Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Sicily, Alaska, a Northern Exposure podcast. so I'm Anne Flynn Terrell. I'm a cabaret performer and MC. do 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 11, Casa Su Casa. Joel's back. I feel like Joel's in a lot of season six where I felt like he wasn't supposed to be. So I keep being surprised by these Joel episodes.
Speaker: It's weird. Yeah. Because so I thought he was in less of it. But the more I got into season six, I thought he was in too much. But then... I kept watching and I was like, oh, this took an interesting turn. Can't wait. But we got the Joel that we wanted for six years. We've got good Joel now. We do. But then, of course, we can't keep him because Joel's back and no Marilyn and Marilyn is visiting him.
Speaker: You know, for a guy that is supposed to live in the farthest, hardest reaches of Alaska. Everyone's coming. Sure gets a hell of a lot of visitors. Yeah. Well. Oh.
Speaker: She's not there for That's community though. Yeah. Yeah. But like he gets people to come up for a birthday cake or a round of golf. Right. right I think he's not that hard to reach. yeah So Marilyn brings a bunch of fabric and other things. And she says to Joel, I didn't come here for you. Sorry, um Joel. I came for the tribe celebration, the potlatch.
Speaker: Maurice is going hunting and having Ed take care of his house. Michelle Capra drops off an article to Maurice who just dismisses it. Joel doesn't seem as at ease once Marilyn gets there, especially since she's like, wasn't here for you, bro.
Speaker: First glimpse of the facade starting to crack even wider. We got the little piece from Maggie. Now Marilyn is really bringing it home. ah Holling and Shelly are looking at houses with Maggie.
Speaker: They're going to put an offer in on officer Szymanski's house. Thank God we get a little officer Szymanski. Oh, just you wait, Amy. Just you wait. In this moment, I was like, oh, she's gone. This is why we haven't seen her, because Maggie literally says that she was transferred to Fleet Mute. So I'm like, oh, no more Officer Szymanski. No more Szymanski and Maurice trysts throughout the entire series, I'm guessing.
Speaker: Boy, did I set myself up for failure. Ed is exploring Maurice's house, touching knickknacks, lighting a fire, putting his feet up on the coffee table. Just like you're casually getting comfortable.
Speaker: i I would be one quick story about a house setting. I would be so uncomfortable. I hate house setting for people, but one time I did have to house set for a client of mine. Um, Him and his wife were out of town for a while and they wanted me to house set and watch their dog. I was so uncomfortable that I stayed there the first night and I hated it. I was so weirded out by it. So what I would do is I would just stay there until late and then go home and sleep and come right back to their house so that I could be there with their dog because I hated it so much. But at the time I was in my twenties and I lived in a really shitty apartment with no dishwasher And every one of my dishes had piled up and was starting to grow mold in the sink. oh
Speaker: um So what I did is I put all of my dishes in a big Rubbermaid ice chest, took it to their house and used their dishwasher. That was the best part of house setting. good this is That's i lot of effort. You're the strangest house guest housekeeper. yeah That is so strange. It was weird. It was weird.
Speaker: Yes, but that's, I get, i'm I'm trying to relate to Ed here. Yes, full stop. And saying I was very uncomfortable. That's funny. But they're having their dishwasher was great. I used people's washer and dryer when I would house it, but never something that extreme.
Speaker: And I always felt really guilty when I would do it. Yeah, I felt guilty. um I'm pretty confident they're not going to hear this podcast. They live in another country now. um And that was like 20, 25 years ago. Do I know these people?
Speaker: No. Oh, because I was going to tell a different but similar story about friends of ours who also don't live in this country anymore. No, this was a long time ago. This was like a curator of a museum I worked for a lot. But 25 years ago. yeah right, Marilyn is ribbing on Joel in front of some of the tribe about old Joel, and he is not happy about it. And I kind of enjoyed it Marilyn just being like, showing a little bit of her side.
Speaker: i only i honestly thought that this was the first time I had ever seen Elaine Miles yeah appear in the show. This didn't feel like Marilyn. No, uh-uh.
Speaker: Very un-Marilyn. Chris comes and visits Ed at Maurice's. He wants to borrow Maurice's good camera and suggests they watch the game on the TV and eat the good snacks. And Ed is like, well, and then he's like, okay.
Speaker: Chris is a bad influence in a lot of ways. I don't think he's the wholesome good guy that we want to give him credit for. never thought he was. Chris, a lot of his little criminal nature come out. i also think Ed gives into peer pressure way too much. And sadly, everybody knows it and takes advantage of him. See, I don't think ah Chris is good at all, ever. I think that he is very performative about his goodness. Like, he will become a priest. he will But remember, when he was, like, wanting to be that what the during the baptism, he was, like, he just wanted to hold the little bolt. Like, he... And he just wanted to dress up. Yeah, he's not a good guy. He wanted to put on the cosplay and he wanted to do all of things, but he didn't want to do all of the work. The two of you would not be taken advantage by Chris because you can see through this BS.
Speaker: I'm more like Ed. I'm a gullible little, a little happy guy who just wants to hang out with the popular kid. And Chris would have run me over like a Mack truck. With his beautiful, beautiful, beautiful face.
Speaker: See, I was never the person who would ever be around the the handsome, popular one. So if he approached, the suspicion would already be high. The beep, beep, beep, beep. The radar would be going off. Something is wrong. something was Somebody may want something from me that is inappropriate. I don't. Yeah, no, I...
Speaker: But Caleb, you're a cool guy. You're cool guy. And I could see Chris asking you. i am now, but it takes 48 years. Growing up the band geek and music nerd doesn't make you the cool guy.
Speaker: Doesn't your radar go off, though, when somebody supposedly cool comes up and like starts hanging out? Now, it took a long time. now I'm always suspicious more on the ed side. Like if when I was in high school, if like the really interesting people would come up to me, i'd always be suspicious.
Speaker: Like it was it was a joke or something. Oh yeah, i didn't I didn't watch enough of those like 10 Things I Hate About You or whatever movies. Me neither. I wanted to be the popular, I wanted to hang out with the popular kids and they knew it
Speaker: So ah Joel talks to Marilyn about his new nature persona compared to old Joel and says he's changed. Marilyn doesn't respond.
Speaker: All right. Hong is being pretty picky about the house offer. He keeps asking for more and more. Shelly just wants to make the offer and be done with it. He doesn't want to move. No, well it's very clear. Now it is having full on party. They're going through his bills. maurices His bill credit card receipts, his credit card statement, his medicine cabinet, his expensive wine and food. And it's just like such a quick turn. Yeah.
Speaker: Shelly runs into Officer Szymanski and she tells Shelly, Holling is chiseler and she is not giving him the picnic table. Shelly is offended, but not too offended. She's kind of just like, how dare you? Joel continues to try to impress Marilyn with his new nature persona. Marilyn tells him he's just the same.
Speaker: Joel loses his temper and blames Marilyn for him behaving like his old self. And it's, you know, I think everyone can relate. It's like when you go back to your parents' house as an adult thinking, I'm so mature now. I have things to talk about. I'm going to be a good person. It's going to be great. And then three days in, somebody says something to trigger you, and you're immediately 12 years old slamming your bedroom door.
Speaker: yeah This is the effect Marilyn has on him, which also goes back to Caleb. What Caleb was saying is like he didn't understand nature and nurture from his own parents. He learned that from Marilyn. So she's the ultimate judge for him when it comes to has he grown?
Speaker: She's like, nah. And it's just like that one word where she could barely care. She just has to uncover a little bit of it. She just has peel back the onion. I love I loved it. She's also very short-sighted on it too. Like she's, she's refusing to accept that maybe he has changed. Yeah. yeah It's an interesting dynamic in this episode.
Speaker: Yeah. So, uh, Maggie tells Holland, she doesn't think he wants a house and she's done showing him and Shelly houses. She wants her weekends back. Ed goes back to his place and has outgrown it.
Speaker: Wants to go back to Maurice's. It's chilly. It's too small. It's hilarious. Marilyn likes a bowl that she sees at her friend's house in this little village. And this little village and she's surprised because she's told that Joel made it.
Speaker: She's reminded that Joel is trying to relax and find patience. And you can see the processing, which is what we love about Elaine Miles. She can so show so little. And this is like her episode. This is just like featuring Marilyn. Long time coming too. Yeah, exactly. Ed's having a giant dinner party now and he starts acting like an asshole to everyone. He has become Maurice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, my theory here is that Maurice's house is the source of his evil power. Yeah.
Speaker: o his layer like embodying the house and taking yeah over the house starts to take over ed and ed becomes the maurice yeah i mean can say that ed says that later on in the episode I thought it might have been his things because I put like, are we supposed to believe that the house makes people like Maurice or is it Maurice's things? So I wondered if there was some sort of like talisman inside of his house. Could be either one. But yeah, think it's clear it's something there.
Speaker: Yes, i think that I think it's one of his lamps. One of his fringe lamps. One of his fringy lamps. So Holly and Shelly talk about which house they will go for next. Holly says he doesn't want one. Shelly's not happy about it. And she wants a house like everybody else has.
Speaker: I like that she gets mad at him. um We don't see Shelly just outwardly yell and get it express her anger in that way. I thought it was kind of good for her to do that in this situation. yeah maurice's Yeah. Maurice comes back and Ed has made a mess of his place. Maurice snaps Ed back into reality, screams at him to clean up everything.
Speaker: Ed and Shelly talk about it all and Ed realizes he started acting like Maurice because he was possessed by the house. Ed tells Shelly she may not actually need a house based off of his experience and she kind of agrees. Marilyn visits Joel and gives him a gift. Joel thinks Marilyn has sent was sent by a raven to test him, that he should go back to New York, but she thinks he'll in time be worthy.
Speaker: i think this is this was a cool scene. it goes back to my pendulum theory about the... um when we were talking about capitalism versus socialism, a couple of episodes ago, where I think what happened here is Joel had become extreme Joel, the one that we complained about and hated a lot. And then he goes up to this village and the pendulum swings way too far the other direction.
Speaker: He's become almost like crazy performative hippie Joel somewhere in the middle. Reli it exists. The true Joel and Marilyn Like we saw it a little bit with Maggie in the prior episode where she wants, know, she annoys him enough that we get to see little cracks. But in this one, Marilyn, who is really kind of his spirit animal, reveals that he has changed, but he hasn't become this completely different person. Marilyn almost like guides him back to discovering...
Speaker: this middle ground, real Joel that he is becoming. So I really enjoyed this scene where she realizes it. And it also showed me that because earlier in this, Joel is like telling her I've changed. I'm a different person. I've changed. I'm a different person. And she doesn't buy it. It's when she sees that bowl and the patience and the quiet and the focus that it would take to actually make that bowl. And she finds out that Joel made it.
Speaker: that we realize his actions are the proof. And I thought that was a really good lesson in this, that our actions are the proof of who we are, not our words. Yeah. And also it, um, it reminded me when she handed him that,
Speaker: thing it reminded me of the episode where marilyn was teaching everybody how to quilt and joel was really good at it and she gave him a compliment and joel was kind of like oh god i don't think she's ever good me and maggie didn't get one and i was like you know what she complimented his work then as well and it was because of his patience and his kind of like meticulousness to doing things accurately you know, ah like in his profession. And she is always, always maintained giving him credit where credit is due.
Speaker: So it was like, it took me back there for a second. And I was like, oh, she she's not just like judging him to, to judge him. She like really just picks her moments, but he's been pretty consistent with how he uses his hands. And like the accolades he gets from Maryland's and then just to see her give him something for the first time was kind of amazing because even when he had to give away all of his stuff for the tribe and she came back and like gave him other stuff or whatever, none of that was hers. She never gave anything to him.
Speaker: Huh. Interesting. um So Shelly visits Officer Szymanski's house one more time to see if it feels ah she feels at home in there. Clearly she does not. She looks ah trapped and confined right away.
Speaker: Ed visits Chris and apologizes to him about how he acted at the dinner party. He quickly forgives him. Chris doesn't care. And he shows Ed that it motivated him to complete his project. And we so see some of the fun moments old art pieces all collected big old brooch all those things shelly goes and meets holling at the indoor park and she says she doesn't care about getting a house she just wants their baby to be able to hang out with other babies and that's all i wrote oh wait no i said maryland joel are at the potlatch and she asks joel to dance which i think is like the ultimate maryland
Speaker: present to oh yeah dance with her. Yeah. You know, she's an award-winning dancer. Yeah. It was cool. Yeah, I liked their little relationship. It was almost like their nice little rap up closure. Yeah, I felt the same way.
Speaker: I thought $10 a stem for tulips was just incredible. But of course, trying to get fresh tulips up to Alaska? Forget about it. It's going to cost you. Forget about it. I mean, now they have Costco's, so they get they have a little bit more of a chance, but yeah.
Speaker: But still, it can't be cheap. It cannot be cheap. No way.
