Speaker 1: Welcome, dear listener, and thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2: And I'm Stephen and this is a podcast all about
Speaker 2: the weird and wonderful world of the Dark comedy anthology
Speaker 2: series Inside number nine.
Speaker 1: On each episode, we'll be diving into another one of
Speaker 1: Steve Pemberton and Reese Shearsmith's twisted tales, putting it under
Speaker 1: a lens and examining it within an inch of its life.
Speaker 2: So make yourself comfortable, grab a cup of tea, and
Speaker 2: join us for the ninth degree. Hello, Hello, Hello, double L,
Speaker 2: double L.
Speaker 1: Very good.
Speaker 2: Let's see see double how long I can keep this up?
Speaker 1: You've already forgot keep so I said, you said, ce
Speaker 1: doub how long I can keep this up?
Speaker 2: Oh shit?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well so about ten seconds was.
Speaker 2: The probably guys that DOUBLET that I give it up.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's going to ge annoying if you
Speaker 1: did that, annoying double N. All right, how are you?
Speaker 2: I'm oh, okay, how are you?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Fine. I made a bit of a mistake earlier
Speaker 1: because I was just towards the end of the workday.
Speaker 1: I'm working from home at the moment, and there was
Speaker 1: a knock at the door, and it was one of
Speaker 1: those charity workers where they try and get you to donate. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know what it's like for see, you know
Speaker 1: you can't give to every charity that comes knocking at
Speaker 1: your door. Yeah, but I'm I find it very hard
Speaker 1: to say no.
Speaker 2: Same.
Speaker 1: And when it got to the point where she asked me,
Speaker 1: you know if I wanted to donate, I said, well,
Speaker 1: I don't want to commit to anything until I run
Speaker 1: it past my otherhalf, who's not back from work yet. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so she said, all right, I'll come back later.
Speaker 1: Then shehall I. She said, I can come back just
Speaker 1: before eight o'clock.
Speaker 2: And we're moving house at half seven.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, but yeah, I said, oh, okay, okay, because
Speaker 1: I didn't know how to say no. And then I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: oh shit, I'm supposed to be recording, so I'm now
Speaker 1: praying there's not going to be a knock at the
Speaker 1: door in the middle of this. But yeah, fun news
Speaker 1: as well to just point out that even though you
Speaker 1: won't be hearing this for a few weeks, we're actually
Speaker 1: recording on the day our one year anniversary of doing.
Speaker 2: The podcast Exciting Times, which is very cool, really flown by. Yeah,
Speaker 2: is it is it a year to us doing our
Speaker 2: first recording or our first episode going out, the.
Speaker 1: First one going out?
Speaker 2: Okay, I thought it was. Yeah, I clearly keep track
Speaker 2: of these things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's much easy for me to see obviously on
Speaker 1: the platform that upload the episodes on, so yeah, makes
Speaker 1: more sense.
Speaker 2: True. Yeah?
Speaker 1: AnyWho, should we reveal last week's hair?
Speaker 2: Yes? Last week it was Tom and Jerry, which is
Speaker 2: where the boundaries and constituents are.
Speaker 1: And I would say it's worse in America, but I
Speaker 1: won't say if that's true anymore.
Speaker 2: They do seem to redraw the boundaries a little bit
Speaker 2: more there, but they do. Yeah, and you can't have
Speaker 2: freedom and Jerrymander at the same time slightly shoehorned in.
Speaker 1: Yes, a little bit well done if you spotted it, look.
Speaker 2: Out for one this week. Yes, as we discuss a
Speaker 2: random act of kindness seven, Episode five, Helen and her
Speaker 2: teenage son Zac don't really get on until a random
Speaker 2: act of kindness brings the mysterious Bob to their front door.
Speaker 2: He seems to understand their problems and offers to help.
Speaker 1: Okay, interesting, What do we think about this one? Then?
Speaker 2: I quite like it? Is it the most original story ever? No?
Speaker 2: But I quite like it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree. I think it's got plenty to
Speaker 1: enjoy about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh, definitely time travel. It's our wheelhouse.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, very small cast unusually.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just well just the two outside of recent Steve. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Jessica Hines fantastic actor. She is.
Speaker 1: I adore her.
Speaker 2: She's brilliant. I've not seen her in a lot of things,
Speaker 2: so when she pops up, she's always fantastic.
Speaker 1: She always is. And I was thinking earlier like she's
Speaker 1: equally good at comedy and serious. Yes, that she's really
Speaker 1: really gifted at both, which is unusual, I think, so
Speaker 1: to be so good at both.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I've been watching or rewatching twenty twelve and
Speaker 1: w one ah knows. Yeah. So she plays the head
Speaker 1: of a PR company, right, and she is the most awful,
Speaker 1: obnoxious character thick as two short planks, right, but thinks
Speaker 1: she knows everything. And it's like one of those characters
Speaker 1: like we've all met people like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and she multiple times a day usually.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and she's just like, holy sheet, guys, we're like
Speaker 1: boiling the ocean here, Like she's so good. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I loved her character in this h you.
Speaker 2: Really feel for her. You really do so difficult to
Speaker 2: do in twenty five minutes. Yeah, it's always I'm always
Speaker 2: so impressed when they manage to do it. Yeah, when
Speaker 2: there's so much else to get like plot wise, to
Speaker 2: get in, to give a character enough time to really
Speaker 2: shine through, It's always always amazes me.
Speaker 1: It is amazing.
Speaker 2: She's another one that said they've been trying to get
Speaker 2: for age. His book was just too busy.
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised.
Speaker 2: So got Jessica Hines as Helen and Noah Valentine as Zach,
Speaker 2: who played like It's just a really believable mother sudden
Speaker 2: sort of situation.
Speaker 1: Very believable.
Speaker 3: Yes, painful, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this this thing of that they just they can't
Speaker 1: connect and you feel like, I mean, we don't we
Speaker 1: don't hear too much about the dad, but you sort
Speaker 1: of you wonder what life was like when he was there,
Speaker 1: and if he was I don't know. Now he's gone.
Speaker 1: It's like a piece of the Jigsaws missing and she
Speaker 1: can't quite sort of connect with him.
Speaker 2: Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean I feel so sorry for her.
Speaker 1: But some of the things she says to him, you
Speaker 1: just think you're not helping yourself, Like like, what teenager
Speaker 1: is going to respond well when you say something like
Speaker 1: you know things that us humans call ingredients, and when
Speaker 1: he was already in a mood like that's not going
Speaker 1: to help as.
Speaker 2: It's well, although I'm kind of living in that boat
Speaker 2: at the moment because it was just a time recording
Speaker 2: Eurovision of the weekend and I had a party. So
Speaker 2: my fridge is just full of olives and hummas and
Speaker 2: all the crap that didn't gain right at the party
Speaker 2: and that I don't know what to do with. It's
Speaker 2: not a meal, but it's a lot of food.
Speaker 1: We also the opening there with a voiceover from Reese.
Speaker 1: He gives us lots of scientific principles, which I quite
Speaker 1: like the way that they use that as a framing thing,
Speaker 1: and it's sort of, you know, obviously thematic to the
Speaker 1: whole relationship between them and stuff that.
Speaker 2: They're not going anywhere, and then this new force comes in.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah. But also that you see him, you know,
Speaker 1: skateboarding home at the beginning, and there's this thing of
Speaker 1: an object in motion will remain in motion unless whatever
Speaker 1: it is, unless another object applies of whatever it is,
Speaker 1: Plasa falls or something something like that. I'm not a scientist,
Speaker 1: but you know, sort of almost in that moment, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: is he the object in motion? And is something going
Speaker 1: to stop him?
Speaker 2: You know? Yeah, whenever you see someone on a skateboard,
Speaker 2: it's it's like Chekhov's gun, isn't it Like at some
Speaker 2: point they're going to get hit by a car. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Whenever a camera is close up on wheels of a skateboard,
Speaker 2: it's immediately before I get it hit by a car.
Speaker 2: Every time. Yes, Seah, I did expect that. I think
Speaker 2: that's where it was going the first time I watched it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So yeah, So he's come home from school. She wants
Speaker 1: to talk m H. But he's not interested. No, he's
Speaker 1: annoyed that she's got her clicks on her typing.
