232: Pearl (2022)

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Oh, this is weird. We're in the movie theater watching porn together.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

It's the brand. Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. I do love a good audience. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack, a total joke, a waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Totally killer. Unintended.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with a perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Y'all see me for who I really am: a star.

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The gore lover Alexis. I'm married. And the cowardly groeper Ryan. Pardon? We're back in the theaters this week to check out the prequel to a new release we reviewed on this show just a few months ago. Before we get settled into the projection booth, though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Let's follow up on a movie. We recently watched They Slash Them. And so did you, our dear listeners. And we asked you what you thought in a poll. 50% of you hacked it and 50% of you slashed it.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Which feels very appropriate based on our feelings and our patrons while we were live recording. This is definitely a 50-50 split. Feels right.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

I'm surprised. I thought it was going to be a little bit more towards the slash side, but I'm also not surprised it kind of makes sense. Now over on Discord, some of our listeners left some comments. Taylor said, overall, I had a pretty good time with this movie. Realistic dialogue is everything in an LGBTQA movie, and it definitely had that. It was stressful and hard, but it was also a reawakening for me to the fact that even as a gay woman, I still have so much to learn and so much complacency to overcome. Plus, we really don't have very many realistic nonsense horror films. This felt like a bee horror film in the best way. The ending did fall apart, but I really don't care. I got what I needed out of it. I will probably watch this again if I don't have to pay for a peacock subscription, and I'm with a member of the community who has not seen it.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Oh, I feel that, Taylor. There are a lot of layers to this movie and a lot of things that you can take out of it. I think bee horror is a great way to categorize it because it's definitely not some of the hardest hidden stuff that we're gonna see. But you know what? Progress.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Now Tom said, thank you, Paris, for dragging the musical number. This movie was an automatic hack after that four-minute catastrophe.

SPEAKER_03 2:28

Same. Agreed. It was definitely out there.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

They jumped the vocal shark. Now Rob says, overall, I would give this one a soft slash. I enjoyed it, but there are certainly some problems, and I could have done without the musical scene. The B-sides in this episode are absolute gold.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Honestly, those B sides were pretty wild.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

And finally, Diana says, I just finished they slash them, so I'm still processing the movie, but I would still give this a slash. The cast was great, and I think they all told the story well enough to make this a B-list horror movie, like Taylor previously said. Hot take though, I would say the final scene between Jordan and Angie was cringier than the pink musical number.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Okay, this absolutely. I a thousand percent agree, Diana. I did not mind the musical number, but the ending of this movie is filled with some of the worst dialogue in the entire thing.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Finally, we want to say hello and thank you to our new patron, Deanna or Dina. Please like let us know. If you could hit up the hackerslash hotline and drop us a message about how we're supposed to pronounce your name, that would be awesome. But welcome to the team, welcome to the fam, and that's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Well, in episode 206, we reviewed an A24 film that featured a group of young filmmakers on their quest for stardom making adult films for the home video market and their eventual fight for survival on the farm where they were filming. As construction began on the farmhouse the team would film at in New Zealand, director Ty West was struck by an idea that would ultimately maximize the set being built. Westman had pitched to A24 to extend their stay in New Zealand to film a prequel after production for X Rapped. Once it was greenlit, Ty West and Mia Goth faced time to collaborate on the backstory for her ex character, a backstory that proved to be the foundation of the prequel script. Days after X's production ended, Goth began dance rehearsals and the entire production underwent a makeover that would transform the scene from gritty 70s exploitation to a vibrant technicolor world set at the tail end of World War I. This film transports us 61 years before the events of X and allows us to see our elderly antagonist as she once was. A vibrant young woman ruled by her ambition and dreams of stardom. This week we're talking about Pearl. Now I'm anxious to hear what you all were expecting, but Mac, you weren't on our X episode, and if I recall correctly, we were all really anxious to hear how you'd react to that movie. So what was that experience like for you?

SPEAKER_00 4:45

So I watched it the night before going in to see Pearl in theaters, and X is a slash. It's a hundred percent totally killer, and like they say in the movie, one FDAP horror film. I just think it's an eyeball magnet and it completely goes off the rails in a very enjoyable way.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Okay, that is actually surprising. I thought for sure you wouldn't be able to sit through that movie seriously.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Oh, I mean, there's parts of it that were absolutely hilarious and other parts of it that were super cringy, but I just everything felt deliberate to me and I couldn't keep my eyes off it.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

All right, so that being said, what were you expecting going into Pearl?

SPEAKER_00 5:21

I expected it to kind of one up X in terms of how effed up things get. I expected it to be crazier and more twisted.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

Same. I expected more gore in this one. And I know you get Pearl's backstory, but I was really interested in seeing all of the like darkness that led her to where she was at in X.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

I think the phrase one up is exactly how I would describe it. I really expected Pearl to just be like, oh, y'all thought X was something, like you weren't comfortable watching that. Wait till you see this one. And I started watching a trailer, and then immediately I was like, no, turn it off. I this trailer wanted to give you everything immediately, and I was not here for it. So I watched a tiny little bit. I knew there was gonna be kind of a moment where she transformed, and I knew that's kind of where this movie would be based around. But other than that, yeah, just I kind of just expected crazy pearl.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

I'm really surprised that you all went for the term one up instead of 2x.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Oh, good catch.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

It was right there, man. And I was expecting for this to be more of the same where Ty West just completely nails the aesthetic and sensation of a period piece. And I expected the body count to be high. So, like you all, I expected this to really just take it up a notch and swoosh it up a bit. I expected Miyagoth to be disturbing and for it to feel even more over the top than X could even aspire to be. And the trailer allowed me to believe that it would be. For some reason, I had this impression of like this grand scale of violence. And look, I I've dropped links in our show notes that talk more about the movie as a whole, and we'll reference them throughout the episode. But one of them is a piece where Martin Scorsese says he was so disturbed by this movie that he had a hard time falling asleep. I agree with it being disturbing, but I wouldn't go that far. Like, especially not to say that I had a hard time falling asleep by any stretch of the imagination. Like I felt a wide range of things during this movie, and while the majority of my expectations were met, there were these deviations that I didn't see coming. Like there are so many moments that did feel disturbing, but more in the spirit of like secondhand embarrassment or anxiety. And the performances in this movie are top-notch, and you can feel the discomfort in this movie. And we yeah, we talked about discomfort a lot in our X episode, but the discomfort in this one was way, way different.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

