is Aisha.

Speaker 2:
[102:40] I think that's right.

Speaker 3:
[102:41] I need to just set her straight, explain some things so that she can then steer Dev in the right direction. That will solve everything and the universe will be restored to its natural order.

Speaker 2:
[102:50] There does seem to be a lot of people that I feel like if they could just get to know him.

Speaker 3:
[102:57] To know him, just understand.

Speaker 2:
[102:59] But in this case, it's true, like Linda and Dev's wife. Yes. I do really want to read about Dev explaining to his wife that it's not true and how that went. I'd love to see these little side conversations.

Speaker 3:
[103:13] I want to see Dev's wife. I want to see Barclay's wife big time. I'm so curious about her too.

Speaker 2:
[103:19] I know. I bet that as far as this whole conversation goes with Barclay, I bet if she ever brought that up, I bet it would be like-

Speaker 3:
[103:28] He'd tell her the facts because he has the facts. He's an astute man. He can see the facts. Barclay has a good read on people.

Speaker 2:
[103:34] I have a feeling that he and his wife would be on the same page. I feel like they'd just be like, Oh yeah, definitely. I don't know.

Speaker 3:
[103:43] I don't know because we haven't met her. We don't know much about her except she has a mother.

Speaker 2:
[103:46] She has a mother.

Speaker 3:
[103:47] That's all we know. I want more about her.

Speaker 2:
[103:49] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[103:50] Barclay has of all the subcontractors, I think he has the best read on people.

Speaker 2:
[103:54] Oh yeah.

Speaker 3:
[103:54] He's the best judge of character.

Speaker 2:
[103:55] Well, we know that from his background too.

Speaker 3:
[103:57] Yeah. I love Barclay.

Speaker 2:
[104:00] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[104:00] He's the OG. He really is.

Speaker 2:
[104:02] He's the OG and he's good.

Speaker 3:
[104:05] He's so good. Okay.

Speaker 2:
[104:06] Okay.

Speaker 3:
[104:07] Except for his inconvenient shellfish allergy.

Speaker 2:
[104:09] That would be terrible to have because I really love some shrimp.

Speaker 3:
[104:15] I love me some shrimp.

Speaker 2:
[104:17] I'm just thinking out of all possible emergencies that JK Rowling gave that one to Barclay. I know she's sitting there laughing as she's doing it to Barclay. I don't think it bothers him that much that that's happened to him in public or something.

Speaker 3:
[104:33] No, it wouldn't. I just poor him not being able to eat shrimp.

Speaker 2:
[104:36] I might die and never come back outside.

Speaker 3:
[104:39] Yeah, yeah, that's likely for myself as well.

Speaker 2:
[104:41] Yeah. Oh, you.

Speaker 3:
[104:44] I'd be upset about the shrimp. I'd be upset. I really I'm okay. I think I'm hungry.

Speaker 2:
[104:49] Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[104:51] Just hungry. Let's move on.

Speaker 2:
[104:52] Okay. Well, can we move on but not? Because I want to go back to Midge.

Speaker 3:
[104:57] Circle back. Let's circle back.

Speaker 2:
[104:59] Yeah. I guess I feel frustrated sometimes with her overall behavior, just her in general, because I feel like Strike's reaction sometimes feels calm to how I'm feeling. I think I would have a bigger reaction. Imagine if I'm doing voice notes, if Midge does something that annoys me. Yeah. That's what we should do next time.

Speaker 3:
[105:26] Make sure you do the voice notes then. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[105:28] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[105:29] I need to take more voice notes next time because those are hilarious.

Speaker 2:
[105:32] I think that's what I find confusing because I think that if this was real life and let's say that I worked at the agency.

Speaker 3:
[105:39] Let's just say, let's just pretend. Let's just pretend a bit.

Speaker 2:
[105:42] I think she'd get under my skin. I don't think that I'd be as patient as he sometimes is. Even when he's joking about being a bastard, I'm like, really? Because I think that-

Speaker 3:
[105:53] Because I've strangled her by now.

Speaker 2:
[105:54] I know. I think that Robin would be calling me being, hey, don't be a you-know-what. Just let her. She just broke up. Don't, you know? Yeah. And like, I don't- One of you, you or Kenz, one of you guys said I was like her. I just want to-

Speaker 1:
[106:10] Everyone forget that.

Speaker 2:
[106:12] I can flashy thing all of you.

Speaker 3:
[106:13] That's so funny because you know what? I don't think Midge would bug me at all. Like, I don't think she would.

Speaker 4:
[106:19] I don't know. She just-

Speaker 3:
[106:20] She wouldn't bug me. I love her. Like, even when she's stubborn, she's difficult, she's gossiping, she's wrong.

Speaker 4:
[106:27] I don't care.

Speaker 3:
[106:27] I love it. I like her.

Speaker 4:
[106:29] I don't know why.

Speaker 2:
[106:30] Okay.

Speaker 3:
[106:31] I think I'm always cheering her on because she's cathartic, really. She's an embodiment of my inner Midge. The defiant, difficult, gives no, stubborn voice that they have to keep quiet to get along with people. My just repressed Midge. Do I just love her because she's openly the person I wish I could be? She's the voice in my head that I don't actually give voice to, because it's rude to tell people, you know, these things. I don't know.

Speaker 2:
[107:01] I can see you saying things that mean like, oh no, don't say that, because it sounds...

Speaker 3:
[107:07] There's a lot of stuff I don't say. Like, there's a lot of stuff that goes through my head that I do not say.

Speaker 2:
[107:13] I think that's normal.

Speaker 3:
[107:14] Yeah, possibly.

Speaker 2:
[107:16] I don't see you like Midge at all, because you're, you're, you know, fun.

Speaker 4:
[107:22] It's gonna be fun.

Speaker 3:
[107:24] I'd have to go out on a girl's night with her and Pat and Robin to confirm if she'd be fun, but I'm willing to take that bullet and do that to test the theory.

Speaker 2:
[107:31] You just said that your inner Midge is the voice you keep quiet in order to get along with people.

Speaker 3:
[107:38] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[107:38] Hence...

Speaker 3:
[107:40] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[107:42] I said, hence, like, really waiting for you to say...

Speaker 3:
[107:44] Hence...

Speaker 2:
[107:45] .for you to say...

Speaker 3:
[107:47] What was I gonna...

Speaker 2:
[107:48] Everyone listening is screaming it. They're screaming it.

Speaker 3:
[107:51] Are they? Because I'm...

Speaker 2:
[107:52] Hence. Hence.

Speaker 3:
[107:55] Hence. I don't know what I'm supposed to say.

Speaker 2:
[107:57] When Strike says, hence to Schenker.

Speaker 3:
[107:59] Oh, hence your fucking hence. Yeah. I forgot. I forgot what Schenker said. Oh, I totally forgot.

Speaker 2:
[108:05] That's okay.

Speaker 3:
[108:05] Fuck your fucking hence. God damn it.