Speaker 2: They are infuriating. My mom does this as well. Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's such a parent thing, isn't it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just love their interaction though, When you know,
Speaker 1: he tells about disabled clicks, she's like, no, well disabled clicks,
Speaker 1: you disabled clicks, And he's like alf.
Speaker 2: One of they insists on putting those on because it's
Speaker 2: always on by default and you can never get rid
Speaker 2: of them. Is it because the people that do want them,
Speaker 2: would never be able to actually put them on.
Speaker 1: Probably, as we often often say, obviously, but lots of
Speaker 1: lines that have extra meaning when you know the twist,
Speaker 1: Like when they're talking about his dad walking out and
Speaker 1: she says, if I could go back and do things differently,
Speaker 1: I would.
Speaker 2: There are a lot in this I don't know. I'd
Speaker 2: noticed that one.
Speaker 1: That's just occurred to me on my last watch today,
Speaker 1: and I've got to call out probably the best line
Speaker 1: of her best delivery. Can't we please live together without
Speaker 1: all this constant argie bargie. Let's cut the beef. Bro
Speaker 1: she tried.
Speaker 3: Cut the beef.
Speaker 2: That's even dated for our generation.
Speaker 1: That's what she says at a Sunday dinner. Let's cut
Speaker 1: the beef. I'll cut that joke because that was appalling,
Speaker 1: very sad household. I think, Yeah, the thing I was
Speaker 1: thinking was, I mean, obviously, I know he's got issues
Speaker 1: because his dad had left and this and that, but
Speaker 1: obviously he's eighteen. If he's doing his A levels and
Speaker 1: he's soon to go to UNI, I would assume I
Speaker 1: feel like that's a bit old to be doing that
Speaker 1: whole moody teenager thing, isn't it.
Speaker 2: I guess.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I suppose if the dad's left and everything, he
Speaker 2: might have just like he might have been fine, and
Speaker 2: it's sort of delayed it a little bit off, Yeah,
Speaker 2: made it come back. I don't know. We don't know
Speaker 2: how long ago the dad left. I suppose it's at
Speaker 2: least a Christmas ago. That's about all we know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but yeah, it's not a very likable character.
Speaker 2: No, I do feel I do feel for the mum
Speaker 2: a lot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, like she's doing all she can.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I do you think single parent families where it's just
Speaker 2: one child must be really tricky. They could either be brilliant,
Speaker 2: you know, if it works well, they could be such
Speaker 2: an amazing team and if it doesn't, if not, it's
Speaker 2: so difficult you're stuffed. Yeah, because there's not a third
Speaker 2: person to mediate at any point or yeah, it's always
Speaker 2: one on one.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of nice shots of things in this,
Speaker 1: like highlighting that whole cause and effect and motion things
Speaker 1: that we've got the bird hitting the window. Yeah, poor thing.
Speaker 2: Won how much as the budget went on c G
Speaker 2: I in this bird?
Speaker 1: Was it CGI?
Speaker 2: Well? I assume it must have been.
Speaker 1: No, I don't know, I hadn't thought of that. I
Speaker 1: assumes it.
Speaker 2: Was a bird at the window.
Speaker 3: It was probably it.
Speaker 1: Could have been it could have been like a model
Speaker 1: or something.
Speaker 2: I suppose I cas other one that's flying around the
Speaker 2: lone room.
Speaker 3: Oh that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they've probably phoned up birds are us and got
Speaker 1: them to bring in a bird. Yeah maybe I don't know. Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: I hadn't thought it. Didn't think it was CG.
Speaker 2: I I kind of assumed maybe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then you've got Helen spilling her to your coffee.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure which. So it's kind of they never
Speaker 1: put things like that in unless it's sort of important
Speaker 1: going to be used later, Like it's.
Speaker 2: A nod to something, may be a nod to the
Speaker 2: red herring that they're trying to sell.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but I think something that's really effective because
Speaker 1: it's such a sort of one undomb thing. If you
Speaker 1: knock a drink over and it goes everywhere, you can't
Speaker 1: undo that unless you're reversing time. Well that's what I mean. Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: so yeah, this bird has gone splat pod.
Speaker 2: It's a nice little what I assume puppet that's there
Speaker 2: on the on the grass.
Speaker 3: Yes, I guess it's a puppet.
Speaker 2: It's very sweet. That's a poor thing. Yeah, but then
Speaker 2: Steve pops up, I do think here, so what the
Speaker 2: mum reacts a little bit oddly. So we've got Bob
Speaker 2: turns up here. Steve's character picks up this bird, brings
Speaker 2: it to the house, and she then immediate lets him
Speaker 2: in and starts doing all sorts. I think I'd have
Speaker 2: had a few questions here, like why were you looking
Speaker 2: around outside of like how did you spot this? Like,
Speaker 2: m m, it seems a little bit odd.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's a bit far fetched that he happened to
Speaker 1: be outside just at that moment.
Speaker 2: Hmmm, Well I don't think it's far fetched obviously in
Speaker 2: his point of view, but for her not, Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: exactly remotely question it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think she's a bit desperate and she's just
Speaker 1: very lonely. A man turns up on her doorstep and.
Speaker 2: Who seems really kind.
Speaker 1: Suddenly it's like, I'll come in, you know, save me
Speaker 1: from this miserable life.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's quite noticeable straight away his quirk of speech.
Speaker 1: I've found a little double tea bird.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's sweet. It's strange. They don't address well, I
Speaker 2: guess you wouldn't, would you address it so quickly? But
Speaker 2: just take a while before they get to that.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's just very nice man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, very nice, very sweet. So they take the bird
Speaker 1: inside to look after it.
Speaker 4: M hm.
Speaker 2: And all it wants is a cardboard box. Apparently a
Speaker 2: carbo box will.
Speaker 1: Fix it like a wet paper towel. Yeah, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean he's obviously very interested in Zach as soon
Speaker 1: as he comes in, you know, looking at him up
Speaker 1: the stairs and like.
Speaker 2: He already knows. Yeah, it's a weird situation that I
Speaker 2: don't know. It just feels so uncomfortable to me, like that,
Speaker 2: You've just got this stranger in your house, so especially
Speaker 2: once the bird's gone, so spoilers. The bird is fine,
Speaker 2: apparently flies off and then he's just sort of stood
Speaker 2: there and you're like, okay, now what do we do.
Speaker 2: You can't exactly just kick him out, but equally, what
Speaker 2: reason has he got to be there?
Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm just a really mean person.
Speaker 1: I think I think maybe it's a generational thing, because
Speaker 1: I think I would feel the same as you, right,
Speaker 1: But I feel like someone like Helen, you know, it's
Speaker 1: more that sort of thing. Of I don't know, like
Speaker 1: you sort of give people the benefit of the doubt
Speaker 1: and just sort of assume that they're assume everyone's a
Speaker 1: nice person unless proven otherwise. I don't know. I wouldn't.
Speaker 2: It's not so much that I think that he's bad,
Speaker 2: but it's just I just would be like, Okay, now
Speaker 2: what do we talk about. I just find it very
Speaker 2: uncomfortable on that point of view.
Speaker 1: No, I know, I think I'm the same. I just
Speaker 1: but she's I don't think she's got that worry. She's
Speaker 1: just like, here's a new person for me to get
Speaker 1: to know, sort of thing.
Speaker 2: Just that desperate for any other person, Yeah, to talk to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, or just you know, the circumstance of the bird
Speaker 1: brought him in, but doesn't mean you can't then chat
Speaker 1: and find out about him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, true, true.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I wouldn't. But yeah, I wouldn't even
Speaker 1: have let him in. Oh thank you, bye.
Speaker 2: Go wrap it up in your coat and go. It's
Speaker 2: saying of little things that are nods. Maybe I wonder
Speaker 2: if this is intentional or whether it's just a slip
Speaker 2: up in the script. I don't know. But when the
Speaker 2: sun turns up, Bob says, please the double E meet you.
Speaker 2: So he says the double E before the meet.
Speaker 1: Oh, he does, doesn't he?
Speaker 2: Yeah, But every other time it's afterwards. Is it meant
Speaker 2: to be some sort of very subtle thing of like
Speaker 2: I don't know that he's either messing up because he's
Speaker 2: flustered or because it's like, you know, backwards in time situation.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the thing with recent Steve, if you
Speaker 1: never know how how clever they're being, Like, Yeah, it
Speaker 1: might be it might be that's something they put that
Speaker 1: much thought into, or it might just be the rhythm
Speaker 1: of the line sounded better yeah that way round.
