‘Task’ Is Everything We Want It to Be. Plus, the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Chris and Andy talk about some of the winners from the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Saturday and what they predict for the main awards show coming up on Sunday (8:56). Then they go deep on the premiere of the new HBO crime show ‘Task.’ They talk about the similarities to and differences from Brad Ingelsby’s first Philly-set crime show, ‘Mare of Easttown’ (16:44), and the outstanding performances from Mark Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey, and Emilia Jones (41:43). Hosts: Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald Producers: Kaya McMullen and Kai Grady Video Producer: Jon Jones Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  I'm pro-football Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins, and I lived for a long time with something I did not know the name of: major depressive disorder. I carried sadness and anger because I thought I could handle it alone, but I couldn't. Now I want to make sure others know that that support is out there. If you're experiencing similar symptoms, talk to a healthcare professional. Visit MDDAllies.com to watch my story.

• 0:25Speaker 01

  Paid partnership with Johnson & Johnson. Brian Dawkins has not prescribed Caplyta lumateperone.

• 0:37Speaker 02

  I needed more from my antidepressant, so my doctor added Caplyta lumateperone, proven to provide greater relief from depression symptoms than an antidepressant alone, building on my progress without starting over. Caplyta is for adults with major depressive disorder when used with an antidepressant and is available by prescription only. Individual results may vary. In clinical trials, weight gain was not common.

• 0:57Speaker 01

  Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Caplyta is not approved for dementia-related psychosis. Call your doctor about new or sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts right away. Antidepressants may increase these risks. Report fever, confusion, stiff muscles, which may be life-threatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent. High cholesterol and weight gain may occur, as can high blood sugar, which may be fatal. Monitoring is recommended. Common side effects are sleepiness, dizziness, nausea, dry mouth, feeling tired, and diarrhea. These aren't all the side effects.

• 1:24Speaker 02

  Ask your doctor about Caplyta. Learn more at Caplyta.com or call 888-252-4824.

• 1:30Speaker 03

  For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters.

• 1:37Speaker 03

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• 2:17Speaker 03

  a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tremfya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more, or visit tremfyaradio.com.

• 2:30Speaker 04

  I need sports to have to clear the room. Stand up and walk now.

• 2:36Chris Ryan?

  Hello, and welcome to The Watch. My name is Chris Ryan. I am an editor at theringer.com. And joining me in the studio, he's a re-drummond recipe, it's Andy Greenwald.

• 2:50Andy Greenwald?

  I love marshmallows.

• 2:51Chris Ryan?

  It's cheese.

• 2:53Andy Greenwald?

  Oh.

• 2:53Chris Ryan?

  Andy, we are going to be talking about the new HBO show Task.

• 2:56Andy Greenwald?

  The show we were born to talk about.

• 2:59Chris Ryan?

  The show where if you cut my arm open, Task would spill out.

• 3:02Andy Greenwald?

  She has future episodes.

• 3:03Chris Ryan?

  It's set in Delco, in, outside of Philadelphia. It stars Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey. It is a crime show. It's what we do the podcast for, days like this. But first, 15 minutes of just uninterrupted banter.

• 3:18Andy Greenwald?

  First, we have to welcome back our number one.

• 3:21Chris Ryan?

  Yep.

• 3:21Andy Greenwald?

  Kaya.

• 3:22Speaker 07

  Hello, I'm back.

• 3:23Andy Greenwald?

  We missed you. You had a beautiful vacation.

• 3:26Speaker 07

  Yeah, did you guys know that Italy is like incredible?

• 3:29Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, but first of all, we know it. Chris and I don't, what's the word, take vacations.

• 3:34Chris Ryan?

  I do.

• 3:34Andy Greenwald?

  But we, okay, I don't take vacations, but I like to watch other people's vacations. And I just want to commend you, Kaya, for doing it right. Everyone, anyone apparently, can just go to southern Italy and get on a boat. You went northern Italy, beautiful vistas, hiking, crisp Alpine wines. It looked amazing.

• 3:52Speaker 07

  It was incredible. I had some incredible local deer goulash.

• 3:56Chris Ryan?

  Ooh.

• 3:56Andy Greenwald?

  You really don't want this, like, deer goulash that's traveled.

• 4:00Chris Ryan?

  No, I don't.

• 4:01Andy Greenwald?

  You know what I mean?

• 4:02Chris Ryan?

  This deer is from Missouri.

• 4:04Andy Greenwald?

  This is, no, no, no, no, no.

• 4:06Speaker 07

  Yeah, I had some, one of the great things about hiking in Italy, and I think also throughout a lot of Europe, is that they have these things called refugios. And I also just really like the European mentality of like putting a bar absolutely everywhere you can.

• 4:20Chris Ryan?

  And it's a lot of honor bar stuff.

• 4:22Speaker 07

  Yes.

• 4:23Chris Ryan?

  In Europe.

• 4:23Speaker 07

  Yes.

• 4:24Andy Greenwald?

  And are you honorable?

• 4:25Speaker 07

  Um, so you can hike for five miles or so and then take a little rest at a gorgeous mountain hut and have some delicious food and a local beer. And I think America should put that into practice.

• 4:39Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 4:40Andy Greenwald?

  I think it would go great. We are just a country that knows how to respect limits and ourselves and each other.

• 4:44Chris Ryan?

  What if we brought USAID back, but it was just for refugios?

• 4:47Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, but the D stood for draft.

• 4:48Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. For fries cold.

• 4:51Andy Greenwald?

  Kaya, is it appropriate to congratulate you on your other vacation news as well?

• 4:55Speaker 07

  Yes, which I'm really glad that I'm announcing on this podcast before.

• 4:59Chris Ryan?

  And not Amy Poehler.

• 5:01Speaker 07

  Before I've, you know, posted on Instagram or anything, but yes, I did get engaged.

• 5:07Andy Greenwald?

  We're gonna have a watch wedding. Yay. Kaya, congratulations.

• 5:11Speaker 07

  Thank you very much. I'm very excited.

• 5:13Chris Ryan?

  Congrats, Kaya.

• 5:14Andy Greenwald?

  Kaya, have you thought?

• 5:15Chris Ryan?

  Congrats to you, man.

• 5:17Andy Greenwald?

  Me?

• 5:17Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 5:18Andy Greenwald?

  So what did I do?

• 5:19Chris Ryan?

  Just like you're a very warm and loving person.

• 5:21Andy Greenwald?

  I'm so excited about this, but mostly I'm excited about, and you don't need to answer this today, but I am curious about what kind of like marathon, 12 days of Christmas, uh, just grind you're gonna put these bridesmaids on after what they've put you through over the last five or six years.

• 5:36Chris Ryan?

  It's the fucking Revenge of the Sith.

• 5:37Andy Greenwald?

  This is what I'm saying. No one, as far as I can tell, has ever been a better wedding attendee than you, Kaya.

• 5:45Speaker 07

  Yeah, I'm also, I'm up on deck to be a bridesmaid, uh, at least once more in the next.

• 5:50Chris Ryan?

  But you have, you could do the bachelor, I mean, you could go to Tahiti for your bachelorette and they would have to pay.

• 5:56Andy Greenwald?

  They would have to pay all of it. Like, think big is what we're saying.

• 6:01Speaker 07

  Yeah, you know, the, the world, the sky is my limit right now, so we'll see.

• 6:06Andy Greenwald?

  Is this a fun bit where like you, instead of like, I don't know, like a wedding planner, you just ask these two late 40s guys that you work with to just really weigh in on all the important issues? Like, I'm just, I'm just pitching it.

• 6:16Chris Ryan?

  Uh, how are you, man?

• 6:17Andy Greenwald?

  I won't go on vacation, so I am definitely available. Okay, uh, I'm great, thanks. How are you? How's your weekend?

• 6:23Chris Ryan?

  It was good.

• 6:24Andy Greenwald?

  We learned something, I learned something about you that I didn't know recently, um, because, you know, football's back.

• 6:29Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 6:29Andy Greenwald?

  And we watched football together. It was very nice. Um, I don't think I really understood that you, in order To engage emotionally with a sporting event, instantly pick someone to be your person.

• 6:40Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, to root for.

• 6:41Andy Greenwald?

  Always.

• 6:43Chris Ryan?

  All day on red zone. I'm like, I don't gamble.

• 6:46Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 6:46Chris Ryan?

  But I emotionally gamble.

• 6:47Andy Greenwald?

  So I kinda did that yesterday. I was experimenting with the four box a little bit. And then what was weird is because you know, I'm, you just said a nice version of it, but I am emotionally fragile. And so like, within, I don't know, a span of two hours, my beloved Jets lost, like.

• 7:05Chris Ryan?

  That was so weird.

• 7:06Andy Greenwald?

  All these, all these teams, well, because fuck Aaron Rodgers, honestly. I wanted Sean to be happy. So he would, so he would be nice to us when the Mets come to Philadelphia this week. But like, it was, it was emotionally intense to suddenly like passionately be like, ah, my beautiful Texans or whatever. But you, you just roll with it.

• 7:24Chris Ryan?

  I think that you and I have different definitions of emotional connection. You know what I mean? Like, I think that for me, it's like, when it's over, I forgot it even happened. But you, you're like, this is now ripple affecting, you know, it's rippling across my entire Sunday.

• 7:39Andy Greenwald?

  It's true.

• 7:40Chris Ryan?

  I can't digest my meal now. I'm so heartbroken. CJ Stroud might not be capital H him, you know?

• 7:47Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, it was hard for me. Thank you. Cam Ward's dad was me.

• 7:50Chris Ryan?

  That's, I mean, but sometimes you wind, wind up finding yourself in a corner that you can't fight your way out of. Which is the Amanda Anasimova corner that I found myself in.

• 7:58Andy Greenwald?

  So just a little disclosure. So we had the group chat, when I say we had the group chat over. You and Zach came over to watch the Eagles. It was a weird, super weird night, but we were happy we won. But there was this hour and a half lightning break, which did cause three men in their 40s to suddenly lose the ability to know what to do. Like, both you guys immediately stood up and started pacing.

• 8:19Chris Ryan?

