Boob Tube Reviews | 2
Transcript:
Julia: Before we get started, I wanted to do some shout outs to our Jelly Pop Studio audience and Best Friends Club because we have some really cool people in the club who own businesses. So first, You know her from previous episodes. She is a former guest. We love her, Carly Adams. She's the owner and operator of Tiny Revival, a home organization business.
Julia: She has helped me in my own home organizing journey, and she's a private community that is so wonderful to be a part of because there's so much support with absolutely no shame. Next we've got Maggie Frank Shu, who is a writer and an editor. She hosts a wonderful weekly writing group called Time to Write.
Julia: She's also been on the show and I love how she creates this very introvert friendly, judgment-free space. Last we have Alicia Peterson Basal. She offers breath work workshops or one-on-one breath work, and she's really, really good at guiding you through it and just kind of unlocking and declogging some of the things that might be in internal within you.
Julia: She's fantastic. All of these women are amazing. These are just a few of our members, so I'll be doing some more shout outs of our members who are business owners because small businesses are such a crucial part of our local economies, and I'm just so grateful these business owners have chosen to support pop culture.
Julia: Makes me jealous. It means so much to me that they value the work that we are doing. So much so, and enough that they're willing to contribute to the, to the life of this show. So ladies, thank you. I appreciate you and I can't wait to see you at happy hour. Okay, now here we go to the show.
Julia: Hey friends, this is Pop culture makes me tell us where we analyze pop culture through the lens of race or gender, and sometimes both. I'm your host, Julia Washington, and today I'm giving you a quick recap of everything I recently watched that left an impression on my soul. But first, I do have a few things I wanna mention for the month of July.
Julia: Our book Club Pick is Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garma. And you're probably thinking, no, it's not a movie. Well it is. It's coming to Apple Plus in October and we are going to read the book and then in October watch the movie and discuss all the things that are different. It's a long game and it'll be a good time.
Julia: The Bear. Season two brings us back to Chicago, where Carmen and the gang are working to reopen the beef under a new name The Bear. If you haven't watched season one, here's a quick recap for you. Carmen Bardo, played by Jeremy Allen. White moves back to Chicago after an impressive career in the fine dining world to run the sandwich shop he inherited from his brother.
Julia: In season one, we see Carmen known as Carmi. Come into an established business where employees are content in their ways and his cousin, but not really a cousin Richie, played by Evan Moss Brock. I don't know actually know if that's how you're supposed to pronounce it. I listened to interview introductions a thousand times, but that was days ago and now I'm struggling to remember, so I apologize.
Julia: Challenge and question him over time, he slowly wins everyone over, but the struggle to keep the business going is real. And Carly's Uncle Jimmy, played by Oliver Plat wants to buy the building. In the meantime, Sydney played by io. A debris shows up to the beef in search of a job. Season one ends with carmi finding money stashed in tomato cans, sparking a new idea.
Julia: What that idea was though, viewers would have to wait. Oh, I forgot to disclaimer spoilers. Lots and lots and lots of spoilers, so apologies. And also that's your morning. Season one was brilliant. From the writing to the acting to the direction, Jeremy Allen White won an Emmy and a SAG award for his performance.
Julia: But he's not the only one who deserves their flowers for this show. So season two, which dropped on June 22nd, 2023. We see Carmie and the gang remodeling the beef. We learn. Uncle Jimmy has made an investment in the business and the team has a very short amount of time to open. I actually think season two is stronger and better than season one.
Julia: And here's why. The goal has changed. Instead of the beef survival, it's now the creation of a restaurant that can get a star. Can they even open surrounded by restaurants they admire? Permanently closing. These are real. There are really beautiful moments that are reminiscent of the parts of the eighties movies we love and are nostalgic for.
Julia: And I wonder, is this because of the shots of the city are gorgeous and make you feel like you're in Chicago? That's probably part of it. From season one, we know that Mikey Carmie and Sugar's brother is dead. We know that sugar is married. We know their mother sometimes doesn't meet their emotional needs.
Julia: We know Richie is divorced and has a daughter, and Sydney has family tension, and each episode of season two, we learn more about each character and see the world outside of the beef. It's crafted in a way that feels relevant and enriching to the overall story. Every episode opening with a reminder of how many weeks until the restaurant opens, it's a bold move to take the show out of the restaurant and into the character's world.
Julia: Then in episode six, titled Fishes Tells Us In It, Tells us it's a flashback episode with the opening in over 254 weeks, four years earlier. We are meeting the Burdo family on Christmas Eve as their mother, Donna Burdo is cooking The seven fishes and Italian-American traditions started by those who immigrated and wanted to feel a bit more of home rooted in religion, region, and culture.
Julia: Many Italian American families have been celebrating Christmas even this way for generations, but not in my Italian family. When my mother and I talked about why the family never did this, we came up with things like maybe the access to the fish, maybe because it was, they were in Cleveland, or maybe the generation that immigrated, didn't wanna be bothered and worked to assimilate the family in into American customs.
Julia: Regardless, anyone with a family who gathers in a in large quantities can really relate to this episode. In episode six, I saw my cousins, my uncles, my aunties, despite the drama in Thedo family being at a 10. This is the episode the tears started. We meet Mikey. We learn sugar's real name. We learn that FX has a brother.
Julia: We see Richie happily married with a baby on the way, and we see Carmi full of potential encouraged by a family member to stay the course of his dreams. This episode is chaos, and with every scene, the chaos escalates, culminating in a car crashing into the house, and y'all the cameos are stacked, stacked.
Julia: Jamie Lee Curtis recently posted on her Instagram that she plays Donna Burdo and she does it so convincingly. She does it in a way that breaks your heart and your soul apart, and you can't help but feel for the children She gave life to as well as feel for her. Episode seven, another one I wept through.
Julia: We find Richie stuck in his ways fighting against the system and structure Carmia is working towards and is sent to a high-end restaurant. At first, Richie fights it. He stubborn and scoffs at the pretense of it all. He must start with cleaning forks first. A task he finds ridiculous, but slowly he begins to see the excitement of fine dining, but he's not broken down.
Julia: He's accepted into the fold, and as he works his way through the various jobs, he's starting to see the why things exist. This in the way that they do. His mentor at the restaurant reminds him that hospitals and restaurants use the same term. Hospitality, and there's a reason for that. At 45 years old, Richie wants value in his life.
Julia: He wants more. The Richie we see in episode six is hopeful and excited about becoming a father full of love and tenderness. A small but not very far Off contrast to the Richie we met in season one or even the beginning of season two, you can see how the beating of life has taken its toll on him. And in episode six, he finds purpose again.
Julia: He's good with people, but somehow his ability to channel that had short circuited. And in episode seven, He resets. And also episode seven has also some surprise cameos that are completely worth it. But I wanna backtrack a little bit. In episode four, Marcus travels out of the country to study the culinary arts.
Julia: It is in this episode, we learn about his life prior coming to the beef. It is in episode one that we learned. Marcus's mother is unwell. And while he's in this foreign country learning to hone his skill, he meets another cook, another chef. And in these scenes with this chef, the kitchen scenes, they're simple, but yet they're very moving.
Julia: Maybe it's because I'm at a stage in life where I'm not quite 40 yet, but I'm recently downsized for my primary job and have experienced my own set of challenges over the last 20 years. But Marcus and Richie really resonated with me this idea that one can work really hard and do what society claims we need to do in order to get ahead.
Julia: And yet, meanwhile, Carie is falling in love with a woman from his past. A smart, beautiful woman. Who is kind and tender and understanding, and Carie continues to get in his own way. Listen, there are so many other characters on the show that are amazing. Tina, Tina, Tina could be an entire, uh, 30 minute conversation all on her own.
Julia: She's fucking awesome. Ibrahim Sugar and Pete. There's just, there's, there's just so much. Maybe I need to find somebody to come on to talk about this show in more depth. The final episode, episode 10. The team has made it to the opening despite the odds, and after eight episodes of car being reminded of calling the fridge guy, he gets stuck inside the walk-in because he never did.
Julia: There's a moment where Sid realizes that her biggest fear of failing may come to fruition. She has spent months walking past restaurants. She loves run by chefs. She admires with signs saying things like permanently closed and she's feeling overwhelmed. This is the moment where Richie shines the training he received.
Julia: In episode seven Comes back and he is eager, almost itching to jump in. He asks for permission. And Sid says Yes. What happens next is minutes of stress and chaos that is slightly different from the chaos we experience in other episodes waiting on the edges of our seats. The viewer is anxious for the outcome.
Julia: Later. There's this incredible scene where Richie and Carmie are fighting through the fridge door. It's a side-by-side shot. Carmie is trapped in the fridge. Richie is on the outside, and despite all the growth these characters have gone through in this moment, they are just the kids. They once were fighting.
Julia: I, I cried. It was such a powerful moment because Carie, the, the, the story Uncle Jimmy shares with him about the, about the baseball game and the failure, and what truly was the failure about that particular Cubs game, Richie, having risen to the occasion, it is, It just, it hit my heart in a way, and I don't know why I'm crying all the time.
Julia: If you've been here a while, you hear me say this, I cried. I cried. Oh my God, I cried. I don't know if it's because I'm finally accepting the fact that I have big emotions and I'm allowing myself to fully feel them, or if it's the phase I'm in in life, I have no clue. But in this moment, I felt. Carmen's disappointment in himself and Richie's pride in doing something so well.
Julia: This is not a feel good television show, but there are moments that feel good and I wish I could explain that better. I cried my way through season two. There's something very special about a show that can reflect life in a way that doesn't trigger Big T trauma moments, but still has drama, comedy, and heart.
Julia: All episodes of Season One and two of the Bear are streaming on Hulu.
Julia: Still on Apple Plus is Michael J. Fox talking about his life in his own words. Viewers who grew up on family ties will likely find this stage of his life interesting as Fox talks to the camera, sharing memories of his life and how his career started as he describes his hectic schedule of filming Family ties during the day and back to the future at night.
Julia: The audience has given clips from the show coupled with a hectic montage of reenactment of being shuffled from the family tie set to the back to the future set, and then clips from our beloved back to the future. It was a fun technique that the filmmakers made seamless, almost as if they plugged an H D M I cable into fo, into the back of Fox's head and projected the story from his mind.
Julia: Well, I believe the term documentary is being used very loosely these days. I appreciate the retrospective Fox offers, and still though he has written several memoirs, none of which I've read, I imagine his most recent no time, like the Future released in December of 2021. We'll mirror this documentary in so many ways.
Julia: Fox born in 1961 is in a phase of life where his children are grown, and he's officially considered an older adult by the guidelines established by the administration on aging. With over 40 years of career to reflect on in just over 60 years of life, he can look back in a way that's different from his previous books.
Julia: At 60, the timeline is different. While 60 certainly isn't what it was for the greatest generation, and there's more of a youthful flare to it these days. The fact remains that the average age is someone in this country is 73, and that's according to. Data from the C D C from 2021. I can imagine being in one sixties and there being a shift from, I have all this time to, I wonder how much time.
Julia: Fox has been an advocate for decades for those living with Parkinson's while he touches on his work in advocacy. To me, the point of this Apple Plus installment is more than that by being visible on screen, he's reminding us that Parkinson's is real and people who live with this disease face challenges every single day.
Julia: He's open about what's happening to his body during the interviews as well. Having worked in adult services for the government, I have seen the hurdles people face when they don't have support or financial resources to care for themselves. While Michael J. Fox is beyond lucky to have both of these things, the fact remains there are people suffering whose lives are cut short because they can't afford the interventions or therapies needed to slow.
Julia: The progression still is now streaming on Apple Plus.
Julia: The latest movie from Pixar Studios, elemental is the story of Ember, a young fire woman who lives in fire town and element city with her parents who emigrated from fire land. We meet her parents as they arrive in Element City, a place where all the elements water, land, air, and fire live. And they attempt to rent place after place and are turned away from every spot they inquire.
Julia: Until suddenly her father sees a building for sale. He spends the next few decades building a business and becoming a prominent staple in the fire community. Ember grows up knowing and believing she will take over this business one day when she's ready, but she must first learn to control her temper.
Julia: One day she meets Wade, a city inspector, made of the element of water who is investigating a leak and finds himself in the basement of the fireplace. Ember's family business. This film starts Leah Lewis as Ember Mama Do. Ahy as Wade, Ronnie Del Carmen and Sh and Shilah Omi as Bernie and Cinder and ember's parents, and a few other voices you'll surely recognize.
Julia: Directed by Peter son and written by John Hoberg, Kat Leal and Brenda Hug. This movie is a beautiful story of immigration, familial expectations, love, and what all of that means. The animation is exactly what you expect from Pixar. And the story had me weeping in the audience, and when I posted that on Instagram, one of my friends said, that is a very Pisces thing to say it.
Julia: What I latched onto the most in Elemental was the relationship between Wade and Ember. Water and Fire, fire and water. Two elements that historically don't mix. Ember's father even carries a prejudice against water, and yet they find ways to overcome the prejudice of these elements don't mix idea and watching these two young adults connect, it's, it's so beautiful and honestly, I'm a freaking sucker for that kind of shit because I'm the product of that kind of shit.
Julia: Ember's relationship with her father is also very touching. She's eager to make him happy and proud, and what I've learned from watching and reading immigrant stories is that there's a tendency to not explore one's own wants because of the expectations of their parents. Oftentimes, those expectations are really hopes.
Julia: But the communication somewhere is lost. This has not been my personal experience though. My grandfather came here from Italy as a child, and the more I learn about the immigrant experience in America, the more I'm understanding some of the, some of the qualities I remember of him. And I will always appreciate stories that open the window into a world that's not mine.
Julia: I am sure there are more shows I'm forgetting to cover. Another one I watched recently is based on a true story, but Natalie Catona from To All the Men I've Tolerated before is joining me for that discussion. So I can't wait for you to hear that. If there is a TV show or a movie that you think I absolutely need to see, drop me a dm.
Julia: You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at the Julia Washington. I also wanna know what you're watching. Tell me what you're watching. I would love to know what kind of shows interest you if you aren't already following the show. You can find it on Instagram and TikTok at Pop Culture Makes me jealous.
Julia: Best Friends Club. Happy Social Hour is back, and to get access to that you can join us on Patreon. For more content and bonus content and all the fun things you, you should really join us on Patreon by joining. You are supporting the show and this very small woman owned business, and I will love you forever for the support.
Julia: And we are offering a seven day free trial through the summer. So if you're not sure, you can take us for a test run. Okay. One more thing. We are launching our sister podcast soon, jelly Pops Book Club, where we will compare book to screen adaptations. Currently the show is only available through our Patreon and will become available publicly sometime this summer.
Julia: It better be this summer, right? You're probably wondering why I don't have a concrete day and I can't tell you, but I've recently been downsized. From my main job, so now I have a heck of a lot more time on my hands. Anyway, pop culture makes me jealous, is written and edited by me, your host. And if you love this episode, please share it with someone who might also enjoy the inside of my brain.
Julia: Thanks for tuning in y'all. Until next time.
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