It is very different. And I would say my biggest feeling throughout this movie was like honestly just being entranced by Mia Goth and like feeling like this is not a character that she's playing, but this was a person that I was looking at, and like just watching her feel things and go through things and kind of evolve and get grasp of her emotions and everything. It it's just crazy how how good she is on screen. I honestly, I know we're gonna talk about this a lot tonight, but it cannot be overstated how incredible she is. And the whole time I felt like empathy for her because these felt like real feelings and real things.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Well, I'm gonna kind of parrot what I said about X, and I I just think I couldn't take my eyes off it. Sadly, I needed to really I needed to be halfway through this movie, and I was like, I can't risk it. I don't want to risk walking away and missing anything because it keeps throwing things at you. Even in the moments where it seems really slow, there's like a scene that is incredibly drawn out. And I knew that like I could walk away and it's probably still gonna be going on when I get back. But I was like, no, I'm not gonna take the chance that I'm gonna miss something absolutely stellar because Miyagoth does deliver in this movie. It's insane to watch her on screen. Even just her speaking for like five minutes straight, you're just like eyeballs wide open.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Mac, I too had to pee very badly, except you were better than me, and I did have to exit for a pee break at one point, which is never happened to me in a theater-going experience. And I made sure to pee before the movie, but this thing was drawn out.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Wait, what's really funny is that I actually had to leave the theater twice during X because I had to pee so bad. And when I rewatched it a couple days ago, I was like, Oh yeah, I forgot I went and peed during this part. I missed this.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

I would have totally went pee because Chris, I really thought this was drawn out. I don't know. I just looked over at Ryan. I said, Is this shit over yet? Fuck. Or I was looking and I cheated, and I typically don't I was like, I think this movie's like two half, two and a half hours or something. And I looked, I was like, no, it's an hour and 45 minutes. And I was like, which means it's almost done. And I just while watching it, especially at the end, I felt cheated. I felt very cheated in this movie.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Okay, so I'll say this in terms of like you feeling cheated. The biggest surprise was that it was over the top, but not in areas that I was expecting. So Mia Goth, obviously, we've said it for the thousandth time already, and we're only like a few minutes in. Uh, she really delivered in a big way. All right. There's no one saying that she didn't, but I was surprised to see how small the film felt in terms of its body count. Now, don't get me wrong, like you get kills, and Alexis will take us through that later. But this movie felt incredibly repressed for so much of its runtime, and that in some ways is disappointing. Alexis, you say you feel cheated, and I don't disagree. I think I don't feel quite as offended and personally attacked by it as you do. Uh, but on one hand, that repression and buildup is genius, yes. But on the other hand, I definitely hit a point where I felt bored. And look, I I watched this movie with Paris in the theater, and I actually turned to him and said, look, they either have to start fucking or they have to start dying because this isn't it.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Not wrong. I was very bored. You know, I think X really sets you up for something because I don't see how anyone could be prepared for X going into it, especially like X in a theater setting was just a level of discomfort I've never felt in my life. But then to go into this one where there is arguably 100% less sex. I guess technically that's not true. There's, I don't know, let's say 90% less sex. And there was a moment where I was like, are they gonna have sex on screen or not? Like, find myself like looking for it because X is just so crazy in that way. Like it just hit a note like when me and Alexis were watching X, and we were like, oh, this is weird. We're in a movie theater watching porn together. It's the brand. So the whole time we're watching Pearl, like there was a significant portion where I was like, really? No sex yet? That she hasn't been a sex fiend all the time. Was this not always a part of Pearl?

SPEAKER_00 12:04

I'll say that I think the thing that surprised me, or disappointed, I guess, depending on how you look at it, is like it's pretty darn twisted, and and so was X. Absolutely. But I wasn't really, I wasn't thrown off by what we got. I don't think there was anything that was so shocking that I was like, oh my god, I can't believe they put that on screen. But the trailer really does a disservice to the movie because I think the trailer sets you up for just a massive blood fest. And I had watched it a couple times, unfortunately, throughout my movie viewing experience the last couple months. And so every time I think of Pearl, I was like, oh man, I don't know how I'm gonna handle this. It's gonna be so much blood, so much killing, just like all sorts of crazy stuff. Like I had no idea. I I wasn't expecting that, but yeah, I mean But when we get into it, like you said, I think to me, it wasn't necessarily disappointing. It is kind of like the setup you get in X, where a huge chunk of the movie is not the horror, it's not really the action, it's that buildup. And so, like that to me was kind of surprising in a good way because I think this movie plays with things like are we in, you know, are we in a period piece or are we in the like movie version, like musical version of history? Maybe that's why it really bothered Martin Scorsese to watch this, because he's got certain things in his brain attached to that kind of color, that kind of acting, that kind of dancing, that smile, right? And then watching this like twist. Like if we watched Sesame Street and they like chopped each other's heads off or something, maybe that would mess with us in the in a similar kind of fashion.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Okay, Mac, you talk about that buildup and look this this might sound a little crass, but I think the difference between X and Pearl is that X felt like a lot of foreplay that eventually gets somewhere, whereas this just felt like constant edging. It felt more like a punishment along the way. It's like, okay, you can you almost get there, and then all of a sudden it just dissipates.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

So I think the thing about this, like this non-horror buildup. I mean, there's definitely like suspense building going on, and you're getting an idea of the character, but it does remove a lot of the fright factor you would have with this film. Like it makes it feels like two-thirds of the film not really scary in any way aside from just knowing that something's coming.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

