#i fucking love dirk gently so much

[thecannibalroyal]

I just rewatched the first two episodes of Dirk Gently (2010) and I forgot how accurate Stephen Mangan's portrayal of Gently is to the books. Also Darren Boyd's MacDuff is just perfect *chefs kiss*

Love my queer autistic detective boys 💕 (Sorry I don't make the rules, it just makes sense)

[charlieism]

the fact my most popular fic is one i posted when i was 13 will forever haunt me

[txttletale]

oh, what did you think of dirk gently!!

i fucking loved it. i like the book more, because i think that reluctant-misanthropic-slacker dirk is a more entertaining character than the show's completely different manic-pixie-dream-twink dirk, but i kind of think it's the perfect adaptation because instead of trying to make the book's plot work on screen they crafted a totally new plot out of the core conceit of 'piling up seemingly unrelated plot threads then connecting them all together in one big complicated maneuever'. the cast is great, it's probably my favourite elijah wood performance -- the soundtrack (especially for the first season) is probably my favourite TV show soundtrack? it's got a fun visual flair and although the dialogue can sometimes hit the wrong side of twee, i think that the characters are overall enjoyable. the bizarre and left-field plots of the show are just so much fun and it's so satisfying to see it come together.

[potato-lord-but-not]

Hi, it's not a question, but I just wanted to say that your art is AMAZING. And I find it interesting how I saw some of your art online (plus the wonderful picrew, obviously), but only now I found your blog on Tumblr and absolutely fell in love with your art! It's very inspiring. I love how alive your drawings feel and also it has like... All of my favorite things?? (TMA, Chnt, good omens, will wood, fucking DISCWORLD?? MOIST???? Also Douglas Adams, although I read only Dirk Gently)

So yeah, I just wanted to drop by and wish you a good day:)

(P.s obsessed with the way you draw Adora.... She's so pretty!!!)

AYO WELCOME TO THE TUMBLR DEN!! <3 ALSO impeccable taste in media like damn you’re checking off all the boxes- and thank you so much!! <33

[thedreadvampy]

btw on the tangent of end of history ass bullshit I put my finger recently on why adapting Good Omens as a modern-day story bugs me

bc I Have Known. bc I was a comedy-fantasy afficianado in the 90s/early 2000s. that GO is one of many examples of a very specific genre of British comedy-scifi-fantasy popular in the 90s I would term "millennial apocalypse farce".

you know, they're a mix of biblical eschatology, Fortean Times conspiracy theory, cult tropes, and Y2K Rise of the Machines stuff, smashed together into an Adamsian comedy where a group of hapless protagonists bumble around while the world falls apart in comically overblown ways. imo, though a lot of authors bring their own spin to it, they're all heavily stylistically influenced specifically by Dirk Gently, which isn't Millennial Apocalypse Farce but I think did inspire a lot of it. Robert Rankin is on the edge of it, Good Omens is the most lasting example, but I read like 20 of these and most authors only wrote one afaict.

but the thing I was saying the other day is I honestly cannot think of a genre of popular English-language fiction that's more rooted in a specific time and culture. I tried for a while and really couldn't.

It just doesn't translate well away from the turn of the millennium, purely because the millennium was such a fevered touchpoint for Apocalypse Stuff. two things there I think.

Obviously, Y2K looming. Millennium Approaches. The turn of every century has often been accompanied by an uptick in interest in apocalypses and end times, but this was the BIGGIE. It's only happened on this calendar once before. People in the 1900s were talking about how close they were to a new millennium. The approaching millennium dominated the whole 20th century, and especially with how apocalyptic a lot of the 20th century felt in terms of war and technology, apocalyptic fervour really kicked up in the 90s. And there was a smorgasbord of apocalypses to choose from; divine, nuclear, digital, cosmic, alien, all stuff which on the millennial scale had really only just shown up in the last century or so. I was 7 in 2000 so pinch of salt but I remember all of us sort of holding our breath leading up to Jan 1 2000, not just bc of Y2K but bc it felt like something momentous HAD to happen.

The end of history. The cold war had subsided, and so had the economic depression of the 70s and 80s UK. There just was not a Singular Apocalypse hanging over a group of people who'd spent their whole lives in the shadow of a Singular Nuclear Apocalypse. I think stuff really rushed in to fill that gap, and Millennial Apocalypse Farce is a response to that sudden glut of possible apocalypses all clamouring for attention.

I think as well American end-of-days right-wing evangelism was really loud in the 80s-90s and that plays a part, cause the generally lefty and consciously self-effacing British comedy author milieu found that off-putting in a very mockable way

but the point is that glut of apocalypses was a real flash in the pan, the same way the End of History was. it was a like 10-15 year timespan where the world was definitely ending but nobody could say why or how, and it began around the fall of the Berlin Wall and ended on September 11, 2001.

Millennial Apocalypse Farce novels did keep coming out after 2001 but like everything else, the culture has changed really radically, and also, like, we were past the millennium. Those infinite possibilities of apocalypses hadn't paid off. Not saying that the public interest in apocalypse went away - 2012, obviously. The LHC. But the full on fervour for any and all crank apocalypses kind of petered off a bit bc the turn of the millennium was so much a flashpoint for it. and anyway we had really concrete apocalypses again - terrorism, totalitarian governments, plague, and of course the main 21st century apocalypse, Oh Shit We Really Fucked This Climate Change Thing Up.

and I really love the Millennial Apocalypse Farce genre. I really love stumbling on books in that genre. because it's such a time capsule for an incredibly specific period in recent cultural history.

but it does not translate into a 2020s setting. It's so 90s. it's so rooted in a really specific landscape of cultural anxieties and abstractions. it just doesn't make sense to me to translate it to the modern day, it's like setting Angels in America in 2023. it's just the wrong type of apocalypse. apocalypses are culturally generated and they change fast based on how a culture sees itself and the world. you can't pick up a 1990 apocalypse and put it unchanged in 2023, it's Wrong. if you're going to do that you have to be in conversation with it, you can't just update it.

like ok example of thoughtfully recontextualising an anachronistic apocalypse for a modern setting. War of the Worlds 2005. Why is it War of the Worlds? Because it wants to say some things about the relationship between post 9/11 America and colonial England, and how the specific common anxiety of invasion affects them as people in a nation of invaders. Idk if it's a good film cause I didn't like it when I watched it but that was a long time ago. But the intent makes sense.

what does putting a Millennial Apocalypse Farce in the 2020s actually. say? about the commonalities between now and then? I mean. Based on the TV show of Good Omens, to me, not a lot. It's pretty beat for beat in that sense, and we're not really far enough away from 1990 for it to have the obvious impacts that saying "now is very like then" does with, say, War of the Worlds, because the world of HG Wells was distant enough for a 2005 audience to go 'oh, Victorian colonialism, that's Not Like Us.' whereas like. I remember the 90s. It's not recent but it's in continuity with now. saying "then it's like now" is a) kind of Incorrect imo, the cultural anxieties are Very Different, and b) not...striking?

idk like. The genre is dated. The nature of that specific apocalypse idea is incredibly dated. And that's good actually. It's fine for art to be a time capsule of a specific cultural moment and to not make sense divorced from that moment. That's good! That's a good use of art!

[noradoctor]

Hi you're so cool I'll try not to fuck this up!!!!:

Obscure Fadom(s) you need to talk about

That song that you have a mental break down to and then kill a man to in the same day

Why are you so cool?

Something in your immediate vicinity that would look so much better if it was bedazzled

Favorite type of tit

Your favorite thing you've ever created (meme, art, writing piece, ect.)

Character you would love to kiss (romantically or platonically)

Person you want to meet so badly, alive or dead

Favorite meme ever (I would ask vine but some people don't even know what vine is)

Food you would currently devour of placed in frontof you

Favorite weather in detail

Hyper specific color appreciation

Ok for fandoms errr ermmm smeromr eoroommroooo errrrr erm ermmmmmm does dirk gentlys holistic detective agency (the show) count, i really want the books but also broke as hell (also the umbrella academy, but specifically the comics)

SONG MOMENT OUU errrm ermmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ermm im capable of having a mental breakdown to anything if i have the willpower to do so (same with killing a man) so probably fight for me by AlicebanD

my pure epic skills (lie)

box of honeycomb flavoured weetos, bedazzle that shit and ill eat all of them

azure tit they look silly

probably my own OCs backstories, i've had them for over two years and there is still things to be done but im very proud of them all

Kayne from hit podcast malevolent (pleaspeleasepleasepleasepleasepleaepleaseplease)

King george the III

favourite meme ever you say... hmmm. hmm i have a horrendous sense of humour so that stupid ass my apolocheese cat

Spaghetti Bolognase made by my father

The rain, specifically loud heavy rain with occasionally bursts of thunder and at nightime as i'm trying to sleep, the drops of rain thudding against the glass of my window in the dark

Reseda green my beloved, more people need to use it, honestly, swampy greens in general, they can work so well in several different situations and people hate them, why, why do you hate the swampy greens, all they ever did was exist and be cool

[aokozaki]

Suruga Devil Three Review:

Rouka is such a fascinating character, and also holy shit I hard read the fuck out of the way this plot was going.

Anyway, yes, Numachi. I love how much venom she has in her voice when she describes the girl who came to her with problems, only because she wanted to talk to someone who had it worse than her - only to immediately admit that hearing someone else's problems made her feel better.

Rouka keeps describing herself as a villain, but she's kinda objectively doing a good thing. It's almost like she likes the act of playing the villain itself, the tragic heroine who lost everything and fell from grace.

And then Dirk Gently's her way into helping people. Y'know, the part of Dirk Gently where he moonlights as a fortune teller, and all his predictions come true and he doesn't fucking know why, and he curses at the heavens for his luck.

It's like that.

Finally, I wanna say that while it can be hard to read the interstitial text captions, with Monogatari's editing style flashing them so quickly, but like. Man. "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down"...

This sort of concept is always really interesting to me, because it's actually something that Japanese culture has in common with Australian culture, to an extent. I feel like a more American turn of phrase would be the saying "the squeaky wheel gets the grease", but in Australia we have "the tall poppy gets cut down".

Rouka taking herself down from being too good at soccer, and at least finding a second love in basketball... only for it to end even worse for her. There's definitely something achingly relatable in that. Cutting yourself down like that...

aough.

[thecowboyghost]

2,4,9,13,32 for the ask game! ignore if you've done any of them already but I'm sat waiting to see your answers!!

2. Favorite fantasy book(s)

i don't read a ton of fantasy as of right now but i loved Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom which i think is fantasy (in my mind i read that recently. it was in 2020. that was four years ago ahhhh) and when i was a kid i fucking loved Fablehaven lmao that book series changed me and i stand by that!

4. Favorite science fiction book(s).

THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY!!! i love that book series so much omgggg it is like my all time fav. Also The Martian and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir i love those books 😭. there is also this book called Zenith that i really enjoyed but i have never finished even though i have read it like a full 5 times BUT i thought it deserved a mention because i really like the worldbuilding and characters!

9. Favorite detective novel(s).

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (same author as the hitchhikers guide!!) is probably the only detective book series i have read and i love it sm for similar reasons to the hitchhikers guide i just love this man's writing style and the characters are so compelling

13. Favorite thriller(s).

i don't think i have ever read a thriller lowkey... i would love some recs tho 👀

32. Name your favorite author(s).

Douglas Adams, Andrew J White and Andy Weir are what immediately come to mind but I'm sure I'm missing someone I just love their books and writing styles :)

[fanficfanattic]

Word game Wednesday! *Glances around my room wildly* cool, write, window? (I like giving three, I feel like that's good odds for at least one)

You have stumbled upon gold m’dear. Five responses below the cut.

Cool

From Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency: Todd and Amanda have their first real, big fight after they’ve reconciled.

Todd is secure enough in their relationship that he doesn’t hold himself back. From another perspective, all her time with the Rowdies has eroded Amanda’s impulse control and she carries a wand.

“Amanda, what the fuck?” Todd is trying to look at his back and see if she’s given him a tail or something. She cackled at his accurate impression of a beautiful, dumb but loving golden retriever.

“Seriously, this isn’t cool. What did you do to me?”

She answered in a syrupy sweet singsong “You’llllllll seeeeeeeeee.” The satisfaction, the peace in her soul, the way her boys and Beast will roar with laughter when she recounts this later...she should have done this the day she got a wand.

Write

1) From my constantly evolving platonic a/b/o fic, Georgie meets the gang and has a heart to heart with Ted about how long it was just her and Jamie against the world. (Also this was started before realizing that Georgie must have wanted to keep the house Jamie grew up in and they just used the right to buy scheme.) (There is also a bonus because your third word also appears in this one.)

“You know how I met Simon?” Georgie asks. She knows he doesn’t know, because before the two of them walked in, he’d only known Jamie had parents in the theoretical sense. The question itself was rhetorical, though, and if Jamie were conscious he might have something to say about all the fancy sounding words.

“When Jamie got his first few checks, he followed Pep’s suggestions to the letter. How much to save, how much to invest, what kind of early purchases were responsible splurges. Apparently everyone gets a fancy wash bag? The fuck did we know about any of that?” She snorted, hand still moving softly along her son’s upper arm. Before pointing to his crossbody bag that probably cost as much as that first bag did.

“Then he got me a fucking house. A house!!! We were in a council flat his whole life until then, and he asked what I wanted, which was for him to be secure. But he insisted, and he was going to be with me for at least 2 more years, yeah. So fuck.

And we didn’t know anything about that sort of thing, so it was Pep advising again. Which included getting all sorts of inspections and the like. After it were done, I didn’t know what kind of upkeep that means, yeah? And we were definitely the poorest family on the team, at least before then, but it weren’t like everyone were rich either. So I asked around. Couldn’t be more embarrassing than if we burned it down not knowing something normal folks do.

One of the older lads’ parents said that windows, gutters, and roofs are all things that need to be looked at kind of regularly. Which sounded mental to me, windows? But I got the number of a company and sort of threw myself on their mercy. And they sent Simon round, right?”

And Ted sort of nodded, because she obviously meant to be agreed with, regardless of how only the three of them could have known that.

“And he said to me that everything was new enough the only way I’d need to replace the windows was if I didn’t like something about the ones already there. Or wanted to remodel. We picked the damned thing out because we already liked it as it were.

But I appreciated he didn’t try to con me into something just to make a sale, and asked if he knew much about all the ins and outs of home repair. He said he did, and I offered to make him supper if he could help me write everything down so I wouldn’t miss a trick.

Had Jamie when I were only 16, so I didn’t finish school or nothing, and some men like to make you feel stupid for not knowing what they know. But not Simon. He were sweet to me. And Jamie were the only other person who’d ever had anything nice to say about me cooking. So he were two-fer-two on being respectful.

I waited about a month and then called him up to ask about plumbing or something. Can’t remember now, it was mostly just a chance to talk to him again. And we were married by the time Jamie were done with academy.”

2) And from the investigative journalist fic:

“I only had one coach I ever thought maybe I could talk to about how bad me brain sometimes got. Tried to even.”

“How did that go?”

“Said I couldn’t train cause I were hurt, guess I didn’t realize that’s not the word you use when its something inside who you are.”

“You didn’t get a chance to explain?”

“No, not really. Started yelling at me, cause he thought I were throwing a strop.”

“But if you’d cut him off-“

“That’s just it though. Da’ got me all trained up in that being a dangerous fucking thing to do. Interrupting a man what has power over you. When they’re already angry? So the same thing that happens when me da gets like that happened.”

“And that is?”

“Whatever makes me…me? Just slips away for a bit.”

“You dissociate?”

“Fuck, that’s the word! Me therapist used it the other day and I meant to write it down. D’ya mind?”

Window

1) From a DGHDA fic where a boobytrap hits Todd with a curse. Within this you get to see my greatest party trick, where I mean to look something up and put a placeholder in the spot. (Also I do not remember what I was planning with the idea of Loki’s Marble because so far as I know I entirely made that concept up lmao).

He didn’t stir even a little bit while getting him into the backseat, where they had him slump against the door to stay mostly upright. At least Farah was well practice in getting a seatbelt on a passed out Dirk or Todd. Dirk would have climbed in after him, but Farah needed him to navigate them out of the forest. They were barely out of the dense forest area, back to roads that saw regular upkeep, when they heard Todd groan. Farah pulled off to the side, at a convenient scenic overlook with a little clearing for travelers to park. She and Dirk both turned in their seats to see him blinking owlishly and then put his hand to his head.

“Hey, how you feeling Todd?” Farah asked, keeping her voice low in case he had a headache.

He looked up at her curiously, and then looked out the window before whipping his head back to stare at them.

“Whe’we?” He tiredly slurred out. Farah and Dirk exchanged concerned glances. But they turned back and Dirk quietly said, “Just outside of BLANK forest.”

“Why?”

“Do you...not remember us looking for Loki’s marble?” He tried to keep the worry out of his voice but Dirk’s eyes were wild when he looked at Farah. She didn’t look happy but also didn’t seem quite as concerned as Dirk. But it did sound like Todd might have a concussion.

2) Also from something I just shared the other day. Season 1 Jamie exchanges himself for Phoebe’s safety and is being held hostage.

“He received this text at 7:18pm” and the screen showed a mocked up phone, enlarged, and with a click of a button, a photo appeared in the message field.

“It was from a number not saved in his phone, and traced to a woman in Poland. She has been cleared, so we suspect a skimmer was used to create a false number.”

The image was of Phoebe sitting at the dining room table of her home with Roy’s sister. It was taken through the front window into the room and had a crosshairs image over it.

[sitron-sunni]

Top 10 female characters

tagged by @dummerjan, thank you so much!<3

rules: name favorite female characters from 10 different fandoms, then tag 10 people.

This was. challenging and really fun. i loved picking out gifs for everyone<3 but the one character per fandom thing was fucking hard. like. black sails? come on. come onnnn. every woman from that show should be on hereeeee. but whatever, here's the list.

1. Max Blacksails my beloved<3 (Black Sails)

2. Fiona Gallagher (Shameless US)

3. Margo Hansen (The Magicians)

4. Caroline Forbes (The Vampire Diaries)

5. Luisa Manjimbe (Mortel)

6. Mylene Cruz (The Get Down)

7. TIE! Sun Baek or Kala Dandekar (Sense8)

8. Noora Amalie Sætre (SKAM (original))

9. Amanda Brontzman (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency)

10. Christine Daaé (The Phantom of the Opera)

The further down on the list the less certain I am about my choices, but whatever. If this tells you anything about me overall, I guess it would be that I love to see women coming into their power in some way or another.

Tagging: @shubaka @just-slightly-chaotic, do it if you wanna!<3

[indashadows]

Tagged by @thatqueercookie thank you so much for tagging me!! ❤️

8 shows to get to know me!

1) What We Do in the Shadows

I mean... Can you tell I'm obsessing over this show?? It has everything, old stupid disfunctional characters, queer as fuck and just completely genius and funny!

2) Arcane

I've been a gamer my whole life and this show just does game adaptation finally justice! It had the best animations I have ever seen, the story is great, the sound track too! It's just perfect

3) Flight of the Conchords

Put tugether a very funny show and very good music and I would love it! It has the right amount of cringe and even though I watched it like 10 years ago I still regularly listen to the songs 😂

4) Futurama

Sci-fi, stupid, funny, crazy, dark humor, Fry is such a dork but so loving, all the characters are so well written and they develop so much throughout the series, it's one of those show I will always be up to rewatch

5) Castlevania

Can you see a pattern here? Animation series, from a videogame and vampires?? I want to draw a crossover between this series and wwdits!

6) Black Mirror

I love series with separate stories in each episodes! Every single one is very fucked up and with huge twists, I never know what to expect

7) Love Death + Robots

Same as Black Mirror, not only a separate story in each episode, but different art style!! You watch this and you just think "this is true art" not a single episode let me down in this serie, truly s masterpiece

8) Dirk Gently

This series was so promising to me, it was very weird and funny and kinda mysterious but it got cancelled after season 2 and I'm still crying over it 😭 I'll just have to deal with it

So that's it, I like fucked up shows, funny shows, Sci-fi, but most of all animations and video games, hi that's me nice to meet you ❤️

I won't tag anyone but if you see this and want to do this is quite fun to rethink about what shows you really like! :D

[gloomiedyke]

Reading Goals - Round 1

1. Terry Pratchett - Completionist: I am determined to read EVERY Pratchett book, including his collaborations. I've started with the Discworld series, which seems obvious. I'm currently on book 12 of 41

2. Neil Gaiman - Completionist: Same goal! I've already read some of the more popular ones and most of the short fiction collections.

3. Douglas Adams - Almost-Completionist: All of The Hitchhiker's series and the Dirk Gently's series, at least! Possibly more if I end up really liking him! I've never read any before so this will be new!

4. Lemony Snicket: All of the Series of Unfortunate Events! I've never read them, but like everyone else I've come across absolutely beautiful quotes from them, so! (Possibly also the All The Wrong Questions series)

5. P.G. Wodehouse: All of Jeeves' books! I saw someone whose taste I appreciate raving about them and I love English humour, so why not!

6. T.J. Klune: 'The House by the Cerulean Sea' and 'Under the Whispering Door'. Possibly also 'The Lives of Puppets'!

Reading Goals - Round 2

1. Nnedi Okorafor - Completionist: ALL OF THEM. Every one. Her stuff looks SO COOL

2. Ursula K. Le Guin: I don't know yet! But I'm excited! It's a crime I haven't already read her, really!

3. Freya Marske: 'A Marvelous Light'! Kept seeing quotes on Tumblr, looks funny!!!

4. Emma Mieko Candon: 'Archive Undying'. Kept getting ads on Tumblr, usually I ignore them but this one looks amazing, and the summary was hilarious!

5. Samantha Shannon: I started The Priory and never finished it! So I need to finish that and its new sequel! Prequel? Whatever, the series has expanded and I'm excited! I loved Ead and Tané so much honestly

6. Stephen Graham Jones: 'The Only Good Indians' and 'Mongrels' are the two that caught my attention! I fucking LOVE horror though, so if they're good I'm sure I'll read more of his!

[trash-mammall]

eight shows to get to know me

thanks @h3rmitsunited fr tagging :)

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

1. BBC MERLIN

i watched this show when it was first airing as a kid, and then returned to it 10 years later. it has completely rewired my brain and absolutely had lasting effects on how i view character and relationship building. it’s made me cry so hard i thought i was going to vomit

2. DIRK GENTLY

i think i first watched this in 2018, and then continued to rewatch it like 5 times, got 8 pages into writing an essay on why it shld be renewed, fell off a bit, and ever since i’m pretty sure every year i’ve fallen back into it. right now i’m off of it, but i miss it and it’s only a matter of time. fundamentally changed my perception of how plot and story can work, how weird you can get with it

3. MYTHBUSTERS

i fully grew up on this show. i haven’t watched it in years but it lingers in the back of my mind and it helped me continue to love science and math even though school sucked. also explosions and weird myths i got to learn about. simply iconic

4. TED LASSO

this one’s a newer one but it very quickly shot into my top shows of all time. it’s so compassionate in its writing and so genuine in its acting and i simply adore it. also i ted is my dad now

5. OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH

this one’s pretty straight forward. beautifully created, emotionally powerful, i can’t wait to see where it goes. i hyperfixated and wrote like 5 fics for it during exam season. i love frenchie the most

6. SCRUBS

another one from my childhood — i don’t remember a Ton from it but the parts that i do i Know this show effected some stuff. also it’s the best hospital drama and i’ll die on that hill (this does not include the final season. fuck the final season)

7. MALCOM IN THE MIDDLE

and ANOTHER one from my childhood. watched this whole show w my family, it’s absolutely iconic. so funny, so loving, probably mentally effected me more than i care to admit or can articulate. i need to rewatch it since i haven’t since i was like 10

8. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

this show is a masterpiece in its writing but i love it Particularly for its practical effects, i love them so much. the story and characters are so compelling tho, and even the characters that suck are so unique and personable that you enjoy their screentime regardless, it’s fantastic

this was hard bc i don’t actually watch very much TV but :) welcome to the inside of my brain if anyone has any questions i would love to be enabled to talk more on any and all of these shows

EDIT: honourable mention to camp camp i will not explain further

[bustyasianbeautiespod]

Episode 57 Transcript: Deanpilled Samcel

[intro guitar music]

G: Hello, my name is Grey.

C: And my name is Crystal.

G: And this is Busty Asian Beauties, a Supernatural commentary podcast where I, someone who has seen this show several times…

C: And I, someone who only knows about the show through social media, discuss every single episode of Supernatural from start to finish. Also, we are both Asian.

G: Both Asian! For today's episode, we will be discussing Season 3, Episode 13: “Ghostfacers,” written by Ben Edlund, directed by Phil Sgriccia.

C: It sure is.

G: This was aired on April 24, 2008, and if I'm not mistaken, our last episode was aired...

C: February 21.

G: February. Yeah. So like, there's quite a gap. And is that, you know, because of the writer’s strike?

C: Yeah, that is because of the writer's strike.

G: Yeah. So they actually reference the writer’s strike in this episode.

C: They do!

G: In a "those pesky writers!" kind of way.

C: Yeah.

G: And, okay. Before we start, I want to ask what you thought of this episode. Like, did you think it was funny?

C: Did I think it was funny.

G: I thought it was pretty funny! [laughs]

C: It was pretty funny. There were parts that were funny. I don't think they were like, laugh out loud funny, but like, I was amused at certain points.

G: I personally think it's quite funny- like I did laugh at certain points, and the nature of the show, of like the Ghostfacers show being like, as Sam put it and the end, like, "Wow! You really gave honor to his death by being so fucking exploitative of it." [C laughs] Like, that's the whole point of the Ghostfacers, and I thought that was so fun. Like, the way they portrayed it in the episode was both like, "Oh my god! These guys are so terrible!" but also it's like, so hilarious. And I love that.

C: Yeah. I agree. And I feel like this did a lot better of a job at being funny than- what was the name of the episode that they were in previously?

G: I think "Tall Tales"? No, that's not true.

C: No, it wasn't "Tall Tales."

G: It's like "House-" House M.D. [laughs] No.

C: "Hell House"?

G: "Hell House," yeah.

C: I feel like it felt a lot more mean-spirited in "Hell House," the way that they treated Ed and Harry and, I don't know, the way that they were like, nerds was not very entertaining or funny to me. But this was actually funny.

G: Yeah, because back then, it was like, "Oh, they're so like- They're cowards, and they're unmasculine, and they're nerds, and that's why this is funny."

C: Yeah. And they don't even sex with girls.

G: Yeah, they have sex with each other! [both laugh] But like, in this episode, it's like, "No, no, no. These guys are like, actual shitheads," and so you're laughing more at their misery.

C: Yeah.

G: So what did you know about this episode before going in?

C: Okay, so the first thing I knew was that Maggie Zeddmore, Ed's adopted sister, is Asian.

G: [laughs] Yes! Yes.

C: Yeah. I knew that there'd be a shot with the Ghostfacers posed in front of their van because I've seen edits of it as the "Down with Cis" bus. [both laugh] Yeah. So I guess I knew that they had a team. I knew that the format of the episode was that it would be a Ghostfacers episode, so there'd be shakycam, and Sam and Dean would take more of a back seat. And I knew that Sam and Dean would actually swear in this episode, and that it is the origin of the the "Ghostfacers effect" term that people like to use a lot in Supernatural analysis on the Tumbles.

G: Yeah. Wow! You say "the Tumbles" now, just like I do. [C laughs]

C: Yeah, you infected me with that, I suppose. Yeah, I knew about Corbett being "that poor gay intern." [G laughs] And that he would be played by Dustin Milligan, who is in two much better shows as Ted from Schitt’s Creek and Friedman in Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. I knew about-

G: He's handsome!

C: Yeah, he's cute. I knew about "gay love can pierce through the veil of death and save the day," of course. And I thought for some reason that the big Edharry break up would be in this episode, but it's probably in "The Real Ghostfacers" or something instead, because I forgot that they show up again after this. So yeah.

G: They do. They do show up again.

C: So that is what-

G: Do you know the “Hard Feelings” Edharry AMV?

C: Yes, of course I know about the “Hard Feelings” Ed and Harry AMV! [G laughs] And the linked fanfiction.

G: Oh, I love the Supernatural fandom so much. [C laughs] I think we are so funny.

C: Yeah. I agree.

G: So yeah. Let's start.

-

G: Honestly, I feel like discussing this episode is a bit difficult because a lot of the gags, I suppose, are quite visual, would you say?

C: I agree.

G: But we will try.

C: We'll try.

G: So we actually have a typical "Before" sequence and title card, and it's just, you know, like, they kill people- [laughs] "they kill people."

C: They do!

G: They do also kill people. [laughing] But they kill, like, monsters. And then Harry and Ed show up, and they do a bit about that. And then the scene like, shatters or whatever, like TV interference, and it becomes Harry and Ed in suits?

C: Yeah, suits.

G: Incredibly ill-fitting suits, and they're like, drinking, and they're talking [serious voice] like this. They're like, "Hello. It is I." And they introduce themselves, and they're like, "We are going to introduce you, TV executive bigwig, to the concept of our show. Because while you're watching this, you're gonna watch the scariest one hour of your life." [C laughs] And in that intro, they say, like, "I know that you're having a rough day because of the writer's strike," and then they're like, "Ugh, writers. They're lazy, fat cats." And then they go, "Who needs writers when there's guys like us for reality TV?" They introduce the Ghostfacers, and they get the iconic, [sings] "Ghostfacers!" theme song.

C: [singing] "We face the ghosts when the others will not! We're Ghost- [both] Ghostfacers!"

G: So much fun.

C: Yeah. Great theme song.

G: I actually- I know this is a reference to Ghostbusters.

C: Yeah, which I haven't watched.

G: I haven't watched also. Have you watched the-

C: Not even the one with women.

G: Yeah, not even the one with women. You know what I have watched?

C: What?

G: I have watched the Supernatural parody. [C laughs] [laughing] Do you know that one?

C: Which one?

G: I don't know what they're called, but like, they also did like a "Shake It Off" Supernatural parody.

C: Is this the one that yielded like, the screenshot of like, Misha in front of spreadsheets?

G: Yes.

C: Yeah.

G: And Jack. I mean, who's the actor for Jack?

C: Uh, Al... Cal... It starts with a C.

G: He's just Jack to me. Al Capone. No. [C laughs] Al...

C: [typing] "Jack Kline..."

G: Is it Al? I don't think it's Al.

C: I feel like it is Al.

G: Can we just-

C: Alexander Cal-vare. Calvert.

G: Calvert.

C: Calvert? Calvert.

G: I think it's Calvert.

C: Okay. But a lot of people call him Alcal.

G: Alcal! People call him Alcal. Yeah. And like, I think Alcal looks cute there. He's sitting, and he's like, the secretary. He's applying to be the secretary. Do you even know what I'm talking about?

C: I think I do. Or at least there's a scene where Misha asks him if he got the spreadsheets ready or something?

G: Yeah, something like that. Anyway, that show- that's the only Ghostbusters I've seen. [laughs] When I first entered the fandom, that was when the "Shake It Off" was new, so I remember seeing it a lot.

C: Yeah, that makes sense.

G: Have you watched it?

C: No, I just know the screenshot about the spreadsheets because of that comment that Collins made at a con once about how heaven would just be like, Cas and Jack trying to like, balance Excel sheets, so then people brought that back. But I never bothered watching the actual video.

G: Yeah. Well, I think it's called "Hillywood Show." Whatever. Anyway.

C: Anyway. Alright. Also, I want to mention that as the theme music plays, we have like, shots of each member of the team and then their name-

G: Yeah, and they're being introduced.

C: Yeah, but then at the end, like during the theme song, you get Sam and Dean, which is sort of like a fun little reveal. And Sam's picture is just like, him in the shadows, looking vaguely annoyed, and then Dean’s is him like, flipping them off-

G: Flipping the screen, yeah.

C: Yeah. Anyway.

-

C: So we start with Ed and Harry getting out of a car. And we have these documentary-style voice overs where they're talking about how they work together at a Kinko’s, which is a great name for a copy shop. I hope that they haven't changed their name. And afterwards, they get off by 6 PM, and they go join their team, and they discuss things.

G: I love the lone wolves lines so much. They're like, "We're two lone wolves, and we need other wolves." [laughs] They're so stupid!

C: Yes. Oh, also, when they get out of the car, it's clear they're trying to walk in slow motion, but it's clear that no actual slow motion effect is happening, they're just trying to walk slow, and then the cars behind them are going at normal speeds so you can so tell that they're just trying to watch slow.

G: It's funny.

C: So we get to "Phase I: The Homework," which is like, the screen that shows up.

G: The lore, yeah. They're gonna do the lore.

C: Yeah, they show up at the office, and we are introduced to Spruce, who is unbearable. And Corbett.

G: He's just- I mean, Spruce is like, whatever. Like, why is he even here?

C: I- They just needed a guy to like, to do the filming, I think, once the plot happens. But I don't know why they bothered giving him the world's worst personality to boot.

G: What makes him bad? What are you talking about? I don't remember him.

C: Oh, he calls Ed or Harry "mein fuhrer," which is like, what they called Hitler?

G: Oh. Okay! [laughs] Okay!

C: Yeah. So, you know, he's that kind of a guy.

So, right, so we're introduced to Spruce, Corbett, and Maggie.

G: Whoo!

C: Yeah. God, they did Maggie so dirty this episode.

G: I mean, Corbett dies, so like-

C: Corbett dies, but like, is that worse than kissing Harry? [G laughs] I don't think so.

G: There are layers to it, yeah. [C laughs]

C: Yeah. So right. Their office, like, there's a big ole Ghostfacers sticker on the door, and it looks like some kind of an underground lair situation. It's a fun aesthetic. So Corbett, we learn in his little segment that he got into this team because he was at some outlet mall, and he saw Ed putting up flyers to recruit Ghostfacers, and he decided to join for heterosexual reasons.

G: [laughs] Yeah!

C: Yeah.

G: What's so funny is I thought, like, the reveal at the end- Okay, here's what I thought. I thought that Corbett is not like, obviously like, gay, because I remember the end scene only where Harry's saying to Ed, like, "You know that he wanted you." Stuff like that. And I thought it was like, not obvious-

C: That was the reveal.

G: Yeah, I thought that was the reveal, and it was not obvious to Ed before because it wasn't obvious to us, or, you know, stuff like that.

C: Yeah.

G: So like [laughs], the fact that from the get-go, he's like, "Oh my god, hi Ed!" [laughing] I thought was so funny.

C: It's really good.

G: It's funny! Yeah. I know he dies, but I consider Corbett good gay representation. Thumbs up, my dude.

C: Is this not an episode where Supernatural got nominated for a GLAAD award about it? [G laughing]

G: Yeah!

C: Let me fucking check. Right? They did, right?

G: [laughing] They did, they did, they did, they did.

C: Okay. Let me- I want to know- I want to know which episodes got nominated for a GLAAD award. Yes, okay. "Ghostfacers." And then they got nominated for "The Real Ghostbusters" because of [laughing] the fucking Wincest LARPers.

G: [laughing] Oh no! Oh no!

C: And then they nominated for Charlie in "LARP and the Real Girl," which is normal. And you know who fucking won that round? You know who won over that round?

G: Who?

C: An episode of Elementary, baby!!

Oh, I just said that I think the one that it lost to is probably "Snow Angels" 'cause it features Mrs. Hudson, who's trans. I don't think they did a very good job with her, but like, I also don't know how good of a job they do with Charlie in “LARP and the Real Girl,” so yeah, I don't know if it was a deserved loss or not.

G: Yeah.

C: Yeah.

G: And that's how we met Corbett.

C: Yes, that is how we met Corbett. And then we have a little Maggie section where she doesn't get to talk about herself at all. Like, it starts with her and Harry- like, apparently, this was supposed to be foreshadowing, but I did not see it. Harry sort of teasingly like, punches her, and then she like, actually punches him back.

G: Yeah.

C: Was this supposed to be lead-up to them being romantically interested in each other? 'Cause this seemed like, incredibly sibling-like, you know?

G: [laughs] I think- I think it is a little- You know how like, when you're young, and then your boy classmates pull on your pigtails and your teachers are like, "It's because he likes you!"

C: Right. So it's that kind of a situation.

G: Yeah, it's like that kind of sitch, yeah.

C: Alright. Alright.

So yeah. And then we have Harry telling Ed, "Ed, your sister's abusing staff." And then Ed says, “That's adopted sister, thank you very much.” What? Why? [G laughs]

G: That's so-

C: What kind of a sloppy, sloppy exposition line.

G: They just wanted to be like, "If you're wondering why she's Asian, and he's white-"

C: Like, "We know, we know. We promise we would never do race-blind casting in a situation unless it was a way to make things more racist. We prommy, we know."

G: Yeah.

C: Right, but like- Is it also to show that they have a strange relationship because the camera zooms in on Maggie after that, and she's like- she has a "What the fuck?" face on, because Ed seems to be saying that to mean like, "I don't actually care about her, and she's not actually part of my family"?

G: Yeah, no, I mean, that's the intention, I feel like-

C: But like, that feels like, weird.

G: Later, when he goes bazooka on Harry.

C: Yeah.

G: That's why it's so weird. [laughs]

C: Yeah, it's ugly.

G: [laughing] Like, what even is going on?

C: What even is going on? Who knows? It's Supernatural.

C: So in Maggie's little section, she just says, like, “Oh, Ed has been obsessed with the supernatural since we were kids, and he and Harry met at computer camp, and they experienced love at first geek.” So yeah, you know, they are having sex with each other. And then we get Spruce’s stupid fucking intro. [G laughs] So I think they are establishing this guy as incredibly unlikeable, because he starts off with like, [annoying voice] “What up playa?” in like, the most annoying voice, like even more annoying than I just put it. And then his intro, he says that he's "15/16th Jew and 1/16th Cherokee," and then he says just some fucked up shit. I think the main thing I fixated on was him saying his great-great-grandfather was a degenerate gambler, and had a peyote- peyote? peyote addiction.

G: What does that mean?

C: Like, the plant itself is just a cactus that has psychoactive properties. But, like, the implication is that the great great grandfather is the 1/16th Cherokee-

G: Oh.

C: - so like, characterizing a Native man as a degenerate gambler with an addiction to a cactus is just a fucked up thing to do. So, interesting choice, Ben Edlund. And then, right, and also he talks about his grandfather and his great grandfather. But he says his grandfather is someone who performs circumcision on Jewish boy children, and his great grandfather was a tallis maker. And I think that- yeah, okay, that's a prayer shawl used in Judaism. So, I mean, those are just like- I guess those are just about his-

G: Jew-

C: - yeah, other predecessors being Jewish and being involved heavily involved in the faith, which is, I think, more normal than whatever he said about his 1/16th great great grandfather, but it's also like- I don't know. I'm trying to figure out if they were trying to make some kind of antisemitic joke here, but I'm not certain. I know that Ben Edlund is a non-practicing Jewish person, so I don't know. I feel like I don't have much further to say there, but the vibes feel off.

G: I mean, aren't the vibes supposed to feel off? Because-

C: The vibes are supposed to feel off, like, I think we're supposed to think this guy sucks, but- Yeah, I can't tell if the joke is supposed to be that Spruce is just making shit up? Or-

G: [laughs] I honestly did not think of this at all. 'Cause I didn't understand it. There were no subtitles so I didn't understand what he was saying.

C: Oh, you didn't watch it on sflix- or, I mean, sorry-

G: Netflix?

C: You didn't watch it on Netflix? [laughs] Where there are subtitles?

G: [laughing] No, I watched on BLEEP. I watched there.

C: [laughs] Yeah, okay.

G: I watched on the website that you told me to watch in.

C: Yeah, I started there, but then my roommates wanted to watch with me, and it wasn't loud enough for them, so I moved to totally Netflix, which has subtitles. [G laughs]

G: Great, yeah.

C: Yeah. Okay. So yeah, I don't know. I can't tell if the point is like, he's making up the stuff about his heritage, and then he’s saying stereotypical stuff, or he's right about his heritage, but he's making up professions for his ancestors in order to be funny, or if- Yeah, I don't know what's happening here. But the vibes are off for some reason.

G: Alright.

C: Alright. [laughs]

Okay, and then we hear about the mission that they're on. They're trying to break into Morton House, which becomes haunted- the most haunted place in America every four years on Leap Day, and apparently, no one has ever managed to stay the entire night, but they're going to do it. This whole time, Ed is presenting at a whiteboard, and then Corbett comes up to him and hands him a cup of coffee [G laughs], and Ed goes like, “Oh, that's good,” and Corbett's like, “Oh, yeah, hee-hee, it's French vanilla, because the other day, you said how much you liked it, so um, yeah, tee-hee, I'm twirling my hair," etc. And, you know, Ed thanks him. And Corbett’s like, “You're welcome.” And there's a long, lingering pause on both of their faces.

G: Yeah. And it cuts to a scene of Harry being like, “I think Corbett likes Ed, and I think that's bad for the team.”

C: Yeah. [laughs]

G: And it's like- [laughs] Literally, when this played, I started singing the song that you're obsessed with. The one that goes like, [laughing/singing] "Jealousy, turning saints into the sea-"

C: Into the sea.

G: Literally.

C: Literally.

C: Yeah. But oh, before it cuts, I think while Ed’s presenting, he just drops his marker.

G: Yeah. Like, he's presenting, and he just throws his marker on the floor. There's so many like, little tidbits on their physical acting. It was fun, yeah.

C: Yeah, there's some fun physical gags.

G: Yeah. I mean like, while Harry was talking about Corbett, Corbett shows up by the door of the car and just says "hi" to the camera, which I thought was also fun.

C: Yeah.

G: After Harry says that Corbett is like, into Ed [C laughing], there's a scene where Corbett is like, “Oh, yeah, Ed has that like, rugged look, you know. Really beautiful beard... Yeah. And Harry's nice!" [both laugh] This is- this is how we talk about Sam and Dean.

C: Yeah.

G: And we don't even call Dean nice. We don't even call Dean nice.

C: Yeah, it's true. It's true. I just- I'm trying to figure out- like, the Corbett stuff is funny, but like, it's not funny because he's gay, it's just funny that he has bad taste, right? Like, that's what you're supposed to get?

G: I think it's funny that like, this absolutely handsome young man is so into this guy who is obviously a loser and asshole.

C: Yeah. Yeah. [laughs] But he also has kind of like a pretty boy look going on. I feel like they don't make him like, masculinely attractive in their stylings. So-

G: He definitely looks gay, yeah.

C: He definitely looks gay. Good for him.

G: I mean, "Definitely looks gay-" what does that even mean? But you know what I mean, like-

C: Yeah. He just does. Good for him.

G: [laughing] He dresses like me! [both laughing] What a slay.

C: And this is why representation is so important.

G: Yeah.

C: [laughs] Good for him. So yeah. I guess the whole time, I was like, trying to figure out if this was homophobic or not, and like, I didn't feel that-

G: I mean, it's definitely homophobic that they introduce a gay character to kill him-

C: And like murder-

G: Yeah. The brutal- [laughs] the way they murder is so brutal as well, and like, they replay his murder scene over and over again. [screams]

C: They sure do.

G: But like, the whole point of the episode- Again, this is where the crux of it is, which is that-

C: Gay love can-

G: It's being satirical. Like, they're being like, "Look at how they exploit this obviously horrific death, and look at how-" you know, like, that's the point. So them being like, "Ah, look at how this gay man dies" and they like- I don't fucking know. Like, you know. That kind of shit. Like, it's supposed to be- homophobic? [both laugh] You know what I mean? Not- Me defending the entirety-

C: [laughing] Homophobia is okay when it's on purpose.

G: [laughing] Me defending the entirety of Supernatural: it's supposed to be homophobic!

C: [laughing] It's on purpose, so it's okay!

Yeah, I don't know, I feel like you can't hide behind satire for everything.

G: No, here's the thing-

C: I feel like it only works if Supernatural is usually not homophobic.

G: Exactly. Like, if you view this episode just as itself, I don't think it's homophobic, right?

C: Yeah.

G: But the fact that, like, couple of episodes back, Dean was telling Sam that he's gay for knowing-

C: [laughs] What Snow White is?

G: [laughs] Yeah, exactly. Like, that's what makes it a bit like, "Okay, so like, they're homophobic satirically, but they're also homophobic for real, so-" [laughs]

C: Yeah.

G: Yeah.

C: Yeah. Oh, well. Well, the GLAAD award-

G: I think it would be interesting what the grading we'll give later for the spreadsheets will be.

C: Yeah, I really don't know right now.

G: Yeah. I think we'll figure it out as we go.

C: We'll figure it out as we go!

So Ed continues presenting, and then suddenly, his whiteboard crashes to the ground, and we get the reveal that their entire office is in Ed's dad's garage. [laughs]

G: Yeah, I didn't realize that that was what's happening.

C: Uh-huh. What did you think was happening?

G: I was like, "Why is a car like, going through the wall?" [both laughing] I was like, "Did the dad- was the dad like- does the dad have Alzheimer's and is like, driving through where he shouldn't be driving?" you know. I did not understand what was happening.

C: Right. Yeah. That makes sense. But yeah, no, it was just that his whiteboard crashes because it's next to the garage door, and it opened up, and his dad's there. Yeah, his dad seems like a nice guy in the one second we get. And, you know, we get some funny Ed and Harry going like, "Oh my god, like, just cut the cameras. We don't need that. We don't need this part." [laughs] Good for them.

G: They don't.

C: And that ends Phase I.

-

G: Yeah. And we have Phase II: Infiltration.

C: Ooh.

G: They enter the house, and they talk about how like, the cops have gotten tired of everyone trying to get in here, so they like, chain-linked everything. And then, like, Sam and Dean's car- why am I calling it that? The Impala like, shows up, and they're like, "Oh, let's just ignore it, whatever." And then they go inside, and they start setting up.

C: Sorry. Sam and Dean's entrance is characterized by like, loud-ass rock music playing, right?

G: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

C: And we're supposed to assume that what we're hearing is what Ed and Harry are hearing, which means that they play music at an intolerably loud volume from their car everywhere they drive-

G: Good for them.

C: And I'm not surprised that- I feel like half of the episodes realistically would be “the Impala got rear-ended again.” But, you know. [both laugh] Absolutely unbearable behavior on their behalves.

G: Maybe all the bad things that have happened to them are actually deserved and their fault for playing music this loud.

C: Yeah. [laughs] I agree.

G: Yeah. The only relevant scene in the setting up is Corbett setting up the camera, and then, like- what's his name?

C: Ed.

G: Ed behind the screen, going, “Looking good, Corbett!” And Corbett being like, "Oh my god, I'm blushing! Oh my god. Like, copy that, Ed!" [C laughs] And Ed being like, "Um, okay. You're welcome."

C: God bless.

G: God bless! And yeah, they just check the- everything. And then they set up their base, where, like, a lot of their equipment is, and then-

C: Also, this is when Spruce is setting up, that's when he calls Ed and Harry "mein fuhrer." So, yeah, fuck this guy.

G: Yeah. They go to Phase III: Face Time! [laughs] Which is such a funny name. So they're about to face the ghosts, and it's like- it's like- What time is it? Oh, it's 10:51, it says here. So they still have a quite a ways to midnight, which is their goal, actually. Like, no one has stayed up to midnight, so their goal here is to stay- be on midnight. And Ed and Corbett team up, and then Harry, Spruce, and Maggie team up. Yeah, and they're on different floors, I think. Like, the two are in the first floor, and the three are on the second floor. And as they move around, [laughs] they see rats. And like, Harry like, freaks the fuck out [C laughs], starts running. I think this is a famous gifset of like, reaction or something. Like, Harry screaming, and then somebody going, "It's just a rat." Which-

C: Yeah.

G: I thought it was funny.

C: Yeah, I think the next line is the one that I've seen screenshotted more.

G: What? "The rats are like the rats of the world"?

C: [laughs] Yeah. [G laughs]

G: I mean, come on, Harry is actually so funny. Like, he's funnier than Ed.

C: I agree.

G: I like him better than Ed. Yeah. He's an accidental comedy genius.

C: Right. Well, I think the thing about Harry is like, I think we're supposed to dislike Ed more, because he's like, the arrogant one. Because when we get like the text, like, labels when we're introducing the characters, did you notice that Ed's said-

G: He was the leader, yeah.

C: "Leader of the Ghostfacers" and yeah, Harry’s said “Co-Leader of the Ghostfacers”? [both laughing]

G: Okay, here's an important question. In BABPod, who's the host, and who's the co-host? [laughs]

C: You're the host, and I'm the co-host. I feel like that's known.

G: [laughs] Yeah. Because I do the like, "Okay, let's redirect in this direction" and that and blah blah blah.

C: Exactly. You introduce the segments and all that.

G: Yeah. Yeah. But I think we are both co-hosts. That's the proper terminology.

C: Yeah. Yeah. But if you had to pick one main host, it would probably be you.

G: Yeah. Let's just hide from the audience the fact that [laughs] when we have been planning on continuing without the other, [both laughing] I am always the other who is MIA. Very, very, very, very good host of the podcast.

C: Yeah! Great host of the podcast.

G: Yeah. So they just go around until Dean and Sam- oh, I’m gonna be crucified for that one.

C: Yeah.

G: Sam and Dean- [laughs] Sam and Dean show up, and they meet with Ed and Corbett. And like, at first, they're like, "Oh, who are you guys? Show us some ID," blah blah blah.

C: Yeah, they pretend they're cops.

G: Ed is basically- Ed is going, "We're authorized to be here," and then we see Sam end up recognizing Ed after Ed goes, "Wait, I know both of you guys." And Sam says, "Holy shit," but like, obviously, the “shit” is bleeped.

C: Yeah.

G: And this starts the Ghostfacer Effect, as we call it.

C: Mm-hm.

G: Is this something we want to talk about?

C: We can just define it for people who don't know.

G: Yeah.

C: The idea is just that, like in Supernatural the show, Sam and Dean never swear. There's nothing that's bleeped out. They're always just saying "frigging" and stuff like that. [G laughs] But we can see that they swear pretty commonly.

G: Heavily, yeah.

C: Yeah, pretty heavily in this footage, which we consider to be less filtered. So the idea is that Supernatural the show is not just an unfiltered recording of what Sam and Dean do. Like, there is some kind of a force that is editing their dialogue and actions in a way to like, make it a better narrative, or make it more palatable. And people mostly just apply this Destiel, I think. [both laugh]

G: As we do everything about Supernatural. Literally just apply to Destiel.

C: Yeah. I mean, I don't want to be part of the "we" that makes everything about Destiel [G laughs], but I will make everything about Cas.

G: I mean, I personally am not that involved with Supernatural fandom spaces anymore.

C: Same, yeah.

G: So, yeah. I'm just chilling. Think about it occasionally. Once a week, perhaps, when we record this podcast. [C laughs]

C: Yup.

G: Yeah. And it's a fun life! And I mean, I think the Ghostfacers Effect is actually like, super interesting, and it's one of the- I mean, back when I was young, we didn't like, do the Ghostfacers Effect. So I think it's one of those fun, like, after Supernatural type of terminology.

C: Yeah.

G: That, you know, is fun. And I think with the other media I've consumed since, I do like, tend to think more about like, "Okay, so what were they not allowed to show here" or stuff like that.

C: Right.

G: Yeah, I think it's an interesting way to view media. Especially big ones, like ones that fall under a lot of hands, like a TV show. Yeah. And another- I would say another post-Supernatural Supernatural thing that I actually really enjoy is the -coded, -girl phenomena. [laughs]

C: I don't- That's not new. Like, they talked about Samgirls, like, in “Fan Fiction” the episode.

G: Yeah, but like, -coded? You don't think that's new?

C: I don't think -coded is new. I mean, okay, I only joined post November 5th, so I guess I don't know anything. So maybe it is new. Because you've been here longer.

G: Yeah.

C: So maybe it is new. I feel like it feels so intrinsically tied with -girl that I feel like if -girl was around, then -coded should have been around.

G: No, I don't think so.

C: Okay.

G: I think people back then were like, "I kin Dean Winchester." And now everyone's ashamed to say "I kin Dean Winchester," so they just say "I'm Dean Winchester-coded." [both laugh]

C: I see.

G: That's my hot take, yeah.

C: So -coded rose out of cowardice.

G: Yeah.

C: Sad.

G: And I remember telling someone who's not involved in Supernatural like, "Oh, in the Supernatural fandom, we say like, if you're like Dean, you say you're Deancoded, and if you like Cas, you say you're a Casgirl. So you can be a Samcoded Deangirl," blah blah blah blah blah blah. And they were like, "This is literally like those- those jokes that are like 'I'm peachcel-'" like, you know that one?

C: The one?

G: For example, "I'm foodcel storepilled"? You know that one? The -cel -pilled thing?

C: Oh, yeah! Yeah, yeah.

G: Yeah. And it literally is.

C: It is.

G: And I have not stopped thinking about that. [C laughs] Literally, -coded -girl is just -cel -pilled.

C: Yeah. So true.

G: Anyway, they realize that these guys are like, the guys from the tulpa house, and apparently, back then, they called themselves The Hellhounds.

C: Their blog was called hellhoundslair.com.

G: Ah, yeah, you're right. And Ed said like, "Oh, we're not called The Hellhounds anymore. It didn't test well." [both laugh] I support that. Imagine if we changed our name after we realized that it's not testing well. [both laugh] We probably should have.

C: Yeah. Our logo designer recently put us on her resume, and like, it was a lot of like, "I have to add footnotes and shit to explain the situation." [laughs]

G: I mean, you could have just added the ones without the lo- without the name, right?

C: Oh, yeah, no. But I mean like it was- she like, wrote it down in like a cover letter, so-

G: Noo!

C: [laughing] She had to be like, "a podcast that critiques Supernatural." [G screams]

G: God.

C: God bless.

G: 'Cause the person who made our music, I was like, "How will I put you in the credits?" [C laughs] And she was like, "Just don't. [both laughing] I don't want to be associated with you guys."

C: God fucking bless.

G: Thank god.

C: She's so real for that.

G: She literally is so real for that. She said, "Just give me the money, and then never speak to me again. [both laugh] I don't want to be linked to this at all."

C: Yeah. I'm just surprised that Ed and Harry don't mention the way that “Hell House” left off, which is where Sam tricked them into thinking that they were gonna get a movie deal-

G: Yeah.

C: - and then they drove all the way to California.

G: Maybe they didn't realize that that's Sam's fault.

C: Right. What, do you think they showed up, and they were like, "Oh my god, it's because he hated the name Hellhounds, so he never met us. We have to change it to Ghostfacers!" [laughs]

G: Maybe they were like, "We got scammed," but they don't know that it's Sam. I think that's most probably what happened.

C: Yeah. Probably.

G: That was such an another asshole move, though. No wonder these guys became so terrible.

C: This one ends with another asshole move.

G: I don't think this one is so asshole-ish. Because-

C: This is the last- like, what if Corbett's family wanted like, the last footage of him alive that was left in the world?

G: Oh, yeah. Yeah, what if his family wanted a footage of him being brutally murdered by a ghost [C laughs], you know? So sad.

C: Yeah. Well- no, exactly. They are missing out. [G laughs]

G: Yeah. And Ed is just like, "Oh, these guys are not cops." And Dean's like, "Where's your partner? Wasn't it a different guy?" And-

C: Corbett's having a time at this, I'm assuming.

G: Yeah. And Dean is like, "Okay, let's get- We need to get you and your girlfriends out of here." Which I think-

C: Which is homophobic.

G: - is homophobia. That is homophobia. So, so far the only- [laughing]

C: The only people he knows are in this house are Corbett and Harry, right? Yeah.

G: [laughing] Yeah. [both laughing]

C: [laughing] Oh my god. Let's literally get your girlfriends out of here.

G: [laughing] To be clear, I'm laughing because this episode where they literally kill a gay character, and the homophobia moment is from Dean Winchester! [C laughing] It's still him.

C: It's just an intrinsic part of his personality.

G: [laughing] It's still him, Crystal! It's still him! [laughing]

C: It's always him. [both laughing] Ugh. Mr. Homophobia himself.

G: [still laughing] Yeah.

So then Ed says, "Listen here, chisel-chest."

C: Yeah.

G: "We were here first, so we're here. We beat you." And Dean like, literally grabs Ed. And I was like, "This literally looks like the beginning of a [C laughing] porno that I will not watch." Literally.

C: A little bit, yeah.

G: Because of the angle, too. It's like- yeah, I don't know.

C: And the bad- the bad camera.

G: And then Dean is just like, "Where's your partner?" And we cut to the second floor, where Harry, Maggie, and Spruce are.

C: Yep.

-

C: So the EMF is spiking, the temperature is down, and then, like, the camera starts glitching out, which is classic ghost behavior. And then, like, a ghost appears on the camera, but like, he looks like such a guy, you know?

G: Yeah, I know.

C: He doesn't look like a ghost at all. And maybe that's because- okay, in "Hollywood Babylon" when they could see ghosts through the camera, did they look more physically present than they did without the camera?

G: I think so, I think so.

