X-Ray VisionWinter TV is here! Rosie and Jason set a hype meter for Yellow Jackets season 3, Severance season 2, and White Lotus season 3. Then, the rise of the spy television series has taken over the networks. We share our thoughts on Man on the Inside, Black Dove, The Night Agent, The Agency, Day of the Jackal, Mr and Mrs Smith, plus Slow Horses. Finally, our hosts share their reality TV favorites.
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Recording today's episode. Yeah, we're not gonna spoil anything. There's gonna be no spoilers. We're just talking about like TV chatter, checking in on television.
Hello, my name is Jason steps you and I'm marsday Night and welcome back to Xtra Vision of the podcast where we dive good to your favorite shows, movies, comics and pop culture.
Coming from Ara Podcast. We're for you three episodes a week, every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
And maybe says.
Maybe a mystery day, but this is like Saturday.
Also maybe a little surprise for you. In today's episode, we are going to be checking our hype levels for some upcoming shows. Yellow Jacket season three, how are we feeling about it? After that stunning season one and a little bit less impressive season two? White low of season three? What do we think about that? How we feeling about that now? Jennifer Coolidge's spoiler a lot of season two? That sever and season two it's back baby, and they are ready to make your mind melt. It's very wild. And then we will be talking about the rise of spy stories in winter TV and how popular these have become. And then a little bit of a twist for you. Here, guys, we're gonna be talking about some winter reality TV. Just throw a little bit out there what we enjoy in, what's getting us through this terrible time.
But first the air lock. Okay, here we are television, some big upcoming shows coming out or already out. Uh, and let's check our level of excitement for these. I guess let's start with seven season two, which is out. Now, it's already out, so let's it's already out. I've watched the first episode. I thought that the finale of season one one, and season one in general, was like great, great great. I was like, Okay, how long can they really take this Twilight Zone thing and make a full season out of it? And I was kind of blown away by how many really truly actually mind bending twists and turns there were, leading to a finale that had lots of huge reveals. If you haven't watched season one of Severn's on the Little Watched Little, subscribe to Apple TV plus network. We have talked about all the various ways you can.
Get crazy to pay money. Just go to you.
It's seriously, they will you walk into any place with an Apple product, and there's gonna be some way in that in that store where you can get an Apple TV Plus subscription for nothing. So seven season two, I'm excited. I liked it. I found it season so it's been what two years in season one.
Which is a long almost three years. Yeah.
Part of the delay was the double strikes actors and writers striking at the same time. Part of the delay was also that there was something of a power struggle or a creative struggle behind the scenes of this show, which is executive produced and show ran by Ben Stiller, writer director, comedian. Though all parties involved in that have apparently Kumbayad and yeah doing a whole press.
Run because they've been doing a wild press run, a wild.
Press one where they're like, listen, things happen and creative endeavors and we disagree and everything's fine. Yeah.
They put the whole cost in a gloss box at Grand Central Station and had still of that taking pictures of them like a proud uncle as they did little bits in there for a few hours. So yeah, Yeah, I'm very interested to see if they can live up to the hype.
Season two first episode, I liked it. I'm excited to see where it goes. It felt a little bit like soft reboot stuff we've seen before, but it didn't build off of the finale of season one in the way I was totally expecting. But like, this is a show, I'm super interested. I'm I'm excited to get more answers. It does feel like we're kind of at the stage now it's been two years in season one. I know they're not thinking like that, but they maybe they should they have and I gotta have some fucking answers at some point, and.
It's gotta happen. It's the yellow jacket conundrum. And I do think this is at the moment, I feel like we are in an interesting phase. I don't know what it means creatively or you know, morally, or what it reflects about our you know, current society, but we are in an interesting phase where we are just getting so many banger puzzle box shows where the first season you are like, I would die to see season two right now, Like I would, I would do terrible things if I could see season two. And alas, when season two comes, then you have to start answering the questions of the puzzle. I need them and we and that I think is definitely something that these shows are struggling with. But I do think that Severance has set up an interesting core conflict that will drive us through as we wait to set up those storylines and those answers. So I'm feeling positive the reviews of the positive. I'm excited.
I guess we should for those of you who haven't seen it, yes, yeah, yeah, I was gonna say, try and do the non spoil us up. So there's a there's this company called Lumen. They do something. There's been a lot of conjecture about what the work they do is. But one of the conditions of working there, apparently, is that the workers undergo a process voluntarily which their consciousness is split, so that the person that goes when you go into the building, your consciousness flips over towards your worker side, called the INNI, who just works. And then when you leave the building, you're your audi. You're the regular person you are, and you don't know anything about what goes on at work. You're not stressed about it, you're not worried about it, you have no information about it. Both sides are not connected. Your INNI does not know what your audi does when they're outside, is only interested in work. Your Audi does not know anything about what your INNI is going through, the internal office politics, the drama therein the various types of work that you do. So there's been a lot of conjecture. I mean, the women's involved with like the Defense Department. Maybe they do something like some sort of top secret work. Yeah, so it's unknown, and so that's the setup.
Yeah, it's definitely very interesting, and the core conflict comes in very early in the fun episode where you realized that while many people are happy to be an Innie and be in that space, Remember there is a great conversation about well, wait a minute, this means that the Innis experience life as if they never leave, they are only ever at work, Like what would that mean to just constantly only ever be conscious in work? Which was something I was unexpecting, that was unexpected for me and really drew me into that first season. So yeah, I'm excited to see where the second season goes.
I liked it.
I liked the first episode. I love to see Adam Scott having this critic career renaissance. I think he's one of our best generational TV actors. I love him in Parks and rec I love him in Party Down, it's fun to get to see him doing something more serious here, and yeah, great, great stuff, A very positive start to season two. But also I want those answers, what do they.
I want those answers. I like this show because it is in part it's kind of a version of the teleporter problem, you know, like the Star Trek teleporter problem, where you know, how would a teleporter if it existed work? You step inside, you are taken apart, so you die. Your body is taken apart, molecule by molecule, and then on the other side they reassemble you perfectly, molecule by molecule. So when you go into the teleporter, you die, and then a person who comes out the other side, you are a clone with all of your memories that pick up right away, knowing that do you get into a teleporter and trust that on the other side you're the same person? And how would you even know? And I think that that is kind of the thing that's going on in severance. Like, on one hand, it sounds like the pitch could you could almost hear it would be pretty good? Hey, yeah, no, none of the take home stress, none of the worries about my boss said this, my boss said that I'm so pressed about like various projects, and now I can't enjoy my off time. Now you know, work life balance, it's perfectly separated. The downside is there's another person in there who's a version of you, who is you don't even know if they're happier in or what. So that's what severance is really cool in that effect. I will say I explained this show to my father in law, who was like, I'm out, I'm not gonna watch that.
He was like, absolutely fucking not.
No. Next up, Yellowjackets season three slated to premiere February fourteenth. I am excited. The trailer came out a couple days ago, which is very exciting and very violent and very twisty, and I wonder if we're gonna get those answers. And this is here's the thing. My hype level is, give me the fucking answers.
I will say they I love this show. I love everything about it. I could even when the second season was not necessarily hitting me in the same way. I do love these characters. The trailer got me very excited. It looks violent, it looks crazy. It looks like they know that audio because they use the disturbed song let the bodies hit the floor so they know we're all very men now. And that was very good why you know all that kind of business. But I will also say it was still posing some of the same questions we've had. It's the first season. They'll be like, somebody's trying to kill us? Who who is trying to kill you? Somebody's after us, somebody wants to know what happened in the forest. Who tell us? Who's the among you needs to know? We got to at least get a slight answer. I feel like they're ending up in a lost conundrum here where you're gonna have to start giving us something. But this is an unreal cast, unreal collection of creatives behind it, and it's always fun. So we will definitely be checking in with The Yellow Jacket season three. But me and Jason are here to employ you showtime. Give us some answers, give us the answers.
Hype level lukewarm, give me the answers, Tell me the answers are coming, and I will get very high.
Jason's like, I will heat up once you tell me that next up.
Hype level to be determined for White Lotus season three, which will debut also in February, mid February and February sixteenth.
These shows are coming soon.
Here's my thing with White Lotus. I loved season one. In season two, though, I have many concerns, and they're the same ones that many people have written about, particular for season one, which you know is basically a steve's On, the wonderful character actor steve's On gives a speech in White Lotus season one. This is a mild spoiler. Here's our first mild spoiler for people that I've not seen White Loadas season in which he basically says, of, like all the kind of drama around me too and diversity and white supremacy and racism that was kind of coming to a head back when that show was being produced and come out, And he basically says, what am I going to do apologize for it? Like? What am I supposed to do? Like how do I just can I just like live my life? And you know, basically I'm paraphrasing, but this show is basically about that. It's a show show ran and written and directed by Mike White, very talented writer, producer and former Survivor contestant. He could have won that season he almost did win that season in which basically he's processing his love of going to tropical locations as a wealthy white guy and working through his feelings about how do the people who actually live in this place feel about this? How do I feel about this? What does it mean to be a very wealthy and privileged man in a different culture for two weeks and then leaving? And Season one plays with those ideas but doesn't necessarily land them, but is tremendously entertaining. It doesn't land them and do you? And does it want to land them? And do we care? I thought it was a tremendous season and although very entertaining, a lot of the questions stick with me. Season two was more of a Jenner for Coolidge Romp, though I also loved it, with wonderful performances by many people. Character wonderful and season three is going to be set in Thailand. Now our super producer Aaron has some concerns. You know, this is a season one was set in was it Hawaii or Fiji?
It was Hawaii.
It was Hawaii, so America, though obviously a unique culture within the United States of America. Season two was set in Sicily, and didn't delve too much into There.
Was a little bit of like cloth conversation, but not much, not much, not much.
Season three were in it. We're uh, we're going to see so there are concerns. Also, apparently the production has hired some thie writers to make sure that everything is respectful. That's and I'm also I'm I like this show. I think this show explores class and wealth in a way that is really unique and different, and also, you know, sexual orientation in a way that is pretty unique, and so I'm exciting. I would say my hype level is pretty hyped. I'm hyped for this. I think that there's nothing quite like White Lotus on television.
Yeah, that's no.
I have some misgivings at times.
And it does draw an unbelievable cost, like this season's cost. It has a Natasha Rothwell coming back, who is one of my favorite most interesting characters from season one, so I'm interested to see that. And then you've got Carrie Coon, Walton Gligins, Leslie Big, Michelle Monahan, Parker Posey, Lisa from Black Pink, Jason Isaacs, Sarah Catherine Hook, Pat Trick, Schwarzenegger, Amy Lee would so many different big name actors. So it's gonna be interesting if maybe two seasons in a lot of very thoughtful critiques and a maybe a more diverse writers room or production space could see them deal with more of that. Any whatever happens, I'm just gonna miss Jennifer Coolidge because I don't have a lot of faith that the show is suddenly going to become like incredibly thoughtful. But I do want it to be incredibly interesting.
I will say my main concern cultural stuff aside, is that this is the first non Coolidge season, So what's gonna happen.
What's gonna happen? How do you live up to it? How do you live up to Coolidge?
Now, our production team and you pitched what if they bring her twin?
When? I love that theory. I think it's so silly and so fun. But you're a twin hater.
I'm I'm an anti twin. I don't like obviously, like I've said this in parent Trap, where the setup is twins, Okay.
Okay, if it's important and it's introduced, AI, you don't like a late stage twin reveal.
I don't like, for instance, this isn't aside, but the one thing that really bothers me about a movie that I think is a masterpiece, There Will be Blood, is that all of a sudden, Paul Dano shows up and he's the same actor but playing a different character. I guess, like the character's twin question mark, and it's so like, wait, what what happened? Another version of this is it's not necessarily a twin, but in Deadwood, Garrett Della Hunt plays two characters in a show that only ran like a handful of seasons, and it's just so like, wait, why is this just give another happen?
Guys?
Anyway, that's an asign. But I'm but I'm excited what littus season three? Can't wait for it. We're going to take a break to give you a word from our sponsors, and then we'll be back with spy TV. The latest thing in tellvidon and we're back. Okay, Let's talk about some of the shows that we've been watching, some of the things that we really liked, and one of the things that we can't help but notice is that spy TV is here. There's a lot of spy shit on TV right now, and a lot of it is very good.
Surprisingly good. I feel like it's either good to very good. Yeah, I feel like from you know, the lost great spy era we had was definitely like I like the grim and gray kind of seventies spy era. Obviously, James Bond has always been a popular spy, but I don't know that the genre itself has had a recite in popularity like we are having for a very long time when multiple successful, high profile press, these TV shows are sented around the idea of spies and I'm loving it.
I'm loving it. Let's start at Netflix, which has several spy properties currently going. First up Man on the Inside from showrunner Mike Schure of Park Brooklyn, ninety nine, Rutherford Falls, The Good Place, Primo, Prima Prime, Amazon, Amazon Prime. Full disclosure. I worked on that show Primo with Mike, and several of the folks who worked on it with us are on Man on the Inside. So I feel very warmly about this particular program. But it is based on the Mole Agent twenty documentary film, and it's about a an older guy played by Ted Danson who goes undercovered a nursing home. And I'll say this, of the I think really good Man on the Inside. I th it's really and who many people are going to be very familiar with from a million different things, including cheers and other things. I think he does stuff in this that he's never done in his career. He goes to emotional places, and there's certain things like about you know, there's stuff in here about dementia and Alzheimer's aging in general that's very melancholy and sad, and he goes to those places seamlessly. He's wonderful. I think this is this show is really good, and it surprised me.
This has been a show that a lot of people have texted me about and said, have you watched this show? Because it kind of Mike Shaw is really really really really really really great at finding new twists on genres you already know. And this is very much like a cozy mystery show, but in a way we've never seen one. It has the spy layer two. It's not inherently every week as a murder. It is more about this man's exploration of his own aging and kind of getting a second wind in life through this enigmatic new job and role that he takes on. And I just think it's absolutely charming and also a lot of the girlies. They got the ted dance and crush right now from this show. They've been texting me saying, this is daddy dancing like they are loving him. They are finding him very attractive in his old age, and I love that for them. And yeah, just the really really charming show. This does feel like, though it is on Netflix, it does feel like it could run for ten seasons, Like it has that feeling that it could just happen. Now, Netflix, You're not gonna likely get more than two seasons, but there's a lot in here that feels very much like a murder she wrote, or a Colombo or something that you could just watch again and again.
Good camp. It's clearly something that Netflix is going for, that kind of cozy rewatch demo, to the point where I think, you know, they're probably leading the charge for this Man on the inside is not this type of content, but the type of content where it acknowledges that people are probably looking at their phone, fun screen content.
Yeah, that's like a big thing Netflix has been pushing for. There's been a lot of controversy recently. Obviously, Mike Shure is way too famous for them to tell him to do that, but they have been telling. Certain newer content creators.
Make it easier.
It make it easier have people come on screen and describe what they're doing in case somebody is not looking at the TV. Now, this is not that content, but it is definitely rewatchable. I also love that there are all these nods like Tinker Taylor, Older Spy, Like all the titles are fun, your curious incident of the dog in the painting class and stuff like that. It's very fun. It's if you love spy movies, if you love mysteries, there's a lot in there for you. But it's also just actually like a really interesting show. And like many Mike Shuh shows, it will make you cry.
Yes, it will make you cry. Next up, also on Netflix, is the I think really good Black Doves.
Oh my gosh, so good, Like nobody expected it to be this good.
It's soapy, it's violent, it's got some wonderful twists and turns, it has it. The ending, which I won't spoil, is an emotional hit. It's good.
Yeah.
And so the setup is there's these group of spies called Black Doves. One of them is Helen played by Kieran Knightley, whose best gay colleague in the spy business. Sam played by Ben Wishaw is like a fucking Jason Bourne level, like a sassin.
Yeah, and you're just and he's so sassy and he's always like okay, darling, like he's just immediately the me.
Is very very very like. He is very very sassy, and he's very much like, uh, you know, meeted person at a bar and is like, you know, we okay, shut up if you want a shag or not.
Like yeah, exactly, like you want to hang out with him if he wasn't gonna kill you, but in a very efficient fashion. Kiara Knightley is like a highly trained assassin who's been under cover as the wife of a politician. And the way they introduce this in the opening is like so well done. But then when her sexy love like by Andrew Cogi, let me.
Just say that here's not too sexy. Here's my note to the Black Doves a show. I like, why is Andrew Coggi dying in the first five minutes of the Please spoiler now? I just spoiled the first It's the the first five minutes of the of the series. But Andrew Coggi, he's got we do flash back to him. He's gotta be in Why is he dying this soon?
He's too true, he's too good looking.
This is not the first like we've Jennison Andrew too early in a project.
He is a legend, he's so fantastic, and he is often underutilized.
But this is a This is a really and a great twist on this spy franchise. Next up is this also a Netflix of The Night Agent? Next up, The Night Agent. It's coming back, It's coming back. Peter. FBI agent Peter Sutherland is in meshed in a conspiracy about whether or not there's a mole at the highest levels of the US government created by Sean Ryan of of Swat and the Shield Fame.
So yeah, this is more of your Jack Reach esque. This is a bit of light actual heavy light.
Action, kind of like standard fare, but still a lot of if it's not necessarily second screen viewing, but it kind of is.
I think this is what they mean when they think about it. But I will say if you're more of a classical broadcast TV person, if you love a wolf Wolf production, if you are a Jack Reacher fan, this is definitely for you. It's also it hooks you in. It's very watchable based on the novel by Matthew Quirk, and it just got renewed for a third season because the second if you like.
Seal Team, Yes, or.
If you got to wait for CIA FBI, which was just a nounce, you're gonna.
Then the Night Agent. It's in your wheelhouse, and it's pretty your wheelhouse next to next over at Paramount. I've been in love with this show, The Agency. It is an adaptation of the French show also excellent, Le Bureau de Layennes de Lellendees they just called The Bureau by Eric Rashwan about the DGS, the French version of the CIA. Don't I'll say this, all the seasons of The Bureau available to rent or pie. Don't watch it because the first season of the Agency is pretty much the first season of the Bureau, So don't watch it if you want to be spoiled in the Agency. Undercover CIA agent the Marsh just code named Martian played by Michael Fassbender, is brought out from his longtime undercover work in Adisa Baba where he fell in love with this lady. Love Air quotes something, look, he loves fucking this lady.
He can't. Yeah, and not.
Played by her name is Sammy played by Jodie Turner Smith. She's a very very accomplished his stories an academic in her country. And and basically there are a lot of ongoing, like geopolitical concerns that get upended because Martian can't stop thinking about this lady. He can't.
He is obsessed.
He is toly obsessed to the point that he like puts his daughter in danger.
Problem.
Does he betray his country? Does he cross various lines? Does he blow ongoing CIA operations because he just can't stop with this lady.
Yes, Yes, And it's very fun to watch.
It's very, very fun of twists and turns.
An incredible cast.
Yeah, Jeffrey Right, Richard, Richie, rich G is my wife calls him rich G. Katherine Waterston, India Fowl or the aforementioned Jodie Turnersmith. It's really good. It's wonderfully shot. The writing is great, directing is great. Obviously, cast this top notch. And it's a kind of a spy story that feels as the Bureau felt kind of ripped from the headlines, like the Bureau was set during events that were ongoing in the Syrian civil war and similarly, the agency is features like ongoing events in Ukraine and it feels very present and it's really good and something that our super producer Joelle mentioned that she likes about it, which I also like, is there's this fun wrinkle of like it's fun to think about like conspiracy theories and all the ways that like men in smoky rooms or making decisions or corporate boardrooms or like pulling the strings for various geopolitical events. This imagines a different thing, which is what if all these geopolitical events are happening because this one guy can't stop fucking this woman?
Yeah, Like why if men are just as like ridiculous in the spy world as they are in real life, Like they'll fuck up any shit, like it is not all planned.
Yeah, mild spoiler. My One of my favorite wrinkles about this show is all these different you know, spies from different agencies that come across Martian that intersect with him at various points in the story are like calling him out and roasting him about how come on, this is really just about like like like can't you just like find somebody? Are you good?
Dude?
Like what's going on? Like all this because of this Lady anyway, really fun show that I'm enjoying a lot. Next up on Peak Hawk is the television serialization of the famous Day of the Jackal book movie. Several movies have been made about Day of the Jackal in which the basic story is this super assassin code named the Jackal, has been set in motion to assassinate somebody, and how do you stop this person who no one even knows who he is? Another excellent cast Eddie Redmain, Lashawna Lynch, Orsilla Corbero, Richard Dormer, Charles Dance Backadomics, again adapted from the book Day of the Jackal bio Fredrick Forsyth, which was a hit back in the sixties. You maybe have seen the movies that have been made for me.
I was gonna say as well, like this one was one where everyone was like, why would you remake this?
That they have the story?
Yeah, but don't worry, it's actually again it's this kind of mix of like soapy action, cat and mouse drama. I also do think there's something interesting that as we talk about all of these where this era of spies are very much about the humanity and the wrinkles that being a human brings in what is a relationship?
What does it do to you?
And also how do you still fuck it up by just like falling in love with someone, which is a point of many of these, and and like what does it feel like to end up in a killing eve sque kind of cat and mouse situation like Day of the Jackal. It's been very interesting to see that because I do think that is quite unique to our era of spy movies, which is these are not like great, pot fully professional, perfect, soulless assassins. Actually these are humans who have taken on this role and what does it do to them? And I do think that's pretty interesting. And the very human one is on next one soda. Yes, that's right, So David the Jackal.
If you've seen either of the Day of the Jackal films, don't worry because while you.
This is definitely a twist, you will.
Under while you know the basic setup, right, it goes places that you're not expecting. And it's not like a it's not like a situation where they took the book and then they cut it up into ten pieces and made a show. It it's not that like it's it's a basically a different story and really really fun. Up next on Prime Amazon Prime Video is the spy story of the Weak Style show Mister and Missus Smith, loosely based on the movie of the same name, starring famously Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, the movie during which their relationship began and then.
Chemistry has off. The shots in that movie like you can just feel the adultery.
Whiles was was attached to someone else famous the wonderful Jenniver Acid famously wonderful Jennifer anisid but he just couldn't resist. They couldn't stop anyway. Mister and Missus Smith starring uh, the incredibly talented Donald Glover and the incredibly talented Meyer Erskine as the aforementioned Mister and Missus Smith, two undercover agents that are kind of put together in this cover of a married couple and that they go on. Each episode is like its own little mission. It's a really unique twist on it in that it is a mission of the week. There's kind of there's an overwatching story which is mainly their relationship and how it evolves over the course of these missions. But each episode is it's like an episode of the Hulk, you know, the incredible you know, goes to a different town and does it all over again.
And also it has it differently original. Mister and missus Smith is like, what if two people who were married found out that they were both spies who had to kill each other? Essentially paraphrasing the plot of like a two hour movie. This is what if you were two spies who have to pretend to be married to do your missions. But of course that then leads to the everyone loves a fake relationship, fake dating plot, So this is definitely in that space. Interestingly, this was the one, and I think you can really feel it when you watch the show. This was originally a Donald Glover Phoebe waller Bridge show, but I love my Asky and I was very happy to see her hair. Yeah, this is definitely the most human Indiana Jones. How did that go?
Indiana Jones and the Old Men of Destiny? Yeah, I don't know it was it. I think she did right, I think she did.
I think it was she dropped out for some reason, maybe creative differences I remember hearing, but also she was in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ironically actually written by uh the two brother playwrights Bartoworth and John Henry Baroworth, who wrote The Agency, which is far better than Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny. Ironically, we are kind of ending with I think the show that has been slowly paving the way for the spyros subject over the last five years.
I think you're right, and that is Apple TV Plus's Slow Horses. This is adapted by the incredibly numerous novel series by Nick Hern. There are so many Slow Horses books.
Yeah, called slough House, which is slough House, so sloows a bosted ass place in England.
So slough House is like where they send the five agents who fuck up but are still useful for something like going through a subject's trash, the dirty jobs, the low level jobs that nobody else at m I five wants to do. They send these very US spies who have either blown it on a mission, blown it in a training mission, have debilitating character defects, whatever the case may be. They're sent to Slows and this kind of ragtag band of outcast spies finds themselves at the forefront of various mysteries over the multiple seasons which this show has undergone, I will say to me, I hope that the producers of Slow Horses won't take this in a bad way. This is second screen viewing for me. Like it's I think it's great. I think the performances are wonderful, most notably Gary Oldman as the burping and farting and smoking John Lamb.
The Yeah, he's old school, rumpled kind of Shenan's guy.
Yeah, the coffee farts all the time in the show.
So much stop bowing please. But it does have Olivia Cook we love well, we love her in this show.
Yet I love her on the show, although I will say she exits in mysterious circumstances, probably to do House of the Dragon, and I.
See, Yes, that is what it feels like. Kristen Scott Thomas obviously another legend. Hugo Weaving. Yeah, Jack Clouden is very handsome. Jack Louden, He's definitely a one of those guys kind of guy.
But yeah, I die, I cannot one of those guys guys.
It's I do feel you. This is a show that I do think. The kind of like slow nature of the show. It was definitely a slow burn hit for Apple TV. Plus it was also like and I do think that does make it that kind of TV viewing where if you're not immediately hooked by the characters and want to spend time with them, you could probably zone in and out, read a little book, eat your dinner.
You know, it's a Suits It feels like a Suits type.
