E20 - Reckless Ben vs. Bricks and Minifigs (Part 2)

In true Sophia fashion, this episode starts out dark...but what she shares partway through leaves Kate astonished. In 1981, Anthony Broadwater was convicted of raping Alice Sebold. He went on to spend 16 years in prison, while Alice, in the decades after the trial, became a successful author. She most notably wrote the book The Lovely Bones in 2002 about a young girl who was raped and murdered, which was later adapted into the Oscar-nominated film of the same name in 2009. Alice Sebold's backstory, which served as the inspiration for her book, was not what Kate expected, and it may be the same for you.

Kate is back at it again with her celebrity scandals, and this time it's one big enough that Sophia might have even heard of it (possibly through Kate). This Ends With Us was the summer movie that hit major news headlines for all the wrong reasons...but boy was the drama entertaining. At the centre of all this drama was one of America's favourite actresses, Gossip Girl star Blake Lively, and her lawsuit against her co-star Justin Baldoni, along with Lively's...unique...PR moves for the movie that brought along some serious side-eye. xoxo, Sophia and Kate ;)

Just when you thought things couldn't get crazier with this lawsuit between a YouTuber's vigilante justice squad and a this Mormon-owned toy figurine retail company, Bricks and Minifigs manages to show that they are capable of even more lies and corruption, and Reckless Ben is ready to take on the challenge. Sophia brings Kate along for part 2 of this wild ride as it continues on.

Sophia introduces Kate to what is soon to be BOTH their latest obsession, because Kate loves justice being served as much as the next person. In this episode, Sophia breaks down a lawsuit over stolen LEGOS that has gone completely out of hand. And although it is so clear who the villain is and how corrupt this villain is...the lawsuit is still ongoing. Join Sophia and Kate on this wildly entertaining two-part episode on the drama surrounding the retail toy company Bricks and Minifigs.

Imagine hiking to a Hawaii cliffside lookout for your birthday...and realizing your husband didn't bring you there for the view. Kate tells Sophia about her most recent obsession - the Gerhardt Konig attempted murder trial. This was a marriage on the rocks that turned into attempted murder using a rock. Between the emotional affair, the two nurses who showed up at exactly the right moment, and the teenager who took the stand against his own father, this is one of the most dramatic trials to play out in real time. Let's get into it.

Sophia takes Kate back to the "Roaring Twenties", the post-World War I era when the US economy was booming and and mass consumerism was on the rise. With it, capitalism was well and strong. During the war era, watches and instrument dials painted with self-luminous radium paint were in high demand across the military, and then general consumers. Because this was before the age of today's advanced technology, these watches were painted by the hands of the very women whose stories are now a part of the US legal history that Sophia discusses in this episode.

In this episode, Sophia gives Kate a break from the dark and disturbing topics and chooses something different - something lighter, more fun, and more fashionable. Sophia talks about the fashion retail brand that became a household name, beloved by tweens everywhere, and how the family credited with its success also became the cause of its downfall.

In this episode, Kate asks Sophia a question that she has never really known the answer to - "How do banks fail?". Tune into the episode to see if Sophia answers correctly. Maybe she knows a thing or two about finance... And how about you, our listeners? Do you think you could venture a guess?

Sophia transports Kate to a story set in 70s, where an idyllic small town in Idaho is home to the Broberg family. That is, until the fateful day that changed the course of all their lives and began a heavily disturbing and hard to believe nightmare that lasted for years. The FBI gets involved, aliens, a Catholic school...how are all these things tied together? Join Kate and Sophia down this rabbit hole that becomes more and more unsettling the more you learn.

Kate likes nothing more than a salacious celebrity scandal followed by some piping hot tea, and the Lily Allen's latest album West End Girl provides nothing short of exactly that. Listen as Kate fills Sophia in on what led to Lily Allen and David Harbour's drama that fueled what Kate thinks is (arguably) the breakup album of the year.