Speaker 2:
[108:08] Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 3:
[108:09] I'm like, what do you want me to say?

Speaker 4:
[108:11] Just tell me what you want me to say and I'll say it.

Speaker 2:
[108:13] I'm just like pausing, waiting. Now I forget what I was saying. You said it's the voice you keep quiet to get along with people.

Speaker 4:
[108:24] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[108:25] Meaning, hence, Midge wouldn't get along with people, right? So how is she?

Speaker 3:
[108:30] Clever girl. I walked right into your trap there, didn't I?

Speaker 2:
[108:33] I can't even remember at this point.

Speaker 3:
[108:35] I don't know where we are or what we're talking about. But I think you just trapped me somehow.

Speaker 2:
[108:40] No one knows what's happening anymore.

Speaker 3:
[108:41] No, I think we're really lost.

Speaker 2:
[108:43] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[108:44] Apparently Kenz supervises us a bit more than this.

Speaker 2:
[108:46] If no one's noticed, we lost Kenz due to some illness right now, and we apparently need supervision.

Speaker 1:
[108:55] I completely lost the thread.

Speaker 4:
[109:01] Oh my God.

Speaker 3:
[109:02] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[109:03] Yeah. I was going to say, I think you can achieve difficult and stubborn women in certain circumstances when necessary, which is why I think one of you traitors called me Midge.

Speaker 4:
[109:16] Did we? Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[109:17] Yeah. When we did the whole like, what characters are you like thing and one of you guys said I was Midge.

Speaker 3:
[109:22] Yeah. Maybe we were just trolling you.

Speaker 2:
[109:23] I don't know. Didn't it Kenz tell you?

Speaker 3:
[109:26] Kenz told me one that was really-

Speaker 1:
[109:28] Yasmin.

Speaker 3:
[109:29] No, she said it was Catherine Kent.

Speaker 4:
[109:31] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[109:33] I feel like that was way meaner.

Speaker 2:
[109:38] I forgot about that trauma.

Speaker 1:
[109:39] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[109:40] You being called Midge, she called me Catherine Kent. At least it wasn't Yasmin. I'd have genuinely lost my shit if someone said I was Yasmin. So I'm enraged at the thought of it.

Speaker 2:
[109:55] Well, I was going to say, one of you called me that because I think I've told you stories of when I spoke up to my boss or stood up to him, when it was justified.

Speaker 3:
[110:05] I think the argument I'd make here though is that Midge does think it's justified. She does feel like she's doing the right thing, especially, I'm thinking about one time when she and Tasha were following Lynn in the car, she thought the situation, she would have thought that losing Lynn could, you know, Lynn could die. Lynn could be permanently disappeared. Strike had worried about the same thing with Robin, right? I argue that in that one, she was fighting for what she believed was right. It's like she has to keep this man in sight so they don't lose this really vulnerable teenage girl. You know, ultimately, of course, Strike did turn out to be right. And his argument about Tasha being a civilian and also that the car was very noticeable was true. And I do know it's Strike and Robin and their agency that faced the fallout if that got fucked up. But in that moment, with the adrenaline going, I don't want to fight back to keep following Lynn too. Like I'd have done the same thing.

Speaker 2:
[110:59] I get that one. And as much as it's music to my ears, to hear you say Strike is right.

Speaker 3:
[111:05] I love saying Strike is right.

Speaker 4:
[111:07] He strikes right about so many things.

Speaker 3:
[111:09] How pretty Robin is, what a good detective Robin is.

Speaker 2:
[111:13] How much he hates Matthew and Murphy.

Speaker 3:
[111:18] I was supposed to say Ryan fucking Cunliffe. Whatever. Just them together.

Speaker 2:
[111:23] Mix them up. It doesn't matter.

Speaker 3:
[111:24] So many things Strike's right about.

Speaker 2:
[111:26] I do get that one. Obviously, I think Strike cared about saving Lin too, has the weight of the agency on him.

Speaker 3:
[111:31] He does carry that weight. He does carry that follow. I can't remember the other time she's argued with Strike. Like the thing with Tasha in the coffee, she's feeling really defensive. She did apologize to him later. I feel like they have a similar, like they apologize to each other gradually, funnily and it like turns out okay. I don't know. Are there any moments that I'm forgetting where this stuff has happened?

Speaker 2:
[111:52] You're asking the wrong person because like I said, I need to reread too.

Speaker 3:
[111:56] I know I need reread but yeah.

Speaker 2:
[111:58] I think if we were to go over everything, we'd be here longer than we've already been on.

Speaker 3:
[112:04] Oh my God. Yeah. We've already.

Speaker 4:
[112:08] I'm waffling on a bit.

Speaker 2:
[112:09] For me, I guess it's just like, it's all of this together. It's that, it's the gossiping, it's really empathizing with Strike about being the one who handles the conflict and then labeled the bad guy for it.

Speaker 3:
[112:21] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[112:21] Midge is just a character who pushes my buttons for those reasons.

Speaker 3:
[112:26] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[112:26] But what I love about these kinds of conversations and the books in general is that JK Rowling is so good at writing human behavior.

Speaker 3:
[112:36] So good, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[112:37] That there are things that we've been defending in these characters because we see them in ourselves. But for me, I just realized them as we're sitting here talking about them, the specifics of it.

Speaker 3:
[112:49] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[112:49] But we've been reading these books for years. Yeah. It's why the series feels so rich, why it never gets boring, because there's so much realness and humanity in the tiny details. It's why when I start to read other books, I get so...

Speaker 3:
[113:04] They're just not as good.

Speaker 2:
[113:06] Bored and just disappointed, because they don't feel like real people. You know?

Speaker 4:
[113:12] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[113:13] I love how I can learn about myself while doing these kinds of discussions and do the therapy edition. Insert jingle here.

Speaker 4:
[113:21] Therapy edition. We're going deep, deep, deep into our psyches. We're going to find some up stuff up here, because it's therapy edition.

Speaker 3:
[113:35] Hey, that was really good. Like, am I crazy? That was great. That was really good. So save that clip, okay? And then just insert it whenever. So I don't have to remember what it was because I'm never going to be able to reproduce that.

Speaker 2:
[113:48] Wow. But yeah, it's why we die on the hills we die on, but sometimes we don't even realize why we're doing it.

Speaker 3:
[113:55] This is so true. Jo is just excellent at writing people as people with strengths and their flaws and their individuality. I also really love, and this is basically the same thing, but the gradual way she's built up this group of people, the agency, because the ones who have stuck around, like Midge and Barclay and Dev and Pat, they might have their flaws to a greater or less extent. Not Pat, Pat's perfect.

Speaker 2:
[114:19] I was just going to say Pat has no flaws. What are you talking about?

