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Welcome to Sister Cinema Squad, the podcast where two sisters work through their backlogs of movies they haven't seen. I'm Emily Bateman. I'm Petealo. I'm Lionel. And we finally watched Elot flawless. Uh-huh. Seamless. No notes. No notes. But uh yeah, I'm sure, as you guys have all noticed, uh, we have a guest finally. This is our first guest, uh um longtime podcast friend. You know him from Super Bracket Bros as the assistant to the bracketologist. I write, right? Oh yeah, that's that's the title. Yes, yes. And then um all of our uh Christmas specials, multiple episodes of Game of Grounds, and uh the we have a three-person text thread where, or not text thread, Instagram uh message where Eli just sends the best dog videos. I have I've infested so many of my friends' algorithms with dog videos. I've received like three different people texting me. It's all dog videos and DD, and honestly, I'm always here for it. No notes. I mean, no notes makes my day. Anytime I see something, I'm like, if anybody out there needs an algorithm curator, let me know. Just give me your phone and I'll get I'll hook you up. Like 24 hours max, and then yeah, you're good. Just pay me to take your phone. Honestly, yeah, things you can take my phone, please. Get it out of my face. Save me. Just pay him to just take it in general and never come back. You'll never find me. Oh, thank God I'm free. Oh but uh yeah, as our first guest, we don't really know what we're doing for this podcast. Um, but since in our first episode, Kate and I kind of talked about favorite types of movies, favorite genres, and we thought maybe we would try something where we ask you, Eli, your top three favorite movies if you have them. Yeah, I I actually don't struggle with like favorite movies questions. Uh like you ever see the letterbox like on their social media, they always interview people, and it's always they're always like in pain. But I got my my top like five is pretty set from three to one. Uh, How is Moving Castle is number three? I love Ghibli. That movie is just pure magic, it just makes me so happy. I I can watch that anytime. Number two, if you ask me like last week, would be my number one favorite movie, and that's Fantastic Mr. Fox. Ooh. Good choice. I love that movie, Death. It was my number one for the longest time, and I still love it to death. It's very much like ingrained in me. Um, just the art, the music, just the I can recite things verbatim. It's it's it's it's been my favorite for a while. But recently, I watched what I think I consider my number one favorite film right now, and that's Wolf Walkers, the animated movie by Cartoon Saloon. Okay. I feel like I've talked about this before. Yeah, it's not a you know, it's not like a Pixar Disney, it's not like super well known, but there's an Irish uh animation studio called Cartoon Saloon. Uh they did uh Song of the Sea, uh Breadwinners. They do Puffin' Rock, if anybody's familiar with that animated show. I've seen that, isn't that on Netflix or something? Yes, yeah. Um and Wolf Walkers is an Irish mythology animated movie, and it is just so beautiful. I watched it a couple days ago, and I just I had this thought in my brain of just like to me, this is a perfect movie. I can't think of anything else I would change it. And I was just like, I watched Fantastic Mr. Fox like a couple months ago and this one last week, and I was just like, I cut right now for me. I need like the Wolf Walkers, like I need that feeling. So I'm gonna say number one right now, Wolf Walkers. And anybody watching I cannot recommend that movie enough. Although for Emily, it is a bit scary for younger kids. So I'll watch it by myself. Do it, it's like I recommend that to everybody. It is I love that movie to death, but yeah, those are my top three. Howls Movie Castle, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Wolf Walkers. I I am an animated movie. I was about to say something, okay. Yeah, that that is my wheelhouse. I love it. It's like my favorite thing. So oh, that's so good. That's funny because all we've ever talked about is Game of Thrones with you. So it's funny to fully switch gears. But that's the funny part, too, is I also haven't watched all of Game of Thrones just like piecemeal. You did House of the Dragon. You you were a House of the Dragon expert, so let's be real. Well, that's true. I did watch that. I did watch that. Yes. Yeah, no, we rely on you for that. HBO, animated Game of Thrones PG movie for kids. That's what they should do with the Jon Snow spin-off. They should just make it animated. Yeah. I thought you were gonna say animated PG for kids, and I was like, what are you talking about? No, no, no, no, no, no. I don't think that's I don't think that's gonna happen. I don't have faith in them to do that. No, I would rather watch that, but no, it's it's not happening. Yeah. Ooh, like Jon Snow in the style of like Samurai Jack or something. That would be pretty cool. Yo, yeah, okay. Okay, I like that actually. That's not a bad player. Warner Brothers, hear me out. Just have him fight um, what was the guy's name? The the the bad guy from Samurai Jack. Yeah, just have just have Jon Snow fight him instead of Samurai Jack. Like literally, no, Aku as a white walker is such an easy, like I can picture that