Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Sicily, Alaska, a Northern Exposure podcast. I'm Anne Flynn Terrell. I'm a cabaret performer and emcee. I'm Caleb Cohart. I'm a documentary and commercial filmmaker.
Speaker: I'm Amy Gerlich. I own and run a improv and sketch comedy theater in Denver, Colorado. This is a podcast where we talk about Northern Exposure and how it's affected our lives. And we have some amazing special guests.
Speaker: Season six, episode nine, Real Politik. A new mayor for Sicily, Maggie O'Connell. I guess she ran against Walt, which, sure.
Speaker: Yeah, I didn't even know there was a campaign. um But I will say that Walt's concession to Maggie in the mayoral race is what all politics should aspire to. That man sets the bar for class across all humanity. Yeah, he does. Yeah, he does. Yeah, he did not care. Also, that's the importance of turning in your ballot on time.
Speaker: Caleb, if you didn't realize there was a vote going on. I'm going to turn in my ballot. I'm going to it. so you can't mail it. You have it into one the locations. No, there's drop box like three blocks from our house. I'll drop it off tomorrow. There's going to be heavy anxiety amongst our listeners because this is going to be dropping in July. Caleb! Who did Caleb vote for? All right. Well, Marilyn is looking to buy husky sled dog from LeFleur. Again, another thing about him. He's just a man of mystery. And this dog's name is Chuck.
Speaker: I love that. My old dog's name was Charlie and we called him Chuck. Oh, that's cute. This one was right here at my heartstrings. Not Sea Dog? Not Sea Dog. oh guys That was me. i was they yeah Chuck called me K-Dog. K-Dog, yeah. Our first city council meeting, we ah we see that it's Maggie Chris hauling Marilyn and what's that guy's name?
Speaker: I could not for life of you remember. No, no, Hayden's not a city council member. Oh, no, but he works at the bar. Oh, yeah. um Why can't I remember his name? It's not Eugene.
Speaker: I can't either, because he shows up a lot in this little round. know, i feel bad. it was something I just did not feel like looking up. So anyway, moving on. Chris is acting weird. He seems mesmerized by Maggie's authority. Weird, yeah. Like specifically over her usage of the gavel, this was starting to throw up a couple of red flares.
Speaker: Well, I mean, I thought it made sense. Like the people who got him straight, you know, ah threw him into jail. So it all like ties back to this kind of like thing of like, you know, um that's a solid theory.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, wow. I didn't think about that, but I could see that. And I don't like where it leads. Well, let's keep talking about it. But do love their strict adherence to parliamentary procedure during this counseling. Yes. Love Parley Pro. We love a Parley Pro. The detail to that was so, they're even like calling each other like councilman. Councilman, yeah.
Speaker: Councilwoman and Madam Mayor. And it was so great. It was good. So the new doctor gets a note from Joel about playing a round of golf. ah Chris goes to visit Maggie. He tells her she's made for the job as mayor.
Speaker: Then he kisses her, says it won't happen again. and he kisses her again. I was i was tickled a little bit by this because i was like, OK, this is fun. This is a little fun. um Dr. Capron goes to meet Joel at the village he's staying at to play golf. It's like looking in a past mirror for Joel.
Speaker: Right. Yeah. I, I, I'm bummed that Joel is on his way out because we're, I've, I've been one of his most vehement critics for six seasons. I like this new Joel a lot. Yeah. Um, and i will say as a golfer, um, I can tell just by a swing that Capra has never played golf in his life.
Speaker: ah and Interesting. yeah And yeah, I think that this is the game that Joel has played with us is we haven't liked him, we haven't liked him. And just when he becomes something that we actually care about, who's gone?
Speaker: He's gone. He's leaving. He's gone. So Marilyn showing Maurice her new husky. Of course, Maurice has his criticism, but accepts him to mate with one of his dogs.