Speaker 2: Or it's genuinely a fluff.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And also there's a there's a I can't remember
Speaker 1: exactly what the line is, but there's a line where
Speaker 1: he says shall and he doesn't say double l oh.
Speaker 1: So whether that was deliberate or whether that was just
Speaker 1: that would have been too jarring in that moment. But yeah,
Speaker 1: sometimes it's like dramatic license a little bit, isn't it,
Speaker 1: Because even later on in the episode, when things get serious,
Speaker 1: he stops doing it. So it's not like he has
Speaker 1: two all the time.
Speaker 3: No, it just it just helps.
Speaker 1: Him feel more comfortable to do it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there's the thing where they both speak at
Speaker 1: the same time, yeah, which is well, obviously that's another
Speaker 1: nod as well. So then being the same person, yeah, spoilers, but.
Speaker 2: If you don't know already.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the fact that he then does the whole jinx
Speaker 1: thing and then he's like so seriously like, Zach, you
Speaker 1: can speak now, I no, I can, I'm not eight
Speaker 1: years old.
Speaker 2: And the way that the mom's like he's not going
Speaker 2: to introduce yourself, and the way that Bob does because
Speaker 2: it's his mum telling.
Speaker 1: Him, like, yeah, that's so true.
Speaker 2: Even he's not even thinking about it. It's just like,
Speaker 2: I introduce yourself, even if it is too for yourself.
Speaker 1: But yeah, bless m because.
Speaker 2: That is presumably is unless he's been watching from like
Speaker 2: you know, out on the street and stuff. This is
Speaker 2: the first time he's seen her in like sixty years
Speaker 2: or something. Definitely the first time he's probably spoken to her.
Speaker 2: Ye he's you know, rendering the shop or something.
Speaker 1: But which is just mind blowing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we take this opportunity to recruit him as
Speaker 2: a as a tutor for Paul. Little Zach who's not
Speaker 2: doing so well in his grades. No, and we won't
Speaker 2: let any of our tutors. Will just find the first
Speaker 2: one that says he can do it off the street
Speaker 2: because we only have twenty five minutes.
Speaker 1: So well, yeah, true, there's something that I kind of
Speaker 1: want to bring up, but I'm not sure when the
Speaker 1: right moment is all right. But so when you watched
Speaker 1: this the first time and you didn't know what was
Speaker 1: going to happen, Yeah, where were you thinking it was going?
Speaker 2: I'm really not sure I was. I think I was
Speaker 2: probably concerned it was going to be a Loves Great
Speaker 2: Adventure type story right where it's just a little family
Speaker 2: situation and it wasn't really you know, no one was
Speaker 2: going to get ill and that was it and it Yeah,
Speaker 2: so that's I think that's what I thought it was
Speaker 2: going to be, or that the Bob character was was
Speaker 2: had evil intentions as in a grooming thing. Maybe I
Speaker 2: don't know, that's see.
Speaker 1: That was what I thought of it the first time
Speaker 1: I was watching it, because the way he's so like,
Speaker 1: he seems really interested in Zach and like quite sort
Speaker 1: of yeah, creepy almost when you know he's the one
Speaker 1: that says, oh, I could chew to him, and later
Speaker 1: on he's like, oh, if I just spent more time
Speaker 1: with him, and it's just felt like everything was sort
Speaker 1: of pointing towards that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, actually, but I did.
Speaker 1: Some googling to see if anyone else had they thought that,
Speaker 1: and I couldn't find a single shred of anyone saying that.
Speaker 1: Then I was like, is it just me thinking that?
Speaker 1: But no, I mean maybe listeners, if any of you
Speaker 1: thought that, then let me know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think it was some sort of
Speaker 2: an intent. I don't know if it was necessarily that.
Speaker 2: I'm sure. I'm sure that would have crossed my mind
Speaker 2: at the time, because yeah, it must be so hard
Speaker 2: from Bob's point of view to act properly, yes, because
Speaker 2: he's got to pretend so much. Yeah, that would come
Speaker 2: second nature. Yeah, admittedly this fifty sixty years since he's
Speaker 2: met either of these people, but yeah, like you'd slip
Speaker 2: straight back into talking to her the same as you
Speaker 2: would have done, which would feel overly familiar.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and when he's just talking to his younger self,
Speaker 1: like what there is no sort of correct etiquette for
Speaker 1: how you do that? Really, Like, you know, it would
Speaker 1: just be mind blowing. Wouldn't it like.
Speaker 2: You would come across as far too familiar. Yeah, because
Speaker 2: you know exactly how to talk to you, Yes, exactly,
Speaker 2: which works when both of you know, but when one
Speaker 2: of you doesn't, it comes across really weird.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so true.
Speaker 2: Especially when you throw on the extra level of you're
Speaker 2: not wanting them to know, so it's going to make
Speaker 2: it very odd.
Speaker 1: It feels like you're hiding something. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, it's a very.
Speaker 1: Good performance from Steve in this episode. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: like how they have basically the same hair style, but
Speaker 1: just his is gray.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: They did say on the podcast how what they could
Speaker 2: do to make them look like how close they were
Speaker 2: going to make it, and like there was a lot
Speaker 2: of things that they said they cut because they were
Speaker 2: just too obvious. You know, when they sat down at
Speaker 2: the table or whatever, they'd sit down in exactly the
Speaker 2: same way, or if they both crossed their legs at
Speaker 2: the same time or something like that, it looks too obvious. Yes,
Speaker 2: but yeah, he said things like the hair and the
Speaker 2: hair parting and yeah, having a similar sort of accent
Speaker 2: and all that kind of thing. As far as they
Speaker 2: really wanted to.
Speaker 1: Go, well, I feel like their eyes are quite similar.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's just you know, when you watch it and
Speaker 1: you know that they're the same person, your brain tries
Speaker 1: to kind of find true way. But I felt like
Speaker 1: they had quite similar eye Yeah.
Speaker 2: He said that they originally were looking for people with
Speaker 2: blue eyes because that's what Steve has, but you know,
Speaker 2: contacts were an option if necessary, and that he didn't
Speaker 2: want someone with an extremely different accent that he'd have
Speaker 2: to try and do.
Speaker 3: No, No, I think I think.
Speaker 2: They said no it was from Manchester or something, so
Speaker 2: it wasn't a million miles away from.
Speaker 3: Where he was from.
Speaker 2: Yes, that helped.
Speaker 1: So, Yes, we get another little scientific interviews with Reese,
Speaker 1: and this time we get to see him hm hm.
Speaker 2: Whig team went wild this week in clearly not a
Speaker 2: green screened room.
Speaker 1: It's it's quite something, isn't it is?
Speaker 2: Isn't it bless him doing his best Bill.
Speaker 1: Nigh, Yes, the science guy.
Speaker 2: I don't know what I thought was going on with
Speaker 2: those videos at the time.
Speaker 1: Well, that's the thing. You watch it back and they're
Speaker 1: so they're so futuristic in the background. Yeah, it's sort
Speaker 1: of as obvious, and I don't think I ever twigged
Speaker 1: at the time.
Speaker 2: I don't think I did before you were meant to. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think that sort of gave me hope that there
Speaker 2: was something weird going.
Speaker 1: On, exactly, because otherwise, what's it there for?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that this episode was going to be more than
Speaker 2: just a little kitchen sink drama exactly. Not there's anything
Speaker 2: wrong with that, but just.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, yeah, yeah, and then we see Bob tutoring Zach.
Speaker 2: Hmm.
Speaker 1: Again. Another thing I found creepy was that they're just
Speaker 1: in his bedroom. Surely they could just do it at
Speaker 1: the kitchen table or.
Speaker 2: Something in the kitchen.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I guess they needed for plot reasons for them not
Speaker 2: to be there, of course.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but yeah, But trying to look at it from
Speaker 1: a realistic point of view, it's a bit like, yeah,
Speaker 1: a bit strange.
Speaker 2: Especially when we don't when neither of them know this.