I have to agree. And I was thinking about it afterwards, and it's almost like the horror in this film is tamed down as part of it being a period piece. It's almost like they lean more towards showing things like kills and stuff like that in this movie in a way that they may have shown it during this time period. So they take what would have probably been like a a a significantly bloody and kind of intense kill if done now, and kind of like tone it down, kind of kind of restrict it, kind of like tie it up, kind of everything is just a little bit repressed. Everything is just like a little bit more vanilla, which I feel like is how the world was at this time. You know what I mean? Like everything's just a bit tame and I would say too tame, and that's why I done this movie's not scary.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Yeah, I struggle with even probably classifying this as a horror movie because it really doesn't have, I mean, the qualities that I think of in a horror movie. And one of the disappointments for me was that I was telling someone in line, I was like, Oh yeah, it's a horror movie. And he's like, Do I like is it funny? I was like, I mean, the first one was kind of funny, but in a disgusting way. But then the girl that works at the movie theater said, Oh, you can watch this as a standalone, it's not too scary. And I was like, Oh shit, she just kind of ruined the movie for me.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

I just want to go on record saying I don't think that anyone should watch Pearl on its own. I don't think it's standalone because imagine how much you wouldn't care about anything happening if you didn't know who Pearl became.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

Could you watch it in the chronological way? Absolutely. Kind of like how you can watch Star Wars episodes one through nine without watching four, five, and six, and then one, two, and three. Sure. Like you can watch Pearl first, but you're missing out on so many moments that maybe perhaps even unintentionally give you so many callbacks to X that just feel like really gleeful and joyous to me. And I found myself anxious or or disturbed in some ways, but never scared in this movie. So technically, yeah, you could watch it as a standalone, but I don't think that voids it of any horror qualities. But I definitely think this is something that you can show someone without having to fear for them being scared.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

It it does something I think with psychological horror in the beginning of the film. It's kind of like if you've seen Mother, Mother's not really a horror film, but it it does head towards this place which is really dark and twisted and mental and crazy and gross. And I don't think this film goes all the way there, but I think it does sort of just like play with with the mind a good bit before it jumps into like, hey, we're gonna show you some gnarly stuff now. And so that's good. I don't think though, I mean, I used a comparison, but I don't think it's really fair to compare this to other films. These two films are two of the most original horror films I think we've watched in a in a while. Um there's there's been some others that were obviously more original. This one does some very deliberate things where it talks about, you know, the porn industry, where it talks about that kind of like van trip to the middle of nowhere that we've seen in other movies set in the 70s and stuff. This one in particular, I think it's interesting. We don't see enough horror set in the early 20th century. And I think it was a pretty horrific time that we could get more out of if we really squeezed that lemon.

SPEAKER_03 17:37

Yeah, and I appreciate what it did because it brought this originality that you don't see in horror, much less bringing historical facts that are kind of accurate, you know, like people going away for men, women going away to war, and how that impacts society and you know, even whatever influenza was going around during this time, having that would be a part of it too, which I think they played up too much, but we will get to that in the second half.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

I think I'm on board with with all of that, especially like Mag said, I think this era is kind of relatively untouched for horror, and I think you're right, there's a lot of horrific stuff. Honestly, these people lived better than things my grandmother has it has described, so uh, you know, I'll take the hot water in a tub rather than cold water in a bucket that all eight kids bathe in. So I definitely think it gets originality points at both these movies for sure.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Yeah, you know, I never thought I'd see another movie, much less a horror movie, that would immediately strike me with the Wizard of Oz energy. And similar to how X was like this amalgamation of its inspiration, but ultimately a unique piece, there are moments where this movie is straight up kissed by its predecessors, right? Like there are little nuggets where you can directly feel Wizard of Oz, Psycho, so on and so forth. And it takes so many good parts of those movies, but it weaves it into something new and it stands on its own two feet. And Mia Goth gives such an amazing, unparalleled performance that it absolutely feels original and manned. She delivers that performance even right into the end credits. What a disturbing, chaotic, uncomfortable ending.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

It was beautiful. I think everything about this ending pretty much was amazing. If you're gonna go out on a high note, make that high note blow out eardrums, apparently, is what Ty West thought about this. And I and I loved it. I think when we build up that much, you better deliver something. I want some payoff at the end, and boy, did we get some. I was really happy with the ending. I think it's I think it's the ending that we truly needed to this film to for it to not fizzle out, and it's it's just just it did the opposite. Really impressed.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

Yeah, for that the first, you know, two thirds of the movie really were slow, it picked up in that last third for sure, which I appreciate.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

It finally figured out what it was doing. I don't have much else to say about the ending that you guys haven't said because the ending of this movie is pretty dang good, and it's you know, the wrap-up of the story is great. The very, very last thing we see on screen is amazing. So there's no dead parts, it's all great.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

Well, let's see how our sentiments, as mixed as they are with some of the pacing in this movie, translate into our scores. And how as we ponder our ratings, Alexis, how would you describe the gore score for this movie?

SPEAKER_03 20:31

There's one thing that happens uh in this movie that's pretty graphic, and then it leaves you with a bang, just like we were talking about at the end. So I would say it's medium, it's not what you get in X, and but it's not non-existent. So it's there. It's a a little warning. And what about the animal report?

SPEAKER_01 20:51

I don't think it's particularly surprising, but yeah, the animal report is not good. No bueno.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

Let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. Pearl from 2022 prequel to X. Was it a hacker or slash?

SPEAKER_00 21:03

I'm really happy that I had to watch X before watching this movie because I watched it literally the night before. And it's kind of like re-watching a Star Wars film before a new one comes out, if of course, if the new one's good. But I think I think it really set the stage for what to expect in terms of tone, because there was a there was a lot of wit. And I think I ha if I had seen this on its own, I wouldn't have expected that really going into it. When you watch the trailers for it, you're doing yourself, as I mentioned, a huge disservice. And I think if you haven't seen the trailers, don't go watch them. That's my first my first thought right there. Is just watch the movie based on your experience with X. So the movie itself, though, it's so freaking vivid. And it's vivid in its colors, it's vivid in its energy and in its characters. It really puts a lot out there. And what's amazing about it is even without violence, even without horror, I think it's incredibly effective. It made me want to like re watch old movies from the 40s. No, they're not horror movies, even though they're just like you know, bright, happy movies, because it has this particular energy to it that modern movies just don't have because they try to be too real and too gritty. And this deliberately doesn't do that, and it makes things so surreal, which is fantastic. It really plays into the horror that we get, especially in the later parts of the movie. But I just think it was overall a major slash. I think it was one of the most interesting and disturbing things I've watched in a while. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to like enjoy it at all. Um, but after having seen it, I think if you've seen X and you liked it, you have to watch Pearl.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

