Onscreen Offscreen
Josh Dietrich and Konlin Gappmayer discuss their media consumption, new and old. They discuss the good, the bad, and the impact it has on their lives
Onscreen Offscreen
Week 22: Episode 1
Week 22: Episode 1
Reacher season 3. Invincible, Primal Hunter Book 2, Venom Last Dance
Hello and welcome. This is on screen, off screen. Let's go ahead and get started with you Con and I think you have a few more topics than me this week. What.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:All right, uh, bounce through two of'em first. Well, first one is reacher. Um, the season is just better than season two. You should watch it. It's good season. This episode, you get introduced to a young cadet. Who is very, very bright and gets assigned to reach her to undercover, to figure out some undercover stuff that's going on with a lot of money and a lot of corruption, and the cadet discovers a lot of the corruption, digs it out, figures out ways for them to dig out more. She's kind of the head person on this and at the end of the episode. find out that the cadet has been found by the, by our main bad guy and has been killed and killed like viciously. Absolutely disgusting, bad, and it makes you really hate this bad guy and makes you understand why he's going to such lengths complete the mission that he's on for season three. It makes you empathize with reacher. In a very good way. It's good writing and it's, it's a good way of developing a villain too. Um, I think this season is a massive step up from season two and definitely worth giving a shot, man.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:So have they developed the villain so that you understand what their motivations are?
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:I, yes, I think they could do a little bit more for that, but this episode does do that.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Okay. Has season three been more of a direct approach from the books, or is it still along the terms of season two?
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:no, it feels more like season one. It has more of a season one feeling
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Okay, so let me clarify that a little bit. So in the Jack Reacher novels, each book is basically standalone and it doesn't really build off of any previous story.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:I
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Basically, Jack Reacher comes into X place. He's unknown. He has his history. That's pretty well established between the books, but there's no real direct correlation between the two books.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:So
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:But in.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:been, oh, sorry. Go ahead.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I was just gonna say, but in from season one to season two, it was more of a direct correlation. They basically directly said Jack Richer went from This location to this location and was known, so that's why it didn't really feel like the books.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:This one feels more separate. Uh, it has one scene with the girl that's in season one and season two. The, uh, person that worked with with him on that task force. I can't remember her name. She's in it for 30 seconds maybe. Other than that, everybody's completely separate in this, in this book, and the only major connection is the, the squad that they all worked on that season two on a lot. This episode, they go back to that time where they're at that squad and they're doing a separate mission, and this cadet that dies is included in that mission. That's about it. It's very, very loosely connected
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Okay,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:overall.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:good. I think that's the right choice.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:I think so too. He's the type of character that that works well for,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:I think. And it makes every season feel a little bit more fresh like he can invest to it. Um. I, oh, it's good. It's good. And then the other show that I was gonna talk about with my double is Invincible, and have you seen this episode?
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I have, I still have the last three episodes.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Okay. This episode is really, really good. To me, it feel like, it felt like filler a little bit. It's more the villain, villain of the week. It felt more, uh, old Justice League or Old Batman, where you're dealing with that one episode with the villain. That's of that episode. But the villain this time Mark gets in the fight with his dad in season one, the villain's, uh, sister and her child die in the collision, die while they're fighting, and he gets angrier and angrier and angrier, and he is asking why does Invincible get to live? Why does Invincible stay outta prison? Why does Invincible get all of this? When my sister is dead? And so his wife, who also loved his sister, works at works for the federal government and they're working on ways to be able to fight mites. steal some of this equipment and they hook it up to our main villain. The villain gets electro type powers and uh, becomes kind of an electro pseudo villain who has this. He doesn't wanna hurt anybody. He doesn't wanna cause any kind of damage. He just wants invincible to answer for his crimes. He has this unique ability where if he gets hit, it actually like charges his batteries, which was kind of cool. I really, I liked that aspect of the villain. So they, they play with that in, in really interesting ways, including invincible hitting him. And that charges him again and again and again. And the ending of the episode is a chance for this villain to forgive invincible who is plating. Like, please, please let us go. Uh, is he's got his wife and child there to trick, invincible to show up, and he is like, stop this. We don't need this to happen. Stop this. And the villain just keeps going. There's consequences to that choice. Invincible is dealing with this problem of, well, I did kill wife and daughter, kind of. was fighting to protect the world from my dad, but I ran through the building. I smashed them. Isn't that part of my problem? Um. He's dealing with the fact that if this guy kills anybody, is this on me too? I'm the one who drove him to this madness and I honestly don't think anything this villain does is Invincibles problem. I don't think joker killing people is Batman's problem. I think that's on Joker. I think this electro type character is responsible for any killings that he does, including a really. Big killing at the end of the episode that I don't really wanna spoil. I, I think this season is fantastic and I thought this episode for being a filler episode was an utterly great filler episode.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Well, good. Well, I wanna talk about that a little bit.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:where, where does the level of responsibility lie for invincible?
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Um. I've wondered that. I don't know
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:because, there is an argument to made. He wouldn't have done that unless Invincible did that. Right?
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:yeah, no,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:So what level of responsibility? You said you don't think it's his, so probably less than 50% responsible. But more than 0% responsible. Right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:it is more than 0% responsible because you were in part of the actions I. I don't know. It's a weight that I don't think invincible should even have to worry about carrying. He should do the best he can to
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:What about you and ah, and everyday life though? What about us as regular people? Right. Because that's a very common thing, right? Like I did something that hurt so-and-so's feelings. They did something in retaliation, or because their feelings were hurt. Because of that. my responsibility to what they did is not zero. It's also not 100, right? So where's, where's the responsibility? Lie there I.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:I think it's doing the best that you can. Um, when I was in high school, I was kind of a player and I didn't treat girls very good I. Some of those girls have withdrawn from other guys because I was not a good guy, and that's hurt the guys along the road. And I've dealt with this inner guilt for a long time. all the damage that I did that I really can't undo, I, I, I don't have any way to undo it, but I can that I'm sorry. I can change. I can be somebody different. I can move forward. Carrying that weight and keeping going with that weight doesn't help anybody. So you learn from the lessons. You try to be better and as long as you're actually doing different actions, I think that's all the responsibility that you can take as an individual. I don't think you can do anything more.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Okay.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:think invincible. Is doing what he can. And one of the interesting aspects of this episode is the brother is asking Will, will, will they ever forgive dad? Will they ever see him as a good guy? I can remember all of these things and he loved my mom. And my mom was awesome. So he must not be completely bad. Right? And Invincible is having to deal with this fact of dad who. He sees in two different lights and doesn't know which flight is the correct light. And wants his dad to be what he remembers as a kid. But he also has this memory of his dad holding his face while he is going through a train. And how do you, do you deal with the dichotomy of those two different situations? And I, I think carrying any extra. when you are doing everything you possibly can just weighs you down and keeps you from being the best person you can be.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:That's fair. That's understandable. Um.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:And what do you
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I side,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:curious about your answer of that.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I side more on the, uh, you bear responsibility for what you did to them and the way that it made them feel. Uh, so an invincible situation. He, he absolutely bears full responsibility for the fact that he killed somebody and that it hurts somebody else. Um. He bears no responsibility for how someone reacted to that. Right. So going back to, I don't even remember what it's from, but, uh, some inspirational talk or whatever, right? Talking about the difference between heroes and villains is what they do with the hard times that. came before them. Because very often there's a, there's a dichotomy between. The, the superheroes path and the villains path, and very often the same thing happened to each of them.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Mm-hmm.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:The only difference is what they decided to do with that pain versus taking it out on others. So, uh, That's where I draw the line is like invincible bears responsibility. That why he did hurt somebody, But he doesn't bear responsibility for what that person does with that pain. Because what they do with their feelings, like feelings can be very reactionary, very like can't really control how you feel sometimes,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:That's true.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:right? So what you do affects somebody else. And I don't know if it hurts somebody else's feelings. You, you're responsible that you hurt somebody else's feelings, but how they handled their feelings and what they.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:you apologize? Does that mean
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Accountability.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:what, what does that, what does being responsible mean? Because, for example, like, uh, invincible. goes and decides to smash somebody's head or he's fighting somebody and somebody's head just happens to get smashed. Both instances, he killed somebody. But there's a different level of responsibility in
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Yeah. absolutely. Like intentionally killing somebody is murder. Unintentionally is called involuntary manslaughter for a reason. There's a Different level of responsibility there. There's a different level of accountability there, but there's still accountability and there's still responsibility either way. Right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:So, so do you think that in this theoretical situation, does invincible, should Invincibles serve jail time? Because he did all this, I mean, he was serving the greater good. He was stopping the world from literally ceasing to be and becoming a slave state, but. Like what did he not pay enough of a consequence? Like what do you think?
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I mean, that's a hard, hard thing to do. Uh, you know, when you're talking about the creator, good or in service, right? The, so soldiers, United States soldiers, they go out there and they kill people, and they fight, and sometimes they make the wrong decision and they kill the wrong person.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:And that's a very serious thing. Do I think that they deserve to go to jail because of the circumstance that they're in, the situation that they're in? No. Uh, but their responsibility does belong to them. They, they absolutely took a life.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Let,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:They do. They should try and learn from the mistake. Take accountability for it. Try and learn from it.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Let's connect this to a different show. Um, the other one that I've been watching, the, uh, this is Us where the brother kills that little kid. Should you think he should have gone to jail for that?
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I don't remember honestly, like I don't, remember him killing a little kid.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:there's the grenade that gets pulled on the boat and the little kid gets blown up. Do you
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Oh, yes.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Complete accident, 100% accident.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Yep.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:But he is also stupid to bring grenades out with a little
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Mm-hmm. Yep. He should be charged for involuntary manslaughter.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Right? Don't do stupid things in stupid places with stupid people. Kids are stupid. Grenades are a stupid thing.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:He's combining two of the mantras of. Being safe, right? Like I understand he's somebody who's dealing with PTSD and has a lot going on in their lives, but Right. His circumstance is safe in that situation. He's not. in a war zone. So
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:not.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:if I took my nieces and nephews out with dynamite to do dynamite fishing and. Would blow up and I kill, like should I be charged for involuntary manslaughter? Absolutely. Yes. Right. So yeah, like he, he is responsible for that entire scenario. He, he bears responsibility for it.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Do I think it should be, he should be charged with murder and go away for life? No. Involuntary. Absolutely.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Yeah. Uh, it brings up interesting questions with military and with superheroes in general on just. Because, especially where it's someone who's needed invincible at this point in the story, is basically their only protection against outside force that would absolutely destroy them. And they couldn't touch them. They couldn't do anything about about it at all. So
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:But like,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:invincible, he becomes untouchable, and
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:could he have done something better? Could he have avoided taking that life?
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Um, not in this case, I don't think so. It's,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I think so.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:a building and he's fighting the dad, and at that point he is just not as strong as the dad and he is doing everything he can to hold on. He, he, he just gets directed where he, where the dad directs him to go. And that could say, is it the dad's responsibility or is it really his, because the dad throws him through a building.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:The dad's responsibility, not Invincibles.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:I mean, they crash and they, because with their colliding, they collide through a building is more what it is. But they're, they're both going through this building.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Okay. So could have invincible taken the fight somewhere else
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Um,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:or was he overcome with emotion?
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:of season
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:He
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:literally just trying to survive. So I don't really think so I.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I. think he could have, he can fly, he can go up into space and in That situation, at the end of season one, he is being chased, which means he could have just gone to space.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:it could have just gone up higher.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:possible.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:He could have drawn the fight to somewhere else, but he was emotional and engaged, so he owns responsibility for the carnage that happened. Now when the dad finally beats him and he's forcing the his son's head through the train. right, he can't do anything at that point, he is utterly defeated and is in no longer any control, right? He doesn't respond. He don't, doesn't bear any responsibility for those actions because he is, he's not in control. It was forced on him. That's how I, view it. At least
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:I don't know if he could have gotten away. I think he was so outmatched that he was, he just had to react and that that's all he could do is react. But
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:got in the way. No, but moved the fight somewhere more safe like outer space. Right. His dad can fly faster than him. I'm not saying he could have avoided this by
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:bigger in everything
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:bigger, more experienced, all of the things. Yes. absolutely. But do I think he could have flown up instead of into his dad? Yeah. But.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:That's got some possibility to it. It's got some possibility to it. Anyway, those were two episodes this week. What is your first topic, man?
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:All right, so the first thing I wanna talk about, we got a couple of comments on videos last week.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Sweet.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:the first one is for you, it is from Lauren. What do you have against cows? Conlin law Country people are good people. equals bless their heart.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Country people are good people. They are absolutely. They also, they live smaller and they 100% do the, like. Pe nerd nerds have this thing where they attack jocks, because they. Outcast. The nerds cowboys do the exact same thing, and they're so damn proud of the fact that they have cows and goats and chickens and that they drive a tractor and have a gun, and they grow up to be wonderful, wonderful people who work extremely hard day in and day out. If. A lot of the people that I knew from the country, if they would put their work ethic into a boat like tech or something that paid them more money, they would all be multi, multi, multi multimillionaires because they work so freaking hard and they get more humble. But when they are younger, they're arrogant as all hell. So damned arrogant, and they do do the outcasting thing. Um, I, so I played football when I was younger. I swam, I did all of that. So I've kind of, the athletic jock thing, I did some of the nerdy stuff, so I kind of, the nerdy stuff, I did some of the cowboy stuff, but, so I kind of, the cowboy stuff, but I was never one. Group. so I saw how people who weren't part of that one group were ostracized. And I see that a lot with farm farmer, country style people. Along with that, you have just some obsessions that I, I don't really love obsessions. I, I've never loved obsessions and. Cowgirl are absolutely freaking obsessed with horses. All they talk about all the damn time is horses constantly. Um, that's not like you love horses, that's fine. It's just, don't wanna talk about horses all the time. So it's there, there's a lot of, there's a lot of good with people in the country, especially as they get older and they're a little bit more humble, a little bit more kind. when they're younger, there's a lot, a lot of arrogance, unfortunately.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:All right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Hmm.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Our next comment is from at Angel Turtle saying Disney should really consider hiring. Josh would love to see if he can really bring hope back to Star Wars. And I just gotta say I agree.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Absolutely bring hope. Back to Star Wars Josh. 100%.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I agree. I think I could too. I think I'm The only one who can. at this point,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:The only one who can.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:only one who can.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:is bullshit.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I am the Jesus for Star Wars. Don't take this from me.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:the Jesus for Star Wars. There are multiple Jesuses. That could be Jesus' for Star Wars. You could do it though, man, but there are other people that could do it too. For sure.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I'm sure. there are. I just haven't met any of them.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:None of them.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:No.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:You haven't met another person. Not one other person you think could actually do it.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:No.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Man, I was just talking about arrogance. Slick. Look at this guy. Come on. I'm the Jesus of Star Wars. Come on.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Hey, give me the job and I'll prove it.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Okay, let's do it. We'll put Hey, everybody sign a petition. We're gonna put a petition out, replace Kathleen Kennedy and hire Josh
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:him 60,000 instead of 25 million a year.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:It's a pretty good deal for both sides. Gotta say,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:yeah. Alright, what we got next?
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:okay. My first drill topic is Promo Hunter Book two.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Wait.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:We have come to the end of the tutorial.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Heck yeah, we have.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:This book sucks in comparison to the first one.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Oh, that's so sad. Why do you say that?
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:It is so boring.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:What are you talking
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Like genuinely is so boring.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:What? Why do you say that? That is
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:'cause it is it is. There's nobody else in the tutorial for him to deal with or worry about. Nothing else going on. it's just him and William. They go along doing their own thing and he is hunting a bore again, like he did when, when he first got into the tutorial. And then he, he beats the first boss of the three he has to do to fight the king. And the king is unnamed, unknown, all of the things.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:he is just a name.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Mm-hmm.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:And then it comes across William, and you think, okay, the author has been doing such a good job with the fights throughout this series so far. Book one. The fights are great. Here we go. We're, oh, it's over. It just stabs in the heart. One quick move. It's over.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:He just blows him apart and it's awesome.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:It's not awesome. Okay. There's a big difference between. Uh, Kenobi versus mall in the desert. During rebels Quick fight. And then there's this boring encounter where the one guy is just overcome with emotion because back to our conversation before, does he bear responsibility for not sticking around versus sociopathic crazy guy.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Mm-hmm.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:With super cool powers. You have the mixings for such a great fight, and you have one guy walking up to the fight, completely arrogant, gets blown out of the water, stabbed in the heart once and dead, and then punched in the face a bunch of times. Boring, anti-climatic, boring. And then what does our character do? He goes off and he starts hunting animals again.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:I know that it's Anticlimatic, but I didn't have a problem with that. He had powered up so much and the, what he does with the William character'cause spoilers, but William gets resurrected.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:We already know.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:okay. Okay. I couldn't
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:We immediately go into that and the lizard, God says, you owe me to the God of William because he takes William.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Yeah. And that comes back into play much later on in the books.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:You could have still had a good fight, though,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:awesome.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:could have still had a good fight And had that same thing happen.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:use it as kind of A-P-T-S-D moment for William. That leads to very interesting character development, like really, really good. I.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:You could have still had a good fight and had all of the same things happen.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:it is awesome.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Could I had a good fight. And anyway, so then he goes off and he fights a deer
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:and then he fights. I don't even remember what the third is.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:The deer fight is really cool. I love the deer fight
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I was so bored.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:really.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Yeah. I just we're beyond this point in this story. He is already progressed beyond just some animals. Uh, and then he fights the king and he does the thing that I hate in this kind of stuff. So you have sort, let's take a, a step away and go to anime sort online. I love Sword Online. I fully acknowledge that it's cheesy as crap and it's terribly wr, but sword online. He's in this dungeon. If he dies in the game, he dies in real life, he is leveling up. He is solo leveling, he is doing all these things, and then all of a sudden there's the boss fight. Big problem I have that the boss fight even happens where It does in season one, but it happens.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Yep.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:through his willpower, he denies the stats of the game on his health points going to zero. Like the computer would care what his will want, that he wants to live. What about all those other people who wanted to live and died anyway, so I hate that. And they did that here. They did that exact same thing here, where for no logical reason in a system that's ran by bits, so ones and zeros that say he's dead. He just says no and lives anyway. I'm better yet fights back and kills the king. Stupid, stupid, stupid writing.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:So I. Kind of agree. They do give more and more information about his bloodline. And his bloodline is a little bit of a McGuffin bullshit type of a thing. It is. you learn more about it and the bloodline aspect develops as it goes along. when I first read that, I was. Okay with the way it ended, because we knew his bloodline's really strong. It works with this idea of being a, a primal hunter. He lets go of something in himself to become more of an animalistic nature, which they're developing as it goes along, and it's an interesting development, I did still have kind of a eh issue with it. There's another fight that's later in the series where I think they honestly take it too far. I didn't have that problem with the king. There's another one where it's kind of like. That's, that's pretty freaking overpowered.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:But they already went too far with the king.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:What?
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:They already took it too far with the king,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:right? The author established, he's out of manna. His manna reads zero. Out of 10,000, his stamina is zero out of 10,000, and his health points are zero out of 10,000,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:And he wills himself to live.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:and he wills himself to live. Right? Like I understand that in this universe that there's some conversion that can happen between the one and the other.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Yeah,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:we're establishing that there's a light even after death, right? Jacob can sense a light even after death. I understand that that can happen, but he's 0, 0, 0. So there's no converting anything to anything. he just like uses the man around him to tie himself together to hold him into one piece so that he can survive. No, you're dead, dude. You are dead and nobody's around to resurrect you. You died. Game over.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:So you would've liked it if there was, if it was like, I'm low in hell stamina and all of that, and then he ties into his bloodline and that connects him to the energy that's around him.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Yeah, absolutely
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:the second one, he also ties into the energy around him and the abilities that are, are very, very interesting and in, and it adds to your knowledge of his bloodline in a very interesting way, but it's also insanely powerful.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:but then he is not completely at zero. Okay. Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:because that is my problem. That's my problem with sort online, is that he will, like, it shows his health points trying to hit zero, but it won't hit zero. Right? That's against the rules of the universe that they've established. Right?
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:And it breaks the
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:it breaks the canon it breaks the rules that they're, that they've established that everybody has to live by.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:but part of the bloodline, I don't know if you know this yet, but bloodlines are. that's outside of the system, so it actually breaks system metrics. And
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Yeah,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:other, bloodlines in the series that
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:yeah,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:normal system
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:abilities
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:like there's a difference between breaking the system and the way it normally functions and outright disobeying the rules of the world. Right. Zero health points is zero health points. That would be like me as a magic caster, right? And I use up all my managing magic fighting conlin because he's such a good kickboxer in MMA, it takes all of my, I keep using shield like, like I, I use up all my magic and then you come to punch me in the face and I somehow will myself to create another shield to survive myself. You'd be like, that's stupid, that
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:It's
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:you don't have the resource. to do that. That's stupid, right?
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:it? It says he goes completely to zero. I honestly can't remember.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Okay. That's too bad.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Yeah. So it goes completely to zero. With all of his stats, it specifically calls each of them out as a zero. There's no vague, like, oh, well maybe he had some man left and he was converting It or, which I still wouldn't love if you had to like give an excuse in your own head as to why this makes sense, but like there's no vague, like his bloodline is causing a conversion of some kind.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:It just
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:just he's at zero. It doesn't work. He should be dead. But he just wills himself not to die and kills the king.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Did you like the fight up to that point?
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:It was the most interesting part about Book two
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I I loved, loved the king's backstory. I.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Very cool.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:It was very cool. It was nice to get a little touch of like who this character is. That isn't gonna matter supposedly,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:He
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:probably won't matter, but
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:He does lot actually,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:okay.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:but. and that's an interesting, I do have some interesting stuff with that too. What you're saying is fair. It's fair. was not as byed by it as you are, but what you're saying I can see what you're, see where you're coming from. It's fair.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I am, I would assume
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:of the book I really, really liked and I think the fight with the deer is freaking awesome,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:it's not.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:sure.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I would be more Okay, with it if I was more interested in the rest of the book,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Okay,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:but I was bored and then I got irritated at the choice
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:at the end,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I Right. so
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:board, board, and it leads up to something that is utterly disappointing to you.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Yeah. Right. And I haven't finished book two. Um, right now they're introducing the rest of the what's going on. Right. You. just finished the tutorial. We've introduced ourselves to a number of new characters and I am getting very excited about these characters to be clear. So this whole book is not a waste, the series is not a waste. I'm just saying book one, despite its flaws, got me highly interested and I was super motivated based on character choices and, and everything that was going on.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Mm-hmm.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:And book two, I just, I don't care so far, like
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Too bad man,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:there is no much character choice. It's, oh look, he just spent two weeks training with Lizard Man. By the way, I don't even get to know what he and Lizard man, talked about because the quote from the book is we talked about what's what's to come. Great. So in this book where you've established, I'm following just your point of view, I don't get your point of view. All of the sudden I.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:And you want the point of view.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I wanted the point of view. I, I've been dying to know what the freak this is, right? Is it like, is it a TV show like Dungeon Crawler, Carl? Is it like, why does this exist? Why is it happening? What's the motivation for it to be happening? Is there gonna be like a chat mechanic? Is there gonna, you know, like. What is this Lord thing that he has now? What are the responsibilities that come with that? Our character knows, we dunno.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Uh, the Lord thing. I don't think he knows yet, but he,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Probably not the Lord thing, but like There's a lot of stuff that they obviously talked about
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:you don't know how
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:that I didn't get to be a part of.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:that.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I don't know why.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:a thing that happens later on, but I can see where you're coming from,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Yeah. So like, it's a, it's not a terrible book. I, I, I, I know I'm pretty negative.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:utterly disappointing compared to Book one.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Book one was just fantastic and I was highly, highly motivated. Like, I went through Book one.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Mm-hmm.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:a couple of days and I was so excited to talk about it.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Yeah,
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I've been listening to book two since, and still haven't finished it.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:that's
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I've, I have three quarters of the way through it.'cause I'm just. I'm enjoying it. It's good, right? The, the deer fight really isn't that terrible. It just feels like we've moved beyond fighting regular animals, right? Like, it's not like he's fighting some demon or some like monster. He's fighting a deer and yeah, it's a white deer and his antlers glow, But so what?
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Moon Magic, and he literally poisons the moon. It's so badass. It's so good. It's so good.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Uh, No, he poisons the wa the, water for the badgers, not the deer.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:No, he poisons the, there's the five pools and there he is. The moonlight is connecting to the five pools and he poisons one of the pools to poison the moon. Yeah, it's badass. It's awesome.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Yeah, sure. Anyway, um,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:I thought was kind of the weakest. Main fight of that book for me, the badgers was kind of like whatever. the deer one was my favorite. I love the deer fight. I love the deer fight. It was sweet.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:so did the king. I don't what else to do yet. It's.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:That's fair, man. I hope you like it. Continuing going forward. There are other times where he fights animals. I like the fights. I think they're great. There's one where he fights a termite king that's freaking sweet. But I don't, I hope you like it. It might not be for you, and that's okay, but I, I hope you get to like it more. I really do.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Well, it's, I want them to be moving forward and I want more going on, and I don't wanna spend six chapters. On him studying alchemy and how he's put into a vat of poisons and how he fights to open his mouth so he can take on more. that could be a sentence. It did not need to be six chapters.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:I thought it was so cool. I was like, I love this character development. I love the, uh, ability development that's going on right now. like that everything is survival and a fight against the world that's around you. And even in Nevada Poison, I will continue to fight. I thought it was badass and awesome.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:I hope it gets back to where Book one was. That's what I gotta say. I hope. it gets back
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:I hope so. For you too. I do. I'm I.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:and I.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:what you think going forward, because
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Because you're getting multiple perspectives now and they're, out of the tutorial,
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:you'll get more perspectives, you'll get more going on in the world. Like it expands the world a lot. I, I hope, I hope you like it. Um, I will re-listen to book three with you and we can talk about it next week if you can. Do you think you can do that?
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Mm-hmm.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Cool. Let's do that. Sweet. All right, let's do my next one. Got Venom, the last dance. should have been a limited series. This was way too fast. Um, I like the first Venom movie. I think it's a highly enjoyable movie. The second movie, I like parts of it, but it's not a very good movie. But there are parts that I like. This one is better than number two. But still not great. of the problem is he ends up in this alternate universe then everything just kind of goes really, really quick.'cause it goes really, really quick. And all of a suddenly there's these venom hunters are hunting venom down because he has some bullshit key that unlocks a God that's been locked away for some reason. And. S so you, you establish that he has this bullshit key that we've never heard about before there's these hunters that we've never heard about before. Um, and it's all of a suddenly just like, boom, this is all together where there's no real buildup. One of the bene one of the good things about venom. As the movie series is the connection between Venom and Eddie Brock, they do a good job of having a dichotomy between the two and having them like riff on each other. they do a good job on this one too, mostly, but there's times where it feels a little bit, um, shoehorned, I think that's because. They had to go so quickly. So they're just like, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke. Next event, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke. Next event, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke. You get what I mean. Um, and they could have given it a little bit more time to breathe. And then the jokes would've landed better. Instead of just being like, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. They have a family that's going to, to find out if there's aliens or not, which is. probably my favorite part of the entire movie. The fa the Family is funny and they give you some kind of empathy for this story. Um, the, the family ends up going to area 51 and that's where everything goes down. That's where venom's at, all of that. So you have some connection there. You want the family to be protected, so it, it gives the hero a good. Message to get behind. But in the meantime, venom is doing all this stupid stuff. the venom hunters can only find Veno venom when he is in his full, full costume. of a sudden then it turns into like Lord of the Rings, the ring is on and everybody can find Frodo like, uh, that doesn't really make sense, but that's the rules. There is a scene that is insanely stupid Venom Eddie Brock runs into an old friend and Venom decides to take over and dance to Abba for some reason. And the, uh, venom hunters find venom because he is dancing to Abba and is insanely stupid. I don't know why he would do that. You're trying to be down low, but all of a sudden it is absolutely worth becoming, found out so that you can dance in a mansion, suite, It felt like they did that because they needed the, I. venom hunters to find venom to get him to the to area 51 where he could protect the family. And when he protects the family more and more, these venom hunters show up. And if venom is dead, then the hunters can't get this key and they can't unlock the God. So venom drags all of the venom hunters into a chemical weapon that kills them all. Venom is dead. Eddie Brock is free of venom. That's your end of your trilogy. There's good stuff along the way, but that's just not a great story and it is rushed way too quickly and it leaves you with kind of an unsatisfied, ugh, taste that I honestly was hoping for more.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:So let's, let's start with giving your rating. So what would you rate the first movie, one to 10?
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:7.4.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:The second one
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:uh, 4.86.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Okay, so still better than mediocre.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Yeah. Better than mediocre. I.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Rotten Tomatoes has it at a 40% Prime, has it as a six outta 10. IMDB has it as a six outta 10. So it sounds like you're right on with critics
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Yeah, it's a six on IMDB. That's
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:off
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:would put it.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:audience.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Carnage they have at a 5.9. It's worse than that, the first venom is a 6.6 on I. MDB, I think that should be a little bit higher.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Audience score on brought tomatoes is 80% on last dance.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Oh, really? Okay. I don't think it's that good. It just has some, it has some problems. It could have been better. one of the few movies that I genuinely think you could have added half an hour or two.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:It's only, it's less than two hours. It's only an hour 49.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:It could have been longer, and honestly, I think it would've been better if it was longer.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:So there's A lot of good ideas, though.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:a lot of good ideas, a lot of good possibilities. They just needed an edit or they needed more time. I generally think there's enough here that they could have done a full limited series, like five episodes, but yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:Okay.
konlin-gappmayer_1_03-05-2025_172103:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_03-05-2025_142106:With that, let's go ahead and wrap up our first episode this week. Thank you everybody for watching your listening. Like, comment, subscribe, let us know if we're right or wrong, what we could be doing better, any of the above. Um, Thanks. again. Bye.