Speaker 1: Guy exactly, you know. And then later in the episode,
Speaker 1: she kind of realizes that that, like, we don't really
Speaker 1: know who he is, and like this that was very
Speaker 1: obvious the whole time. He thought of that before he
Speaker 1: should It shouldn't take a cereal box for you to realize.
Speaker 2: That, No, she's not the best mom in some way.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so he accidentally writes the date as sixty two.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm. They play off relatively well, I think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that the twist at the end, well,
Speaker 1: or the way that he plays it off.
Speaker 2: He plays it off as just yes, yeah.
Speaker 1: It's a good number to choose, that it works both ways.
Speaker 2: Yeah, nice little nod for later that you'll work out.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it doesn't immediately seem weird.
Speaker 1: At the time, no, exactly. Yeah, And I just thought
Speaker 1: it was really interesting to see how Zach is so
Speaker 1: much nicer with Bob than he is with his mum. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's like, that's so sad that he's got all
Speaker 1: this all this venom gets directed at his mum. And
Speaker 1: actually he's quite capable of being a nice guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's quite sweet when he wants.
Speaker 1: To be exactly like, he really gets on well with Bob.
Speaker 1: And obviously they're the same person, so makes.
Speaker 2: Sense, but I assume they would.
Speaker 1: But again, when you don't know what's going on, it's
Speaker 1: a bit like, oh, he's got on with this person
Speaker 1: very well, very quickly. Right, Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 2: For an element of a like father missing father figure, absolutely, yeah,
Speaker 2: like replacement thing. And so I guess as well, like
Speaker 2: his mum, I imagine I'm not you know, I'm guessing
Speaker 2: isn't particularly up on sciencey stuff, so he probably can't
Speaker 2: talk to about any of this kind of thing, and
Speaker 2: there is a bit of a barrier there, Yeah, that
Speaker 2: he car't expresses his hobbies and his you know things,
Speaker 2: he enjoys doing schoolwork and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: And then he's got someone that can. Yeah, so he
Speaker 2: probably would connect with them quite quickly, I guess.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we get the little tattoo and his arm highlighted.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel that was a little clunkily done personally.
Speaker 2: I think I think Bob could have seen that. You
Speaker 2: could have shown Bob seeing it a bit more.
Speaker 1: Really and just suddenly mention it. Oh yeah, I happened
Speaker 1: to notice.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And also, is it a bit of a weird thing
Speaker 1: to just have a tattoo of your own name on
Speaker 1: your arm? Yeah, right, in case you forget it.
Speaker 2: You forget. It's the same that the people that get
Speaker 2: the date of birth and Roman numerals tattooed in case
Speaker 2: you forget and also just can't remember Arabic numerals like
Speaker 2: you have to have it in Roman. But yeah, and
Speaker 2: he says it's because he just did it to piss
Speaker 2: the mum off. It's like, well, I think i'd have
Speaker 2: gone more extreme if that was the just have your
Speaker 2: own name written on you Yeah, I don't know, skull
Speaker 2: and crossbones or something if you like, yeah, I don't
Speaker 2: know your own name. Presumably he's had to go somewhere
Speaker 2: to have this done, unless he's just scratched it in himself. Like,
Speaker 2: and I like to think that the tattoo studio would
Speaker 2: firstly go you're not old enough, and secondly go, really
Speaker 2: that's what you want, Like, I know they shouldn't be judgy,
Speaker 2: but equally, yeah, your own name on your forearm?
Speaker 1: Is are you sure?
Speaker 2: You're really sure?
Speaker 1: Is it not eighteen? You have to be to it
Speaker 1: might be?
Speaker 2: It probably is, Actually I imagine he's only just eighteen though, Yeah,
Speaker 2: but you might have had it recently. I guess. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it looks like it's not munew though, no, who knows. Yeah,
Speaker 2: maybe had him reaching over for something and yeah, exactly,
Speaker 2: yeah it being pulled back or whatever. Yeah, yeah, because
Speaker 2: then he pulls his sleeve back to show it. So
Speaker 2: it's like, how did Bob see it? Anyway?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 2: Yes, like I know that in Bob's mind, he'll be
Speaker 2: doing that to set it up for later, so that
Speaker 2: he's got because he gets interrupted this point by the mum.
Speaker 2: So whether he was just about to say.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask that, do we think
Speaker 1: he was actually about to spill the beans or I
Speaker 1: expect so yeah, yeah, because I wondered if it was
Speaker 1: that or if it was just a not not revealing
Speaker 1: who he really is, but but maybe trying to encourage
Speaker 1: him to be a bit nicer to his mum.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because he's saying here how much he hates the
Speaker 2: mom at this point, m and you can see the
Speaker 2: pain which was really her Yeah for Bob, bless him.
Speaker 1: Turns out that she's she's cooked for them and including Bob. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he can stay for dinner?
Speaker 2: Yeah, why not? I guess we don't know how much
Speaker 2: time has passed at this point as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we get that. We presume that this is their
Speaker 2: first tutoring session, but it might not be. I guess no.
Speaker 1: But yeah, he's it's sort of like he's become a
Speaker 1: bit of a family friend. Yeah, and you know, knowing
Speaker 1: how Zach was with his mom, you sort of would
Speaker 1: expect him to be a bit like instantly just hate him,
Speaker 1: mm hmm. But he sort of becomes like, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: Bob's great, like yeah.
Speaker 2: Well yeah, like you said, shared interests and.
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly, and he gives him his time and attention, yeah,
Speaker 1: which you know, Helen just doesn't really know how to
Speaker 1: do or isn't able to.
Speaker 2: No. I do wonder how long it is since the
Speaker 2: dad's gone. I did originally assume it was ages ago,
Speaker 2: but now I'm thinking maybe not. If the mom's like
Speaker 2: you'd think you'd have grown to understand how to deal
Speaker 2: with him. If it was it was a long time ago.
Speaker 1: If I had to say, I'd probably guess maybe a
Speaker 1: couple of years, yeah, two or three years maybe.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So he wants him to do some homework and look
Speaker 1: at the Grand National races and pick a winner based
Speaker 1: on the physics. Yeah, because of course that must be doable.
Speaker 2: And here we finally get asking what the deal is
Speaker 2: with the double letters?
Speaker 1: Yes, and it's.
Speaker 2: Just as he does to keep to calm himself down.
Speaker 2: I guess, yeah, mild OCD says, I spent first rewatch
Speaker 2: night trying to work out if there are any three
Speaker 2: letter words, and remembering if there was any point in
Speaker 2: the episode he said triple something, but I don't think
Speaker 2: there is in English.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, I was going to say, I can't
Speaker 1: think of a triple that's a word.
Speaker 2: No, I don't think there are any unless you have like.
Speaker 3: Hyphened yeah, like yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: And the fact that they made him a bookkeeper, just
Speaker 2: so that you have to say.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that devlicatably.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and she actually makes quite a good joke for
Speaker 1: G and T. Like she's quite quick thinking considering she's
Speaker 1: quite tipsy. Anyway, you can have double.
Speaker 3: G and T.
Speaker 2: Or is it a joke that she's been working on
Speaker 2: for weeks? Probably, Yeah, she's finally pucked up the courage
Speaker 2: to ask him about it. I'm going to dwn well
Speaker 2: use my joke.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Yeah, but yeah, she is getting a bit a
Speaker 1: bit tipsy and obviously embarrassing Zach.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be so awkward to be him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because she is being a bit flirty.
Speaker 2: Yeah as well, nowhere near as awkwards it is for
Speaker 2: Bob exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's the whole back to the future.
Speaker 2: Back to the future. Yeah, because like she touches his
Speaker 2: hand and he initially seems doesn't doesn't think like that. Yeah.
Speaker 2: As to him, I guess it's probably the first time
Speaker 2: his mum's ever touched him in like fifty sixty years exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and then he realizes what.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's not appropriate, no, he So it's interesting,
Speaker 1: you know, they're talking about the Maldo CD and then
Speaker 1: Helen says it's similar with her clicks that they make
Speaker 1: her feel better, but just that, but he doesn't want
Speaker 1: me to have them. Yeah, and that is the big
Speaker 1: trigger for Zach to storm off and be like, oh
Speaker 1: fux sake. I don't really get why that was the
Speaker 1: moment that really tips him over the edge.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess it's is it Is it the mom
Speaker 2: like trying to get Bob on side, when Zach's finally
Speaker 2: thought he's got someone on his side.
