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🎙️ Episode: https://share.transistor.fm/s/1664dcba
📓 Show Notes: https://midsomermaniacs.transistor.fm/208
Mystery Maniacs Episode! In Podcast 208, a murder causes a five hour train ride, twice, and tries to avoid the Hastings Dumbass Pendulum. Somehow, we relate this to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
Show Notes
Magical TV Question for the Next Episode
Who should guest star on the next season of Midsomer?
Agatha Christie and the Dandelion Poisoner
The Primitives - Crash
Sharon’s Baby
Thanks again for listening!
Mark & Sarah
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Upcoming Schedule
- July 29 - Poirot - S02 E05 - "The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim"
- August 12 - Poirot - S02 E06 - "Double Sin"
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Creators & Guests
What is Mystery Maniacs?
Mystery Maniacs Podcast is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to British Mystery Television. Formerly, Midsomer Maniacs podcast.
Just a note before we begin. Earlier this week, my mother passed. Madonna Bell was 91 years young and will be missed by family and friends. This means Sarah and I have to go to Canada this coming weekend, and so there'll be no episode next week. I know you will all understand.
Mark:Part of my love for TV comes from spending nights with my mom in the rec room of the farm watching network TV detective shows. Today's episode is dedicated to her. Love you all, maniacs. And if you can, hug or call your mom today. And now on with the episode.
Sarah:Hey, Maniacs.
Mark:Hey, Maniacs.
Sarah:It's Mystery Maniacs.
Mark:Mystery Maniacs is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to mystery TV. Each week, we dig into an episode of the show including the murders, the mayhem, the loonies, and everything else we love. This week, the Cornish mystery.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:Season 2 episode 4 of Poirot. I am Mark.
Sarah:I'm Sarah.
Mark:How are we doing? Wow. Did I bring down the episode or what?
Sarah:It was important, and you did a great job.
Mark:It was important. So
Sarah:Last week at the end, very, very I'll bring it up again. Very end. I'll bring the tone
Mark:up again. Speaking of ends.
Sarah:You put a little outtake after the music.
Mark:Yes. I did.
Sarah:And every As I always do. You always do. And last week, you included a little bit of me saying, and my butt is so happy. And I just wanna clarify that I was talking about a new seat cushion that I bought that makes my office chair much more comfortable.
Mark:She be she bought me one too.
Sarah:So I didn't want people to be concerned about my health my health or anything.
Mark:Both of our butts are much happier.
Sarah:These cushions are amazing. They're like a little hug for your tushy.
Mark:Yep.
Sarah:And they make my posture better. And my chair at work, though fancy, is awful. And my little cushion makes me very happy.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:That's what I was talking about. I was like, they're gonna think I bought preparation h or something. I don't mind if I think that. It's just a cushion. It's a cushion.
Mark:Boy, there's a maniac on Reddit this week. This this fellow maniac, has gone through all the episodes of Midsummer to find every instance of the fox making the fox sound.
Sarah:That's amazing.
Mark:And recorded them in a text file.
Sarah:I want the sound file, though.
Mark:It It'd be
Sarah:like, ah, ah, ah, ah,
Mark:ah. It made me very happy. Like, Palpatine
Sarah:long did that take?
Mark:Palpatine having Luke Skywalker join the dark side. It was
Sarah:fantastic. It's definitely a one of us moment. Yes. But I really wanna know why he did it. Like, what made him wanna do that?
Mark:What I would suggest is not why he would do that, but if he's not doing a job in which data science and data collection and archiving are his job Yeah. He should be doing it.
Sarah:Yeah. Well, it's like the the woman who did the timeline. It's incredible. You know? And Absolutely.
Sarah:Like the history of Midsummer County. Yeah. It's incredible. Yep. And she that's what she does.
Mark:That's what she does.
Sarah:And if he's not doing that for a living, he ought to be because wow. Yeah. It's like my spreadsheet of the severity of the murder and
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:By village to see if there are villages where people are more vicious when they kill each other.
Mark:Another good thing we heard about this week is that the Thursday Murder Cub is officially in production. So this is Richard Osman's book.
Sarah:Mhmm. His book series.
Mark:Yeah. And this cast is stellar. So it has Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Ermey.
Sarah:You don't even have to be a nerd to know who most of those people are.
Mark:Well, Celia, Emery is the woman who liked to have sex while her husband was out walking on the moors and taping it.
Sarah:She played the really bad lady in the Harry Potter movies. Right? No. No. Different lady.
Sarah:Oh, different sexual deviant in Midsummer.
Mark:The whole county. And we heard that on a new podcast that we've
Sarah:started listening. Mean the the episode where he wants to he likes to listen?
Mark:Yeah. Where he likes to listen and
Sarah:then report it. Okay.
Mark:They, Richard Osman has a podcast called The Rest is Entertainment with a woman named Marina Hyde. It is all Greenland all the time.
Sarah:Yeah. It's all behind the scenes stuff.
Mark:Like, they went into in-depth in how your television channels show up in that listing and the numbers and the importance in the numbers and something called slot trading
Sarah:Yeah. Which you
Mark:have to say very carefully.
Sarah:Where networks pay to have a certain station channel number
Mark:Yep.
Sarah:In a market. So It's interesting.
Mark:So if you're interested
Sarah:That's not what it's about. That's just the kind of stuff they know.
Mark:Yeah. Especially British TV and movies. Yeah. They're they're on the button of that. Also, this week, wow.
Mark:You wanna cause a stir on Facebook? You put some warnings on the front of Midsummer. Wow.
Sarah:So UK TV has put a warning message before an episode of Midsummer plays. Yes. Right?
Mark:Violence, nudity, drug use.
Sarah:Which it's all accurate. It's got murder in the title. Yeah. It's all accurate. And they're doing it for all shows, not just Midsummer, but people are upset about that?
Mark:Yeah. And it has nothing to do with Midsummer and nothing to do with a particular episode of Midsummer.
Sarah:What's wrong with warning people about what's in the episode?
Mark:It's there's nothing wrong with it. People But,
Sarah:I mean, what do people think is wrong with it?
Mark:People are like, oh, it's politically correct. They have to have warnings. Their show's called murder. Yeah. You you have a warning at the beginning.
Mark:Yeah. They're just doing it for all shows. And sometimes you're, like, watching a show and out of nowhere something happens and you're like, I woulda liked a little trigger there beforehand. Yeah. Because there have been things that we've watched where I've as soon as it happened, I'm reaching for the remote because I know you or I are gonna go, I'm out.
Sarah:Yeah. I'm done with this. And I wouldn't have watched it if I'd known about that.
Mark:Yep. Absolutely.
Sarah:Well, people need to relax.
Mark:And finally, another thing, Megan. The thing is there was an ep there was an article in the Guardian about it quoting the Daily Mail, and it was all
Sarah:wrapped up in the election.
Mark:It was like, now that there's a
Sarah:All you have to do is look at their website to know they're trashy.
Mark:Yes. I mean, come on. They are completely trashy. Another thing to get old people upset is they're redoing Bergerac. And, boy, do they have a tall drink of water playing the new Bergerac character.
Sarah:Oh, he's handsome.
Mark:He's incredibly handsome. I think you'll do a great job. But, of course, the Daily Mail article about it has,
Sarah:Has Tom John Nettles
Mark:John Nettles
Sarah:is the picture
Mark:because it's
Sarah:because that's all anybody wants to see.
Mark:Yeah. I look forward to the new Burj rack. I didn't watch the old Burj rack. I should've. It's got all sorts of people we love in it.
Mark:Mhmm. I'm I'm sure we would love it.
Sarah:Well, in that Badland is his secretary.
Mark:Yeah. So I'm I'm sure we would absolutely love it, and I look forward to the new one. Endeavor when Endeavor started, we were sus. We were totally sus. We were like Morse is Morse, Lewis is Lewis, and what is this thing?
Mark:Yep. And then it was it is its own thing and it's part of the trilogy and it's it's so good.
Sarah:Yeah.
Mark:And it's it's good in different ways.
Sarah:My only critique of Morse is that it's it's dark. It's heavy. Endeavor. Endeavor compared to Morse.
Mark:Yeah. I can't watch the last episode of Endeavor. I'm like, I got I watch like 20 minutes at a time because not only is it like all these familiar faces are back, but also you're like, is is Thursday gonna die? Yeah. Is he gonna die?
Mark:Is he dead yet? No? Okay. So if you've seen it, I hope you enjoy it. I will eventually get it thrown away, but I know Sarah will never watch it.
Sarah:No. It's I don't need that. I don't need sad, upset. Yep. In my in my mental palace, those characters live on and are happy.
Mark:Also, we're gonna try something new in, the next couple of episodes. We would like you to ask us some questions about TV or movie entertainment that are in the vein of creative questions.
Sarah:Because I think they would be fun for us to answer and then fun for you to share your answers too.
Mark:Yes. I completely agree. Much in the in the vein of the what are you watching videos that I make. So the first question that we're not answering this question today. No.
Mark:So we'll give you time to think about it. You got 2 weeks. Right? The next episode, which will be released on the 29th June, we will have the question, who would you like to see guest star in the next Midsummer season?
Sarah:Mhmm. Of
Mark:all the current people. Right? It's gotta be a current people. It can't be like, Christopher Lee. Like, Christopher Not dead people.
Mark:Not dead
Sarah:people. Living in the air.
Mark:Person that could be on that.
Sarah:Now It's not fantasy midsummer.
Mark:Now the second thing is Sarah and I are gonna keep our answers from each other.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:So there there's gonna be surprises.
Sarah:Yeah. So you won't know what I came up with until we share them on the recording.
Mark:So we'll have a couple of those. If you have questions in that vein, especially questions that are creative. Right? It's it's like the magical TV question. It's like what if TV.
Sarah:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if there's a factual question you'd like us try to find the answer to and that you have been able to find, of course. Of course.
Mark:Send them.
Sarah:Send them along, but I I kinda hope that this kinda spurs discussions and gets people talking about
Mark:We'll put we'll put a post with our answers out in the social medias including the Reddit and stuff like that for you all to discuss and and as well, on the community tab and YouTube and all that good stuff. By the way, YouTube, we have 1488 followers on YouTube right now. Are are there not 12 people who have not followed us?
Sarah:We've had this conversation before at other points.
Mark:I know. Twelve people.
Sarah:Are you ready to talk about the Cornish mystery?
Mark:Know 12 people. Are you ready to talk about the Cornish mystery? Yes. I get I'm ready to talk about the Cornish mystery air date, 28th January 1990. Edward Bennett wrote it.
Mark:Sorry. He directed it. It says in IMDB that Clive Exton wrote it, but this, like, when I I read the short story this week, and I was like, this is the screenplay.
Sarah:Like, it is It doesn't deviate.
Mark:It doesn't deviate at all. Really, Agatha Christie writes this episode.
Sarah:Yeah.
Mark:And importantly, written in 22 and 23. Yeah. Because this relates to a real case.
Sarah:Yeah. And I've mentioned this before. Obviously, Agatha Christie was infatuated with crime of all kinds and had been for a long time. But this story in particular mirrors a real life case extremely closely. That was happening almost contemporaneously to when she was writing.
Sarah:It's like she saw the news coverage of this case and went, what if it ended differently? I'm going to write that
Mark:completely
Sarah:and keep almost everything else the same. So the the case I'm talking about, is one that people refer to as the dandelion poisoner. It's the case of Herbert Armstrong who was a solicitor who was convicted of killing his wife and executed for killing his wife with he's called the dandelion poisoner because it was weed killer that he supposedly fed her and killed her. That happened, she the murder happened in 21. He was convicted in 22, and this story comes out in 23.
Sarah:If you wanna know more about that connection, there's a really great podcast. It's a just a 3 episode limited podcast called Agatha Christie and the dandelion poisoner. You should find it. The guy who hosts it, Joan Osera, he's a really good host. He does a ton of research interviews.
Mark:I tried to find the link and put it in the show notes.
Sarah:It's really good. If you have Amazon Prime or an Audible membership, it's definitely on there. Okay. I've not looked for it other places because that's where I listen to it. And there have been at least 5 books written about the Armstrong case.
Mark:Yeah. Most And this is in Wales.
Sarah:Most arguing that he was innocent. Yeah. He was railroaded. But Christy was definitely reading the coverage. It was front page every day, multiple times a day in every paper for a year and a half, it would have been definitely top of mind to her.
Sarah:Yeah. And it's just there's a lot of similarities.
Mark:Poor Poirot. He is sad. He is sad.
Sarah:In the rain, and he is sad. He's sad because Meanwhile, Hastings does Lamaze.
Mark:He is in the rain.
Sarah:He's like the Well, he's Trying to have a baby
Mark:or something. I think he's doing yoga. Yeah. I think in his sweater vest.
Sarah:He does everything in his sweater vest.
Mark:I know. The liver is the key. Miss Hastings is no fan of that t son.
Sarah:Miss Lemon says there's a woman outside pacing around who clearly wants to talk to him, but won't come in. And before before miss Lemon goes out to talk to her, He lives in, what, a 10 story building? Yes. With 4 units on every floor at least? How how does miss Lemon know that this woman wants to talk to Poirot?
Sarah:She could be looking for anybody on that block.
Mark:Yeah. Absolutely.
Sarah:But, no. If somebody wants to talk to somebody, obviously, it's Poirot.
Mark:Now this episode is by the book, and so I think they've let David Suchet and Hugh Fraser. Hugh Fraser off the hook here a little bit.
Sarah:They have so much fun.
Mark:Because they do nothing but screw with everybody in this episode. I'm not devouring strange ladies today.
Sarah:Fantastic. Well, missus
Mark:Pengelly is so inconsiderate to make
Sarah:them come out in the rain.
Mark:But there's a nice shot of the umbrellas.
Sarah:I do like the overhead shot of the 3 umbrellas, but Poirot then realizes that he's too short and just walks between them without his umbrella furled.
Mark:Yes. And she does a great job of explaining everything. It's a great exposition scene. If you need an example of an exposition scene that works Mhmm. Because she gives you a ton of information but because she's in danger and she implies that right away, you are riveted to that information.
Sarah:And so is Poirot because he's dismissed a lot of people who come to him with cases like this. Yeah. But it's clear that she's she's scared. She's in danger one way or the other. And he and Hastings are willing to travel 5 hours by train to get to Cornwall.
Mark:Well, this is so
Sarah:And that's today's train speeds.
Mark:The biggest problem we have with this episode, because this episode is fantastically tight other than this, is why does she come to Poirot? Why doesn't she call Poirot?
Sarah:Or someone closer to home who might be able to help.
Mark:There there has to be
Sarah:And maybe she has
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:And they've dismissed her. Certainly, anybody in town where she lives would have dismissed her, like, doctor Adams, I just wanna punch punch punch punch punch him. Yes. Every time he's on screen, I just wanna slap him.
Mark:And I gotta tell you, a yellow haired hussy shows up in town, everybody knows about that. A smart turn. Hardly has a name. She In Hastings relationship with her. He has in Hastings relationship with her.
Sarah:He has hussy dumbness. As soon as he sees a hussy, he's like, My tooth hurts.
Mark:They leave at she leaves at 5 and they leave the next day. And this is perfect Poirot drama because when they arrive, they find out that she's dead and
Sarah:Poirot loses his shit. He is
Mark:not pleased.
Sarah:He contains it just long enough to get out of the house, which is house in mourning. Yeah. And then he loses it.
Mark:They just go in the house because there's crying.
Sarah:Just walk in.
Mark:Yes. And wander. Like, they have to go through a couple of rooms first.
Sarah:In here. She's in here. Yeah. The poor maid.
Mark:And then she's like, here's some more explanation. Yeah. Doctor Adams. He's on the other end of the high street. Go see him.
Sarah:Yeah. Go see him.
Mark:And then like this is great to this point because if you forget you're in the first 10 minutes of an episode, you're like, oh, the husband's guilty is sin.
Sarah:Mhmm. Right? I really like going back to missus Pengelli explaining the case to them in the rain when they ask about whether Jacob Radnor and her niece He's just a friend. Have any relationship.
Mark:He's just a friend.
Sarah:None at all.
Mark:None at all. He's just a friend.
Sarah:That was a little
Mark:I didn't notice that the first time, but wow. She is, like,
Sarah:that's my Jacob. She doth protest too much.
Mark:Yes. Definitely. It couldn't be him. He wouldn't poison his grandmother's dog. What does that mean?
Mark:We golf, so clearly he wouldn't poison anyone.
Sarah:But it is not the dog of madame Pengelly's grandmother that has been poisoned. Poirot is about to snap. So Will you let me talk? Well, I'd like to think I'm a good listener. Okay.
Sarah:Doctor Adams, worst doctor ever.
Mark:Yeah. A doctor who relaxed out is not a doctor. I absolutely agree.
Sarah:Can you imagine going to see him and trying to explain how you were feeling?
Mark:I know it's irritating.
Sarah:Talk over you.
Mark:I know it's irritating going to our doctor who is very good, but is a little come see, come saw sometimes, but he has to be.
Sarah:Yeah. So missus Pingelly has been eating gruel Yes. Because of her stomach complaint. Yes. What is gruel?
Mark:I'm I'm kinda scared with well, gruel is like a liquidy, soupy, not hot, not cold mess that apparently is easy to digest.
Sarah:That's what you think of when you hear gruel.
Mark:Or something you feed Oliver.
Sarah:What's in it?
Mark:Please, sir. Can I have some more?
Sarah:What would you guess is in it?
Mark:There is white stuff. It's in my mind it's very brothy with flex of white stuff that might be fat maybe. That's all I got.
Sarah:That's all you got. Yeah. So
Mark:I think of it like bouillon.
Sarah:So bouillon is broth. Mhmm. I went looking for recipes for gruel that were contemporary to when this was written, and I found
Mark:Did you find any famous people have recipes? No. No. No, what's his name? The British guy,
Sarah:There's no Gordon Ramsay Groole recipe from the 19 twenties.
Mark:No Gordon Ramsay Groole recipe.
Sarah:Not even Jared. That's gruel.
Mark:Yeah. That that's what you
Sarah:asked me to make. Me to make. No. These are more, like, better housekeeping recipes for, like, things to feed your kids when their tummies are upset.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:Or when the flu pandemic was going around, there were a ton of recipes Yeah. For the influenza victims of things that were comforting and safe to eat and expensive
Mark:to make. Nutritious, but not delicious.
Sarah:Yeah. Like, really unseasoned. I found 3.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:I would like to present them to you and you choose which of the 3 you would be most willing to eat. Okay. If you must eat one of these. Okay. Which one would you eat?
Mark:We'll call these a, b, or c.
Sarah:Yes.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:So recipe a
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:Starts with oatmeal
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:That is cooked in beef broth until it is completely dissolved. The goal is to not see any of the oat flakes at
Mark:all. Okay.
Sarah:And it should be the consistency of thin tapioca. Oh. But it is oats and beef. Alrighty. What's the rice?
Sarah:No rice.
Mark:Poirot doesn't like the rice.
Sarah:That's the first one.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:The second one is barley or lentils cooked in water, not broth, water. Again, until they are completely broken down and of uniform consistency, and you can put a little bit of treacle in it. Oh. When it's done.
Mark:Okay. Which is Which is like molasses.
Sarah:Yeah. Because, you know, the sugar.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:So barley or lentils with treacle in water.
Mark:Or oatmeal in the broth. Yeah. Okay.
Sarah:The third one
Mark:Uh-oh. I'm worried about 3 here.
Sarah:Uses stale stale bread
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:Soaked in a mix of lard and broth. Okay. At, like, a low simmer again until the bread is completely dissolved into it. Yep. And then milk is added.
Sarah:All 3 of these are to be consumed at room temperature.
Mark:Of course, at room temperature.
Sarah:So are you going with the oats, the barley or lentils, or the bread?
Mark:So 22 things. 1, anyone who knows me for long enough understands that I'll I am extreme about my food. I like cold food
Sarah:To be cold and hot food to be really hot.
Mark:Hot food to be hot. You don't like lukewarm food. No. Okay?
Sarah:So already body temperature at most.
Mark:Already, I'm I'm not there. 2nd of all, I have a story because my father used to make this thing called barley soup. Both of my parents now passed. The the world is a better place for the food that they cooked.
Sarah:I like
Mark:Not being in it.
Sarah:Like beef barley soup.
Mark:I do too. I do not like the way my father cooked it because he used water, not beef broth. Oh. And I remember asking him why he did not use beef broth.
Sarah:Chicken broth or vegetable broth, something with some flavor in it.
Mark:And he said it tasted too beefy, and that's the entire
Sarah:You mean it has flavor? Of beef. Ah.
Mark:He would get it at restaurants and then try to recreate it at home and, did not do well. So I I've kind of almost eaten 2 b. We're all over the place with the letters and numbers here. So I'm gonna say that is the one I would eat, but I would throw it in the microwave.
Sarah:Yeah. I think that's it because to me, that one is, like, either, like, split pea or beef and barley. Yeah. That's just really overcooked so that it's lost all of its texture. Split pea soup loses a lot of its texture, and I I love it.
Sarah:So I'd be willing to eat that.
Mark:So now this is the point where we say, this is a spoiler podcast.
Sarah:But if you put weed killer in it, probably, it doesn't add to the flavor.
Mark:This man knows his wife is upset. Yeah. This man knows his wife is sick. Yeah. This man is making her meals.
Sarah:Yeah.
Mark:He is a good man.
Sarah:He is. He's Does he get engaged a little too fast after she dies?
Mark:It's a little too fast, but but people grieve in different ways.
Sarah:I think he is having an affair.
Mark:You do?
Sarah:Yeah. Okay. Because you know that scene where the hussy is in the shadow. She's shadow hussy.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:And he walks past her.
Mark:Shadow hussy is now in the name of the episode.
Sarah:He's saying, not now, Shadow Hussey.
Mark:I think so.
Sarah:No one can see us together yet, Shadow Hussey.
Mark:I think so.
Sarah:And she retreats into the shadow.
Mark:But he doesn't deserve to die With her for having to shadow hussy.
Sarah:With her hussiness. Yes. And her white smock.
Mark:Speaking of, the next day, Poirot and Hastings go to the surgery.
Sarah:And Hastings meets the hussie.
Mark:Well, first of all, no. No. Before that, and it's very subtle, they come in and Poirot doesn't know what's going on. He's trying to figure out who's there and who's not there. And Hastings raises a hand to him.
Mark:Like, he says, it's a woman. I'll handle this.
Sarah:Yeah. I think he's saying there's somebody in that room in the surgery. Yep. Let me check it out. Hastings is very much the muscle in this episode.
Mark:Oh, I I agree with that.
Sarah:Like, he single handedly prevents Radnor from leaving that hotel room by standing there.
Mark:Yeah. And Radnor, who is pretty broad shouldered Yeah. Could probably give him a run for his money.
Sarah:Yeah. But chooses not to because Hastings is so intimidating with his one eyebrow cocked, really.
Mark:So Hastings goes into the surgery and loses his mind.
Sarah:Oh. Oh. My my tooth. I have a toothache. No?
Sarah:I'll come back in 6 weeks.
Mark:And I'm like, is that the girl from the primitives video? If you don't know the primitives, it's a UK band from the eighties with one hit song called crash.
Sarah:Hush Hush your mouth. Yes. I was like And it's not just hair.
Mark:Like I'll make a joke that they
Sarah:look alike. The same.
Mark:And and then I went and watched the video, and I was like, woah. They look a lot alike.
Sarah:So much that you had to check to make sure it wasn't her.
Mark:Yes. It's not Tracy Tracy, the lead singer from the primitives.
Sarah:He's got hussy dumbness.
Mark:He does. Hussy dumbness.
Sarah:The shadow hussy.
Mark:Shadow hussy dumbness.
Sarah:Dumbness in Hastings. It's not hard to evoke dumbness in Hastings. I looked up Hussey because I didn't know where it came from.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:And this is confusing.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:According to the OED, as early as 14/70, Hussey meant housewife. Oh. So, like, a German, like, hoos Like, the lady of the house? Yeah. So it was just short for just a housewife.
Sarah:It had no positive or negative connotation. But then by the 15 thirties, it's a term for an impertinent sexually loose young woman. So contemporaneously, it meant both just a housewife and a loose impertinent young woman, which must have been confusing.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:Like, what are you saying about my wife?
Mark:Don't take your hussy to Germany. She'll meet the hussy. Like,
Sarah:are you calling my wife a hussy? No. I'm well, yes.
Mark:And, again, even though likely in an affair with the dentist, it's it's sad for him. His wife has died.
Sarah:He's clearly sad. And the actor who plays Edward Pingelly, his name is Jerome Willis. He was in Midsummer season 2 episode 4, Blood Will Out. Mhmm. He has these incredible really deep set eyes that just look sad.
Mark:Yeah. He's a really good actor.
Sarah:Yeah. Missus Pangali, by the way, Amanda Walker, she's in 2 episodes of Midsommar.
Mark:Of course.
Sarah:She's in Dead Man's 11 and Tainted Forest.
Mark:I know she was
Sarah:in Dead Man's 11. They ripen by their own corruption.
Mark:Ripen by their own corruption. They go back to town, which is kinda like old timey town.
Sarah:They take a 5 hour train trip back in time. They get to Polgarus and drive, ride a horse and wagon to their hotel Yeah. Which I'm kind of amazed that that Poirot is willing to do in the rain too. Yeah. And And I guess I didn't have a choice.
Sarah:There are cars there, but there's also an incredible number of bakers
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:With bread and baskets just loitering, men and women. And those 2 really scowly farm workers
Mark:Yeah. They're very scary.
Sarah:They're like
Mark:Hastings uses them later on.
Sarah:No. No. The the original 2, one is, is really short and one is really tall. And they're like, I got a corduroy jacket on, and I hate you. And again,
Mark:tons of people
Sarah:You're not from around here.
Mark:And a location.
Sarah:Yeah. It's a beautiful town.
Mark:Now that location is Dunster.
Sarah:Oh, so Polgar with is made up?
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Okay.
Mark:But it isn't it is it's on the you know where Wales has the bay that comes in at the bottom Mhmm. Where Cornwall kind of juts out. Mhmm. It's right at the top of that bay, making it incredibly important place in Yeah. Both civil wars and other conflicts in England, which is why there's a castle there.
Sarah:It's a beautiful little town. What is that thing, that building in the middle of the square?
Mark:Funny you ask. I did because I thought it
Sarah:was a well, but then there's people standing inside of it.
Mark:No. No. It is That building
Sarah:Is it where they used to burn the witches?
Mark:No. Okay. No. That building was built in 1609 and repaired in 16/47. It is a yarn market.
Mark:Oh. So it sits in the middle Do they
Sarah:have sheep
Mark:around there? Yep. Lots and
Sarah:lots of sheep I've got.
Mark:Sits in the middle of the street as a monument to its trade. Before it was built, most buying and selling was done in the open air, but the English weather being what it is, they had occasions that the training trading was halted because of bad weather.
Sarah:Wet wool is unpleasant.
Mark:Yep. So the smell is banded together for the quality and security of their goods and the yarn market was built for this. Now if you go on the Google maps and look at this place they had to change a lot of that town to be period correct.
Sarah:Swap out signs.
Mark:Swap out signs and all sorts of things.
Sarah:Because like Radnor's store is right there on the square and the ads on the store windows are If
Mark:you notice, this is real Greenland. But if you notice, they always shoot up from below the yarn market up. Mhmm. Because where they're walking behind the barn yarn market, it's big parking lot. So there's all these stuff written on the road.
Sarah:So they have to So
Mark:they have to
Sarah:go the other direction. It. All I know is that there are these kind of shin height stones around the Yarn Market Pavilion that just look like tripping hazards.
Mark:Yeah. I think But,
Sarah:I mean, I guess they prevent cars from running into it. But every time, like, when Japs out there, I'm like, don't trip.
Mark:And the castle is called Dunster Castle. Of course, it most You
Sarah:can see it. Almost in every shot. It's up on a hill at end
Mark:of the tree. The gatehouse. Most of that castle itself has been destroyed over years. It was a medieval castle. But if you go to the Wikipedia page or any page on Dunster Castle, it is like the standard French castle built in England.
Sarah:Norman.
Mark:Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So
Sarah:So let me ask you a question. Get your opinion on this. I know what I think. I wanna know what you think. It's very clear that Radnor has his eyes on Frieda.
Sarah:Mhmm. Right? He's they're engaged now. Yep. We also know that he was sweet talking missus Pangali.
Mark:Well, Poirot accuses him of more than that. Yes.
Sarah:Of well, of making love to her, that just means being sweet on her. Sweet nothings romantic.
Mark:It doesn't mean
Sarah:It doesn't mean sex.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:Now you could make love to somebody by writing them love notes and being romantic towards them. Yeah. It's a common misunderstanding of that Okay. Term in that age. Anyway, Jacob obviously didn't have real feelings.
Mark:No. I don't think he has real feelings for anybody. For Frida either? No. I don't think so.
Sarah:Was do you think he was actually, quote, making love to both of them at the same time?
Mark:Oh, yeah. I think so.
Sarah:So when Frida left the house, it was because she and missus Pengelly finally had a confrontation over who's who Jacob actually cared about. Yeah. So he really was sweet on both of them at the same time.
Mark:I absolutely think he was. And he knew at that point in time that he had to do something because he was gonna lose out on both chances. Yeah. So he had to kill her then. That's the inciting incident.
Sarah:And he needed to talk Frida into leaving. Yeah. It's not
Mark:because if they're not in the same house, it's easier.
Sarah:It's not a big house. No. And Frida lived there. Yeah. The fact that he was flirty with both of them, I mean Yeah.
Sarah:That's impressive that they just now kinda picked up on it.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:But missus Pengelly must have been bad at hiding the way she felt about Jacob because Frida noticed.
Mark:Yeah. She was absurd and unpleasant.
Sarah:It's just it's such close quarters.
Mark:Yeah. What's the question you have for me?
Sarah:Well, that was my question was, did he wait until missus Pengali died and then start to comfort Frida and come on to Frida and they get engaged because she's sad and she turns to him? Or was he actually putting the moves on both of them at the same time under the same roof?
Mark:I think
Sarah:because Frida seems very naive to me.
Mark:Yeah. I think he was putting the moves on both of them at the same time.
Sarah:That's impressive.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:I don't think he could've done that for very long.
Mark:Let's have a funeral in one
Sarah:rainy Mister Pingelly have thought of that? Yeah. Like, who who is this guy?
Mark:Oh, he's busy.
Sarah:Why is he hanging around my house? Busy with his hoosie. It's hoosie? Shadow hussy.
Mark:Let's have a funeral and a will reading all at the same time.
Sarah:So I'm confused about the will. Frida gets £2,000 in a trust when she's 40?
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:The the the lawyer says until she's 40, which I think means the money is held in a trust until she turns 40 and then she gets it.
Mark:And then she gets it. It's like a retirement savings.
Sarah:Okay. That's that's unusual, isn't it, for
Mark:it to
Sarah:be that old? Like, 25, 30 20 till she's married.
Mark:Till she's married. Yeah. Yeah.
Sarah:But 40 is like Yeah.
Mark:It's weird.
Sarah:Why do you think she did that?
Mark:I think she's getting back at her because I think she was pissed at her for stepping out on her man.
Sarah:So if that's the case, then missus Pingali changed her will recently, decided not to take money away from Frida, but to change when she would get it.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:And in the Armstrong case, the real case, she also changed her will.
Mark:Right beforehand?
Sarah:Right before she died. Oh.
Mark:Yeah. See?
Sarah:I think it's But she's got 20,000 in bonds. That's a lot of money.
Mark:That's a bunch of money.
Sarah:A bunch of money.
Mark:That's more than Poirot's bank account.
Sarah:That's like $200,000 Yes. At least. Yep. If not more. In the autumn of a woman's life, there comes always one mad moment when she longs for romance, for adventure before it is too late.
Sarah:Am I in the autumn of my life?
Mark:I don't know. Are you having mad moments?
Sarah:I don't know. Am I?
Mark:I think we have wonderful romance.
Sarah:I'm wondering if some of our listeners have had mad moments. We are all of an age. I'm gonna take up paragliding. Woo hoo.
Mark:I don't know if you wanna be like, what's going on? I'm like, well, I saw these ladies on social media telling me about their mad moments. Not sure that's gonna go over all that well.
Sarah:I'm okay with that. And Poirot puts a stake in the ground. He says, we're gonna see him in the dock within a month, and we're gonna have to come and save him. He calls it.
Mark:But he calls it, but he goes, nothing we can do here. Let's go home.
Sarah:For right now, there's nothing they can do.
Mark:Yep. They
Sarah:gotta let it play out. They have to let JAP, the only detective in all of the UK, come 5 hours by train
Mark:To dig up the body with the Muppets.
Sarah:To exhume the body with the Muppets. The gravedigger's voice sounds like this. 123. Heave. That's what he sounds like.
Sarah:It's Kermit. It sounds like Kermit the frog. Not more Fozzie bear, I think. 123, heave. They should've out.
Sarah:They should've had the count. Yep. 1 heave. 2. Meanwhile, Jap is standing there drinking tea at a graveside.
Sarah:Seems a little disrespectful to me.
Mark:Okay. If you understand
Sarah:He pulls the mug away from his face, and I look at him. I'm like, Jap's a muppet. Look at that mustache. He's totally he's got the nose, the he's totally a muppet.
Mark:But, Jap, consistently, this is vacation for him. He's away from his wife.
Sarah:Yep.
Mark:He's away from all the people, his boss.
Sarah:It's an easy case.
Mark:It's an easy case. It's open and shut. He's out of there.
Sarah:And he doesn't even know Poirot has ever been involved. And when
Mark:That look. When they show up, he's like, so Hastings shows Jap in the in the courtroom.
Sarah:Yeah.
Mark:But they don't Jap
Sarah:doesn't see see them because they're up in the galley. Yeah. Right? In the gallery.
Mark:And then outside, he runs into them, and he's like, oh.
Sarah:No. He sees them for the first time in the pub, doesn't he? When they sit down at his table So he's like, you.
Mark:So the
Sarah:He's just sitting there, eat his Plowman's lunch in peace, having a little pint, happy as can be.
Mark:His wee table.
Sarah:On his little low table. I think they reused the finger sandwiches from the Will reading at the pub. It's the same sandwiches.
Mark:So
Sarah:Good. I am.
Mark:This is the start of Hastings and Poirot screwing with Jap the entire rest of the episode. So Hastings sits down without even asking or looking.
Sarah:Saying hello. Just saying hello. A sandwich.
Mark:Just picks up a sandwich and goes nice ham. Yes. Just like, we're here now.
Sarah:Yeah. You
Mark:thought you had an easy case. Nope.
Sarah:Can't I just have one little murder case to myself? No. Poor Jab. Poor Jab. And, oh, we missed something.
Mark:Oh, yes. We missed the.
Sarah:How can we skip the? Is it? I say. It's. The eaching.
Mark:So while they're back in London, we need them to do something. Yes. And what they do
Sarah:I love that Hastings and miss Lemmon are like friends. Yes. And they get up to things together. Doing They do stock trading. They do I Ching together.
Mark:They're doing the I Ching. And I love how Hastings is like, oh, we're doing the I Ching. And and miss Lemon's like, no. We're not. Yeah.
Mark:We're not doing anything.
Sarah:Well, she's at work. Yes. She's being paid to be there, and Poirot just thinks they're cute. Yes. So if you don't know what the I Ching is, if you've never seen it, it's a ancient Confucian, fortune telling device, basically, in a in a book form where you toss 3 coins, you toss them 6 times, and you note heads or tails, and then that gets translated into short and long lines.
Sarah:Right? So kind of like Morse code but without the dots.
Mark:Yep. It's reads as another way.
Sarah:Yeah. You can throw sticks Yeah. Of different lengths. Right? Or with different symbols on them.
Sarah:Then you use that to look up the appropriate passage in the book. Yes. Right? So so Hastings folds out the table from the front of the book to look up the series that they've rolled and then goes to the appropriate passage in the book. Yep.
Sarah:You can now do this online. The I Ching is online. You can even flip the coins virtually and get it. You can you ask a question.
Mark:Yes. It's like tarot that you come to it with a question.
Sarah:Yeah. So I found the I Ching online, and I typed in, should we get another dog?
Mark:Oh, I have an answer for it.
Sarah:You. And I'd let it virtually flip the coins for me Yes. And it went to a passage that made no sense whatsoever to the question. It was like, you are strong of will, and your life is smooth and orderly and will remain so, which either means your life is crazy enough, and you got it sort of under control. Don't mess with it.
Sarah:Or even another dog wouldn't put you off. You're fine. You got it. Yeah. Just depends how you wanna read it.
Mark:So before we got a dog, Sarah really wanted a dog, and I said no. And I felt really bad about this. So I wrote her a letter about what all the reasons why we shouldn't have a dog.
Sarah:And this is before Fanny.
Mark:This is before
Sarah:Our first dog.
Mark:And Sarah agreed with at least a couple of the reasons. But then we bought a house, and Sarah was like, we have a house now. We're getting a dog, which is complete.
Sarah:I understood your reasons, and I sympathized with them. Yep. They weren't stupid reasons. No. They were real reasons.
Mark:And getting a house solved a
Sarah:But a lot of them were solved by buying a house. So I bought a house so we could get a dog. Done. Check.
Mark:And now, of course, 2 dogs in. The dogs adore me.
Sarah:You are their favorite person no matter what.
Mark:Like, Olive sits in my lap at night. You're the only one. Stares at me.
Sarah:Longing at me looking up at you, and you're the only one she actually likes. Sleeps at your feet all night with her head on your feet all night. Yep. She is your baby whether you like it or not.
Mark:So I I think that Sarah wants another dog because she's
Sarah:Maybe this one
Mark:will like me. Under the impression that another dog may like her, but that's
Sarah:not going to happen. I think the reason why Christy puts the I Ching in here, assuming it's in the original story, is it? Okay. Is that it's timely. So the I Ching was first translated from Chinese to English in, like, 1876.
Mark:And this is super popular orientalism of the time.
Sarah:By canon Thomas McClatchy. But he did that in Hong Kong. He was a a monk. Yeah. He it wasn't widely published.
Sarah:But around the time when this was written, this German, Chinese translator translated it, and it became incredibly popular. That's what really brought it into, like, pop culture. And it had just come in to, like, pop culture in Europe.
Mark:And it was a fun fortune telling thing to do.
Sarah:It was a fun thing to do. A party. Game. Yeah. At parties.
Mark:And the these things go in cycles in the eighties. There was a I Ching book released, and that was super popular because of it.
Sarah:Well, 10 pairs of tortoises cannot oppose him. The man in the scarlet knee bands is coming.
Mark:Scarlet knee bands?
Sarah:Do you know what the why it says scarlet
Mark:knee bands?
Sarah:Chinese princes wore scarlet knee bands.
Mark:Oh, okay.
Sarah:Like, wrapped around the lower part of their pants around their calf. Yeah. And only they could wear scarlet ones. They were it's like purple and the and, European royalty. Red was the color of of royalty.
Mark:Okay. Cool.
Sarah:But the 10 tortoises just make me think of Poirot battling the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Mark:Are you heroes in a
Sarah:half shell? Turtle power. Yeah. I just I just think they would come to fight Poirot for whatever reason, and Hastings would be like, dudes, you're awesome. Can I be your friends?
Sarah:It's so, of course, doctor Pingelly gets arrested, so they have to go back to get him out.
Mark:And at this point, I become a meme because I become let Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the TV in the meme because they say the name of the episode.
Sarah:Because it's a Cornish mystery. It's the headline in the paper. Yep. Speaking of the paper, when Poirot's reading the paper on the train when they're heading back
Mark:Yep.
Sarah:To save mister Pengelly, On the back of the paper, there's this big page whole page story about UK agriculture that has this amazing illustration of a field that has all these callouts for innovations that have been taking place in agriculture.
Mark:Oh, that's
Sarah:So it's like an annotated illustration.
Mark:I missed that.
Sarah:I can't either. But what caught my eye is at the very top of the paper next to like the title and the date and everything is an ad for military pickles.
Mark:Military pickles. That's give me some of those military pickles.
Sarah:It it really should be called relish Yeah. Like plumber's relish in the sauce for the goose in midsummer. Okay. It's got cucumbers and cauliflower and, cherry chardonnayre
Mark:kind of?
Sarah:Yeah. But more chopped up.
Mark:More chopped up.
Sarah:And it has a bit of sweetness to
Mark:it too.
Sarah:It's got some raisins in it. More like a chutney kind of.
Mark:Wow. You're really selling this.
Sarah:But it's called military pickle.
Mark:Can I put some in my gruel?
Sarah:Well, the ad itself says only a small amount In your gruel. Makes every meal more piquant. I don't know if piquant is what I want.
Mark:I'm okay with it not being piquant.
Sarah:You don't want military pickle? I thought I'd order some. They still make it.
Mark:No. Ugh. No. I'd rather have pies, like, at the end of the episode again.
Sarah:Let's talk about the second best scene in this episode, which is the hotel room scene.
Mark:Oh, boy. So this this episode has, what are we gonna do? There's a trial. What
Sarah:what's the
Mark:inevitable that Pengali is gonna
Sarah:go to their dock.
Mark:Yeah. Here's the end.
Sarah:Yeah. Well, they
Mark:Come back to my room and have a sherry.
Sarah:They swoop in and rescue him.
Mark:Yep. And Now where do you think Poirot knows what's going on?
Sarah:When does he know? Yeah. I think he knows when they read the will.
Mark:Oh, I think before that. Oh. When they go visit the niece and Radnor's waiting for them outside of her place, and he invites them into the shop, Poirot is he is on the list.
Sarah:I can see why you'd why you'd say that because he is unwilling to let things just happen. He he's too heavy handed in trying to throw them off.
Mark:And he's the star witness. He's trying way too hard.
Sarah:Well, he tells them in his shop. He says, I'm I know he's guilty, but I'm not gonna say anything because I don't want, you know, bad publicity and scandal. Yeah. So you shouldn't either. Yeah.
Sarah:Whatever. And the really, the only motive he would have is that he he wants things to play out without Paro's intervention.
Mark:And so we've said in different episodes that there's nobody else but this person. Now there is other people. It could be it could be the maid. Yep. Could be the hussy.
Sarah:The hussy couldn't slip into the house and poison the Gruul.
Mark:It seems weird. But the way he comes to knowing it's Radnor is logical and reasonable.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:But he's right. He has no proof. No. So he has to trick him.
Sarah:But Radnor's easy to break.
Mark:Yeah. Radnor gives up, like, stop, or I'll say stop again. Oh, okay.
Sarah:Well, they won't let him leave. Yeah. He's written the confession letter for him. And as soon as they, like, they say, well, you know, we're gonna tell on you, or you can sign this and get a 24 hour lead. He's like, okay.
Mark:Yep. Yeah. I did it.
Sarah:But the clincher is Hastings brilliance.
Mark:Hastings goes from brilliant to dumbass to brilliant to dumbass. Yeah.
Sarah:He's like a swing like a pendulum swinging back and forth. And you see these 2 guys out by the the bread barn in the middle of square, the yarn market.
Mark:The yarn barn.
Sarah:When they're going in the hotel, Hastings has to, like, squeeze between them because they don't get out of his way.
Mark:That that is brilliant visual storytelling.
Sarah:What is is there check what is it? Chekhov's Chekhov's. They're Chekhov's. Dudes. Bread vendors.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Yeah. They're like, these 2 guys are gonna be important. Yep. They're they're not gonna move. Yes.
Sarah:Obviously, they'll still be there. Well, these 2 guys down in the street are gonna keep an eye on you. They're gonna tail you. Go ahead and look.
Mark:And they look up just at the right it's so good.
Sarah:And Poirot doesn't know. No. Just like Hastings doesn't know what Poirot is gonna do.
Mark:They're improvising and works so well off each
Sarah:other. Perfect.
Mark:And then Hastings tells the lawyer, but you have to give him 24 hours.
Sarah:Yeah. Oh, gosh. That it's swung the other way. Yep. He's back in Dublin.
Sarah:Lawyer and Poirot are like
Mark:What? What?
Sarah:Like, is he trying to be honorable? What? We're not of course, we're not really gonna give him 24 hours. He's probably still in his his shop empty in his till Yeah. Before he goes on the run.
Sarah:Yeah. So that's the second best scene in the episode as far as I'm concerned. But the very best scene is the end. Yes. Jap and his hand pie, and he's so happy.
Mark:He's so happy.
Sarah:And Poirot just doesn't Let's
Mark:him be happy.
Sarah:Just yeah. He just doesn't have him in him in a it in him to ruin it.
Mark:It's braver to admit defeat. My god. Hastings almost loses it there.
Sarah:He's standing there, like, what? Okay.
Mark:Again They
Sarah:get in that wagon, and the cop comes running up and, like, Chap literally shakes his fist and goes, Poirot. He's got his pie in one hand, and he's shaking his fist in the other hand. Like, it's so good. It's so perfect. You want me to just let him get off Scottish free?
Mark:He confessed to that French gentleman. Chap knows right there.
Sarah:He knows. And he has those buggy eyes and that big mustache, and he's like, what? Phew. So that is the Cornish mystery. Yes.
Sarah:I have a bad movie for you.
Mark:Oh, we we don't have a best corpse because we don't actually get to see a corpse.
Sarah:Nope. And after the credits, I I mean, they usually catch Radnor and Yeah. I boyfriend is gonna feel stupid. I hope
Mark:the dentist and the hussy
Sarah:Are happy.
Mark:Are happy.
Sarah:Yeah. They're engaged. She clearly cares for him.
Mark:It wasn't a good marriage. She was all in Radnor's business.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:So you know I hope he's happy.
Sarah:Yeah. And he's definitely gonna be vindicated and get his reputation now.
Mark:She care the hussy cares for him.
Sarah:Yeah. She does.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:That's why she's in the shadows and sinks back into the shadows because she respects him and understands.
Mark:Yes. The shadow has he.
Sarah:Are you ready for a horrible movie?
Mark:Oh, lay it on me.
Sarah:Man, this is a good one. So Derek Benfield who plays doctor Adams
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:The dick doctor Yes. Is in this movie.
Mark:He's not a doctor of dicks. He's a dick who's a doctor. Yeah.
Sarah:It's a 1975 film right up your alley.
Mark:Right up my alley.
Sarah:Here's the summary for you. Something is wrong with Gino and Lucy Carlesi's new baby. He seems to possess an otherworldly, almost demonic strength and no, this is not a Hammer film. As a string of bizarre incidents and wet nurse's strange deaths send shivers down the spine, the worried parents turn to Lucy's obstetrician, the cryptic doctor Finch for help, only to realize that the baby's abnormal energy grows stronger by the minute. It's up to Geno's non sister, Albana, to take over and try to expel the evil forces that reside in the seemingly innocent child.
Sarah:What is the secret of the monster?
Mark:Okay. So this is 1975.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:And is part of a whole bunch of children are evil movies.
Sarah:Yeah. Damien, The Exorcist, Rosemary's baby.
Mark:And Rosemary's baby, all these movies. There's all sorts of ink and spilled on why there was this particular
Sarah:Yep.
Mark:Child evilness epidemic in films Mhmm. At this point in time. The funniest one being well because, people have birth control now they're afraid of babies. Wow. Did you did you look at the surface from 50,000
Sarah:feet to see
Mark:that? Like, clearly, it's a little probably a little more than that.
Sarah:But have you seen this movie?
Mark:That movie, I do not believe I have seen.
Sarah:Would you like to know who stars in it? Who stars in it? Lucy Carlesi, the mother, is played by Joan Collins.
Mark:Oh.
Sarah:And the doctor is Donald Pleasants.
Mark:Wow. That those are heavy hitters.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:And at one point in time, Donald Pleasants was in the most amount of movies. Yeah. He actually held a world record for being in the most amount
Sarah:of movies. And he's in other scary movies too.
Mark:Well, Halloween?
Sarah:Yeah. Yeah.
Mark:Yeah. He's he's a scary movie guy. No. I have not seen this movie.
Sarah:It is called Sharon's baby.
Mark:Oh, so, like, we're gonna hit every note here because it's Rosemary's baby. Yep. Right? But it's Sharon, which at that point in time is gonna make everyone think about Sharon Tate. Yeah.
Mark:Who is pregnant and killed by the the mob of what is his name? The Helter Skelter book. Yeah. It's about him. Manson.
Sarah:Manson.
Mark:Yeah. Right? So they're hitting every note.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:I don't know. Sharon's baby. No.
Sarah:There is no one in the movie named Sharon.
Mark:Nice. That's fantastic.
Sarah:I don't know why they called it Sharon's baby.
Mark:And it's not Sharon's baby?
Sarah:Like I it could be if sure is Sharon another name for the devil? Sharron, I think I don't think s h a r o n. Maybe. Sharon. Yeah.
Sarah:Like your sister.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:Is she the devil?
Mark:No. No. She's very nice.
Sarah:She's very nice. The other name that it went by, in Europe was I don't want to be born.
Mark:Wow. Again, hitting right on those themes.
Sarah:Or the monster.
Mark:The monster.
Sarah:But the best part of this movie is the depiction of the baby on the poster. Okay. Alright. And I'm now gonna hand you a picture
Mark:of the poster. Wow. Okay.
Sarah:Describe what you're seeing.
Mark:Okay. So John Green has a very excellent video on the Internet where he goes to the Louvre and points out artists who have never seen babies. Yeah. Because
Sarah:Their depiction of babies are so weird.
Mark:Their depiction of babies in medieval art was to try to show the adult Jesus as a baby.
Sarah:But that's not what's going on here. This is not a man baby.
Mark:Hold on. This is another instance I've never seen a baby. Because not only does this baby have no head. No. It has a fist for a head.
Mark:Yes. That is holding the longest pair of bloody scissors I've ever seen in my life. So it is a baby's
Sarah:It's a nude baby from the shoulders
Mark:down. Shoulders down and then a a giant fist Fist and forehead.
Sarah:With bloody scissors in its hand.
Mark:I have to see this movie.
Sarah:I couldn't find a screenshot of the baby in the movie. Like, I don't know if it's ever actually depicted as having a fist for a head in the movie.
Mark:Conceived by the devil, only she knows what her baby really is. Is is it like Fist head baby? Or is that supposed to be her fist and she's stabbing the baby?
Sarah:No. It's clearly coming out of that body. Yeah. We'll post the poster.
Mark:Oh, the poster is bad. That's fantastically.
Sarah:In every language, in every version, under every title, Fist Head Baby is always on the poster. Wow. So that's one for me.
Mark:That's one for you. Woo hoo. Wow. Fist Head Baby.
Sarah:If you watch it, tell me who Sharon is.
Mark:Yes. I will.
Sarah:Because her name is Lucy. I I don't know who Sharon is.
Mark:Yeah. So, maniacs, that brings to an end. This is Cornish mystery. The Cornish mystery.
Sarah:As mentioned earlier, we will not have an episode next week
Mark:because we will be in Canada. July 29th, we will have in our next episode, the disappearance of mister Davenheim, which I love.
Sarah:We always say
Mark:that. Also take another week off because I have gen con coming up, and I think I need Gen Con more than ever this year.
Sarah:And we gotta move a kid to grad school.
Mark:And we gotta move a kid to grad school, and then we will return on 12th August with the double sin.
Sarah:Yes. In the meantime, if you've got fun questions that you want us to answer that all of you can answer too and we can have conversations about them, that would be awesome. Send them along.
Mark:And, some of you, the the sort of observant ones of you, I've already knew my my mother had passed and had sent condolences. But thank you all for listening. And this was exactly what I needed today. And, I love you all and hug or give your mom a call today
Sarah:Absolutely.
Mark:If you can.
Sarah:Yeah. Absolutely. On that note, for me and my happy butt Yes. Bye, maniacs.
Mark:Bye, maniacs. Thanks for joining us on the Mystery Maniacs podcast. If you enjoyed our crazy podcast today, don't miss out on future episodes. Follow us on social media for updates, beyond the scenes content, and exclusive sneak peeks. Subscribe, like, and share to spread the word.
Mark:Bye, maniacs. What does a DJ do anyway anyway anyway anyway? Yeah.