But have slightly lower expectations for this movie because it is getting a hack from me. I do think people should watch it though, after you've watched X, preferably a very long time, because your expectations might be lower and not super high. But I think that's what happened to me is I was like expecting gore, I was expecting energy, I was expecting a lot of characters, I was just expecting a lot. And not that Mia Goth didn't deliver because she did. The visuals in this movie are stunning. The kills you do get are good, but I just wouldn't feel like I need to watch this again. Not even probably in the whole trilogy if I'm watching it. Like I just to me, there was no story other than her, which I get was the point, but I didn't appreciate that. It felt like I was watching a biopic on someone I really don't care about.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

I mean, it is a biopic, I'd say. First off, I just want to say this is me here once again campaigning that everyone stops watching trailers. And at the very least, if you have to watch a trailer, you just watch like the first couple seconds. And as soon as you start feeling like you know what might happen in that movie, you turn it off. And Mac is 100% right, the trailer for this movie ruins it. It ruins it like immediately. It sets the complete wrong tone. And I think part of that is because it sets the tone that they established in X. And this movie doesn't carry that same tone, it's very different. It it cannot be overstated how unbelievably amazing Mia Goth is in this movie. Her mom is also amazing. There are only a few characters in this movie, but they give some incredible performances. And like the story is really interesting because we know who Pearl becomes. So it's the whole time you're kind of sitting there like, is this why? How does this go? We like we know she gets out somehow, so how? With all that being said, though, we've kind of mentioned there's like a level of restraint and like smallness to this movie that I didn't enjoy. The best way I can describe it is like I felt like I was at like a six during this entire movie, and I never really went much higher or much lower, even in the most intense moments, like truly the peak drama of this movie. I leaned my head back against the chair and was like, how long are we gonna do this? And that's not really the feeling that I want. Um, literally, one of the deaths in this movie is an accident, and it it just don't hit for me. It's just a little too emotional. I didn't enjoy like the Spanish flu angle of it at all. It was just like a bit too relevant, and I, you know, I understand it was a real thing, but I just didn't need to see it. It didn't do it for me. And there were just some things like some significant intentional callbacks to X that I missed, like that that I wish had been there. There were some small things that I really enjoyed, but the big like character things, I felt like I didn't get enough of them. So this is a hack for me. And I would say it like you're not gonna be like pissed that you saw it, but I'm not running around like everybody has to watch if you watched X, you have to watch Pearl. Like, no, you can just stick with X. X has a vibe that you'll you'll never match, I think.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

So thus far we were at one slash and two hacks, and I'll admit this movie is a bit of a mixed bag for me. Obviously, Mia Goth is amazing, but Mia Goth as an amazing performer does not a good movie make. And thankfully, this movie has other stuff to fall back on and rely on, right? Like aesthetically, this movie is stunning. I love the sound and the score for this movie. Ty West just cannot touch a project and produce a bad aesthetic. He really can't. Cinematically, this movie is almost as much of a masterpiece for me as X and House of the Devil was. I do have my complaints about this movie being boring. Again, for me to be able to like turn to Paris and say, all right, something's gotta change because this is really going nowhere real fast. And by real fast, I actually mean real slow, that was a very big pain point. And it got to the point where I did have to like get up and go use the bathroom because I thought, look, I I've lost track of how long we've been in this theater, and at the rate that it's going, I can't see when the end is near. I don't feel like if I wait another 10, 15 minutes, like we're gonna be any closer to this thing wrapping itself up, which was a problem. And I've I've talked about how small the scale of this movie feels, and I really had to sit and stew on this for a little while. Now, immediately after walking out of the theater, I thought this movie's a slash. It's definitely not better than X. I don't know if anything in my body ever felt like a sec for a second, like it would be. As I've sat and stewed and pondered and really reflected, I think some of its flaws come higher to light to me. But I will say this: I think the smallness of the story is a great parallel to how small Pearl's world is and how she has this quest for something bigger and better. But even this movie is a container for her. Even this movie in this point in her life is holding her back. I think this movie is a slash. It's not a 75% slash, it's not a 99% slash. I'd say it's a it's a good C's get degrees kind of slash. Enjoyable, but I probably won't watch it unless it's in a triple feature. Now, with that, Pearl has a split right down the middle with two hacks and two slashes. Now, this movie is currently showing in theater, so up to you if you want to go catch a showing or wait for it to stream. But either way, check it out. Then join us in the second half so we can travel back in time together. See you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

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SPEAKER_02 29:20

Welcome back, folks. You're now entering the spoiler zone for Pearl, which has earned two hacks and two slashes. Now we have a lot to get to here, but before we dive into the specifics of our ratings, Alexis, take us through the kills.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

Or lack thereof, like I said, I had high expectations for this movie. I'm disappointed that there are only four four kills in this movie. And Ryan was right, one you don't even really see. And one of them isn't even that climactic. Do you guys have a favorite kill?

SPEAKER_00 29:48

The biggest, most interesting one is Mitzi's kill to me, because of the post-mortem stuff that goes on. That to me was the most interesting. Seeing limbs cut with an axe afterwards, that was wild. And I a hundred percent expected a decapitation though. And I was a little bit let down that we didn't get one because she's running.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Well, you get it after.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

No, but I'm talking about like live decapitation, right? So she's running at her, she's running behind her. And instead of continuing with that horizontal like movement with the axe, she like moves up into vertical like mode. And I was kind of bummed. I was like, oh, like I thought it was gonna be a mid-run head flies off or something. So a little bit let down there that we missed out that opportunity, but we did get it later, right? So I mean she chops her up into little bits and then feeds her buddy the alligator. And that was so interesting to see. I mean, we got real close. That was like most of the gore, I feel like, was this like dismemberment.