Speaker 3:
[114:22] They might occasionally clash with each other, with Strike, with Robin, whatever. But each of them have these same core traits of all of them, competency, dedication, and caring about justice. They all care about the right things, even if some of them fuck up sometimes. But the shitheads like Morris and Littlejohn and Kim, who don't have that compass, that center, they got cut loose and they've winnowed them down so that now they have an agency that reflects their fundamental values, Robin and Strike.

Speaker 2:
[114:53] I agree.

Speaker 3:
[114:54] Really great.

Speaker 2:
[114:55] That is the thing I will absolutely give you about Midge. She is a bad person. She cares about justice. She's reliable. She's brave. She's good for the agency. She's all of those things that you've said. She just drives me nuts.

Speaker 3:
[115:08] Insubordinate and gossipy.

Speaker 2:
[115:11] Yeah. She just drives me nuts with her personality.

Speaker 3:
[115:13] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[115:14] But she's all of those good things. She is. So yes, I give you that. Now I'm thinking, okay, Pat's one flaw. Because I was thinking as you were talking. Pat flaw. Well, the one thing that I think is coming to an end soon.

Speaker 3:
[115:29] Liking handsome men.

Speaker 2:
[115:30] Liking handsome men.

Speaker 3:
[115:31] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[115:32] That's ending soon.

Speaker 3:
[115:33] She's learned with Morris.

Speaker 2:
[115:35] Yes. But what if Murphy shows up at the office?

Speaker 3:
[115:38] God, I hope so.

Speaker 2:
[115:40] Angry at Robin or something.

Speaker 3:
[115:42] At all.

Speaker 2:
[115:43] And Pat has to step in or something to defend.

Speaker 3:
[115:45] That's the nail in the coffin.

Speaker 2:
[115:47] Watch. Some handsome man is going to show up and Strike is going to notice Pat is really short with him.

Speaker 3:
[115:52] She's like, I finally figured out I'm in a JK Rowling novel and all of the beautiful people are dickheads.

Speaker 2:
[115:58] But then he's going to leave and she's going to make some sort of comment to Strike about these handsome men, whatever, think that they could just do.

Speaker 3:
[116:06] Trust them.

Speaker 2:
[116:07] Yeah. And then Strike is going to be like, oh, Pat's changed her too. I feel like we're going to see something like that. It's going to be so funny.

Speaker 3:
[116:16] And even when you're nearing 70, you can still grow.

Speaker 2:
[116:20] You know, that's nice. You might be getting a little shorter, but you can mature.

Speaker 3:
[116:26] Grow internally. Yeah. I'd love to see that. Anyway, back to the chapter, I guess. Were we reading a chapter?

Speaker 2:
[116:33] Was there a chapter?

Speaker 3:
[116:34] I think that we are technically in a chapter.

Speaker 2:
[116:37] We just had the longest side.

Speaker 3:
[116:39] Longest digression because Kenz got sick. But going back, I think we are actually-

Speaker 2:
[116:44] At the end of the chapter.

Speaker 3:
[116:45] At the end of this chapter. So Robin is just about to tell Strike about Sapphire and the information she's found when she has to cut the call short because guess who's walking back towards her? Fucking Ryan Murphy.

Speaker 2:
[117:00] Unfortunately.

Speaker 3:
[117:01] And Sapphire, as it turns out, is really, really important. But he interrupts that. I think it's a moment that clearly symbolizes the way Murphy has become an obstacle to Robin in terms of the agency's investigations. He's literally job blocking her. Job blocking. That's multiple counts of job blocking.

Speaker 2:
[117:20] So it's funny that you say that Sapphire turns out to be very important because of course, you're right. But I'm also positive that her name being Sapphire is significant. I'm positive. I'm not sure if I know exactly why yet, but I'm positive. She didn't just be like, oh, I'll name her Sapphire out of nowhere. Sapphire is not a common name. No. A blue gemstone. We have a blue connection with alchemy. We have Robin Sapphire ring. Sapphire come in other colors. In fact, I think they come in every single color except for red.

Speaker 3:
[117:52] The crystal structure, like the crystal makeup of Sapphires and Rubies, they're technically the same stone.

Speaker 2:
[117:59] Right. So then they come in every color except for red, because then it would be a Ruby. So we have Sapphire whose name is Sapphire. But then we have that Ruby Necklace. Pools, who had the Ruby Necklace?

Speaker 3:
[118:12] Sophia. But also Sapphire also told her friend that her boyfriend gave her a Ruby Necklace.

Speaker 2:
[118:21] Okay.

Speaker 3:
[118:21] Then Tia said, Rubies, it was just beads. My auntie's got a Ruby ring. I know the difference. So Griffs is giving out fake Ruby Necklaces to all these girls, Sophia and Sapphire both.

Speaker 2:
[118:32] Okay. Then wasn't there something that Yolanda slash Chloe had?

Speaker 3:
[118:39] Yolanda slash Chloe had the purple bracelet that Tyler gave her, and it was how Robin figured out her name was actually Yolanda because her name meaning purple.

Speaker 2:
[118:51] So basically what I'm saying is we have the name Sapphire, fake Rubies. I don't know if the purple was a gemstone, but you know.

Speaker 3:
[119:00] I think it was, but yeah, interesting.

Speaker 2:
[119:02] I don't know. I definitely want to look more into this as far as how it connects with alchemy gemstones.

Speaker 3:
[119:08] I was just thinking in the same chapter that Robin finds the valuable silver, Strike finds gem, Sapphire hidden in the different basements, like they're both mining, right? You find a silver, you find a gem.

Speaker 2:
[119:21] I like that, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[119:22] Although, and it might be a total coincidence here, but Queen Elizabeth II's Sapphire Jubilee, 65 years, was in 2017. And that's this same year.

Speaker 2:
[119:33] I really don't like that Matthew gave Robin a Sapphire ring because it's our birthstone.

Speaker 3:
[119:39] He stole it. He stole it.

Speaker 2:
[119:42] I love Sapphires. It's my favorite color. It's your birthstone too, right?

Speaker 3:
[119:46] It's our birthstone.

Speaker 2:
[119:47] It's our birthstone.

Speaker 4:
[119:48] I love the Sapphires.

Speaker 3:
[119:49] It's very rude.

Speaker 2:
[119:50] I love a Sapphire ring, but I feel like it's tainted. Yes. I don't like it. It's freaking Matthew.

Speaker 4:
[119:59] Also, my mind does go to Sapphires and Rubies now. If they're not opposite, but a Sapphire can be everything except a Ruby. If she had a Sapphire ring with Matthew, maybe Strike would get her Ruby. What does red mean in alchemy again? I feel like I should just know this. Red is the final.

Speaker 1:
[120:18] Yeah, the final. The red is the Ruby.

Speaker 4:
[120:21] Could be.

Speaker 1:
[120:21] Like the final.

Speaker 4:
[120:22] Could be.

Speaker 1:
[120:24] It's interesting that the name Sapphire pops up in the same book as a second engagement ring that's bought for Robin does, right? Because that first ring was Sapphires. She is constantly trying to tell herself that Ryan isn't Matthew, but that relationship is just as wrong for her, right? The tiny diamond is as wrong, tiny, emphasizing, is as wrong as the Sapphires were. Sapphires trapped in this book and Strike rescues her. The diamond is a trap and Strike will come again to the rescue. I don't know. This might not be making any sense.

Speaker 4:
[120:58] I don't care. I love it.

Speaker 1:
[120:59] Yeah, sure.

Speaker 4:
[121:00] Doesn't matter.

Speaker 1:
[121:01] But I don't know if Strike will get her Ruby. I don't know what his ring will be. Can I say will? Because that man is definitely going to put a ring on her finger. He's way too long.

Speaker 4:
[121:10] Possibly with two stones.

Speaker 1:
[121:11] Yes.

Speaker 4:
[121:12] Unless that's happens to be the has to do with the case. But yeah, obviously, of course he will. We've heard so much about him not buying Charlotte a ring and all of that for him to not buy a ring right away. I still think that it's likely that he's going to buy a ring before she even leaves Murphy. Just to prove he's serious.

Speaker 1:
[121:31] I would love that so much.

Speaker 4:
[121:32] Yeah. And all the things that I said about Murphy being crazy for buying a ring, not even discussing it with Robin will not count. Totally different situation.

Speaker 1:
[121:40] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[121:41] Deep down, Strike and Robin know they love each other and that it's right. Murphy's delusional while Strike is romantic.

Speaker 1:
[121:47] And Strike did discuss it with Robin.

Speaker 4:
[121:49] Sure.

Speaker 1:
[121:51] They had a discussion. It was discussed. So it won't be a total surprise.

Speaker 4:
[121:57] No. Totally different situation.

Speaker 1:
[122:00] Totally sane and normal situation.

Speaker 2:
[122:02] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[122:02] Well, that's the end of the chapter.

Speaker 4:
[122:04] Yeah. So we've done one chapter.

Speaker 1:
[122:06] Oh, my God.

Speaker 4:
[122:07] We've done one chapter. And by the way, OK, so this episode, by the way, this episode is a real craft project, guys.

Speaker 1:
[122:13] Cursed.

Speaker 4:
[122:15] It's the cursed episode. We recorded this three separate times. Not the whole thing. It's a cut and paste. It took three different tries. It's a cut and paste. Lots of different things happened. Like we said, Kenz is sick right now. So what we're going to do at the beginning, it says we're doing chapters 27 and 28. That's not happening because Kenz got sick and we need her for chapter 28. So what we're going to do is that the partner shot that we recorded at the beginning of the episode, God knows how many weeks ago at this point, because like I said, we recorded three separate occasions.

Speaker 1:
[122:53] It's been difficult. It's been 84 years.

Speaker 4:
[123:00] I don't even remember when I cut it, when I paste it all together and if it sounds like it all flows and makes sense, it'll be a huge success.

Speaker 1:
[123:09] I think it'll go great.

Speaker 4:
[123:10] Well, we'll see.

Speaker 1:
[123:11] I think it'll be super.

Speaker 4:
[123:12] So what we're going to do is we're going to cut the partner shot that we recorded a long time ago, and we're going to put it right here at the end.

Speaker 1:
[123:20] So Kenz will miraculously be back.

Speaker 4:
[123:21] She'll be back and she won't be sick anymore. So that partner shot was supposed to go at the end of episode 15, which will be the next episode, we're going to put it here instead, and we're going to move chapter 28 to our next recording so that Kenz can be back for that. So otherwise we have to delay again, putting out an episode and we don't want to do that.

Speaker 1:
[123:43] A one chapter episode is a new low for us, I think, and it's such a random chapter. You can see doing a whole episode on chapter 127.

Speaker 4:
[123:55] Right?

Speaker 1:
[123:56] No. Like in chapter 27, from the way I look at the house, it's like six pages long.

Speaker 4:
[124:03] Except for that, I just looked at our multiple recordings because I have them in separate files. So we have one Audacity file that's 45 minutes long after it's been edited. Another Audacity file that's 30 minutes long.

Speaker 1:
[124:17] Oh my God. And then this, which has now been two hours long.

Speaker 4:
[124:21] Oh my God. So somehow we've talked for an hour and 15 minutes already.

Speaker 1:
[124:26] What did we talk about?

Speaker 4:
[124:27] Who even knows at this point? Because it's literally been like a month since we recorded the first part of this.

Speaker 1:
[124:33] Oh, Bluetooth, I believe was a significant chunk.

Speaker 4:
[124:37] Bluetooth?

Speaker 1:
[124:38] We talked about Bluetooth in Murphy's car.

Speaker 4:
[124:41] Oh, oh, that was fun.

Speaker 1:
[124:42] Yeah, that was. Dillis.

Speaker 4:
[124:46] Dillis Powell, okay. I remember that.

Speaker 1:
[124:49] Well, have fun. Sorry about the delay.

Speaker 4:
[124:52] We should do a partner's chat because I don't think we've done one the last two recordings. I think we've been lacking.

Speaker 1:
[124:57] Okay.

Speaker 4:
[124:58] Either people are happy about it or riots. One of the two. No in between.

Speaker 1:
[125:07] Sorry, I was just filling out a thing. I'm trying to get a deep clean service.

Speaker 4:
[125:13] For what?

Speaker 1:
[125:14] For my house because I fucking hate cleaning and I'm at the point where I'm like, you know what? I can budget in a recurring cleaning service. So why don't I just fucking do it?

Speaker 4:
[125:25] See, I don't know if I want people in my house cleaning it. I would feel like I would need to clean my house to let people come in and clean my house.

Speaker 1:
[125:33] I do feel like it's going to motivate me every other week to go around and tidy and make sure it's clean enough to clean and I need that motivation.

Speaker 4:
[125:40] Okay.

Speaker 1:
[125:41] So that's part of it. But doing the floors, I want someone to just do my floors for me because that's the fucking worst.

Speaker 4:
[125:50] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[125:51] And dust things because I'm really shit at dusting.

Speaker 4:
[125:54] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[125:54] So I'm like, you know what? I can go without ordering Uber Eats to work when I forget my lunch.

Speaker 4:
[126:01] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[126:01] I'll walk over to the hospital cafeteria and get something. But it's impossible to hire any servicer out here.

Speaker 4:
[126:07] My cousin, that's what my cousin does.

Speaker 1:
[126:08] Your cousin do it? Does she want to like come out here?

Speaker 4:
[126:11] Come to Canada? Probably not.

Speaker 1:
[126:13] Move to Canada and clean my house for me, please.

Speaker 4:
[126:17] See, I could hire her to come do it, but then we'd probably just sit and do a puzzle or something instead.

Speaker 1:
[126:23] Yeah. I feel like I'd be fine if it's a regular person and I get to know them and it's like a woman and I meet her and stuff. I'd probably be cool with it. I mean, I'm not having a man in here to clean, but I don't think any of them.

Speaker 4:
[126:34] But what if you got one of those men from TikTok and then you just watch them clean?

Speaker 2:
[126:38] You get a free show.

Speaker 1:
[126:39] Like a hot, like a sexy shirtless one? I don't think Chase would go for it.

Speaker 2:
[126:44] You're like, honey, we can't budget this in. Sorry.

Speaker 1:
[126:47] Why does it cost extra? And I'm like, for no sure.

Speaker 2:
[126:52] Shirtless fee.

Speaker 4:
[126:54] I think it sounds like a great plan.

Speaker 1:
[126:56] OK. Well, unfortunately, yeah, I don't think they offer that here. I'm having trouble just getting a regular one in.

Speaker 4:
[127:01] Honestly, it sounds like a great business idea.

Speaker 1:
[127:04] Yeah. Many hot guys who like cleaning. That is a pretty good because I think it's genius because there's nothing sexier than a man doing chores.

Speaker 4:
[127:11] Let's be real. I know it's genius.

Speaker 1:
[127:13] That's like, hmm.

Speaker 4:
[127:16] Somebody's got to get on that. What would we call this business idea? Hunks for hire. No, that sounds that sounds wrong. It has to be something about cleaning in the title.

Speaker 1:
[127:28] Yeah, it's got to be Mr. Clean. Probably trademark infringement. Mr. Dirty and then Clean. I don't know. The Mr. is Clean. That's not a copyright infringement.

Speaker 4:
[127:41] I'm really tired, so my brain is not firing.

Speaker 1:
[127:45] I'm good. I have the house all to myself this weekend.

Speaker 2:
[127:47] Oh, wow.

Speaker 4:
[127:49] It's so nice.

Speaker 1:
[127:51] Chase went back to family or friends in Guelph or something. I wasn't listening.

Speaker 2:
[127:56] I'm just like, I have the house all to myself.

Speaker 4:
[128:00] Hallelujah.

Speaker 2:
[128:00] I get to do what I want?

Speaker 1:
[128:01] No distractions? Deep flow?

Speaker 4:
[128:03] No.

Speaker 1:
[128:04] Yes, please.

Speaker 4:
[128:06] I inhaled a lot of chemicals last night, so I'm going to be possibly strange while recording today.

Speaker 1:
[128:13] Are you having the glue again?

Speaker 4:
[128:15] Something like that, yeah. Lots of glitter spray and color hairspray.

Speaker 1:
[128:20] Nice.

Speaker 2:
[128:20] It's going to be a fun time.

Speaker 4:
[128:22] We had a thing called glitter glam at church last night. I was in the hair room doing lots of little girls' hair.

Speaker 1:
[128:28] That's cute.

Speaker 4:
[128:30] I got my hair done too.

Speaker 1:
[128:31] We saw pictures.

Speaker 2:
[128:32] Yeah, we did.

Speaker 4:
[128:33] It was fun.

Speaker 1:
[128:33] It looked fantastic.

Speaker 4:
[128:35] They had me at the word glitter. They were like, you should sign up for this thing called glitter, I'm in.

Speaker 2:
[128:41] It was like halfway through the word glitter, you're like, I'm in, say no more.

Speaker 1:
[128:47] Last night, I played Dungeons and Dragons on the Internet.

Speaker 4:
[128:50] Was it crunchy?

Speaker 1:
[128:51] No, it was not crunchy.

Speaker 2:
[128:54] It was not a crunchy campaign.

Speaker 1:
[128:55] My little sister, she does the DMing and my brother plays, and by the way, they did not invite me and this game has been going on for a while.

Speaker 2:
[129:05] Rude.

Speaker 1:
[129:05] And I didn't even know about it.

Speaker 4:
[129:07] That's offensive.

Speaker 1:
[129:09] I was pretty offended. So it's her, my brother, betrayal, her fiance and her fiance's brother. And once I found out about this game, I was like, okay, first of all, super offended that I haven't been invited because I've played lots of D&D.

Speaker 4:
[129:24] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[129:24] Second of all, I want in. So now I'm in and then I get to see the little baby because she's holding the baby on the webcam.

Speaker 4:
[129:30] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[129:30] So hi, that's family time.

Speaker 4:
[129:32] Even better. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[129:33] It counts.

Speaker 4:
[129:35] Why would you not be in? I'm offended on your behalf. What the heck?

Speaker 2:
[129:40] Seriously.

Speaker 1:
[129:41] Maybe they thought I'd be too busy. I don't know.

Speaker 2:
[129:43] You're just being dicks.

Speaker 1:
[129:45] I'm sure it was just an oversight because I'm a great D&D player. Come up with great characters. I'm very funny. We have fun.

Speaker 2:
[129:51] I'm very funny.

Speaker 1:
[129:52] My character is a forest gnome. She was training as a bard but a brutal accident left her lost in the forest and injured. She was rescued by a family of squirrels who nursed her back to health. She had a realization that the best life is squirrel life. She integrated into their community and then she decided to leave the forest eventually and go and tell everyone about the life they should be living.

Speaker 4:
[130:16] Do you make this up?

Speaker 1:
[130:18] To reach their inner squirrel. Yeah, I made that up. That's my character. I started with a life coach character, but now she's just really trying to get everyone to reach their inner squirrel and bring it out. Not everyone can be a squirrel because some people aren't cool. Some people have inner but everyone got to live that fourth life. She's a very earnest, slightly intense, insane, very obsessed with acorns and hiding them for winter.

Speaker 4:
[130:46] I'm not rarely speechless on this podcast.

Speaker 1:
[130:50] She's got a thing. She's got a gimmick. I have a little- he's my brother because the squirrels adopted me. So he's my brother. I named him Tree and he's a squirrel who rides my shoulder. Anyway, she's a bard who multi-classed into druid at level 10. I was allowed to build her, which is very powerful. Some great brutal spells.

Speaker 2:
[131:07] So is this a self-insert?

Speaker 1:
[131:10] I think all good D&D characters have an element of the self, Kenz. I think that that really brings the heart into the role-play, into the jokes.

Speaker 2:
[131:20] Really drawn upon your experiences with being reared by squirrels.

Speaker 1:
[131:25] I like squirrels. They're very cute. They got little bushy tails.

Speaker 4:
[131:27] Speaking of squirrels.

Speaker 1:
[131:30] Let's say, I'm just moving on. I don't even know what to say to this. I'm just not touching on it.

Speaker 4:
[131:36] Well, speaking of squirrels in real life, if anyone has advice on how to walk a dog. Yeah, and not get her to be obsessed with the squirrels.

Speaker 2:
[131:50] Good luck with that.

Speaker 1:
[131:50] Good luck. Work on your arm strength to hold her back.

Speaker 4:
[131:53] Because my arms are so sore.

Speaker 1:
[131:55] You got a trainer to listen to you before following her heart's desire to chase the squirrels.

Speaker 4:
[132:01] Well, the thing is that she's not my dog.

Speaker 2:
[132:03] Resistance bands increase that strength.

Speaker 1:
[132:06] Arm strength.

Speaker 4:
[132:07] Well, I guess my arms are just going to continue to get a workout few times a week.

Speaker 2:
[132:10] You're going to get swole, dude. You're going to have the muscles.

Speaker 4:
[132:15] Pools, someone was asking about your tallow.

Speaker 1:
[132:18] That's dead.

Speaker 4:
[132:19] It's dead.

Speaker 1:
[132:19] It did not work out. I got the texture quite nice, but I think I burnt it in the first round and I just couldn't get the scent right. I will simply continue buying my lovely tallow moisturizer off of Etsy.

Speaker 4:
[132:32] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[132:32] Until you forget and then try and do it again in like five years.

Speaker 1:
[132:36] Yeah. Eight months, Kenz, is my usual cycle on that one.

Speaker 2:
[132:43] I was trying to be generous. Five years.

Speaker 1:
[132:46] I'll go through the cycle several times in five years. Now, it did not work out. That's okay. I'm sure my next craft will work out. I found out my maid of honor is pregnant too with another boy. She's due in July, which means that that blanket I never finished for my sister is definitely going to be grown out of. I think I could have that finished by July.

Speaker 4:
[133:11] Or the next person who has a boy. Oh my God. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[133:17] I don't know any other. I don't know anyone else unless my sister has another one really quick and it's also a boy.

Speaker 4:
[133:24] My cousin is also having a boy.

Speaker 1:
[133:26] What is in the water? What is in the water?

Speaker 4:
[133:29] I was going to say, I was going to say boy juice and that just.

Speaker 1:
[133:33] No, thank you.

Speaker 4:
[133:33] Yeah. It sounded wrong in my head. And then I still said it.

Speaker 2:
[133:38] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[133:39] I still said it.

Speaker 1:
[133:40] So I'm going to try the knitting again.

Speaker 4:
[133:43] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[133:43] Nice.

Speaker 1:
[133:44] It doesn't smell.

Speaker 4:
[133:45] A safe craft that doesn't smell.

Speaker 1:
[133:47] Doesn't smell. Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[133:48] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[133:48] It's much safer.

Speaker 4:
[133:50] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[133:50] You just have to keep your kitties out of it.

Speaker 1:
[133:52] Yeah. They do like to try.

Speaker 4:
[133:53] You said kitties. I thought you said kidneys and I was like, Kenz.

Speaker 1:
[133:58] Well, the needle does not go in the kidneys. That's correct. I try not to stab myself in the kidneys with knitting needles.

Speaker 2:
[134:06] That would take some doing.

Speaker 1:
[134:07] The cats do try to catch them though, Kenz. The cats do go after them, but that's fine.

Speaker 4:
[134:11] What about you, Kenz?

Speaker 2:
[134:13] Beyond continuing to be sick and having the longest month of my life, I have not really been up to much. I have been very sick. I was telling you last time that I was throwing up, and then I had horrible cramps that were the worst in my whole life, and then I got sick immediately thereafter.

Speaker 1:
[134:31] That's brutal.

Speaker 2:
[134:32] It was not good. I was very congested. I'm still taking some medication today. I really hate it.

Speaker 1:
[134:38] I'm sorry.

Speaker 2:
[134:39] The last time that I got really sick, it went from my nose being congested to my chest being congested. I ended up having a flare up and I got real sick and my heart was not doing good, so I'm trying to be abundantly cautious.

Speaker 4:
[134:55] We should send her some Buckleys.

Speaker 2:
[134:57] Right. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[134:58] It would probably clear it up pretty quickly.

Speaker 4:
[135:00] Have you ever tried it, Kenz?

Speaker 2:
[135:02] I have not. I feel like I probably should. It's like a rite of passage.

Speaker 4:
[135:06] You're missing out because I took a video of myself trying it for the first time, remember?

Speaker 2:
[135:13] It was very entertaining.

Speaker 1:
[135:14] They've changed the formula. It tastes good now for some reason.

Speaker 4:
[135:17] First of all, that's a horrific lie.

Speaker 2:
[135:20] It does so. Is it at least like a taste where if you have something else around that you can... No, it's just foul.

Speaker 1:
[135:29] It tastes like really fresh to me. It's burning the inside of my every tube in here, yes, but in a fresh way, you know?

Speaker 4:
[135:41] And when I say exactly, I mean it is literally the exact taste of what you would imagine hair dye tastes like. The smell of hair dye... You know how hair dye smell tastes, right? No, sorry. You know what hair dye smells like?

Speaker 1:
[135:59] It's a chemically sort of...

Speaker 4:
[136:00] Yes. No, the exact smell of hair dye is how Buckley's tastes.

Speaker 1:
[136:05] Oh, it's like a minty pine sort of...

Speaker 4:
[136:08] Nope.

Speaker 1:
[136:08] No. Maybe my taste buds have just stopped working.

Speaker 4:
[136:14] It is how hair dye smells.

Speaker 1:
[136:16] But it works.

Speaker 2:
[136:18] God, now I'm curious.

Speaker 1:
[136:19] It burns everything out from the inside of all the tubes. Oh, it burns.

Speaker 4:
[136:23] It burns. I had to check multiple times that it was not hair dye.

Speaker 2:
[136:29] I was not sure.

Speaker 4:
[136:31] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[136:31] I like it. I like it now. I'm genuinely like...

Speaker 4:
[136:34] But as soon as you... As soon as it's down...

Speaker 1:
[136:36] Shutter? I don't fear. Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[136:38] As soon as you get it down and you take that first breath, it's like, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1:
[136:42] I can breathe.

Speaker 2:
[136:43] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[136:44] It's like, that's like a whole winter's day. I just...

Speaker 1:
[136:48] I love that.

Speaker 2:
[136:50] I'm looking at the Amazon page for the Buckleys thing. And one of the pictures that it has listed, it has this guy making this horrible face and it says, it tastes awful and it works.

Speaker 1:
[137:01] Yeah. That's been its actual slogan for like decades. That's what we grew up on. It tastes awful, but it works. And it kind of, I think has shaped a generation's philosophy of life up here. Whatever tastes awful is going to work. Well, if it hurts, that means it's doing its job.

Speaker 2:
[137:18] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[137:18] That's dangerous philosophy. Ah, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[137:21] Okay. Well, added to cart.

Speaker 4:
[137:23] Oh, we would like a video, please.

Speaker 1:
[137:26] I'm really looking forward to this curing you, Kenz.

Speaker 2:
[137:29] All right. God, I hope so. I'm so over being congested and sick.

Speaker 1:
[137:33] You just got to swig it straight from the bottle. I don't buy it with spoons or shit.

Speaker 2:
[137:37] Yeah. That sounds-

Speaker 1:
[137:38] It's my own personal bottle, so germs can't survive on that thing.

Speaker 4:
[137:42] Oh, my gosh.

Speaker 1:
[137:43] I don't think it can survive.

Speaker 2:
[137:44] I don't think that I could bring that up to my mother who is a medical microbiologist. I feel like she would be like-

Speaker 1:
[137:51] No, I think she'd probably agree with me.

Speaker 2:
[137:56] But yeah, aside from being sick, I haven't been up to much. I think that I don't have any concerts that I'm going to for another few months, so which is a bummer because I have so many that I'm going to, but they're not yet, not until the summer.

Speaker 4:
[138:15] I feel like I have not had a day that has not been chaotic in I don't know when.

Speaker 2:
[138:21] Sounds like you need to take a mom-cation. Somewhere sunny, like book yourself a hotel room.

Speaker 1:
[138:27] You live somewhere sunny, never mind.

Speaker 2:
[138:29] Room service.

Speaker 4:
[138:31] I live somewhere very sunny. It's in the 90s this week in March, which is like 34 for you, I think, Pools.

Speaker 1:
[138:38] Oh my God, that is very warm.

Speaker 2:
[138:41] How on earth is it that, how long has it been that hot? Because I was thinking about if I was going to visit LA, I was going to do it like when it's cold.

Speaker 4:
[138:49] A couple of weeks ago, it was cold.

Speaker 2:
[138:51] Got you. So like end of February, beginning of March-ish.

Speaker 4:
[138:55] It's been a really rough and chaotic couple of weeks, a few weeks over here. Should I bring the whole mood down? Should I like bum everybody out?

Speaker 2:
[139:03] Well, I mean, the good part about that is that it can only go up from there.

Speaker 4:
[139:08] I suppose, well, it is the end of an episode, except it's the beginning of a recording.

Speaker 1:
[139:12] Kind of ends the episode or not?

Speaker 4:
[139:13] It ends the episode. It begins our recording. My aunt passed away three weeks ago, two weeks ago now, three, two, one, blast off. I don't know.

Speaker 2:
[139:26] I lost track of the time. She had been struggling for a while too, right? Yes. Because she wasn't eating or anything.

Speaker 4:
[139:39] That's a long story.

Speaker 2:
[139:41] Yeah. That's its own separate thing.

Speaker 4:
[139:43] Oh my gosh. Yeah. So it's been a long couple of weeks. I've been trying to help my mom. She lives with my parents. I've been trying to help my mom stuff out. And I found a few boxes of VHS tapes, which are some movies.

Speaker 1:
[139:58] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[139:58] A couple of days later, we found a working VCR because she had a VCR in her room, but it was not working. We found another VCR.

Speaker 1:
[140:05] I haven't used a VCR in a long time.

Speaker 4:
[140:07] I know. I was trying to remember how to connect it. I had to use, you know, the red, white, and yellow AV.

Speaker 1:
[140:16] Yeah, the AV cables. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 4:
[140:18] I was like, I can do this. It's me and then my youngest cousin were 16 years apart. She's like, I don't know how to do this. You know. She has to point out that I'm.

Speaker 1:
[140:30] Elderly?

Speaker 4:
[140:31] Yes, elderly. We figured out and then we put in a video, and it's Christmas 1999.

Speaker 1:
[140:40] Oh, wow.

Speaker 4:
[140:41] I wanted to send you guys this video, but I think it's too long to send on Discord. I might be able to send it on Instagram because you guys will laugh at me. I was 14 years old. My grandpa is recording and he is going to walk into my bedroom. I don't know. It was just so funny because I was showing off all of my NSYNC posters, and then I was so serious about it. I was trying to be so cool. I was like, these are my new posters. Trying to be so cool about it.

Speaker 1:
[141:15] You were chill.

Speaker 4:
[141:17] I was so normal. I was like, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[141:20] So normal.

Speaker 4:
[141:21] He zoomed in on my new poster and then just stayed there for a while, and then zoomed out. It was so funny.

Speaker 1:
[141:32] That's cute.

Speaker 4:
[141:33] Yeah, but my cousins and I, it was our aunt.

Speaker 1:
[141:36] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[141:36] She didn't have any kids, but we were all just in her room crying all night. We've had a few recent family deaths a couple of months ago as well, and then a couple of years ago as well. So watching videos, it was like, oh, all of these people not here anymore. I have glitter in my eye from last night. Oh, I'm like talking about this emotional thing and I'm-

Speaker 1:
[142:09] It's just the glitter.

Speaker 4:
[142:10] It's just the glitter in my eye.

Speaker 1:
[142:12] Oh, out.

Speaker 4:
[142:14] So yeah.

Speaker 1:
[142:15] That's a rough time.

Speaker 4:
[142:17] That's been my few weeks. I don't know how to bring us back up now.

Speaker 1:
[142:21] On a cheerful note.

Speaker 4:
[142:22] Other than my in-sync walls, which were fun.

Speaker 1:
[142:24] I don't think I ever have any in-sync posters.

Speaker 4:
[142:28] I'm sorry. I would have shared.

Speaker 1:
[142:30] That's okay.

Speaker 4:
[142:31] Actually, wait a minute. That's not true. That's not true. I would not have shared.

Speaker 1:
[142:37] I was never really one for putting up posters. I don't know why.

Speaker 4:
[142:41] I'm sorry.

Speaker 1:
[142:42] It's weird. I don't know. I'm trying to think of something cheerful now too.

Speaker 4:
[142:46] Oh, well, it's still about my aunt. But apparently, she had this safe underneath her bed that we couldn't open.

Speaker 1:
[142:53] Yes.

Speaker 4:
[142:54] And then my mom asked me to clean out. So across from her room in the hallway was like these hall closets that she used and I cleaned them all out. That's where I found all the videos, lots of old pictures. And then I found a box full of keys. They were like, oh, my gosh, the safe. Then we were able to open the safe. OK.

Speaker 1:
[143:14] OK.

Speaker 4:
[143:15] In it, we found a thousand dollars in cash.

Speaker 1:
[143:18] Holy shit. Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[143:20] We found a bag full of silver coins. And I was like, silver. Wow.

Speaker 1:
[143:25] Silver.

Speaker 4:
[143:25] Those coins were worth another 1300.

Speaker 1:
[143:28] Oh, my gosh.

Speaker 4:
[143:30] We found collectible Star Wars stuff, which is weird because my was not never in my life. Have I heard her talk about Star Wars?

Speaker 1:
[143:39] It sounds like this is an emergency stash. So she was envisioning some kind of dystopian future where currency is she could barter Star Wars collectibles.

Speaker 4:
[143:49] I know where the silver came from because for Y2K, her stepdad, my step grandpa thought, you know, that's where the silver came from. And she just still had it.

Speaker 1:
[144:03] Just still had it.

Speaker 4:
[144:04] But then also she had my grandma's, all these rings from my grandma. She had both of my grandma's wedding sets. You know, the ones to my grandpa and then my step grandpa. Yeah. And then my grandma's birthstone ring. And my mom and my other aunt are like, why did she get all this?

Speaker 1:
[144:26] What the heck?

Speaker 4:
[144:29] My mom's like, well, probably because I'd lose everything and she keeps it, which is fair.

Speaker 1:
[144:35] She had a literal safe to keep it safe.

Speaker 4:
[144:37] It's fair. And as my mom is saying that, she drops it all, literally, as she's showing me these rings. She's like, this is my great, oh, where to go? Literally.

Speaker 1:
[144:51] I was standing, sorry, this is, I was standing at the kitchen counter the other day. There were a couple leftover fries because we'd done like oven fries. So I was like, OK, I'll have a couple. I'll just have leftover fries standing here. And like watching TikTok in my other hand, Chase came up to stand next to me. I was holding a fry and for some reason, my hand just opened, dropped the fry and catch up on the floor. And then my other, I just immediately also dropped my phone for no reason.

Speaker 4:
[145:18] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[145:18] He's like, what are you doing?

Speaker 4:
[145:21] I don't know.

Speaker 1:
[145:23] My hands stopped working. I told him he was standing too close to me. It was his fault. Oh, which probably was.

Speaker 2:
[145:29] Sure.

Speaker 4:
[145:29] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[145:30] Pools.exe has crashed.

Speaker 1:
[145:31] No reason. Just hand opened stuff on the floor.

Speaker 4:
[145:35] It's literally an ADHD thing though.

Speaker 1:
[145:37] Oh, is it?

Speaker 4:
[145:39] It is. My mom's, you tend to drop things.

Speaker 1:
[145:43] I do drop things constantly. It's very hard to hold on to them. Thank God I've got a Samsung Galaxy phone. These things are unbreakable. I eat this down the stairs like several times every week. Full on fucking throw it without meaning to.

Speaker 4:
[145:59] Anyway, the cool thing is that my grandma, my mom and my aunt's mom, she died when I was four in a car accident. But I got the birthstone ring.

Speaker 2:
[146:09] That's very nice.

Speaker 1:
[146:10] It's gorgeous.

Speaker 4:
[146:11] It's a giant.

Speaker 2:
[146:13] It's a rock.

Speaker 1:
[146:13] That's really nice. Is that Topaz?

Speaker 4:
[146:15] It's that or Citrine. It's November's birthstone.

Speaker 1:
[146:19] November.

Speaker 4:
[146:20] I mean, I'm the oldest. I think I'm the only grandchild who remembers her. So I'm super happy that I get to have it.

Speaker 1:
[146:28] I'm thinking it represents Strike's birthday, were you?

Speaker 4:
[146:31] Of course not. I would never do that to my grandmother.

Speaker 1:
[146:34] Apparently, November is Topaz and Citrine.

Speaker 4:
[146:37] Yeah. I don't know what that is.

Speaker 1:
[146:38] I don't see how that's possible.

Speaker 4:
[146:39] I know. I'm thinking about taking it in. I can tell that it's real because it has a hallmark on the inside. I think I want to take it in somewhere because it is a little scuffed because it's old.

Speaker 2:
[146:53] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[146:53] Get it polished up.

Speaker 4:
[146:54] Get it polished and buffed and stuff. My mom goes, you shouldn't make David put some diamonds on the side. I was like, oh yeah, I'll tell him to get right on that.

Speaker 2:
[147:02] Right.

Speaker 1:
[147:05] To do list, diamonds.

Speaker 4:
[147:06] I don't know if I want that though. I like just the simplicity of just the gems though.

Speaker 1:
[147:11] I like it like that too. I think it's really nice.

Speaker 4:
[147:14] But I'm really happy to have my grandma's ring because I do remember her.

Speaker 1:
[147:18] It's really sweet.

Speaker 4:
[147:19] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[147:20] That's a happier note.

Speaker 4:
[147:21] It is. It's a little big. Maybe I should wear it on this finger.

Speaker 1:
[147:25] Maybe I should go eat more desserts at Disney.

Speaker 2:
[147:29] More Dole Whip.

Speaker 1:
[147:32] Bring on the Dole Whip. I have a ring to fit.

Speaker 4:
[147:35] Oh my gosh. Yeah. I think my cousin is getting one of her wedding sets. My mom's like, I don't want to just keep this stuff. I want all of you girls to have these things. Well, you can wear them. Niece is just keeping it. We called my aunt Niece and I know that's confusing. Her name is Denise.

Speaker 1:
[147:55] Oh, that makes sense.

Speaker 4:
[147:56] Yeah. Okay. I was like, my aunt Niece and people are, what? I was really worried about talking about this stuff on Tuesday. I hadn't been very emotional at all. Tuesday and Wednesday, the floodgates were open. We were watching those videos on Tuesday. We were watching the Christmas and as soon as it showed my cousin, who passed away a couple of years ago, he was, I think like nine, maybe nine or 10 sitting there playing the piano. I was like, that's it. I'm done. I started crying and then my aunt came on the screen. It was Christmas morning at my grandpa's house. It was my grandpa, my great-grandparents and my aunt. I was like, they are all gone, all of them. Me, I look over Savannah's balling, I'm balling. I was like, oh my gosh, we're throwing the toilet paper back and forth. I was like, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1:
[148:57] It's good to have a cry.

Speaker 4:
[149:00] We sure did. Then my mom goes, she goes, yeah, pretty soon you'll be the next generation for Christmas.

Speaker 1:
[149:08] I thought she was going to say, pretty soon you'll be dead too.

Speaker 4:
[149:10] No, but she was pretty much saying, pretty soon you guys will be it, I'll be gone. Everyone was like, what the heck?

Speaker 1:
[149:17] Moms do that. My mom does that.

Speaker 2:
[149:19] My gosh.

Speaker 4:
[149:20] Then I asked my mom, I was like, can you watch the kids in June because I'm going to meet that listener at Disneyland, by the way.

Speaker 1:
[149:28] Fun.

Speaker 2:
[149:29] I know.

Speaker 4:
[149:30] She goes, if I'm still alive.

Speaker 2:
[149:34] Don't morbid. Good Lord.

Speaker 1:
[149:36] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[149:38] She says it all the time.

Speaker 1:
[149:40] I've tell her, you don't get to die to get out of babysitting, so you better be.

Speaker 4:
[149:47] She says it all the time.

Speaker 2:
[149:48] Yeah. Death is not an excuse.

Speaker 1:
[149:51] No, it's not an excuse.

Speaker 2:
[149:53] That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoy what you've heard, don't forget to follow us on social media. We're on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr at The SeFilesPod. You can also contact us on our website at thesefilespod.com or email us directly at sefilespodcast.gmail.com. Thank you so much again for listening, and we hope to catch you next time for another episode of The Strike & Ellacott Files.