Weird media nik. Mister Walters, is she that guy with it now?
He's an actor at the phone name I can't driver and the only camp driver
in his place. Good evening, everyone, and welcome back tonight mister Walters
a Taxi podcast. I'm HP your co host, and with me as he
is every week, is my other co host, Father Malone. Father Malone,
how are you this evening? Oh man, I'm so looking forward to
talking about Harold and Mont too. Taxi Edition. Yes, indeed, let's
get into this. The episode that Father Malone is not so obliquely referencing is
Taxi episode fourteen, Sugar Mama. It's written by Hey, It's written by
the Pride of Henderson, Nevada, Glenn Charles and Less Charles, the Charlesys.
I love the Charles Wes. I get so excited every time I see
their name. And the script is no slouch. It is a very special
episode of Taxi and we'll talk about all the reasons why I should mention as
if it needs mentioning that it's directed by, of course, James Burrows.
Reminder, we're doing these shows in broadcast order and not in order of filming.
Also a reminder James Burrows directed all of them. If we forget to
say his name, you'll forgive us, Okay. So we start off this
episode Alex is driving his cab at night and he's reporting back into Louie on
the little radio, and Louis gives Alex a warning that it's a full moon
and every creep is going to be out tonight. Alex then tells Louis to
make sure he wears a jacket because it's cold tonight. I like that exchange
between them. I like the banter between them, and it's nice because in
any other sort of lesser sitcom, their relationship would be the powering boss who
we hear from and he's gruff and that's it. But this is a true
working relationship that they can blow off steam and joke with each other. Alex
is probably the one who's least antagonized by Louie. I think we can agree
on that. Oh, that's true. He always seems to be bemused by
Louis, like he doesn't let anything Louie is doing affect him personally. Yeah,
and Alex is the one that Louie is the most likely to As we
saw in the previous episode, full House for Christmas. Alex is the one
that Louie will often go to with his problems, because it's apparent that Louis
doesn't view Alex as a simple underlink. There's a respect there, So to
your point, I think it's they play off of that relationship really well.
Alex in his cab is hailed by an old woman who wants Alex to take
her to Chase Stadium and he says, well, there's no game tonight,
and she gives him a tart response that she didn't ask for the schedule.
And who is this woman? You ask father alone? Who is this mystery
passenger? The always phenomenal, supernaturally talented, always watchable Ruth Gordon. Most
would know her from her her turn in Rosemary's Baby. She's one of the
coven. I think everyone else and everyone should And if you haven't seen the
movie, you should be ashamed of yourself. That movie is Harold and Maud.
She's mod in that film. It is one of my absolute favorite films.
It's in my top five, top three. The success of that movie
is not one hundred percent on her. It's probably it's fifty to fifty with
her and but Court. But she is an absolute marvel to watch, and
what a treat that she shows up here. In a career that spanned seventy
years, that's seven zero seventy years, she was nominated for five Academy Awards.
She won one in nineteen sixty nine for Rosemary's Baby, which you mentioned.
She was also nominated for four Primetime Emmys, winning one in nineteen seventy
nine. Four this particular episode well deserved. And you know me, HP,
I'm not the biggest fan of the awards. Sometimes they do not reflect
the quality of a show. Not this show obviously, But yeah, Ruth
Gordon deserves all the awards anytime she shows up anywhere. As you said followed
alone, she's eminently watchable. She's always got this glint in her eye.
She makes it seem effortless. Do you know her first credited role was in
nineteen forty as Mary Todd Lincoln and Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Forty years later,
here she is on taxi, just slaying that cliche of wine getting better
with age. I think that holds true for Ruth Gordon. She was a
treasure, a true acting treasure. Now I brought up that she started in
nineteen forty four, as if that was an incredible span of time. She
actually made her debut on stage in nineteen fifteen in a production of Peter Pants.
She was one of the Lost Boys nineteen fifteen. There was no axing
when Ruth Gordon began her career in acting, and by the time she finished,
we had walked in the moon. We cut back. Now we see
Alex and this old woman we now know her name is d They're sitting outside
Shay Stadium, and after some banter back and forth between herself and Alex,
she asks Alex to take her to LaGuardia Airport. She wants them to park
at the end of a runway so they can see the planes coming in for
a landing right at them, and she describes what it's like when the airplane
comes in and you can hear that the landing gear come down again we just
talked about. This is a woman who's what in her eighties at this point.