coloring the horns, but it's blue instead of green, perfect. White uh blue eyes and white. That'd be perfect because Aku. I mean, it's just Jon Snow is brooding like Samurai Jack, so it's not that different. He doesn't even have to talk, it's perfect, yeah. No notes. And if he's animated, you don't have to worry about his mouth just weirdly being open the whole time. He he got it together, he knocked it off. He didn't know. I didn't, I mean, I I'm a fan. By the end of it, I am a Kit Harrington slash semi-Jon Snow fan. So um he he we pulled out to him. Yeah. Best glower in the game. Yeah. All right. So this movie I did not realize just came out this last year. So when we say finally watched, it's only been out less than a year. Um, but you two, uh, we do normally say, uh, why have you not watched this movie yet? So um, Eli, do you want to go first? Yeah, the reason why is I didn't even realize it came out. The marketing for this movie was so minuscule. It was so awful. It was like you could tell they'd had no faith in this movie. And I thought, okay, it's probably not a great movie, so I just passed it aside. But then I saw like the reviews coming out, and people were saying it was pretty good. But I I that just like first impression really like imprinted on me. So I just kind of brushed it off. And when you came up to me, it's like, oh, what's the movie you've been meaning to watch? I was like, honestly, this one, like I I want to see what the like the buzz is like how underrated this movie is. And yeah, spoiler alert for our discussion, I think it's pretty underrated. I what about you, Kate? I realized when we were go honestly, when when Eli gave us his list was that I don't I have not kept up with Pixar movies recently. I think the last one I saw was turning red. And I don't like I was looking at the last one, like I didn't I didn't see Inside Out 2. I didn't see which majig um elemental, a lot of the newer ones, like either they just didn't really grab me. Like I feel like turning red was so specifically, like I heard so much about like like as growing up, like it's just such a like it was so relatable for like girls, like especially in like the like growing up in the late 90s and like it was also controversial though, coming out. Oh gosh, it was you're right. There was a lot of buzz about like ooh, girls can't have you know have crushes or hormones or whatever, you know, yeah, it's like talking about periods calm down, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so there was there was a lot about that. I remember I do remember hearing about that. Yeah, but I think it was it was something like I heard that buzz, and then I heard truly nothing about elemental, and then I heard I heard Inside Out too was like I heard it was cute, but I like I didn't really I don't know. It's just something where like that story didn't grab me. And then with this one, like I just knew so little about Elio. Like I think, I think the only advertising I really saw for it was like I think like McDonald's ads or something where they had like toys for this. And I was like, okay, sounds good. But otherwise, yeah, it was it was like this sure is a movie. I'm like, okay, but I like likewise, like I did not hear much about it, and so it just kind of came and went. And then when it popped up on Disney, I was just like, I hadn't heard anything good or bad about it, and so it was just kind of a nothing movie, but um, but then as we talked about, like I knew that there were like whatever behind the scenes things that were happening, and so I was like a little curious about that, but I knew I hadn't dug too far into it. So at the time I was just like, I know I know nothing, and so I don't need to learn like what the you know controversy is behind anything. So it just kind of moved past it, but yeah. Um, and the only reason that I saw it was I believe after uh my husband and my daughter and I we went to uh well Disney World last year, and Evelyn, our daughter, was on a big watch Disney movie kick. And so um, and she just randomly picked this one without knowing anything about it. And Chase and I were both like, okay, I guess we'll watch it. It's like normally they're ones that we know we can vet, like and I was just like, we're going into this blind, and I was like, okay, that we'll see. And it didn't really stick with her at all. Yeah. We have not watched it since with her. I don't know if it I don't think it made a big impact with her, but I think a lot of the themes of this movie were really tracking for a four-year-old, also. I think it was a little more nuanced, and also for for for the way that she is. Um, it was not really like a deep-hitting movie for her. Um But that that's the only reason we watched it. That's so that's so funny that she just randomly picked it. I will say, like, I starting this movie, I I saw that it was I saw that it was rated PG, and I started thinking about like newer Pixar movies and stuff. And I looked at, I was curious how like how many of them were G versus PG. And I realized so so here's the thing. I actually found like an entire list. Um all of them from Toy Story up until um uh so like the first five Toy Story, Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo, all rated G. The Incredibles was the first PG one, and then it was that's people fighting, I