Speaker 1: I think that's possibly what I felt. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: almost like she was trying to gang up on him
Speaker 1: or something. Yeah, because I would be if I was Zach,
Speaker 1: I would be annoyed in that situation. I'd be like,
Speaker 1: shut up, like.
Speaker 2: Exactly, So, yes, runs out, you need to get away
Speaker 2: from here before we accidentally we write time early.
Speaker 1: So we get more Reese again. Yes, very science fiction set.
Speaker 1: The background, as we.
Speaker 2: Said, with his little toys.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, I love those Newton's Cradle thing. I think
Speaker 1: it's called My grandparents neighbor used to have one of those,
Speaker 1: and I just remember being a very young child and
Speaker 1: just loving going around there because they had quite a
Speaker 1: close relationship and needs to go around there and just
Speaker 1: love playing with that thing and watching the balls. Maybe
Speaker 1: the man I am today watching those bulls swinging.
Speaker 2: Oh dear, I saw a video. I think it's from
Speaker 2: your favorite play that you keep mentioning the such and
Speaker 2: such and such and such a dead people. Yeah, that's
Speaker 2: the one. They have a bit with Newton's Cradle.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, giant, yes, yes, yes, I.
Speaker 2: Saw that on ticked out recently and made me think
Speaker 2: of you.
Speaker 1: Yeah. They added a load of those bits in for
Speaker 1: the film with Gary Oldman.
Speaker 2: Oh it was Gary Oldman. Oh yeah I can see.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, very funny.
Speaker 2: Hm hmm.
Speaker 1: So yeah, as we said, she finds a cereal box
Speaker 1: and upside down, we've got calculators writing bliss.
Speaker 2: Now, maybe I'm being thick here? What's going on here?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 2: Are we meant to think that old Zach has turned.
Speaker 1: Up without having thought of a without.
Speaker 2: Having thought of a name, seen a box upside down
Speaker 2: with very all writing and gone that works and taking it.
Speaker 1: I assume that's what it's meant to be, all.
Speaker 2: In the space for about three seconds.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like the looking at the newspaper, don't faire dear?
Speaker 2: At least that was a headline though. Yeah, a barcode.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's very much a stretch. It's a lot because considering,
Speaker 1: like we said, how much is at stake and how
Speaker 1: much you'd have to sort of plan. And he's not
Speaker 1: an idiot that you wouldn't think of a pseudonym before
Speaker 1: you went.
Speaker 2: He's invented time travel, like I'm sure you'd have thought
Speaker 2: of things like this at least come up with a name.
Speaker 1: Maybe he came up with a name and then he
Speaker 1: saw Bob Bliss and he thought, oh, that's better. I'm
Speaker 1: going with that.
Speaker 2: Maybe, But yeah, I remember watching that thinking, God, good,
Speaker 2: something really weird's happening here. I'm much more invested now.
Speaker 1: Yes, he's not sure, he says he is no.
Speaker 2: And also, you know, there's something bigger than this going on,
Speaker 2: like how is his name got into a barcode? Like, oh,
Speaker 2: I don't think I even realized that point he just
Speaker 2: read it off there, because I didn't even have time
Speaker 2: to read it, let alone think about it. Okay, but
Speaker 2: I'll let them off. I'd rather it be like I
Speaker 2: don't know the name of the mascot on the cereal
Speaker 2: box or something, you know, Tony Tiger. Yeah, yeah, and snap,
Speaker 2: crackle and or pop.
Speaker 1: So going from the hilarious to the emotional.
Speaker 2: Mm hmmm.
Speaker 1: Helen has a phone call from the hospital. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: need to see her today.
Speaker 2: Clearly not good news.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel so sorry for her.
Speaker 2: Hmmm.
Speaker 1: And Zach comes in and he's actually in quite a
Speaker 1: good mood.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's nice, seem happy. Yeah, they're like they're like ships,
Speaker 2: Like neither of them are ever going in the right
Speaker 2: direction exactly. Yeah, it's gutting, m They just need more
Speaker 2: moments where they're both happy. Yeah, and it would just
Speaker 2: turn it all around, But they just always happened to
Speaker 2: be ones in the wrong headspace.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So Bob's won nearly two pounds on the Grand
Speaker 1: National and he wants to give Zach half for UNI. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, well, that's not going to go very
Speaker 1: far given tuition fees these days, but.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, very true. That's not even that's barely a term,
Speaker 2: isn't it. Yeah, it's not. No, it's not. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I have to give back to old three three grand years.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, but this is the thought that counts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we meant to presume that he just did this
Speaker 2: because he knows who won that.
Speaker 3: Grand because you would, wouldn't you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean I wouldn't. I wouldn't remember anything.
Speaker 2: But I saw a Hannah Fry Yeah, yeah, yeah, you've
Speaker 2: seen her podcast that she does. It's her and some
Speaker 2: other scientists that just talk about sciencey things. Yes, And
Speaker 2: they had an episode on time travel and they had
Speaker 2: the quite interesting thought experiment of if you would just suddenly,
Speaker 2: with no prior warning, teleported into the past, how what
Speaker 2: would you do if you had to to convince them
Speaker 2: that you were from the future. Yeah, like, how could
Speaker 2: you do that? Because ninety nine point nine percent of things,
Speaker 2: you could say the more realistic thing, and then someone's
Speaker 2: head would be well, you're clever, or you're lucky or whatever.
Speaker 1: Exactly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, even if you could bet on every single game,
Speaker 2: every single horse race and get it right and someone
Speaker 2: and people just think, well, you're just really lucky, or
Speaker 2: you've rigged it or whatever.
Speaker 1: I suppose the flip side of that question is what
Speaker 1: would some have to say to you today to convince
Speaker 1: you that they're from the future. Well, exactly right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: what would what would you believe?
Speaker 2: And they said, obviously you can do things like you
Speaker 2: know land in two thousand and one, you can tell
Speaker 2: them about the pandemic that's going to happen, but you
Speaker 2: won't know for twenty years. No, Like, what's the thing
Speaker 2: that you could say that could prove quickly?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And also obviously if you tell them things, you might
Speaker 2: change stuff. Yeah, so you've got to have something that,
Speaker 2: no matter what you say, will always happen. Yes, So
Speaker 2: they were saying things like, if you went to nineteen
Speaker 2: if you ended up in nineteen fifty, you could tell
Speaker 2: them the exact coordinates of the Titanic for example, Oh right, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know exactly where it is in the present day.
Speaker 2: In the past they didn't know.
Speaker 1: But if you've just like you said, just been teleported
Speaker 1: back with no warning, I don't know the coordinates of
Speaker 1: the Titanic.
Speaker 2: So true, but if you'd have to use modern knowledge
Speaker 2: of things that were lost but yeah, yet being refound. Yeah,
Speaker 2: from thought experiment.
Speaker 1: It's very Yeah, I love thinking about that stuff. Yeah, listeners,
Speaker 1: let us know what you would say to convince him. So, yes,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, given the serial packet, Helen is
Speaker 1: suddenly very anti Bob.
Speaker 2: I guess at this point she's just really realized what
Speaker 2: she's done. Yes, it all hits her in a second. Yeah,
Speaker 2: oh god, who is this man?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I don't know what she's thinking. Maybe she's now
Speaker 1: going down the grooming maybe angle. Maybe she's thinking, know
Speaker 1: it's something dodgy like that or whatever it is.
Speaker 2: I mean, this man that's been hanging out with her
Speaker 2: son has suddenly offered him a load of money.
Speaker 1: Yes, doesn't exactly look good, No it doesn't.
Speaker 2: It's one thing, you know, here have fifty quid for
Speaker 2: your birthday. It's another thing here of a grand Admittedly
Speaker 2: he did just win it like it wasn't you know
Speaker 2: his money as such, but still m.
Speaker 1: But yes, obviously you know eighteen year old Zach he's
Speaker 1: just been told he's going to have a thousand pounds.
Speaker 1: His mom said, No, he's not gonna be happy about that.
Speaker 2: No, no, she's not saying why she's not happy with him.
Speaker 1: But still she's got a lot on her mind.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she already had a lot on her mind and
Speaker 2: then she got that on top of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so this is a great scene, isn't it. The
Speaker 1: argument escalates and he thinks that his dad is going
Speaker 1: to pay for him to go to Union Singapore, Yeah,
Speaker 1: which she just laughs at because he's obviously not very reliable.