She talks with such glee and such excitement. She wins over Alex,
she wins over the audience for that matter. She's like the grandmother that we
all wish we had, the eccentric, crazy grandmother with the glint in her
rock. She's so warm and funny. Yeah, she's got exuberance. Ruth
Gordon just exudes a genuine lust for life. As cliche as that phrase might
sound, it fairly sparkles off of her. I do have a quick question,
which is her first exchange with riegor is the I didn't ask for the
schedule, Sonny, just take me to the take me to the ballpark.
In order to deliver that line, she slides the plexiglass divider to the side
and leans in and says it. And I wondered, what is the goddamn
purpose of the plexiglass divider if your potential perpetrator can just slide it open and
stick a gun in your face. That did seem rather concerning because she's over
eighty years old at this point and she just swipes the thing across like it's
nothing. When Burns was in the backseat, it fell on Alex. Maybe
maybe Burns has been loosening up the screws on all of the plexiglass dividers while
no one is looking. Part of his master plan. Who knows, But
that did seem odd that she just rolled it aside like nothing. And while
they're at Chase Stadium. Did you notice this? This felt odd to me.
The shot of Sae Stadium looked a lot to me like they took a
photograph of Schae Stadium during the day and then painted it into nighttime. Do
you get that feeling? I didn't. I'm going to have to go back
and rewatch it. Do you think it was like a matte painting. I'm
not saying that they brought in, you know, Douglas Slowcombe to paint on
glass for this one quick shot of Shaye Stadium in this episode of Taxi,
but I'm saying it felt like a little unusual. When she asks Alex to
drive her to the airport, he starts to think that maybe this full moon
business is true. But they go to the runway anyway. And here's another
special shout out the process shot of them inside the cab because now out the
back window of the cab you can see the landing lights as if they're on
the runway at LaGuardia, which I thought was beautiful. The poor man's process
is on point in this episode. It's out of hand, out of control
and super fantastic. We'll get back to it because it's gonna come up again
later. But HB, have you ever done this? Oh, gone to
an airport? Yeah, parked your car at the edge of a runway to
watch planes either take off over you or land near you. I've never done
it. I remember in college they did something similar in the movie Wayne's World,
and there was some discussion about us all piling into a car and trying
it, but we never did it. Have you tried it? Oh,
of course yes, in several airports. Was it every bit the thrilling experience
that D thinks it is? Nah, I can take it or leave it.
You probably couldn't do that these days post nine to eleven have a car
out on the runway like that? Well, I will say that here in
Las Vegas there is a car port like park where you can sort of pull
over and not have planes land and take off over you, but you can
watch them take off inland. Got a nice actually be kind of cool.
No, it makes me wish I did try that when I was younger.
D is shouting with absolute glee at the plane that just flew overhead. Alex,
I think is starting to warm up to D and her zest for life.
And to your point, Father Malone, it's hard in the midst of
all of this. This isn't a knock against Ruth Gordon or anything, but
it's hard not to see this a little bit as Harold and Maud Part two.
As you allude it earlier in this program. This character is very close
to the character she played in that movie. Well, I mean yes,
and then it's Ruth Gordon, and she's an older woman teaching a younger man
how to live better. But they're not in any way the same really as
far as background and point of view. But and here's the thing, like,
I don't know that I would be making a Harold and mod comparison if
it hadn't been Ruth Gordon. And I do like this script. I don't
think the script resembles Harold and Maud in anyway other than Ruth Gordon brings that
to it. She then starts to tell Alex a little bit about her background.
She was the clerk at the candy counter at Woolworth's for over thirty five
years. At that point, Dee says, hey, they should drive past
her old storm. Alex asks, wasn't on the way, and she says,
well, everything's on the way. This is just like a flight of
fancy for her. She's just stream of consciousness deciding I want to go here,
I want to go there, and she's taking Alex on this kind of
adventure. She's hired a cab driver as a limousine driver for the evening effect.
Yeah exactly. Alex eventually has to drive her home. It's late,
and she says she had a very nice time, and Alex agrees that he
did too, despite kind of the craziness of it all, he had a
really nice time. He asks Alex to come pick her up around six pm
the following night, but he has to explain to her that he gets in
around five point thirty and never knows really how long he'll have to wait for
the day drivers to roll in. Let's remember that he is a night shift
cavvy. I think, as you pointed out the very first episode of Night
mister Walters, the day shift ends around five thirty, right, or that's
when the night shift begins. No, night shift begins at three pm?
Three pm? Then why does he say five point thirty? I have no
idea what the sign on the wall says three? Oh okay, my mistake.