guess. Yeah, I guess. And then um Up was PG, which makes sense. There is like you know, relationship trauma. I get it, I understand that yeah. Um Brave was PG, but I don't know why. Um Toy Story 3 G, don't understand. They accept death. I can't, yeah, I know. Oh, I know, I know yeah, and and partially I'm like, okay, like I don't understand where the line is between PG and G. Maybe I don't either. The more I have a kid. Yeah, a lot of the times when I look at like the streaming services, they don't have those for TV shows. It's like this, and it's like like what TVY seven. So it's like for seven-year-olds and up. And I was like, what a weird line to draw. Exactly. But some of these I think are more chill. So I as a parent trying to figure out what is appropriate or what could be scary, but then also like thinking back and saying, Well, I watched this movie when I was this age and never thought about these implications of like, because I was talking to a friend who was like, Yeah, I was showing my kids Pocahontas and I turned it off because um, because Koku Um died and because they almost killed John Smith. And I was like, so tough and like my daughter watched it, and I guess just over the head, like just like you know, didn't notice it, didn't bother her, whatever. And I'm like, I guess it but I am hesitant to show her a hunchback of Notre Dame because whew, like that's a lot of shit. It's but we watched it. That one's literally, and I and I think a lot of it is like you see, oh, it's a Disney movie, it's a Pixar movie, and you don't think about it, but like literally looking at the last like 10 Pixar movies that came out, the only one PG. Yeah, they're all PG from Coco in 2017 on, everything's been PG except Toy Story 4. Everything else is PG, and that feels and like it's it's like heavier stuff. It's like you know, turning red and and you know, inside out too. And I mean Coco was too. Yeah, oh Coco, yeah, Coco was PG. I feel like I don't remember Pixar movies always being so serious, and then I'm thinking about it, I'm like, I feel like they all always had some serious stuff in them. I think I've cried at every single Pixar movie I've ever seen. But at the same time, I'm like, but is that but does that make it PG? Or is it just like, ah yes, because you know, you were an adult with emotions and nostalgia. Like, does this just stab you a specific way? Like, I don't know. But yeah, I'm I'm not sure. But yeah, this one even I I felt like it was not made for little kids, yeah, or like I I don't know. And I I think some of it and we'll we'll we'll get into that part, and it was more like the familial stuff. Um, but when it when that's the first part of it, I was like, ooh, like this feels like not it, it was heavy, it was a lot of heavy stuff, and it stays heavy for a bit, yeah. Yes, but I mean we joke about like Disney characters never having both or any parents. Yeah, like the first five minutes of finding Nemo, devastating. Like you know, like there there are things to it, yeah, and I think I think maybe I just forget how like resilient kids are, possibly. And maybe we're in that generation of like being too worried about our kids watching stuff and like too overly anxious about it, and and like I don't know, I don't know the right protective there. Yeah. There's there's a quote by Don Buluth I love where he says that children can handle most sad and scary things so long as you give them a good, happy ending. And I think I think there's some truth in that of like Yeah, absolutely. If so long as you give them like that light at the end of the tunnel, I think a lot of people underestimate kids' abilities to withstand like the emotion. Yeah, yeah. And I I think I do a lot because I I think about the themes of the of whatever movie as an adult, not as uh an almost five-year-old. So yeah. But I mean, Mithelio, like the themes of like bullying and loneliness definitely feel more like later, like elementary, early middle. And he is 11 mostly in the film, too. Yeah, um, so it it makes sense. I guess we can go ahead and jump into the movie uh facts. Give us some info. Um so came out in uh June of 2025. It did go to theaters, not straight to uh Disney Plus. DC cast, uh the the two children, uh Jonas Kibreb was Elio, uh Remy Edgerly um was uh Gordon. Glordon, yeah. Glordon, both very big child voice actors, so like well known within within voice acting. I I knew I recognized Gordon. I was trying to figure him out. Yeah, they both and and both of them have kind of already done some Disney stuff. So like they are they are in it. Uh Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett, Jamila Jamil, Atsuko Okatsuka, Shirley Henderson, which if you don't know her, she's Money Myrtle, um, uh among many other things. Uh she was in Doctor Who, she's done a lot of voice acting as well already. Um I remember her. And then Brendan Hunt uh is Coach Beard from Ted Lasso. Uh he was also in this. He was um uh Mel Mac. Oh Mr. Mel Mac. I was surprised at how few voices I recognized from this. Like, I there were some that like I was like, you gotta be someone that I know. And I was like, no, you're just a guy. Honestly, for some I had to look at pictures, and it was not a long list of voices. No, no, no, no. There were surprisingly few voices in the movie. I need a shout out. Uh, in the beginning, there's a little uh vocal cameo by Kate Mulgrew. Uh I was getting to that. Oh, I'm sorry. I just no, no, go. No, no, no, no, I'm so sorry. What are you doing? I just I finished she's like, you guys get the summary. I get this. Let me have it. No, go for it. I just I I finished my first ever watch through Voyager a couple months ago. And so when I I when I heard that I did the Leonardo DiCaprio point, she's like, and then like the subsequent disappointment of oh, she's not in the movie anymore. Yeah, that's it. There's there's actually um a couple Star Trek references can't like like things in this movie specifically. Okay. So directors, because the the directors and the writers, like this is where it gets weird and confusing and everything. Um it's it's about who was originally on the film. So you look at directors, it's listed Adrian Molina, uh, who has been working at Pixar since like 2013, but co-directed Coco, and this was his first like main director credit. Uh, was also a writer for Coco and Elio. Okay. But the other two directors are Madeline Sheriffian, uh been with Pixar a long time as well. This is her first to be a director, and Domi, she, uh also a Pixar for a while, was writing for Turning Red and Elio as well as directing. So, like all big Pixar people. Yeah. And like you can see the credits, like, you know, senior creative team, supervisor, story lead, like they just, they just it's very insular, it seems, um, within Pixar. And so what's crazy on IMDb is it had writers, it had screenplay, it had story, and then it had additional screenplay contributions. So uh screenplay is by Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, Mike Jones, a story by Adrienne Melina, Madeline Sheraffine, Ian, Domishi, Julia Cho. Basically, what had happened was the film was because we'll just get straight into the fun facts because this explains it all. The film was supposed to be autobiographical, uh, like most Pixar's films were, uh, during the first half of the 2020s, uh, directed by Coco co-director Adrienne Molina. Um, it was supposed to represent his lonely childhood and how he overcame that loneliness when he went to uh college, yeah, uh animation college. And uh let's see, I I should have reordered these. So originally Elio was portrayed as a queer-coded character to reflect Adrian's identity as an openly gay filmmaker. Um, but the characterization faded through production process, and Elio got more masculine because of feedback. So, and it's noted that the film version uh was so far into development that a trailer was publicly released in June of 2023. I could not find this trailer. Whoa. But this was and this film was like already so far almost done, and that's when things started going wrong. Oh, is that uh Pixar CCO, which I don't know what that means, Pete Doctor, decided to pivot away. What is it? Oh, that's chief creative officer. Thank you. He wanted to pivot away from personal stories in favor of universal appeal films, and I have a quote from him, a 2024 interview that he said we should make the most relatable films, and sh which can be interpreted, I would say, as a shift away from underrepresented characters and voices. So brave. What a what a what a what a bold stance. How do you make yourself the villain in a sentence? Sorry. But he's trying so hard. I know. So uh it got um heavily reworked to meet this new goal around uh that time. Um, I believe there was a original screening to people of like Melina's original film. It was screened, people liked it, but they said that none of nobody said they would go see it in theaters. And so that's when they were like, uh oh, red flags, we need to change everything about this movie. And so soon after that. That Molina screened it to I guess the big people at Pixar. It didn't go well. He left as director. And he is actually working on Coco too. So it some things that I read kind of were like, well, he just he just went to go help with Coco too, instead of he left because his vision was no longer being used and represented and whatever. Um so that's why they have three directors. Uh turned it over to uh Turning Red director Domi She and Burrow, which is the little short director Madeline Cherophin. Okay. And it says uh most of his story, oh, he gets the story credit, yeah. But it sounds like it was a wildly different movie originally because I don't think I could show I don't think I could find the exact trailer, but I found like clips that people had and stuff. And the 2023 trailer shows Elio like not trying to like getting abducted but not wanting to leave. Oh and then Grygon was an ambassador already and befriended Elio and he had a mother, not an aunt, and the mother was voiced by America Ferreira originally. Yeah. She had already recorded stuff, but left when Melina left because there was no more uh Latin Latinx uh representation within the film. Oh wow and because they kept having her re-record stuff, she was like, I'm out, never mind. Huh. I think you just like like all my critiques of the movie have just been explained, I think. I believe they will be next, next. So what's crazy is that at D23 in 2022, America Ferrero was like on stage promoting this movie. It was like, I'm the mom, you know, like not just her, I'm sure there were other people, but like she like people knew that she was part of