C: Okay. So I guess that is the explanation here. So it's just some guy in a suit. And, like, he seems to be explaining himself to someone he owes money to, and then he gets shot. And then the Ghostfacers, like, splash screen appears. Good for them. And we cut back to downstairs, and Ed is explaining to Sam and Dean that they're spending the night for their TV show, and no one's ever managed it. And Sam and Dean of course, say the obvious, which is like, "Well, no, that's just 'cause everyone who stayed past midnight fucking died." A lot of people went missing here who stayed the night on February 29th. And it said that the only body they ever found was the last owner, Freeman Daggett. [laughs] And at- no, not at this moment. At a later moment, when they say this guy's name, [G laughing] me and my two roommates I was watching this with, who are a gay man and a lesbian, all turned to each other and said, "Freeman Faggot." [both laughing] But anyway.

G: For real.

C: Simultaneously. For real. So yeah, Sam's showing Ed records and stuff that he supposedly got from the local library, and then at this moment, Harry, Maggie, and Spruce run down the stairs, and they're all exclaiming about how like, “Oh my god! We saw an actual fucking ghost on camera. It was there.” And then Harry sees Sam and Dean, and he goes, "Hey! Are those the bleeps-" the like- [makes bleep sound] "- from Texas?" [G laughing] And, okay, did you think-

G: [laughing] Is this the one?

C: - this was the f-slur? Did you- I really, really thought this was the f-slur. [G laughing] 'Cause you can hear like a "ts" sound at the end. Like, what- what's the other option?

G: Well, fuckhead. Fuckheads.

C: Okay, yeah, you're right. Fuckhead, shithead, those are both possibilities. Me and my roommates wound it back like, ten times trying to figure it out, and I think that is what we eventually landed on, but we really, really thought it was the f-slur for like, the first 4 times that we heard it. [G laughs]

G: Yeah.

C: God bless.

G: God bless!

C: Right. So Maggie is showing the footage, and then Sam and Dean, they discuss among themselves. They say that, you know, the footage that we saw, that was just a death echo, so that's not really anything particularly harmful, but it's weird that it's happening here because no one got shot to death here. And Sam turns back to the group, and he says- or is it Dean who says it? 'Cause the transcript says it was Sam, but I don't- I feel like it was Dean who said it. I don't know. Okay.

G: What?

C: So he says, "Look, we got a problem here. That ghost ain't it."

G: No, that's Sam. That's really Sam.

C: Okay, you're sure that was Sam? Okay, right. And my roommate burst into laughter for like 20 seconds about this, and we finally figured out that she read it as like, AAVE, like, "That ghost ain't it" as in like- [both laughing] you know what I mean? Like- "That ghost-"

G: "That ghost did not slay."

C: [laughing] Yeah, exactly. But that was not what Sam was saying. Sam did not mean it that way. [both laughing]

G: "That ghost [both] ain't it." [both laughing]

C: So Dean explains that a death echo is just like a ghost that is reliving its- their death over and over again, usually in the place that they died, and they don't really pose any real danger. So there's something else in the house that is the actual problem. And then Sam and Dean start trying to usher everybody out of the house before midnight. Harry promises that he'll make Sam and Dean recurring guest stars. [laughs] And then they realize that Corbett is not here.

G: Oh, no.

C: Oh, no.

-

G: So, where's Corbett? Corbett is upstairs, and he's trying to communicate. He's trying to be a good boy! He's saying like- he's just going around being like, "I want to communicate with all the spirits in here," and then, like, a figure appears behind him. And then we cut back down, and then you hear him scream.

C: Yeah. Sorry, Corbett.

G: And they all just start running to the second floor, and Sam and Dean are like, "No, we need to go out!" Like, yada-yada-ya. And Corbett is just screaming until the clock strikes 12. Then you hear Corbett scream one final time, and then, it's just gone.

C: Yup.

G: And then we cut to a couple of minutes later where Ed and Harry are talking about how the guy just disappeared, and they're trying to look for him in the cameras that they have. And the Sam and Dean [both laugh], we can hear them arguing.

C: It's so funny.

G: Sam is like, "Oh my god, Dean. Are you happy now? Are you good? Are you happy?" And Dean is like, "Yeah, I'm happy!" [both laugh] And Sam goes [mocking Dean voice], "Oh, let's go hunt the Morton House. It's our Grand Canyon!" Like, he's literally putting on this voice.

C: [laughs] Yeah.

G: And then he goes, "You got two months left, and we're gonna die here tonight!"

Okay, first of all, two months.

C: Uh-huh. So it's been ten months.

G: The passing of time. Goddamn.

C: Yeah.

G: If you were to die in two months, would you like to know [laughs], weatherboy? [both laugh] Would you like to know?

C: That I was gonna die in 2 months?

G: Yeah.

C: I feel like a week is a good amount of notice beforehand. I think anything more than that, I would just be having a not fun time. A week is a good amount of time to get all your affairs in order and say goodbye to people.

G: Would you throw a massive party?

C: I mean, what a bummer of a party that would be.

G: I don't think so. I think it'd be like- You won't tell them, I feel like.

C: Oh. Oh, okay.

G: It's just like, "Let's have a party." But like, why would they come if they don't know you're dying?

C: Yeah, exactly, right. Because it's like, if you invite a bunch of people and they're like, "Oh, I don't have the time," they're gonna feel guilty forever afterwards if you don't let you know.

G: [laughing] Maybe they should. Maybe they should. [C laughs]

C: Yeah, so, right. I don't know. I feel like in- yeah, I don't know. I don't think I would throw a massive party. I feel like it would just be too messy.

G: Mm-hm. Yeah.

C: What about you?

G: Well, I think... I think I don't want to know if I die. When I'll die. "If"? [C laughs] That's such a funny way to put it. "I don't want to know if I die." But like, yeah, I don't want to know. I think for me, you know, [laughing] I live my life every day like it's my last- shut up. No, that's untrue. No, it's like, you know. Just live your life, and then, if you die, you die. RIP.

C: Yeah.

G: Yeah. Every single day, I cross the street near my- not every single day, but like, whenever I'm in Manila, like, where my uni is-

C: Are you doxxing yourself, or are there like, 5 million unis there?

G: Manila is where all the universities are, so I'm not doxxing myself.

C: Okay. Continue.

G: And the buses are passing by 'cause there are no overpasses in that horrible, horrible city. I just think to myself, "I may die today," and I think to myself, [laughs] "I don't want to throw a party!" [both laugh] That's my exact thought, so.

C: Every single time.

G: Yeah. Every single time, I like, "If I die today, would I regret that I didn't throw a party last week?" And the answer is no. [C laughs]

C: Yep. Yep. All you would regret is that you cannot film the next- you cannot record the next episode of BABPod.

G: Yeah! You'll have to replace me!

C: That's true.

G: Do you think if you replace me, the replacement would be the host, and you'd still be the co-host, or would you elevate to host?

C: No, I would be promoted. So maybe I'm sending those buses coming at you in order to like, make a power grab. [G laughs]

G: Exactly.

C: Yeah. Who knows?

G: We never know.

Yeah. So two months left. And then Sam is like, literally just smashing the door with a chair, and the guys are like, "What the fuck are you doing?" And Sam's like, "It's locked! We're all locked inside." He says- Dean, I guess says, "It's a supernatural lockdown, okay?" which I love. it literally is a supernatural lockdown.

C: Yeah.

G: And that the death echo is not the reason there's like, a more sinister being happening in the house. He says, "This is no death echo. [both] This is a bad mother." [both laugh]

C: They're allowed to swear in this episode!

G: I know! Just say "motherfucker"!

C: So that means that like, Sam will say shit, and Dean will flip people off. But Dean also genuinely says "mother" instead of motherfucker.

G: Exactly.

C: On purpose.

G: How do you feel about that? Does that make him more pathetic loser and corny?

C: I just- I want to know where he picked this up.

G: "You're a mother." [C laughs] Mother- I mean, do they say that in the US? Like, "She's mother." Do they say that?

C: No. [laughs]

G: Oh, in the Philippines, it's like, lingo where like, if somebody's serving, like, you know, the English serving, we call that like, "They're mother." For example, like, an actress is doing super well in a scene in a movie, you go, "Oh my god, she's so mother in this scene!"

C: Oh, that's fun.

G: And like, when Dean said, like, "This is a bad mother," I was like, "Oh my god, mother!"

C: Yeah. This ghost is serving, etc.

G: Etc.

C: It is serving birthday cake.

G: [laughs] What?

C: He's serving birthday cake. He's serving absolute birthday cake, the ghost.

G: What does that mean? Oh, because he's throwing a party.

C: Because he's literally serving a food. Yeah, there's birthday cake on the table, remember?

G: [laughs] Yeah. He's mother.

C: Yeah. How do we- okay, does this make Dean more wet and pathetic if he says "mother" on purpose- It makes him more of a loser, but I don't think it makes him a loser in a babygirl way. I think it just makes him a loser.

G: [laughs] Exactly. Which is how I see Dean. Just a loser.

C: Yeah.

G: Yeah. Remember when I was the Deanlover of this podcast?

C: I do remember that!

G: That was a year ago. That was a year ago. I'm a changed person now.

C: Good for you. [G laughs]

G: Yeah. And then the EMF starts spiking, and Sam's like, "Come here, you guys. Come here." And an apparition shows up, and it's a guy just standing. And then we see Dean go to the guy and like, go, "Hey! Hey, guy! [C laughing] Hey! Hey! Buddy!" Like, he's just trying to wake the guy up, and Sam goes, "What he's trying-" Sam is so benevolent.

C: Yeah.

G: He literally does exposition for these guys.

C: Yeah.

G: Sometimes occasionally begrudgingly, but he does do exposition. And he's like, "These guys are in a death echo, which means they're in a loop, and if you can like, snap them out of it, they can get out of the loop, but usually, you need some kind of connection to be able to do that." And then the apparition just-

C: Dean's yelling, "Wake up! Be dead!" [laughs]

G: Yeah. [laughing] He's so funny.

C: I think my main note during this time was "this is what Dean thinks therapy is like."

G: Literally. "Wake up, be alive!" That's what therapy is like.

C: Yeah.

G: And it is, though. [both laughing]

The guy gets like, smashed by a train. Like, obviously, we don't see the train, but like, that's obviously what's happening.

C: Yeah, we hear it.

G: And I thought the effect was pretty cool.

C: Yeah, it was decent.

G: Yeah, like, he doesn't go under the train, he goes over the train. You know what I mean?

C: Yeah.

G: It's pretty cool.

C: It hits him, and he starts kind of flying.

-

C: So, you know, Sam and Dean are confused about this, because, obviously, no one got hit by a train inside the house, so why are these death echoes appearing here? And okay, so- right. Maggie also asks, like, "So what are they doing here?" And Dean says, “Hey, give the lady a cigar.” Which-

G: What does that mean?

C: Yeah, right, I wasn't sure what it meant. Like it sort of sounds like, oh, she did a good job, or she made a good observation. But she didn't say anything new. I don't-

G: No, I think it's sarcastic, right? Like-

C: Oh, right. It's like, "Oh, wow, you're soo smart. You figured out the like, very obvious thing"?

G: Yeah.

C: Yeah. I think so.

G: What a rude guy.

C: Yeah. What a rude guy. Also, is this the only interaction he has with Maggie?

G: [laughs] I'm not sure.

C: Thank God, if so. [G laughs] Yeah, whenever Dean is anywhere near an Asian woman, my hackles rise.

G: And the next scene is he goes, "Alright, Maggie, does looking at this horrific nightmare through a camera comfort you? Does it make you feel better?" And then Maggie just goes- she puts the camera down, and then she rises it back up and she goes, "Yeah, I think so." [laughing] Which I think is so funny. Good for her, I like her.

C: It is. Good for her. I'm glad she had one moment of having a personality.

So we look around the house, and there's a lot of taxidermy of stuffed animal heads. And they find out that the last owner of the house worked at the Gamble General Hospital as a janitor. He died of a heart attack in like 1964. And they look around, and it seemed like the only thing he ate were like army rations, and he was kind of like a doomsday prepper in that he had a lot of “survival under atomic attack” books around. And then they check his safe. There's a book on taxidermy, and then there's three toe tags in here for three corpses in a morgue. One who died by gunshot, one who died by a train accident, and one who died by suicide.

G: [laughing] And then when says "suicide," Sam was-

C: [laughing] Goes, "Ewww!"

G: And I thought that-

C: Just like in Ace Attorney.

G: [laughing] Literally just like in Ace Attorney. For context, there's a scene in Ace Attorney where Phoenix Wright is looking through the case files on the cabinet, and he goes to the S, and he goes. "What's in here? Suicide? [both] Ewwwww!" [C laughs] And I literally thought he was like- Sam is- I was like, "Why is Sam saying 'ew' to the suicide! That's so mean!"

C: But yeah. So what he explains is that the death echoes are all here, because this guy, in his capacity as a hospital janitor, stole these 3 bodies and put them somewhere in the house. And Dean says that he brought the remains home from the morgue "to play." And everyone yells, "Ewwww!"

So, okay. So there was like a two-to-one split in the room when this happened. One of my roommates thought that he meant that the bodies were getting taxidermied, like, he brought the bodies back to taxidermy them, and then me and the other roommate thought that Dean meant it in a necrophiliac way.

G: Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

C: What did you read it as? Necrophiliac way?

G: I read it as necrophilia, yeah. Because I didn't register immediately- I don't know why, but I feel like I'm so slow this episode. Maybe it's the format of the shakycam. Like, I absorb details as easily as I do.

C: It's very disorienting.

G: But like, the taxidermy completely flew over me, so I didn't even really think about it.

C: But also, we see the bodies later, and they don't look taxidermied.

G: Look taxidermied, yeah.

C: Yeah, but I also- I think the reveal later is that it wasn't even a necrophilia thing. It was just he just wanted them to be at his birthday party.

G: Yeah, he just wanted to hang out with them. Yeah! This is so- so weird. What a weird

motivation!

C: Yeah, I mean, it's- I feel it's pretty classic like, serial killer in a horror franchise.

G: I mean, he didn't even kill these people

C: Right. He just stole the bodies.

G: Yeah.

C: Yeah. I don't know. I think it's possible that like, as a hospital janitor, he like, met them, and he, like, had some amount of a rapport with them, so he was like, "These are like my friends, and I’m bringing them back for my party! They just happen to be dead at this point." But yeah, I don't know.

We continue around. Maggie has wandered off a little bit, and then she gets a jumpscared a little bit by Dean being behind her. Booo. And then we start getting more camera interference, we start getting higher EMF readings. And then Sam disappears.