I know, which is very ironic because the tone of it is not suits at all, you know, like that's like this shiny thing. But you can watch Suits for like seven hours while you're doing other stuff. Also, this show has been so popular on Apple TV that there already three spinoffs available aside from the four shows, Yeah, Dead Lions, Real Tigers and Spook Street and uh Yeah in very interesting ninety eight percent on Rotten Tomorrow is definitely our highest reviewed one, and this is very popular in our discord. This was the first spy show I really saw people talking about, so it's kind of interesting that this one kind of paved the way at Apple TV. Plus, there must have been other execs going, Okay, how is this show getting on the best of every year? Like, what do we need to do? Like? And the idea is do some.
I will say, is not about slow horses. A show I really like. I love that it has Christopher Chung playing Roddy Ho, the hacker character, their hacker character, as a series regular. He's in every episode and I love that. I love to see that. I am somewhat sad that we've waited all these years for I have waited all these years for a Asian to be in a spy story, a spy show, recurring character in a spy show. And he is true the most abrasive, annoying guy ever on television. His character is the most annoying human being there's ever been put to uh television screens. It's crazy.
Yeah. I will also say as well, like any I do struggle with any show that is like, when you live in London, you realize like it's very unlikely that you would get a show like this that kind of doesn't really have a lot of like central characters who are people of color, Like it's it just it doesn't feel realistic to living in London, and I do always find that interesting though, I do. I do appreciate that they you know, they do have terrorists who are white supremacists and stuff like that, so they're definitely trying to do it. But the show has spoiler alert. Yeah, years years. But the guy also, I will say, like the show has been hilariously like embraced by people who just love TV, but it's also been embraced as like an anti woke show just because of how gross Gary Oldman is. And I'm like, guys, if that's all it takes is you just need a gross white guy like.
That old Maps. There's legitimately a pull my finger in this growth.
I think this is all very anti James Bond. You know. It's not the cool, collected, like sexy, reprobate spy who goes around killing people. These are kind of like the grotesque like people who get things done in the back alleys of London.
Against all eyes against These spies kind of get it done when they're not even supposed to do and they've got significant opponents n M I five itself who don't respect what slow House is and fine, and you know consider it a holding, you know, pen or spies on their way out and give them the high hand a lot. There's a lot of a lot of that in this show. But it's a wonderful it's very wonderfully based breezy show. It's it's not a like one of those shows where you're like, I'm gonna be thinking about this one. It's a good television show period, great performances, wonderful performances, good show, Apple TV Plus. And I think you're right. It's been running for what three seasons now.
I think the fifth fourth season's coming out soon, so I think the fourth season just finished.
We're on season four now, and I think you're right that it's success kind of like paved the way for some of the spy material that we're seeing.
Now, especially a lot of the spy shows are set in London, and this is the London Spy Show. So I think that's just British TV is really feeling this motif right now, this theme why spies, I don't know. I think that's an interesting question.
Yeah, welly now, I think it's just a and I think it just happens, you know. I remember it was now, you know, probably a decade plus a couple of decades ago where we started to get like fire department shows.
It was like, yeah, like lots of fire department TV, you know, like TV Cops or can We've done it?
But like what about the fire department? And I think that just as this is just one of those, it's not It hasn't really been explored that much on television, certainly not on network television. That yatch and I think Slow Horses kind of showed that there's a way to do it. And now everybody is coming in with with their versions. And you know, the Tinker Taylor BBC adaptation happened in the seventies was a big, big hit, and I think people are now rediscovering, Oh wait a second, We've got all this spy material. There's Frederick forsythe.
Gary Oldman within a remake John, Yeah, there's was really popular.
Alan first, like there's there's a lot of Graham Green. There's a lot of spy material out there to be mined. And I think people are realizing, oh wait a second. Forty years ago the BBC had a hit with this, why don't we try and serialize some of these or make our own spy programs. And I think that's what's happening now. And I will say I'm a big fan of the spy novel, so this is great for me personally.
I appreciate this guy. Personally.
I love a good spy novel. I read them all the time. I read so many of them constantly. Two of my favorite books of last year were spy novels, and I just can't say so this is great for me. The Torque Man, which is an epistolary novel set during World War Two. It's it's basically told through a novel and a journal that are found in the kind of destroyed ruins of Germany after World War Two, and they piece this story together that way, and it's I won't spoil any of it. It's great. I was blown away by it. It's one of my favorite books that I read recently, The Torque Man, and then The Scarlet Papers, which is about a kind of late middle aged career going nowhere academic who lectures on espionage, who gets sucked into a scheme by which apparently not a famous but like a well known spy in the industry who's been working since the Cold War, wants to publish their autobiography through him, wants to the aforementioned Scarlet Papers, wants to hand him this manuscript. And there's a lot of twists and turns that come through that it starts. The first third of it feels very much like the British The Office, in which this guy who wishes that his life we're different and is stuck in like middle management, gets sucked into something bigger and makes a lot Like there's a lot of these guy fucking up in a very relatable way where you cringe a little bit, And that's kind of not an experience that I've had reading a Spine novel, and then it goes places that are just like wow, I can't believe this too great wos So those are two of my favorite books last year. We're gonna take a break and we come back. We're going to talk a little bit more TV. Okay, and we're back. Let's briefly talk about some reality television. I'm a big fan of reality television series and other uh similarly themed reality shows. I used to watch. I used to be a big Big Brother person. I've since fallen away. It was a big The Challenge person in my youth. I watched all of the MTV The Challenge stuff, and I will check back in on it still in that vein.