That's just maybe poor set decoration or something. But that's what I've based
their thing on on what they told me. So then she asks how much
she owes and he reluctantly says, because the meter has been running, you
feel like he's been dreading this part. He says, well, I told
you it was going to be high. It's seventy four dollars and twenty five
cents, and she says, don't worry. I'm comfortable. In fact,
she says, quote unquote, she is filthy comfortable, which is a nice
way of saying she's rich. Alex questions how could she be rich on a
Woolworth's pension, and she laughs and says that she never got married and she
decided to focus on work. A few months before retiring, she met a
wealthy man who asked her to marry him. She accepted. Four months later
he died, and she says, there's a moral in there somewhere. She
wants to give Alex a nice tip, and she asks what the best tip
you ever got was, and he says, well, a guy gave me
twenty five dollars. Once de enthusiastically gives him exactly twenty six dollars and congratulates
him on a new record. It's funny because I think we all figured she
would give him, like, here's two hundred dollars or some ridiculously large tip.
But she only goes one dollar up, just so he can have the
record and yet still not have to give him too much money. Kind of
cenzy. I would have given him one hundred dollars big tip for though,
twenty five dollars and seventy eight's nothing to sneeze at. Nothing sneeze at now
either. Could you turn down twenty six bucks? I would, I'd say
thank you very much. Listen. I used to drive. We've never really
talked about the stage wey, but I spent some time in a parallel Cabby
lifestyle driving for ride share. Sometimes I would have people who were dripping with
wealth and would be proclaiming how wealthy they were and would tip not at all
while telling me they would so God damn it. She should have given him
a hundred dollars easily. I mean, she eventually does, obviously the episode,
but still, I mean, I get what you're saying that she's feeling
him out. Nevertheless, come on, lady, he drove you everywhere.
She's made it clear that she's got a ton of money. I mean it's
nothing to her. Dlex offers to help her out of the cab and this
is one of the many things I really love the line readings. She brusquely
replies, forget it, like you know, she's she's so feisty, it's
fantastic. Alex kind of smiles to himself and he drives off. So now
we're back at the garage and the Cabby's are all complaining about the crazies that
the full moon brings out. Alex returns and Bobby asks if he picked up
any crazies tonight, and Alex says, no, he picked up a nice
old lady who just wanted to drive around and talk. And meanwhile, Dopey
Burns lumbers over. He's eating cookies. Oh my god. In an episode
filled with bright moments, this is the darkest. He's eating cookies and exclaiming
to himself, I'm eating Apparently he picked up two quote unquote rock musicians and
claims that he's still on his contact high. Oh my god, he's not
a contact high. That. Get out of here, you dummy. Check
me on this, father Balone. I feel like they did a similar bit
with Woody on cheers. Do you remember anything about that? Hmm? It
sounds familiar and I can't remember it specifically. Nevertheless, it doesn't work here
in Taxi. It's just another example of Burns not really fitting into the whole
episode or the ensemble. Hey, who comes over to the garage? D
shows up at the garage. She proceeds to charm all of the cabbies because
they make it clear that in their conversation the previous night her and Alex,
that he's talked all about all the people at Sunshine cab She knows without anyone
saying a word, who Louie is, who Elayne is, and so on
and so forth, even Louis who gives her some lip. You can tell
that he is a little bit charmed by Di as well. Or maybe it
could be that it's Danny DeVito kind of betraying the fact that he's really enjoying
his time acting alongside Ruth Gordon. Did you notice he had kind of a
smile? Of course, how could you not like? What could be better
for an actor than doing a scene against her, particularly if it's an antagonistic
scene. Also, how stoked was Ruth Gordon to be opposite a leading man
type and tower over him. That's got to be rare. Also, what
a missed opportunity that we didn't get a buddy film starring Danny DeVito and Ruth
Gordon. It could have been spectacular. It could have been he had to
settle for Anne Ramsey and throw Mama from the train. But I think she
was a bit taller than Ruth Gordon, right, Yeah, Ruth Gordon ted
by then. Must have been, must have been. She says to Alex
that she has the perfect solution to this logistical problem of him getting a cab,
and which she does is essentially bribe Louis five dollars and Louie immediately kicks
Banta out of the cab that he just gave Banta moments earlier and installs Alex
and his fare d in this cab. So it works and they're off.
They're on another joy ride for the evening. She's riding in the front seat
of the cab with Alex, which, as we know, that's a sign
of comfort and ease with the Cabby's when they allow somebody to ride up front
with them as opposed to the back right a sign of a guest star.