G: They don't even put an effort about Sam disappearing. He literally just disappears.

C: I didn't even realize that he disappeared until, like, three minutes later, when we see him tied up.

G: No, like Dean was screaming, "Sam! Sam!"

C: I was just like, "That's Dean. That's just Dean behavior." [G laughs]

G: He's just screaming “Sam!” at any given point.

C: Yeah. [laughs] This is his like, default NPC setting.

-

G: Yeah. Anyway, our next scene is so [laughing] funny and weird, and what is even happening-

C: Oh god, I fucking hate it.

G: But basically, so they're looking for Sam, and they're looking for Corbett, right? And then Maggie and Harry like, meet at a secluded area, and Maggie's like, "I'm so scared. I'm so scared." I mean earlier, we see them hold hands as well, so like, this is foreshadowed.

C: We did? Wait, when was that?

G: When, during that scene where we see the second apparition, the train guy, they were holding hands.

C: Huh. Okay. Did not notice that.

G: Yeah. So Harry is like, “It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay, Maggie.” And then they kiss!

C: Boo.

G: And it cuts to Ed watching this, so upset. And I was like, "Why are you mad, bro?"

C: Yeah.

G: Literally, what's maddening about this?

C: I mean, does anyone want to see their sibling kiss anyone ever? [laughs]

G: Yeah, but- I understand that, that you don't. But I mean, like specifically this. Because the way he words is like, "my best friend and my best sister." [both laughing]

C: Yeah. I don't know-

G: He's mad specifically that it's Harry. I think what he's mad about.

C: Yeah. There does seem to be like, some kind of a complex that guys have about their sister- like, I don't- right? Like, there's like a thing where like, bro code is like, you don't date your bros' sisters or something.

G: Who else are you gonna date? [laughs]

C: Other women? Your bro himself, in this situation- but-

G: Yeah.

C: But yeah, I don't really understand the workings of the- I guess it's just like- it's also weird when you date within a friend group, so I think it's just like double weird when you date, and there's a familiar bond.

G: The only time I've been mad at two friends who dated and didn't tell us was because I liked one of the friend, so-

C: Yeah, you- fair.

G: So like, I feel like- my interpretation of this was like, I feel like Harry has some unresolved feelings- no no, Ed has some unresolved feelings towards Harry.

C: That's definitely one way to read it.

G: And so like, he was so upset. He was like, "I'm so upset because he's kissing my sister!" [laughs]

C: Yeah.

G: Yeah. God. You know, that was grade seven, and they're still together up until now, and I'm literally a college student. [C laughs] And like, imagine being with someone since you were 13. God, I'm still- [laughs] Whatever.

C: Sorry.

G: They should have broken up. [both laughing]

C: Do you still like one of the members of that relationship?

G: No! I don't. I don't even talk to them anymore. It's just I hate- it's like, I'm good- I was really good friends with one of the people, and then the other guy, I hated for very valid reasons.

C: Yeah. That makes sense.

G: So I was just upset that like, "You're gonna date someone that's not me, and it's that guy?" [C laughs] Yeah, that was what made me upset.

C: I understand. I think I hate when any-

G: God. This was years and years ago.

C: Mm. I hate when any of my friends are dating, and I think all of them should break up with all their partners. Um- except for you, I'm sorry! [both laughing] [screams] Wait, wait, should we cut that?

G: Yes, I am going through a breakup. RIP. So-

C: Yeah, sorry. [both laughing] I forgor!

G: I love that. Because for everyone's context, Crystal literally was like, in my DMs going, "I think you guys should break up. [C laughing] I think it really is for the best."

C: Maybe so. Maybe so.

G: Maybe so!

C: Yeah. Yeah. I think- Okay, but also like, the Edharry reading is not what we're supposed to read it as, right? So are we supposed to read it as the bro code violation?

G: I think we're supposed to read it as- I honestly don't know. Like, the other reading of this is like some weird stepsibling bullshit, right? [C laughing]

C: Yeah. Right. It is. Yeah, yeah. 'Cause it's not just about it being bad for the team the way that Harry is against Ed and Corbett. Because, yeah, it is specifically about his best friend and his best sister. So yeah. I don't know. Bedlund, give us a call, let us know. [G laughs]

G: Yeah. And then he like, gives his glasses away to Spruce, and then he starts attacking Harry.

C: Yeah.

G: And then, like, Sam is- I think it's Dean who goes, “Shut it down! Like, we're down two people, and you guys are fucking fighting?" And then- I found this funny. Like, when Ed gets his glasses back, he says, "My teeth are still intact. So I won that one, right?" [both laugh]

C: Yeah. He's right.

G: Have you ever been in a physical fight?

C: No, except like, with my sister. But those don't count. That's just sibling behavior.

G: Oh yeah.

C: You?

G: Yeah, I've had my sister on a chokehold at some point in my life. Like, I remember one time, she pulled my hair so hard while I had her in the chokehold, and my scalp literally hurted for days after. [laughs]

C: Ohh, ow.

G: I love that! That's just a sibling experience.

C: Yeah. That is just the sibling experience.

G: Anyway, Sam and Corbett are tied up underground.

C: And the song playing is, [singing] “It's my party, and I’ll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, cry-” You don't know this song?

G: No, I don't.

C: Okay. I'm a fan. This ghost has good taste in music.

G: Who sang this song?

C: Shit! I forgot her name. Lesley Gore. I think.

G: Oh, I love that name.

C: Yeah, it's a good name.

G: I love the name Leslie, because it's gender neutral, but I think of-

C: Yeah, but only for old people.

G: Yeah, only for old people. No, here's the thing. It's gender neutral, but whatever gender you are, I feel like it's queer in some way. [laughs] Like, have you ever met a Leslie who was not queer?

C: I don't think I've met a Leslie.

G: Well, all the Leslies you know in the world.

C: Well, I guess there's Feinberg, so that's a pretty gay Leslie.

G: Yeah.

C: Well, the doctor character in the One Day at a Time reboot is named Leslie, and he's pretty straight, I think. So that's one point against-

G: Leslie Jordan.

C: Who?

G: Leslie Jordan? You don't know?

C: No. I don't know who that is.

G: Oh my god, he died last year!

C: Oh.

G: RIP! [laughs]

C: Yeah. Who is he, though?

G: I mean, didn't he voice someone in Supernatural?

C: Did he?

G: Yeah, he voiced the- [laughs] in "Dog Dean Afternoon," he voiced a dog. [C screams] [both laugh]

C: Oh my god. Well, rest in peace to an absolute icon, I guess.

G: Yeah. “Dog Dean Afternoon” is back, baby. And you know what? She never left. She never left my heart. She never left my heart.

C: Good for her.

G: Yeah. So that's my Leslie hot take.

G: And the guy's name, the ghost's name is Daggett, so that's what I'll start calling him.

C: Yup.

G: And he just kills Corbett. And it's like, brutal, too.

C: It's pretty bad.

G: He like, slits his throat, right?

C: Yeah, I think so. He stabs him through the throat, which is like, worse than slitting a throat.

G: Ooh. Yeah. Anyway, Dean figures out that like, Sam and Corbett are probably in like, a saferoom which is in the basement because of the whole atomic juju.

C: Yeah.

G: Do you say the word juju in like, English?

C: I've not said it, but like, I'm sure there's people with whom it is the popular thing to say.

G: Okay. So yeah. Atomic juju. [laughs]

C: Right. Specifically, he was worried because he lived during the Cold War era, and he killed Corbett because Corbett's a Communist, and I know this in my heart. [G laughs]

G: Noo! The poor gay dead intern was also a Communist.

C: Yeah. That poor dead gay Commie intern. Me one day. [G laughs]

G: RIP.

C: RIP.

G: Yeah. While Daggett is about to kill Sam, Dean enters. Wait, no! We skipped like, a lot.

C: Did we?

G: There's a scene where they get locked out of the room, right?

C: I don't remember. The shakycam made it impossible to know what was going on.

G: Everything, yeah. There's a scene where like, Dean is going down, and then the door gets locked on him, so like, Ed, Harry, and Maggie get left behind.

C: Oh, right.

G: And Spruce basically films Dean, right?

C: Yes. But that happens after Sam gets the party hat forced on him. [G laughs] So funny!

G: Poor Sam. Poor Sam. I know Corbett just died a horrible death, but poor Sam.

C: Yeah, at least he died with dignity and not with a jaunty little party hat.

G: He did! He did! He has a party hat!

C: Wait, did Corbett get a party hat or-?

G: Yeah!

C: Wait, I didn't notice that. Does his death echo have a hat?

G: That's why there's a white string. There's a white string down his face, and that's holding the party hat.

C: Oh, I just thought that was the camera being bad. Okay.

G: Yeah.

C: Poor Corbett.

G: So Dean is like, “Oh, damn it!” And then he tells Ed and Harry like [laughs]- This is an iconic scene, right? Like, he tells Ed and Harry, "In my duffel bag, there's salt. Put it in a circle and then get inside." And then they just pause for so long. [C laughs] And I think Harry goes, "Inside the duffel bag?" [both laughing] And then Dean goes, "In the salt, you idiots!" And they're like, "Oh, okay, okay. Got it, got it."

C: Yeah.

G: And then there's a scene where Harry is like- where Ed tells Harry, "Hey, listen to me. If we don't die, it's totally okay if you do my sister."

C: Jesus.

G: Which is, again, like, so fucking weird, bro.

C: Yeah, what's happening?

G: These guys are so weird.

C: Yeah. I don't know. Someone who knows about bro code, message us and explain this.

-

C: The ghost is happening again, or at least there's some kind of a camera interference. But it's not Daggett. It is Corbett's death echo, and he's like just bloody and like choking, and it's bad. It's not good. And Ed immediately is like, "Oh! Oh, Corbett!" So Sam and Dean- well, just Dean right now. Spruce asks Dean about what Sam said about Dean having two months left, and Dean’s like, “Yeah, it's complicated. You know, like, a while ago-” and then he goes like, "No, I'm not gonna whine about my fucking problems to some fucking reality show. I'm gonna do my fucking job." But okay, we're not certain if it's fucking, because my roommates heard like like an "ee" sound at the end of one of them, so obviously the immediate joke is that it was "I'm gonna do my faggoty job." [laughs] But I don't think that's what he said. It's probably "shitty job," it's probably just "shitty job."

Yeah. Do I need to clarify that I know that the f-slur is bad and some people are gonna have really bad associations with it? Nah, whatever. Continuing.

G: Well, I will insert that, and then let's continue.

C: [laughs] Okay! So Spruce asks if it's cancer. But then Dean says, like, "Shut up, because I’m hearing a sound." And the sound is the music that Daggett is playing. And also, we see that within the room, Daggett is saying like, "Oh, I've been waiting for some more friends. I get lonely. But you're coming to my party, aren't you?" So yeah, and he says, like, "You'll stay a good, long time." And then at this point, Dean is able to like, shove a cabinet away from a wall and then break a door open, and he gets into Daggett's bomb shelter. And he shoots Daggett with salt, and then he unties Sam. Wait, how do they resolve the Daggett thing? Did they burn a body at all. Oh, no, no, never mind. I remember now.

G: No, Corbett-

C: I remember now. Yeah. Okay. And then we see that inside the bomb shelter, there's like, a table surrounded by like three really old, decaying dead people. And then Corbett's corpse. And then there's like this nasty, rotting birthday cake on the table. And then the Ghostfacers splash screen happens again.

-

G: Corbett shows up again and Ed tries to talk to him. But like, it doesn't work out, and he gets scared, and all that shit.

C: It's really sweet actually. Because, like, Maggie and Harry are like, "Don't step out of the circle, don't talk to him," but Ed's like, "No, he's suffering a lot. We have to help."

G: Sam and Dean and Spruce are being tossed around the room and shit, right?

C: Are they being tossed? I thought they were just talking.

G: No, they're being tossed.

C: Well, they have a brief discussion of like, the motivations of the ghost, right?

G: Yeah. Which is-

C: Just loneliness.

G: Yeah, he's lonely.

C: Just like, normal friendship loneliness.

G: They get tossed around, I'm pretty sure. And then Ed and Harry start talking about how- Harry tells Ed that, "You know, that guy. He wanted you. [C laughs] He had feelings for you."

C: Ed goes, "Wanted me to what?" [G laughs]

G: And Harry's like, "You know."

C: And he like, thrusts his hips a little.

G: Is this homophobic? [laughs]

C: Maybe? I think- Okay, I think that Harry and Maggie's stupidass relationship is treated with an amount of levity as well, but I feel like their feelings for each other aren't really made fun of. It's just like the way that Ed is reacting to it that's the joke. In this situation, I think some of the humor is like, Ed not knowing, and like- I don't know. Some of the humor is Ed's discomfort with the situation, which could be read as homophobic. I feel like, okay, Corbett's feelings themselves were made fun of a little bit, but like, in a way, where it felt like it was mostly just about how Ed is a bad choice. I don't know. It's hard- it's hard to tell, and I feel like I would need to understand the context of the media like on the TV during-

G: The time.

C: - the year of 2008 to really know, 'cause I feel like I'm less sensitive to homophobia nowadays because I'm usually like, "This is also a joke that a gay person would make, and for all I know, a gay person is making it."

G: Yeah.

C: But I know in this situation, a gay person is not.

G: Yeah, perhaps. He says the iconic line [C laughs], "Ed, you gotta be gay for that [both] poor dead intern. You gotta send him into the light!" [both laughing] Literally, yeah.

C: Yeah. The end.

G: For real. Ed approaches Corbett, and he's like, "It's me." [laughs] Literally any time anyone says, "It's me," I think about that scene in "Goodbye, Stranger." Like, no exception.

C: Oh, huh. I did not.

G: If anyone's like, "Hey, it's me," I think of Dean going, "It's me!" Anyway, he says, "Listen to me. You meant a lot to the team. You meant a lot to me. You never back down, never say a bad word-"

C: Wait, this is actually very "Goodbye, Stranger."

G: No, exactly! That's what I was saying!

C: It's the "We need you. I need you." shit. Okay, yeah. Dean was literally just stealing Ed's lines there.

G: [laughing] Literally!

C: Absolutely no originality. "Goodbye, Stranger" is just an attempt to be Ghostfacers.

G: Exactly. He says- [laughs] he says, "You never back down. You never say a bad word. I remember that, Corbett. I remember that. I remember because... [both] I love you, Corbett."

C: "I really, truly love you."

G: "Do you remember that?"

C: So how much- How much of this is just him-

G: How much of this is true?

C: Yeah.

G: Yeah, exactly.

C: I wanna know. Like, he has plausible deniability because he's been commanded to go be gay, but like, we've seen Ed try to act before because a lot of this documentary is him trying to act, but this feels- this genuinely feels touching, for like a little bit.

G: It genny feels touching?

C: What?

G: No, because you said "It's genny," and I was like, "It genny feels touching." [C laughs]

C: I thought I said "genuinely." Maybe I'm just talking weird around my retainers. [laughs]

G: Yeah. It genny feels touching.

C: It genny feels touching, I prommy.

G: And it does genny feel touching! [C laughs]

C: Yeah, like, I don't know. I feel like maybe something was happening there. Who knows?

G: Anyway, he says, like, "Yeah, it's me, Corbett. Like, please help us. You gotta help us." And then basically, I don't fucking know. Corbett kills Daggett. The end.

C: Yeah, it's like a really underwhelming ghost fight where, like, he just sort of tackles Daggett, and then they disappear in some white light. But I guess we saw something like this in “Red Sky at Morning," so, you know, ghosts can just kill other ghosts by hugging them. [G laughs]

G: By wanting it bad enough.

C: Yeah.

-

C: Finally, we cut to the epilogue, and it's daytime, and everyone's leaving except for Corbett, because that guy's fucking dead. They don't bother taking his corpse out, do they?

G: I- that's something I was thinking about, and I- it makes me sad. Like, I don't think they do. 'Cause there's no ambulance or police officers or anything.

C: Right. I mean, maybe they're gonna go back for it, but I don't know. Poor guy.

G: Poor guy.

C: Yeah, so we get like, a voiceover of Ed being like, “This was a day of souls bound in torment. Of lives held in cruel balance. But the Ghostfacers did the best that they could." And we see, like, Harry and Maggie hug. Boo! I just wish that you could have a woman in an episode, and like, not be weird about it. And then we see that Sam is giving like, his phone number to Ed, ooh, but it's just like, I guess, "If you ever run into problems, you should call us." Which doesn't really feel right for- I don't really see why the Ghostfacers would have gone up in Sam's estimation at all. Also, if he was planning to fuck them over so bad by deleting all their footage, why would he give Ed a way to contact him?

G: I don't know

C: I don't know. Maybe it's one of those fake numbers where it's like, if you texted it, it donates $5 to the Red Cross or something out of your phone plan. Yeah. So. And Harry goes like, "We lost a beloved friend, but we gained new allies." A guy literally died. Like, a real guy actually died.

And, you know, they're doing the whole like, "Every day is a new beginning. The Ghostfacers were forced to face something far more scary than ghosts. They were forced to face... themselves." What? What did they have to face for themselves? Like, the Harry/Maggie situation-

G: [laughing] Homosexuality.

C: - and homosexuality?

G: Yeah.

C: Those were the things that they faced that were far more scary than ghosts? [both laughing]

G: I mean, the Harry and Maggie thing was far more scary than ghosts.

C: Yeah. Right. And then they have an annoying little thing where Ed's like, "War changes man," and Harry goes, "And Maggie," and then Ed corrects himself to say, "War changes man and one woman." Which okay, I did laugh a little, but it's also mostly annoying. Right, and Ed says, "Corbett, we just like to think that you're out there watching over us." And Harry is like, "We've promoted you from intern to a full Ghostfacer. Partly because it would be cool to have a ghost on the team." They're being so not nice about this.

G: Yeah!

C: But I mean, okay, I think Harry is the one who's mostly saying the insensitive lines. Ed is sort of trying harder. He says, like, you know, "This whole time, we thought we were teaching you, and really, you were teaching us. About heart, about dedication, and about... how gay love can pierce through the veil of death and save the day"!

G: Literally when they were saying this, I was like, "You know who taught me about heart? [C laughs] About dedication? And about [both] how gay love can pierce through the veil of death and save the day?" Literally [both] Castiel. Shoutout, my man.

C: Shoutout to Cas. Yeah, okay-

G: And also Alan J. Corbett.

C: Yeah, and also Alan J. Corbett. Right, I've seen that line screenshotted a lot, but it's like, delivered a lot like slower and seriouser than it came off in all the screenshots. Good for Ed. Good for Alan J. Corbett. Yeah. And Harry has some dumb line about like, "Going into that starry night." I don't know what he's referencing. He calls Corbett "young Turk."

G: Yeah.

C: Is that like, a character, or is he just talking about the ethnicity? [G laughs]

G: I mean, I'm pretty sure Corbett is white if anything.

C: Yeah, I'm pretty sure Corbett is white, so I don't know. Probably a reference to something

We cut to like, one more scene of the documentary, and it's like, back before everything happened, and Corbett and Spruce are packing stuff up in the van, and Spruce asks him, "What do you think is gonna happen tonight on this trip?" And Corbett says, "I think tonight, I really do, I think all of our dreams are going to come true. Does that sound stupid?" And Spruce says, "Yeah." And then there's like, a screen that's like, "In memory of Alan J. Corbett, 1985-2008." He was 23. He was so young!

G: Aw. Poor kid.

C: And yeah, this was another- Yeah, I mean, documentaries do this all the time, but like, this did get me a little bit. I was like, "Aw. Poor kid."

-

G: And then we cut away from that to Sam and Dean and every remaining-

C: First high-resolution camera we've seen.

G: Yeah. Every other remaining Ghostfacer looking at the screen and being like, "Isn't that so great?" And Dean is like, "Yeah. It was half awesome." And Maggie was like, "Half only? It was full-on good?" And Sam says what I referenced earlier-

C: No, I thought she meant- I don't think she was offended. She was like, "Oh, you thought it was half awesome? Like, that means that like, half awesome means good, so that means you think that it's good." I think she's just like excited about the compliment, or what she perceives as a compliment.

G: Oh. Yeah. And Sam says like, "Yeah, it's bizarre how you're all able to honor Corbett’s memory while grossly exploiting the manner of his death. Well done!"

C: Go Sam! This is like, more- this is more thinking in this direction than I think Sam usually does. You know what I mean?

G: What do you mean?

C: Like, I know he's not talking about the homophobia. But this like is like- This feels like SJW Sam rights, sort of. [G laughs] You know what I mean?

G: Yeah.

C: Like, that's the vibe, and I like it, but it feels kind of new for this man.

G: And Ed is like, "Yeah. Corbett gave his life searching for the truth, and it's our job to share that truth to everyone." And Sam's like, "Yeah, when you do that, you either go into a straitjacket or get punched in the face. Sometimes both."

C: Which is not true.

G: Yeah.

C: Because in every episode, Sam and Dean reveal to someone new that the supernatural is real, and like literally, no one has been mad at them about it. Like, they're always just like, "Thank you for saving me, you big, strong men." But whatever.

G: Whatevs.

C: Whatevs.

G: Anyway, Dean was like, "Okay. We won't be haters anymore, or whatever. And see you guys around." And then they leave, and then Harry like, "Ugh, those guys are such losers."

C: Yeah. He calls them dicks.

G: Yeah. And then he finds a backpack that was left behind, and he was like, "Oh, these losers left a backpack. Let's open it up." And when he opens it up and brings out something.

C: Like a- it says it's a magnet attached to a battery.

G: I think electric something. Dean calls it something later.

C: Um, electromagnet.

G: Electromagnet. [laughing] Yeah. Well, there's an electromagnet, and it wipes off all the files.

C: Yeah.

G: And we see Sam and Dean walking- well, running to the Impala, and they're like, "Yeah. The world isn't ready for the Ghostfacers." And Dean is like, "Yeah. I mean, I kind of like the show. It's too bad." And Sam was like, "Well, it had its moments." And they drive off with the Ghostfacers theme song.

C: I just- what was the motivation?

G: Of erasing everything?

C: Yeah.

G: To not reveal the supernatural to world.

C: Right. And they're- Well, okay. But their thoughts were just that no one would believe them.

G: No, I think it was more like, "Even if they believe them, what good will that do?" I think a lot, but-

C: Like, really good. It tells them that you can be safe from ghosts by standing inside a salt circle, and it tells people like, how to like, help death echoes move on, which is important for the death echoes and the pain that they experience. It seems like it would be a good thing for people to have seen this footage.

G: Yeah, but it's a major upheaval in the Supernatural lore universe, so they just don't want to deal with it.

C: I- Like what's the upheaval? Like, they don't want to deal with-

G: No, I mean the TV show is what I mean.

C: Oh, fair. Okay, okay. Yeah, I just- I never fucking got that. Wouldn't you want people to know how to defend themselves? Like, I guess it gives Sam and Dean less chances to swoop in and be annoying, but besides that benefit, like, what else?

G: Yeah. Well.

-

G: What do we think about this episode overall?

C: I mean, it's- I feel like the shakycam, they could have- it's hard to know what's going on a lot of the time. I felt confused a lot of the time. But, like I was also entertained most of the time, and it's got some very iconic moments, some good physical comedy.

G: It's fun when it's fun.

C: It's fun when it's fun.

G: Best Line/Worst Line.

C: I mean, obviously, "Gay love can pierce through the veil of death and save the day" is the best line.

G: I think that is also the best line.

C: Yeah.

G: Gay love can pierce through the veil of death-

C: - and save the day. And also, obviously, "You gotta go be gay for that poor dead intern" is also the best line, but the veil of death one is more relevant to later Supernatural.

G: I like when Sam was like, [sarcastically "Let's go to the Morton House! It's our Grand Canyon!" I liked that. I don't think it warrants Best Line status, but I like that.

C: I did enjoy that as well. Worst line-

G: What's your worst line? I think the-

C: The Spruce- either of Spruce's main racist lines.

G: I think the the joke of like man being not a gender neutral term.

C: Yeah, that was kind of annoying.

G: I mean, like, it's an outdated joke. There was a time where it was funny, but like nowadays, it's like, "Eh, whatever," you know? So like, maybe it was funny for its time. Now, it's like, "It's okay." It's not that bad, but if I were to choose a worst line, I would choose that one.

C: Yeah. And I already said my worst line.

G: Okay.

C: So spreadsheet time? God, I don't know if we've reached a conclusion yet about how much homophobia is present here.

G: I think I'll give it a 2 in homophobia.

C: Okay. Yeah. I think that makes sense.

G: Just from Dean. [laughs]

C: Just from Dean? Just from the girlfriends line. That's it.

G: Yeah. Dean gets all of this

C: Alright. Misogyny, I think there is a bit. I don't know. It's just hard to tell what is misogynistic because the whole Harry/Maggie situation is so confusing to me that I don't understand what they're going for.

G: I think- if you want, you can give it a one. But like, the whole, I mean- because again, the whole deal of like, "These guys are supposed to be unlikable, so it's not like we're promoting what they're doing."

C: That's true. Yeah, okay. I feel like I'll give it a pass then. Perhaps no misogyny today.

G: Yeah.

C: Racism, there is racism. 1 to 2, I think.

G: I think maybe a 1.

C: Okay. Yup. There we go.

G: How about... oh. What's our-

C: IMDb belief.

G: Yup.

C: I believe this is liked. I'd say it's- I don't know. Like a 9?

G: 9. Okay. Crystal, I hate to break it to you, but this is the lowest-rated episode of season 3, and I've known this for a long time.

C: What?!

G: So you've cemented your answer. It's 9.

C: Oh my god, that's so mean. You're so mean.

G: That's why I was like, shutting up.

C: Okay.

G: I would say this is a 7.8.

C: Okay.

G: Okay, let's check.

It's a 7.6!

C: Damn.

G: Yeah.

C: interesting. Is it just- I guess, did people just really dislike the change in format? Or the fact that like- I guess it happened right after the writers' strike. Like, they'd been off for like, over a month. So I guess it makes sense for people to be disappointed because the whole time they were like, "Oh my god! Supernatural is coming back." And then it's like, something that's very different from the usual format of Supernatural. Is that the problem?

G: All of them are saying it's a Blaire Witch Project ripoff, which, I don't think so. Maybe at that time, that was the only handheld thing, so that's why they were all like, "Oh, it's like Blaire Witch." But nowadays, there's so many handheld camera movie projects or less-

C: I feel like found footage type of stuff, yeah, is pretty normal. I don't know. Okay, I mean, the first two reviews are 10 out of 10 ones. Most of these reviews are positive. [laughing] Wait, sorry.

G: What?

C: Am I on the wrong- I'm not on the wrong one, am I? Am I on the wrong review, because I just read, "Improved, knowing that Castiel loved Dean during this episode"? [G laughing] During this- am I on the wrong page? Oh, I'm on the Ghostfacers TV show!

G: You're what? You're what?

C: I'm on the Ghostfacers TV show. Like, their miniseries, not on the episode. [laughs] Okay. Okay. [both laugh]

G: Literally, everything is improved by knowing that Castiel loved Dean Winchester here.

C: It's still a really funny thing to say regardless, but okay. I'm on the right page now.

G: This one says, "Really? What was that? Supernatural writers, if this is your idea about comedy, please reconsider."

C: Huh. Did they say which parts they found unfunny?

G: They just don't like Ed and Harry. "They were nice on ‘Hell House,’ but they aren't the characters you really would want to bring back. For me, they are one-timers."

C: Interesting. Yeah. One person said that this is disappointing because it follows after “Jus in Bello,” or sorry, I think it's pronounced Yus in Bello or something like that?

G: [sighs] Wait, that's so mean.

C: Whatever.

G: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

C: But okay, so- Which I guess makes sense, because we left off on like that whole Lilith cliffhanger, so it does feel like a big tonal shift to go here, especially since we're like, in the last 4 episodes of the season. But have you considered that I had a fun time?

G: I literally had a fun time! You guys are just mean.

C: Yeah. You guys are just mean. What else?

G: "Not a real episode. You can skip it."

C: Hm.

G: I mean, you can say that about like, a lot of episodes of Supernatural.

C: Yeah. All of the episodes.

"Definitely the worst thing about Supernatural. Couldn't watch the whole thing. Such cringe. Ugh." [laughs] Me about-

G: There are so many review for this one.

C: Yeah, I guess it was quite polarizing, which makes sense.

Someone said about this, "That Jared sure can act"? [G laughs] What did Sam do in this episode?

G: Well, he looked good.

C: Sure, yeah. He looked good.

G: I feel like Sam is finally going turning into Sam of later seasons. Starting like, second half of season 3. Like, he doesn't feel like Sammy anymore.

C: Ah, yeah, I understand what you mean. Yeah.