An amazing race, amazing race guy.
I am a somewhat of an amazing race guy. Yes a little bit. Now. There is a new Ish reality show called The Traders on Peacock and that show. If you are a fan of Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Housewives franchise and TVs The Challenge, Australian Survivor, any of these kind of ongoing, long running you know, Love Island, The Bachelor, all of these like ongoing reality franchises, then you will like The Traders, hosted by the fantastic alen Coming.
I love him so much. He is the reason I watch. He is the reason I watch now.
The Traders is basically if you've ever played like the party game Mafia Werewolves, Yeah, yeah, which in which you know you have a bunch of people two people are werewolfs and at night they kill someone and then in the daytime everybody has to figure out who the were wolf is. That's basically Traders Now. It took me a little while to get into it because as a Survivor fan, I found like a lot of the b roll in the setup to be absolutely ridiculous. That said Kenny, who is my manager, who you know as well, Yes.
He walked with us to get this X ray vision.
Yeah. In many people were like, you gotta watch The Trader.
You like Survivor, you.
Got you gotta watch it, And then he got into it, and he's like, yeah, I'm watching. I love it, and I'm like, okay, I've had a lot of trouble getting into it. He's He's like, here's what I do. I just watch the scheming parts when they go to there's a challenge section where they go out into a field and go, you know whatever, eat something gross, or go find you know, the hidden stuff out in the woods. He calls it. Kenny refers to that segment as Hopscotch. He's like, I fast forward through Hopscotch and then I just watch them scheming and lying to each other and trying to figure out who the trader is. I started doing that, and guess what, I'm now three seasons in. It is really wonderful. And I think one of the things that I found most interesting is that this season there's been a number of Survivor players on it, as there happened in the past, and it's been interesting to me to see how emotional people get when they get booted from the show, because everybody thinks they're a trader, but then it turns out they're not. They're what, yeah, what are termed in the show of Faithful And I think that part of it is really part of what has hooked me about this show.
It is really a very very emotionally invested in what is essentially like a kid's party game, but the way that they make it feel so huge. Also, I will say, guys, if you like The Traders and you wish there was more of it, there is an English version of The Traders that you can watch English, which was the original version I believe, though I will say I do think that Alan Cumming version slightly top six. I just love it. But the last season of the English version did have a very iconic cast member called Diane that people are obsessed with, So if you want to check that out, that's also good. Jason, what are some other reality TV shows you've been watching lately? Old? I think because there's so many. I watch a lot of Bag Girls Club in my house, very problematic but just very addictive. There's actually a Bag Girls Club channel now on Pluto and Roku TV, so that does come on more often than not.
I watch because Christina watches a lot of it. I watch a lot of Love Is Blind, yes, very popular, which I find to be one the most amazing and insane, derange, unhinged absolutely deranged and love unhinged behavior. I used to be big in the Housewives. I used to watch a lot of New Jersey Housewives. I used to watch a lot of Orange County Housewives I have. I used to watch with a lot of Atlanta Housewives. I've watched some Potomac Housewives. Now that I'm saying, and I'm realizing I've watched more Housewives than I realized.
But I need to watch the Newest Housewives season because my absolute favorite bride of Chucky herself has joined the Housewives because she believed it would be an exceptionally campy thing to do, and it is, and she's incredibly, incredibly wealthy from gambling professionally. So part of the great moments that I've seen so far is like she will come into the Housewives space with a handbag and then all the two camera bits just all the other housewives going, you don't understand that fucking hamdbag is like a million dollar piece of handbag that they only made like two of. So I need to check in properly rather than just watching bits on tap.
I also watch Survivor. I've been a long time fan of Survivor since the beginning I will say that the most recent season, forty seven was instantly one of the best seasons in the show's history. I'd say it's a top twelve season, top ten season, one of the best new casts we've seen, and it's clearly, clearly, clearly. Season forty was kind of like a big demarcation point for the show, in which they took all they did like a basically a winners only season. Everybody who was on that season had had won a previous season, and since then they've done all new casts and this is the best post forty season, season forty seven. So you can probably watch that on Paramount Plus if you have if you have your paramoun Plus subscription.
You can also. I was gonna say join on Discord because people, we have a Survivor channel and there are a lot of surviv aheads in the Discord.
Now here's the level of Survivor fan I am. I pay? Well, should I admit this? Actually there's nobody I pay for a VPN so that I can watch Australian Survivor. It is basically the only thing I use it for.
I love that so much. If anyone has a problem with that, just send Jason the episode.
Yeah, the new season on ten play coming out in twenty twenty five. They've only said, but it looks like a pretty big deal this upcoming season. I believe it's a Survivor Mamia. It is a It is a brains versus bron so basically a smart people versus muscleheads. Here's the thing about him Bo. Here's what I'll say about Australian Survivor. I watch it on the tenplay website, which has a lot of great reality show content from that part of the world, Asia and the surrounding areas. I will here's the one thing about that's funny about Tenplay. Every so often, when I log in to watch an episode of Australian Survivor, it'll ask me, Hey, you're not using a VPN, are you, And I will be like no, I click no, of course not, okay, No, I live I live in Brisbane. What are you talking about? I eat it hungry Jacks like everybody else. I love hungry Jacks.