Speaker: Chris tells ed he made a pass at Maggie and says it's because of her gavel and power. Tells Ed about all his crushes. They've been powerful women. Even Janet Reno. ah Seriously. I think that's kind of great.
Speaker: I honestly really, i like, yeah it it's always the, like, oh, we love men in power and there always these handsome men or rock stars or something like that. But I'm like, yeah, man.
Speaker: janet reno had a ton of power if you are truly a fan of people in power you're gonna love the district attorney yeah you're gonna love that hu woman can rock a power suit so strong so well all right so marilyn's husky didn't have sex with marisa's dog and now he wants his money back Joel and Capra are golfing on rougher terrain than Joel has ever played on in Sicily, which he complained about constantly. And Joel is playing with a wooden club. that smilely Yeah, he probably whittled that himself.
Speaker: I loved this. i thought Joel, um he's now become the teacher and he's embraced all of the wisdom that Sicily and Alaska has tried to impart on him for over five years now or five seasons. And then I just thought it was great that when he becomes the teacher, you can just tell that Capra is going to be as bad of a student as Joel. So like you were saying, Anne, it's kind of this full circle thing. Maybe that's the idea of Sicily. It it truly takes its time with you. And when you're ready, Sicily will be there for you. yeah become the person were meant
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. i Also, he's not holding his grip the right way. um So ah you would think any, what is, this is a pet peeve in this season for me. The technical direction's gone out the window because there's a lot of little details where it's just like, come on, guys. Like, I guarantee you on a crew of 100 people, there's one person that plays golf. Anybody could have been like, hold your, this is how you hold a grip. Like anybody, anybody would have been like,
Speaker: hold this correctly joel knows how to hold it correctly he could be like hey phil you're looking like a jackass maybe put your hands like this on the grip yeah you i would think a from la would know how to golf yeah which is what does it so much injustice is that he can't do it you're like these little details matter One detail I loved in this scene, or it's the next time we see them, think it was this one though, but the guys who play through their game.
Speaker: Yeah. They step aside and they let the other group of men play through. And I was like, oh, this, this, that, that little chart. Like there are these little sparks in this season where it's like they tease us with everything that was. And then they're like, ha ha, just kidding. Back to this. Yeah.
Speaker: This was one I hadn't seen. This was an episode that I think from here on out, I haven't seen any of the episodes. So it was i was tickled. I was tickled. It felt like a new little fan fiction episode.
Speaker: So Marilyn goes back to the floor to return the husky, but he won't do it. Gives her a bunch of random reasons. Now, Joel thinks Western medicine is too narrow.
Speaker: Having an argument with his past self. ah ah Chris visits Maggie again. He brings her package from quote unquote her dad, Giorgio Armani power suit. But it seems like Chris bought it for her. What is going on? This.
Speaker: Yeah, I wrote in this scene. i was like, all right, this stunt is just straight up gross and predatory. It's a little too much me too. I'm not a fan. But then I immediately, as I was retyping my notes from my like voice recorded notes, i was like, wait a minute. You know what?
Speaker: Looking back through the lens of 30 years of societal evolution, This was probably a really clever premise 30 years ago. Sure. and Now it doesn't hold up. So i was like, you know what? I'm going to take this as a small victory that we are actually making some progress.
Speaker: I got a bone to pick with this scene. He says, hold on. Where is it? He says, it's your color. chris it's a black suit it's everybody's color it's a black suit you can't you can't say it's your color there are a ton of other lines that we could have said about how he like talk about the shoulder pads talk about the lapels but isn't that the point is that the point he's so flustered that he says something that dumb as to that's your color
Speaker: I don't i felt like that's I felt like that's what it was. I feel like if he's doing the power play of buying her a Chanel suit or a Gucci suit, what was it? um Giorgio Armani. Yes, Giorgio Armani. Thank you. um Yeah, so he takes the time to buy her a Giorgio Armani suit. No, he would have something to say about the aura, the specter of her once she put it on. I feel like there would have been more poetry. I think you're giving him too much credit. I think they were trying to make him a buffoon and trying to make him look like he was stumbling over himself because it was just lie after lie after lie. And and it was just idiotic. you know It was just like yeah he wants her to put on lingerie, basically. I mean, that was the whole vibe. you know Power scene lingerie. Yeah, for him.
Speaker: Yeah, this is so weird too for him because all of his obsessions prior, like the eye doctor or his past flings or just the random women he meets in the first two seasons hiking in the woods are so different than like this Janet Reno power suit thing that it's It is quirky and it's fun. that That was kind of an interesting flip on Chris, I think. Yeah. But they ah he has like women of authority, that but he's never been able to acquire them.
Speaker: If you think about it, like the eye doctor was like a high status. It was easy for him to have these dumb girls that were just wandering around the woods that were in college. Like they were throwaway. He doesn't even remember half of them, you know? Yeah. um I don't know. where it My brain made it work.
Speaker: ah So Maggie, of course, figures it out, kicks him out, gives him back the suit. You know, she's just having a knee-jerk reaction probably at this point.
Speaker: marilyn tells her husky that she hates him and okay i so i was so taken aback because i was like this is so not like marilyn because she even when her ostriches were having a tough time she would never say something like that so i was like this is so out of character this was the first time in six years i have not liked marilyn And at this point, my head was spinning because I was like, wait a minute. Joel is my new favorite character. Chris and Marilyn, i don't like at all. This episode has reversed the polarity of my world, and I'm very confused. What's happening? Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. no, I don't. I, I did not have many notes on this episode. I didn't really care for any part of it except for just a few sparks, a few moments. And I also the one of my few notes was Marilyn says she hates the dog. Yeah, no, we are in full David Chase kill switch mode. Like this is classic, like switching the characters, taking our favorites and making them do something that we would hate. Like this is full on If you read Reddit, everyone is in agreement. They were like, this is clearly David Chase is just trying to kill this show, which we know that that's what he was doing. yeah sad so anyways maggie's trying to sway the city council about this dumpster i love that a dumpster is the downfall of society via government overreach in this town oh yeah and you know what having grown up in a town this size that's true these are the things that get blown out of proportion and it's it tears the town apart well it's funny because my parents actually live in a town where everybody has to take their stuff to the dump
Speaker: And it's not too far out of the way. But the reasoning behind not having a central like dumpster is because they have a lot of tourists that come in and out. So like, would the locals benefit from one that was kind of like in the center of town, maybe, or even on the off side of the skating rink?
Speaker: Absolutely. Because, you know, for eight months out of the year, six months out of the seven months out of the year, it's just them. So like my dad going to the dumpster every day makes me nervous at this point at his age.
Speaker: But it's a ski town. It's a ski resort. They would not have something as silly as a dumpster in full view of the tourists. Oh, no. Mm hmm.
Speaker: People don't realize how important a well-functioning sanitation system is. yes Because, yeah, if you have something that is well-functioning in a small town like that, you've got yourself a tourist attraction, but it goes down for a day, two days. The whole city stops. People do not give enough ah kudos, enough kindness to our sanitation workers, and I will die on that hill. Yeah, facts. And my dad has found some pretty amazing stuff at the dump because... One thing that people don't think about with beach towns and ski towns is that a lot of stuff is just like, i don't want to travel with this. So my dad, if someone needed ski boots,
Speaker: he would be like, let me just head down to the dump. Like the first time Zach came to ski, Zach has enormous feet. Feet that we have, I mean, we have 30 pairs of ski boots. Not one is going to fit Zach. My dad goes down to the dump, comes back 25 minutes later, brand new size 13 ski boots. And Zach's like, what?
Speaker: And I was like, there's so much sense that they hang out at the dump in Sicily now because that's what they're doing. They're just like, It's their swap meet. Yeah. Oh, it's so like dumpster diving is fascinating. If you're ever on Reddit, there is a subreddit just devoted to what people find in dumpsters. It's incredible what people throw out. And then there's a whole like side section of people who just wait around college campuses for when people move out yep because they'll throw away computers. They'll throw away TVs. They'll throw away like designer clothing and furniture and shoes with the tags on just because they're done. Yeah. It's wild. Yep. It's wild.
Speaker: It's amazing. Ruthann is just a hard no on this dumpster thing. so we notice the golf course hole when it gets dark oh here's so with the golf course i'm sure caleb you have the same thought on this we notice that the golf course hole when it gets dark is the same first hole that they started on the shot is exactly the same same tree same same thing and i'm like this doesn't make any sense because this was the first hole
Speaker: I'm guessing that, you know what though? um Small towns typically play a nine hole course instead of an 18 hole course. And so when you make the turn to play 18, because that's what you will typically play, you just play the same nine over again. Oh, okay. So maybe maybe they were making the turn to the back nine. I'll take that. it did that they did make It felt like they made a concerted effort to make it sound like it was a different hole, but you're probably correct. Yeah.
Speaker: So then yeah I don't, I think we're overthinking it if we're being honest. I was going to say also, maybe they just only had a few places that they could film. That's what I was thinking. ah So then Joel disappears and leaves Capra, who wakes up the next morning in a tree.
Speaker: So Shelly has a box full of kittens in the brick and Marilyn won't take one because she thinks her husky wouldn't like it again. i was like, no, this is so out of character for Marilyn. She would have absolutely taken that kitten for her husky.
Speaker: I don't like all of this. um at i don't I don't care for all of the talk of like breeding dogs and like kittens and that's a lot.
Speaker: Everybody, it's a lifetime commitment and that's tough. I mean, yes, did we get one of our dogs when I was growing up in front of a Walmart in Missouri? Absolutely. Sure. Did we love that dog forever? Absolutely. But also, this episode just seems to come out of nowhere. We've always had the stray dogs in town. We've always had those two or three stray dogs that are always running on the street. But this seems like one of the first times that we've had this animal-centric... It's not just a weird season. See, Marilyn... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yes, yes, yes. No, and Maggie did think that her ex was a dog. And a bear, and she made love to a bear, yeah which is coming up in a future episode. They talk about the cave. But um marilyn this is Marilyn's side hustle. She is always doing something with animals to make money. the ostriches, the... um And she talks about she talks about um marily making money off of animals multiple times throughout this series.
Speaker: Maybe I've forgiven her because she's just so sweet. Every time look at her, I just forget her transgressions. Well, you also think about Alaska. You know, I feel like yeah this is just what they do. They're providing for people. I think that's how they're thinking about it. they yeah and It's humane. Like, think about Marilyn sat there and would knit for her ostriches. and I will say all of these people in all of the episodes do seem like they are conscientious good owners everybody seems like they're taking care of their animals and yeah but then what did she do with the ostriches now i have to think back to that up episode did she sell them no she was selling their eggs remember and then she sold them to maurice but the eggs started getting smaller and smaller and maurice was like ah and she was like yeah because you're like being overbearing they're used to just me and they just want here
Speaker: here I will say long time vegetarian, no longer. Ostrich meat is pretty good. It's good. Yeah, I haven't tried it. I really like ostrich meat. It's been a long time since I've had ostrich meat, but used eat jerky. ostrich hamburgers are great. They're pretty good. Huh, I'm to have try it now. Yeah.
Speaker: It actually tastes like a it's closer to a beef than a chicken. Really? I wouldn't think so. Yes, very much so. ha It looks like a red meat. It's like a lean, healthy red meat.
Speaker: Interesting. right.
Speaker: Capra gets mad at Joel for leaving him and Joel is all Zen about it. Of course he is. um Yeah. And he chalks it all up to, i couldn't just give my practice over just to anyone.
Speaker: like This might be that I'm just fanboying Joel a lot right now, but this this handover scene, yeah I think it's one of my favorite Rob Morrow scenes. Wow.
Speaker: Yeah, it was just it was just played so well and it was a different shape than I had seen from him. I was also watching this really late at night. So maybe I was just feeling nostalgic or something, but i liked this one. huh Are you going through another, do you call it insomniatic episode or insomnia episode? No, I was just trying to get through these before I left town for the weekend and I was traveling. I was traveling all of last week on a production. So i was like watching these on flights and I had late flights and I was here and there and Oh, so two things real quick. One, do you think it is Rob Morrow's detachment from the show that is giving him, granting him this kind of essence that you're enjoying? And two, did you see that a few days ago the entire series was on sale for $20? Yeah, it's Prime Day, baby. Goddammit, I paid more than that just for the sixth season.
Speaker: I know! was so angry! I was so angry that I didn't buy it out of spite. I don't not getting any more of my money. don't feel bad for any of you. I bought, I bought the entire series on DVD back in the day when it was never available anywhere. And it cost me like $350. So I'm not, I don't want to talk about it. So,
Speaker: Yeah, i wanted to also say I love that Joel in this scene was like, I got to see who's my replacement is. And I was like, you don't have a choice, buddy. You left. You were replaced.
Speaker: You have no you have no nothing, nothing to do with any of this. All right, so we have another city council meeting. Maggie is still pushing the dumpster. Maggie could have won, but Chris voted yes, and she decided not accept it. This is why she's not cut off for politics. Yeah. She's not cut off for politics because she has too many scruples. Take your win. I mean, she stood by her morals. And so she was like, nope, I'm not going to do this. If she would have been a true politician, she would have been like, well, it's shitty how I won, but I'm going win. But I got it. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: She's too nice. She's just too nice. She's trying to please too many people. You can't be a people pleaser in reality and actually get stuff done. The people who get stuff done should be in like middle managing government and the people who are the politicians and need to be the people pleasers and say that they'll do everything but don't. Yep.
Speaker: And Chris quits being a city council member. He's done. Also, why have the Capra's not unpacked yet? Like it's been months. Their boxes. So i i mean, I know why, because we hear it later on in other episodes, but i was just like, what the hell is going on?
Speaker: So Marilyn had the dog outside in the rain, but finally lets him in. This is the last scene. And I was just like, now she's just being slightly abusive to this dog.
Speaker: Cause it cost her five grand. oh I read that differently, but now that you've said it, yeah, that sucks. Cause I'm like, in the, my note was in the end, we discovered no good human can resist a good dog, happy ending. But now that you're sitting like, she was letting it out in the rain. Now I'm sitting here going like,
Speaker: There's no need for it. i was just like, come on, what? It's weird. Yeah. It's weird. I mean, I felt like that is like a choice where it's like, if I'm going to kill this show, I got to get the one person that everybody loves to do something terrible. Yeah, the sweetest human in the series. Yeah. And I'm going make her not a dog person.
Speaker: Weird. Very weird. Any final thoughts? oh Oh, when Phil woke up in a tree, he was kind of giving some David Duchovny early X-Files vibes. So I enjoyed that. But other than that... If you ever shoot a show where somebody is playing a sport or doing a thing where they're supposed to be technically proficient, ask somebody who knows how to do it.
Speaker: Like how to hold a golf club, how to shoot a basketball, how to... how to get a suggestion on stage if they're in an improv show, anything.
Speaker: Maybe ask somebody seventh in the seventh season, what was supposed to happen was Phil is actually a criminal and he's not a doctor and he's not a golfer. And the whole season just leads up to this like peak of him being a con artist. Oh, that was amazing. just damned the whole town. So this was originally, Stephen Seven was the original of the Americans. Like, it's just like they were spies. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Yes, that would have been killer. That would saved the show.