Speaker 2: No, he's got with all sorts of things in the past,
Speaker 2: all accounts.
Speaker 1: And like, this is a bit that gets me is
Speaker 1: when he says he shouts her and says, at least
Speaker 1: he believes in me, because it's like he doesn't see
Speaker 1: that his mum does believe in him. But I think
Speaker 1: she does, but she's just she has a different way.
Speaker 1: She she's the cautious, realistic one and gets made out
Speaker 1: to be the crusher of dreams.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's tough to suck.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it really escalates and he calls her a
Speaker 1: fucking bitch and then oh my god, I mean it's
Speaker 1: awful but quite satisfying, isn't it.
Speaker 2: He has earned it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not surprised at all, like, given as we
Speaker 1: know everything's going on in her life. And then he's
Speaker 1: so ungrateful when she's saying about you know, I wash,
Speaker 1: I clean I do all this for you, and he
Speaker 1: just throws all back in her face.
Speaker 2: And we've all been there, We've all been kids that
Speaker 2: don't appreciate your parents, like we don't know everything they do.
Speaker 2: But obviously it hurts when it's just her doing it
Speaker 2: all getting nothing. At least, if you've got a partner
Speaker 2: there that's saying, you know, a well done on they
Speaker 2: can carry up from the school or whatever, like you know,
Speaker 2: I don't know, like little things that you get, you
Speaker 2: get that bit of feedback that would make you feel
Speaker 2: like you're doing something worthwhile. Yeah, but if you're getting
Speaker 2: none of that, no.
Speaker 1: It's quite a thankless Yeah. But yeah, again we feel
Speaker 1: we don't we don't despise her for hitting him because
Speaker 1: she's all immediately apologetic. Yeah, and she immediately realizes she's
Speaker 1: crossed the line.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we know obviously why she's exactly Yeah, and obviously,
Speaker 2: like you say, she handles it so perfect as perfectly
Speaker 2: as she can afterwards. Yeah, once she's realized what she's done. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but too little, too late for Zach and he starms off.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I feel Noah does such a good job acting Zach here,
Speaker 2: like there's a little face no he's a little handshakes and
Speaker 2: he's so scared and shocked and everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because that's the thing with a parent, isn't it.
Speaker 1: It's like they're sort of they're a rock and they're
Speaker 1: like an immovable object and like you as a as
Speaker 1: a moody teenager, you can shout at them and they're
Speaker 1: gonna be in an ideal world, They're going to be
Speaker 1: that boundary for you and they'll always be there. And
Speaker 1: so when she shows her sort of quote unquote weakness
Speaker 1: of you know, snapping and slapping him, Yeah, it's like
Speaker 1: it's quite a bit t ale for him. It's almost like, oh,
Speaker 1: that you're not supposed to do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, he never he would never have considered that
Speaker 2: was an option. No, And the way he reacts that's
Speaker 2: never happened before.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure everyone watching it felt very much
Speaker 1: on her side.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So it's a bit later in the evening.
Speaker 2: M hmm.
Speaker 1: She's been out for quite some time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's gone off and done something. I've actually probably
Speaker 2: gone to a pub or something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, probably gone for a walk.
Speaker 2: And Bob turns up.
Speaker 1: With flowers, with flowers, her favorite yellow roses, which.
Speaker 2: Does show that Zach does care like that, he knows,
Speaker 2: he knows, and he remembers, like as an adult, but
Speaker 2: that's what her favorite flowers were. So he was paying
Speaker 2: attention to the kid. Yeah, which is sweet.
Speaker 1: It's very clever with the you know that. Again, it
Speaker 1: works from the creepy point of view of how does
Speaker 1: he know so much about them? Has he been watching
Speaker 1: them and stalking them?
Speaker 2: Yeah, And this point Zach works that out, like yeah,
Speaker 2: what are you doing? How do you know these things? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So yeah, as if he hadn't seemed creepy enough, he
Speaker 1: then follows that up to his bedroom.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, that's just weird. And the way it was
Speaker 2: all that now, I was like, yeah, I think I
Speaker 2: think I probably did assume it was where you said
Speaker 2: it was going, with.
Speaker 1: Him lying on the bed and then like, if you
Speaker 1: haven't got any inkling of of a sort of sci
Speaker 1: fi plot or anything, yeah, that's very much sort of
Speaker 1: what where it feels it's going. It's like he's he's
Speaker 1: there alone now in the house, and it's like, what's
Speaker 1: going to happen?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the mom's been driven off.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but twist time, it is not awful like that. No, Thankfully,
Speaker 1: he reveals that he is a time traveler. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: Zach from the future. Yeah, Zach to the future.
Speaker 2: But literally just putting that together in my head as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he clicked at the same time. Yeah, and the
Speaker 1: revelation about sixty two being where he came from. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a great moment, I think.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the tattoo and everything. Yeah, at no point
Speaker 2: in the next fifty years has he got that tattoo removed. No,
Speaker 2: forty years or whatever.
Speaker 1: And also, I mean it's not really a great proof,
Speaker 1: is it, Like he could have just gone and got
Speaker 1: tattoo of Zach on his arm, right, Yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: bit like that going off on a tangent. But in
Speaker 1: Doctor Who, when the doctor's trying to prove to Martha
Speaker 1: that he can travel in time and he goes into
Speaker 1: the tartis and takes his tie off and comes back out,
Speaker 1: It's like, wow, anyone could do that.
Speaker 2: The disappearing box quite impressive. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So, yes, he's come back based to convince his younger
Speaker 1: self to be nicer to his mum and spend time
Speaker 1: with her before she dies because time's ticking.
Speaker 2: It's clearly on his biggest regret. Yeah, and that you
Speaker 2: didn't know early enough to be able to do anything
Speaker 2: about it. Zach does buy it very quickly. But I guess,
Speaker 2: like I keep saying, twenty five minutes, we don't have
Speaker 2: time for a big argument and a discussion and things.
Speaker 2: But yeah, so he's explaining all this. I love that.
Speaker 2: Like you said earlier, he doesn't he doesn't do the
Speaker 2: double letters and sacks like he didn't do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, we've got Helen back downstairs breaking down with a
Speaker 1: glass of wine.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: No, But then there's this strange mobile phone ringing.
Speaker 2: Which future sci fi phone looks like.
Speaker 1: A Nokia from the two thousands and yet has a
Speaker 1: ring tone which is supposed to sound sort of futuristic,
Speaker 1: And it's like, what maybe that Yeah, it's like a
Speaker 1: futuristic device they put into a shell of a Nokia
Speaker 1: to disguise it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I not thought of that. Yeah. Or it's just
Speaker 2: that fashion goes round in circles and that got back
Speaker 2: to your style.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but Rye's character Rudolph, we didn't mention it was called.
Speaker 2: Rudolph, Rudolphe, a name that befits the hair.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so is the idea that he is speaking from
Speaker 1: the future. I guess, So he hasn't traveled back as well,
Speaker 1: has he? So he must be speaking somehow down the.
Speaker 2: Line from the current future. Yeah, yes, because at this
Speaker 2: point nothing's changed.
Speaker 1: God, it all gets very confusing now.
Speaker 2: It does. It rapidly gets confusing. Here in the podcast
Speaker 2: they said this is a point they originally had the
Speaker 2: plot being that Rudolph called up to say, you know,
Speaker 2: beware of this man. Bob thinks he's a time travel
Speaker 2: or he's my patient. Oh I see, and that it
Speaker 2: wasn't he isn't Zach was the original plot.
Speaker 1: There would go, oh, that was actually going to be
Speaker 1: the real plot.
Speaker 2: See, yeah, I guess then maybe in that case have
Speaker 2: made it a bit more obvious that it's a time
Speaker 2: travel thing, and you'd think that's where you go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're gone the other way around with it, because
Speaker 1: also that could have been a nice like ploy for him,
Speaker 1: you know, he really is a time traveler. But then
Speaker 1: Rudolph's on the phone saying he thinks he is, but
Speaker 1: he's not.
Speaker 2: Yeah, easy way to discredit him.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah. And then shot there's a gunshot. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: he shot himself.
