Welcome back to the podcast where Nancy, Scott, and returning guest stars Brenda and Patrick, dig into the cultural minefield known as The Gorge, only to emerge hours later covered in emotional goo, haunted by Sigourney Weaver, and armed with a spreadsheet that may or may not be sentient.

• Patrick finally unveils his Gorge spreadsheet, a multi-tabbed descent into madness that attempts to quantify vibes, moral alignment shifts, and trauma loops. It causes Scott actual pain.
• Brenda confidently references Season Negative One, “Zone Shifts,” and “The Reboot Arc,” while everyone else just tries to remember who Timmy is.
• Nancy ties The Gorge to T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men, because apparently this episode needed more existential dread.
• Scott goes full kaiju nerd, declaring that Godzilla is the only creature who truly understands The Gorge. YouTube fan-edits are mentioned. They have changed him.
• The 2005 King Kong movie gets a standing ovation for being creepy, gooey, and emotionally scarring in all the right ways. Special shoutout to the skull-headed spider crabs.
• Nancy brings up Invasion of the Body Snatchers, somehow perfectly describing the facial scream vibe of half the finale.
• The Alien franchise takes over for a solid chunk as Sigourney Weaver, screaming queens, and acid blood are all treated as canonically related to The Gorge.
• A tangent about super soldiers leads straight into Marvel territory, Daryl Hannah in Sense8 (yes, the orgies are discussed), and Anson Mount’s entire vibe in Strange New Worlds.
• Nicole Kidman shows up via Eyes Wide Shut, and no one knows how we got there—but everyone agrees it’s relevant.
• Brenda tries to make a case for The Gorge being emotional storytelling. Scott calls it formatting trauma.
• Everyone lists shows they’re actually excited about—The Last of Us S2, Andor, Daredevil: Born Again, Alien: Earth, and more. For one brief moment, there is hope.
• The episode closes with a recap of chaos: Timmy’s status is unresolved, and everyone’s just a little bit broken by what they’ve watched.
• Other highlights include:
• Arguments about whether goo is literal or metaphorical
• Patrick referencing “4.2KM” like it’s a thing we’re all supposed to understand
• A debate on Anson Mount’s entire existence
• Springtime for Elon, the Smurfs, the Sound of Music, and at least one reference to The NeverEnding Story

In short, this episode is a broken film studies final — annotated in crayon, about grief, genre confusion, and YouTube fan edits — wrapped in a haiku, whispered by Nicole Kidman, and screamed by an alien.

Welcome back to the podcast, where we grab the wheel of culture, yank it towards the median, and immediately drive straight into a ditch full of Shark Tank reruns, basketball-fueled trauma, and questionable streaming choices of movies based in 2025.

• Our season opener two-parter brings back guest guest (star?) Patrick who brings his wife Brenda along for the ride. Who do YOU think lost the bet?
• Nancy questions the value of diamonds and why they're not worth anything - unless you make them out of your dead friends.
• Scott loses his mind over tiny-town basketball preempting his hero Mark Cuban taking Russian operative Kevin O'Leary out to the woodshed.
• Nancy goes on another anime tirade but Scott can’t quite grasp the point of “screaming and people punching each other with wind.”
• Nancy admits she’s still holding out hope that George R. R. Martin will finish The Winds of Winter before we all turn into diamonds ourselves. (Spoiler: he won’t)
• Patrick goes full spreadsheet mode, lamenting the state of the streaming industry with the passion of a man whose free trial just ended. He breaks down subscriber counts like an actuary on a Red Bull bender, but we all know he’d rather be watching Law & Order: HVAC Unit Victims Division. Also, he somehow ends up defending Avatar 2, which should be a court-martial-level offense.
• While Scott complains about the YouTubes and Nerds, Brenda tries to time-travel back to when network television was still a thing. Any silence isn’t absence—it’s judgment marinated in a Kirkland Old Fashioned.

Other highlights include:

• A screaming goat button that raises more questions than it answers

• A drive-by shade at Chris Pratt’s Mario voice

• Nancy trying to schedule a séance with Millie Bobby Brown’s childhood

• And all of them collectively forgetting how Shark Tank works for at least six minutes

In short, this episode is a deeply unqualified TED Talk on streaming, grief jewelry, and the structural integrity of goats-in-a-button.

Stay tuned for part two!

Scott is still on vacation; Loan Canon!! oh, er, ChatGPT!!

Podcast Technical Issues and Scheduling Challenges

The episode opens with Scott and Nancy discussing difficulties scheduling a guest due to her busy family life. Scott proposes using a phone call setup to include more people on the podcast. They joke about how long it took to finally get this guest to participate and reflect on a previous, particularly funny podcast episode.

Doctor Who Discussion

The conversation shifts to Doctor Who, with Scott excitedly noting the release of two new episodes on Disney+. He mentions his plan to dress as the antagonist from the second episode for Halloween. They also joke about costumes, wigs, and segue into discussing other sci-fi and pop culture topics.

New Theme Song and AI Tools

Scott talks about debuting their new podcast theme song, which was developed with AI tools. There’s playful discussion about the song's different versions and a humorous reference to Beyoncé “stealing” their ideas. This leads into a broader discussion of how AI tools help streamline podcast production and content creation.

Dark Sky Initiative and Aurora Borealis

Guest Patrick shares his experience with the Dark Sky Initiative, including traveling to view the Northern Lightsduring a solar storm. They discuss light pollution caused by crowds gathering to see the auroras. Scott humorously describes Nancy’s backyard disco ball and its unintended effect on birds.

Pop Culture and Technology Commentary

The hosts discuss the controversy around Apple’s iPad commercial, where symbols of creativity are crushed into an iPad. Scott and Nancy critique the backlash, arguing that people overreacted. They humorously reference Hugh Grant’s criticism of the ad and debate the role of AI and technology in creative fields, emphasizing how modern tools empower individual creators.

Star Trek: Discovery Analysis

The hosts dive into Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, particularly the episode “Face the Strange.” They analyze:

• Time Travel Plot: The crew encounters a “time bug” from the Temporal War, leading to chaotic time jumps. Scott emphasizes that this wasn’t a traditional time loop.
• Character Development: They praise Sonequa Martin-Green for her portrayal of different versions of Michael Burnham, noting the nuances between Season 1 and Season 5 Burnham.
• Zora and Continuity: Discussion about the ship’s AI, Zora, references a Short Trek episode where Zora exists 1,000 years in the future. Scott questions how this aligns with current timelines and ship models.
• Tilly’s Arc: There’s a mix of affection and exasperation over Tilly’s recurring teacher storyline.

Humor and Banter

Throughout, the hosts engage in comedic exchanges, touching on topics like vampire tropes, Starfleet teachers, and disco balls. They joke about dreadlocks in combat, Vulcan death grips, and elaborate Star Trek dialogue that couldn’t possibly be ad-libbed.