Mystery Maniacs

🎙️ Episode:  https://share.transistor.fm/s/a4b8a631
📓 Show Notes: https://midsomermaniacs.transistor.fm/216

Mystery Maniacs Episode! In Podcast 216, Mike visits a bakery, but not Xena’s hole, in the pursuit of a killer, who hates apples, and we all learn Rory has nards. 

Show Notes
Singlade Indestructible
https://www.instructables.com/Singlade-Balls-From-Yarn-Scraps/

Eagle Power


 
Thanks again for listening!
 
Mark & Sarah

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Upcoming Schedule
  • October 14 - The Broken Wood Mysteries S02 E01 - “Leather & Lace”
  • October 21 - The Broken Wood Mysteries S02 E02 - "To Die or Not to Die"
  • October 28 - The Broken Wood Mysteries S02 E03 - "Catch of the Day"
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Creators & Guests

Host
Mark Bell
Co-host of Mystery Maniacs
Host
Sarah Smith-Robbins
Co-host of Mystery Maniacs

What is Mystery Maniacs?

Mystery Maniacs Podcast is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to British Mystery Television. Formerly, Midsomer Maniacs podcast.

Mark:

Taste the power. Feel the freedom.

Mark:

That has to be a

Sarah:

Hey, Maniacs.

Mark:

Hey, Mystery Maniacs.

Sarah:

Mystery Maniacs is a recap podcast dedicated to mystery TV. Each week, we select an episode of a show and talk about the murder, the mayhem, the loonies, and everything else we love. I'm Sarah.

Mark:

And I'm Mark.

Sarah:

And it's a spoiler podcast. We're gonna ruin it. So if you haven't watched Broken Wood season 1 episode 4, hunting the stag, We're about to ruin it for you.

Mark:

You let your kids go into the forest with hobbits and guns.

Sarah:

Not the guns. No. No. Just the hobbits. Yeah.

Sarah:

If you let your kids go into the forest with the hobbitses

Mark:

Hobbitses. With the hobbitses. Oh my gosh. I watch precious hobbitses.

Sarah:

Then they can listen to this podcast.

Mark:

I literally watched the first 10 minutes of the Lord of the Rings prime series, and I was like, wow. I have no idea what's going on. And I watched the whole season before plus the recap. I was like, this is way too deep. You're lost?

Mark:

Yep. They don't have an they have no idea of how to introduce something. They're assuming everybody knows all the lore already. Oh, no. And it's That's too high of a bar.

Sarah:

Like, how too much.

Mark:

How to turn people off immediately.

Sarah:

Yeah.

Mark:

Also on Prime this week, we watched, well, I watched the, NHL series.

Sarah:

That's for the what?

Mark:

Face off.

Sarah:

Five people who might listen, who know what hockey is and enough to

Mark:

Made me cry. So did the tragically hip ones. So Lord of the Rings hasn't made me cry yet. So

Sarah:

We have a, new game in the house. Mark has acquired Agatha Christie Trivia. Yes. It's beautiful. It looks like a little train car with characters in the windows.

Mark:

So it's officially entitled the Agatha Christie Trivia, 300 killer questions on the queen of crime. It is a beautiful box illustrated by Ilya Milstein.

Sarah:

They're really pretty, but, man, these are not for beginners. No. These are hard questions.

Mark:

Well, look at the categories. They have locations and settings, Tommy and Tuppence, Agatha Christie's life, Poirot, movies and stories, characters and cases, miss Marple, murder methods. It it is dense. Mhmm. But luckily, they're multiple choice.

Mark:

Yeah. Who knows? Because if some of these questions weren't multiple choice, I don't think I'd ever get them.

Sarah:

No. And I've read every Agatha Christie at least twice, and I still have trouble with some of these questions. And You just made that up. I I wanna I wanna page reference for that.

Mark:

And I wanna tell you that these cards are beautiful as well. They're top quality cards. They are printed with a very nice sort of art deco font.

Sarah:

A game nerd.

Mark:

I am. With

Sarah:

Ask me a question.

Mark:

With an illustration on the back.

Sarah:

Yeah. They're pretty.

Mark:

Okay. Miss Marple is the category. Okay. Are you ready? In nemesis 1971, mister Rafael writes to miss Merkel to ask her to solve an injustice.

Mark:

Why is the letter unexpected? A, formally he swore revenge against miss Merkel. Who would do that? B, he's in prison for murder. C, he's dead.

Mark:

C, he's it arrives posthumously. C. Yes. That is correct answer.

Sarah:

You may ask you one? Sure. Let's see if you know your your Christy. This is about her life. Are you ready?

Sarah:

Yes. During World War 1, Agatha first served as a nurse and then in another position giving her giving her an indispensable knowledge of deadly poisons. What was it? A, a mortgage attendant. B, secretary at the world's only library of toxic substances.

Sarah:

Or c, hospital pharmacist. B. No. She was a pharmacist.

Mark:

Oh, okay. I guess I was wrong.

Sarah:

But she was a pharmacist assistant.

Mark:

Okay.

Sarah:

You thought she world worked at the library of toxic substances during the war. Why would you do that during the war?

Mark:

Just thought. Okay. Maybe.

Sarah:

I thought that was an easy one.

Mark:

Maybe.

Sarah:

Let me give you another chance. Okay. This is about Poirot. What inspired Poirot's nationality? Can you just answer that without the the answers?

Sarah:

Do you know?

Mark:

The Belgian refugees in the first world war. Yes. Okay. Okay. I have I have a good one for you.

Sarah:

Okay. Last one. Give me one more.

Mark:

Characters and cases. What is the title of the first story to feature Ariadne Oliver in which she is engaged by Parker Pine to create a scenario for a client? A, case of the discontented soldier, b, cards on the table, or c, the pale horse? B. No.

Mark:

It's a, the case of the discontented soldier.

Sarah:

I really like the Parker Pine stories, but I don't remember them very well. They're short

Mark:

Yeah.

Sarah:

And so they're kinda in and out of my head. Okay. I'll ask you one last one. I lied. One one more.

Sarah:

One more. Okay. The motivation behind the killing that happens in Murders on the Orient Express is a dark deed which several characters were indirectly involved in. What was its real life inspiration? The Lindbergh baby kidnapping.

Sarah:

Yes. Very good. Yes. I'm impressed. The other options were the Hindenburg disaster and the sinking of the Lusitania.

Sarah:

That's hard if you know it's just something around that time period that was horrible. Yep. It was the it was the kidnapping of the Lindbergh

Mark:

baby. Of a baby.

Sarah:

If you They're fun.

Mark:

The they're, $20, I think I paid for this.

Sarah:

Oh, it's well worth that if you like Agatha Christie.

Mark:

It if you like Agatha Christie. It's a beautiful little box set that you can sit on your nightstand and ask questions or something.

Sarah:

Is that what people keep on

Mark:

their nightstand? Guess.

Sarah:

Well, honey, before we go to sleep, how about some Agatha Christie trivia?

Mark:

Well, we're not the only weird ones.

Sarah:

That's true. We're not. We know because people actually listen to this show. We also wanted to mention that the October newsletter just went out. Yes.

Sarah:

If you're not subscribed, you missed awesome stuff. A photo of Olive.

Mark:

Yes. And olive on a heating pad with the body pillow.

Sarah:

A preview

Mark:

of some Halloween photos. Most spoiled dolly there.

Sarah:

Gosh. That was because we were changing the sheets on the bed, and she refused to not be in the bed.

Mark:

Yes. And you got some Halloween sneak peeks as well as a little essay about how we've changed the community with Halloween.

Sarah:

Our street. Yeah. Our poor street.

Mark:

But we got slow we have, decorations out now and

Sarah:

Some. Yeah. Not everything yet.

Mark:

Yep. And, watch the socials for more new pictures. Yeah.

Sarah:

Yeah. Oh, the other thing this week, I have a new obsession.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Now you talk about your your hockey and your board games. Here's my nerd corner. You know me. I make things. I love to make things.

Sarah:

I knit a crochet. I sew. I do all that stuff. Maybe some of you have heard of these. They're called Singlade, s I n g l a d e.

Sarah:

They're Scandinavian, and they're yarn balls. It's a way to use up spare wool yarn. Now, the reason why I've become obsessed with them is that I hate dryer sheets, and I wanted some dryer balls as an alternative. And I thought, well, I'll just make some. And then I discovered these things.

Mark:

Are they meant to be dryer balls?

Sarah:

I'm no. They're just meant to be decorative. Oh, okay. But they work great as dryer balls.

Mark:

They do work great as dryer balls.

Sarah:

And now I'm obsessed. I thought knitting socks was satisfying because it's fast, but these things

Mark:

Meanwhile, the dog is insane because

Sarah:

They're balls she can't have.

Mark:

She thinks you're knitting toys for her.

Sarah:

Yes. So if you are even remotely interested in any kind of fiber arts, you should look them up because they're brainless. You can make them while you're watching TV. Oh, see if I can useful, and they're really fun. Find a Wikipedia article.

Sarah:

Instructable for them on how to make them.

Mark:

That's really great. That gets in the show notes.

Sarah:

Yeah. And and if you if you happen to make one, post a picture for us. Excellent. Picture of ours.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Now hunting the stag.

Mark:

Original air date.

Sarah:

This is the broken wood stag.

Mark:

Right? The Much less stag with 3 dudes, though.

Sarah:

But it's much less scary than the stag midsummer episode Yes. Which is all, like

Mark:

Gross.

Sarah:

Horny villagers and weirdness. Bad. I'd much rather watch this.

Mark:

Yes. So originally broadcast the 19th October 2014. Michael Smith, directs this, and Tim Baum writes this.

Sarah:

It is the introduction of

Mark:

Frodo. Oads.

Sarah:

Frankie Oads, a recurring character.

Mark:

Now Frankie is Frodo is nothing like he is in the other episode.

Sarah:

Sedate in this episode. He yeah. He comes out

Mark:

of the shop. He's stoned out of his gourd half the time.

Sarah:

He does think maybe he shot his friends. So he so Frodo has a curse, and it's the curse of always appearing guilty Yes. Even when he's not. Jared has the opposite of that curse, whereas he is actually up to things and never looks guilty. He's like so carefree and

Mark:

like But both of them are like, do I need to come to the cop shop? Really?

Sarah:

It would really mess with my reputation, dude, if you made me come to your office. Can I just not come to your office? Frodo's played by Carl Willett. Every headshot he's ever had taken looks like a mugshot. Yeah.

Sarah:

So much so that I just did a quick, like, has Carl Willets been arrested? Google. Because I just thought maybe. But, like, the photo on IMDB looks like a mugshot.

Mark:

He's in 30 episodes of this show and yet is not he's not given enough time. I I never think he is.

Sarah:

Yeah. He's he's great. He's a really good actor. He's really fun.

Mark:

He's he really shows his range in this episode, especially during the interrogation scene. Mhmm. I think he shows his range, definitely.

Sarah:

He shares the same name with the lead singer of a UK death metal band

Mark:

Oh.

Sarah:

Called Memoriam, which means that when you Google him, it looks like he's dead.

Mark:

So now guy been arrested? Yes. Okay. I think

Sarah:

he has.

Mark:

Yeah. So these 3 guys are going out to kill things in celebration of a marriage. I never understand this weird I don't. Kind of stag do thing. I just

Sarah:

I understand stag do's in general. I understand going out with your buddies and celebrating before you get married, having fun. Not some of the extreme things that people do, but I I I get it. I get that. And I have nothing against hunting in principle, but I can't wrap my brain around enjoying it.

Sarah:

I just can't think I'm gonna go kill something and be excited about it. And no no no, you know, bad to people who do, especially if you eat what you kill. No. No. No.

Sarah:

But it's like, I just can't wrap my brain around getting excited about that.

Mark:

No. I don't have a problem with hunting. I have a problem with how these guys do hunting.

Sarah:

Well, there is a let's have 6 beers, a shot of liquor, and then go hunting. And spread out.

Mark:

That is the thing you don't do as hunters. No.

Sarah:

You stick together and face the same direction.

Mark:

Right? Only stupider thing they could do is take off their high visibility. Oh.

Sarah:

Oh, wait a minute. They do that. The smartest thing they do is 1 bullet each. Yes. That's the smartest thing they do.

Sarah:

Otherwise, they are dipshits at hunting.

Mark:

But, like, hunters don't do that because that is a that is a prime formula for shooting your friend. Yeah. Is to go separate ways and in the forest and be liquored up.

Sarah:

At least you'd think, let's stand maybe we stand 20 feet away from each other, but we're in a line.

Mark:

Like, we should be And we

Sarah:

can see each other at all times, and we're all facing the same direction into the woods.

Mark:

Like, even Hastings knows which way to shoot. Okay?

Sarah:

That's true. Oh, did I tell you that Chad GPT thinks my name is Hastings for some

Mark:

reason? No. But why?

Sarah:

I don't know.

Mark:

I wonder what chat gpt thinks my name is.

Sarah:

But I asked it a question the other day, and it said, interesting question, Hastings. Let me find an answer for you. Like, wait a minute.

Mark:

Maybe chat gpt has been, the ghost of is in it.

Sarah:

I don't know. It wasn't snarky about it. But It was like, what? Why do you I'm logged in. My name is right up at the top of the screen.

Sarah:

Yeah. And it thinks my name is Hastings.

Mark:

Your name is not Hastings.

Sarah:

No. So Hayden and Kelly are gonna get married the next weekend. Yes. And Hayden takes Frodo and his friend, Stent. Stent?

Sarah:

Are people named Stent?

Mark:

I don't know, but it sure makes Stent grumpy. Yeah.

Sarah:

Let us know if you know anybody named Stent. Maybe it's short for, like, Stenten

Mark:

I don't know.

Sarah:

Or something.

Mark:

He's the most grumpy

Sarah:

in his life ever. He has a normal last name, Baker.

Mark:

Baker. Stent, Baker. And everyone works at the tire shop, including Tanya, except for

Sarah:

Hayden. He was a plumber. Yes. The the only thing they say about Kelly, his fiancee, is she's a beaut. He's lucky to have her.

Sarah:

She's a beaut. I Do you only marry somebody because of how they look? Is that the only requirement?

Mark:

I'm sure she's a wonderful person, but I don't I am, like You don't think she's pretty. I don't think she's pretty.

Sarah:

And maybe when they say beaut, they mean all around beautiful person. Like It's possible. Like, she's great and she's pretty. She's a good catch.

Mark:

Beaut is a total Canadian word too.

Sarah:

What does it mean in

Mark:

She's a beaut. Same way. Same way.

Sarah:

Like, it's nice. Yeah. So you might say somebody's truck

Mark:

Look at that beaut. That that boat. It's a beaut.

Sarah:

Yeah. Would you say a woman is a beaut?

Mark:

I wouldn't.

Sarah:

But But is it used that way?

Mark:

Yes. I think some people might do that.

Sarah:

Frodo Frodo tops it off though with extra stupid by smoking a joint. Because he's had the beers and the tequila. He's got a gun. Let's just have a joint.

Mark:

And he doesn't know his or where his friends are.

Sarah:

No. At first, I thought, oh, he's not gonna hunt. He's he's just gonna sit down and

Mark:

smoke his joint set. Evil Dead, Gavin?

Sarah:

Oh, no. He's gonna do both out in the woods. Okay. He's gonna smoke his joint and shoot his gun. It's just not the right way to go on a

Mark:

group hunt. Not the right way to go on a

Sarah:

group hunt. Watch Broken Wood for How to Hunt.

Mark:

No. Well, Sims is impressed with their guns, but I don't think she's impressed with any

Sarah:

of them. As she shouldn't be.

Mark:

No. We find out Breen gets dumped on Facebook.

Sarah:

Poor Sam.

Mark:

Sam, this is the first real Sam episode.

Sarah:

Yeah. He's good in this episode.

Mark:

This is the Sam that we know and love.

Sarah:

We get to see he and Sims giving each other snark. They're like like siblings. And we get to learn about his woman troubles because he always has woman troubles. Yep. They go they go to contact next of kin.

Sarah:

Right? To find out they they contact the fiancee, Kelly, and let her know what's happened. And they try to find Hayden's parents, and they are on safari. Yes. The week before his wedding, they've gone on safari.

Sarah:

Now my sister has been married many times. Many times. And my enthusiasm over helping plan a wedding has decreased with each marriage Yes. I must say. And even I have not run off on safari to get out of helping with the wedding.

Sarah:

But I think they're on to something that we should remember. When one of our kids gets married, we should, oops, we're on safari.

Mark:

Sorry. We're off on safari.

Sarah:

We'll be back in time for the ceremony, but we couldn't possibly do all of their preparation correct.

Mark:

And the safari was really expensive. So

Sarah:

Probably can't help pay for that one

Mark:

either. I don't think so.

Sarah:

Like, I think they're smart.

Mark:

Sims says Frodo is uncooperative. His best friend just got shot.

Sarah:

He's in a bit of shock, and he's drunk and high. Yeah. They so they're not sure whether Hayden has died from murder, an accident, or suicide.

Mark:

So we have the keystone cop scene of Mike and Sam trying to shoot themselves. Think this is an example of Sims going, I'm not touching that with a 10 foot pole.

Sarah:

Yeah. Sam says, well, I could do it if I was an orangutan, and Sims says, well, you got the right hair color for it. And he looks at her. He gives her the little brother's squint eye.

Mark:

Yep. He does.

Sarah:

He gives as good as he gets, though.

Mark:

He does.

Sarah:

They're they're they even out. Gina.

Mark:

Oh, okay. Before Gina though. Woah. Woah. Woah.

Mark:

Woah. Woah.

Sarah:

Woah. Everybody eats scenery in this episode. All the main characters.

Mark:

Let us speak of the broken wood bakery.

Sarah:

You're obsessed with the bakery. Bakery. You're were you salivating? Did you drool on

Mark:

your keyboard? Mike goes into the bakery and runs into Stent with flowers. The worst flowers ever.

Sarah:

Those are gas station flowers.

Mark:

They're not even good enough to be gas station flowers. But then he goes into the station into the the bakery, and there's this weird scene with the lady at the bakery. But I'm completely forgotten all of it because behind them are the world's most gigantic pies. You're like, look at those massive pies. They're like 2 inches tall and maybe 3 or 4 inches around.

Mark:

He's hungry. They're giant pies.

Sarah:

They're much bigger than the pies that we ordered from New Zealand. Yes. For sure. They're, like, twice the size. They're, like, calzone size.

Mark:

Yes. And Mike's like, do you have cheese rolls?

Sarah:

Get one of those big pies, you loser.

Mark:

Now I don't know what episode of broken wood it is, but it's a future episode, and it is not this episode. Because in some episode in the future, there is a a mom who takes care of a woman who is in mourning, and she's the killer. The mom is the killer. I forget what episode. Mhmm.

Mark:

And I was like, is the mom the killer in this episode? I don't think so. I was like, is she really good with

Sarah:

the gun? Everybody is apparently. Yes. Like, Kelly is a competitive shooter.

Mark:

Did you notice Stent's nostrils?

Sarah:

No. They're

Mark:

gigantic. They're huge. Like, you could drive a car into them.

Sarah:

He can't help that. He was

Mark:

born with them. My gosh. They're big.

Sarah:

It's not like lip filler. You can't get nostril enlargement. Well, we had that done to our dog, but that's different.

Mark:

Hayden didn't work at the plum at the Hayden didn't work at the, tire shop unlike everybody else in this episode.

Sarah:

That's how they know each other. Makes sense.

Mark:

Yeah. But he worked as a plumber.

Sarah:

Gina whips out all of her Russia in this episode. Oh. In the few little scenes that we get with her, she is full on

Mark:

Well, first of all, she comes to the coffee shop. The the coffee shop.

Sarah:

He goes to the morgue because he's gonna Mike gets the pie to go to the morgue. Yes. Sims is like, you're gonna eat and then go to the autopsy. He's like, yeah. Whatever.

Sarah:

I don't care. Gina, if If we were in Russia, we would say he had paid his dues. Like, why don't

Mark:

tells this story? Like like, it's totally gangster about the whole thing.

Sarah:

Now he has paid from 50 meters away. Yeah. So he did not shoot himself No. Unless he rigged it up midsummer style with some fishing line or something quite a distance from himself. But he was shot with his own gun, but from 50 meters away.

Mark:

And that's that's the That's the puzzle. That's the puzzle.

Sarah:

The locked room right there. Yeah.

Mark:

We also have a flashback here to the car accident because Marcy, who is who was at the time Hayden's girlfriend and Kelly were in a car accident. And she was Rory's sister. Yes.

Sarah:

And she died when they bailed out of the car and let it explode with her inside. I don't think it's their fault. I don't What were they gonna do?

Mark:

I I I think it's a little difficult to understand what happened at that incident.

Sarah:

Yeah. I mean, it's sad and unfortunate. But

Mark:

And I think 5 years after that incredibly traumatic incident for them to form a relationship is not out of the question. No. You go through something traumatic like that and you go through therapy together, that's completely understandable.

Sarah:

And say what you want about whether or not Kelly is attractive. She does have a really good scar on her forehead.

Mark:

She does.

Sarah:

If it's not a real scar, kudos to that makeup artist.

Mark:

Well, it's not

Sarah:

Because it's so subtle, but it absolutely looks like a scar from a car accident that's about 5 years old.

Mark:

She is absolutely, you know, the truthful bride, and it's not like she's sleeping around with oh, there we go.

Sarah:

She not sleeping with?

Mark:

Frodo.

Sarah:

That's true. That's true. She didn't she didn't sleep with Tanya. She slept with everybody else who's worked at the tire store, though.

Mark:

So Rory's dating Kelly at this time. Where is Rory that he's not involved in this car?

Sarah:

That he's not in the car? Yeah. Maybe they were going to meet him.

Mark:

I don't know.

Sarah:

Pick him up. Give him a ride.

Mark:

So Rory was with Kelly and then Kelly was with Hayden. And while she was with Hayden, she slept with Stent, the angry guy.

Sarah:

Mhmm. Stent the Ent.

Mark:

Stent the Ent.

Sarah:

I mean, we have a Hobbit. Why can't we have an Ent?

Mark:

Throads.

Sarah:

If you don't know about Lord of the Rings, Ents are giant angry tree people. Stent the Ent. Strange? There's a hobbit at the front desk. Did you get the impression, by the way, when they first get to the derelict hunting cabin and Sims goes to talk to Frodo that she already knows him?

Mark:

Yeah. She does. She calls him Frodo.

Sarah:

Well, she calls him Frankie

Mark:

Yeah. First. Yeah. But And

Sarah:

then she calls

Mark:

him Frodo. Calls him Frodo. And Mike goes, Frodo. And they don't have to explain it. They don't have to do anything.

Sarah:

No. Because my impression of Frodo has always been everybody knows Frodo. Yeah. Everyone knows Frodo. Probably everybody knows Jared too.

Mark:

Yeah. Everyone knows Frodo and Jared.

Sarah:

But do we ever does Frodo ever meet Jared? Do we ever see the 2 of them together in a scene?

Mark:

They must in the second series. Oh, definitely. Because in the second series, remember Jared's at the rugby game and Frodo's at the rugby.

Sarah:

Oh, that's right. They can coexist.

Mark:

They're eating the sausage, rolls together.

Sarah:

That's right.

Mark:

But that's next week.

Sarah:

So then so Gina is out of the lab the second time we see her because she comes to say that it's the same that, Hayden's gun is the one that shot him.

Mark:

Is this before or after the cheese eating incident? Why is Mike eating processed cheese? It is Just a random piece

Sarah:

of cheese.

Mark:

But okay. Why is he so hungry in this episode? And second of all, he's eating that processed cheese. Now, as a sound person, I'm like, that is the worst possible thing for him to eat.

Sarah:

That wrapper.

Mark:

Because he has to unwrap that wrapper and then put the cheese in his mouth. And I don't know about you, but eating cheese the way he does, it's difficult to talk after that.

Sarah:

I wonder if the processed cheese in New Zealand is similar to ours. If is it is it American cheese, or is it, like, actually better cheese just wrapped that way?

Mark:

Sarah, in the rest of the world, all American cheese is called processed cheese.

Sarah:

No. It's American cheese.

Mark:

Okay. In in America

Sarah:

Which is not cheese.

Mark:

You claim it as American cheese

Sarah:

to a cheese. Only America could come up with that. Okay?

Mark:

So everywhere else, it's called processed cheese. With

Sarah:

that non cheese cheese food.

Mark:

You go to England, it's processed cheese. You go to New Zealand, it's processed cheese. And certainly go to Canada, it's processed cheese.

Sarah:

Well, it's the same scene where we get the first inaugural bad Kristen Coffey. Yes. She will become known for not being able to make a cup of coffee, and Gina is her first victim.

Mark:

Yeah. Gina is like, oh, not good.

Sarah:

I drink water from the Volga would be better than this. The Volga, one of the most polluted rivers

Mark:

in the world. Before that, we also see the thing that we've seen in every episode. So The bullhorn? Giant bullhorn in The Office.

Sarah:

We may have to get over that obsession now. Nothing is ever going to happen with that bullhorn. It needs to. I know, but we can't go back in time and make them do that. So I don't think anything is ever going to happen.

Mark:

I wanna say my favorite person of all the other people in this episode isn't Frodo. It's the guy who runs the gun shop. First of all, nice shirt. Yeah. That's a super nice shirt, dude.

Sarah:

It is.

Mark:

2nd of all, he's incredibly helpful Oh, yeah. And not in a I'm going to give you exposition way. He's just genial like, it's great acting.

Sarah:

He's a straight up guy who runs a business Yeah. That has to follow rules. Yeah. Even Jared thinks he's a nice guy.

Mark:

Everybody thinks he's a nice guy.

Sarah:

Is it Tony?

Mark:

I think Tony is his name. He's super good. I wish we saw more of Tony.

Sarah:

They can only go to the gun shop so often.

Mark:

He has a fantastic shirt on.

Sarah:

We joke a lot about Chekhov's gun

Mark:

Yeah.

Sarah:

About the thing that you see early in a show that they pay unnecessary attention to in a way that you know it's gonna be important later. Could Kelly smoke more, like, purposefully?

Mark:

She is. She is. Like, I always say that

Sarah:

Now her fiance just got murdered

Mark:

Yeah.

Sarah:

Probably by one of his best friends that she knows. Stressed out. If she's a smoker, she's stress smoking. I get it. But it's like, I am a smoker.

Sarah:

Look at me smoke. This may be important later.

Mark:

And the thing is, like, she smokes like she likes like, she's stress smoking. Like, she's done that before. There are some actors like John Travolta, when he smokes, you're like, he doesn't smoke. It's he has no idea what he's doing with it.

Sarah:

And then there's Frodo smoking.

Mark:

Well, Frodo's smoking something else.

Sarah:

A little a roll up in the woods. Of course, Tanya also works at the tire shop because broken is broken wood is such a small world.

Mark:

Before we get to the tire shop the first time, did you notice where they bought the coffee from? No. They purchased the coffee because they get coffee from an other location because Kristen can't make coffee.

Sarah:

Mhmm.

Mark:

The per they purchase the coffee from a coffee boat. It is a boat that serves coffee. It is a boat on a trailer that serves coffee. I don't really understand it. But much like as we will cover later in this episode, everyone has a boat, but Frodo, including the coffee shop.

Sarah:

That's just a way of bragging about your

Mark:

boat. Rory has a boat because that's where Jerry finds the guns.

Sarah:

Stent has one in his driveway.

Mark:

Has a boat in his driveway. He's not taking that to his sister's place. He's taking his gun. The coffee guy's got a boat. The coffee guy has a boat.

Sarah:

But later, Frodo does have a coffee shop.

Mark:

He does. But it's not a boat.

Sarah:

No. Frodo never gets a boat.

Mark:

The last character introduced is the killer. It's Rory.

Sarah:

Yeah. He's also the best known actor in the episode that's not a regular

Mark:

Yep. Sims is like, well, clearly, you know Tanya. What's up with that? Nothing. Nothing.

Sarah:

I would think he could tell her.

Mark:

I think he should tell her.

Sarah:

I mean, really, she should know Yeah. That Tanya is in witness protection.

Mark:

Someone in witness protection moves into your jurisdiction, you should

Sarah:

You don't have to tell every uniform in the station, but you should

Mark:

tell Australia?

Sarah:

New Zealand.

Mark:

No. No. But she's from Australia. Like, I think her crimes have something to do with Australia. Like, they moved her to New Zealand.

Mark:

Oh. And second of all, I don't think they have anything to do with cops, so tell Sims.

Sarah:

Yeah. It's not like she's she might be dirty or something.

Mark:

But Frodo's gonna kick Sten's ass.

Sarah:

Because he was sleeping with Kelly.

Mark:

Did you notice what Frodo does there?

Sarah:

Him into a pile of tires.

Mark:

So so Very convenient. The whole point of Frodo in this early episode with these guys is that they don't trust Frodo. Mhmm. Because he's un He's a clumsy loser. And he's unreliable.

Mark:

Yeah. And he shot himself in the foot in in a previous situation, which is why they didn't wanna invite him hunting. Mhmm. If you notice, Frodo gets out of the car and starts running and then starts to limp. There's a little

Sarah:

bit of When you're that angry, you forget that you limp. You ignore it. I bet you the guy that Sims tackled in the vineyard wished he could land in a pile of tires. I think so. Poor Sam goes on a pub crawl.

Mark:

So Sam goes on a pub crawl to the 5 pubs in Brokenwood.

Sarah:

There are 5.

Mark:

He has 4 and no 5.

Sarah:

We know there's the broken wood arms. Yes. The frog and cheetah, which will become important in other episodes.

Mark:

Though it sounds like it is implied that it's quite the strip bar now. Only when his ex girlfriend's there on the tables Wow.

Sarah:

Dancing on tables. I just love how they say they later make fun of it that it's cheetah. Cheetah. And that somebody who is devious in a game is a cheetah? Yes.

Sarah:

So, you know, is it a cheater or a cheetah? Yes. Cat or a devious person? Anyway, so the broken wood arms, the frog and cheetah. What are the other ones?

Mark:

Well, let's see.

Sarah:

They don't say. Right?

Mark:

The sausage roll.

Sarah:

Do you think there's that pub called the sausage roll?

Mark:

They sure like their sausage rolls.

Sarah:

There could be the broken wood legs.

Mark:

The friedy You got the arms bent. Hidey hole. There's got there there has

Sarah:

to be one called

Mark:

the Shire. There has to be a Lord of the Rings.

Sarah:

And then there's the the punk bar, which is just the eye. Because they can't say Sauron because that's copyrighted. Right? So it just be the eye.

Mark:

Or Lucy Lawless's Lawless Lucy or something. What else what else is there in New Zealand? Zena's hole or something. Hole.

Sarah:

That's kind of a mashup. You know? That's Lord of the Rings and Zena mashed up. That's the really skanky bar on the edge of town.

Mark:

Wow. Yeah.

Sarah:

I finally found him. He was out at Xena's hole.

Mark:

Mike and Tanya have a go here, and I am completely missing the point of this scene because I am obsessed with 2 things. So Tanya is picking up her children or letting dropping them off, 1 or the other. I think dropping them off because they're not with her. And Mike goes, we need to talk over here. And, like, they go across the street, and there is the world's worst abandoned train station.

Sarah:

That apparently is right across the street from where she drops her kids off?

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Like, do the kids go over and play at the abandoned train station?

Mark:

If I was a child, I would be all over that abandoned train station.

Sarah:

It's a gnarly place.

Mark:

It is horrible.

Sarah:

Right next to the elementary school, apparently.

Mark:

I was like, it's so messy. I'm right next to a school.

Sarah:

Yeah. You're such a nerd. You're like, clean that up. I'll help you. Come on.

Sarah:

I doubt there are many trains coming and going from broken wood anymore.

Mark:

Well, what they should do, and we we haven't even covered this.

Sarah:

They should turn into a coffee shop.

Mark:

They haven't even covered this.

Sarah:

Or a bar.

Mark:

Is this is Anderson's episode? They mentioned him twice by name.

Sarah:

Oh, the the constable? The constable.

Mark:

He should be going in there and cleaning it up. Why should Anderson have to clean it? He has to do everything else. He doesn't get any lines. No.

Sarah:

But he doesn't get a name. They boss him around a lot. So we learned that though they each took one bullet, there is a 4th bullet missing from the box. Why it took any effort to notice that, I don't know. Since they're each in their own little spot

Mark:

Yeah. There's 4 spots empty.

Sarah:

Yeah. So they know okay. So he was shot with, he was shot with his own bullet, which I'm not really sure how that works. We'll talk about that at the end. But there's a 4th bullet missing from the box.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

And when Kelly is shot at, they say, oh, that's the 4th bullet.

Mark:

He shot with his own gun, but not his own bullet because there's no way to trace the bullet.

Sarah:

What do you mean? They got the rifling on it.

Mark:

Okay. So Rory takes has Hayden's gun right now at the start of the episode. Right? And Hayden has his gun.

Sarah:

His who? Has Rory's gun. Who's on first?

Mark:

Okay.

Sarah:

Rory swaps guns with Hayden before the murder, but then swaps back after he kills him.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Right after he kills him.

Mark:

So the the

Sarah:

So the bullet that was in Hayden's gun could not have been the bullet from the box.

Mark:

But it wasn't. The bullet from the box, the bullet that is in Hayden's gun is the one that Rory gets 4th after they've all left the Evil Dead hut.

Sarah:

Oh, no. You lost me. Okay. So Rory does shoot him with the 4th bullet from the box. Yes.

Sarah:

But and with Hayden's gun.

Mark:

And so the other Kraken now, Marrow Howard, whatever gun it is Coons are has would have in it a bullet

Sarah:

from had

Mark:

been fired from that box with Hayden's fingerprints on it. Gotcha.

Sarah:

Now I get it.

Mark:

Poor brain is hungover and needs to check Facebook.

Sarah:

He's super hungover. That girlfriend is gonna be problematic. She's a handful.

Mark:

Frodo's blood type is a plus.

Sarah:

Not a positive. A positive. Good blood. Yay.

Mark:

I went I went through Frodo's entire dossier on the computer screen. The only thing of interest is that he works at the tire shop and has a positive blood.

Sarah:

But I think that picture that they have of him on his little profile there on the on the computer is the same one used for his IMDB profile.

Mark:

Like, it looks like a mugshot. Okay, Sarah. I'm an ent, and I'm grumpy.

Sarah:

You're a giant grumpy tree man. Okay? Yep. Named Stent. And Stent the ant.

Sarah:

I know

Mark:

the attitude. That I've been sleeping with the bride Mhmm. And everybody knows this now.

Sarah:

Yeah.

Mark:

So I'm not gonna go to the funeral of my best friend.

Sarah:

Right.

Mark:

Okay? But I'm gonna leave town with a gun. Like, what what is he thinking?

Sarah:

Well, I'm kinda torn about this. Right? On one hand, they have had his gun at the police station, and they've released it like they did Frodo's. Right? They do the ballistics and whatever.

Sarah:

So he's free to have his gun. Is he a suspect? Should suspects be allowed to handle guns? I don't know. That's a whole another issue.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Now, he's leaving town to go stay at his sister's for a while because, understandably, people in town are being kinda mean to him.

Mark:

I understand that, but doing it right now seems a bit sus.

Sarah:

Wait. Would it be safe, though, for him to leave for however long he's planning on being away and leave his gun behind?

Mark:

No. I don't think so.

Sarah:

Even in a safe, if you leave your house and no and you don't live with anybody, you're leaving your gun in a in a empty house

Mark:

Yeah.

Sarah:

He probably should take it with him.

Mark:

I guess.

Sarah:

Not loaded or anything. And maybe, you know, in a case, not just carrying it around

Mark:

Yeah. Would be nice. Mike goes to the broken one arms here, and I am completely enamored by the thing in the background. Did you see it? Which is?

Mark:

I believe the first instance of chagannery by the production staff. Okay. You missed the greatest beer sign of all time.

Sarah:

I guess I did.

Mark:

You missed eagle power, the freedom beer.

Sarah:

You drink that with American cheese.

Mark:

Taste the power. Feel the freedom.

Mark:

That has to be a goof. Ego

Sarah:

power. They can't see you. Mark is flexing and, like, making a fist while he's doing this.

Mark:

When you have a dodgy kebab to wash down, ego power, The freedom beer. That is totally a goof. It has a giant screaming eagle with a beer can.

Sarah:

It better. It has to.

Mark:

I saw that, and I was like, oh, that's a goof right there. They're goofing. I'd say, you know what? And it's like, right

Sarah:

put it on a T shirt, but nobody would get it. And they would just think it was just some beer.

Mark:

It is right behind Mike the whole time. Like, it is purposely. So we have about 20 minutes left in this episode. Mhmm. We have an enormous amount of stuff to do.

Mark:

Mhmm. Okay? And so did you notice that kind of at this point in time, this episode kicks into 3 times speed? Yeah. Like, wow.

Mark:

I realized they had 4 episodes. They thought this was gonna be a thing in New Zealand. They had no idea that it was gonna be in a 150 countries, be the most popular thing on New Zealand TV. Okay?

Sarah:

Right.

Mark:

They had no idea about that. But I think they may have been a little rushed here at the end.

Sarah:

I don't know. I don't I think it's a a matter of okay. So here's what I think happened. And I don't have any evidence for this, but here's what I think happened. I think at this point, they knew there was gonna be another season.

Sarah:

They knew that they wanted to flesh out these other characters who would be secondary in the show. They wanted to do it in this episode. And because they did that, they had to make room for that. Right? And so then it leaves the story to be a little bit rushed, but I don't think it's too rushed.

Sarah:

I followed it except for the mystery bullet.

Mark:

I I also think that okay. So there's there's 2 things to deal with before we get to the real fast forward stuff, which is the stuff at the cop shop at the end Mhmm. Where everybody shows up.

Sarah:

Right.

Mark:

So let's deal with Rory.

Sarah:

Why does he shoot at Kelly?

Mark:

I don't understand why he shoots at Kelly.

Sarah:

Well, he wants Hayden and Kelly both dead for his sister.

Mark:

He does, but I don't understand how he misses her. Like, it's implied to look that she gets shot, but he he's it's such a bad shot, and it's in such a bad way to do it. Like, it's like he had all this scheming to get Hayden and then completely screwed it up with with Kelly.

Sarah:

I don't know if he meant to kill her or not. He certainly seems like a total killer at the end.

Mark:

Oh, he's

Sarah:

He's willing to shoot anybody.

Mark:

He's crazy evil dead hot guy.

Sarah:

So let's assume he meant to shoot her. Yeah. Anytime you shoot through any substance, you're throwing your shot way off. Yeah. And it has to go through a window before it hits her, and that's gonna mess it up.

Sarah:

Like Kelly it's really close to her.

Mark:

I don't Like, it's not

Sarah:

like it's across the room. He didn't miss by much.

Mark:

I I think Kelly is a good character, but she is having a bad time. Like, she's had a bad last few years.

Sarah:

That's an understatement. Yeah. She was in a car accident. Her best friend died. Now her fiance has been murdered, and now she's getting shot at.

Mark:

The hobby in which she had dedicated her life to to the point of becoming almost a national championship, she doesn't do anymore.

Sarah:

And she has memory loss.

Mark:

Even those things She's it's tough. It's it's definitely a bad day.

Sarah:

Tough enough that Frodo decides he's never gonna touch a gun again and throws his in the river.

Mark:

Poor Frodo. He cries.

Sarah:

Again, he's cursed with looking guilty. He looks like he's throwing away evidence.

Mark:

He looks like he's not. No. Now what is the most illegal thing in this episode? Jared? Jared is the most illegal thing in this episode.

Sarah:

Well, besides the murdering. I can jump out of a plane and use a tea towel as a parachute, and my survival rate would be about the same as if I came into the cop shop to talk to you.

Mark:

But I love how he goes to Mike, and Mike's like, don't break in there, Jared. And Jared's like, okay. I won't break in there.

Sarah:

While he nods, people can't see you. You're such a dork. People can't see you nodding. I don't wanna know anything about what you're about to do. Okay, Mike.

Mark:

Okay, Mike. Jared's gutsy. He is? Like, Rory is a killer.

Sarah:

Yep. And I think they kinda know that at this point. Yep. They do. And Jared knows that.

Mark:

Yep. And Jared certainly knows it when he finds the gun.

Sarah:

And Rory is home. It's not like he's gone.

Mark:

Why does Rory come out to the garage? He kinda looks around, and then he goes back in.

Sarah:

He gets something, but we can't see what he does. Would you put the guns in your boat?

Mark:

Well, I don't have a boat. No. I would not put the guns in my boat. But then

Sarah:

the And remember, this is when the police have just left his house because he's reported a break in. Yeah. So he's he's trusting that they won't look in the boat.

Mark:

But Jared Jared says the smartest thing, which is you looked where you thought you would hide the the guns, but I'm gonna look where I know I would hide the gun.

Sarah:

Yeah. In my boat.

Mark:

In my boat.

Sarah:

Is it Jared? Does

Mark:

Jared have a boat? Probably. Does he slept with Kelly?

Sarah:

No. So I have I have imaginary high standards for Jared. Though I don't approve of his clothing, I do like him. I think he and Frodo both would have better standards.

Mark:

I think they also gave Rory the instruction to eat this this apple in the angriest way possible. Robert. Robert. Robert. So so then okay.

Mark:

So

Sarah:

Oh, no. My illicit guns are gone. Gerald.

Mark:

Damn you. Jared Jared calls Mike and says, I got something for you, but I can't bring it to the cop shop. Okay. What does Mike say when he gets back to the cop shop with the gun?

Sarah:

Jared was hanging out there.

Mark:

I can't say Jared.

Sarah:

Somebody was hanging out in Rory's boat.

Mark:

And so Sims goes, well, these can't be used in evidence.

Sarah:

Yeah.

Mark:

And Mike goes, no. No. We need to send them to the lab because we get fingerprints from them later. Mhmm. At no point, there is a chain of evidence here.

Sarah:

No. No.

Mark:

The lab would look at that and go, no. No.

Sarah:

The best thing is if Mike said, you know, we wrapped up things after the break in, and I went back and I found these. And who they gonna believe? Not Rory Yeah. Who finds another yet another gun to shoot people with in a few seconds. Like, you know, they don't need those guns to prove that he's bad because then he tries to kill all a bunch of people.

Sarah:

So

Mark:

So now we get a slightly upturn in gear, which is the the evil dead cabin Mike Sims scene.

Sarah:

But wait. You skipped one important scene. What have I skipped? Sam has the CCTV from the bar.

Mark:

Oh, yes.

Sarah:

And shows Rory at the bar. That's supposed to be his alibi. Right?

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

But he's in the bathroom for 57 minutes.

Mark:

And what is the cause of the 57 minutes?

Sarah:

It's enough time to process, This is for you, Armacat, a dodgy kebab. To process, quote, process a dodgy kebab.

Mark:

If if your food goes through you that fast In an hour? You need to go

Sarah:

to the bathroom for

Mark:

an hour? You need to go to the doctor and not eat that kebab ever again. And if you do, you need to wash it down with some freedom beer.

Sarah:

That's the last thing you want. Maybe that's what Rory had, not a dodgy kebab, was freedom beer, and

Mark:

he was just in there. Power.

Sarah:

He was in there having some ego power, or he was off killing somebody.

Mark:

Okay. I think what has happened is the guy who writes these episodes has gotten to this scene, and he's like, crap. This is my 3rd episode in a row where Mike is confronting a dude with a gun and just walks up. Yeah. He he had to there had to be shooting.

Sarah:

Yeah. Right. He can't just walk up and confront Rory, and Rory says, I know I've just kidnapped a cop, but now that we're at my my cabin, I'm just gonna give up.

Mark:

Really bad. You can have the gun.

Sarah:

Yeah. I know that I have gagged her, tied her, held a gun to her head Killed and now

Mark:

killed people and attempted to kill other people.

Sarah:

And now I have her hanging from a chain like a deer I'm about to clean.

Mark:

Gagged. That's awful. Oh my gosh. I love that Sims is

Sarah:

My shoulders hurt as soon as her feet left the ground. I'm like, oh, that would hurt so much.

Mark:

I love the fact that Sims is in the typical victim position, gagged, hanged by her arms, but never gives up and never keep and really is the solution to the problem.

Sarah:

Oh, she takes him down.

Mark:

Well, because Rory has nards. Yeah.

Sarah:

If you've never seen the movie monster squad, which is what from the late eighties

Mark:

Which you should. It's the perfect time of year

Sarah:

for it. You should go

Mark:

watch watch monster squad tonight.

Sarah:

You should watch monster squad. One of the best scenes in it is a kid kicks the wolf man in the crotch, and then instead of running away like he's supposed to, stands there and goes, wolf man's got nards. Of course, he does. Well, Rory's got nards too.

Mark:

Did you were you, like so Rory gives Mike a choice between

Sarah:

Tanya and Sims.

Mark:

Tanya and Sims. And Mike has to choose Tanya.

Sarah:

Of course, the civilian. Yeah. He has to protect

Mark:

the civilian. Is in the in the job.

Sarah:

Yeah. And she rags him later about that, but she knows

Mark:

But she knows.

Sarah:

He had to choose Tanya to go free. I'm just surprised Rory didn't go, oh, well, then I'm taking Tanya. If that's the one you want me to let go, that's the one I'm taking.

Mark:

He is he's not exactly

Sarah:

nice. I don't trust him to he's got a rifle and a pistol and a big old knife.

Mark:

Now we have action, Mike. Because we've had action Sims and action Ginger Ranger.

Sarah:

Mhmm.

Mark:

But this is action Mike. Mike throws punches here.

Sarah:

Yep. And tries to tackle him. Yep. But he's also too stupid to turn his ringer off and almost gets killed for it.

Mark:

But then uses it against him. Call me back in 20 seconds. But Sims kicks him in the nars.

Sarah:

Which would hurt her. Oh, definitely. She's swinging from her wrists.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

It would be bad. I wonder if Fern, the actress, I wonder. I'm sure they had some kind of, like, additional holster for her on the, like,

Mark:

Without a doubt.

Sarah:

Support. Yeah. But unless it was like a whole body harness taking all of her weight

Mark:

It still would have been difficult.

Sarah:

It would hurt.

Mark:

Yeah. Definitely. I'm sure she has stories about that.

Sarah:

My notes say, go, Mike. Go, Sims. Yes. She takes them.

Mark:

Then we have the scene at the cop shop that is incredibly fast because there has 2 characters who have not appeared in the episode, but other episodes suddenly appear, solve problems, and then Sims and Mike talk on the stairs.

Sarah:

Mike's boss says, you know, I could I could write you up for that. And he says, well, I'd rather have a whiskey. And his boss says, Irish. Right? Stay right here.

Sarah:

Mike immediately turns around and leaves. Makes Sims home.

Mark:

Never mind Which

Sarah:

is a nice thing to do.

Mark:

Never mind the fact that the the, media officers there.

Sarah:

His ex wife.

Mark:

Who is that? Oh, it's the media.

Sarah:

Don't you remember his ex wife who was in another episode for 30 seconds?

Mark:

No. Obviously, no. No. No. You'll be in the papers.

Mark:

Like, the and these people appear out of nowhere. Yeah. Right? Because, like okay. So Mike goes to confront Sims and Tanya and Rory at the cop at the tire shop, Then he follows them to the cabin.

Mark:

Right? I'll give that whole thing happening in an hour. Mhmm. Then they go back to the cop shop after saving everybody. Right?

Mark:

30 minutes. But both the media officer and the boss are there from the city 2 and a half hours away.

Sarah:

Yeah. Yeah. Well

Mark:

Well, they must have blown through those

Sarah:

They could put tollgates. They could put on the blues and twos and go pretty fast.

Mark:

Maybe, I guess.

Sarah:

I think the whole situation between the tire shop and the cabin, I think it actually takes longer than you think. I think Rory is at the cabin with Sims for a little bit. And as soon as Mike sees what's going on at the tire shop, he's making the call. Right? So that's gonna go up the chain and his boss is gonna go, Mike's up to something out in the sticks.

Sarah:

I better go. And grabs Mike's ex wife and hops in a helicopter.

Mark:

Oh, they're in a helicopter.

Sarah:

Yeah. Well, they've got a t tail.

Mark:

Okay. So

Sarah:

they're okay. And they get in the helicopter, and that only takes them, like, 20 minutes.

Mark:

And then they parachute out of the helicopter? Well, I did slide the rope. Okay.

Sarah:

Right? And slide the rope down into the cop shop so they can be there in time.

Mark:

Okay.

Sarah:

Does that help you understand what happened?

Mark:

It it doesn't.

Sarah:

I think that's what happened. They have they have helicopters in New Zealand.

Mark:

His car belongs in a museum. That's

Sarah:

all that closing scene is just Sims is okay.

Mark:

That's all that means. Is okay.

Sarah:

She's able to give him shit back, so that means she's okay. Yep. It's it's a really good end of season. If this was all there ever was, we get all the great characters and just enough to know they're great. We get that relationship between Mike and Sims is they're both okay.

Sarah:

They both work well under pressure

Mark:

Yep.

Sarah:

And work well under pressure together.

Mark:

Yep. Agreed.

Sarah:

And everybody's gonna be alright, and the bad guy is caught. Right? If it ended there, it would have been okay. Right? If it was a miniseries instead of a season, it would have been okay.

Sarah:

But it also been going,

Mark:

oh, well, broken wood. We only got one season.

Sarah:

We liked it. So, of course, there won't be any more of it. You know? But it's perfectly set up for the next episode for the next season. Everybody's established.

Sarah:

Episode 1 of season 2 hits the ground running.

Mark:

Yeah. So I watched this on Acorn. Did you watched this on Acorn too. Right? Okay.

Mark:

Did you I got busy doing stuff, and the next thing started. Do you know what

Sarah:

It's an interview with the actors.

Mark:

It has literally the worst audio ever.

Sarah:

Yeah. I couldn't watch it.

Mark:

It was unwatchable because of the audio. Yeah. I was just like, well, we're on this show to get around me.

Sarah:

So it's a bad show. Yeah.

Mark:

Yeah. Kristen talks about, I mean, Ford Sutherland talks about she went on ride alongs with female cops, both cops that were detectives and cops in uniform to see what it was like.

Sarah:

Makes sense.

Mark:

I wonder if she came across any paranormal.

Mark:

That that is

Sarah:

I wonder if she got to kick anybody in the nards.

Mark:

That's the perfect okay. Here is the perfect paranormal Wellington episode. Okay?

Sarah:

Oh, you want broken wood parent Wellington paranormal crossover?

Mark:

So Ferne Sutherland plays an actress who's going to play a detective in another show And request a ride along from the policemen in Wellington Paranormal. And they run into a werewolf. And she kicks

Sarah:

him in the nard.

Mark:

She kicks him in the nard. And then they all go home and drink ego power. No. No.

Sarah:

No. No. It's I got a better one. Okay? So Fern Sutherland plays an actress who's gonna be in a show called Broken Wood, but needs to ride along with real police, so she requests a ride along with the police at in Wellington.

Sarah:

And when she does that, they hear that somebody has captured a Hobbit.

Mark:

Oh, yes.

Sarah:

And it's Frodo.

Mark:

And it's Frodo.

Sarah:

But but Carl Willets, who plays Frodo, is dressed like a hobbit, like, in a hobbit costume. Like, he actually is a hobbit, but you can tell it's him.

Mark:

They must give him such crap.

Sarah:

It's this is a fun episode.

Mark:

It is. It it for, you know, another death and an almost death and a really crazy guy, it's a pretty fun episode.

Sarah:

One of the things I will give the writers of this show a lot of credit for is we had all the clues.

Mark:

Yep.

Sarah:

What Rory does to pull off Hayden's murder is tricky. Yep. It is, and it's smart, and we know exact we see how he could have done it.

Mark:

And that's a fun puzzle about

Sarah:

And do we figure it out before they

Mark:

do? Shot by his own gun 50 meters away.

Sarah:

Yeah. When it wasn't his fiancee's matching gun. Right? Which is the obvious solution.

Mark:

Again, they struggle here with tone in these first four episodes that they seem I think when they got back for season 2, they were like, these are the things we liked about season 2, and none of them were the serious things.

Sarah:

Yeah. About season 1.

Mark:

Yeah. About season 1. So let's

Sarah:

put more emphasis on that.

Mark:

So season 2 starts off with crazy bizarreness right away and, a possible love interest for Mike, which gets rid of the whole Sims and him thing. Because I don't like that. I don't I don't think either of them are interested in that. No. But it's implied by a couple of people in this episode.

Sarah:

Or Mike and Tanya have something going on. And that's another reason why I think he needs to tell Sims who Tanya is because otherwise that's the most obvious answer.

Mark:

I think he does. I think this is all cleared up by the end of season 2.

Sarah:

I do too.

Mark:

So I think I think he does.

Sarah:

So next week we will be talking about season 2 episode 1 of Broken Wood, Leather and Lace.

Mark:

The rugby episode. Of course. Yes. Yeah. Obvious.

Mark:

Obvious. I

Sarah:

mean, you could guess from the title that it's about rugby. Yes. Yeah. Easy.

Mark:

This next episode is all about sausage rolls and missus Marlowe.

Sarah:

Who is another local

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Character that we'll see more of who is great. She's really great. Fantastic. I'm excited to get into season 2. We hope you guys are too.

Mark:

It's Halloween season, so keep, looking at the socials because we'll be posting more stuff from our theme this year, which is Boogie in the Boneyard. Yes. It's a dance party in the graveyard.

Sarah:

And if if you're doing something for Halloween, send us pics. We'd love

Mark:

to see them. So

Sarah:

Alright. Until next time. 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 is the title of the first story to feature Adrian Anna? Ariadne? Ariadne Oliver.

Sarah:

You wanna try again? Yeah.