Hello there and welcome to
the United States
Department of Nerds where
we are for the people, by the people,
and of the people.
Let's jump into that intro.
Thanks for watching!
Hello there.
General Kenobi.
Can you hear me?
I can hear you.
I can't hear nothing right now.
Hang on.
Okay.
Can you hear me?
I can hear you.
Can you hear me?
I still can't hear nobody.
I can't hear you.
Hang on while I figure this out.
Let me check my settings.
Says mine is working.
Can you give me a sound check?
Check.
Sound check.
No.
Hang on.
I'm going to leave and come back in.
Okay.
Can you hear me?
I can hear you.
Can you hear?
No.
Hang on.
Okay.
Hopefully that works.
All right.
Let's see if this is working now.
Okay, can you hear me?
No, let me try something might be me.
I have no idea what's going on right now.
And it's not cool.
Let me see what's going on.
All right, give me a sound check.
Test test 12.
Hell yeah.
Okay, cool.
On my end, it's not surprising.
This one's a little temperamental.
So it was on the dark side.
That was on both of ours
because I didn't have the
right headset selected in my soundbar.
Oh, see,
I just unplugged my headset and
plugged it.
I was like,
let's see if that's the thing for me.
I did that three times and
it also slapped me in the face,
which you've probably seen.
Aw, no,
I was kind of messing with my... Oh,
there we go.
Messing with my camera setting just a bit.
Let's see if I can go high
def on this one.
My camera can be a little... No,
you're crystal clear.
I got the lights off in here
and the TV is my only... is
my circle light.
Yeah, the lighting in my office is, yes,
it is.
It is very much the joy of live TV.
Lighting in my office is a little harsh.
It's in between where it's
like I need this lighting to show up,
but it's still a little bit
light enough where I'm like,
if I turn my lamp on,
then I will disappear.
I will pull a Darth Pelagos.
I sweat like a pig if I got
that damn light on right here in my face.
So I'm like, yeah,
I'm not going to use that.
Oh,
and I get to show off at least part of
our, some of our pop collections,
wrestling pops behind me.
Mine's a hot mess back there.
I'm getting ready to redo
this whole thing again.
I'm just done.
Yeah,
we're getting ready to put more
shelves up for our pop.
So behind me is our
wrestling pop collection.
And then we have some like TV pop,
like kind of more pop
culture TV shows back here.
This wall next to me is kind
of a mix of movies, movie pop.
So Lord of the Rings,
we have a few of those.
Of course, you know, Book of Life,
you know, and that kind of thing.
And then facing me is
actually more anime pop.
So a lot of anime pops.
Yeah.
I got certain characters
from the Star Wars universe
and pop figures.
I like it.
Which ones do you have?
See, I got Hu Yang.
Nice.
I got the Ronin.
Luke.
Yes.
Leia.
Palpatine.
Obi-Wan.
And Grievous.
nice yeah our whole living
room downstairs is star
wars themed so curtains
everything and I got the uh
the darth versus luke in
the throne room that one I
actually do not have we
have a pretty good chunk of
found that one randomly at
um shit the emo place in the mall
There you go.
I was like, I was like,
I was going to guess hot topic.
That's kind of my, it's not,
it's not what it is.
Giveaway on that one.
I know, but it was,
it's not the same as when
we were growing up or at
least when I was growing up too.
I was like, so different.
Oh yeah.
One second.
My camera glitched.
Let me check something here.
The joys of live TV.
Let me go back to the Mac.
The Mac comment.
The joy of live TV.
Facts.
This is what we're going to do.
We're going to do... I know
over at the Pop Break,
they like to do their icebreaker.
We're going to do one here
at USDN tonight.
That is... Are you prepared
for Deadpool and Wolverine this weekend?
I'm hoping so.
We have to get our tickets still.
I didn't get our tickets.
It's sold out here, I think.
I have to check.
I think we'll probably go
for a very late night showing.
Usually I wait to see if Brandon's booked.
I have to wait.
He's booked this weekend, isn't he?
He's actually off this weekend.
Really?
And then he's back to being booked,
which is great.
He gets a weekend here and there.
It's good for him to just heal up.
If he is booked, he is working.
Exactly.
And if he's to get all weekends off,
that means he can heal and
do all those things that, you know,
mow the lawn and hang out with the fam.
He's got a honeydew list over here.
But I think we're going to a
con this weekend.
Yeah.
Speaking of cons,
it is San Diego Comic-Con this weekend.
So if y'all are out in the
San Diego area and you're
hearing the sound of my voice,
let us know how it is.
I've been seeing pop-ups all
day about it and it looks
like a fantastic show in
this year as always at San
Diego Comic-Con.
It's one of the biggest in
the United States.
I think it may be the
biggest at this point.
I think it surpassed quite a
few of the bigger ones like
the one in LA and the one in New York.
I think it's like...
gulfed them by now all right
this is I think the
premiere the premiere
comic-con although it's
getting it's getting
challenged a little bit
because I mean you have you
know uh disney's you know
with the d23 coming up you
have you know a star wars
celebration so it's it's
funny now instead of like
because you know they killed off um
That one big.
The gaming one.
Yeah.
Because.
I forgot what it's called.
E23, I think.
I think that is what it is.
Yes.
E3.
There it goes.
They killed it off because
everybody was choosing just
to do their own thing,
which is cool because
PlayStation does a really cool one.
Microsoft's is really cool every year.
So these people are like,
we don't really need y'all
to advertise for us no more.
Plus y'all don't do such a
great job at it.
You know,
it's cause it kind of tinkered off,
you know,
when it finally like the nail in
the coffin was cool.
COVID just like done.
But anyways, but yeah,
I'm hoping to see it this weekend.
Bill, our wonderful friend,
Bill Botkin got the
Wolverine popcorn bucket.
I seen that.
It was really cool.
We'll see if he got the Deadpool one.
I'm going to go for...
Because we're probably
going to try to do an early
morning show when all the
drunkards are asleep.
And try to get in that way.
And I'm just going to buy
everything they got.
I don't care what it is.
Popcorn bucket?
Check.
I'm getting it all.
Cups?
Check.
$100 down the drain.
So be it.
Hey, that's okay.
What I love about going back
to the theaters is it's an experience.
I actually went to see a
different... The plan was...
You know,
I'll probably go see Deadpool and
Wolverine.
That'll probably be the
first time I go back into a
theater for the first time
in a long time.
But my daughter was like, hey, dad.
What was it?
Bad Boys 4 is coming to the theater.
We went and seen Bad Boys 3.
We got to go see Bad Boys 4.
And it was great.
It was fun.
I had a good time.
So for the little kid that
was running around, which irritated me,
I'm like, dude, why are you even here?
This is a rated R flick.
yeah don't bring your kids
to the rated r flicks I'm
sorry or if you do make
sure they can sit still
please let them sit still
but uh yeah I heard good
things about it I haven't
seen it I enjoyed it I
enjoyed it good you're the
third person I've talked to
that says they've really
enjoyed it so now I have to
go see it well let's jump
into something that not so
many people have enjoyed
and continue to treat like a turd
And that is the Alkalite.
That is what we're here for.
So the Alkalite is set about
a century before Episode 1,
The Phantom Menace.
And it's basically the final
days of the High Republic era.
It is a mystery thriller,
murder mystery set on... It
starts out on Brindock,
which is where the Coven of Witches
That this is kind of like
centered around the children of, you know,
two witches.
And I think they're saying
the year was 132 BBY is
what I think it is.
But that, you know,
that's basically the time
frame we're looking at.
It's our first time in Star
Wars history that we are in
the High Republic era,
which is really cool.
And honestly, I've enjoyed it.
I enjoyed it.
I'm not going to lie.
I could have probably done
without the last flashback episode.
That was episode seven, I think.
Seven, yes.
I would have liked to get a
little bit more substance
out of that episode
probably versus giving us
another continuation of a flashback.
See, I'm figuring,
because we were talking
about this over the pop break,
and I liked this idea.
I want to say it was Amanda Clark,
or Amanda Jr.,
as we call her on the pop break,
that suggested the switch order here.
She said it would have been
interesting to see what
actually the flashback is.
I think or you see what
actually happened and then
you get the flashback from
the point of view where you're like,
that's not what really happened.
So it's like you get the
flashback episode.
You kind of see what happened.
And then here's what really happened.
And you're like, oh,
that would see that would
have gave us more substance, though.
Yes.
You know, and that's not what we got.
We kind of got like the same
one from episode three.
I think it was three or four.
It was almost the exact.
It was like.
The same two episodes, basically,
with a little bit more, you know,
sprinkled in a little salt
bae on top of it.
You know, like, oh, here's a little more.
I'm like, you cannot be serious.
This is the episode we're
getting on episode seven
before the finale.
But hey, what are you going to do?
I mean,
a lot of it is the short episode
runtimes.
They were short.
They were very short.
Yeah.
Because I was expecting
about an hour an episode,
and I don't think we got that.
I think we got, what, 40 minutes?
If that.
Some of them were 27, like right at 30.
If you're shaving off time
for the credits.
they were they were short
and um you know I i figured
we'd get at least like one
or maybe two an hour
episodes and we got none
which is surprising I was
like oh bad editing yeah so
that's the um is that
snyder school of editing
right there maybe we have
to wait for the director's cut
uh I'm gonna apologize right
off the bat you might hear
some thunder it's starting
to rain on my end oh no
connection is uh we've been
getting it all week yeah so
just a apology to everybody
out there because I can
hear it I'm like we'll see
if y'all can I can most
definitely hear it if y'all
hear it in the background
I'm sorry uh knock on wood
we're still good connection wise
let's hope we we stay
connected no more incidents
tonight no more we got it
all done yeah it's out of
this system we're good to
go let's jump into the cast
what did you think about
the cast of the acolyte oh
man there were some
definitely some standouts
for sure who's your
standout oh man I'm so torn
I'm so for two entirely
different reasons who are you thinking
First of all, Lee Jung Jae, Master Soul,
nailed this.
He learned English by
watching Qui-Gon Jinn.
And you got that energy right off the bat.
You got it.
He vibed with Qui-Gon for
all eight episodes,
and I was down for it.
It was awesome.
He carried so much of the show.
His emotion sold everything.
It did.
He just,
your heart was breaking with him
so much of the way.
And when he was anxious and
just kind of like, you know,
all over the place and he was,
he was a mess in this whole
flashback episode.
And you,
you felt that I think more so
because of him and just, you know,
I think a lot of that, I don't,
I don't think we would have
got that same type of
energy and emotion from a
natural born English speaker.
Cause I think a lot of that
could have been like him
genuinely being nervous,
delivering lines and that kind of stuff.
So,
and it kind of like fed into his
portrayal of master soul and it worked,
it worked really well in my opinion.
It did.
I mean, just the emotion he portrayed.
And what I would have liked, actually,
one of our guests, Marjani Rawls,
brought this up.
And I actually really loved the idea.
And I wish they kind of had done it.
Was if you had gotten a
flashback of Master Soul as
like a child in the Jedi Temple.
And just to see where this
attachment to Osha in
particular comes from.
And then I'm like, I'm like,
that would have been brilliant.
But then at the same time, I'm like,
that would have been a
clear and like even clear
indictment of the Jedi.
I don't know if we're ready
to quite go that far.
Well,
we know from other media that the
Jedi weren't exactly the
standup citizens of
Coruscant that they are
portrayed as later.
But if you have like crying
baby master soul, I don't know.
I mean, what was it?
Um,
The first season of Legends
of the Jedi or whatever it is,
the animated series.
For Tales of the Jedi.
Tales of the Jedi.
Yes.
When we see three-year-old
Ahsoka Tano being taken from her home.
It's like that vibe.
Because three years old is
like... We see newborns
later on in the Clone Wars.
Bad Batch.
Bad Batch, yeah.
So yeah.
Interesting.
Just to give you a chance to get to know.
We'll see.
It was the empire that took the child,
the baby, not the Jedi.
There we go.
Right.
Who knows?
They may be guilty of it too,
but toddlers.
Yeah.
They weren't off the.
They called.
A lot of their practices
were called into question.
And it's an interesting way
of doing it because then
you see what led to what
happened with Anakin.
Ultimately.
You want a fun fact of the day.
Let's hear it.
The Jedi Temple was built on
the Sith Shrine of the Depths.
And it also explains how the
Jedi were clouded by the
dark side and how their
connection with the Force was corrupted.
Fun fact of the day.
It explains a lot of the stuff.
I mean, you can read it in Legends, but...
It's one of those where it makes sense,
everything that has
happened to the Jedi from
the Acolyte until where we
are now in the Star Wars timeline.
And I'm wondering if that's
something that will come
from Legends into Canon.
Because a lot of people are questioning.
I'm hoping it does.
A lot of people are questioning,
why didn't Yoda sense all of this?
And where was Yoda?
I mean,
Yoda's been living in the temple since,
you know, for 800 plus years.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
He might have been in his
late 700s in this series.
Ooh.
Well, he was what?
900 when he died?
Yeah.
He was into his 900s when he died.
Yeah.
So about 700s.
Yeah.
Sounds about right.
But who was your second?
Manny Jacinto.
Oh, my gosh.
Just went from being, you know,
just kind of this goofy.
He was a side character.
He was.
And then all of a sudden he
was the main act.
And he stole the entire damn show.
Oh, he did.
And all of a sudden, yeah,
he went from side character,
kind of goofy, kind of like, you know,
kind of like you could write off to.
I'm going to steal from, you know,
Ren Sinclair here,
mad main character energy here.
So straight up just just came in.
Shout out to Ren Sinclair.
She's killing it on NXT right now.
Yes, she is.
That's Star Wars now.
Sorry, had to throw it out there.
She's killing it.
You want to put her in the
Star Wars universe, y'all can.
Just saying.
I'd be down for it.
She's killing it right now in NXT.
I'm liking the character.
yeah so you know he's but
manny jacinto came in with
his main character energy
took the internet by storm
it's a whole thirst wave
here was I part of that yes
yes I was he's a short king
I had no doubt about it yes
yes it is short king spring
and also rat boy we call it
rat boy summer he has a
little bit he has a rat boy
features so um that's a
whole thing but I'm taking
your word for it
Yeah, just it's a thing.
It's a thing.
All the guys that are it
right now have all rat features.
So it's a rat boy summer.
All righty.
Y'all heard it here first,
ladies and gentlemen.
But yeah, I just I loved how he came in.
He killed it with the lightsaber bottles.
Those two.
I'm like, I'm here.
Did you see his training?
Yes.
Jesus.
Like,
like how fast he was moving in some
of it.
Well, him and soul both.
And yeah, keep in mind souls in his life.
or Lee Jun Jae is in his 50s, I think.
I want to say yes.
Late 40s, early 50s.
And that dude was getting
down with the lightsaber battle.
Oh, he was born for Star Wars.
He really was.
He was.
That scene in the woods
where he has the initial
fight with Chimera and then he crouches,
gets down on one knee, excuse me,
one leg is out and he's got the saber,
just goes into that pose instinctively.
I was like, that was...
That little movement was pure poetry.
Then we got that awesome-ass
force push toward the end
of the battle and the
finale that was like, dude.
He was underestimated for
the entire eight episodes.
You didn't really see how
really powerful he was until...
Like that kind of cemented him like,
oh damn,
Master Soul ain't to be fucked
with on this.
No, not at all.
And kind of circling back to Manny Jacinto,
what I liked about his performance too,
especially as now kind of,
you may call me a Sith,
but I'm not a Sith.
I'm kind of hoping still,
I'm holding out hope he's a
knight of my predecessor, a knight of Ren,
but that's just me holding out hope here.
But I like that when he was
not in fight mode,
everything he was telling
Osha made a lot of sense.
It was, yeah.
It made a lot of sense.
And he came across as
somebody you could be like, you know,
he doesn't look like the
typical Sith where it is, you know,
you have, you know, we look at Vader.
right even though vader is
super cool obviously he's
iconic nobody can top vader
but he's not the warm
fuzzies in his or you know
you don't feel like well I
can let my guard down or
mall you look at darth maul
again very like
intimidating looking just
with being from dathomir
but he was a talker though
he was you didn't expect
that from him when you your
initial impression of him is like
yeah but didn't he you hear
his words yes all right
dude we're I mean what are
we doing today oh we're
going to take over a course
on all right cool let's go let's I'm down
And it's a different side of
the force with each one,
different aspect of the
dark side of the force.
But both of those interpretations,
although excellent,
and even with Palpatine,
Palpatine is smooth.
He's a talker.
But he was raised that way too.
Exactly.
He was a true politician.
He was.
I mean, from an early age.
I mean, like he was found in...
university learning politics
yeah and so very different
interpretations of the dark
side but not one of them
made you feel like you know
you could you're having a
conversation with someone
and their points all make
sense even though in your
mind you know you know it's
wrong I don't know should
be talking to this guy but
in some ways is he wrong though
He really wasn't.
Not in this case.
And so that's what I loved
about this performance was
that Manny Jacinto called
you to question what the
Jedi did in a whole different way.
And there's something else
that I appreciate about Manny Jacinto.
He put Tom Cruise on blast
in an interview about his
appearance in Top Gun.
He's like, yeah,
all my lines in Top Gun
were rewritten by Tom
Cruise because let's face it,
it's Tom Cruise and it's his movie.
He just flat out like called
him out on it.
I was like, all right, Manny.
Cool.
Now, respect for that.
And I loved that he went from, you know,
we kind of, you know, from a good place.
You know, he's kind of like,
he always plays the goofy
kind of character.
He's the Asian sidekick.
Yeah.
And then he comes in and is just,
leans into the seductive
side of the force.
I was like, oh, really?
We're playing this up.
I know people say Anakin is,
and I know a lot of people like, you know,
Hayden Christensen.
And he's, don't get me wrong,
Hayden is a handsome man.
But I'm sorry, the dialogue,
I don't like sand.
Manny Jacinto turned it up a notch.
Yes, he did.
There's 10,
and there's that little extra
at the end of it.
Manny kind of turned it to
that little extra portion
on the dial and dialed it up.
Yeah, and I loved his wardrobe, too.
The look.
It was simple.
It was.
It was raggy.
It was very efficient.
I guess if you're traveling through,
you're not dragging a cloak
on the ground.
Practical.
The most impractical thing
he had was the helmet.
Which we talked about that
with the introduction.
Knowing you and how much you love legends.
Were you excited to see the
Cthorsis helmet?
Oh yeah.
Without a doubt that the moment,
like it in the preview, I was like, Ooh,
I'm really like Googling, you know,
trying to be like,
dig out anything that's, you know,
morsel of a breadcrumb
that's on the internet
before the show ever
started to find out if
that's what it really was.
And then it was like, Oh, okay.
And then when the show
finally started and we got
to see it firsthand and I was like,
That's the money.
Because the only other time
we've seen that, I think,
in live action was Kylo Ren's.
Because Vader never got one.
That's right.
Was it?
Kylo's was, yeah.
It was, right?
Okay.
Well, huh.
Okay.
I have to go back.
I have to try to rewatch it.
I've watched.
I tried recently.
It's a difficult watch.
It is.
So I tried.
I've watched it twice.
I watched it the first time
when it came out.
And then I'm like, you know what?
Maybe I'm being way too harsh.
Maybe my opinion has changed.
And I'm like,
There were more brighter spots.
You know,
like the fight scene with him and Rey.
You find the Vatorian guards.
It was a great scene.
There were things I'm like,
I think I walked out of
there more frustrated.
Like there was so much potential here.
It really was.
And the fact that, you know,
it took us three episodes
that learned that Rey was a Palpatine.
Oh, I know.
And he still believed in the,
like the way his viewpoints
in the Sith universe.
changed from you know the
rule of two to no it's a
dyad and I need these two
in order to bring myself
back to full power yeah
there's a lot the two most
powerful families in the
galaxy the the skywalkers
and the palpatines
I know, there was so much,
there was so much there.
And of course we see a lot of,
I think the current content
that is in current timeline
Star Wars trying to kind of
work with what's been given
kind of thing.
But so I'm also very glad
we're in the High Republic era.
We get a break to see something different.
And so I love, again,
this interpretation of the
Sith and the Jedi and just
really getting information
to where it's like, oh, here's why.
this, this all happened.
And it's like one or two
sentences said here and
there within the show that
makes stuff make sense from
the original trilogy,
not the original trilogy.
I'm sorry, but episode one.
Yeah.
Which I guess would be the
second trilogy technically.
Yes.
But so much good stuff.
Who, who are your standouts?
Who'd you love?
Um, so Daphne Keene, Jackie,
she was fantastic.
And, um,
Shit, I'm sitting here looking at it.
Yeah,
she was my she was my favorite female
character.
Then it's a toss up between
Manny and Lee Jung Jae
between those two in in Daphne Keene.
Oh, Daphne was excellent.
She was my favorite female character.
She was phenomenal.
And I really wanted to like
Rebecca Henderson's
portrayal of Vernestra.
But I didn't like this
version of Vernestra that
much compared to the comic
book version of her.
See, and I think that's part of it,
is part of the writing.
I feel like I wish we had
gotten a little bit more of
the politics part of it.
And I don't know if the
second season is going
to... If we get a second season...
Well,
if they want stuff to make more sense,
they're going to have to
because they left us with
so many plot holes that we
have to see more of the
politics side of it.
And what I really want to
see is basically the
fallout of the sellout, basically.
Right.
Let's face it.
Well, I guess we'll –
It doesn't matter.
Vernestra sold Master Soul
out as the conspirator to
this whole eight-episode
murder mystery that we got.
I found this was such an
interesting choice that
they went with Vernestra for this.
Because again, like you mentioned,
she's in the comics.
That was my first thought.
I was like, oh, it's Vernestra Rowe.
She's in the comics and the kids books.
For the higher public, the kids books.
And a little bit,
she comes out here and
there in some of the young adult books.
Well,
we didn't really see Master Vernestra
in the comic book yet.
We just see, you know, Vernestra.
Yes.
Or Vern, as everybody calls her.
Yes,
and so it's an interesting choice that
they went with a character
they're currently marketing
in this era that you're selling comics.
And all these are considered canon.
So I'm just wondering how
this is all going to come together.
So I feel like the writing
didn't do Vern a whole lot of justice.
And we only got one light
saber whip crack.
Yeah, I know.
We got a budget.
I mean,
they literally showed us the scars
on Chimera's back.
I have questions on that, though.
Oh, well, we're going to.
We'll get there.
So let's discuss the Sith
Lords that could have
possibly been active during
this time frame.
So we know Dark Plagueis
shows up in the finale episode Creeping.
So that leaves you with more plot holes.
Why is he there?
Is Chimera there?
his current padawan or not
padawan I should say but
his number two I know is
this just before he found
sheev palpatine what the
hell is it because we don't
know because it was just
like oh he's creeping in a
cave like I don't know if
he's creeping he's been
creeping that long
the cave I feel like if he
were kymere's master kymere
would have said something
or would have you know I i
I think he would have gone
to investigate osha while
kymere was not around so my
my thinking of this is is
kymere is a legit rogue yes
he he's still he's still following
What was his name?
Darth Darth Bane,
who established the rule of
two somewhat around 1000 BBY,
which is kind of where it's
been at since the Great Sith War.
And then Darth Bane's like, all right,
fuck this in fight.
Now there's only two of us,
a master and an apprentice.
So I'm thinking Chimera is
just a rogue wanting an apprentice,
an acolyte, if you will.
I agree with that.
I feel like Plagueis is like, wait,
who the fuck's these people, you know,
interfering with my shit?
See,
I feel like you're hitting the nail on
the head here because I feel like, yes,
the rule of two is clearly in effect,
but you have other dark
side or dark force users.
And I feel like Chimera is
more of a dark force user
than an actual Sith.
He gives me the energy like
he's another Ventress.
You had Dooku having Ventress, right?
Yep.
And then Maul having... Oh no,
he slipped my mind here.
Savage.
Savage, there we go.
Having Savage.
So I feel like you're right
that there is a dynamic
with the Dark Force users.
And again, there can only be two Sith,
but there are still the Dark Force users.
It's just who's going to be the two,
right?
But I'm wondering...
Because we saw Pelagius,
and I'm wondering if
Chimera is somehow tied to Venomous,
because he's also alive around this time,
I would think.
Yeah, Tenebrous, yeah.
Tenebrous.
Yep.
Or not Tenebrous, but Tenebrous had two,
didn't he?
He had Pelagius and then Venomous.
Yes, you're correct, I believe.
Yeah.
so I'm wondering if it's not
necessarily tenebrous but
even venomous because
venomous was technically an
acolyte if pelagos was the
main apprentice so I'm
wondering if we're getting
that or here's the thing
and this is probably going
to make people unhappy but
I'm just one second sure
you put it in share
Oh, it's not doing it.
Are you trying to share?
Yeah, it's kind of like stuck in a loop.
I have no idea what's going on.
See, I have a thought on this whole,
because I know the internet
like blew up with the whole,
who is the master?
Who is this?
I have a theory.
Well, an idea.
What is it?
So,
Pelagius was introduced because he's
already been in canon.
The books are canon.
I mean, the whole quote,
which I always laugh when I
see the meme where it's like,
have you ever heard the
tale of Darth Pelagius?
Yeah, that's one of my favorites.
Yeah,
with his earbuds in and on his phone.
But those lines made Pelagius canon.
Nobody else in that line is canon.
So, I mean,
if Disney and Star Wars wanted to...
They can do a whole new Sith lineage.
Well, I mean, they could in Disney canon.
Disney canon.
I mean, it's not going to change legends,
but they can do it in Disney canon.
And they might.
I can see Disney very well
doing that because they
want it to be their thing.
Exactly.
It kind of takes it
definitely out of the George Lucas era.
and definitely like puts
their stamp their disney
you know stamp on that so
yeah I could see them doing
that now I can also see
again like with les what
leslie headland is doing
which I think is smart she
is looking at legends and
she is she does want to do
knights of the old republic
which would be phenomenal
to do which which would be
it's just how much freedom
does she have to do that
because I feel like if it
were up to her she'd
probably pull more than pelagas
You would get more.
I think you would get
actually more of the Sith
lineage from her.
What I do like about the
Plagueis appearance is,
so you know Tenebra, Tenebra,
however you want to pronounce his name,
definitely was into the
darker magic within the Sith.
He was also one of the first
ones to get into the
cloning and trying to
extend his own life.
And then Plagueis picked
that up as well and ran
with it after he off Tenebris.
It continued his work.
He's also the one who
learned how to do the essence transferred,
which he's seen as the key
to immortality.
Which is where Sidious picks it up as well,
who we know did make clones of himself.
Because one of his clones
obviously went rogue and made Rey.
So, I mean, and then, oh, by the way,
this whole fall of the Jedi
order was started by Darth Bane.
Not Darth Bane.
It actually goes back further than him.
It goes back to 2000 BBY, I think.
Because I know that the plan
that Sidious played out was
like a plan that had been
over a thousand years in the making.
Yeah.
So it's pretty cool how you
can go back and you can
start connecting little
dots and the show will make sense.
But if you don't go back and
you don't Google and you
don't do other reading,
you're just kind of like, oh, well,
this show kind of sucks.
If you go back and you
actually look up stuff, you're like, oh,
okay.
I think a lot of the criticism, though,
is coming from people that
are familiar with Legends
and are familiar, like they're here.
And to be fair,
there are shortcomings to the show.
For sure.
We've talked about a few of
them with some of the
structure and some of the... And again,
I kind of feel like Leslie
Hedlund's hands were tied to an extent.
I really do feel like
she's... But were they?
Ish.
Not as much.
I still think she had some freedom,
but I also think... Because
I kind of see... What's his name?
Dave Filoni as being pretty
open-minded when it comes
to the High Republic era.
I think so too.
And that kind of stuff too.
But they also report to Disney.
And that is also true.
I think a lot of the show
that people are complaining about,
if we would have got better
edited versions...
Of things, it could have been better.
Again, the Zack Snyder comparison, right?
Exactly.
Longer episodes.
Again, you know, I think if done well,
you can incorporate
characters like Darth Bane.
You can include Darth Tenebrous.
You can bring them from Legends over.
I mean, look at Thrawn.
Thrawn was technically Legends,
and he shot over very well into canon.
Well,
Thrawn made his grand appearance in
other...
And animated before he
became a live action.
But he translated well either way.
I mean,
anything can be translated with
good writing.
Exactly.
That's what it boils down to.
And I'm not saying this was badly written.
Or am I?
I'm not there was some there
was some some writing I
would have to say that was
that was a little weak and
I think for me that goes
back to OSHA May in
particular and why people
did dialogue but I know
we're we're I'm sure we're
working our way down there
but yeah there yeah we are
Yeah,
but I don't think that Chimera is
Darth Plagueis' apprentice.
I feel like Darth Plagueis
showed up investigating to
look at the virgins.
Yes.
And look into how did they create.
So I heard something happen
here about this life being created.
So that was another question
that I had to myself was,
we know this Covenant of
Witches produced life.
Not only produced it, but they split it.
I don't really think they
meant to split the life.
Because they say it's two people,
one soul.
Right.
Is the saying that they used.
So it becomes one of
those... Did they do
something wrong when they were doing it?
Their whole... That's a great question.
That's a great question.
It's possible.
Plagueis there to
investigate the witches or
he was just observing the
witches from the beginning
and watched them create
this life and was he there
to also try to learn the
secret because hey they
created life maybe that's
another key to unlocking
immortality because that's
what it's all about with
the Sith right it's living
forever for their thousand year plan
Yeah.
I don't know if he was there.
I don't think he was there
watching the whole time
because I feel like once
the kids were created,
he would have jumped in
there or done something.
I think something.
I think you're right.
I think something happened, you know,
kind of with everything
that went on in Brendock
that was like undisturbed
after the witches died.
But the urgence was still there.
It never went away.
Exactly.
And then you have the twins
both back near the virgins.
I feel like he was there to
investigate and look at you know, okay,
and I think OSHA may really
are imperfect because you
cannot control the force if
they were able to do it perfectly,
then correct.
I think it was an attempt.
It was an attempt to do what
the Force did with Anakin.
Anakin is a true virgin, I feel like.
I think that was their
attempt to do such a thing,
but you can't do it.
I think Plagueis learned how to do it.
Anakin was his success story
when it comes to that.
The question is,
was the twins his first trial?
Was his trial an error?
That's very possible.
It's a plot hole.
You know what I'm saying?
Which brings me to my next question.
Were the time gaps slash
holes in the show confusing
to the finale?
And were the two flashback episodes,
did they really bring
anything extra to the series?
Or would it have been better
to use those two episodes?
Or have one episode where we
get a good flashback?
And then the other episode
be used to actually fill in
more plot holes.
If we were going to do a
flashback versus two of the
same flashbacks, basically.
I think it's just, for me,
it came down to placement
of the flashbacks.
Like, I feel like it would have been,
like we talked about earlier,
a very good way to make somebody go, oh,
you know, if they had done the first,
you know,
the first flashback with them on
Brendock and you're like, oh, okay,
that's cool.
And then, oh, that all went down.
Oops.
And then, you know,
get what actually happened.
And it's like, oh, okay.
And that's the thing.
We still never learned what
actually happened on
Brindock outside of Sol
killing what's her name?
Anisea?
Anisea.
Which I think Sol in his bad
decision making all the way
through that episode.
I think a lot of it was his
connection to Osha has to
have something to do with
the way he was brought in as well.
Because it was like a brotherly,
sisterly type of love he had for her,
I think.
It almost felt like a dad.
Or a dad-daughter.
Like a dad-daughter.
He was very protective of her.
I felt bad for May, though.
Yeah,
we'll get into me taking the fucking
short straw on that deal.
No kidding.
Poor thing all the way through.
And we'll talk about that.
But I I'm just I think it
was just a placement.
I feel like you could have
told a better story if you
had arranged the order and
maybe episodes longer,
because I think it's important.
Like if you see, you know,
here's this was.
I mean, shit, the Bad Batch finale,
I think, was an hour.
Yep.
I think all the Mandalorian episodes,
the Sokatano episodes,
I think all of them were 45 minutes.
Yeah.
So this is literally the
shortest series that we got.
Clone Wars episodes were
longer than these.
Exactly.
And I'm like, you know, I think, again,
they could have filled in a
lot of the plot holes.
And I think you could have
effectively set up a season,
more effectively set up a
season two with some of the
intrigue that we're getting
with the Senate.
Because that inquiry,
those inquiries are going
to be interesting.
I want to be in there.
Yeah.
They could do a whole nother
series just on the, you know,
the inquiries from the Senate on this,
you know?
Yes.
I am so excited in here for that.
I'm like, yeah,
if y'all want to do that show,
we'll be watching.
Oh, yeah.
Without a doubt.
You got us.
Without a doubt.
Imagine like Law and Order, like.
Hey, I would be there.
I would be there for it,
which is basically what
this show was or how it started out.
Yeah.
And so I, I mean,
what did you think of the, what, you know,
what did you think of the, the time gaps?
Were you confused by those?
I wasn't necessarily confused by it.
Cause like I said, I, I am the,
the star Wars nerd that
does go and look up stuff
and I can kind of fill in the gaps myself,
but I, I,
Like you said,
an extra 10 to 15 minutes
per episode would have went
really far in making a lot
of more things make more sense.
Lots of credit to Amanda Jr.
here because she came to the
table for us too.
Let's give a shout out to Amanda Jr.
She wanted to be here, but she couldn't.
Oh, Amanda is great.
Y'all go follow her on the pop break.
Amanda.news.
Yes, Amanda.news on Instagram,
but definitely check her
work out on the Pop Break as well.
She's covered The Acolyte.
She's covered a few other shows for us.
Bridgerton.
Yes.
Oh, man.
Her hot take on Bridgerton.
Don't get her started on Bridgerton.
I know.
I get it.
She made a lot of valid points,
and I know it's going to
make some of the Bridgerton
fans out there upset,
but she had some valid points.
um so go check out her work
on thepopbreak.com read her
articles share she does a
great job and she had some
really really good feedback
here on the acolyte like
she actually talked about
originally she thought
about if this could have
been a movie or this could
have been a bingeable if
just release make it a
bingeable show yeah and
this probably would have
worked better and then she
said make it a bingeable
show switch episodes six
and seven which is what I
did and it worked better
for me I have to go back
and watch it like that now
so try that out this weekend
it was good I i felt it
that way junior is picking
this up fast junior junior
is is a wonderful she's a
wonderful apprentice you
know two amandas isn't a
bad thing that's why we
call her junior and when we
finally do get her on the
show though I gotta have
you and her on at the same time
You got to change your name
to Amanda Senior.
She has to be Amanda Junior
for it to work.
We will do it.
It will be great.
I have no problem.
Shout out to Rutgers
University for producing
some fine journalists.
Yes, absolutely.
Absolutely.
I mean,
I can see Bill's head right now
just like growing 10 times his size.
I mean, he's not wrong, though.
He is not wrong.
He's really not.
And shout out to Bill.
He's at his daughter's play tonight,
counseled all his plans,
moved the shows around so
he could be there.
Fucking grade A stand up, Dad.
Absolutely.
We love you, Bill.
Yes, we do.
We love you.
Definitely love you way more
than some of these potholes
and the orders of these episodes.
But again, yes.
No.
Speaking of plot holes.
Yes.
Where the mother coral go?
In this whole fiasco,
this lady just like ninja
smoke bomb disappeared.
I thought she was the one
who possessed Kalnaka.
She did, but then she disappeared.
We don't, she didn't die.
See, I'm wondering,
I had a theory about that too.
I'm like,
I'm wondering if Pelagius and his
research encountered her.
If for some reason, if that, if they,
the twins were his first attempt to
They had to work with someone.
He could have lent that
energy and what he knew and
kind of manipulated those two.
So I'm wondering,
did he teach them or did he use them?
I'm assuming he used them
because he didn't want to
teach them too much.
Welcome back to the network, man.
Hi, Kelvin.
Always good to see you, man.
Plot holes.
I think that was a deliberate plot hole.
I think it is, too.
And I think if we get a season two,
we may see her.
She had a lot of anger.
Oh, she was an angry Dathomirian.
Yes.
And her look was interesting, too,
because I, you know, I was like.
Most of the female
Dathomirians don't look like that.
No.
So it's an interesting.
So she was like a hybrid of them.
She was a very interesting character.
And I honestly feel like
there's something... She is the key.
We miss you too, big fella.
We love you.
Yes.
We have to catch up on all
the summer anime right now.
Because it is an amazing season.
Shika Shika.
If you're watching during Okatan.
I'm literally on season six
of Game of Thrones.
Suffering.
Because we all know season
six through eight is just horrid.
Oh, why?
But I got to get through it
so I can watch House of Dragons.
I don't have to.
Yeah, but I don't.
I get it.
Mental OCD blockage won't
let me do it without.
I get it.
But it is the season.
Both seasons of House of
Dragon have been great.
And I've not heard a whole
lot of bad things said about it.
And I'm kicking myself for
not being already up on it.
But I'm getting there.
But I got to do Game of Thrones first.
Yes, absolutely.
But yeah,
I really feel like with Mother Coral,
I feel like she is the key
between Pelagos and this vergence.
Well,
we do know from Legends that he did
study...
and did have interactions
with the witches of both
Dathomir and I'm sure
others and his travels
because he literally that way,
his life was dedicated to
the dark science and to the
old Sith ways.
So we'll see how that works out for us.
And if we get a season two.
Yeah.
And we already answered the
second part of kind of like
that question I had of,
did the Sith play a part in
the birth of me and OSHA?
So we'll jump to the,
What really set the whole thing off,
which is we learned that
Sol killed Anisea and
finally learns the truth of
what happened on Brindock.
And then she uses that rage
to kill Master Sol before
Vernestra can arrive to save him.
So with this basically
statement slash question,
We know Mei started her
quest to kill the Jedi that wronged her.
And basically, Chimera, the stranger,
gave her, like,
you must kill a Jedi
without using a weapon.
And fucking Osha come out
swinging with that shit.
Yeah, she did.
She did.
That was the force choke of force chokes.
I didn't even put two and
two together that that was
even an option.
I didn't either until she whipped it out.
Yeah.
She was hiding it so well
because she was like, like,
I don't know if it was
something that just happened,
like out of like the pure
rage that she felt in that moment.
But when he grabbed this
throat and I'm looking
around like the screen,
like who in the fuck is
choking master soul here?
Yeah.
I thought it was Chimera at first.
I was like, I did too.
Yeah.
I thought he was helping her.
And then I'm like, oh.
But no,
she was having a full-on teenage
hissy fit,
choking the shit out of that man.
Yeah,
but how about that kyber crystal
bleeding?
What'd you think about that?
Ooh, that was,
so I was saving that for last.
Oh, I'm sorry.
But no, let's just fucking jump into it,
because that was,
so we know most Sith use
synthetic crystals.
Just period.
We have only seen a bleeding
of a kyber crystal in comic.
And I think Kylo did it.
I want to say that's correct.
If I remember.
Yes.
And then the only other time
we've really seen it in
visual media outside of the
comic book was in one of the video games.
Jedi Survivor.
We see it.
Yes.
And the amount of pain.
anger and emotion that goes
into actually physically
bleeding a kyber crystal is
something to think about in
this situation and oh by
the way you have to have it
you have to have it
physically in your hand now
soul's lightsaber broke on
impact so when she's holding his saber
It is broke in a kyber
crystal is actually pushing
into her hand and she is bleeding into it,
like physically bleeding
from her hand into this crystal.
Combine that with the anger
and all the other emotions
she's having and the fact
that she is at the same
time force choking the shit
out of Master Soul.
I don't think I think it
takes a lot longer for a
kyber crystal to actually
be bled and a lot more.
she wasn't thinking about it.
In her anger, she bled that crystal.
I have heard criticism on
the other side where they're like, oh,
it took too long.
It didn't take long enough.
When you see it in the comic
book and other things,
even when Kylo bled his,
he was over angry and he
was... It's a whole thing.
There's a whole...
10 page spread of him
bleeding his crystal in the
comic book and it's it's
intense as hell because he
cracks his with so much
anger because you can't
overdo it you can't underdo
it you know it's got to be
like just right to bleed a
crystal see I did
appreciate that you got it
was happening as she was
going through all of the
things and choking soul
like I feel like it just
lined up it was a
It was like her feelings
bleeding into that.
And I thought it was very
poetic and beautifully done.
Like the moment the camera
shifted and you see that
crystal turn red.
I was like, holy shit.
Like, is there in theory wrong?
Yes.
But was it fucking beautiful
to see on screen for the very first time?
That kind of way.
It was amazing.
I will.
Yeah.
I'm not mad about it.
I'm really not.
In the moment she ignited it.
Technically it should have blew up.
But.
It's Star Wars.
We're not talking about all that.
The wind.
Ideas and theories out.
The wind here.
She lit that damn thing.
It was blue.
And then that red come out of it.
That was cool.
It was beautiful, plain and simple.
It was beautiful and
something to behold because
we had never gotten that before, you know,
and damn, that was phenomenal.
And it was interesting.
I feel like she channeled,
especially when Sol told her, oh,
it's okay.
It's okay.
Like, I forgive you.
And it's like that last bit just pushed,
I think,
that crystal transformation on the edge.
I think that was really the
nail in that coffin, really.
Because it pissed her off
more that she forgave him
or he forgave her on his last breath.
That, and it's an interesting,
we talked about this too on
the pop break.
We were talking about how
it's an interesting choice
that they made was to have
someone who was so full of
regrets and sadness.
And that was the most of the show, guilt,
very guilt-ridden for what
happened to be like, no,
what I did was right.
And stay on the high ground, if you will.
So it was an interesting character shift.
Yeah.
So I can see why she bled
into that crystal a little bit.
Yeah, no, I mean,
it makes sense when you look at it.
But you have to look at it
from an open mind and viewpoint on it.
You can't just walk in the door and go,
I'm immediately going to hate this shit.
And I don't care.
I'm going to hate it no matter what.
Yeah,
I'm just happy we're having we get
Star Wars.
We get Star Wars content.
You and me both.
And we got two good Star Wars shows.
Exactly.
Like back to back.
We got Tales of the Sith
right into Darklight.
Yeah, I mean, I'm here for it.
You know,
anytime there's new Star Wars on TV,
I'm I'm there.
Yeah.
And, you know,
we can have great discussions, you know,
and enjoy talking with each
other and have fun.
And, you know, and again,
there's legit criticisms
out there and that's fine.
We can have a healthy
discourse about that.
Right.
I think there's just a lot
of people nitpicked and focused.
Way too many people
nitpicked and focused on
the wrong parts of this.
Like so many people were mad
about Kiadi Mundi.
I was like, come on guys.
Who cares?
They changed it by what?
20 years or something?
And it was only the only
information we legit had on
his age came from a board game.
Because the Wizards of the
West Coast game.
I'm like, really?
Yeah.
Really?
Not losing sleep over Ki-Adi Mundi.
Yeah.
And it made sense that he
was there because he's the
one that said the Sith
haven't been around for a millennia.
Yeah.
And, you know, again, it's a yes.
Kelvin brought up a great point.
Absolutely.
And I don't know if he was
around when we first started the show.
So he may have missed my fun
fact of the day.
Fun fact of the day, Kelvin,
was the Jedi Temple was
built on top of the Sith
Shrine of the Depths.
And it explains how the Jedi
is linked to the fourth Shrine.
Was eventually corrupted.
So your statement there.
Makes sense with what I said earlier.
On my fun fact of the day.
I hope they bring that into canon.
I think that might be what happens.
It would make so much sense.
For that to be brought into canon.
To explain everything that's happened.
Through all three trilogies.
And TV shows.
Yeah.
I mean, that would make absolute sense,
but we'll see.
We'll see if it, if it happens, but I mean,
you know, speaking of coverups.
Yes.
You want to talk about some
Jedi mind tricks or in this case,
Sith mind tricks.
Let's go for it.
So we see, so they,
they escape souls dead for
Nestor has arrived.
Everybody runs off to the,
the center of the virgins,
which I think is the tree.
And the decision is made
that May will go with the
Jedi and Osha will go with
Chimera to become his
acolyte or his apprentice.
And we see them doing their
little little thing.
They say when they were children,
the I am you, you are me.
We're a big family.
You know, yay.
Kumbaya thing they do.
And then you get that back-facing camera,
or the camera facing the back of Chimera,
and he's just like, and no more.
I was like, bro.
He just pulled a Ben Kenobi,
because he was going by Ben at the time,
and completely wiped her mind.
And then, dude,
I was... That shit was like,
they just met back up.
They just forgave each other for their
For everything, basically.
It made no sense to me.
But... It does play into the
post on Tatooine.
This is true.
But that made no sense to me.
Because I'm like,
this poor girl has drawn
the short end of the stick.
For eight episodes.
I mean, to be fair,
she did kill Master Indara.
you know you know hey r.i.p
r.i.p to master andara she
lasted all of 10 minutes
total true how much did
carrie ann moss make for
this show for 10 minutes
worth of work probably for
the flashbacks that's
probably why that's
probably what she got paid
for well she was on the 10
minutes total this is maybe
12 being if I'm being generous
get on her for that paycheck
man I will that and just
the fact that even if it's
not like a huge part you're
not the main at least you
can say you were in star
wars yeah some people do
that they'll take they're
like you know I just wanted
to be in it doesn't matter
there's a list of
celebrities who have been
stormtroopers their face
were never seen they never
received any type of credit
for it they didn't get paid
they just wanted to be a
stormtrooper on in star wars
And I mean, say they did it.
Exactly.
Just to even say, you know,
I was a Jedi master.
Was I the main?
No, but I'm a Jedi master.
And she even got to do that hand to hand,
get that Trinity energy there.
She did.
And I'm not mad.
No, no.
It was worth it.
10 minutes for me to see her
in something that wasn't
related to whatever that
last matrix movie was.
Cause it was bad.
Yeah, it was pretty rough.
I don't even include it.
I'm like, oh, you mean the trilogy?
No, we don't talk about that.
I just go straight to the Animatrix.
If I don't go for it,
it's like first movie and
then the Animatrix for me.
Or my Matrix for me.
The Animatrix is outstanding.
It is.
It really is.
It's underrated as hell.
Absolutely.
I found it on VHS.
Did you?
I did.
Nice.
I'm so excited about it.
I'm going to actually
probably watch it after this.
So yeah, it's with Seth.
It's going to be fun.
That's going to be awesome.
Yeah,
but we know Vernestra arrives and she
finds Sol already dead.
Basically, May is the only person there.
to take the bullets and she
has no clue what's going on.
She don't even know how to,
what her damn name is at this moment.
And I'm like,
they all could have fled together.
They could have.
So it was,
it was a weird decision for them to,
to leave her there.
And you're,
you're leaving a loose end that
with someone more powerful
can always find that loose end.
Yes.
The last one.
Yes.
yes and I i just I think
that you're leaving a loose
end free and untethered to
the world well and it was
intentionally done but they
were like we will leave you
here and you will be
basically they expected her
to take the blame for all
this stuff like you just
sold your sister out again
again but then vernestra is
like nah stand by hold my beer
We got this.
You don't remember shit, do you?
No, I don't know nothing.
Bet.
Master Soul did it all.
He's been pulling the wool
over everybody's eyes.
He concocted this own thing.
He killed Jedi.
He's killed all these people.
He made a lot of bad decisions.
But then she still gave him a Jedi burial.
A warrior's burial.
That's her guilt.
it is and it's her guilt to
live with because who knows
what else you know exactly
what else is she covered
now I really want to know
so the question is yeah if
we do get a season two do
we get carrie and boss to
come back play and master
indara and what was
originally happening that
was originally covered up
because we really don't see
what originally happened
you know what originally
was covered up and how
everybody actually dies
We still don't know.
I think that we will get a
cameo from her because they
have to connect and Vern
has to know something.
I feel like Master Dara is
going to show up.
She's going to connect the
two arcs together,
but I don't think she'll
have a larger part.
I think it's going to be all Vern.
It's going to be all Vern
and whoever Vern recruits
to help with this coverup.
If she recruits anybody,
she's really... Was
Vernestra the Grand Master at this time?
Or was she just a master?
I think she was a master.
Because Yoda is alive at this time,
so he would be the Grand
Master because he was the
Grand Master for quite a while.
I think she would be a contender for it.
But I kind of look at her as
maybe a Mace Windu type
where she's a more senior
member of the council and
she's calling the shots.
She was the youngest Padawan
to ever become a master at 16.
She's a prodigy.
It's interesting that they
went with her for this.
Her legends is legendary.
She was legit as hell.
And the fact that they kind
of made her the escape goat type.
I'm like, come on, dude,
that's not Renestra at all.
But I'm wondering if we're
going to get another project, whether,
because I want to say
there's another animated
series due to come out.
We don't know.
We get a legends of the high Republic.
Yes.
That would be dope as hell.
I think we're going to get
some kind of backstory to explain,
you know,
what led her to get to this point.
Also,
we got to find out what her
connection is to Chimera.
I think because he's got the
scars of a whip.
The only person that has a
whip in the whole Jedi
universe is Vernestra.
Yeah.
Unless it's lightning.
It could be lightning as well.
Yeah.
I mean,
we know Vernestra never fell to the
dark side.
So, you know,
or or has she not embraced
her darkness like souls?
Yeah.
Soul was definitely conflicted with that.
I mean, he he very much like Mace Windu.
Mace Windu walked a very
fine line between the light and the dark.
Which is why he was so respected by Yoda,
and that's why he was the
number two to Yoda.
Because Yoda,
he says it in Legends that
that's why he not only respects him,
but he also fears him as well.
I mean,
that's why he really was the only
one who could take out
Palpatine if Anakin had interfered.
He had him.
Oh, yeah.
He was done.
He had him.
He was done.
Oh, Annie.
That poor lost boy.
Exactly.
He really was...
a boy still at heart, still a kid.
True.
This is true.
So what do you, I guess,
how would you think about
Vern as a master?
I guess,
what do you picture when you think
about her and kind of, I mean,
kind of being her apprentice,
like what kind of master do
you think she was?
Never had a,
a good relationship per se
with her Padawans.
Like she took on like the, the,
The Impossibles.
I guess you could say.
Like on their last.
Like.
Especially if you go back.
And you start reading some
hard background.
Like she took some broken Padawans.
And some of them.
You know.
One I think turned out good.
And I think the other one
actually fell to the dark side.
If I remember right.
So is that what we're getting here?
I can't say for sure.
There's not enough.
You know.
Story here for us to go off of.
so I mean it could maybe
just after enough time she
maybe just has this bad
track because we do know
they had a forced
connection when he got when
she got off her plane her
uh intergalactic
starfighter so it's a good
question and I think
there's we need that
answered if we get a season two
I think they're going to.
They have to.
They've got to touch on it.
They have to.
And while they're at it,
they could touch on what
the hell was Basil's problem.
Darth Basil.
He has to be a fucking plant
from the dark side.
This dude.
Adorable little creature.
But damn, he has some serious issues.
Bill hates Basil with a passion.
He has every right to hate Basil.
Because what the hell was Basil's problem?
What did Sol do to him?
What did the Jedi... Period.
Why did he have this weird
connection with both May
and Osha like that?
Maybe that's the virgins
that work for that.
Possibly because that was
just like this weird thing.
Basil's like, oh, cool.
And then all of a sudden it's like, oh,
you're trying to hurt her.
So there's an account on
Instagram that I follow.
It's comedian is Charlie Hopkinson.
And he does these.
I don't know if you've heard about him,
Jeff.
If not, I'll send it to you.
but he does these ai
versions so it's him maybe
ai imposes like kenobi uh
qui-gon I don't follow him
but I think I know what
you're talking about send
me the link though after
this I'll send you the link
and they they poke fun at
different star wars content
but it's like they're
reviewing it from the
perspective of kenobi
qui-gon and and it's like yeah
You've seen it.
Yeah.
I've seen it,
but I didn't know they had an
actual like.
They do it regularly for all
the Star Wars shows.
And then he actually does
one for House of the Dragon.
So it's Tyrion, Ned Stark's head.
Nice.
Yeah.
John Snow.
And then they also do Lord of the Rings.
I know what is exactly what
I'm doing after this podcast.
I straight up just binge, but they,
they've done every single
star war show that's come
out and it's hilarious.
But Darth Basil is their theory.
They're like, he's a Sith.
And you know, it's,
it's all science point to that, you know,
cause he did those last two
episodes look kind of like lost his shit.
And it was like, no,
you're not hurting these girls.
I don't know if he was just
trying to protect them
because he felt like they were children.
Or like he knew what they
were doing was wrong.
I'll send it to you too, Kelvin.
It is hilarious because the
head's just like, hi,
and it's just talking.
It's just,
it's so random and it cracks me up.
But their theories with Darth Basil,
they were talking about, you know, well,
the dark side has all these,
they were talking about
Pelagos creeping and they're like, well,
Darth Basil has this house at the end of
are hilarious the dark side
has cookies yes it is it is
good stuff all of a sudden
it's at both y'all it is
hilarious and um but yeah
basil basil you know at
first I wondered if he was
just a plot device in a way
to sell merch you know
because you always have to
have a cute star wars
creature it's true but then
I feel like the little
little elephant elephant
yeah that but I'm like
basil stole that cake
He did.
I'm just like, I don't know.
I haven't seen any Darth Basil toys.
I'm just going to call them Darth Basil.
None of those have came out yet either.
They're still on pre-order.
The Pops are, I think,
finally about to ship.
That's cool.
because yeah so because
you're right I have not
seen any merch yeah because
I've seen them all all up
for pre-order on amazon but
none of them are saying
ready to ship there's still
some ahsoka figures out
there from the ahsoka
series that are still
pre-order yeah so I don't
know what hasbro is doing
but come on hasbro get
together exactly darth is
darth basil at work you know
It has to be Darth Basil,
that little bastard, man.
So let's talk about these
special appearances.
Well, actually,
we technically already
talked about Darth Plagueis and Yoda.
The ending when she comes
into Yoda's room was really
freaking cool.
I liked that.
Although I do want to add
for Darth Plagueis, though,
that I do appreciate he looks like a mun.
He does.
He's a shady looking mun.
But I'm like, I'm glad they kept that.
I know people were harping
about that when he was 15.
I'm like, again, that's legends, though.
Yeah.
And there's nothing that
says he could not be,
we don't know that much
about the mons to know, like,
are they like Yoda?
where they really don't
mature until they're in
well into their hundreds.
Yeah.
Two hundreds.
And his appearance.
I mean,
if he's manipulating dark force energy,
I mean,
that's going to take a toll on you
if you're experimenting.
So, I mean, cause we had the months in the,
in the, in the, the prequel trilogy from,
I think from what I, or no clone wars.
They brought up the months as well.
So, and they look a little,
they look different.
Well,
he was the head of the the banking plan,
I think, at one time.
Yep.
Because he was doing that.
He was the head of the banking clan.
And oh, by the way,
he was a Sith Lord by night.
So it's not maybe he was
still a young man coming up in the world.
And this was kind of like him,
like observing,
like what it is to really
be the rule of two, you know?
Who knows?
You mess with the dark side,
it's going to take its toll on you.
We can't all look like Manny
Jacinto messing with the dark side.
He's a one-off.
He is definitely a one-off.
Bless you.
Bless you, Leslie Hedlund.
Thank you.
She knew what she was doing.
We need the female viewers.
How do we do that?
We get a shirtless little
dude with us all ripped up.
The best part was I think
Brandon had watched the
first episode with me.
And then, you know, he was like,
I know you got to catch up.
You're reviewing it.
So don't don't wait for me.
I'll catch up when I can.
And he did.
He caught up.
We caught up.
He caught up watching it.
And then we got to watch
episode five together.
Had no idea this was going to happen.
So, yeah.
And he's just like,
I can see why you like the show.
I was like, you know what, sir?
That's not what I was expecting.
And he's like, he's joking around.
He's like, you know,
she's totally looking at
the other lightsaber.
I was like, oh, my gosh.
She did.
She did, though.
very subtly I'm like this is
a disney program leslie
headland what are you doing
hand that camera down lower
let's get a butt shot in
there let's see if they do
it they got really they got
they they panned it down I
was like are they really
gonna give an ass shot in a
star wars show like what's
gonna happen stopped I was
like I was ready for the
internet to explode that's
probably one of the most
positive the ears are still
intact that was actually
one of the most positive
And to be fair, it was, I'm like, it was,
and he was turning onto the
seduction of the dark side.
I'm actually okay.
If star Wars starts getting not,
not overly sexual or not overly,
but I think it can get, you know,
more intense.
Like again,
I loved the savagery of the
fight scene in the woods.
That one.
And that final fight scene.
Yes.
Ruthless.
animalistic aggression.
It was like watching
Wolverine fight Sabretooth
the first time.
Yes.
Like it was just raw force
yielding energy.
I felt for Yord.
Yord was not my favorite character.
And the fact that I just
said raw energy live on air
after talking about... This
is your Ruthless era here.
Apparently it is.
I apologize to...
everybody out there.
No, but I'm not sorry.
This is, this is USDN after dark.
Here we go.
Yeah.
We did start the show an
hour later tonight just for this.
Cause we were going to be
talking about shirtless dudes.
Apparently that was your plan.
That this, this was your idea.
You're welcome.
And my boss man just approved.
So we're good.
But I have to say, I do like that.
Like the, even with your,
not my favorite character,
but his death was like downright.
Ruthless.
But so is Jackie's.
She, she at least fought.
though she fought a warrior
he was the surprise that I
didn't see coming she
whooped his ass for most of
that fight he didn't even
use the force to kill yord
that's how little he
thought he fucking snapped
his neck I was like he's
like the only thing that
could have been better is
as he snapped his neck been
like little man
I mean, he's kind of did this almost,
I hear you,
but he still got that same point across.
I was like, Ooh,
that's one of the most like sad.
And I know we really didn't
talk about that episode
because everybody was busy
for the last couple of weeks,
but Holy shit.
That Jedi massacre,
the red wedding of the Jedi.
Yes.
I,
And I'm here for this.
If Star Wars gives us more of that,
I am okay with it because these fights.
If they decide to go back to
the Knights of the Old Republic,
that's going to be some violent ass shit.
And it has to be.
Yeah.
We're talking about there
was a Sith war in there.
And that's why that was,
you're reading my mind here
and I love it because
that's when I thought my exact thought,
it was like,
I wonder if they're testing
the waters here to see how
audiences would have responded to that.
Because if you're going to
go into Knights of the Republic,
you can't tone,
you can't tone it down too much.
Like you're going to have
very well get our very
first rated R Star Wars.
Yeah, we could.
And I'm not mad.
Yeah, same.
And, you know, Star Wars matures.
Yeah, it has to.
It does.
It has to mature.
Disney, no shit,
signed off on Deadpool and Wolverine.
Yeah.
With an R rating.
And not just an R rating,
a hard R. So I'm like,
if they're willing to, you know.
Well, look at Echo.
Look at Echo.
Yeah.
Dude, Echo,
that was a bloody violent
adventure that I was there for.
It was amazing.
Big props to you and Bill
for coming on that show.
Oh, that was fun.
We had a great time
discussing it with you.
That was a good one.
Cause I think y'all did it
on Thursday and then we did
it on like Saturday or Sunday.
I think it was like a Saturday or Sunday.
Yeah.
And it, it, but that's the thing.
Like you don't have to make
every property that way.
I think you can balance the
force if you will bring
some balance to it, have, you know,
the content that we're used to,
but get a little bit.
I think Disney is since they
partnered with Hulu,
they've come to this thing
where they have,
they understand better that,
some things are going to
require a higher rating and
they're becoming okay with
this rated R just in special cases.
Yeah,
and it doesn't have to be every time.
But some of these stories
that we're telling and some
of these eras are ruthless.
I mean,
you're reading in the High Republic
era right now.
Look at what's happening
with the Nile and the Jedi.
The level of intensity there.
I haven't dived into the comics as much,
which that's next on my list to do.
I'm reading the... I've
caught up in the young adult books.
I'm reading the adult books
right now because I've
definitely been kind of
diving in and wanting to know more.
But...
you know that there's so
much there and then again
you have the video games
you have you know if you're
gonna like how like when we
talk about the books the
young adult books the comic
books all those stories in
there all flow together yes
like it's like this nice
sequence of literature
that come in and out of each
other together.
They're all interwoven to degrees,
and they're just great reads.
If you like Star Wars, dig into those.
It's fantastic.
Yeah, they are absolutely great.
And there is a canon.
There is a timeline order
you can read as well that helps a lot.
Just Google Star Wars
timeline in books or
however you want to Google it.
You'll get the same answer either way.
They have an official canon
timeline out there.
And you can sort it however
you wish to read it.
I usually do it in chronological order.
Everything makes sense for me.
There's another one that has
it all from the very beginning.
Yeah.
how to read it,
and then it mixes the shows
into it as well.
So you get... Oh, I've seen that one.
Yes.
And that's a really cool one.
That's a good one.
And then I realized I'm like,
if I want to do that,
I got to go out and find
like 50 different books to read.
Yeah.
I'm like, what can I get?
Because there's a lot out
there that you didn't even realize.
Like there's a whole book on
just Plagueis.
It's a great book.
There's a book on Dooku.
That's really good.
I love my Asajj Ventress and
Quinlan Vos book, The Dark Disciple.
That one is so good.
Damn, that one is so good.
So good.
That one,
and it's not what you expect either.
I mean, it is, but it isn't,
and it was amazing.
But anyways,
let's know we got to start
closing this out.
So what did you think?
What's your overall impressions of it?
And do you think we will
have a season two?
I enjoyed it myself.
I liked it.
There were some structural things.
Again, the episodes were too short.
I feel like the order could be changed.
But I loved the concepts of
questioning the Jedi's
methods and seeing what
happened to lead to the
current events of the Jedi's fall,
their ultimate fall,
the product of the system.
I loved the take on the dark side.
A plan a thousand years in the making.
Exactly.
Just to see all of that come
together and seeing where the cracks are.
We definitely got the cracks.
We did.
It's not the crack I wanted
with Manny Jacinto's.
I had to go there.
I'm sorry.
It was funny.
It was right there.
Now you know what?
Now you know how Bill deals with me.
Brandon,
hit me up if you just need to talk, man.
I'm here for you, Brandon.
That's okay.
He's got lots of cake.
It's fine.
Hey, he's a short king.
I love my short King.
I give him a hard time.
We know, we know, you know, he's my man.
I always will be.
And so, you know, it's,
but I love the seductive
side of the Sith.
It's a different interpretation.
It really was.
And again,
the performances were really
great overall.
Like, again,
I loved the questions I was left with.
And I remember in the beginning,
this was marketed as like
kill bill meets frozen.
Yeah.
And I like that interpretation that much.
It makes sense though.
It, it,
After the finale, it was like, oh, okay,
now I see what the hell she
was talking about.
But she said that very early on.
She did.
And then it took all eight
episodes for us to go, oh, okay,
now it makes sense.
So it's definitely in my
top... I'd say my top four
of the shows so far.
I mean,
I think there were definitely some
improvements that could be made.
But I think it was a
strong... It was a good start.
And I...
I hope they get a season two.
I'm not super optimistic that they will.
But I'm also wondering,
because of all of the dialogue, good, bad,
et cetera,
because I know they were losing
viewers weekly.
But with all the dialogue
and the discourse online,
sometimes that's enough to
keep... It's enough to kill a show.
And you could tell from the very beginning,
from the discourse that was out there,
that that was the intent,
was to kill this.
Which I don't think it
deserved the hate that it has really...
received but for what are
you thinking out of five
puffs how many puffs will
the alkali get from amanda
I'd say four okay I liked
it again I thought it was
really solid all the way
around again there were
structural things but I
loved I loved that it made
me think and question and
I'm here for if you leave
me with more questions and
you're you're you actively
make me think about you
I literally all these
questions come out this
afternoon as I was sitting
down to kind of put the
final nails on the in the
proverbial script coffin over here.
And anytime I get left with
more questions than answers I received,
of course,
I'm going to want more from it.
And it did give me that.
But I will go a soft four
out of five on this one.
And a lot of that is because
the fan service that I
received in the finale.
I got Plagueis.
I got an appearance from a
700-year-old Yoda.
And honestly, I got to see a mind wipe,
which was really cool.
You really get to see what
eventually led to the
downfall of the Jedi franchise.
So for me,
that's why it's getting a soft
four out of five.
Answer my damn questions, Leslie.
And it's season two.
If you get one, please.
And if you need a transcript,
I'll provide you with a transcript.
Okay.
I'm a nice guy like that.
All you gotta do is ask.
Hell, I'll help you write season two.
Hire Jeff.
Exactly.
All right, Amanda.
final shots and thoughts,
what you got for us?
Not just, well, not,
not necessarily on this,
but what you got coming up.
I know you're a very busy lady,
but what you got?
Yeah.
Well, of course, um, you can follow me.
Uh, we are at the pop break.
So follow the pop break on
all social media platforms,
except for the pop break.com on YouTube.
Uh, but we, uh, you know,
doing this for 15 years and, uh,
all through the mastermind.
Wow.
Two out of five.
Okay.
All right.
Hey,
Yeah.
We respect everybody's
opinion around here.
Definitely like the execution.
There were some things that
could definitely be improved though.
I want to argue none of those.
Yeah, absolutely.
So, but yeah, you know,
if we have different
articles that come out all the time,
we have a lot of different
podcasts on the, on the pop break.
I am the co-host of two of them.
I'm the co-host with Bill Bodkin and,
uh for the flagship podcast
of the social of the uh the
pop break which is the
socially distanced uh we
drop new episodes on
fridays and we cover
different pop culture
events we just concluded
our house of the acolyte
series where we were doing
coverage of the acolyte
house of the dragon which
jeff helped us kick off so
to kick it off I didn't get
to participate in anymore
because I of course am
behind on not only house of
the dragon but also game of
thrones as we learned
but he did a great job on his episode.
So go check that out.
We loved it.
You're too kind.
You brought a lot of really
great content on the acolyte.
You came, you came,
you brought your a game on.
You brought that, you brought that.
Anytime I get to come onto
somebody else's podcast,
you best believe I'm doing
a lot of reading beforehand.
Cause I'm not showing up looking soft.
So check him out.
Go check out his episode.
Of course, we're now covering, of course,
the remainder of House of the Dragon.
This coming week we'll be covering.
I will actually not be here
for this one episode coming
up this next week.
Really?
Yeah, it happens.
I go out every once in a while.
I go on vacation.
Um, yes.
House of the dragon is so good.
I will not, I will not miss the finale.
Um,
and of course I will be tuning in and
listening, of course, supporting,
supporting my, my wonderful friends,
but they're going to be
covering a Deadpool and Wolverine, uh,
this, this upcoming, uh,
this upcoming week.
And of course, again, we're,
we're here for house of the dragon.
Uh,
we have a massive football episode
ready to go, which I know you guys,
I was going to hit it on that one.
Yeah, and I think Kelvin too.
So it's a big collaborative.
It's probably our biggest effort to date.
So that's going to be coming out.
We'll be covering Agatha all
along down the line.
We will too.
Yeah, we have, of course,
San Diego Comic-Con episode,
kind of a wrap-up coming up as well.
So we'll have that too.
I will definitely be there for that one.
Yeah,
we got lots of fun content coming up
on Socially Distanced.
And I'm also the co-host of Anime Pop.
As well, also on the Pop Break,
we cover anime,
everything that's happening, you know,
everything that's, you know, anime news.
You know,
we have our recommendations from
our guests and we cover, you know,
trending anime that's happening.
We just dropped our newest
episode on the Suicide Squad, Isekai,
streaming on Max.
I forgot that was streaming.
Yeah.
yeah if you if you're
curious about how that
works you know how that
turned out you know we have
our uh actually it was a
special episode for my
co-host josh because his
brother aaron uh made his
debut so they are they have
a podcast together called
the anniversary brothers
and it's really that one's
good too it's on the park
as well yeah so and then we
have we had our batman
expert our dc expert um dan
cohen our host of the
batman by the numbers
podcast join us as well
there's another good one
yeah he has not watched a
single anime in his life
but we're like poor shame
you gotta do better of
course I gotta do better
too we got him to watch
this one and he also did
watch the batman ninja
movie we were actually on
his podcast doing that one
so um but he watched it and
and it's what we love about
you know anime pop is that
you we have people that are
more experienced that come
on they know their anime
they watch it and then we
have people who bring a
whole different interpretation and dan
just laid into it in a,
in the best way possible
with his Batman knowledge.
And so it was really a great discussion.
So that is out there streaming right now.
And of course you can follow
me at a Mandalorian on
Instagram and threads.
My short King and I do have
our joint cosplay account.
That is at Brandalorian on
Instagram as well.
where we talk about some of his wrestling,
but we also do a lot of cosplay as well.
And he is at Brandon Rice
Wrestling on all socials,
at ResnusChickOnX for me,
and at Havoc1775 for him.
Thank you again, Jeff, for having me.
It is always a pleasure.
It's great.
I love chatting Star Wars with you.
You've become like a partner
in crime here at USDN.
You are a council member here at USDN.
And I often find myself
between you and Rob and some others,
I've run almost everything
I've decided I want to do
through y'all to some degree.
You did a great job.
So tell people a little more
about this fantastic podcast.
What is coming up for USDN?
Jeffy Jeff, aka the chairman of USDN.
I'm glad you asked.
I will be on a special
episode of The Pop Break coming up.
Our NFL kickoff show.
I will be covering my
Chicago Bears while
simultaneously crying into
my pillow about the Chicago Bears.
I know Kelvin will be on there as well,
talking about his New Orleans Saints.
And it's going to be a
collaborative effort with a
lot of the fellas from BCP as well.
So that's something to look
forward to coming up or
waiting on the dates and everything.
I think I know Bill's
finalizing everything and putting a,
he's putting together a great,
NFL kickoff show.
It's going to be fantastic.
And I will share that here
on USDN when I have all
those words on that and
when it's going to happen
and when that show comes out.
From a USDN perspective,
I'll be sharing what I get
from San Diego Comic-Con
through other sources on the news.
And of course, as always,
I'll share what I can from
the pop break as well.
You don't have to wait very
long for the next USDN episode.
We will be back Monday with Brother Robb.
covering Cobra Kai and also
shit the boys yeah I was
about to say I was against
the boys right I think yeah
I brain farted that one
hard that was the stinky one
Yeah, the boys finale.
Well,
we'll cover the whole season of the boys.
And then the first five
episodes of Cobra Kai season one,
which if you are a Netflix fan,
you'll know that Cobra Kai was, I think,
the first TV series to get
a sixth season.
I don't think there's been
another TV show to get a sixth season.
And oh, by the way,
the first two seasons of
Cobra Kai were YouTube's.
That's right.
Yeah.
And then they bought it.
Yep.
And then also there's
another spinoff coming with
Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio.
So that's going to be
interesting as well when that comes out.
But yeah, Monday, 8 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time,
the boys finale and part
one of three of Cobra Kai will be Monday.
And then after that,
I don't know what's really going on here.
At USDN,
we'll probably make it up as we go,
as always.
We'll probably be back with
some big news slash rumor special.
Probably maybe the second week of August,
I'm guessing.
We'll see.
We'll see what the schedule
looks like for all the council members.
Because I know school will
be starting back around that time.
And I'll be getting a kid off to college.
So...
That'll be an emotional moment.
It's a three hour cry both ways.
So with that,
I want to thank everybody for
tuning in tonight.
Thank you to Amanda and the
pop brick for loaning us Amanda so often.
And yeah, watch the page for updates.
We will see everybody Monday, 8 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time.
Write that down.
Big thanks to the DFPN as always.
Big thanks to the PopRick again.
As always, we want your feedback.
Let us know what you like,
what you don't like.
Did you enjoy something?
What can we do better?
We want to know.
As always, please hit that like,
subscribe button,
share us with your family and friends.
And on behalf of the Council of Nerds,
this podcast is USDN approved.
Signing off here.