Speaker 2: Yes, I assume so, yeah, which I have questions about
Speaker 2: I have questions about that, so I can understand if
Speaker 2: his argument if obviously he's him, so he wouldn't know
Speaker 2: how he would think his thought that if he does this,
Speaker 2: it will push him and his mum together and make
Speaker 2: them emotionally bond.
Speaker 1: Over it maybe.
Speaker 2: Maybe, which it does, like they do start crying into
Speaker 2: each other's arms, and yeah, or is it that you
Speaker 2: know he can't be around because that courses.
Speaker 1: Paradox is that it's going to change.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but if that was the case, would you just disappear?
Speaker 1: You think?
Speaker 2: So, why does he have to go through presumably the
Speaker 2: terrifying thing of shooting.
Speaker 1: By logic, Yeah, it is a bit weird.
Speaker 2: It is weird. Plus plus you're then leaving your younger
Speaker 2: self and mum to have to deal with a dead body.
Speaker 2: Oh god, Yeah, I mean admitted, like you probably would
Speaker 2: be able to explain all this to the police, but still,
Speaker 2: like that's presumably putting them through a lot of court time.
Speaker 1: Trauma of it as well.
Speaker 2: The trauma.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and especially if Zak you know, believes this to
Speaker 1: be the truth, that he's just essentially watched version of
Speaker 1: his future self for himself. Yeah, that's awful.
Speaker 2: And he's presumably that I end up with countless hours
Speaker 2: of police interviews and yeah, all sorts of but that's
Speaker 2: not relevant to the part.
Speaker 1: So I don't really know why he had to shoot himself. No,
Speaker 1: you could have just, like you say, just disappeared.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Possibly, And would that have even worked better, Like
Speaker 2: for her to run upstairs and they'd just be Zach
Speaker 2: in this room and his own and he just bursts
Speaker 2: into tears and like he's just watched this guy vanishing
Speaker 2: from here. Yeah, yeah, and he can't explain it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and he'll think he's going mad or something. I guess,
Speaker 2: I don't know. Yeah, But would he disappear? I don't
Speaker 2: know here I get confused on It depends on which
Speaker 2: rule of time travel were going on, and exactly exactly
Speaker 2: would he not just yeah, because he's not come back,
Speaker 2: So he would disappear because he wouldn't have come back
Speaker 2: in the first place, which then obviously means he wouldn't
Speaker 2: have henitd the impact on it, which then means it
Speaker 2: wouldn't have happened, which means he would have done. But anyway,
Speaker 2: there's a great quote from Reese in the podcast. None
Speaker 2: of it matters.
Speaker 4: I think you'll probably watch it and just buy it,
Speaker 4: because that's what you do with time travel stories. You
Speaker 4: accept that it exists as an idea. You don't go
Speaker 4: if you want, if you're a fucker, you can unpick
Speaker 4: it all if you want to, but you have to
Speaker 4: and you could just enjoy it for what it is.
Speaker 1: I think, I think I agree that you do. You
Speaker 1: just have to accept it. But at the same time
Speaker 1: it can be fun sometimes to try and it can
Speaker 1: and pick these things a bit.
Speaker 2: Plus. Also, I'm fine with if you just say time
Speaker 2: travel exists, but when you use the effects of time
Speaker 2: travel for the story, yes, then it has to stole
Speaker 2: up to some scrutiny. Yeah, you can't just go, oh,
Speaker 2: well it works.
Speaker 1: Otherwise it's just what's the point.
Speaker 2: There's no stakes at all.
Speaker 1: It's just whatever you want the plot to be exactly.
Speaker 1: And you know, I've talked about this on my other
Speaker 1: podcast about Doctor Who. But like you've got the different
Speaker 1: like you're saying, the different rules of time travel, different
Speaker 1: types of time travel and sort of ones where it's
Speaker 1: like a closed loop and things are just the way
Speaker 1: they always have been. So if the future gets changed,
Speaker 1: then it was always changed. Yeah, But then there's the
Speaker 1: other ways where yeah, the other the other ways where
Speaker 1: someone changes the future and then everything's.
Speaker 2: Different, ripples back. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's where it gets. The problem is you
Speaker 1: try and have both those types of things in the
Speaker 1: same story.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in doctor's case, you have them one week, one
Speaker 2: the other. Yeah, exactly, depending on who's writing it and
Speaker 2: what I needed to do. Yes, So we we flashed
Speaker 2: forward to the twenty sixties, same house, the art department's
Speaker 2: been in, the redest got out the spray paint, the
Speaker 2: white white spray gun.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's a I mean, it's obviously deliberate, but very cheesy
Speaker 1: sort of yeah, sci fi thing, isn't it. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: we've in this timeline, We've just had Helen's funeral and
Speaker 1: turns out that in this event, she died at the
Speaker 1: age of ninety three. Yep, so she was able to
Speaker 1: survive longer because of a cancer serum that Zach invented.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because of what happened.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so this is a change timeline. So this is
Speaker 1: this has changed because of Zach going back like.
Speaker 2: Zach older zach A going back to young zach A
Speaker 2: has caused old Zach b yeah this point. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 2: we need a chalkboard.
Speaker 1: But yes, I know, I spent so much time earlier
Speaker 1: trying to work it out, and now I'm looking back
Speaker 1: at my notes and I'm thinking, I don't I'm not
Speaker 1: sure this makes sense.
Speaker 2: Well, I think it does. So then you've got Rudolph
Speaker 2: b who is net is working.
Speaker 1: So can I just ask so the version of Zach
Speaker 1: that we see in this scene, yes, has he been
Speaker 1: back in time yet or has that not happened yet? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I thought. He hasn't done it yet, and
Speaker 1: so that's why when he gets killed at the end,
Speaker 1: it changes again because he doesn't get the opportunity to
Speaker 1: go back.
Speaker 2: That's what I took it as yet.
Speaker 1: Yeah that makes sense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that older Zach in White has never time.
Speaker 1: Traveled, yes, and he now and now he never will
Speaker 1: because exactly Rudolf kills him. Yeah presumably, except except then
Speaker 1: it's going to change things again.
Speaker 2: So well, yeah, yeah, that was gonna be a big
Speaker 2: point at the end. I think this is it's like
Speaker 2: it's a loop. Yeah, it's like a like a figure
Speaker 2: of eight loop.
Speaker 1: It's two times that just alternate, isn't it? And so yeah,
Speaker 1: which one is the real one? Well both, Yeah, multiple
Speaker 1: parallel universes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's one timeline runs through, then the other timeline
Speaker 2: runs through, then back to the start. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Very interesting. So I mean, yeah, we've got to bring
Speaker 1: up this bit that I'm pretty sure you will have
Speaker 1: issues with the same as I did. All right, the email,
Speaker 1: the video email.
Speaker 2: But somehow transcends time.
Speaker 3: What the fuck?
Speaker 2: It's a great email provider that can do this. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know how that works, but it's we just
Speaker 2: have to go with it.
Speaker 1: And literally next then in brackets, I just put wtf.
Speaker 2: Yeah they said they spent ages trying to work this
Speaker 2: out and make it make sense enough that you don't
Speaker 2: have to have yeah issue, because.
Speaker 1: How could he possibly find out? You know, any of
Speaker 1: us could have been living a completely different life in
Speaker 1: another timeline and we just never know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's it's it's as if like the timeline
Speaker 2: like collapses, like the world starts getting shaky or whatever,
Speaker 2: and then fizzles out and he's gone. Just before it's done,
Speaker 2: that he's sent this emergency email. Yes, because somehow he
Speaker 2: knows the world's ending. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Just yeah, that very much strikes me as like we're
Speaker 1: at minute twenty eight. Mm.
Speaker 3: Hmmm, we've got.
Speaker 1: To sort of make this work, like yeah, yeah again.
Speaker 2: Another original idea they had was that it was more
Speaker 2: if time gets rewritten for someone, what's to fall out
Speaker 2: on other people? And it's how it's going to ruin
Speaker 2: other people's lives?
Speaker 1: Oh exactly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the thought of imagining a future where like
Speaker 2: and yes, in the future where time travel exists, like
Speaker 2: the very rich people could go back, have people very
Speaker 2: meticulously go back and change time for them, And what
Speaker 2: would happen if some to all the people that just
Speaker 2: become the collateral for that?