In an episode you're Tom Selex, you're Ruth Gordon sees they get to ride
in the front seat along with the leads from taxi. True, unless you're
a Scoe Mitchell, a mugger in the episode that he was in eight oh
four, in which case being in the front seat is no good. Although
maybe no good for Wheeler, but good for the audience. Yeah, no,
hey, that was the best part of that. We agreed, that
was the best part of that two parter. She's charming Alex with the story
of how she met her late husband. Dee wistfully looks away and says,
yeah, I miss George's crappole. I don't know something about the way she
said it. I just I thought it was hilarious. Well, she's no
nonsense, matter of fact. And that's the thing. People like this kind
of a character because they tell it like it is. But people take the
wrong lesson from a character like that. They think that's a license to just
be an asshole. This character is not being an asshole. She's saying things
sincerely. So yes, she's talking about him and his bullshit, but she
misses him and his bullshit. It was part of him. There's a genuine
infection there for it. So they continue to have this deep conversation, and
they were talking about her adjustment to suddenly becoming rich, because remember she was
just living on a Woolworth's salary for decades, and all of a sudden,
she's very comfortable, she said, she's filthy comfortable. She says, that's
the day when I realized that being poor is best left to people with no
money. Again, you can't lose with Ruth Gordon, No you can't.
But I got to say when she says that Riager's reaction is my reaction,
he facially conveyed what I was thinking. Just fuck you, old woman,
kind of bullshit that like you were one of us. Don't be that person,
Like we're gonna let you slide because you're Ruth Garden, but fuck you.
The writing is fantastic in this episode. I mean, she's delivering it,
but the writing itself is really solid. They're giving her a lot to
work with, and it's a credit to the Charleses that this is a really
solidly written episode. Right yeah, because hey, in the previous episode,
there was no b plot, and we saw that as a sign of weakness
in that script. Is there a b plot here, No, and yet
it's more focused, it's more funny, it's more character driven, and it's
more nuanced. Way to go, Charles Brothers, Charles plus Charles equals fantastic.
I often knock an episode a yellow light or two because to me,
your mileage may vary father alone. But I think I've brought this up on
the show in the past. My favorite episodes of Tax the other ones where
the ensemble is together in one way or another and they're bouncing off of each
other and they're having the episode is dealing with them as a whole, and
everybody has a contribution to the episode. This isn't that. This is another
example, kind of similar to Blind Data in a way, where it's just
Alex acting opposite a woman and they're kind of it's like a two hander.
In this case, it really to your point, it works really really well
because you've got two of the best actors around, you've got two of the
best writers around, and you've got all wrapped into one of the greatest shows
around, and it's magic. I think they're asking a lot of the audience
when they focus solely on one character, and potentially a character we haven't seen
before. A guest character drop in as we have here. It's a lot
to ask of us to not embrace the rest of the cast for this new
plot line. So it's got to be a good story and the characters better
be great, and that's what is delivered here. They return to her apartment.
She offers him one hundred bucks as a tip. Not am easily twenty
six or twenty seven dollars? One hundred bucks O time? Yeah, so
Alex protests, and it seems like Alex is starting to feel a little bit
like a kept man. He likes spending time with her, but the fact
that there's an exchange of money is making him feel a little bit uneasy about
the situation, like a call girl or a hook or one or they out
there. She says, what's important to me is what I can buy with
my money. Nice food, nice clothes, nice people. See you tomorrow,
and she gets out, and Alex is left pensively looking at that one
hundred dollars bill. Yes, to go to commercial. What am I selling
for this hundred dollars? Must I lose my soul in the process? Can
I let John Burns win? Maybe? She goes up to her apartment to
awaiting John Burns saying you're doing wonderfully. D Ruth Gordon has a long history
with Satan. Another strand in the web that John Burns is weaving around the
cab company, we will see he's like Darryl van Horn and the Witches of
Eastwick. He's blown into town. He's going to ruin everything and he's going
to disappear just the same. That's working. All of that silliness aside.
And the fact is this scene is good, All the scenes between these two
good. But I shouldn't have been noticed this because of the firepower in the
foreground. But I mentioned the poor man's process at the top of the show,
and you did because the stuff at the airport was fantastic. Here it
goes completely bananas. Okay. Poor man's process is usually one or two grips
behind the car holding a set of headlights which are probably just floodlights to staple.
You know, it's nailed onto a two by four, and you know,
they make the car kind of stop behind them or weave in and out,
and they have other lights off camera that they're showing, like for passing
cars, for the passengers to be flooded by the lights. And stuff right,
so here all of that isn't working and it's in concert. And then
they pull over and the other cars go past them. And then if you
look in the background, there's a traffic light on some distant street behind them
that goes to yellow, and then there's cross traffic left to right behind them.
There's tiny lights moving left and right across the frame. I was like,
my god, it's like they're in the city. I didn't think you
could surpass the phenomenal work they were doing, just pretending that there were cars
behind this car that's just sitting in a studio somewhere, and then they went
ahead and did it like oh yeah, oh you wanted a runway, I
can do a runway. Wait till the next scene, and here it is,
and they delivered math. They put all that effort in so that you
forget about it and focus only on the actors and their scenes and their lines
of delivery. You know what I mean. Oh, absolutely, it's like
great editing. If you noticed it, then how great was it? Exactly?
That's exactly my point, and to that I didn't notice this stuff the
first time I watched the episode. It was on the second or maybe third
time, and then it bowled me over because it achieved what it's supposed to
achieve, which is to just make you believe that it's real back there.
And I love that there's somebody with miniature lights running side to side and this
traffic light, I don't know, it tackles me. Do the Emmys have
an award for effects or press practical effects? Because it's beautiful. They deserved
it. Well, there is a technical category, but I don't know if
there is a category and if they had won, but they should have.
I'm giving them one posthumously right now. They should have been nominated at the
very least, that's for sure. Now we get back to the garage and
the Cabby's are all chatting about how they're all looking for old women to get
a setup like Alex has with d and they're kind of they're busting his chops
a little bit. They're giving them a hard time, especially Louis, who
really ends up humiliating Alex. Yeah, but very funny. Everything he's saying
is funny. They have an interesting relationship Alex and Louis. At this point,
Alex just kind of sits back and takes it a little bit. But
you kind of get the impression that he gives as good as he gets.
The focus of the scene for me is less the actions of de Palma and
Rieger and more John Burns trying to stifle laughter to the point where he's turning
red like G's. He seems to be holding back paroxysms of laughter, and
I think that can only mean that his plan is working here. Watching another
human be humiliated in the midst of this workplace, just another dark event occurring,
and he's just smiling inside. It brings in glee, even if it's
not something of his own design, Just seeing somebody humiliated in the mid the
demon sewing discord at the garage, Louis is just joke after joke. He's
on a roll with Alex and he's just really slinging it, and at a
certain point he's laughing so hard that Louise starts to choke, like really choke.
So Alex offers Louis a drink, and Louis scarfs it down and then
immediately spits it all back up and exclaiming that's hot coffee, to which just
explodes in the same sort of forced cackling laughter that Louis was directing at him,
which is a little mean spirited if you ask me, giving him hot
coffee to save him from choking. The whole scene just leaves a bad taste
in my mouth, but clearly when you look at it as a diabolical plan
in action, the scene is great. Like watching these people who are so
kind of jovial and friendly at the beginning of the episode reduced to this just
cat calling and like physical torture. It's all come undone at the Sunshine Cab
Company, is it ironically named? Maybe the intent of the scene does kind
of come into focus a little bit better when you consider Burns and his evil
scheme, the general diabolical nature of the character. It's actually I can't believe.
I'm just noticing it now thanks to your explaining the yeah, no,
thanks to your insight into the motivations, it all makes sense to me.
Now we cut back to the cab. We're inside cab again, Alex is
taking d He's squiring her around the city again, and she offers him a
gift, which he's none too comfortable accepting. As we would, we can
already see that he's discomfited with the whole situation anyway, she charms him as
she does into accepting it. And it's a beautiful cashmere sport coat. Looks
beautiful, it looks great. Yeah, riger like rubs his face on it.
You can tell, like how soft it is. Like just imagine nice,
warm cashmere coat. I want to just sink into an aquarium, a
giant, giant aquarium size, but you know, filled with kashmere. They
arrive at their next destination, it's they wonderfully titled the Enchanted Island Ballroom,
and d asks Alex to wait a couple of hours outside, and he becomes
very apprehensive, as you would expect, like who wants to sit out?
He's not a limo driver, he's making money off of bookings. It's ridiculous.
But then so then she suggests, why don't you come inside with me
then, and Alex says he'd feel out of place, he's not really dressed
appropriately, it would just be weird, to which she says, well,
hey, nothing is dressier than a cashmere sport coat. Then he says,
well, no, I don't have a I don't have a tie or anything.
That'd be ridiculous, and she says yes. He pulls out another box
wrapped and says Merry Christmas and gives him a tie. So this was a
scheme in D's mind to get him looking nice for his date with her at
the Enchanted Island Ballroom. So we cut inside the ballroom to another wonderful set.
Yeah, it's like so they constantly have the one set, which is
the garage, and then they have some giant second other set where they turn
into everything and it always looks amazing, which is just what they do again.
Here it's tremendous. There's chandeliers, there's a mirror ball, there's a
bandstand with a full band performing, there's tables surrounding a big dance floor.
It's the works. It's as good as the reunion set that we saw back
in the high school reunion episode. It's to your point that you made in
that episode. It just feels like it goes on forever, and there's people,
like almost seems like there's people coming from room to room. It looks
very very well lived in and very well appointed, as you'd expect a place
called the Enchanted Island Ballroom to look. So they go inside once again.
Alex is immediately uncomfortable. He's wearing his sport coat, which is funny enough.
It's a little small, which they make reference to later, but I
don't know if you noticed. It actually is legitimately too small for Reager.
Oh, I noticed it right away. The cuffs are just like halfway up
as far arm. His arms look huge in this thing. Even though he's
apprehensive, D puts some at ease by starting to gossip about the various folks
that are there. It's kind of a reverse of when D visited him in
the garage, because it seems like, based on their conversations, he knows
everybody that's in this place the way she describes them, like, Oh,
there's this such and such and they've had so many facelifts. And he said,
Oh, I feel like I know all these people, So it's kind
of nice. D meets up with an elderly suitor. She meets up with
Harry Wellman I believe his name is in the episode, played by Herb Vigren,
who keen eyed and television obsessed children of the nineteen seventies should remember from
one of the absolute best episodes of The Brady Bunch first season episode when it
was weird, it was just they were all straight little fifties clones. Like
somehow in the late nineteen sixties that was fifty four to forty and fight.
Remember it's the one with they were collecting all of the stamps from the from
the grocery stars. Oh, you're right right, And then they they find
out that the trading stamps are all going to expire and they need to be
used, so they combine them all together and it's a winner lose winner,
take all things that they build a house of cards. The cards. Yeah,
boys versus girls. One of the girls is wearing a bracelet for some
damn reason with a dangly what is she doing anyway? So they win and
then they get to the store which has clearly been like raided and just bombed
all day long with people trying to use their trading stamps. The guy they
come on, lady, we're already closed. That guy that's him? Wow,
How did I miss that? Because I looked him up because he looked
very familiar and aside from he I think he appeared on the Original Superman with
George Reeves. I didn't find a lot. I guess I just didn't look
close enough at his IMDb. But that is good sleuthing there. Father Malone,
Well you know, his final role was in Amazon Women on the Moon.
Oh who did he play in? Then he was in the Reckless Youth
segment. He was just an agent in that at the Finally, I think
it was the Joe Dante directed segment with Paul Bartel. Okay, the one
about the STDs. Yeah, they get back, we don't have any sis.
That's fantastic. He's great in this too. I mean, he's not
in it for much, but it's very cute when he and and d meet
up. While she's talking with this guy, Alex goes to get punch and
who's standing there but this sort of jigglow looking younger guy named Ramone who his
shirt is legit opened like past his navel. It's he looks like Tony Manero
come to life in JAXI basically a disco freak man, white suit, black
shirt open. He's got the he's got the gold chain with the gold horn
on it. It was a it had to be a big horn because I
could make it out even in this standard deaf quality that I'm viewing it on.
It's a big horn on that chain. He and Alex get to chatting
a little bit and it becomes clear that this guy is essentially he's a boy
toy for one of the other women at this soiree. Ramone is lamenting all
the that goes into being essentially a kept man. Ramon kind of implies that
Alex is quote on the circuit, which makes Alex very defensive, because again,
through this whole episode, he's been fighting the notion that he's been bought
and paid for by Dee to do her bidding and be her puppet on a
string, if you will. It's all of his fears manifested right here.
The jiggelow in front of him with a tacky suit, and the slavish devotion
to money, and the hating his life. Like here he is. Here's
what I'm going to be. It's the last temptation of Alex Rieger. Yeah.
Initially, when he's talking to this guy, he's just humoring them and
he's having fun. He's not taking any of this seriously until, as you
said, he starts to recognize that, well, here is his nightmare manifest
right here. This is the guy. This is what he didn't want to
face up to the fact he's becoming this. Ramone d walks over to Alex
and she asks for one dance, and you know he Alex puts away this
apprehension and decides to have a dance with her, and it's a very charming
little bit of physical comedy. They have a sweet little dance. The two
of them returned to Dee's apartment and Alex walks her to her door. We
learned that Alex won the rumba contest at the at the ballroom. Kashmir coach
sure does come in handy and fit an entire trophy in one of those pockets.
But d it contends that she wanted and she was carrying Alex. I'm
guessing that's true. Probably, I think somebody with possessed for life that she
has is probably a really good dancer. Well, plus, they're at an
old folk song when they're not giving it to Reagor. Yeah, but so
they wouldn't give it to Ramon and his date. You don't think they would
give it to them, but they're not giving it to him. Good point.
At this point, Alex, he just can't go on, and he
says that they have to call this arrangement off. This has been preying on
his mind. He just wants to get it out in the open. They
can still see each other occasionally, but he just doesn't want any more business
with the money. It just makes him too uncomfortable, unexpectedly callous. However,
Dee says, well, that's goodbye. I guess Alex is incredulous,
as any of us would be, and she replies, well, it just
wouldn't be the same without the money, which again is harsh, but then
she explains a little bit her reasoning, Yeah, I was hoping it was
going to be a kink of hers, like I need to pay my friends.
It's just listen, I'm old enough in my life to know what I
like, and really it gets me off to know that as much fun as
you had today, I made it happen. Okay, are we good?
Then? That would be one thing, but it's not that it's I control
people through money. It's kind of weird, but yeah. She gives Alex
this her calculus around why money is better than friendship. That's central thesis in
her presentation here. She says that people spend their whole lives raising children that
never come to see them. If she had kids, she says, she'd
put them on her payroll, so you can bet that they'd come to see
her, and in that moment, I almost can feel some desperation behind her
wall of money and charm and zeal and all of it. She's genuinely afraid
to be alone. She has the money now, she's rich, so she
has the facility and the resources to have anyone at her back and call,
because that's what she needs. She's a lonely person and she's afraid that will
all go away she doesn't have the money. I don't know, that was
my impression. What did you think, attom alone. I think that's a
decent interpretation of it. But at the same time, you think that people
who have too much money and their complaint is always I don't know if this
person has affection for me or is just trying to get what I have.
And she's saying, I don't give a shit if I have their affection.
I just want them there and I'll pay them to do it. And that's
such a weird thing to take away from your newfound wealth. But I think
that's also much more human and relatable. And I'm not suggesting. Look,
I don't I'm not rich, and I'm not in a position where I can
treat people the way that d does. But I could see somebody who's reached
a point in their life where they don't want to deal with bullshit. They
just want people there when she wants them there, And she knows that her
money is the easiest avenue to that. It doesn't matter how charming or witty
or funny or all of that. Knows that, Hey, if I flash
some money at you, keep you on the payroll, then you'll be there
when I want you to be there, you know, no questions asked.
I think that's very human true, and it's ultimately proven right because this is
her only appearance and we never see her again. So this is a life
lesson for Alex Rieger here anyway, she still tries to give him cash and
Riager angrily refuses, and he complains that he feels used that they were friends,
but now she sees him as a piece of merchandise, and he finally
says to her, look, I don't like you anymore. It's kind of
a heavy moment in the episode. Remember when that sentiment was powerful, Like
now, even the word love has been so overused and commercialized it's basically meaningless.
People say it about their breakfast, ere I love this, or really
you're in love with that, do you feel a genuine need? You couldn't
live without it, You would rather die, You would put your life down
to preserve your cereal. But there did seem to be a time where just
the very notion of liking another person could be devastating if that were taken away
from you, And it's certainly on display here, and for a moment there,
you there's something that kind of plays across D's face where she almost appears
hurt by his words that he doesn't like her anymore, because it's clear that
de lives for people to like her and have fun in her presence. So
for a moment there, you think that it's all going to crash down for
her, But she replies, as only Ruth Gordon can a horse manure you
love me? All he can do is laugh because she's got him. Yes,
she has a messed up relationship with money and friendship, but I mean,
what are you gonna do? I mean that she's an old woman,
she doesn't have very long to live. He's not gonna change her. So
all they can do is kind of laugh and say, yeah, you're right,
I still love you. What am I going to do? She's proven
right once again. But she asks if they can still have lunch together,
and Alex insists yes, but only if I pay. She has this look
on her face like, oh, all right, and then as she's unlocking
her door, she kind of mutters, I just hope my stomach can take
those dumps that you can afford. In her eyes, Alex is a poor
person. Also. At one point she says, you know, Alex,
for a younger guy, you could be a real drip. And that seems
affectionate as well, it doesn't it. Yeah, Yeah, she's right,
Alex can be a bit of a downer sometimes. Yeah, but I think
drip isn't That's not a harsh and salt. Even under the worst of circumstances
that you're just telling someone that they're kind of stuffy. I think someone from
Ruth to Gordon's generation would disagree with you. I bet calling somebody a drip
would be akin to calling someone an asshole. You know what, You're a
real drip. HP, You're a real drip. Now go get me a
phosphate. Okay, So then an exit d and the episode is effectively over.
We're going to get to the portion of the episode where we talk about
yellow lights. What doesn't all light mean? To remind the audience, we
score on a scale of one to five yellow lights, no half lights.
It has to be on the whole. One yellow light is This is an
example of the worst Taxi has to offer. Five yellow lights. This is
the quintessential best episode that Taxi can offer, as we do every week.
I'm going to give it to you, follom alone. What do you give
this episode, sugar Mama? How many yellow lights? It can't be five.
It's not quintessential. It doesn't have enough of the rest of the cast.
I do think this is a quintessential guest spot episode of Taxi. I
think the writing is there. I think the performances are there. I think
the direction clearly is there. It can't be five. It's not perfect.
It is a four. However, this is as close as you can get
if we had maybe a B plot going on. There's no room for the
B plot. See that's the thing. But had they included a decent B
plot, it would easily be a five. I struggled with this because my
initial gut reaction was this, of course, this is a five yellow light
episode because you have Ruth Gordon in this incredible role of d She makes everything
better just being a part of it, and it's wonderfully written. There's some
great moments between her and Alex and so forth. We've talked about all of
that. But so the episode itself is absolutely charming and Gordon is incredible in
it. But I can't mark it as quintessential because for me, one of
the big criteria, which I've brought up in the past is it can only
for me. It can only be truly quintessential if it involves the larger ensemble
being involved in some way, shape or four. That to me, is
a big part of what makes it an essential Taxi episode. So I can't
give it five yellow lights, just like you, father Malone. But I
am going to give it four yellow lights. It's as close as you can
get to five yellow lights. Just didn't quite get there. There were a
few elements missing from the episode, but that's okay. This is an episode
that I would wholeheartedly encourage anyone and everyone to seek out. It's beautiful,
it's a wonderful episode. You can't go wrong with it. But if Ailires
came down and asked me what the platonic ideal of a taxi episode is this
would not be the one I would give them. We have yet to find
that episode, but I promise you we will find it sooner than we think.
It's going to be the one where John Burns finally reveals himself and Destroysunshine
Cab and disappears. I think it's the finale. It could very well be.
It'll be like kind of like a Who Shot Jr? Like what's going
to happen in the next season? Will the Cab company be burnt to the
ground? Is Burn's the key master, Tornardo's gatekeeper of Gozer? Is there
something going on here? Maybe that feeds into Ghostbusters? Who knows? Wow,
now that image is in my head. I think Marilyn Henner could have
given Sigourney we Ever a run for that role. Could be, could be
that'll do it for this particular episode of night Mister Walters, Father Malone,
when you're not clocked into the garage, where can our listeners find you?
Head over to father Malone dot com or for podcasts galore, or go to
Weirdingwaymedia dot com. You'll not only find the stuff I do, You'll find
a lot of stuff others do like the Projection Booth by Mike White, or
the Culture cast was Chris Stash or Twisted It and uncorked It's a True Crime
one. Those are all really good. As for me, check out my
show Midnight Viewing the Night Gallery podcast about Rod Serling's follow up to The Twilight
Zone Night Gallery. I am also found in many of the same places as
Father Malone as far as being part of the weirding Way network. As he
said, you can and find me on the Noise Junkies music podcast, which
I'm very proud of. I would also encourage you to seek out the Dark
Destinations podcast. It's my favorite, not just because I've been involved in some
music and some other things. I think it's a genuinely exciting listen and well
worth your time. You can also find me. I have a band camp
site, which you can find the address for in the description of this episode.
Check that out for a couple of album's worth of musical nonsense from yours
truly, Thank you again so much for listening. If I could just ask
if you've enjoyed this episode, please feel free to like us, subscribe to
the podcast, or write a review, or just us send us any messages
you'd like. We'd love to hear from you guys what you like about the
show and what you'd like to see in future episodes. That'd be fantastic,
so please feel free to contact us in the manner that you choose. From
myself HP and from Father Malone, thank you again for listening, and we'll
I'll see you next time on night, mister Walters. Good night, night,
mister Walters. HM