Yeah, yeah, like I just love Australia.
I've learned a lot about Australian culture through the commercials on the on the ten play app. But I will say Aushan Survivor is very very good. It incredible production value. There is something I think about Australian culture in which an American Survivor. It's about the every person. Every you get a person from every kind of walk of life, young student, the retired homemaker, the news anchor person, the blue collar delivery person, right gay straight on Australian Survivor. It's very important number one that everybody be like pretty physically fit. So even like the older characters who they've had on the show are like two time Olympian gold medalists who swung the swum the English channel several times when they were like younger and are still in incredible shape. They have had like multiple whatever their football is over there, like multiple times all stars in AFL or whatever their version of Australian football is over there. So they'll have like these incre like surfer professional surfers, and it's much more like physically based, like there's a lot of like heavy duty. They love to see people like slamming into each other. That said, really really fun show with some wonderful scheming and some great characters. Shout out to King George of Survivor, who are incredible one of the greatest Survivor players ever. But those are the ones I watch. Do you watch any reality TV? Oh and vander Pump Rules obviously.
Yeah. My sister and some of my best friends are very into reality TV, so I have gotten into it. I would say the big ones at the moment, any of the selling Sunset franchise. My sister is extremely into those. So there was a recent new one that started selling the city all about New York, which if you thought that LA prices were horrific, wait until you watch they're selling the city. It's grotesque. That's nine million dollar listing. Yeah, I'm also a big fan. These are a more standard network fair but I love like a cooking show. I watch a lot of like you know, guys, grocery games and stuff like that, less ongoing lore in those shows. British Show, Great British Baking show. I love that. I love these kind of older British as like Rick Stein. That motherfucker's going to some nice places he's seeing like he's like my secret France and you're like, yeah, but just never watch him go outside of europecause then you're like you're an old white guy. I don't know if this was the best choice for you. Another big one has definitely been As I was saying, I do watch a lot of like old reality TV shows, but my sister did and many of my friends implored me to watch The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Have you watched that, Jason, So you gotta watch it. You gotta watch it. It's actually it's intentionally made as a second screen show because this is the setup for the show. It follows a group of Mormon Mum influencers after they implode when they get caught in the midst of a swinging sex scandal. But the show is not The show is set afterwards, but there is no season about it. You have to go on TikTok. You have to go on the internet and read about the law of the swinging sex scandal to watch the show about the four out. My sister knew all about the sex scandal from TikTok beforehand, so that was a very unique situation. And if any of you have been seeing the trend at the moment for dirty sodas, they've just started opening dirty soda shops in LA. This is something that comes from the Mormon community because these women cannot drink so they'd be going out, Jason, and they're swinging with their friends, husbands or whatever. Good for them. I love that for you, that's fine. But what I do not condone is that they go into like a you know, a raceway or racetrack or whatever your seven eleven equivalent is, and they make like a soda, but they put like creamer in it, and they put like marshmallow fluff in it, and they may derange old school egg cream, kind of like an egg cream, but like a new version. And it's because they can't drink, they make these deranged things. So they'll go and they'll get a coke and it will have like seven pumps of cherry marshmallow fluff. That was what really shocked me about that show, not the swinging sex scandal, and that has actually been so popular on Hulu that they're now going to start playing it on ABC at ten PM on Mondays from like the twenty seventh, so next next week. Yeah, so very interesting. I'm definitely I'm a reality TV like I'm a newbie. I'm on the edge, but any of the big ones vand of Pump Rules, I have some of my best friends loved that show, so I got very into it on the season after the cheating scandal, the Scandalval scandal, of course, and I deeply deeply hate that guy.
Tom Tom Sandoval. See him on the Traders. Sure you can go watch him on Traders, and it's great.
It's everything's really an evil passic. Also another one that is like one of those shows where I feel bad when I watch it because I know it's just not a well, like it's not a healthy environment for anyone on the show. But Nightie Day Fiance another one that my sister is very very into that if it's on, I will occasionally watch. But that's one of those ones where I literally, like Bad Girls Club, I'm feeling guilty because I'm like, I know, there was no duty of care like that get paid like night that get paid like ninety dollars a day for incidentals and they are probably being plied with alcohol and booze and just making like terrible decisions. But ironically, I actually indulge in most reality TV watching via like Instagram or TikTok because of the clips. So yeah, that's it. Do you like reality TV? I would say, like, hit us up if you do, because our discord definitely does, and it's fun to talk about different kinds of TV and the way different kinds of TV gets made. So I'm stoked that we were able to do a little winter reality TV check in.
In the next few episodes of Extra Vision, We're swinging with your friendly neighborhood spider Man, first animated Spider Man project from Marvel Studios. And that's it to this episode. Thanks for listening, Bye x ray Vision is hosted by Jason Sepsion and Rosie Knight and is a production of iHeart Podcast.
Our executive producers are Joel Monique and Aaron Cole.
Our supervising producer is Abu Zafar.
Our producers are Common Laurent Dean Jonathan and Bai Wag.
A theme song is by Brian Vasquez, with alternate theme songs by Aaron Kaufman.
Special thanks to Soul Rubin, Chris Lord, Kenny Goodman, and Heidi our discord moderator.