G: He's becoming disillusioned and scared and like, yeah, all that stuff.

C: Yeah.

G: Like, the way he sighed before telling the Ghostfacers what a ghost- or what a death echo is, I was like, "Oh, that's Sam! That's like, old Sam."

C: Yeah. Huh.

G: Oh, I'm so sad. I just remember that he dies when- well, he dies old as fuck. He was like, 35 when we leave him.

C: Yeah.

G: Something stupid like that. 38. Ugh! Sammmm! Sam!

C: Sam. Yeah.

G: Anyway, we've been recording so long.

C: Oh shit, have we? Oh yeah, we have.

G: So goodbye, everyone. [both laugh]

That’s it for this episode of Busty Asian Beauties. Next week, we will be discussing Season 3, Episode 14: "Long-Distance Call." Leave us a rating or a review wherever you get your podcasts.

C: Follow us on social media! We are on twitter at twitter.com/BeautiesPodcast and on Tumblr at bustyasianbeautiespod.tumblr.com. Our official tag is #BABPod, B-A-B-POD. Thank you to everyone who's donated to our Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/bustyasianbeautiespod, and check out our Redbubble at babpod.redbubble.com.

G: Yeah! You can email us any feedback, comments, or inquiries at bustyasianbeautiespod@gmail.com.  See you guys next time! [both] Bye!

[guitar music]

[the-sprog]

Tagged by @nightmareinfloral

Ahh sorry for taking long! I had like no answer for most of the questions so I waited.

Top 3 ships:

Ok prefacing this by saying they're very dependent on what fandoms I'm in/things I'm arbitrarily obsessed with atm

So

Also these are in no particular order lol I like so many ships rn these are the ones I want to talk about though.

1. Jedtavius. Yes, the miniatures of the roman general and the cowboy from the Night at the Museum film series. You heard me. I just like how their relationship evolved, how protective they are of each other! "I won't quit you" is ingrained in my memory. I love that franchise.

2. Peter Parker/Jack Hammer. As in Weasel. As in the bartender from the Deadpool films. Listen- they have history in the comics and it's so funny??? And also fucked?? There's like 3 people (me included) who like these two together.

3. MattFoggy. I believe in the inherent homoeroticism of joking about marrying your **checks writing on my palm** best friend. They're just so- ugh. It's not so subtle. I could go on for HOURS but I'll spare you.

Honorary mentions for: MattFoggyMarci, SpideyPool, Frank Castle/Marc Spector, Jake Lockley/DuChamp.

Sorry about the lack of DC ships, I just need to read more about them. I do like Tim/Bernard, though I seem to be in the minority here.

First ever ship:

Firstly I thought this said *Favorite* ship, which is why I didn't include Peter/Gwen/MJ in the list above... I could fix it but it's funnier this way. That's my fav ship, full N1.

Onto my first ship, I vividly remember waiting patiently for Aelita and Jeremy (from Code Lyoko) to get their shit together and kiss. I'm sure there were earlier ones but I do not remember, unfortunately.

Last song:

"IDK If I'm a Boy" by Blue Foster (I *am* my own special kind of loser :))

Last movie:

I just finished "Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons". Had a lot more fun than I thought I would! I didn't love the art style and some of the design I hated, but the characterizations were nice and I laughed way too much at the jokes. They were just timed so perfectly ("Can't see Kent" had me fucking crying)

Currently reading:

-"We were liars" (paused because... Fuck man, no one warned me about the incest plot line)

-"Dirk Gently's holistic agency "(I am constantly confused! I love it!!)

Currently consuming:

Uuuh my own saliva, I suppose lol

Currently craving:

Gosh I want some liquorice gummies so much. I'm always craving those. Also I bought my dad honey w truffle and orange peel, and it was so good w cheese (we ate it on the 26th of December) I want more!!

No pressure of course uuh I don't think I have 9 people...

@murasakikou42 @coollizzylou @wolfsbanesparks @just-a-beautiful-fuckup

Yeah that's about it

[tiffanys-aus-and-headcanons]

APPENDIX A: AUDIENCE CHOICE

Dipper/Mabel is infamous for obvious reasons, but it doesn't really crack the top five most troubling canon ships in Tamsyn Muir's Gravity Falls.

Yudkowsky inspired a whole genre of imitators, fanfic writers set on writing "Boolefic". Some noteworthy examples include Alexander Wales' With Great Power and Iceman's The Amazing Optimized Circus.

In James Frey's book A Million Little Pieces, initially sold as a memoir, he recounts a supposed incident in which, while he was homeless, a kind young woman approached him and handed him a twenty dollar bill. Another man immediately stepped in, assaulted him, stole the money, and shoved it back at the woman, trying to teach her not to give to beggars. Frey describes being forced to perform a humiliating dance in order to shame the stranger into leaving. It is doubtful that any of this ever actually happened; so many key details throughout Frey's "memoirs" have been called into question or outright disproven that they are now considered hoaxes. Random House offered full refunds to any customers who were outraged by this discovery.

APPENDIX B: LISTS AND MISCELLANEA

Philip Pullman's Methods Of Rationality trilogy:

Stargazing (sold in North America as The Man Of Light)

The Three Hallows

The Subtle Thread

Methods Of Rationality has been adapted numerous times, but the most ambitious and notable among these are the 2007 film and the 2020 BBC show. 2007's The Man Of Light was a failed franchise starter; it was a glossy adaptation, but far too cautious in its content. Cutting the film short before the Azkaban heist did something to lighten its tone (a dubious benefit at best), but also left it bereft of a climax. The material was softened considerably, and it's doubtful that the studio ever actually intended to produce subsequent films, which would inevitably have been darker. BBC's show is generally considered a pretty faithful and complete adaptation. Lin-Manuel Miranda plays Professor Quirrell.

Although Peanuts has a hard-won reputation as edgelord bullshit, Lucy van Pelt in particular stands out as an embodiment of this, easily representing all of her creators' worst impulses. Even the other characters can barely stand her. Infamously, in one of the show's darker moments, she gaslit her client Frieda into murdering her entire family, as part of a petty revenge scheme. On a more day-to-day level, she espouses all manner of bigotries, and of course much of the audience loves her for this without irony. The internet is full of uwuified in-name-only art of her, much of it yuri with the other girls on the show. She is canonically nine years old.

Andrew Hussie's MS Paint Adventures:

I Want To Play A Game

Grailquest

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

I Want To Play A Game was hardly a structured narrative at all, just a forum full of people fucking around not really trying very hard to escape from some kind of surreal serial killer barn. However, it did introduce some concepts and visual motifs that Hussie would frequently go back to (like Billy the Puppet, or the jigsaw pieces). Grailquest got unceremoniously dropped early on after Hussie realized that the gimmick he'd chosen - a classic branching choose-your-own-adventure type story - would be too much work. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is generally regarded as the one where Hussie came into his own. And of course Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is the huge sprawling one that everyone's at least heard of.

After years of fans demanding a sequel to Worm Turns Arc 1, HBO announced that they were developing a television series simply titled Worm Turns. In fact, this series, created by David Lindelof, would be an original sequel to Moore's graphic novel, focusing on a therapy group led by Victoria Dallon (the heroine formerly known as Glory Girl). Alan Moore has refused to comment on this. The show was lauded by critics for its socially aware themes, and for a time, discussion of it flooded all Worm Turns fan spaces. Many fans were fans of the HBO show exclusively, and among these, many were unaware that the show was even based on any preexisting material.

Die Hard franchise:

Die Hard

Die Harder

Die Hard 3

Die Hard With A Vengeance

Die Hard Vs. Terminator

Die Hard Vs. Terminator: Reboot

Nakatomi

Die Hard: Protect And Serve

James Cameron was only involved in the second movie, which really abandoned any sense of restraint the original had. Protagonist Jane McClane infamously dies at the end of Die Hard 3, leaving the franchise at something of a dead end. Joss Whedon's poorly-regarded Die Hard With A Vengeance simply proceeds with a new lead on a revenge quest, although it also makes heavy use of flashback as an excuse for the big-name star to still be in the movie. The Die Hard Vs. Terminator films are crossovers set in an alternate timeline in which time-traveling androids from Paul Verhoeven's Terminator franchise intervene in the original Die Hard. They couldn't actually get Sigourney Weaver back, so they settle for a close-enough recast. Nonetheless, these crossovers are weirdly consistently validated as canon to both franchises. Since the crossover period, the Die Hard films have gone full prequel, abandoning the idea of pushing the series' timeline forward.

As of season seven, the title character of Ms. Frizzle is being voiced by Jinkx Monsoon. It's a bit of a jarring change, but she's really knocking it out of the park!

J. K. Rowling's Luz Noceda series:

Luz Noceda and the Lying Witch

Luz Noceda and the Gromethean Sacrifice

Luz Noceda and the Heroine of Stone

Luz Noceda and the Missing Person

Luz Noceda and the Great Unifier

Luz Noceda and the Final Victim

Luz Noceda and the Watcher of Rain

The Luz Noceda books' titles follow a pattern where the second half of the noun phrase can be taken to refer to at least one non-Luz character, but also to Luz herself. For example, Luz Noceda and the Missing Person is the book where Luz worries that she's gone missing on Earth and it must be worrying her mother. However, the title more obviously refers to a vague unnamed character in contact with Luz's mentor Eda; this "missing person" is fading from reality due to a time anomaly. At the book's climax, this ethereal being serves as a deus ex machina, shielding Luz and her allies from harm before vanishing completely. In subsequent books, after a misadventure through time, Luz blames herself for this. The "missing person" is frequently considered another representation win for Luz Noceda, as it's suggested that they were once a romantic partner of Eda's, but their gender remains ambiguous. However, though Rowling has sometimes teased in interviews at the idea that this figure might have been a woman, she has generally held firm that as their identity was erased, everything about them is intended to remain open to interpretation.

Ariana Grande played Vriska in the Homestuck movie. This isn't a big deal. Vriska isn't a big deal. She doesn't stand out as any particular discourse magnet. Any discourse that does arise is poorly-veiled discourse about the actress. She looked cool and had a cool fight scene and sung a cool song and that was about it. Historical footnote. End of post.

There is now another appendix here.

Terrible Visions

A scrambled timeline is a timeline that has proceeded much like ours, except that some particular facet has been mixed up all over the place. For example, in the scrambled timeline we will consider today, our world's fictional stories have been told by different people, and in different ways.

Bryan Lee O'Malley, in this alternate timeline, is best known as the cartoonist responsible for Homestuck, a popular comic series about a group of children who become embroiled in a cosmic-scale video game known as Sburb. Although Homestuck is probably most often associated with the cult classic Edgar Wright-directed film adaptation released in 2016, the comics themselves are highly-regarded, and the film brought a new audience to them. Netflix has commissioned an animated continuation, The Homestuck Epilogues, which is due to be released soon.

Andrew Hussie, on the other hand, is a figure you're likelier to know if you're overly online. His "MS Paint Adventures" series - most notably including Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, which is kind of like Homestuck but weirder and hornier - have firmly remained a fixture of obsessive Twitter fandom culture. It doesn't help that the best-known iteration, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, is infamous for stretching thousands of pages of meandering digressions out of a simple and focused narrative starting point. Scott Pilgrim fans have developed something of a toxic reputation, which is not entirely deserved - although of course Knives discourse is interminable, and back in the fandom's heyday there were reportedly incidents of fans assaulting each other "for being evil exes".

Scott Pilgrim fandom was very big back in the day, though, and consequently it was a nexus for other creative figures who would go on to surpass Hussie. Perhaps foremost among these is indie developer Toby Fox. He was literally living in Hussie's basement when he produced ROSEQUARTZ, a universally-beloved retro Goonies-like RPG about a human hybrid boy born to a race of gem-based aliens. He's now developing an episodic spiritual successor, RAZORQUEST, with more overtly dark themes. It revolves around an inheritance dispute among a demon-summoning family.

Other foundational figures in this timeline's internet culture include Alison Bechdel, who helped get the webcomic scene started. Although she's now more seriously acclaimed for her personal memoirs, her gaming webcomic Press Start To Dyke, which premiered in 1998, was once everywhere. It had a broad appeal, and at its height, it was common to see even straight guys sharing pages from it. Time has not been especially kind to it, though, and at this point its main legacy is test.png, a meme spawned by one of the comic's most ill-advised pages.

Then there's John C. McCrae, more often known by his pseudonym Wildbow. A prolific and reclusive author of doorstopping "web serials" - long-form fiction published online - McCrae's best-known serial is still his first, Wind, a noir superhero story set in an alternate history where capes are mostly just a subculture of unpowered vigilantes. Wind landed in a culture already rife with comic book deconstructions, like Alan Moore's 2002 graphic novel Worm Turns, but it nonetheless managed to stand out from the pack with its extensive cast of characters and its themes of coordination problems and the end of the world. Later McCrae web serials include Part (the first "Otherverse" serial; an urban fantasy story about a couple who die in a car accident and find that they have become ghosts), Tear (a "biopunk" story set in a collapsing underwater city), Warn (the controversial Wind sequel), and Play (the second "Otherverse" serial, set in a small Indiana town that helps hide a psychic girl from the CIA).

Last and perhaps least, we should discuss J. K. Rowling. Far and away the most famous of any of these authors, Rowling's name is inseparable from the YA series that she debuted with, the Luz Noceda books, which remain her one successful work. Although it was heavily derivative of older fantasy novels - like Jill Murphy's Academy For Little Witches, or Philip Pullman's Methods Of Rationality trilogy - Luz Noceda was still a monumental and unprecedented success in the publishing industry, and the film adaptations were consistent blockbusters. The final book, Luz Noceda and the Watcher of Rain, contained some allusions to a romantic relationship between Luz and her recently-redeemed associate Amity. Rowling confirmed that this was her intent in subsequent interviews and indicated that she had fought her publishers for it; the film would then go on to escalate matters slightly further.

There have been many lengthy and heated online arguments as to whether the references in the book itself constitute text or mere subtext. Whatever your stance on this discourse, a new complication has been introduced recently: although she has put out no official statement on the matter as of yet, it has become quite apparent from Rowling's shrinking network of contacts and her conspicuous silences that she is certainly TERF-sympathetic, and likely an outright TERF herself. For many, this is leading to a critical reevaluation of the social values inherent in the Luz Noceda series; others, to say the least, are holding off on that kind of reappraisal.

Anyway, Scott Pilgrim just beat Luz Noceda in a Twitter poll for Most Gay Media, and people are piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissed