The Review Show

We're celebrating 10 years of The Whatnauts with an end of the year "grand prix" because you can call anything a grand prix, there's no rules stopping you! Two people talking about pizza can be a grand prix!! Kyle sees a chicken. Melissa sees a big glove. Between the two of us, we've seen Tenet 3.5 times and Interstellar 1 time and we're going to try to understand both. We also give out the yearly Review Show superlatives, recap the F1 season finale and the Game of the Year awards, imagine a Scrabble game that takes up your whole house, and talk about cow cinema.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (05:01) - Cinema corner (51:33) - Review Show awards and superlatives (01:39:11) - Episode 300 again (02:03:20) - Melissa's BIG news (02:20:31) - Formula 1 corner (02:36:11) - Pop culture lightning round (02:43:10) - Detour to The Game Awards (02:52:40) - Last bit of the pop culture lightning round (02:55:16) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 332. This is our final episode of The Review Show (we'll still be doing the same thing next year under a newly formatted feed) and we're looking back on over 300 episodes with lists! Lots and lots of lists! We talk about our favorite movies, shows, comics, and audio dramas, biggest surprises, best villains, opening credits, needledrops, robots, stunts, and celebrities playing themselves. We talk about "small weirds," obscure streaming shows that seemingly no one has ever watched except us, a sexy pinup calendar of The Tick, a talking motorcycle, and what if Netflix spent their entire budget on just one new season of Mindhunter.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (02:14) - What are we drinking tonight? (04:00) - Episode 300 again (05:48) - Let the lists begin! (02:16:18) - A few extra shout outs (02:24:44) - Shout out to Melissa (02:26:29) - Final reminders (02:27:45) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 331. In our final regular episode of The Review Show, we talk about the haunting final season of The Americans. Philip has left espionage behind to focus on the legitimate family business to disastrous results, Elizabeth is in over her head with more demanding assignments, and Stan is finally realizing the spies he's been looking for may be his own neighbors. We discuss the pattern of broken connections between fathers and sons, Elizabeth's art studies restoring a missing part of her humanity, if any characters actually make it out of this show with a positive future, and whether we'd want to see a sequel series following the Jennings family years later.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (01:55) - Non-spoiler thoughts on The Americans s6 (10:14) - Housekeeping (17:26) - Spoilers for The Americans s6 (01:27:07) - Review Show Bingo (01:30:14) - Recommendations (01:35:29) - What we are discussing next episode (01:37:52) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 330. Season 5 of The Americans sees Philip and Elizabeth juggling multiple cover stories, while Paige willingly turns towards espionage and Henry tries to stand on his own -- at the worst time possible. We discuss the great tragic comedy of Henry turning out to be the ideal American boy while his parents weren't looking, the wildcard Mischa storyline, the wedding, if anyone could ever truly love Stan without it being suspicious, and we have an argument about how many sets of pajamas Elizabeth owns. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (03:49) - Non-spoiler thoughts on The Americans s5 (16:45) - Housekeeping (23:10) - Spoilers for The Americans s4 (01:44:14) - Review Show Bingo (01:45:34) - Recommendations (01:46:27) - What we are discussing next episode (01:46:45) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 329. We're back to our ongoing coverage of The Americans, talking about season 4. Philip and Elizabeth have to make choices that will devastate the lives of their unwitting informants, while Paige struggles under the pressure of keeping her pastor from revealing the family's secrets. We theorize about what the show will do with Henry and how he'll finally learn about his family's double lives, dignity for Martha, sudden and random deaths, how the show uses '80s pop culture sparingly and carefully, and past storylines coming back with unforeseen consequences.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (02:04) - Non-spoiler thoughts on The Americans s4 (08:59) - Housekeeping (14:50) - Spoilers for The Americans s4 (01:27:46) - Review Show Bingo (01:30:04) - What we are discussing next episode (01:30:22) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 328. This year's Halloween episode is on Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, a British comedy series from 2004. In this show within a show, Garth Marenghi is a horror author who writes and stars in a series about a cursed hospital, trying to deliver spine-tingling tales on a shoestring budget. We discuss the structure of the hospital drama intercut with fake interviews with the fictional creators of the show, how skilled the show is at being bad on purpose, the unnerving absence of any settings outside of the hospital, the musical number, and the bug boy.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (03:33) - Non-spoiler thoughts on Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (16:02) - Housekeeping (19:45) - Spoilers for Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (01:11:12) - Review Show Bingo (01:28:03) - What we are discussing next episode (01:32:26) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 327. We continue our mission with The Americans, talking about season three in this episode. Philip and Elizabeth are conflicted about revealing their spy history to their daughter Paige, and struggle against the constraints of their orders from The Centre. We discuss sad sack Stan, all the sex missions weighing on Philip, Elizabeth and the old woman in the repair shop, if Mischa is even real, the teeth scene, and the urban legend of the psy ops video game Polybius.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (02:37) - Non-spoiler thoughts on The Americans s3 (10:46) - Housekeeping (15:56) - Spoilers for The Americans s3 (01:41:44) - Review Show Bingo (01:44:17) - What we are discussing next episode (01:46:55) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 326. We finally begin a show that's been on our mutual to-watch list for years: FX's 2013 spy drama The Americans. "Philip and Elizabeth Jennings" are undercover KGB agents who have been embedded in the US since the '60s, living as a married couple, raising children, and trying to fit in as a normal '80s suburban family -- and their cover is tested when an FBI agent moves into their neighborhood. We discuss the story's slow burn pacing, giving the Jennings kids their own unique character arcs, all the sex scenes, all the wigs, and using a real-world local TV commercial for plot foreshadowing.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (04:41) - Non-spoiler thoughts on The Americans s1-2 (22:49) - Housekeeping (27:30) - Spoilers for The Americans s1-2 (01:42:05) - Review Show Bingo (01:48:49) - Recommendations (01:57:00) - What we are discussing next episode (01:57:22) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 325. To prepare for Paul Thomas Anderson's new movie One Battle After Another, we watched his 2012 drama The Master. A volatile vagabond crosses paths with a charismatic scholar with a cult-like following, and the two men form a bond that threatens the scholar's family and community of believers. We discuss the shifting power dynamics of who exactly is "the master" of any situation, the surprising sense of humor in this movie and in PTA's other works, anxious cinematography, and movies where a freaky little gremlin guy comes in to take over your life.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (03:56) - Non-spoiler thoughts on The Master (16:49) - Housekeeping (20:29) - Spoilers for The Master (01:14:15) - Review Show Bingo (01:17:01) - Recommendations (01:29:49) - What we are discussing next episode (01:32:19) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 324. We read Secret Identity by Alex Segura, a prose novel set in the world of 1970s comic book publishers. Carmen Valdez is a publisher's secretary trying to break in as a writer, and when she finally gets the chance to introduce her own superhero, her co-creator winds up dead and her name is missing from the comic's byline. We discuss the myriad mysteries in this book beyond the whodunnit, the moral murkiness that makes it a noir story, the worldbuilding of fictional comic companies alongside the real works of Marvel and DC, and racking up bills taking informants out for dinner.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (01:57) - Non-spoiler thoughts on Secret Identity by Alex Segura (17:17) - Housekeeping (21:24) - Spoilers for Secret Identity by Alex Segura (01:12:44) - Review Show Bingo (01:16:15) - Recommendations (01:27:32) - What we are discussing next episode (01:29:43) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★