SPEAKER_03 30:41

It really was, and it's the cuts that they have, and it's almost like a legit cut, and it's clean, it looks like ham, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

But see, my problem with that is that level of gore was absolutely non-existent from the rest of the movie. I mean, even like the pitchwork kills, like we didn't it they just didn't hit, and then all of a sudden we have like she's slicing all the limbs apart. Like, I don't know. It it felt out of place for me to be so heavy on the gore at the end of that kill as opposed to the rest of the movie.

SPEAKER_03 31:13

Well, they were done edging at this point, Ryan. You were just getting it all, it all.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

I personally was still at a six. I would say the dismemberment maybe took me to a seven, but if it had been done differently, I we could have been at a ten. You know what I mean? Like dismemberment is pretty intense, and also, like, obviously, the crocodile's the best actor in the whole movie. And so when we're talking about feeding him, like that should have really been the one, you know. Okay. Can I have a least favorite kill?

SPEAKER_03 31:42

Pearl's father.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

No, my least favorite kill is the projectionist because he was hot and I just wanted him to get away. I just enjoyed him as like a free bean rolling around the world just looking nice and slaying women, it seemed. And uh yeah, I was sad to see him go. I mean, it was obvious that he was gonna go, but I was sad to see it.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

You know, he really just saw all the red flags and thought, let me just exit out of this situation. I didn't mind his death. I obviously love the pitchfork death it calls back to X, but I'm gonna go for what I think was the most painful or interesting death, and that's Ruth. Because damn, even in death, she just had to keep suffering. She couldn't just be let off the hook, she couldn't just get a mercy kill. This woman has had to carry and shoulder so much, so much burden, so much pain, and then to be accidentally set on fire, and then be left to her own wounds. Terrible.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

Yes, but I really, really, really hate that I'm I understand she didn't die from the accidental fire, but she basically died from the accidental fire. Like that was what got us down this road, and I just I I don't know. That that was again one of those things it kept me at a six when I feel like her being half burned to death really should have been a higher point.

SPEAKER_03 33:06

It was a lame kill, I would say, because we know what Pearl is capable of. And even before this, her mom mentions that she's done some things in the dark, so I'm like, okay, why don't you just like show us a little bit of that? Like, I'm fine with some bird kills. I'm I'm totally down. I don't like birds, so don't kill dogs or farm animals. But if we could have seen some of that, I feel like that would have added to the gore, it would have added making this a little bit more terrifying for viewers as well.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

See, I like how tragic it is that she didn't even die necessarily at Pearl's hands. She indirectly died at Pearl's hands because Pearl dragged her down into the cellar and just left her there to die. And granted, I don't think there's much that she could have done, even if she did get help for this woman to be able to live. But I think that makes it all the more sad and all the more impactful. Like I think this is the gateway for Pearl to be able to kind of like lean into who she is. But the real tragedy of this film, and I think what makes the ending even more powerful when she's like, I can set things right and just make a comfortable home for Howard and I, it all starts with an accident. It doesn't even start because she gave into herself completely. And that's what's really fucked up about this movie.

SPEAKER_03 34:27

I do like the way you put that, Chris, because I never actually thought about it that way. I was just like, when is she gonna tick? But honestly, she accidentally fell into it, and I appreciate that. What I love dearly about the gore at the end, and it ties into the visuals throughout the movie, is their use of red in this movie, and it sticks out so well, especially that wallpaper. And I love it when it's plastered on the walls, when they're going up the stairs. Specifically, I like it when she's about to kill her dad, and you have the yellow canaries, I believe, in the fence, and they're just going off, and then you have the red behind it, and it's such a contrast, and and I know we could talk about visuals for this movie all day, probably, but specifically the red stood out with all the vibrancy of it.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

Yeah, the whole technicolor vibe of it, it's what really takes us back to like the Wizard of Oz, for example. This movie and like the vibrance and pop of its color is what really kind of creates this scene of almost innocence, right? You see horror movies and you would typically think of like some seedy dark alley or some really grungy, gritty, uh you're warm tones. But for this to be so bright and seemingly happy when you think of the smiles that we see when you think about the sunshine in the middle of the day, it creates this feeling of discomfort because you should be looking at that and seeing a happy idyllic day. And instead, you're getting Pearl getting closer and closer to the edge of her own sanity and about to let loose. So I think the color grading in this film is just absolutely brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

Yes, and one of those things is that red dress that Pearl's wearing. That red dress is beautiful, and like you can really see her like coming into her chaos when she has that on. I have to though say my favorite visual is the ending, uh, the smiling pearl for two, three solid minutes. It's just so creepy. It's like the perfect ending to this kind of unhinged moment that she's in. And also like I'm scared for Howard. And it it it was just such a striking way to end such an insane movie. It was just such a striking way to end a crazy movie. I loved it so much. I loved looking at her, and I could feel her chaos coming through that smile and those tears running down her face at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

You've all picked some really great choices here. And to be fair, colors was the thing I wrote down because I think the color is really what makes this movie seem uh so nightmarish. But I think I'll go based off something you said, the red dress, right? I think the the costumes, the wardrobe and the hair in this film is is next level because it helps uh achieve this feeling of like this could be a 1940s musical set in 1918, and things could go well and people could be happy and somebody could start singing. And I think when we start to see like moments of dancing amongst the madness, it really kind of adds to it. And that's what's so great about it, is like everyone looks a little bit too perfect in in moments, and it makes it seem like things could go well, but we know all along something's going terribly, terribly wrong. And it wouldn't have played right if we if we saw characters that like looked too real, I think. If we saw a farmhand, you know, that was like really gross and greasy and dirty, if we saw um even Pearl like just looking like really messed up, it wouldn't be the same Pearl. Pearl like lives in this interesting moment where like she's got like the perfect hair at in certain times and like the perfect dress ready to go, you know, juxtaposed against the the overalls and the murder and everything like that.

SPEAKER_02 38:15

Okay, but Mia Goth, credit to you because when she had her head buried in her arms, crying hysterically after she didn't get the part at that at that audition. The moment she looks up and you see the snot oozing from her nose and her mouth, Mia really committed to the ugly cry.