Speaker 1: Absolutely, yeah, yeah, there's some big ideas there that hmm. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they wouldn't have time to explore.
Speaker 2: No, that's the same with these things. Yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 2: can we have two seconds on the gun? Awesome sci
Speaker 2: fi gun? I love it? Why do sci fi futuristic
Speaker 2: things always look so.
Speaker 1: Nah, it's hilarious, isn't it?
Speaker 2: They never looked believable? Yeah, bless I'm sorry prop man
Speaker 2: that made that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, like with the white minimalism thing, I think
Speaker 1: and it was just like we want to we want
Speaker 1: to make it very sort of shorthand like let's just
Speaker 1: go with it. Yeah, sort of thing. Yeah. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: like that nineteen fifties thing where they're all upset with
Speaker 1: futurism and what they've expected the future to look like,
Speaker 1: and that image is sort of stuck with us to
Speaker 1: this day, like Jetson's sort of thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's certain element of actual science develops a
Speaker 2: thing that exists in sci fi, soort of just makes
Speaker 2: it look like the thing in sci fi that it
Speaker 2: came from exactly. Yeah, Like flip phones were designed to
Speaker 2: look like the communicators from Star Trek, for example. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and there's loads of things like that. I can't think
Speaker 2: any off the top of my head, but didn't you exist?
Speaker 1: Yeah, like the Telly screens in nineteen eighty four that
Speaker 1: predated the sort of you know what we have now
Speaker 1: zoom calls and everything.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So Rudolph kills Zach. We assume yes.
Speaker 2: Because this so this is Rudolph B that's life has
Speaker 2: been screwed over because Zach a time travel changed the future.
Speaker 2: Now Rudolph never met him, didn't do well in science,
Speaker 2: and became doctor Brad the science man. On Youku they
Speaker 2: said that they liked they thought that by this point
Speaker 2: in the future, China would have taken over the Internet.
Speaker 1: That makes sense.
Speaker 2: YouTube would have been subsumed by you thought. And yeah,
Speaker 2: so he's somehow emailed himself that's crossed over to this timeline.
Speaker 2: He's now what in revenge? Don't know how he thinks
Speaker 2: that killing. Oh yes, so he's going to kill Zach
Speaker 2: b steal the time travel device that Zach a brought
Speaker 2: with him. Oh yeah, try and travel back to stop
Speaker 2: him doing all of this. Yeah, is how I read it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: because he left it under his bed.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, yes, yes, it's very it's a.
Speaker 2: Very portable time machine, which is.
Speaker 1: But you know, supposing Rudolph hadn't intervened at this point, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Zach would never have had any had any reason to
Speaker 1: go back in time because everything was how it worked
Speaker 1: should be for him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he didn't have any regrets that drove.
Speaker 1: It, No, exactly.
Speaker 2: So, yeah, they have a fight. Presume we assume here
Speaker 2: that Bob gets shot, Rudolph does everything he said he
Speaker 2: was going to do, and presumably then stops Bob stealing
Speaker 2: the equipment in the future once the discovery has been made.
Speaker 2: How he then tells that I don't know, but anyway,
Speaker 2: we'll just assume that happens. Bird still flies into window,
Speaker 2: but there's no Bob to save it with a cardboard box.
Speaker 1: No until well exactly, time runs its course again and
Speaker 1: we go back around to the beginning.
Speaker 2: So yeah, so that timeline plays out as normal, Helen dies,
Speaker 2: younger Zach grows up into older Zac that develops, time
Speaker 2: travel goes back. That's the episode from scratch. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: magic email makes it all happen.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's that's the weakest point for me.
Speaker 2: They just had to have a way of he had
Speaker 2: to know how else you do it?
Speaker 3: How you do it?
Speaker 1: It is crazy.
Speaker 2: I like the idea that he just always felt he
Speaker 2: was his life was wrong. And you can say, I
Speaker 2: suppose in this version of reality that when time gets
Speaker 2: changed you can feel it somehow. I don't see how
Speaker 2: that's a problem. But yeah, to literally have an email
Speaker 2: video from yourself. Yeah, but it's the future. Who knows
Speaker 2: that's true. I suppose I suppose in fairness this rudolph
Speaker 2: A has invented time travel. So has he just invented
Speaker 2: some form of email that works with time travel?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: But why not say that he's foreseen a version where
Speaker 2: he needs where timelines would branch, and he needs to
Speaker 2: communicate between them. Yes, who knows?
Speaker 1: Shall we rate it?
Speaker 2: Why not? You go first?
Speaker 1: Okay, I do quite enjoy it, but I don't think
Speaker 1: it's quite up there with stronger one.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think my instinct is saying a six out of nine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was thinking a six as well.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's fair, I agree. Oh God, here we go,
Speaker 1: Here we go.
Speaker 2: Did you spot the hair?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: Every time you do that, I'm like, oh, always maybe
Speaker 2: going to say yes.
Speaker 1: The thing is I was looking. I was. I was
Speaker 1: paying really close attention to this episode because I was thinking,
Speaker 1: next week, we've got a quiz. I just know you're
Speaker 1: going to be asking me some ridiculously anal question like
Speaker 1: ll name every appliance that they have in the kitchen,
Speaker 1: and I'll just be sitting there like, oh god, was
Speaker 1: there a toaster? Is there a freezer?
Speaker 2: Fuck off?
Speaker 1: No, you're not that bad, but yes, you know me
Speaker 1: so well. So No, long story short, I did not
Speaker 1: spot the.
Speaker 2: Hair, No fair, I spotted it by chance. It's in
Speaker 2: sex bedroom. It's on his chest of drawers. Okay, thanks
Speaker 2: for some trophies and things. Fair enough, speaking of hers,
Speaker 2: did you just put us? We will tell you next
Speaker 2: week where it was.
Speaker 1: We shall double l and I mentioned at the start
Speaker 1: of the episode that we're recording on our one year
Speaker 1: anniversary of our first episode. We did a post about
Speaker 1: that on social media, and we've got some really lovely
Speaker 1: comments in from listeners, so I just wanted to share
Speaker 1: a couple of those. We actually a couple of people
Speaker 1: said called us their favorite podcast, and I was like,
Speaker 1: that's a huge honor to be anyone's favorite podcast. Thank you,
Speaker 1: so thank you for that.
Speaker 2: I do hope you listened to more than one, but yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's a slightly hollow victory otherwise.
Speaker 3: But yeah, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1: True Yaz says Happy birthday, nightth degree. Thank you for
Speaker 1: bringing so much joy to my Tuesdays and for listening
Speaker 1: to our Easter egg spotting rantsom theories. Leona said, Happy
Speaker 1: ninth degree Day. Such a great podcast. Always great to
Speaker 1: listen to people who have so much love and support
Speaker 1: for Insundumber nine. As many people have probably said, you
Speaker 1: make Tuesdays enjoyable. Oh and I was thinking it just
Speaker 1: suddenly struck me that with Tuesday being our day, we
Speaker 1: should we should have made our sign off at the
Speaker 1: end of episodes. See you next Tuesday. And Reese would
Speaker 1: love that.
Speaker 2: I missed opportunity. Oh there was the one that said
Speaker 2: that we should celebrate with Dairly triangles on digestives.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that is a great idea. If I had
Speaker 1: digestives or daily and I would have done that, But
Speaker 1: I didn't.
Speaker 2: Me neither.
Speaker 1: Yeah sad, but yeah, I would be less inclined to
Speaker 1: try the spaghetti hoops in salad cream like a frazzles
Speaker 1: mixed in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not doing that.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah that sounds a bit less appetizing a little bit.
Speaker 2: I think the daily triangles are digestive, might be a
Speaker 2: bit bland, but they won't be awful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there'd be at least yeah yeah, and perhaps a
Speaker 1: mango smoothie.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well we will be back with the finale wise Owl
Speaker 2: next week.
Speaker 1: We will, But for now, I think it's time to
Speaker 1: close the door double o or number nine.
Speaker 2: But you never really double our leave, do you.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Ninth Degree. If you'd like
Speaker 1: to get in touch, you can find us on Instagram, Twitter,
Speaker 1: and TikTok at ninth Degree Pod, or email us at
Speaker 1: ninth Degree Pod at gmail dot com. You can also
Speaker 1: leave us a rating or a review, wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts,