Episode 221 | Mystery Maniacs | The Brokenwood Mysteries | "The Black Widower" | Ginger Man & The Larping Spiders
Episode 221 | Mystery Maniacs | The Brokenwood Mysteries | "The Black Widower" | Ginger Man & The Larping SpidersEpisode 221 | Mystery Maniacs | The Brokenwood Mysteries | "The Black Widower" | Ginger Man & The Larping Spiders
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Episode 221 | Mystery Maniacs | The Brokenwood Mysteries | "The Black Widower" | Ginger Man & The Larping Spiders
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Mystery ManiacsTrailerBonusEpisode 221Season 1
Episode 221 | Mystery Maniacs | The Brokenwood Mysteries | "The Black Widower" | Ginger Man & The Larping Spiders
📓 Show Notes: https://midsomermaniacs.transistor.fm/221
Mystery Maniacs Episode! In Podcast 221, in a tangled web, a killer confuses the Ginger Man. We also learn not to miss things and about brain enhancers! There’s a bow on the bag!
📓 Show Notes: https://midsomermaniacs.transistor.fm/221
Mystery Maniacs Episode! In Podcast 221, in a tangled web, a killer confuses the Ginger Man. We also learn not to miss things and about brain enhancers! There’s a bow on the bag!
Mystery Maniacs Podcast is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to British Mystery Television. Formerly, Midsomer Maniacs podcast.
Mark:
Crawls out her mouth.
Sarah:
Hey, Maniacs.
Mark:
Hey, Mystery Maniacs. Mystery Maniacs is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to mystery TV. Each week, we dig into an episode of a show, including the murders, the mayhem, the loonies. Oh, boy. We got some loonies, and everything else we love.
Mark:
This week, Brokenwood Mysteries season 3 episode 1. The black widower. The black widower.
Sarah:
Otherwise known as spiders everywhere. I hate them so much.
Mark:
There are too many spiders for Sarah in this episode.
Sarah:
One is too many. Yes. Just the one that comes down in the woods is too many. I don't I just don't like them at work.
Mark:
I only have one horrible spider fact, and it doesn't involve you at all.
Sarah:
Is it milking them?
Mark:
No. Good.
Sarah:
No. Hey. In better news, we hit 500,000 downloads this week.
Mark:
500,000 audio downloads.
Sarah:
Just audio. We've probably got almost that many on YouTube too. Yep. So that makes us close to a million total.
Mark:
So that is rounding way up there. A weird number. That's a weird number to understand. So the way I explained it to Sarah was I transposed each download into a person and related it to the population of cities.
Sarah:
Mhmm.
Mark:
So in the United States, we would be in the top 40 cities of the United States.
Sarah:
If every listen every audio download represented in the individual
Mark:
Yes.
Sarah:
Which it doesn't. But if it did
Mark:
That's still a lot of people.
Sarah:
We could fill the IU football stadium 10 times over.
Mark:
Yes. In addition, we would be a top ten city in Canada.
Sarah:
Yeah. I'm surprised it's not higher than that.
Mark:
Here's the trivia question, Sarah.
Sarah:
Mhmm.
Mark:
What place would BB in amongst New Zealand cities?
Sarah:
Oh, I don't know.
Mark:
We would be the number 2 city in all of New Zealand Wow. If we were if our downloads were a population.
Sarah:
Wow. That's insane. The points the point being, thank you.
Mark:
Thank you so much.
Sarah:
We appreciate that you listen, that you like the show. We like you, and that's why we do it.
Mark:
One of the subreddits I'm on on Reddit is a podcasting You're
Sarah:
on a subreddit on Reddit? Yes. Wow. That's the place to find them.
Mark:
That is about podcasting, and I have to several times be like, yeah. Don't mention our numbers to these folks because they're overjoyed that a 150 people are listening to their podcast.
Sarah:
Hey. We all started somewhere.
Mark:
I'm like, we all started somewhere. I also post posted, our little badge that we get from our, hosting site on, the blue sky and all that today. So
Sarah:
Speaking of subreddits, the mystery maniac subreddit, it's a really fun place. If you're not a big Reddit user, you you only you could just sign up and just subscribe to just join the one subreddit and nothing else. And it and and you'll get, I think, plenty out of it. This week, there was a great discussion about Flavia D'Alouse and those books, those Allen Bradley books. Feel free.
Sarah:
You know, we start a lot of the threads, but everybody should post and share things that they like.
Mark:
Definitely.
Sarah:
If you like it, other people who listen like it. So I don't care if it's recipes or book series or a movie you saw or whatever.
Mark:
It's fine. For example, I'm trying to collect people on Blue Sky who are mystery podcasters. So if you have any recommendations for that, post that.
Sarah:
I really tried Blue Sky this week, and I I can't get it going. I can't get into it.
Mark:
Well, then if you're on blue sky, say hello to Intelligirl.
Sarah:
I don't know what to post.
Mark:
I'm sure you'll find things to post.
Sarah:
Work was so crazy this week because next week well, this coming week is Thanksgiving break here in the United States. We have the whole week off. Yes. And everybody had to get stuff done before break.
Mark:
I do.
Sarah:
Everybody was on fire.
Mark:
I do the website for the business school, and everybody wants their stuff done on the website before they go away. And I'm like, no one's looking at the website before Thanksgiving. No. No. No.
Mark:
Like, I need to know about that MBA program before I dig into this turkey.
Sarah:
Yes. Speaking of turkey, what are you most looking forward to for Thanksgiving dinner?
Mark:
I'm most looking forward to everybody being home.
Sarah:
Yeah? That's that's that's a sweet answer. And also means that you don't care about the food at all.
Mark:
No. I like turkey. I like turkey skin, and I like mashed potatoes.
Sarah:
I'm gonna make all kinds of stuff. I know. I made the menu today. I'm like, oh, well, we have we have to have green bean casserole. Oh, we have to have cranberry sauce, and I like my cranberry sauce.
Sarah:
And we have to have sweet potatoes. We can't not have sweet oh, we have to have mashed potatoes too. Do I make my own rolls or do I buy rolls? I don't know. What are we gonna have for dessert?
Sarah:
I think we'll make a cheesecake. Oh, we gotta make pomegranate sauce to go on the cheesecake. Oh, we have chocolate sauce too, maybe. I don't know. I'm making food for, like, 30 people, and there's gonna be 5 of us.
Mark:
5 of us. Yes. And I'm making pretzels for 30.
Sarah:
So If if we've not talked about it before, Mark is you're a good cook at all kinds of things, but I do most of the cooking. But we've recently discovered you are a soft pretzel savant.
Mark:
Yes.
Sarah:
You make amazing pretzels. These giant pretzels that are so good.
Mark:
So I'm gonna make a bunch
Sarah:
over Christmas
Mark:
over, Thanksgiving.
Sarah:
Because nobody's gonna be in the kitchen doing anything else. Nope. Just just you and your science experiment with your lie and your rubber gloves and
Mark:
Never mind. One of my very good friends says his birthday is today, and I'm taking him away for a a little overnight trip for his birthday.
Sarah:
So week. Yeah. Next weekend. Yeah. So much going on, but it's good.
Mark:
So good. If you let your kids ride giant spiders
Sarah:
No. You don't. So no one
Mark:
will listen. If you let your kids go to bad Lord of the Rings tour There
Sarah:
you go. They can listen to this episode, and we are gonna spoil it. We're gonna tell you who the killer is. So if you haven't watched, the black widower stopped now. Go away.
Sarah:
Watch it. Come back.
Mark:
Yes. It's Brian. Brian? Byron. Brian.
Sarah:
Way to do a double bluff there. You're like, it's Dave. There's no Dave in the episode. Way to spoil it.
Mark:
The original hair date was the 30th October 2016. It's really a it's really a Halloween episode directed by Mark Beasley and written by Tim Baum. Tim is in, fine form here. And like we said, it's season 3, Bunkers Town, has arrived, and the entire cast is bonkers. And I will prove to you by the end of this episode that the set designers are bonkers.
Sarah:
Well, I don't think we can appreciate not being New Zealanders what the filming of the Lord of the Rings movies did to that country. Like, it was a phenomenon there
Mark:
And my sister
Sarah:
during the production.
Mark:
Went to New Zealand to tour the Lord of the Rings sites.
Sarah:
I didn't know that.
Mark:
Yeah.
Sarah:
It's so far to go.
Mark:
Well, they're outdoorsy people, so they like that stuff.
Sarah:
Well, so before we dive into the episode itself, just along the theme of tours, I was curious whether because so Ray Nielsen in this episode has this Lord of the Rings with a zed tour.
Mark:
I love how Dennis is like, seems legal to me.
Sarah:
Yeah. And I thought there must have been so many people who thought here's an opportunity. I'm gonna make some money off of this. The the whole country is Lord of the Rings crazy, hobbit nuts. All these tourists are coming.
Sarah:
I'm gonna start a business to cater to these people, and I'm sure there were at the time. But now that we're, what, 10 years away from the movies, I was looking around online trying to find, like, the craziest Lord of the Rings themed businesses that are still there, and there aren't that many anymore. I also think that they have a really tight lock on that IP. Yeah. I think so.
Sarah:
If you try to run some hinky business, you got a cease and desist pretty fast.
Mark:
I think.
Sarah:
I think Ray would have been shut down pretty too sweet in reality. But so I found a couple of things, though.
Mark:
Okay.
Sarah:
I did find that they were really smart with the filming location. All the things that they built, especially for Bag End. Is that what it's called?
Mark:
Where the hobbits live? Where the hobbits live.
Sarah:
They were really smart that they didn't just build, like, flimsy sets for just for the time. They actually really built it out as, like, a permanent place.
Mark:
Cool. It's not just a picture?
Sarah:
No. Or You know, if it was too big, it wouldn't fit on the screen. No. They really built these places and it's called Hobbiton And there's an inn there and a pub, and they do tours.
Mark:
Yeah. You can basically stay on the set.
Sarah:
It's called the Green Dragon Inn.
Mark:
Yep.
Sarah:
They have a brewery. They do have a marathon there called the halfling half marathon.
Mark:
That's fantastic.
Sarah:
And I had to I was like, okay. I need to know. Do you have to run it barefoot? Yes. You know?
Sarah:
And it doesn't look like it.
Mark:
Oh, good.
Sarah:
But it is it's a beautiful That's
Mark:
so fun.
Sarah:
It's a, like, a cross country kinda marathon.
Mark:
New Zealand always looks beautiful. It looks so beautiful in this episode.
Sarah:
The only sort of funky business I could find that still remains is a company called Hairy Feet Tours. And their logo is like a Hobbit foot that's super hairy.
Mark:
Yeah.
Sarah:
So I guess it doesn't have the word Hobbit or Lord of the Rings in it so they can get away with it. But there's this restaurant that isn't it's not themed with Lord of the Rings. It existed before the filming started and everything. But it was apparently the place for the cast and crew to go eat.
Mark:
Okay.
Sarah:
And it's called scorcherama.
Mark:
Scorcherama. Which
Sarah:
would make you think, oh, they've got, like, spicy food or something. No. No. No. It's just super eclectic.
Sarah:
Like, the menu says, like, we're weirdos. And if you're a weirdo, you'll like it here. You know? Like, I mean, if you don't, that's okay.
Mark:
There's that place in Toronto that we went to that's like that too.
Sarah:
They have hilarious food names. Okay. Especially the kids menu.
Mark:
Okay.
Sarah:
Okay? Let me just give you a couple items off the kids menu. Can I just watch TV with ham? The meltdown. Can we go home yet?
Sarah:
I Hate It Here with Vegemite. And my favorite, I Didn't Ask to Be Born with barbecue pulled pork. Like, they're just funny.
Mark:
That where is that in Wellington? Mhmm. Okay. Or in Auckland.
Sarah:
And then I fell down a hole of Hobbit Core. Oh. Anything with core on the end is just ticking me off right now. I'm sorry.
Mark:
Are there boards on Pinterest for
Sarah:
Hobbit Core? Oh my gosh. There's so much. You think cottagecore is bad? Hobbitcore is like cottagecore plus round doors.
Sarah:
Everything's got a round door that makes it a hobbity thing. If you're into it, that's great for you. You're not hurting anybody, but, like, why you have to call it core? Why can't it just be Hobbit style?
Mark:
I don't know. It's an easy way to say it.
Sarah:
I'm just old and grumpy, I guess. I guess so. Sorry. I love this episode. It's so fun.
Mark:
For the best, like, the German tourist is fantastic. Yes. Orcs aren't real.
Sarah:
He's apparently flown halfway around the world to have lunch. We find out why. Yes. But, like, you're just tolerating this tour to have the lunch. So why do you even care?
Mark:
And the best part is so the goof is this, that they change the names of everything.
Sarah:
Helms Deep becomes Helmets Deep.
Mark:
And Merklewood and Rivendell Den. Rivendell. Merkelwood just made
Sarah:
me think of Angela Merkel. So you have the German chancellor out there in the woods or prime minister, whatever she was.
Mark:
The Lord of the Rings people who are like, that's not right. And it's a goof because, of course, it's not right, and it's not right on purpose.
Sarah:
Yeah. Because it can't be because they get sued.
Mark:
They get sued, but then they bring in Dennis as, hey. Seems legal to me. Yeah.
Sarah:
You know, he's a good lawyer. He sticks with his clients, sticks up for them, gives them advice. I guess so. But wow, does he stretch it?
Mark:
And there's all sort of, like, throwaways, like, black riders.
Sarah:
Like Yeah. It's just a black rider. Yeah. I think they do the Lord of the Rings references are just enough that if you've been around during the hype of the movies, you get it, but you don't have to really be into Tolkien to get it. No.
Sarah:
They're not alienating anybody with it.
Mark:
So I have a question. Mhmm. If Ray and Debbie are away doing these tours, who is running the pub? The people who work for them. I guess we never see them.
Mark:
Super evil Trudy. Well, okay. We need to be careful with Trudy because Trudy is a character who goes through changes later.
Sarah:
But she's got a bad attitude. Her personality is quite abrasive.
Mark:
Well, she's
Sarah:
She it's not just defending her brother. It's just who she is.
Mark:
Yes. I I would agree.
Sarah:
I don't think it's possible for her to rub somebody the right way.
Mark:
No. I don't think so. The wrong way. She she has some
Sarah:
nasty looks. Do you think she's older than Ray or younger?
Mark:
I think Ray is the youngest.
Sarah:
So that's why she's like that because
Mark:
she's looking out for her little brother. Protecting Ray.
Sarah:
My sister's never been like that for me. No. She wouldn't break a bottle and threaten somebody with it.
Mark:
Man, she escalates right away.
Sarah:
She does. That's true. Yeah. So Trudy and Ray are repeat characters being inter really introduced here.
Mark:
There's a lot of We've seen Ray before, but repeat characters not only again, where is our boy, Frode? Because he's not even mentioned.
Sarah:
People are tired of hearing us lament that Frodo's not there yet, especially since he's called Frodo.
Mark:
Yes. Episode 3, Frodo reappears.
Sarah:
He goes
Mark:
back. Yeah.
Sarah:
So they're doing this tour, Lord of the Rings with a z.
Mark:
And Debbie is supposed to scare?
Sarah:
She's a jump scare. She's a victim of a spider, and she's a jump scare.
Mark:
Yes.
Sarah:
Right? But she's dead.
Mark:
But she's actually dead.
Sarah:
But it turns out she was got kind of unpleasant anyway. So Ray's not that upset. Sweet
Mark:
Jesus. Ray is really not upset.
Sarah:
No. He's more concerned with well, the tourists are more concerned with their lunch. They want their lunch.
Mark:
They're very interested in the the lunch. There is a whole kinda goof on Sword of Damocles here that is glossed over super fast. So Ray says that his wife was diabetic.
Sarah:
Mhmm. And it was a constant threat.
Mark:
And so it was like The Sword of Damocles.
Sarah:
But it was The Sword of Diabetes.
Mark:
But we called it The Sword of Diabetes. And, like, Ray should look at the camera and go, alright. Yeah. Do you
Sarah:
get it? Do you get it? That may be the funniest, most sort of loving interaction they've ever had.
Mark:
Yes.
Sarah:
Because otherwise, they just well, she grated at him.
Mark:
So they're gonna go back to the frog and cheetah established 18/85.
Sarah:
You mean the toad and liar?
Mark:
I do not believe do not believe that that pub was formed in 18/85.
Sarah:
Maybe 1985. Maybe. Maybe.
Mark:
And he's gonna offer them London pride sausages. Did you know what that was?
Sarah:
Mm-mm.
Mark:
So that's just what New Zealand people call English sausages.
Sarah:
Oh, okay.
Mark:
So it has English spices in it. Mhmm. So if you go to get a sausage in in London, you get a sausage. If you want a sausage like that in Wellington, you call it a London pride sausage.
Sarah:
Like we call it a brat here when it's a German style sausage. Yes. This whole like all the tourists are upset because they had to eat a burger. And you're like, what? What?
Sarah:
What? Did they promise you steak or what?
Mark:
Yeah. Well
Sarah:
No. Soup. They promised us soup. And you're like, why are you having a fit over soup? Well, turns out it's shark fin soup.
Sarah:
Right?
Mark:
And we'll get there. That's the I know.
Sarah:
But that's why they're all so worked up.
Mark:
Yes.
Sarah:
And why they have, I guess, all these foreign tourists
Mark:
Yeah.
Sarah:
Showing up because it's this thing that you can't get anywhere else and you shouldn't.
Mark:
It's horrible. But Mike knows somebody else who's diabetic. Do you remember who's who else is diabetic? No. The boss's wife, Linda.
Mark:
Oh, that's great. From my wife. Get away. Get
Sarah:
away. Hands off. Do you think you've had enough wives to last several lifetimes? He was this funny.
Mark:
And he goes, give my love to you, Linda. He goes like hell.
Sarah:
Like, Mike is some kind of womanizer who can seduce any woman.
Mark:
Whenever he needs to turn it on, he's got the whammy.
Sarah:
Even with manure in a bag, he can woo a woman. Only Gina could make horse shit romantic. She can turn anything into an overture if it's from Mike. Well, you you you kicked me in my foot. In Russia, that means you love me.
Sarah:
What? You stabbed me with a pencil. In Russia, that means you want to kiss me. No.
Mark:
There's a a cop shop scene, and Sims goes, coffee's made. And they're like, no.
Sarah:
She's like, coffee's ready. And they're like
Mark:
No. And I'm like, there's a bullhorn. There is. Bullhorn reappears. Yep.
Mark:
The problem I have with Gina's scenes in this episode is she calls Mike and she calls Sims constantly to say that she has something to tell them and then tells them nothing.
Sarah:
Mhmm.
Mark:
And and that they get better at that, but they're really bad at it in this episode.
Sarah:
But that's also a trope of mystery shows too.
Mark:
Yes.
Sarah:
That coroners can only deliver information in person. Yes. They'll call you and say, I have information.
Mark:
They can't email over,
Sarah:
But the policeman never says, what is it? Yes. I'll be right over.
Mark:
Yep.
Sarah:
Like, apparently, they just assume that you're gonna have to show me, not just tell me. Yes. And that's just but but Gina's, you know, always trying to lure Mike into her web anyway.
Mark:
Yes.
Sarah:
So you like that going along with the The whole She falls more in love with him as we go forward from here.
Mark:
At the autopsy, a catty pole crawls out of her mouth. But Gina can't locate a bite mark. Kattybo is a real spider. It is actually venomous. It is actually on the protected list.
Mark:
It is actually, each dwelling
Sarah:
One of very few animals in New Zealand that are actually harmful to humans. There's so few.
Mark:
There's so few.
Sarah:
It's like Australia, all the killer animals.
Mark:
Yeah.
Sarah:
New Zealand, just a couple.
Mark:
Well and we found out the other night that New Zealand was discovered by Europeans. And I mean discovered by Europeans, meaning Europeans were like, oh, there's stuff here. There are lots of people there.
Sarah:
The people who were already living there knew that. But yeah.
Mark:
Before Australia, they knew about Australia. Which is crazy. And I don't know what you mean. But I would have been like, this is really nice, and none of the animals wanna kill us. Let's stay here.
Sarah:
Yeah. Let's well, they just sent all the convicts to Australia. Yes.
Mark:
That's true.
Sarah:
Let them get killed by all the animals, and then we'll move in.
Mark:
Yes. Couple of things. Set design. Yeah. The sign from the outside of the stadium of the of the broken wood cheetahs
Sarah:
Uh-huh.
Mark:
Is now outside of the pub. They reused that sign.
Sarah:
Okay.
Mark:
Okay? Did you notice the beer sign in this episode? Because I am now closely watching beer signs in pubs because of America lager, the taste of freedom. Squeeze an eagle.
Sarah:
I looked around. I I I didn't you said you noticed something really good, and I didn't see it.
Mark:
This is the first one that, I noticed. The first thing I noticed, and it says follow your thirst. And there is, like, a big cat on this poster.
Sarah:
Okay.
Mark:
Did you notice what the name of the the logger was? No. It took me a couple of looks to see. It is the Cornish Rex Logger. Do you know what a Cornish Rex is?
Sarah:
A rooster?
Mark:
No. It's one of those hairless cats.
Sarah:
Oh.
Mark:
It is a domesticated cat. It's not a jaguar or tiger, whatever is in that picture.
Sarah:
Oh, it's not a hairless cat on the poster?
Mark:
No. No. It's like some tiger look.
Sarah:
It should be one of those plucked chicken looking cats. No. Those those cats freak me out.
Mark:
Follow your thirst. Fish and chips is £6, $6 because the the that's what the, thing is. And shepherd's pie is 650 in the currency. Well, our first appearance of Trudy, it says established in 18/85. I don't even think there were people here in 18/85.
Mark:
Except the native peoples. But I watched this scene probably for a half an hour.
Sarah:
I I tried to pay there's a lot of posters and stuff in the pub.
Mark:
There is something
Sarah:
And I tried to pay attention, but I didn't see anything.
Mark:
Scratched and scratched and scratched at me and is still scratching. It's at minute 13th and 32 seconds in this episode. There is a disassembled pinball machine
Sarah:
behind them. Well, that would grab your attention.
Mark:
Am like, I'm a pinball fanatic. I love pinball. I'm gonna get to play pinball next week. I'm excited about this. I could not find that pinball machine.
Mark:
It has either Poseidon or Neptune on it. He has a trident. There are other sea creatures. There's an octopus and a shark. I could not find that pinball machine.
Mark:
I searched.
Sarah:
And they wouldn't make it Yeah.
Mark:
For the
Sarah:
app I mean, that's just too much work.
Mark:
There's a Gottlieb 1975 Neptune machine that everywhere other than the United States had boobs on it, which would be this machine, but it's not.
Sarah:
It's not.
Mark:
It's not this machine.
Sarah:
It is the alphabet company. Recognize it.
Mark:
It is of that time period, but I could not find that machine.
Sarah:
You're saying it's just after a minute 13?
Mark:
13 minutes and 32 seconds.
Sarah:
That exact time.
Mark:
Ray is having a time with Valium and whiskey.
Sarah:
And sleeping in his office, apparently.
Mark:
Yeah. I don't think the the the marriage is going that well.
Sarah:
I I think Debbie would be hard to love. Though Ray is not much better. He's just bad in a different way.
Mark:
Then we go to the land of spider huts. Okay. This is a fantastic example of how biological research does not work.
Sarah:
No. That's not how any of this works.
Mark:
Not how any of this works.
Sarah:
She pays for her research.
Mark:
No. She doesn't. That's not how it works. He drives like, they would have grad students as as just
Sarah:
Grants, federal funding
Mark:
Yep. Something Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep.
Mark:
Yep.
Sarah:
Tied to some larger research association or group or school or something.
Mark:
They If you're a freelance
Sarah:
a freelance spider milker, you need to question your life.
Mark:
It is true that they're all a bit weird, and we know lots of academics who are weird. So there is that.
Sarah:
They're very into what they study. Yes.
Mark:
But one thing is that Breen is not into these spiders.
Sarah:
I'm with Breen on this.
Mark:
And he goes down like a sakatator.
Sarah:
I feel so bad for him. He bonks his head so hard. I don't know how they made it look like he hit his head but he did a great job.
Mark:
It's very warm in here.
Sarah:
At pretending to hit his head. But I'm with him like I knew it was coming because I've seen this episode many times before. And I just put my hand up like he's gotta look through the microscope. Nope. No, thank you.
Sarah:
Is it over? Yep. Okay. Like the one in the woods bothers me. The big one.
Sarah:
The big fake one. So that's Chandra, the arachnologist, and her boyfriend Byron is a shark scientist.
Mark:
Yes. And this episode is full of red herrings and spider webs, and then it's Byron. Yeah. Like, it's kinda tacked on to
Sarah:
the end. There's there's horse farms. There's quad bike tours. Yep. And then it's Byron.
Mark:
So one of the things that happens in the forest is a quad bike goes by. Now Hans also mentions this. It's a motorbike. They were invented in Germany. He's so right on the nose.
Sarah:
I'd like to talk to the ginger man. I love that line. I love it. So And we find out about one another of Jared's many jobs.
Mark:
Yes.
Sarah:
He also works on the horse farm.
Mark:
But first, they go to Griffey's Off Road Adventures.
Sarah:
Mhmm.
Mark:
So Griffey's Off Road Adventures is by Lance Gifford. Mhmm. So it's Giffey's. Mhmm. And there is a hut in this scene.
Mark:
And in the hut are a bunch of posters for other tours.
Sarah:
Including Nicole's horse rides.
Mark:
Yes. Don't miss this. So the Nicole's horse rides, that poster is awesome because there's a sign that says, don't miss this.
Sarah:
Right. It's an arrow. Right?
Mark:
And I think that's the the set designers going, you need to look here.
Sarah:
Okay. So what's on this poster?
Mark:
Because there is a quote on this poster. Now tell me, Sarah, what would you put if you were gonna put a quote in the middle of your poster about your horse tour?
Sarah:
I would assume that it is a quote from, happy customer. Yes. Like, best horse tour ever.
Mark:
Okay. That would make sense.
Sarah:
Yeah. Can I can I guess what it says?
Mark:
Please. Please. If it's an awful You have no idea.
Sarah:
No. Because I didn't see it.
Mark:
No. You have no idea what it says.
Sarah:
I'm gonna guess best time on an animal's back I've had in a long time. Wow. No. If you wanna slap a pony, go see Nicole or yeah.
Mark:
That's a little closer.
Sarah:
Okay. What is it?
Mark:
Wonderful, great horse, full of beans and stamina. A fantastic journey. And then then comes the coup de grace. The attribution of this quote is tourist.
Sarah:
A tourist said that?
Mark:
Full of beans and stamina. That is a clear indication. The sign that says, don't miss this. Yeah. And that that is a joke.
Mark:
Yeah. And they purposely put that in. Yeah. And then they attributed it To a tourist. No.
Mark:
Not Oh. A tourist. Tourist. Tourist.
Sarah:
Their parents didn't like them.
Mark:
You cannot cannot get that unless you stop and pause and look at it. Yeah. It is it goes by so fast. I tried several, like, I got it, and then I watched it several times to see if I could read it as it goes by, and there's no way you can read it. It's a purpose
Sarah:
You have to pause.
Mark:
It is a maniac clue. And the fact the fact
Sarah:
Not that they know about us, but it is for people like us who watch things.
Mark:
And now we know that they do stuff like this because that don't miss this, I'm like, oh, it's on. Mhmm. It's on like doggy call now.
Sarah:
Gonna miss anything now.
Mark:
We're not gonna miss anything now.
Sarah:
Why does Nicole ditch Mike on the horse?
Mark:
I don't know.
Sarah:
And what does she whisper in its ear? Don't go anywhere.
Mark:
And why does he have such troubled time with the horse? Like, horses are not like that.
Sarah:
I think she's told the horse to be uncooperative.
Mark:
All I
Sarah:
And she's a horse whisperer, so she's magic. So horses do exactly what she tells them.
Mark:
I'm just looking at that scene, and I keep going, it's beautiful there.
Sarah:
It is gorgeous. Yeah. But I just thought, okay. She wants him stuck there so that she can go and do something, and he can't catch her doing it. But I'm not clear on what it is that she's off to do.
Mark:
I don't there she just wants to
Sarah:
get away. That's not when she goes to the murder scene, is it? No.
Mark:
Just wants to get away from him because she had visited the murders. Mhmm.
Sarah:
Okay.
Mark:
Sims is the anti Sarah for a number of reasons, but the main reason she is anti Sarah is she loves the spider. She's like making little kissy noises.
Sarah:
Wait a minute. What are the other reasons why she's the anti Sarah?
Mark:
Well, she's a cop, and you're not a cop. And
Sarah:
But I'm not the opposite of 1. I'm not.
Mark:
You're not. So she's just different than
Sarah:
you. Okay.
Mark:
But really different with this Oh. Kissy noises with the spiders.
Sarah:
No. My dad took me to see arachnophobia to try to break me of it, and I threw up in the popcorn bucket. It didn't work. We had to leave.
Mark:
So she explains Chandra explains that you have to you have to take a whole bunch of spiders to do this.
Sarah:
You have to milk thousands of them to get a little bit of the venom so they can make antivenom. Yep. Right?
Mark:
What is the most esoteric word that they drop in this episode of esoteric stuff?
Sarah:
Latrodactism? No. Oh, I don't know.
Mark:
They say LARP
Sarah:
Oh.
Mark:
And don't explain it at all. Yeah. It was at the LARPing pit. Like, if you don't know what LARP means, you have no idea what they're they're it's like, that's some strange New Zealand thing that they said.
Sarah:
It's a live action role playing.
Mark:
Yes. I couldn't imagine that they said LARP. I was like Are
Sarah:
you sure that's what they said? They say LARP. A LARP pit?
Mark:
No. Bit. We were doing the LARP bit.
Sarah:
Oh, okay. I said LARP LARP pit. Like, that was a location. I missed it. Like, do do they they LARP in a pit?
Sarah:
No. No. Why do they do that?
Mark:
The LARPing pit.
Sarah:
I get it. Where they're They're having a sword fight.
Mark:
Yes.
Sarah:
It's now I have this image of a a LARP pit in my head.
Mark:
Can't find a needle. Can't find a spider venom impact point.
Sarah:
Because the spider didn't bite her. Yep. Right? Yeah. She got injected with it.
Sarah:
But in the meantime, there's all this fuss about permits and who gets to run events in this forest. Yes. Apparently, Ray's got the lockdown on it because Debbie was a hard ass about it and managed to get both Lance's business and Nicole's business run out of the woods.
Mark:
Like, councils don't work like
Sarah:
that. They don't work like that. You would not get permission to exclusively use public land like that.
Mark:
No. It doesn't.
Sarah:
Might say, you you get Mondays and you get Tuesdays and you get Wednesdays or something.
Mark:
Maybe. But still, it the council doesn't make an appearance, but they should be managing this better.
Sarah:
Look. Councils and all kinds of mystery shows are off screen evil.
Mark:
Yes. Right? They're like HOAs.
Sarah:
They're the bureaucracy that cannot be undone. Yes. Did you notice that Gina makes a mistake?
Mark:
Oh, what does she do?
Sarah:
She gets needle gauges wrong.
Mark:
Oh, she does?
Sarah:
So the gauge of lots of things, anything that comes in gauges
Mark:
That's another scene where she calls Mike to the autopsy room, and she doesn't talk to him. And then they figure it out while he's there. Yeah.
Sarah:
She had nothing to say before he got there.
Mark:
Yep.
Sarah:
Like, on needles, I'm thinking of the earrings that I buy. They come in gauges to say what how big the hole is. Tiny pipe fittings, jewelry fittings, all kinds of things come in gauges. The bigger the number, the smaller it is.
Mark:
Oh, okay.
Sarah:
And Gina gets it the other way
Mark:
around. Around? Yeah. Okay.
Sarah:
She says that the bigger needle will have a higher number gauge, and that's backwards.
Mark:
Oh, Gina. Gina. Gina.
Sarah:
Then she threatens Lance with a broken bottle. Isn't that illegal?
Mark:
Yes.
Sarah:
Is it, like, threatening with a deadly weapon or something in a public place?
Mark:
Yes. And it's
Sarah:
Would you go back to the frog and cheetah if you saw that happen?
Mark:
And it
Sarah:
Like, I'm out of here. If Trudy's here, I'm not coming back.
Mark:
And it escalates really quickly, and they don't go and stand in front of the pinball machine anymore. And I want them to. So what is Shandra's big
Sarah:
worry? What this that somebody's gonna start killing the spiders because Why? Because they're perceived as a threat.
Mark:
And how are they gonna be perceived as a threat?
Sarah:
Because they're gonna publish a story that that she was killed by a spider.
Mark:
And where are they gonna publish that story?
Sarah:
In the awesome newspaper run by
Mark:
Kushla. My gosh. Oh, no. This episode this issue is not written by Kushla. Oh.
Mark:
She is not on the newspaper.
Sarah:
But they mention her.
Mark:
They do mention her, but she is not the our Jack Alexander wrote this story. Oh. And Jack starts with a banger. So across the top of the newspaper, we'll get to the top of the newspaper. First of all, it says Broken Wood Courier, Broken Wood's best newspaper.
Mark:
How many other newspapers can there Well,
Sarah:
it's not a lie. It's if even if it's the only one.
Mark:
It's a free edition. It's a free local newspaper.
Sarah:
Funded by advertising.
Mark:
Okay. Caddypo delivers fatal bite. That's a big letters. There's a picture of the Caddypo. There's a picture
Sarah:
of Debbie.
Mark:
Know. And
Sarah:
that It's as big as Debbie.
Mark:
That is all you are supposed to notice. Right. What is the first line of the story? Debbie got bit. No.
Mark:
It's better.
Sarah:
Choose disk 1, put it in the drive.
Mark:
No. It's better. The subtitle under the article is another one bites the dust. No newspaper would ever start a story about a death like that.
Sarah:
No. Not even if it was, like, 12th Katipo death in the year or something, would they say that?
Mark:
Another one by the way.
Sarah:
Rest of the story made up of queen lyrics?
Mark:
No. The rest of the story is good. I didn't notice any Queen lyrics because I looked.
Sarah:
You're such a nerd.
Mark:
But across the top, there's, like, crossword puzzle and coupons. But the second story across the top on page 2, is the following. Brain zapping man oh, it's brain zapping, man builds 9 volt enhancer. What is that? Page 2.
Mark:
What is that?
Sarah:
What kind of enhancer is it? A 9 volt. That's a battery. That's like a 9 volt battery.
Mark:
A 9 v enhancer.
Sarah:
To zap your own brain and make you smarter
Mark:
or something? Zapping.
Sarah:
Could have been worse. It could have said head zapper, and then you wouldn't have known what he was enhancing. And then It would have been ambiguous.
Mark:
Another one bites the dust. 9 volt biogas. And brain zapping is clearly more goofs Yes. By these people. They're definitely having fun.
Mark:
I could not believe
Sarah:
guy should be in an in an episode.
Mark:
Yes. I could not believe that.
Sarah:
The mad scientist of broken wood.
Mark:
So they go back to the scene of the crime. They find bike tracks and horse poops.
Sarah:
Yes. And then Mike wants to give Gina the manure to test.
Mark:
Well, okay. Before they leave, they almost get run over. Yeah. They would have heard those coming.
Sarah:
Oh, gosh. Yeah. From, like, a half mile away, you would have heard. Yeah. Definitely.
Mark:
So then there is what can only be termed in my notes, the horse shit date.
Sarah:
Yes. He doesn't wanna give it to her at the the coroner's office
Mark:
Because it
Sarah:
it is because it it's It's dirty. Yeah. And it shouldn't be introduced
Mark:
into that environment. Man.
Sarah:
What? He puts it on the table.
Mark:
Oh, it's not dinner talk. That's for sure.
Sarah:
He let her order a coffee. He doesn't have anything. Yeah. But, like, I think he let her down a path here a little bit. He could have met her in the parking lot and said, I just needed to give this to you, and I I didn't think it would be appropriate at the lab.
Sarah:
But it wouldn't be funny if he wasn't apps accidentally teasing
Mark:
Yeah.
Sarah:
Gina, I guess.
Mark:
You're strangely romantic. Nothing about this is strangely romantic.
Sarah:
I want to see the ginger man.
Mark:
I want to oh, I love it.
Sarah:
Mister Ziegler.
Mark:
I love it when you give me tasks.
Sarah:
Ew, Gina. Stop.
Mark:
Shandra shows up and just waves the paper around, and I'm like, you're making me look at the paper.
Sarah:
Yeah.
Mark:
Like, she just is waving her around. Like, hey. Look at this paper.
Sarah:
She's upset. Why does Ray insist that Debbie died of diabetes?
Mark:
I think because he's still dealing with his wife and her death.
Sarah:
The first wife.
Mark:
And we'll get to that death.
Sarah:
So he he's resisting the idea that his second wife has also died of a spider bite. Yes. He doesn't wanna accept that. Yeah. I gotcha.
Sarah:
That makes sense.
Mark:
So he's at Saint Jude's. Right? Mhmm. And this is the first appearance of the priest. Yes.
Mark:
And, Reverend Lucas Green. Someone says swings and roundabouts here.
Sarah:
Mhmm.
Mark:
Do you know what that means?
Sarah:
I assume that it meant roundabouts, like, on a road. No. But, like, what Swings and roundabouts mean, you know, good things come, good things go.
Mark:
Yes. That's that it all ends up the same in the end. Yeah. Yeah. Good things and bad thing.
Mark:
I don't understand why it's slang like that, but it is. So Ray finally gives a statement, and who is his lawyer? Dennis.
Sarah:
Of course. He's the only lawyer in Brokenwood. What do you call this place? Brokenwood. Exactly.
Mark:
Genius in your office. It must be some Russian cultural thing.
Sarah:
Yeah. Because she's brought you a bag of manure. Why did she bring it back to him?
Mark:
I don't know. Yes.
Sarah:
With a bowl
Mark:
on it. I don't know why there was a ball on the poop.
Sarah:
Guess what you're getting for Christmas?
Mark:
That's a sentence I didn't think
Sarah:
I would ever say. So Ray's first wife was killed by a spider bite, but Mike's one of Mike's wives Yes. Drowned. Yes. And Sims can't let it go.
Mark:
Can't let it go.
Sarah:
Because he says he talked to her or, like, he got a message from her after she was dead.
Mark:
And I'm completely ignoring this conversation because there is a lady eagerly awaiting a man at the front of the police station.
Sarah:
Oh, yeah?
Mark:
Yep. In the background. Eagerly? Yep. She's, like, looking for him.
Mark:
And then She's overacting
Sarah:
is what you're
Mark:
saying. Seconds later, he's there.
Sarah:
Well, that's good. I'm glad he showed up. Yep. Should be upset.
Mark:
So we find out that Ray's first wife was killed by a Brazilian wandering spider.
Sarah:
Because she wandered into its nest with her face or its web with her face.
Mark:
Okay. I'm gonna say this, and we're gonna say it's lucky it wasn't Ray because I found this fact out. K? Along with other members of the genus, they're often referred to as Brazilian wandering spiders. Its bite can cause severe symptoms, including increased pulse, blood pressure, and respiratory rate.
Mark:
Extraordinary pain. Penile erection that can last for hours. Oh. And in some con documented cases, death. Oh.
Mark:
Like, what a way to go out.
Sarah:
Yeah. Like, you basically have a heart attack with a heart on? That hurts. I bet.
Mark:
Like, it it must feel like your entire body's about to explode. Yeah. Luckily Luckily,
Sarah:
it bit her. Is that what you're saying? Yes. Well, that's good. Yeah.
Sarah:
She still died in excruciating pain. That counts, doesn't it?
Mark:
There are thugs out on the dunes. Well, not really. Sort of.
Sarah:
No. No. Well.
Mark:
There's more dead sharks. We need to get Noel Cleland. And, Ginger Ranger goes, oh, he'll be, like, bringing fire and brimstone. Just in case you didn't know who Noel was again. He's the guy from the the fishing episode who takes over.
Sarah:
Oh, that's right. Yep. Mister hardcore volunteer fisheries Yes. Agent. The cutting a shark's fin off is so awful.
Mark:
Yes.
Sarah:
It's it's like pulling the wings off a flock. I mean, it's just so awful.
Mark:
It's just horrendous. It is not a reason to kill other people.
Sarah:
Wow. I've known I've known some academics who are pretty hardcore into their discipline. Now at a business school, not so much. Yes. You don't find people willing to kill it, you know, other people over, I don't know, stock prices or models or something.
Mark:
I
Sarah:
guess. It doesn't happen. But wow. I mean, now if he had been studying that, like, a pod of sharks, like a group of sharks for years and they'd finally bred or something and this rare thing was about to happen, and he's invested so much time, and then somebody killed one of them, you would snap. Why would you not be
Mark:
going after the people doing it, though? Debbie's not doing it.
Sarah:
No. But she's buying them, and they wouldn't do it if she wasn't buying them.
Mark:
There's a thing that he says that is ADR'd in that says
Sarah:
It's cutting off the the demand to stop the supply.
Mark:
To stop the supply. I think they added that later because they were like, why don't you just go stop the guys taking off the
Sarah:
You live 10 feet from where these sharks hang out, apparently. But, you know, he the one thing I like about Byron, the character, is they do a good job of showing that he actually cares about Chandra. Yeah. Like, he asks, like, is she doing okay? Because she was kinda bummed.
Sarah:
Does she seem you know, like, he asked
Mark:
I think he cares about it.
Sarah:
I think he legitimately cares, and he's enthusiastic about her research.
Mark:
Just like I think the horse lady is legitimately worried about paying a fine and seeing a body. I think it was traumatic to her, and I think that's why she's acting weird.
Sarah:
So we were hopping, traveling. Right? Yeah. I I had been to, like, 2 conferences, like keynoting or something in a row, and then we were meeting in Vancouver. And And before we were you were already there, and I was on my way there soon.
Mark:
No. I think I was in I don't know where I was.
Sarah:
Or Seattle, maybe? I don't know. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I called you, and you didn't answer. And I called you later, and you didn't answer.
Sarah:
And it was like hours and hours I couldn't get a hold of you, and I was kinda worried. Then you finally called me, and it was clear that you were out with some people.
Mark:
Yes.
Sarah:
And everyone around you sounded really drunk, and so did you.
Mark:
I did.
Sarah:
And you were very sorry that you'd missed my calls and apologizing enthusiastically. You were so sorry.
Mark:
I was.
Sarah:
And reaching for the most romantic thing you could say that would placate me because I was upset with you. And you said, I support your research agenda.
Mark:
And now is code for the most romantic It's I love you.
Sarah:
I support your research agenda because I was eyebrow deep in research at the time. Yep. And that's when I was like, uh-oh. I can't be mad at him now. And everybody in the background went, oh.
Sarah:
When you said it, like, that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard. A whole bar full of people.
Mark:
What I don't understand is why she has a cloak on because she is totally playing lord of the rings character at this point.
Sarah:
Who? The horse lady. Oh, well, she's the romantic
Mark:
the dark rider. Is that the
Sarah:
over the hills Yeah. On her horses. Yeah. Her white horse, whatever. She's a whisperer.
Sarah:
Yep. I I don't like that character. I don't think she's very well established by, Lance is, but Nicole's not.
Mark:
Nicole has Jared working for her, and Jared somehow gets Mike to go for a run.
Sarah:
You know, riding horses is a good way to stay fit. What you you're saying I'm not fit? Well, there's fit and there's fitter. And then he's like, when are we going for a run? Jared is like Mike's life coach in this kind of passive weird way.
Mark:
And so Mike goes to the mailbox to get his mail, and it's the newspaper. I'm like, okay. I gotta pay close attention here. And instead of Chandra on the cover sorry. Debbie and the spider on the cover, Now it's Byron on the cover.
Mark:
Basically, oh, look at these dead sharks. Why are you putting dead sharks on the cover? It's shocking to people, and it should be. I I I guess nothing about the rest of the newspaper is any different. Oh, it's It's the exact same day.
Sarah:
The exact same one story.
Mark:
Yeah. They swapped out one story. Everything else is the same except for
Sarah:
So the brain zapping guy is still at it.
Mark:
The brain zapping guy is still at it, but there's a story underneath about some bill blocking coastal development, which isn't on the other paper, but that's
Sarah:
And totally appropriate for broken wood. Yeah. Yep. So I I'm trying to wrap my brain around this. Shark fin soup is illegal.
Sarah:
Right? Yes. But Debbie has somehow promoted this tour with the promise of shark fin soup for lunch.
Mark:
Special soup for lunch.
Sarah:
So that's a wink and a nod?
Mark:
And I think it's implied by what Breen does that the Chinese reviews are spreading this word.
Sarah:
They they because there's a market for it in China. That there's a market
Mark:
in China.
Sarah:
Want it.
Mark:
There's a subtle racism to the tours that isn't discussed.
Sarah:
Well, I don't know. I mean, yeah, there is there is that, but there's also some truth to that. Like, rhino horn and shark fin and and things like that are more often traded in China than in other places.
Mark:
Yes.
Sarah:
There is more of a market there, but they wouldn't go all the way to New Zealand.
Mark:
Well and then Ray suddenly developed scruples. Now Trudy has no scruples. Apparently, Debbie has no scruples, but Ray suddenly has some scruples. He's he's, like, having after hours parties for the roadies. He's
Sarah:
Which is not against the law. He's locked in. He,
Mark:
you know
Sarah:
He's lost his liquor license. Yeah. He wants to keep his business. So, yeah, I don't I don't think he would have supported the soup because it's too big of a risk.
Mark:
So, like, how did it go on for like, I just think How did he not know?
Sarah:
Yeah. I well, he knew.
Mark:
He knew.
Sarah:
He just wasn't in support of it, but he knew.
Mark:
Debbie was stubborn. That's really stubborn.
Sarah:
She was a bully Yeah. And so he rolled over.
Mark:
Well, no wonder Trudy didn't like him because he's mine to bully, not yours.
Sarah:
Oh, Debbie and Trudy woulda hated each other. Yeah.
Mark:
Definitely. They go and check out the spider venom, and it ends up being
Sarah:
Saline.
Mark:
And Byron drives up on his quad bike. I'm like, well, I guess that explains the quad bike.
Sarah:
Yeah. Look what I found. Like, well, we found that you have a red quad bike. That's what we found.
Mark:
Yep. Oh, did you notice that when they go to the quad bike place the second time, after he's had a couple of people out, he's cleaning the bikes. Mhmm. Did you see how he's cleaning them?
Sarah:
With a sponge? Yeah. And a bucket?
Mark:
He has a hose right there.
Sarah:
Like, just hose them off.
Mark:
Just hose them off, man.
Sarah:
That's what the hose is for.
Mark:
That's what the hose is for.
Sarah:
Like, that's gonna take you forever.
Mark:
I'm And
Sarah:
you're gonna need a lot of buckets.
Mark:
Like, I know I know that probably they didn't do it because it's sound. Right?
Sarah:
Yeah.
Mark:
That spraying on the on the machines creates all sorts of sound that just makes dialogue difficult.
Sarah:
Yeah. But But it's the most imp like, he may as well have been cleaning them with, like, an alcohol swab or a
Mark:
few tips. You cleaning them, dude?
Sarah:
Well, you want them to be clean when you start. I guess. You don't wanna get on a pre muddied bike.
Mark:
They're all red. Have you not seen
Sarah:
Most of them are. Even that guy Byron has a red one.
Mark:
We find out that Byron's the killer because
Sarah:
No. The people who cut the fins off the sharks, they're the real criminals.
Mark:
Oh, he injects Debbie. Debbie must have had a difficult time because out of nowhere comes this person she does not know who jabs her in the stomach with spider venom.
Sarah:
Yeah.
Mark:
And she's kinda trapped in that spider webby thing.
Sarah:
Mhmm.
Mark:
And what a horrific way to die.
Sarah:
But then Chandra goes off on him, and I'm thinking, is she mad at him because he killed somebody or because he took all of her venom?
Mark:
I think she's probably mad at him about the venom.
Sarah:
Because she had to milk, like, 6,000 spiders or something to get that half teaspoon
Mark:
of venom. Just look in the microscope. And he took it. Wonk.
Sarah:
I would have done the same thing. I love him in the back of the police car at the end. They're gonna cross breed sharks and spiders. I'm like, oh, that's terrific. That's worse than Sharknado.
Mark:
So there's that joke at the end.
Sarah:
Oh, now I'm thinking about Spidernado.
Mark:
They're crossbreeding at the end, but then they totally get brain in the back seat of the car.
Sarah:
That there's a spider on his helmet. And then they I would do exactly what he did.
Mark:
He I would rip my
Sarah:
clothes off
Mark:
is probably what
Sarah:
I would do. I'd be
Mark:
naked in the back. Where is it? Where is it?
Sarah:
Get it off me. The story about the shopping list is sweet, though. So so just to recap, Mike's wife
Mark:
dies. We're assuming it's by accident.
Sarah:
She drowned by accident. Yeah. But before the last time he saw her, he she gave him a shopping list and said, don't forget this and put it in his pocket.
Mark:
And then he completely forgot about it, which is completely understandable. Yep. He reaches in a few days later and finds that the note is not a shopping list, but it says, I support your research agenda.
Sarah:
Yeah. That's what it says. It says, I love you. But we still don't know what number wife this was No. Or how many there are total.
Sarah:
No. We'll never know. No. And that is the black widower.
Mark:
Who is Ray? Ray is the black widower.
Sarah:
Yeah. With his sidekick, Trudy, or maybe he's her sidekick. I don't know.
Mark:
Trudy doesn't go away, and I'm very glad.
Sarah:
She can't. She has the liquor license for the pub.
Mark:
Okay. I don't like Trudy as a human being. Mhmm. But she's a fun character. She is awesome.
Mark:
And just eats up everything.
Sarah:
When she's on your side, you're you're lucky. When she's not Oh.
Mark:
She breaks that bottle. Woah. Don't cross her. Yep.
Sarah:
That's fun. Season 3 is fun.
Mark:
Yes. So couple of things. First of all, I have a kick starter going right now for strange ranger number 2, united, the troll badgers. It's probably it's gonna be very close to being funded when this comes out. It's Which is great.
Mark:
Chug, chug, chugging along, but you should keep on funding it. I definitely have had some people say they came from the mystery maniacs over to support the the, The comic? Comic,
Sarah:
which is
Mark:
fantastic. I'm truly honored. I was on a little live YouTube show last night that was fun to do, and I have an, 4 more podcasts to do to talk about it. But the more I make, the more, things
Sarah:
Fun extras you can give.
Mark:
Fun extras I can give away and things like that. And when we do fund the yep. When we do fund, there will be a right away, a stretch goal, which is what I think should happen with every campaign because it should be celebrated that you got funded.
Sarah:
That's great. So Speaking of other stuff, I would another
Mark:
list link is in the in the description.
Sarah:
Another thing I would like to ask is if anybody has some merch ideas, we haven't put out a new t shirt or anything in a long time. I think the Brackenreid 1 is the last one we put out.
Mark:
I think we should do at least 1 ginger ranger one.
Sarah:
I think we could. I also thought about just, big rubber boots and hairy legs. Yeah. It's it's the Jared T shirt.
Mark:
That's something you can post on the subreddit merch
Sarah:
I do. Has any ideas. If if there's a a design that you wish you had on a sticker or a t shirt, tell us. It's not so much to make money as much as I think it's fun to have stuff. So if there's something that you'd like to have, say so.
Mark:
Definitely. 500,000 views. Wow. I I still cannot get over that, and I'm gonna say, folks, it's Thanksgiving. I'm running a kick starter.
Mark:
We need a break. We're gonna take a week off Yep. And return on 9th December with season 3 episode 2 over her dead body, which is a weird one. Definitely, the church makes a huge appearance in that.
Sarah:
The bonus of taking a week off is that the Christmas episode of Broken Wood will actually fall right on Christmas.
Mark:
December 23rd, we will release the remix of A Merry Bloody Christmas. A lot
Sarah:
of episodes between then, but yeah.
Mark:
We covered that one already, so we'll do a little little, holiday message for you.
Sarah:
Add on. We're not singing
Mark:
this year. Not singing this year. There will
Sarah:
be no songs.
Mark:
There will be no no songs, but there will be that remixed episode. And, then we'll take a Christmas break and then return with probably more broken wood. We'll probably head into season 4 and Yeah. Figure out.
Sarah:
And Midsummer is not gonna drop then. So Yeah. We'll figure it out. So So much going on. So many fun things.
Mark:
Enjoy yourself with your family over Thanksgiving for all our American listeners. For all the other people, it's a regular week.
Sarah:
Have a turkey sandwich or something on us.
Mark:
Like that. Something.
Sarah:
Say thank you to somebody you appreciate.
Mark:
Thank you for visiting the 2nd largest city in New Zealand. New
Sarah:
Zealand. Otherwise known as Mystery maniacs. 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.
Sarah:
Can I, tell the story about the one time you were romantic about my research agenda?