SPEAKER_03 38:37

I am thoroughly impressed. Oh, I'm very impressed because I was listening to that thinking, wow, when I cry like when no one's around, this is exactly what it sounds like. You know, you sometimes you do a fake cry in front of people, not fake, but you're not going hard. This is I it felt real. It really, it really did.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

I feel like Mia Goth had trauma in life, okay? Oh yeah, you could tell. I don't see how you could act this way and not be touching on like real feelings inside of you. So um I don't know anything about her other than her husband, and I hope that her life has been happy and joyful, but it doesn't seem like it's been perfect because the the tears feel so like raw and real and painful. It's a rough one.

SPEAKER_03 39:30

You know it was rough was the amount of sex you get in X, and then Chris, you mentioned it, the edging you get, especially in my favorite scene, which is her uh humping the scarecrow. Because I wrote in my notes, never have I seen a scarecrow makeout session before. But then it went further. I was like, yep, never have I ever seen someone essentially emulate sex with a scarecrow before, or possibly have sex. Who knows? But I don't know, the face on that thing looked a little bit kind of crazy, but the dancing, the hat, the this, the that, and her pretending it was a projectionist. I was like really thinking it was going to go into territory of X, and then it was like, nope, we're staying in the lane.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

Yeah, you took my favorite scene. It's it's my favorite because of exactly that. It's that moment where we feel the insanity of X for a little bit. Like that's one of the moments where I wasn't just at a bland six, and that was like, holy tits, what are we doing here? And you know, it happened pretty early, and there was a while where you were just like, okay, so what's gonna happen? And you know, she goes a little off the rails, and I like Pearl a little off the rails, and like, I don't know, hump a scare scarecrow if you want to.

SPEAKER_03 40:48

Like, I'm not here to judge. You specifically when she was crawling or climbing up the scarecrow, you're like, um, what? She's doing yeah, hello. That's what it was.

SPEAKER_01 40:58

It was a hello, what are you doing? I like that. The thing is, I loved X so much afterwards, feeling like, what did we just watch? And that's what that scene makes you feel.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

Okay, but my favorite scene we've already mentioned, it's the dancing tryouts. That was such an amazing display of I mean, talking about like flipping a switch in someone's brain, like absolutely amazing. But like the anxiety that her that Mitzi's feeling leading up, and the anxiety that she is like apparently not feeling, she's not letting on to anyone that she has anything going on. Like, she's got this, right? It is her spot on that dance troupe. And for her to go through that whole dance routine, which again, visually amazing when we start to see this like fake background appear as she's moving, and then when that all disappears and the reality hits and we get the ugly cry and everything, it's just so fantastic because in her mind, you know, she was right. This is her her spot. She's got this, nobody else can ever have it. It's just meant for her. There's no way she wouldn't get it. And then, like, to see that emotional switch just flipped is so next level and like such a credit to the actress. Like, just wow.

SPEAKER_01 42:06

They also really played us because when you're watching X, the understanding is that Pearl was a dancer and that's how she met Howard. Like, I I don't think I'm alone in that. That's how it's per portrayed. And then you see her going to the trial, and you're like, okay, cool. Well, obviously she's gonna she's gonna get it. And the whole time I was thinking, hmm, she's gonna be a dancer, but at the same time, she's gonna keep that farm and like she's gonna keep that house and that land. So how does that work? And I guess that probably should have been my hint, but it's so crazy that you I I I totally expected her to get that part, especially when like the background started changing. I was like, Oh, she got it. We're in the future now, she's part of the troupe. Nope, she's not.

SPEAKER_02 42:48

You know, the dancing scene for me was I wouldn't say necessarily a low point in the movie, but it certainly wasn't one of my highest points. I thought the the tryout and the audition itself was a moment where I was like, okay, well, there's no way she can get it because she's gonna stay at the farm. So Ryan, I think it's interesting. Like, obviously, I think we've seen X the same number of times. I think we walked away with two completely different understandings, but I can see why you would presume that because of the photos and the set dressing in X.

unknown 43:20

What?

SPEAKER_01 43:20

You didn't think that she was a dancer after you watched X?

SPEAKER_02 43:24

I think she's a dancer in the same way that I am a podcaster, in that it's not affecting anything about where I live or what I do. It's just a hobby. You know what I mean? I didn't I didn't see her as like a professional dancer in X.

SPEAKER_01 43:37

I would argue it's not even that. She's a dancer in the way that I'm a chef. That it's that. I I cook myself dinner, so I'm a chef. She's that kind of dancer. You you you do make a podcast. People do listen to us. We we are podcasters. She just dances in the kitchen. She she should not be walking around lying. People. I mean, I guess this is this is Pearl we're talking about, so I'm not surprised.

SPEAKER_02 44:04

Well, same thing for like people who sing and are singers, but they're not necessarily professional singers, right? Like it's something that they do that brings them great joy, it's something that they're passionate about. So I never really chalked it up as anything more than that because I always saw, like, you obviously you have Howard who served during the war, and that was all that I ever cared to investigate about their prior lives. So I didn't really attach any particular feelings to what's Pearl gonna be up to.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

I just want to argue that I think you're in the minority, and the the implication was that she was a dancer out in the world, a special lady, and she did magical things. But I'm uh I'd love to hear from other people and and hear what they think. This listen, Pearl was a dancer the way people who are singers are just singing in the shower. Okay. Okay. It's not the same. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 44:57

Uh a big moment in the movie, certainly, but my favorite scene is actually the end monologue. And I actually had to go back and watch it because I sadly had to go pee very, very badly halfway through the film. And then the further along it went, the more I thought, there's no fucking way this movie is gonna just end. I need to go. And with Paris' encouragement, I went just as Mitzi was saying, You can trust me. Tell tell me, like just like you would tell Howard. And I left right at the beginning of the monologue. But when I came back and heard and saw how Mia Goth was just delivering time and time again with each line, how we see this slow descent from her talking about her feelings of Howard to really talking about how she feels about herself and talking about these like inner fears that she has. It was horrifying. And you sit here and and you watch this and realize that it's not really even cutting away from her, she's just going and going and going and going. And then you remember Mitzi's across the table from her. What is this reaction like? And we finally get the payoff of that reaction when Mitzi is just taking it in, puts her hands on the table, and says she has to get going. Ah, what a beautiful moment.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

I think it's so funny that you say that because you already mentioned that you find a lot uh portions of this movie to be boring. That scene was so boring to me. Like, literally, again, this is the one where Alexis and I were leaned back in the chair. I I think the biggest thing here is just a character thing of who you are and who I am. Because, like, Chris, I'm not surprised that that extremely emotional monologue was your favorite part. And I think it's probably unsurprising that I found it to be a bit boring. I found the acting and her performance to be incredible, but there was a point where I was just like, okay, but like I didn't have enough payoff to care about that. Like, like it it just didn't do enough for me, and it went on for so long that I was just like, okay, well, beyond the beauty of what Mia Goth is doing, in the movie context, this is doing nothing for me.

SPEAKER_02 47:09

Yes, okay, I agree with you on all fronts there. I will say though, that for me, the fact that it kept going on so long was what made it even more interesting as it went, because it just wouldn't stop. Because she's just word-vomiting everything, because she who has been so repressed this entire movie is finally just letting everything go. And then it's also the acknowledgement, right, that Pearl has some sort of illness, and this is the first time she's really talking about it out loud. Her mother speaks of it in hushed tones and shame. And obviously, on a scale of, you know, seasonal depression to being a complete sociopath and homicidal maniac, Pearl is certainly on the latter end of that scale. But you have this acknowledgement where she's kind of becoming self-aware and realizing that she doesn't have complete control. And it's really interesting to hear how she views the world and this charade that she's been putting on, this act that she's been putting on, it's slowly starting to fade. But then is it really an act? Or is this just another side of herself that's finally coming out and she wasn't consciously pretending the whole time? Even though she admits that there are some things that she was pretending in. That is what makes Pearl such an interesting character for me. And you know, I I know that this movie was designed to show us who Pearl is, and I know obviously we'll get the third film that will explore Maxine. And I'll say this, I don't know that we'll ever get what I'm about to say because Ty West seems to have plenty of self-control. But man, he created a world where we could absolutely get follow-up films that show us more of Pearl through the decades and how Howard came to be her accomplice and not just staring at her horrifically when he walks in on her at the end. Because Miyakoff that gave that full monologue at the end in one take, and when they were filming, she did it perfectly six or seven times. Like the quality of that performance I could do with seeing more of that. I think not necessarily to this pacing, but I could see more Pearl in other movies based on just these characters.

SPEAKER_03 49:22

I like that, and I appreciate her in this movie. I just really hope that Maxine isn't a movie all about Maxine. Like, I don't know, I just would hope that there would be some more interactions, but it was just all about Pearl, which I understand is the main title of this movie, but I wish there were more interactions that you could get with other characters besides her parents, but then I realized, well, this is her small world. There isn't much. I don't know. I just wish there was more to the story with her that than what I got. And this might be the this was such a small, short world for this movie to be in in a short time frame, and I didn't get more than what I saw. You know, I would love, I told Ryan, I was like, maybe wish I got something like when she was a kid, or honestly, I would like a little bit more than what happened in that 60 plus years in between. Like how many people did she kill, all that sort of stuff. Like that just left me questioning this movie a little bit more than I probably wanted to.

SPEAKER_01 50:23

Yeah, we talked about this some afterwards. We just get a very specific look into like a literally, I mean, a week of Pearl's life, less than a week of Pearl's life. And it's not built like a movie where someone walks in a into a room and starts talking to someone about their entire life history, right? Which is unrealistic because that happens in movies a lot. Like, hey, let me tell this person about the main character's entire existence and how they got here and who they are and everything. This is not that. This is literally a like real life shot of Pearl's life. And I feel you, I do want to know, like, I want to know how Howard got into this. I honestly, there was a moment where I thought we weren't gonna see Howard at all, and I was gonna lose my mind. Like, that was pretty crazy when we got him. Yeah, like I want to know what she does. You know, I don't maybe don't need to know everything she does to keep him around, but like I need to know what she does to keep him around, to keep him like on board with killing people at this farm. Like, I need to know. Give it to us, please. But I need to shout out one of the other really, really incredible character performances, and it's Ruth. And she doesn't say much for a while, but then when she goes off at the dinner table right before that fight, I mean, she is talking about stuff that, like, the heaviness of discussing how the person that you are in love with and want to spend your entire life with is now a person that you have to care for as if they are literally your child. That's intense. And she hit it right on the nose. She didn't have as much dialogue as Pearl, so she's not gonna get the same credit, but Ruth killed it in this movie too. I mean, honestly, everybody was quite good, but she needs a special shout out.

SPEAKER_03 52:00

She definitely delivered for sure. I just was questioning the how she had a German accent, but Pearl was country, like how that even happened. I was like, wouldn't she either pick up on this sort of I don't know the time? I guess I don't know when they moved there.

SPEAKER_01 52:14

Well, I'm assuming her parents came there and then had her. And usually it just depends on where you live and who you're around, I guess. Texas is, you know, it's the Texas blood, it gets in you.

SPEAKER_02 52:24

It seems like she is a native of Texas. She was born there, but her parents are German immigrants, just the way that my grandmother still has an accent now. And my mom came here at a young age, or my dad came out here at a young age so they can speak English without an accent, but it's all about like timing, right? But what's wild to me is that the woman who plays Ruth was the intimacy coordinator on X and then auditioned for this role.

SPEAKER_01 52:49

I'm sorry, what?

SPEAKER_02 52:50

Yeah, she was the intimacy coordinator to make sure everybody felt safe. It's wild to me that a woman whose sole focus on X was intimacy and just like that safety could then turn around and deliver a performance like this that is so cold and burdened. Amazing. That's insane.

SPEAKER_00 53:08

It it's really impressive to like hear the lines when she's speaking German and to hear her accent and stuff and like how good it is to know that it's it's made up, that it's acting. Very like to learn enough German to be able to speak that way is so damn impressive.

SPEAKER_01 53:23

And yell that way.

SPEAKER_00 53:24

Yeah, probably more impressive than yelling. I think the the the underappreciated performance is probably Pearl's dead, right? Because I think we think it's easy to just like sit there or lay there and not really do much, but he looked so pained, and to like just see his eye movements in certain places where he's awake and aware of what's about to happen, and to see the strain and fear in those eyes, even in the mouth, even though it seems like it's not moving, like that was also pretty fantastic. When we get to his death scene where he like knows what's about to happen, and he's like obviously very concerned about that, um, it's even more impressive, I think, because you could like you really feel what's going on in his brain, even though he can't show anything. He has no affect because he's completely paralyzed. And I just love no no matter what you feel about the movie, I think the characters here, the acting that went into them is so intense.

SPEAKER_01 54:16

I agree. And when it comes to since I hacked this, talking about a best part, honestly, we've we've touched on so many good things. I'm gonna go with something that we haven't touched on yet. It's probably not the absolute best part of this movie, but it is one of my favorite parts, and it is the alligator. During X, it was like, when are we gonna see somebody get eaten by the alligator? And it was a great part of that to see that relationship, you know, kind of built at the beginning with Pearl as a younger person is lovely. And like alligators like technically have no life expectancy, so it works. Like they could just live forever, you know?

SPEAKER_00 54:53

Well, since I slash this movie, I'm gonna have to pick something that's bad about it, as my worst part, I guess you could say. And that's actually hard for me to do. I think the thing you guys mentioned the slowness of the movie, and typically I'm not bothered by that. I like a movie that takes its time to get where it needs to go. But the part that felt a little long-winded was the monologue. So when we get to that monologue, it's intense and amazing, and the acting is fantastic. And then it feels like 30 minutes later, I'm like, okay, maybe we should have ended this by now. Like, we still haven't even flipped the camera around to see the reaction from Mitzi. And it's probably enough because it causes tension. It's probably really good that they like took their time on that part, but it just felt a little long to me.

SPEAKER_02 55:32

You know, Mac, you mentioned how long and intense that was, and the worst part of this movie for me actually comes from a lack of intensity, and it's the chase during Mitzi's death, not the chase itself. It looked great from a cinematography perspective, but there was something about the axe striking her that just didn't sell it for me, and it didn't even seem consistent with the amount of blood that's on the ground when she finally fell down and turns over. There was just something about the whacking and the fact that she was able to keep going. I don't know. There was something there that just wasn't quite right, and that is not like a huge detractor for this film, right? Like this movie's it is solid in so much it does, but that was that was a weak spot for me.

SPEAKER_01 56:21

That is also, I totally agree, and that's exactly how I felt about the pitchfork too. And that's what I'm saying, it's almost like they did the kill effects as if the kill effects were from the time period as well. Like we didn't see anything happening, and like when she stabs the projectionist with this with the pitchfork, it it almost looks like it just goes like next to his head, which you know, when effects were less high-tech, that's totally what they would have done. And that's why uh that that's a thing that I don't like about this, especially. Totally on board.

SPEAKER_03 56:52

Yeah, I wonder if that was done intentionally.

SPEAKER_01 56:55

Uh my heart says yes, because it doesn't seem like a lot of things were done here like on accident, but I wouldn't say I liked it. So that was your best part? No, no, no.

SPEAKER_03 57:06

Um, Mac, that would definitely be my worst part, but unfortunately, I have to pick a best part, which is good because there's a lot to love about this movie. Specifically, we talked about it a little bit, but the costumes. I think that's one of the things that I love so much about X, and I'm glad that it went into this movie as well. Something about her and the overalls. Like the overalls were cute. It was a vibe with the linen shirt underneath. I I loved it, and the red dress, I mean, just everything that went into the detail for those was great. Okay, but the overalls with a shirt were not as good as the overalls with no shirt.

SPEAKER_02 57:42

Yeah, that is very true. You know, I mentioned this earlier, but I think all high points and low points aside, I don't see this as something that I could easily re-watch. And I think I'll only ever re-watch it if I were to sit down and watch the entire trilogy back to back to back.

SPEAKER_01 57:59

I agree. And I did an unbelievable thing and re-watched X. It's amazing to re-watch. It's so fun, so exciting. This, I I don't know why I would re-watch this.

SPEAKER_03 58:08

That's good you said that because I wondered if it's would have the same like effect that it did on me the first time where I was like, what the fuck am I watching?

SPEAKER_01 58:16

Less insane, but like maybe even more fun. Oh, nice. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 58:21

Yeah, an X would probably be the only one I'm watching unless I'm like Chris and I'm watching them in a trilogy of some sort.

SPEAKER_00 58:28

Okay, so I literally wrote that in my notes about watching this when the trilogy is complete, and I can see it as a completed product. I can't wait. But also, I feel like this one and and X to a degree, like, yeah, seeing it in theater is one thing, but I think seeing it at home on a nice high definition TV with headphones in specifically, and that that would be, I think, next level view viewing right there. Because when you're watching it in a theater and you hear the rumble and you feel everything, and you're like, wow, this is crazy. That's it's great, it's a nice experience. But when you're in your own home with all the lights switched off and you're comfortable in your own couch and you can hear every detail, that like takes it up such a notch. And I I need to have that experience to really, to really like experience a movie to the fullest.

SPEAKER_01 59:11

What's weird is I felt like our theater was quiet. Like I didn't feel like the movie was loud at all.

SPEAKER_00 59:15

And but that's what makes the sound even better, is because any sound you get is that much more important.

SPEAKER_01 59:21

I I felt like it was just me though. Alexis didn't seem to agree. But that scarecrow sex scene would be great with headphones in. It's really doing it for you, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 59:29

No, it's just fun. Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. Well, scarecrow sex scene aside, there you have it, folks. Pearl has earned two hacks and two slashes. Now we certainly had a lot to talk about here, but it doesn't end here by any means. We want to know what you think, so let us know. You can join in on the conversation by hanging out with us for free over in our Discord. Click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_00 59:51

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SPEAKER_02 1:00:02

We'll see you next time, folks, and remember, don't forget to live your life as well. Bye.