  No, we were both like, well, we're gonna leave.

• 8:21Andy Greenwald?

  Please don't go. Like, my whole Thursday is devoted to this.

• 8:26Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 8:27Andy Greenwald?

  Don't leave me alone. And then you, but then it was very nice. I don't know whether you had eye contact, but you decided to stay.

• 8:32Chris Ryan?

  We watched the US Women's semifinal.

• 8:34Andy Greenwald?

  And then with, and Zach was like, ah, as a longtime tennis fan, it's great to see Naomi back on her bullshit. Like, we're all rooting for her and you were like. Not me. I only see one stars and bars on the screen right now, son. And you suddenly became the number one Ansemova fan in the world.

• 8:54Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. I mean, then she gets smoked on Saturday.

• 8:57Andy Greenwald?

  And then you just quietly back away? You just walk away like it never happened?

• 9:01Chris Ryan?

  I mean, it's, it's, it's the discipline, as, as Robert De Niro said in Heat, you know?

• 9:06Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, that's incredible. That's who you get it from. My last thing was, and I, Kai, please feel free to weigh in on this as well, but like, I found what I believe to be the last pure corner of the internet this weekend.

• 9:19Chris Ryan?

  Yeah? What's that?

• 9:20Andy Greenwald?

  It is the Reddit group devoted to sparkling water. There are 40,000 members.

• 9:25Chris Ryan?

  And you're really pushing it, man.

• 9:26Andy Greenwald?

  No, no, listen. Listen, we're gonna talk about task. It's great. It's on HBO.

• 9:30Chris Ryan?

  It's just like, I'm, I'm all for this, but sometimes I'm like, we, we are pushing into the realms of the absurd.

• 9:36Andy Greenwald?

  Do you think, I guess my question is, do you think, do you think that a beautiful pocket of peace can still exist? Cause I spent a little time in it and people were like-

• 9:46Chris Ryan?

  No, because now that you've said it, honestly, like a hundred new dudes are gonna go to the seltzer Reddit.

• 9:52Andy Greenwald?

  Fuck your tariffs.

• 9:52Chris Ryan?

  I'd be like, I can't believe you guys don't acknowledge this is the best seltzer.

• 9:57Andy Greenwald?

  No, but what's incredible about it is someone was just like, oh, I've never had Waterloo because it's, because I don't live that way. And someone was like, what do you mean by that? And the person wrote, it's $3.99 more than Polar. And they were like, thank you. And then someone else was like, Rambler is amazing. I love the lime and berry flavor. And someone responded, thank you. I helped develop that flavor during COVID from my friends who founded the company. Fun tip, there's a bit of mint essence in it, so you can make it at home. And they were like, that sounds wonderful. And the guy was like, no problem. Enjoy. It was so, so pure.

• 10:30Chris Ryan?

  I imagine you sitting at a table where like a tucked in button down scrolling and being like-

• 10:37Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, I was actually at a children's playground with no children doing that on a laptop. It was really cool. It was really cool. What's amazing is I was like, Kaya, feel free to weigh in on this. And she's just completely into wedding planning over there. She's fine.

• 10:51Chris Ryan?

  She's like, how much would it cost to go to the moon for your bachelorette?

• 10:55Andy Greenwald?

  All right, fine.

• 10:55Chris Ryan?

  SpaceX rentals.

• 10:57Andy Greenwald?

  I had a nice weekend thanks to this. So, okay, whatever. We could talk about a great TV show now if you want.

• 11:02Chris Ryan?

  Uh, the watch at spotify.com, the watch pod underscore on Instagram, the Ringer TV YouTube channel, and you can also watch us and listen to us on Spotify after eight minutes.

• 11:12Andy Greenwald?

  You watch, we're gonna get an email this week being like, hi, I'm the guy that invents flavors for Rambler sparkling water. Longtime listener. You wait.

• 11:20Chris Ryan?

  And then I'm gonna write him back as you and be like, I don't live that way.

• 11:22Andy Greenwald?

  I can't live your life. Never could be me.

• 11:25Chris Ryan?

  Um, Greenwald, do you want to talk at all about the Creative Arts Emmys before we get into task? Just because.

• 11:31Andy Greenwald?

  You love the Creative Arts Emmys.

• 11:32Chris Ryan?

  Uh, I didn't know these existed. I didn't, I didn't know we had spillover awards.

• 11:37Andy Greenwald?

  You didn't?

• 11:37Chris Ryan?

  Uh-uh.

• 11:38Andy Greenwald?

  You don't remember, like, there's always in the award shows the moment where they're like, they invite someone who's like mid, mid-list celeb.

• 11:43Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, but I always thought that was like.

• 11:44Andy Greenwald?

  I had the pleasure of giving away the edited awards.

• 11:46Chris Ryan?

  The guy who pulled the dolly on Andor. Yeah, but I, these are like pretty significant categories we had. These will be aired on Hulu on Saturday. I think the actual Emmys are on Sunday, correct?

• 11:58Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, hosted by my guy Nate Bargatze.

• 12:01Chris Ryan?

  Your boy.

• 12:02Andy Greenwald?

  Listen, I had a great weekend. I watched sports, I listened to Nate Bargatze comedy, and I read content about sparkling water. I'm doing fine. I think America's going, okay, okay.

• 12:14Chris Ryan?

  You definitely seem like you're doing fine.

• 12:16Andy Greenwald?

  I'm doing great.

• 12:18Chris Ryan?

  Um, I, I look at these, I look at these awards and what I'm seeing is, and I guess if you don't want the Saturday night Hulu broadcast spoiled for you, you might want to skip ahead to task. I look at these awards and I see something that immediately leaps out at me, which is a huge groundswell of, uh, inter-town love, inter-Hollywood love for the Apple series The Studio.

• 12:44Andy Greenwald?

  Who would have thought of coming? That the industry would fall in love with itself?

• 12:48Chris Ryan?

  I am surprised, I mean, like, you know, it's not like Robert Altman's The Player was celebrated, but I think that the ultimate essence of the studio is sort of something that Hollywood probably would like, love to believe about itself now, that even though we're under these trying circumstances and maybe not doing the kinds of work, the kind of work we want to be doing, like, there's still something magic. The funny thing about it is it is about movies. And this is like for the TV.

• 13:15Andy Greenwald?

  That's a great call. That's also one, that's another reason why I think it is a little bit guilt-free for the Television Academy to celebrate it, right? Because it's like, well, we are where all the good writing and acting went in movies, right? We are where the great, the true stories are told. Also, to your point, I think The Player was a touch more scabrous, if I may, in the studio, which presents a generally positive, if bumbling, if still somehow optimistic view towards this town. I thought this was an interesting night. Well, only, there was a wide breadth of winners from a bunch of different shows and categories. I think the main takeaway for the big show next week,

• 13:59Andy Greenwald?

  the narratives are pretty set, I think, which is the comedy amenities are the studios to lose. I think the studio cleaned up last night. I think it's going to do extremely well next week and probably win best comedy. And the drama stuff is a rock fight between The Pit and Severance.

• 14:16Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 14:17Andy Greenwald?

  I'm not here to pick sides. I thought it was awesome that Sean Hattasie, Hattosie.

• 14:22Chris Ryan?

  I, you know what?

• 14:22Andy Greenwald?

  We got it right once, and then now we're, it's just one of those things we'll never know how to do it, right?

• 14:26Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, it's basically the, the sort of, like, the Mariana Rivera of The Pit. The guy comes in and closes it.

• 14:34Andy Greenwald?

  Yes.

• 14:35Chris Ryan?

  Sean Hattasie.

• 14:36Andy Greenwald?

  He won for guest actor, although I think he's up to main cast for season two. But the great Mary Weaver won for guest acting in Severance. Totally agree with that.

• 14:46Chris Ryan?

  Yep.

• 14:46Andy Greenwald?

  Loved her scenes. Elevated everything she was in. And Severance won other things that it's very hard to argue with, like cinematography. Like, that's a beautiful, beautifully shot show.

• 14:55Chris Ryan?

  Jessica Gagne? Is that the cinematographer?

• 14:57Andy Greenwald?

  Jessica Gagne, yeah, who also directs on the show. I think the Pee Wee Herman documentary, which we didn't ever discuss, I don't think you watched it, was excellent, that one.

• 15:05Chris Ryan?

  You know what I don't think we even ever discussed either is the news that Ben Stiller would not be directing on season three of Severance.

• 15:11Andy Greenwald?

  We mentioned it, I think, during one of the classic Kai and Andy shows.

• 15:14Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, one of you guys just batting around headlines.

• 15:16Andy Greenwald?

  But I think we both had a little skeptical, okay, we'll see. I think he said that before.

• 15:21Chris Ryan?

  Oh, has he?

• 15:22Andy Greenwald?

  But, you know, I saw him, we saw him in the crowd at the US Open, and he did not look like he was directing season three, so maybe.

• 15:28Chris Ryan?

  Maybe all of the US Open was an episode of Severance and Amanda Anasimova actually won it.

• 15:33Andy Greenwald?

  What? That's so good. I thought it was cool that, like, look, Andor won a bunch of awards. Adolescence won casting, which, I mean, yes.

• 15:47Chris Ryan?

  Sure.

• 15:48Andy Greenwald?

  That is a correct choice to win that. The only thing, Righteous Gemstones won for stunt coordination, I guess for some, like, nude fighting.

• 15:57Chris Ryan?

  Sure.

• 15:58Andy Greenwald?

  But I was kind of bummed, like, Studio One for costuming, which it deserves, those suits are awesome, and everybody has a real visually distinct identity on the show, kind of wanted Righteous Gemstones to win for costumes, because.

• 16:08Chris Ryan?

  For Baby Billy?

• 16:09Andy Greenwald?

  Well, for all of them. But, you know, generally, this was a nice night to celebrate, like, the editors and the people who don't usually get the celebrations, although, I guess we'll celebrate them on Hulu in a week.

• 16:21Chris Ryan?

  I don't really have a lot of, the only thing I would say about the Creative Arts Emmys is that they have a lot of categories.

• 16:28Andy Greenwald?

  They do.

• 16:29Chris Ryan?

  And that those categories are divided up so that it's almost hard not to win an Emmy if you're not, no, because, like, they break things down into, like, fantasy series, and I'm like, okay, well.

• 16:40Andy Greenwald?

  Here's a category: outstanding period or fantasy sci-fi makeup, non-prosthetic division. House of the Dragon, congratulations. Interestingly, House of the Dragon was up against Monsters, but not like Monsters, the, like, Godzilla universe, Monsters, the Lionel and Eric Menendez universe, because that's period.

• 16:59Chris Ryan?

  Oh.

• 17:00Andy Greenwald?

  But so the dragons and the monsters, none of them were wearing like big fake penguin noses. Cause that one for prosthetics.

• 17:08Chris Ryan?

  Right, the penguin did. Yeah.

• 17:10Andy Greenwald?

  This is, this is good context. So, oh, so sparkling water is bad for me being like prosthetics on dragons. That's good?

• 17:17Chris Ryan?

  Um, it will be interesting to see how much the actual Sunday night Emmys wind up mirroring the voting tendencies that we saw displayed on the creative arts. That was my main takeaway.

• 17:27Andy Greenwald?

  Do you feel that Frasier?

• 17:29Chris Ryan?

  Big night for the studio coming, I imagine.

• 17:31Andy Greenwald?

  Do you feel like the reboot of Frasier's win for outstanding picture editing in a multi-camera comedy series is further proof that that show was ended too soon?

• 17:40Chris Ryan?

  What I would like to know who won that, like if there's an individual and if they like secretly are on like their 51st straight win for that. Like, is there a?

• 17:49Andy Greenwald?

  Like, oh, do you think that he continued to win this award?

• 17:51Chris Ryan?

  Is there a Tom Brady of in pictures editing?

• 17:53Andy Greenwald?

  But like even when Frasier was off air?

• 17:55Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, just like he's been James Burrows' guy since like 82 and he's just the goat.

• 18:00Andy Greenwald?

  Yes. I mean, probably. Now I'm Googling, but probably. I can't call it up fast enough, but so I guess there's no way to ever know. Should we get a stat boy?

• 18:10Chris Ryan?

  Are you on dial up? Like, why can't, why isn't it coming up fast enough?

• 18:14Andy Greenwald?

  Well, cause like-

• 18:14Chris Ryan?

  Are you looking for historically? I see what you're saying.

• 18:17Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, that's what I'm doing.

• 18:18Chris Ryan?

  Uh, anyway, can't wait. Emmy is always my favorite night of the year. Uh, no.

• 18:24Andy Greenwald?

  You're gonna have to watch Nate Bargatze for two hours.

• 18:26Chris Ryan?

  Uh, what's Sunday night football next week?

• 18:29Andy Greenwald?

  Uh, I don't know.

• 18:31Chris Ryan?

  I can't remember where they were going.

• 18:32Andy Greenwald?

  Again, no way to find out.

• 18:34Speaker 07

  That was Russell Griffin who won that Frasier.

• 18:36Chris Ryan?

  Russell Griffin. Let's see how many, see how many Emmys my guy has.

• 18:40Andy Greenwald?

  Okay.

• 18:41Chris Ryan?

  I'm going over, under, I'm going over three.

• 18:44Andy Greenwald?

  Here he is winning. It's a beautiful picture of him. I don't know.

• 18:48Chris Ryan?

  Okay.

• 18:49Andy Greenwald?

  Still don't know. Nope, he won last year.

• 18:52Chris Ryan?

  I, I had a feeling.

• 18:54Andy Greenwald?

  For How I Met Your Father.

• 18:55Chris Ryan?

  Oh, he must be the guy.

• 18:57Andy Greenwald?

  He's the guy. He's the guy. That's awesome.

• 19:01Chris Ryan?

  Um.

• 19:01Andy Greenwald?

  What a cool career. Just be like, you need this multi-camera comedy edited? Call Russ. Big Russ.

• 19:07Chris Ryan?

  Let's talk about Task, which premiered last night. It's a seven-episode.

• 19:11Andy Greenwald?

  He's only won twice, though.

• 19:12Chris Ryan?

  Oh, really?

• 19:12Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 19:13Chris Ryan?

  Okay.

• 19:13Andy Greenwald?

  Sorry.

• 19:24Speaker 08

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• 19:33Speaker 08

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• 19:45Speaker 09

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• 20:14Speaker 10

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• 20:44Speaker 09

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• 21:27Chris Ryan?

  Task, which premiered last night on HBO. It's a seven-episode limited series from Brad Ingelsby, who is the creator and writer of Mayor of Easttown.

• 21:36Andy Greenwald?

  I think we need to do one just PSA for our listeners, who I assume do follow us in terms of our viewing and our watching habits. Don't be like me. If you haven't watched Task yet, be sure to open up HBO Max and change audio settings away from Polish.

• 21:53Chris Ryan?

  Yes, I had the same problem.

• 21:55Andy Greenwald?

  Because if you've been watching Eastern Gate.

• 21:57Chris Ryan?

  I have a ghost in the machine where I have watched several things on HBO Max since Eastern Gate, but every once in a while, they just switch back to sweet, sweet Polish.

• 22:07Andy Greenwald?

  And it hits different.

• 22:09Chris Ryan?

  It really hits different.

• 22:10Andy Greenwald?

  When it's just like one Polish guy doing all the parts in Task.

• 22:13Chris Ryan?

  It's also stripped of its Delco accents.

• 22:16Andy Greenwald?

  It is.

• 22:17Chris Ryan?

  So it's pretty funny.

• 22:18Andy Greenwald?

  It is. So it did make me more attuned to the plight of the Polish viewers of Task, who are really missing out a lot of the nuance, but anyway.

• 22:28Chris Ryan?

  The first episode is called Crossings. It was written by Brad Ingelsby. It's directed by Jeremiah Zagar, who did Hustle.

• 22:35Andy Greenwald?

  And is also from Philly.

• 22:36Chris Ryan?

  And is from Philly. The show stars Mark Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey, Amelia Jones, who you might remember from Coda.

• 22:45Andy Greenwald?

  If you remember from Coda, you are not prepared for her in this.

• 22:48Chris Ryan?

  Raul Castillo.

• 22:49Andy Greenwald?

  From Looking.

• 22:50Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, from Looking. And then Fabian Frankel and Alison Oliver and Thuso Ambadu, who's very good in this. Like, we're going to talk a lot about the performances. I have, like, I don't really know if people need a recap recap of like the plot, but broadly speaking, Ruffalo plays this guy named Tom Brandis, who's an FBI agent who's been kind of put out to pasture.

• 23:12Andy Greenwald?

  For personal reasons.

• 23:13Chris Ryan?

  For personal reasons. Yet to be totally understood family tragedy, although you can kind of get little signs there. He has two kids that we see. One is in prison. The other wants little to do with him.

• 23:25Andy Greenwald?

  And the third one is the source of the...

• 23:28Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 23:30Chris Ryan?

  You know, and the wife is not there.

• 23:33Andy Greenwald?

  In the wind.

• 23:33Chris Ryan?

  In the wind.

• 23:34Andy Greenwald?

  She's filming another season of The Killing.

• 23:35Chris Ryan?

  He's left, uh, he was a former priest and he left the church for a life of law enforcement and spent most of his time drinking heavily out of a Phillies commemorative cup and bird watching.

• 23:47Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 23:48Chris Ryan?

  And then Kathleen McGinty, a cop, I assume only because that shot of the building is Philly Police Headquarters, but maybe she is, I, I, I know she refers to special agent in charge, so I suppose she's an FBI agent that's like the building.

• 24:03Andy Greenwald?

  I think that's the case.

• 24:04Chris Ryan?

  Gives him the assignment to run a task force of local, state and federal law enforcement to find out who is robbing the drug stash houses of a Montgomery County biker gang called The Dark Hearts.

• 24:14Andy Greenwald?

  Hell, yeah.

• 24:15Chris Ryan?

  McGinty wants Tom to find out who is doing this and stop them before a gang war breaks up on the other side.

• 24:21Andy Greenwald?

  Montgomery, Monco gang war. Hello.

• 24:23Chris Ryan?

  On the other side of that heat coin, Robbie is a sanitation worker who moonlights by hitting stash houses in Delaware County. He lives with some combination of his and his late brother's children in his late brother's home.

• 24:38Andy Greenwald?

  It's a nice home.

• 24:38Chris Ryan?

  Robbie's niece Maeve, who's played by Amelia Jones, functioning as like the beleaguered matriarch in his.

• 24:44Andy Greenwald?

  At age 20.

• 24:45Chris Ryan?

  At age 21.

• 24:46Andy Greenwald?

  As she reminds him, 21.

• 24:47Chris Ryan?

  Robbie is longing for human connection. But what he has is a co-conspirator named Cliff, played by Raul Castillo, a guy named Peaches, who might as well have Live Forever tattooed on his neck.

• 24:57Andy Greenwald?

  I mean.

• 24:58Chris Ryan?

  And he knows for where drugs and money are hidden. Tom assembles his team, which includes a state trooper named Lizzie, a young cop named Aleah, and a county detective named Anthony, and they move into a repossessed drug house, which looks honestly, there's a lot of, there's a lot of life in that house.

• 25:15Andy Greenwald?

  Like I needed more reminders of the real estate mistake we're making constantly living out here.

• 25:19Chris Ryan?

  At the end of the episode, after a robbery goes wrong for Robbie's crew, Peaches gets killed, as do several people living or visiting the drug house who are associated with The Dark Hearts.

• 25:27Andy Greenwald?

  Do you think they were Airbnb guests? I mean, visiting.

• 25:30Chris Ryan?

  Just checking out, just checking out the bones.

• 25:33Andy Greenwald?

  Just signing the guestbook.

• 25:34Chris Ryan?

  Robbie and Cliff wind up leaving with a young kid named Sam and bring him back to Robbie's, and that is the first episode of Task.

• 25:40Andy Greenwald?

  Okay.

• 25:42Chris Ryan?

  Hit me.

• 25:43Andy Greenwald?

  This show is so sick. I loved it.

• 25:46Chris Ryan?

  Was there any universe in which you and I would not like this show?

• 25:51Andy Greenwald?

  If there was, the universe dissipated the minute the show began with a KYW news break. And then, and then Ruffalo, who to his credit is not doing an accent, fine. But he immediately hits for the cycle in one of his first scenes when he mentions Scrapple, shopping at Acme and getting a water ice. Within like one burst. And then I was like, this show is so Philly-coded. And clear that things are going to get bad for him, that the first bird he sees is a blue jay. That might as well have Joe Carter tattooed across the front of it.

• 26:27Chris Ryan?

  And just Mitch Williams' ghost.

• 26:29Andy Greenwald?

  I know. So, no, there was no way we weren't personally going to be responding very passionately to the show when like, when Pelphrey emerges from the trap house with a child wrapped in an Eagles blanket. I was like, these are my own hopes and dreams, Robbie. Like, yeah.

• 26:49Chris Ryan?

  That I may have a son and that he may come to me in an Eagles blanket.

• 26:53Andy Greenwald?

  One day I might have a child who likes football. Nope. But that, yeah, so we were on board. But I think, big picture, before we delve into the specifics, it is worth saying that Inglesby is a working-class bard of some sort. Like, he, his reference points are so on point, both like in terms of plot structure and plot scaffolding. And like, here are the pieces necessary for a affecting crime epic. Heat was mentioned, I think, when he pitched it. It's here in this, in this, on the screen this many years later. But that, the details that motivate him aren't just the ones that motivate us. Like, oh, I used to shop at Acme too. It's the art direction and set dressing of Robbie's

• 27:37Andy Greenwald?

  house's kitchen. Just the type of ice cream in the fridge, what's in the sink, what the cookware, all the details are so, so, so specific that I feel instantly. At home, not literally because I'm from Montgomery County, but because this show is being crafted by people who care about the small stuff that makes the big stuff work.

• 27:57Chris Ryan?

  This is what HBO does best, I think, historically, of these elevated crime shows. I think, you know, there's, they've, they've made seminal comedies, uh, great original films, huge documentaries, like, there's lots of things HBO does well, and we probably broadly just describe, you know, the, maybe not the invention of, but the perfection of prestige television. For them, they've now delved into, uh, huge sword and sandal, or sword and shield epics.

• 28:26Andy Greenwald?

  Non prosthetic division.

• 28:27Chris Ryan?

  Non prosthetic division and, and sci-fi and all these things, but I think at the end of the day, they know how to take a piece of pulp and put it up on the top shelf. And so that goes back to Oz and Sopranos and The Wire, and True Detective, and The Night Of, and Mayor, and We Own This City, like, they work with really, really, really good writers and creators on this stuff, and they have the patience and the touch to kind of bring it to life, and they cast really, really, really well, and they will pay to go into the streets of Baltimore, or go into the streets of Delaware and Montgomery County. So, it feels real, and the thing I thought was coolest for me watching this is Inglesby is gonna be balancing

• 29:13Chris Ryan?

  the crime and the criminals and the cops, like, it's, the first part is, you know, I think in some series, like, say True Detective, you get in, like, really immersed in, like, trying to figure out alongside the detectives what's going on. In this show, we kind of know what's going on. I'm sure there'll be some wrinkles, there'll be some, some hooks. I haven't watched too far ahead, uh, but, you know, like, I think that this is more gonna be a character study than it is gonna be a mystery. And, the thing that really was interesting to me is, you mentioned Heat.

• 29:47Chris Ryan?

  And a lot of movies like, or stories about guys like this, present the two main characters as samurais. You know, untouched by-

• 29:57Andy Greenwald?

  There's a Japanese word for that. Should I say it?

• 30:00Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 30:00Andy Greenwald?

  They're ronin.

• 30:01Chris Ryan?

  They're walled off from the world, you know, and they operate where they're just like, the only thing I really connect with is the work.

• 30:09Andy Greenwald?

  It's like you as a sports fan.

• 30:10Chris Ryan?

  And I think that there will probably be some stuff about that, but what struck me is that the two main characters, Robbie and Tom, are like, I'm, I'm broken, but I'm, I'm longing for something. I'm longing for something, whether it's a connection with God, whether it's a connection with another, a partner, whether it's, uh, like to rebuild my family. It's the, the desires of the characters are not to achieve professional perfection-

• 30:37Andy Greenwald?

  Yes.

• 30:38Chris Ryan?

  -but to heal their personal wounds. And I thought that that was really, really well done in the show.

• 30:45Andy Greenwald?

  These are movie archetypes, not only in a fallen world, but in a TV world. And I mean that in a very specific and positive way. Like, you can make people samurai in a movie when there's one task to accomplish and one, you know, motivating, uh, event that causes momentum that leads to a tremendous finale. All the things that bring us actually through our lives, all the connections we make, or the regrets we have, or the holes where certain things should have been, those accrue around all of us at any point in our lives. And, but film can't always pay them enough real estate, or enough lip service, or enough time. These stories that, that Brad seems able to do so well, work so, so much better on

• 31:28Andy Greenwald?

  television because of the richness and the depth of field that he has to play with. Like, we joked a week ago about how this show probably wasn't gonna be, uh, a laugh riot, right? And, but surprisingly, it is kind of funny at times. But what I found really, really amazing was that it wasn't like, you know, trauma porn. It's just pre-devastating, because we see people who are tenuously holding on to what they have, need a little bit more, and we are already pre-aware of how much they're gonna lose.

• 31:52Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 31:52Andy Greenwald?

  And that kind of deep- Like midlife melancholy. Shout out you and me. Suffuses into every frame of it, you know?

• 32:03Chris Ryan?

  Shout out you and me.

• 32:04Andy Greenwald?

  It's going great.

• 32:08Andy Greenwald?

  That I'm here for.

• 32:09Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 32:09Andy Greenwald?

  I don't expect this to be celebratory, you know? But I am here for the fact that from the beginning, the show foregrounds the emotional journey and the precarity of these characters as we meet them.

• 32:20Chris Ryan?

  You think about that scene early in the episode when Robbie and Cliff are having their lunch break. They're sanitation workers who are kind of able to observe these different houses and look in the trash and find like, you know, what they're mixing their drugs with or whatever.

• 32:34Andy Greenwald?

  Robbie's doing that cool apple knife shit.

• 32:36Chris Ryan?

  That's right.

• 32:36Andy Greenwald?

  That cool guys do.

• 32:37Chris Ryan?

  And they're talking about online dating. And even the sort of tone of that conversation is such a window into this guy's character, right? Like what has happened that he's shut himself off? And even the way he's just like, look, I'm different than you. Like, I want to share my life with someone, you know? I need somebody to be the other half of me.

• 32:59Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 33:01Chris Ryan?

  That scene, which could just be like a little bit of character building. And I think this is what Inglesby really, really, really does well is he'll take pieces of character and put it into action. And so I am actually allergic to child endangerment, not because I have like some protective instinct, but because I think it's like usually a very cheap way of

• 33:23Andy Greenwald?

  Yes.

• 33:24Chris Ryan?

  Kind of pulling a lot of heartstrings and often like making it more of a four quadrant show. Because now this guy is like a protector or something. But you really do get the sense by seeing Robbie's home life, by understanding that there's at least one person, if not two people, missing from that house. His partner and his brother. That he has lost things over the course of his life. Don't get the impression that his brother is dead because of like a car accident. You know what I mean? Like, I think it's like probably something, some choices he made over the course of his life.

• 33:58Andy Greenwald?

  They may have been involved, his brother.

• 33:59Chris Ryan?

  And that kind of

• 34:03Chris Ryan?

  All of that, it builds up and builds up. And then when you get to the end and he decides to bring this kid with him. You're like, I get it.

• 34:13Andy Greenwald?

  That's what this guy would do.

• 34:14Chris Ryan?

  This is what, that's what this guy would do.

• 34:15Andy Greenwald?

  There wasn't a moment.

• 34:16Chris Ryan?

  He's got, he's already got like a fucking Peter Pan village in his house. You know what I mean? Like, he's already got like Neverland going like.

• 34:24Andy Greenwald?

  And he's got a hero complex.

• 34:25Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 34:25Andy Greenwald?

  Despite being a villain. I mean, there wasn't a moment, and I appreciated this. I think this was probably a delicate note to play. There was never a moment when I thought the kid's life was in danger in that scene. You know, where in other shows or other times, we've seen, we've seen scenes like this before that has gone very badly.

• 34:41Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 34:41Andy Greenwald?

  For the, for the kids, let alone for our collective humanity as an audience member. Similarly, like they, he, the relate, I want to talk about Maeve in a second, but like, there wasn't a moment when I was like, is Robbie creeping on his niece? Is there something inappropriate here? Like, the show runs right at who he is and his relationship to these people in a way that I felt was non-manipulative. Just appreciating Inglesby for another second because I think that the, that this, the pilot was so artfully constructed and it didn't begin the way most shows begin now, which is with a very heavy-handed note from someone involved in the development process to hit him hard quickly, right?

• 35:19Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 35:20Andy Greenwald?

  Show the big event, show the thing, and then that's often why we get the five weeks earlier.

• 35:24Chris Ryan?

  Nothing I dislike more.

• 35:25Andy Greenwald?

  Me too. And me either. And I loved the juxtaposition of these two guys starting their days in different ways, who would maybe with a similar kind of psychic pain.

• 35:34Chris Ryan?

  And did you notice that that opening sequence of, of their everyday behaviors was scored with this like surging symphonic music? Which I thought was so.

• 35:43Andy Greenwald?

  Shout out Dan Deacon.

• 35:44Chris Ryan?

  But I thought it was so great because it was like, this is the symphony of everyday life.

• 35:49Andy Greenwald?

  Yes.

• 35:49Chris Ryan?

  Like, this is the symphony of like the bullshit you do. You put out pamphlets, you pick up trash, you get your kids ready for school, they don't like you, whatever, you know?

• 35:57Andy Greenwald?

  You stick your face in a sink full of ice water just to get the alcohol puffs away?

• 36:02Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 36:03Andy Greenwald?

  I wanna, I, this is, I, I promise you, this is not a classic digression, but I'm, I'm reading a book that, that Kaia recommended.

• 36:12Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 36:13Andy Greenwald?

  Color Television by, by Dan Z. Senna, which is really good so far. And early on in the book, the main character of the book is talking about her time teaching creative writing in colleges. And there's some advice that's given at one point, and the advice is make it worse. And I was thinking about that when I was thinking about how Brad builds these shows. Make it worse doesn't mean like, stop being so precious with your adverbs. It means make the circumstances worse.

• 36:42Chris Ryan?

  Interesting.

• 36:43Andy Greenwald?

  Don't consider your characters necessarily to be your children or to be fictional avatars of your best interests and your best hopes and dreams. Make the situation, turn the situations to 11, the spinal tap parlance, right? Make things as bad as they can be for them.

• 37:01Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 37:01Andy Greenwald?

  So you see how they fare and also so you aren't hiding behind, honestly, like your own writerly concern or optimism or hopes how you want to be communicated to the world. And he makes it worse.

• 37:14Chris Ryan?

  Sure.

• 37:14Andy Greenwald?

  Like the litany of shit that these guys are dealing with right from jump. Like, just to go through it again with Tom. It seems the implication is that he and his now no longer at home wife have, I believe, adopted children.

• 37:31Chris Ryan?

  In the past, yeah.

• 37:31Andy Greenwald?

  In the past, they had three children. It appears that one child may have ended the life of the other, directly or indirectly.

• 37:38Chris Ryan?

  I think it's just a family tragedy, yeah.

• 37:40Andy Greenwald?

  There's some implication. One is in prison and one is no longer with us.

• 37:44Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 37:45Andy Greenwald?

  He is a fallen priest. He is on desk duty, right? Like, he is listening to the Phillies on the radio, which, you know, for most, a lot, depending what year the show is set, can often be a sort of calamitous experience.

• 37:58Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, it's funny, it's like, there's so many flip phones in this show because of the drug business that I can't tell what year it's set, but it's obviously after COVID and everything, yeah.

• 38:07Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, right, so it's not the year where they were like, Scott Kingery is the future? Because there were some dark times in those years.

• 38:14Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 38:15Andy Greenwald?

  Can you imagine if we're just like, just when Tom like gets this new job and he cleans the house and he turned on the radio and they're like, and Trey Turner is limping.

• 38:21Chris Ryan?

  Chip Kelly looks like he's got it all figured out here.

• 38:24Andy Greenwald?

  God, that's worse. I mean, what if it's now and he listens to like, you know, Trey Turner has a hamstring strain and we're screwed? Or... This is just a pitch for Brad if he's listening. Like, you should definitely have Scott Franski audio being like, "One thing about Zack Wheeler."

• 38:39Chris Ryan?

  He does not have any blood clots.

• 38:41Andy Greenwald?

  His veins are clean.

• 38:43Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 38:44Andy Greenwald?

  Uh, clean is the stat sheet. Anyway, um, yeah, it's just like every single thing is really bad and he doesn't run from that.

• 38:51Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 38:51Andy Greenwald?

  Like, up to and including moments that are played for more comedic effect, like what I was referring to when, uh, Robbie is just, just grooving to his tunes shirtless and pilfering his niece's room for some sweet doobage.

• 39:02Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 39:02Andy Greenwald?

  And, uh, she comes home with a hookup and he's in the closet.

• 39:05Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. Uh, I want to get to the performances in a second because there's not a ton of plot. There's not a lot to unpack in terms of like, what do you think this means?

• 39:14Andy Greenwald?

  Mystery.

• 39:14Chris Ryan?

  What do you think that happens here? The beats, the, the beats are the beats that I laid out earlier. I wanted to talk a little bit about the characters and the performances, but the first character I want to talk about is the setting.

• 39:25Andy Greenwald?

  Happy to do that.

• 39:26Chris Ryan?

  And I, uh, I, I was, I mean, I weirdly was just in Upper Darby, uh, for, for business, but, um, I wanted to know, like, you, you know, you, you're, we're, we grew up in Philadelphia in separate parts of the city.

• 39:43Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 39:43Chris Ryan?

  Uh, I was like closer to the art museum and like in the city.

• 39:46Andy Greenwald?

  And culture.

• 39:47Chris Ryan?

  Uh, that's right. Just the vibrancy of it.

• 39:49Andy Greenwald?

  I was more of a quarry jumper.

• 39:50Chris Ryan?

  Kind of a left bank guy. Yeah. Um, tell me a little bit about Delco Montgomery County and like that area. Cause I think one thing that would be useful for our listeners who are locals, uh, and any locals who are listening to us, I'm not, I spent a lot of time geographically mapping references from this, uh, show.

• 40:11Andy Greenwald?

  Including, uh, East Town makes a quick cameo.

• 40:13Chris Ryan?

  Exactly.

• 40:14Andy Greenwald?

  Shared universe time.

• 40:15Chris Ryan?

  Uh, it's been suggested that it could be a possibility. What is it about this area that you think is a good backdrop for this kind of show?

• 40:24Andy Greenwald?

  Well, particularly, just going off of what was the way that Jeremiah Zagar is shooting the show.

• 40:30Chris Ryan?

  Yep.

• 40:32Andy Greenwald?

  What I immediately responded to and with familiarity, and I'm not from Chester, I'm not from Delco, but like. It's so green.

• 40:39Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 40:40Andy Greenwald?

  And it's so weirdly, especially when shot this way, jarringly pastoral, jarringly rustic almost. You feel the age in a different way than you do in like old city, center city.

• 40:53Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 40:53Andy Greenwald?

  Like their, their houses are a certain age, but it feels-

• 40:57Chris Ryan?

  Well, the townships will have like a strip and it'll be like three dive bars and an Acme. And then you make a right turn and drive up a hill and you were in the woods.

• 41:03Andy Greenwald?

  Yes, and there's a farmhouse or there might be, I mean, I've never, I, I, Shaq, Shaq meme. I was not familiar with Quarry's game. Like, I didn't know that was an option for me.

• 41:12Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, my wife was like, how come you didn't take me here? And I was like-

• 41:15Andy Greenwald?

  Because we didn't want our hearts to explode.

• 41:17Chris Ryan?

  First of all, yeah, it's just like, I didn't know it existed. And second of all, I don't know if you and me and then Robbie and his family would be like jumping-

• 41:24Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, see you Friday. What if you, but also you as a former lifeguard?

• 41:31Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, are you that guy from the rewatchables?

• 41:34Andy Greenwald?

  It's pretty good.

• 41:34Chris Ryan?

  It's pretty fucking funny.

• 41:36Andy Greenwald?

  You were a former lifeguard though. I don't know if you would have approved of the health and safety setup at the quarry.

• 41:40Chris Ryan?

  Uh, I mean, look, there's, there's one guy who found out where the rocks were in that place when he died. Dove in and everybody else is like, you gotta go past that.

• 41:47Andy Greenwald?

  You got a little bit, keep going.

• 41:49Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. You're going to take a run and start.

• 41:52Andy Greenwald?

  I, I thought, I, I just, there's like a, yeah, it was like a haunted rural-

• 41:57Chris Ryan?

  You got it, man. Look, I know this is crazy. I wrote this down in my document, but the quarry, especially the shot in the beginning of the episode where, uh, Robbie's kids all jump on Raok's steel when he comes in the door. It kinda has a little bit of the, the Tree of Life Terrence Malak dusked where it's like, it's all around us. The magic and like, there's all these different POV, like perspective shots where it's like that when he, when he comes in and shot from like almost the kid's height.

• 42:25Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 42:26Chris Ryan?

  And the, how these kids must look at their, the adults in the house as giants and as like these playful giant, like-

• 42:34Andy Greenwald?

  Here's something that matters about this show, and I think it was in Mare too, is that like this show is very, very comfortable speaking in a language visually or in terms of the script with sadness and beauty.

• 42:44Chris Ryan?

  Mm-hmm.

• 42:44Andy Greenwald?

  That both exist. There's a moment when, when Maeve and Robbie have this big confrontation and he's like, I, I didn't know you were so unhappy. He's, shout out Pelfry.

• 42:54Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, we're gonna shout out Pelfry.

• 42:56Andy Greenwald?

  Shout out Saquon.

• 42:58Andy Greenwald?

  She's like, I am very, very unhappy.

• 43:01Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 43:02Andy Greenwald?

  And it is like existentially bone chilling because that is just, there's nothing else to say. There's no cute follow up. There's no like parentheses about if only she could go to art school or whatever. It is an absolute make it worse, rock and a hard place situation.

• 43:16Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, think about what-

• 43:16Andy Greenwald?

  When the guy comes over is like, what do you do? Do you want, you know, she's like, I don't do anything. I don't do anything. And that kind of like ennui and opportunities, lack of opportunity and just sunk into the soil kind of cost of a place that is old and beautiful, but what are we doing with it? Just permeates every frame.

• 43:35Chris Ryan?

  Well, it's also what families can do. It's like families are the places where you find yourself like all of a sudden performing roles that you never assumed, you never imagined you would. And families are also the only arena where you're allowed to be like openly hostile and still live with the person. You know, like where you're allowed to be like, this fucking sucks. Now I'm going into this room.

• 43:54Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 43:54Chris Ryan?

  Instead of like, I guess I have to leave. I've just made a scene, you know? I think that you got, you really put your finger on something. The Ingleby has obviously set two shows here now. And there is something beautiful about it. And then you have to ask like, what's hidden behind the beauty? You know, what is hidden in those woods? What is hidden like these stash houses that are a little bit off the road, you know, or up the hill or whatever? Even the, the nature of like how Robbie's brother's house that they're all living in seems to be like, it's in a, it's like a tree house somewhere, you know, like it's just, there are chickens and, and it's just like this beautifully hidden away spot. But what is the emotional pain that's like behind the walls that's in the, those places? And I think he's very attuned to that.

• 44:39Andy Greenwald?

  And where do the people go who keep leaving? You know, like it's, it's, it's very, there's a very affecting moment when, again, like-

• 44:49Andy Greenwald?

  Make it worse. Like Robbie and Maeve have this very intense, uh, argument. And then when Maeve goes in the house, of course Robbie's daughter's listening.

• 44:56Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, and she's like, don't leave.

• 44:58Andy Greenwald?

  Don't leave.

• 44:58Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 44:58Andy Greenwald?

  And she, we know.

• 45:00Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 45:00Andy Greenwald?

  We know A, that she won't, and B, we know why she won't.

• 45:03Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, this is the stuff Bruce Springsteen songs are made of, you know, like of like, I just gotta get out of here and I can't.

• 45:08Andy Greenwald?

  He looked pretty good at the US Open, though.

• 45:09Chris Ryan?

  Was he there?

• 45:10Andy Greenwald?

  Seems like he got it.

• 45:10Chris Ryan?

  Is he in Severance?

• 45:11Andy Greenwald?

  He might be. He, he definitely looked like he'd had some of that baby goat treatment. He looked like the weight of letting go of-

• 45:18Chris Ryan?

  No, he's, he's, he's getting ready for award season for, for Delivering Me From Nowhere.

• 45:22Andy Greenwald?

  No, but, yes, but also maybe the release of-

• 45:24Chris Ryan?

  Did you see the fucking Electric Nebraska's coming out?

• 45:26Andy Greenwald?

  The release of Electric Nebraska has de-aged him.

• 45:28Chris Ryan?

  It de-aged me?

• 45:29Andy Greenwald?

  It's a burden. I was gonna ask you about that.

• 45:32Chris Ryan?

  I wasn't at Born in the USA. I was like, we're fucking back.

• 45:36Andy Greenwald?

  It was like, there was the shot at the US Open. It was Mindy Kaling and BJ Novak, still, still doing the most fun will there, won't they ever?

• 45:42Chris Ryan?

  Uh huh.

• 45:42Andy Greenwald?

  Um, Bruce Springsteen, I believe his daughter-

• 45:45Chris Ryan?

  Okay.

• 45:45Andy Greenwald?

  Was there, Pink and her motocross-

• 45:47Chris Ryan?

  This is all in a row?

• 45:48Andy Greenwald?

  They were all in a box together. And then professional BFFs, Sting and Shaggy, who were just like-

• 45:55Chris Ryan?

  Homies?

• 45:55Andy Greenwald?

  They like, they were like, doing a big reggae fest at the Man Center in Philadelphia. Right about that, Brad Ingelsby. Which is weird. We're just like, okay. Sting and Shaggy.

• 46:06Chris Ryan?

  Every week we should challenge Brad Ingelsby to really tell the truth.

• 46:08Andy Greenwald?

  Tell the truth, Brad.

• 46:10Chris Ryan?

  Um-

• 46:11Andy Greenwald?

  Brad, has he seen the video of the guy leaving Lincoln Financial Field after the game? Who's just like, I can't say any of the words he uses to describe his feelings about the Eagles' win?

• 46:21Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 46:21Andy Greenwald?

  But he is all of us. Where's he in your show, Brad?

• 46:25Chris Ryan?

  Um, all right, let's talk about a couple of these performances. You know, Ruffalo is the biggest name in the show, but I want to start with Pelphrey.

• 46:33Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 46:34Chris Ryan?

  Who's, uh, a long time CR guy. Like, I've been really, really locked in on him for a minute, obviously.

• 46:42Andy Greenwald?

  Can I just say, like, on the way in, you were saying that I was incorrectly Columbus-ing a restaurant in London?

• 46:48Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 46:48Andy Greenwald?

  Can I say that I do think, if I've run the numbers, that I do think I like Tom Pelphrey in Banshee before he was on Ozark?

• 46:55Chris Ryan?

  Andy, you're- I defer to you. You're right. You mentioned Banshee more than any other show on this podcast.

• 47:02Andy Greenwald?

  I talked about Bluey sometimes.

• 47:03Chris Ryan?

  I just haven't watched it, and you're right.

• 47:05Andy Greenwald?

  Thank you.

• 47:06Chris Ryan?

  I was looking at Tom Pelphrey's IMDb, and I was like, no shit, he was on Banshee?

• 47:10Andy Greenwald?

  A big Lacuné there in his CV for Old CR, but it's cool. He's real good in it. It's fine.

• 47:16Chris Ryan?

  Uh, Pelphrey, obviously, um, mind blowing in his Ozark arc that he had in season two, I believe. And, uh, very, very good in Mank. Uh, outer range. I don't know that they really used him to his full abilities. The thing that jumps off the screen when you see him in Task is that it feels like he has been this character for his whole life.

• 47:39Andy Greenwald?

  It's a great call.

• 47:40Chris Ryan?

  And then the camera turned on. Like, his, that, the moment that I referenced earlier with him and Cliff, uh, talking about like dating, I was like, this guy knows it. It just feels like he is wearing this dude's skin. It is unreal. Like, he is so, he has possessed this character already and like, yeah, like, we could do Accent Olympics all day with these characters. Um, I find it really interesting that the amount of Brits who are in it, just because, or Irish and British actors.

• 48:08Andy Greenwald?

  I do want to talk about that.

• 48:09Chris Ryan?

  Because I wonder whether or not it's almost easier for them to be like, I have to do a new accent anyway, so I can get to Philly easier than someone who's not from Philly.

• 48:19Andy Greenwald?

  Fascinating.

• 48:20Chris Ryan?

  And I kinda wonder whether that's a thing, but we'll talk about, about the supporting characters.

• 48:27Chris Ryan?

  Robbie being this like emotionally vulnerable, but like, I am a fucking urban lumberjack, like, strong man is, it's just a beautiful portrayal so far, and it's all in his eyes. And it was like that in Ozark, as this guy who was tilting off his meds and descending into madness, even though he was in a completely crazy situation that almost justified his madness.

• 48:52Chris Ryan?

  Robbie's kind of, the pain in his eyes never, never goes away. And I just thought, you know, you don't have to do that. There are a lot of actors who are like, this is, that's not what this seems about, or like, it's like every single moment that that guy has, you feel like he's like carrying something really, really heavy.

• 49:09Andy Greenwald?

  I think it's really important to shout out the casting here because, again, there's a nuance to it. You say it's a, it's a big, exciting, dramatic, maybe awards baity two-hander coming from HBO. Obviously, a project like that goes to the top talent lists at all the agencies. I really admire the way they cast two very different actors who use what they bring perfectly. Ruffalo is a very talented, like, technical actor and has been amazing in a lot of things. But in this, one of the things we're sort of resting on is his just natural, lived-in charisma.

• 49:50Andy Greenwald?

  He's not, as you said, he's not doing accent, he's not really turning it up past the point of like, a couple of vodkas, okay, a lot of vodkas. He's steadying, which is the role, and kind of what you want from that figure in the, on the scale.

• 50:05Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 50:06Andy Greenwald?

  Helfry's part, he is an industry favorite. People who have seen him, no matter when they first saw him, let's just say, love him.

• 50:15Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 50:15Andy Greenwald?

  And understand his abilities. But I have to say, and I don't mean to do a drive-by here, but if like, if this was an Apple show, I think it would be an equally famous actor to Ruffalo playing the other half of it. And that might take away from the lived-in nature of it.

• 50:31Chris Ryan?

  You don't even, I mean, you're welcome to do a drive-by, it's, it's, it's, it's your car. I would say, I, I, I just think that like, there's a lack of vanity in both of these performances.

• 50:41Andy Greenwald?

  For sure, but I don't want to say one's better than the other, but I'm just saying.

• 50:43Chris Ryan?

  No, but like, they're doing something really interesting where it's like, Ruffalo is essentially like, what would a guy who's obviously been through an unspeakable, yet-to-be kind of articulated tragedy, how would he carry himself? The booze is like sticking to him. He is, looks like he always has his eyes like halfway closed. Every probably moment of his daily life is either a humiliation or a heartbreak. Like, he's either like, I'm sitting here in a fucking career fair handing out pamphlets, like, so this is, my career's over. Or I'm meeting with people about my son's sentencing and whether or not members of my family are gonna give witness impact statements or, you know, family impact statements.

• 51:24Chris Ryan?

  So like, there's not a good part of his day other than the moment where he sees a bird or the moment where the alcohol probably kicks in.

• 51:31Andy Greenwald?

  Yep.

• 51:32Chris Ryan?

  And then he pays for it the next day. For Robbie, he's like...

• 51:37Chris Ryan?

  Look, like, it, there is a degree to which what, it's funny how much the, this episode of, of Task is essentially the same beat for beat as the opening episode of Dope Thief.

• 51:48Andy Greenwald?

  I wondered if we talked about it. It's, it's actually kinda shocking.

• 51:52Chris Ryan?

  Well, it is pretty shocking. I, obviously, there's like stories about this in, in the greater Philadelphia area that interest these people.

• 51:59Andy Greenwald?

  And to be clear, we're not, when we say shocking, not like, oh my god, there was, you know, there was plagiarism here. Absolutely not. But, but the degree to which they're, they are almost the same.

• 52:10Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, two guys who bring on a third guy.

• 52:13Andy Greenwald?

  A, a third guy who's not gonna be with us for long to go to a rural part outside of Philadelphia and it goes badly. Uh, yeah, go on.

• 52:22Chris Ryan?

  To be hunted by a driven but haunted law enforcement agent, you know. Um, but the, the act of robbing drug dealers is an interesting piece of, I don't know if it's plot armor. I don't know if I'm using the term correctly there. But it does create morally an attachment for the viewer because you're like, well, this seems like something that it's like, there's no victim in this crime.

• 52:48Andy Greenwald?

  Robin, it's Robin Hood-ish.

• 52:49Chris Ryan?

  Sure. Yeah. I don't know that he is donating that money back to charities. I mean, it seems like he's providing for his family. But I was reading an interview with Inglesby and, um, Amelia Jones and Pelphrey on Deadline last night. And Pelphrey's just like, this guy is not a bad guy and he's not doing anything wrong. About the first episode.

• 53:08Andy Greenwald?

  Classic Giants fan.

• 53:10Chris Ryan?

  He is a New York Giants fan. Um, what did you think of, I mean, obviously, we're gonna probably be interested, introduced to the Dark Hearts at some point, who I think will pose a slightly heavier villain.

• 53:23Andy Greenwald?

  Uh, we're also, there's also a biker gang in Dope Thief.

• 53:27Chris Ryan?

  That's right. That's right. But like, the, you know what I mean? The idea that like, if you're robbing stash houses, are you really robbing anybody?

• 53:34Andy Greenwald?

  Right.

• 53:34Chris Ryan?

  You know?

• 53:36Andy Greenwald?

  I mean, I think what the reason this works for me in a different way, and again, they were they were different projects with different aims and Dope Thief allowed Brian Tyree Henry to go to some really phenomenal places and I was glad he was nominated for an Emmy next week for his performance, but it was a lot more popcorn at times. It was a lot more devoted to the banter and the friendship stuff and it was a lot of like, you know, extremity Jenga of like, well, you won't believe how crazy this thing is going to get next. This show, because of its tone, its tenor, its emotional interest in things and the fact that, like we were saying, it's not really written as a star vehicle, seems just very focused on the idea of a community, what we owe each other, what we owe ourselves,

• 54:20Andy Greenwald?

  what is available to us within the economy that has been left to us, right? Like, I think that that aspect of it is really interesting, that the are, there's a talk about, I thought one of the smaller moments that lingers is in that same online dating conversation when Robbie is showing Cliff, like, with the money we get, and we don't know that yet, but we could get unspoiled wilderness in Canada and basically start over. Yeah, an island, yeah. And Cliff says, who picks up the trash? Right. And the idea that, like, there's municipal services, newly relevant in Philadelphia, I would say, although it seems like maybe they've come to some sort of septa agreement. Have they? Yeah, but like, fares are going up, but service is being restored. Okay. We can, we can do that for our next, for our, like, eye on the street, local

• 55:02Andy Greenwald?

  news version of this podcast, because the one thing about this podcast, people are always like, it's too general interest. Yeah. You guys cast too wide in that, you should focus more. We got, we got super into abundance, yeah. Don't, don't tempt me with a good time, I've got thoughts. But yeah, but like, the idea that this stuff is supposed to work, and that was baked into Mayor of Easttown in a really, I thought, effective way, too, like, Everyone was connected to someone who is connected to some other person who was part of a problem, either on one side of it or the other. Like, no one goes untouched.

• 55:35Chris Ryan?

  Sure.

• 55:36Andy Greenwald?

  Right? And whether it's, whether you're on the crime fighters or the side of crime, like, these are porous boundaries and everybody's kind of under the same boot heel. And I think that that aspect of it is going to be interesting going forward.

• 55:48Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, everybody's got a boss. That was like, it's like, Ruffalo is the boss of this task force that he puts together, but Kathleen McGinty is his boss and she's already like, I've been told I can't.

• 55:57Andy Greenwald?

  She's been put out to pasture.

• 55:58Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, I'm being put out to pasture. It's like, it goes up, it just rolls downhill.

• 56:01Andy Greenwald?

  Could we talk about the kids?

• 56:04Chris Ryan?

  Yep, the task force.

• 56:05Andy Greenwald?

  In the show, the task force. But first, can we just take a moment for Amelia Jones? If you told me, you could have given me 10 guesses as to what I had seen this actor in before, and I would have never gotten it.

• 56:18Chris Ryan?

  I've never seen Coda. Like, I just know the name.

• 56:20Andy Greenwald?

  Was that the, was that the Best Picture winner that you just, you were like, it's COVID, I'm good?

• 56:24Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 56:25Andy Greenwald?

  I don't need to engage with it?

• 56:26Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 56:27Andy Greenwald?

  I mean, she's very good in it, but, okay, I didn't know, I did not know that this was part of her game.

• 56:33Chris Ryan?

  The other thing that's really cool is I could take everything that you say about, you could take everything that you say about Pelphrey and apply it to Jones. She is, she is this person. Like, I mean, it's probably an incredible performance. The haircut, the accent, the piercings, the

• 56:50Andy Greenwald?

  Yes.

• 56:51Chris Ryan?

  Those, "I got old way too young" look in her eyes, like

• 56:55Andy Greenwald?

  Her accent is flawless.

• 56:56Chris Ryan?

  Her vibe is flawless.

• 56:58Andy Greenwald?

  Yes. We have all met this person

• 57:00Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 57:01Andy Greenwald?

  before. She is, she's a force of nature from the second she appears on screen and the way that, it's not just the way Robbie relates to this character with this mix of like, I am in charge here, but also I know that I am not. It's the way that Pelphrey clearly respects what she's bringing in these scenes that brings something else out of him. I just think she's, I think she's astonishing. And, you know, in a way, she is like an interesting, if you watch this show as a, it's not a sequel to Mary of Easttown, but it's the next chapter in what Brad's doing in this world and this type of storytelling. And so, in a way, it's like a iteration of what, of the character Angore Rice played, the daughter who was in the band that played all the Mannequin Pussy songs.

• 57:42Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 57:43Andy Greenwald?

  It's a really fascinating, deeper iteration of that character in a way that I'm really, really responding to.

• 57:49Chris Ryan?

  There's also, she's a, you know, this kind of character could be a type, you know, it could be, not window dressing, but like in the background and the entire thing is just about Robbie and like what Robbie's going through. But Jeremiah Zaggar makes some cool choices.

• 58:07Chris Ryan?

  In terms of the coverage that he does, where sometimes it'll be a scene that you should probably be following Robbie through. And it'll stay with Maeve. And it'll stay like with, on her reactions to his behavior.

• 58:20Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 58:21Chris Ryan?

  So that it becomes like way more of an ensemble piece that way.

• 58:24Andy Greenwald?

  And that's the exact antidote to what you were saying about the way, these are not Ronin. These are, it does not heat.

• 58:29Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 58:30Andy Greenwald?

  For that reason.

• 58:30Chris Ryan?

  Their behavior is affecting other people.

• 58:33Andy Greenwald?

  What if heat, but from Amy Brenneman's perspective?

• 58:35Chris Ryan?

  That's right.

• 58:36Andy Greenwald?

  A necessary corrective, if you will.

• 58:37Chris Ryan?

  I actually, no, nevermind.

• 58:40Andy Greenwald?

  My, my, my daughter saw the musical Anne Juliet yesterday, it's touring and I don't know if you're familiar with this, but it's like a,

• 58:45Chris Ryan?

  Romeo and Juliet.

• 58:46Andy Greenwald?

  They loved it.

• 58:47Chris Ryan?

  Juliet's POV, right?

• 58:48Andy Greenwald?

  But it's also like, it starts like a play within a play and Shakespeare's wife was like, this sucks, let me do it.

• 58:52Chris Ryan?

  Big, big year for Shakespeare's play.

• 58:53Andy Greenwald?

  Big year for their whole family.

• 58:54Chris Ryan?

  Or his wife, yeah.

• 58:55Andy Greenwald?

  I know. By the way, 8am, I'm like, you know, Chloe Joe has a new film at TIFF this year called Hamnet. And my children are like, please, please stop.

• 59:05Chris Ryan?

  Why? That's relevant information.

• 59:07Andy Greenwald?

  I know, they were interested. They were like, Hamnet's a dumb name. I'm like, well, put some respect on it, cause, anyway.

• 59:14Chris Ryan?

  He invented this whole shit?

• 59:16Andy Greenwald?

  It's all his!

• 59:17Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 59:18Andy Greenwald?

  Then they're like, it's a jukebox musical, Max Martin songs, and Max Martin wrote and produced Life of Showgirl. Anyway. Do you think that like, within our lifetime, will someone be like, do the feminist corrective to heat about Amy Brenneman's character?

• 59:33Chris Ryan?

  I think that if you let me in Bill Pod long enough, we will do it.

• 59:36Andy Greenwald?

  We'll get there.

• 59:36Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 59:37Andy Greenwald?

  I believe in you. Okay, so then I do want to talk about the, the scene of, so Ruffalo cleans out this house, although not well enough, to welcome in these kids in the task force. And it is wild to me, and I wanted to get your sense of the accent stuff about it. Because the three recruits.

• 59:55Andy Greenwald?

  None of them are American actors. And they are all coming to this accent into this world.

• 1:00:00Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 1:00:00Andy Greenwald?

  So I do think there's something to your point about. Also, because apparently the Philadelphia accent and the Baltimore accent are unique because of the ports in these cities that Cockney ship workers. That's why it sounds like that.

• 1:00:14Chris Ryan?

  Okay, David.

• 1:00:15Andy Greenwald?

  So it's an easier way. I find this fascinating.

• 1:00:18Chris Ryan?

  It is. You're right. You're right.

• 1:00:19Andy Greenwald?

  Like something Cockney, East London to Baltimore works.

• 1:00:23Chris Ryan?

  Sure.

• 1:00:23Andy Greenwald?

  So I don't know. But anyway, we have Fabian Frankel, who's your guy from House of the Dragon, who is.

• 1:00:29Chris Ryan?

  Honestly, he is my guy.

• 1:00:30Andy Greenwald?

  I know.

• 1:00:31Chris Ryan?

  He is my guy now.

• 1:00:31Andy Greenwald?

  Own it.

• 1:00:32Chris Ryan?

  Anthony Crosso. Yeah.

• 1:00:34Andy Greenwald?

  Uh, Tsumu Beru is South African.

• 1:00:36Chris Ryan?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:00:37Andy Greenwald?

  Uh, and they do make a point of saying like she moved to the area, which maybe gives her a little bit of a.

• 1:00:42Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:42Andy Greenwald?

  Uh, a break. And then Alison Oliver.

• 1:00:45Chris Ryan?

  Normie Peeps.

• 1:00:47Andy Greenwald?

  No, from Convis with Friends.

• 1:00:49Chris Ryan?

  Oh, that's right. That's right. Normal people is the mascot. My bad.

• 1:00:52Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:52Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:52Andy Greenwald?

  Things worked out for those stars of that one.

• 1:00:54Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:54Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah. Alison Oliver was Convis with Fs and also, um, The Order, the Jude Law starring film that I watched that we never talked about.

• 1:01:03Chris Ryan?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:01:03Andy Greenwald?

  She's in that.

• 1:01:05Chris Ryan?

  I love that you watching something necessitates the conversation.

• 1:01:09Andy Greenwald?

  Because like, I just want, which cameras on? I want the record to show that sometimes you're like, oh, you might really enjoy it. I'm like, oh, okay.

• 1:01:16Chris Ryan?

  And then the camera follows me home. Once a year and it's always like the order and it's not weapons.

• 1:01:21Andy Greenwald?

  That's fair.

• 1:01:22Chris Ryan?

  Um.

• 1:01:22Andy Greenwald?

  But that was like, watch Miyazaki and you were like, I watched Porco Rosso over the shoulder of a three-year-old once.

• 1:01:27Chris Ryan?

  Shout out to local Philadelphia, uh, meteorologist, Cecily Tyne. We're, we're monitoring a low pressure system with Alison Oliver.

• 1:01:36Andy Greenwald?

  Hmm.

• 1:01:37Chris Ryan?

  She might fucking, when she's on the phone outside.

• 1:01:40Andy Greenwald?

  Hmm.

• 1:01:41Chris Ryan?

  I don't know if she hits every single accent note, but she is definitely a girl that I have met from Philadelphia, larger Philadelphia area.

• 1:01:48Andy Greenwald?

  Sir, you would be on the receiving end of that phone call.

• 1:01:52Chris Ryan?

  No, I haven't.

• 1:01:53Andy Greenwald?

  I've, I mean, it's possible.

• 1:01:55Chris Ryan?

  Uh, yeah, maybe in my youth.

• 1:01:57Andy Greenwald?

  I am, in your younger days.

• 1:01:59Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:59Andy Greenwald?

  I'm not trying to cast aspersions.

• 1:02:00Chris Ryan?

  No, I had an incredible run of not getting dumped for a while, you know, so.

• 1:02:04Andy Greenwald?

  Did you?

• 1:02:04Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:05Andy Greenwald?

  Well, do we thi- I'm sorry, I'm trying to remember, like.

• 1:02:09Chris Ryan?

  I think that they were living, the characters in this show are living together and like he's now come over to get all their shit.

• 1:02:14Andy Greenwald?

  Evidence that she, that, that he was dumped. I don't think. He may have dumped and was, he may have dumped her, but he's like, can I get my stuff?

• 1:02:19Chris Ryan?

  Yes, I think that's what we're supposed to believe.

• 1:02:21Andy Greenwald?

  The CR brain's like, can't get dumped if I've already moved all my stuff out. And so she comes home and it's just like the Will Smith meme, the empty house in Bel Air. That's how you get them. Never been dumped.

• 1:02:35Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, but if you only have, like, if you're like, I need this ottoman, you know, or I need this, like, whatever.

• 1:02:41Andy Greenwald?

  We need, I'm speaking, we need that, that one chair from Ikea that we all had.

• 1:02:44Chris Ryan?

  Oh, my God.

• 1:02:45Andy Greenwald?

  I need that.

• 1:02:45Chris Ryan?

  Until I was 35, I had nothing. I was the Ronin, you know what I mean? I was still.

• 1:02:54Chris Ryan?

  I was still like, I have a bunch of raucous records, white labeled 12 inches and an Xbox. That's all I need.

• 1:03:00Andy Greenwald?

  Until you were 30?

• 1:03:01Chris Ryan?

  Till I moved here.

• 1:03:02Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah. First of all, you've made it very clear on numerous pods that your entire shit is liquid. You can go at any time. You began the pod last week, I don't remember if we were recording it or not, saying, can't cancel me now, I have nothing to lose.

• 1:03:18Andy Greenwald?

  So, and we even on this pod, you were like, yeah, fuck it, I'll root for the American, the, in the US Open final and you'll never be able to prove that I did. You're a fucking whisper in the wind, man. Own it.

• 1:03:30Chris Ryan?

  Allison Oliver is doing things in that front yard on the phone where I, we're just, we're just very, very aware of it.

• 1:03:37Andy Greenwald?

  Is it a Cecily Tynan thing or is it a John Bellerus thing?

• 1:03:39Chris Ryan?

  I'm more of a Cecily person.

• 1:03:41Andy Greenwald?

  Is it a Hurricane Schwartz kind of thing?

• 1:03:44Chris Ryan?

  Were you a Balaris guy?

• 1:03:46Andy Greenwald?

  No, I just, have you been following the Balaris story since?

• 1:03:49Chris Ryan?

  Oh, he had a rough exit, right?

• 1:03:51Andy Greenwald?

  He's still making the gossip column.

• 1:03:53Chris Ryan?

  Okay.

• 1:03:54Andy Greenwald?

  Like, it is a wild thing. It is a very specific level of fame to be Philadelphia weatherman famous.

• 1:04:03Chris Ryan?

  Are you so post, post everything digital that you don't, did you ever have like a personal relationship to a local weather person growing up? Yeah.

• 1:04:12Speaker 07

  Yeah, no, I did. Cronfor News was my local.

• 1:04:16Chris Ryan?

  Cronfor News, okay. Do you remember what the weather person's name was?

• 1:04:19Speaker 07

  Oh my God, no, I don't. But I do remember.

• 1:04:22Chris Ryan?

  I guess in the Bay Area, what's the point of looking at the weather? Like, it's just.

• 1:04:26Speaker 07

  It's 50 degrees and foggy every day, so.

• 1:04:30Andy Greenwald?

  Like, Balaris has been banned from numerous restaurants now. He's like called out people's personal lives who own restaurants. Like, it's quite a.

• 1:04:37Chris Ryan?

  Really?

• 1:04:37Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah. What I'm saying is Lizzie has John Balaris energy.

• 1:04:41Chris Ryan?

  I gotcha.

• 1:04:41Andy Greenwald?

  But we should probably.

• 1:04:42Chris Ryan?

  You think she's been kicked out of a Cheesecake Factory once or twice?

• 1:04:45Andy Greenwald?

  A rouge on Rittenhouse Square. I'm just saying, I think that we need, we need a professional meteorologist monitoring her barometric pressure.

• 1:04:53Chris Ryan?

  She's incredible.

• 1:04:54Andy Greenwald?

  But she has Balaris energy.

• 1:04:55Chris Ryan?

  Frankel is doing very well. It's just, it's a really good, it's a really good ensemble. And as a pilot episode goes, I really respected. I'm gonna do character beats with like upwards of 12 people, including like just a tender but haunted Rita's water ice between father and daughter.

• 1:05:16Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:18Chris Ryan?

  Black Cherry?

• 1:05:19Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, that's what you got.

• 1:05:20Chris Ryan?

  And you approve?

• 1:05:21Andy Greenwald?

  Look.

• 1:05:22Chris Ryan?

  You're a lemon guy.

• 1:05:23Andy Greenwald?

  It's very on, what?

• 1:05:24Chris Ryan?

  What are you?

• 1:05:25Andy Greenwald?

  No, I'm like, I'm not a Rita, like Rita's kinda mid.

• 1:05:28Chris Ryan?

  Well, what's your water, do you have a water ice of, of choice?

• 1:05:31Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, John's.

• 1:05:32Chris Ryan?

  Okay.

• 1:05:33Andy Greenwald?

  And then honestly, the chocolate water ice is amazing.

• 1:05:36Chris Ryan?

  Everybody's been talking about the chocolate water.

• 1:05:37Andy Greenwald?

  Chocolate water is incredible. But also like in the summer, John's has like fresh fruits and whatever they, whatever they have on the board, you get that. You get yourself down there. You tell them John Beller is saying you actually do not do that. You will not be served water. Yeah. You know who else we have to shout out though? For Isaac DeBancolay, great, great veteran actor from like every Jim Jarmusch movie.

• 1:06:01Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 1:06:02Andy Greenwald?

  Showing up as Daniel, who's the priest, who's the guy who's stuck with it.

• 1:06:05Chris Ryan?

  Who's got some cool Catholic literary journals he wants to share.

• 1:06:09Andy Greenwald?

  And a taste for the yingling, which I respected. By the way, shout out yingling in the show. I see the rolling rock monopoly, big RR has been broken.

• 1:06:17Chris Ryan?

  I think Ingles be new. Like I can't just pretend like everybody only drinks RR.

• 1:06:22Andy Greenwald?

  Or do you think like the checks stopped coming from old Latrobe?

• 1:06:25Chris Ryan?

  I'm just bummed that Kenwood couldn't get a shot, but maybe Kenwood isn't hitting in Upper Darby. I don't know. Kenwood's a good local beer. Anything else you want to say about task?

• 1:06:35Andy Greenwald?

  This is fun to talk about. It's fun to have in our lives. I'm very excited about it.

• 1:06:38Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. Let us know if you guys have questions. The watch at spotify.com. If you want me to detail which travel baseball little league fields I've played at in Delco, I can talk about my slash line.

• 1:06:52Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah. Which one almost caused your heart to explode? The show, it's exciting. It was an exciting show. Like even the action sequence was very, very gripping. It was well shot.

• 1:07:02Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. We gotta get those masks.

• 1:07:04Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, you mean you want them back?

• 1:07:07Andy Greenwald?

  When you and Zach came over wearing them for the Eagles game, I thought it was weird, but I was happy to have you come in.

• 1:07:12Chris Ryan?

  It's just my Anasimova mask. Thanks to Kaia who's back.

• 1:07:16Andy Greenwald?

  And congratulations to Kaia.

• 1:07:18Chris Ryan?

  And congratulations to Kaia. Thanks to John. And we'll be back on Thursday to talk about Alien.

• 1:07:24Andy Greenwald?

  I don't think he's gonna watch dystopia anymore, Kaia. I think life has turned a page for him.

• 1:07:28Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:29Speaker 07

  No, he's really committed to the genre.

• 1:07:31Andy Greenwald?

  And now you are as well.

• 1:07:33Chris Ryan?

  See you guys on Thursday.

• 1:07:44Speaker 04

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• 1:08:14Speaker 11

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