the movie. But like she was on board, yeah. She was on board. Um and it was also uh director his mom was also in the military, so that was also a um like a tie back to his childhood and stuff. So this is very personal, yeah. Very, very personal, yes. And oh, and then uh yeah, it was supposed to come out in spring of 2024. That was delayed, I believe, by pre-production, but also because of the um the strike that happened. Remember that um as well. Um oh, and there there was a uh a new teaser, I don't know when this came out, that had Elio like on the beach or something, and he was like trying to get he's he tells two kids, I'm trying to get abducted, but then quickly clarifies that he means by aliens. The scene is not in the movie because of possible unsettling implications. Nope. That's how you get your PG rating. I was just oh my god. I mean yeah. Oh let's see. That's that's the whole, that's like the overall story behind production. That um that's it was uh, of course, Oscar nominated, lost to K-pop demon hunters just uh just this month. I mean, yeah. How are you not? I like you, Elio. I like you a lot, but yeah. Let's see if there's anything fun. Uh oh, Mr. Melmac is an Alf reference. Melmac was the name of Alf's home planet. And also, if you see his screensaver, it's cats, which Alf notably wanted to eat. Oh my god. That's that's so funny. I was trying to figure out if that was a reference to something and it like sounded familiar, but that's yes, god, it's definitely is. Okay, so I know you said that there are like some Star Trek like connections. Yeah, I'm I'm Oh no, go ahead. Uh let me find that. Um I had one specific question, but I don't know if it's a reference or not. Oh, okay. So let's see. Um, also the Communiverse Assembly Room looks like the Senate in Star Wars. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it really does. I read that before I watched it and I was like, yep. Okay, so many Star Trek uh sci-fi alien film alumni appear in the film. Kate Mulgrew, exhibit narrator, portrayed uh Captain Janeway in Star Trek Voyager and Star Trek Prodigy, Zoe Saldana uh not only portrayed Uhura in uh the JJ Abrams reboot, but also was a Navi in Avatar, blah blah blah. Um Jamila Jamil played Ascensia, the villain of Star Trek Prodigy 2021. Oh, I didn't know that. Huh. Those are our those are our ones. So I guess not as many as I thought. It was just a big block of text, and I was like, this seems important. Yeah, no, that makes sense. I have watched none of these. I think I've seen two Star Trek episodes ever. I think I've maybe saw like the new, like the first movie that they came out with, like the new one. Yeah, the JJ Abrams. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You could feel a bunch of sci-fi inspirations though. Like, like Star Trek, and it was just like some ET in there and some some sci-fi horror in there too. Yeah. Let's see. I think the last thing, uh, for very obvious reasons, Lois Pixar debut made only about $9 million, and it's estimated at least $200 million were put into this film. It was insane. Whoa. Uh yeah, because what I was reading, I was reading like an article, and they were like, Oh, it reported this, but people, you know, other people estimate because of all the reworking that had to happen. Yeah. It was more. I was like, all right, cool. Man, yeah, especially especially like replacing America Ferrero with Zoe Saldana. You're not saving any money. Like, my God. No. Yeah. Did you and it kind of surprised me that Zoe Saldana went to the project after, but I mean, I don't I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I'm glad she was there for representation. Um because uh the boy that voiced Elio is actually um he's not Latin, he's Filipino. Oh. So yeah, I don't know. It's that is so that's really interesting. Like, I I think it's wild that in the middle of a project that is like so close to done that. It was almost done, is what it sounds like. Yeah, the fact that they're like, actually, we need to pivot away from this kind of story starting right now, and it's like, no, what do you mean? Did you guys ever watch The Good Dinosaur? No, just one of Pixar. Yeah, it was one of that was Pixar, one of Pixar's movies. Uh it came out in 2015, but that was a movie that had production hell. Like it was known for being the Pixar production hell movie, and that movie had like three different directors, and when you watch it, you feel that because it's just not cohesive in a way that feels and then like I just had this feeling watching Elio that Emily, I think you just answered of just like this something's just just off structurally, like the story's fine, everything's moving along, but there's something that just feels off, and I think you exactly that of just like a change in directors can just fundamentally change the viewing experience of the movie. Well, and I feel like even it's not even everything that I've read, it was like it's not the fault of the other two women that had to take this on either. You know, they did what they could to make a new story with what was already there, and I don't think there's any like hard feelings between any of them either. Um, because you know, they're all still at Pixar, multiple ones of them were working on Hoppers or are working on Hoppers, did work on hoppers. But yeah, it's it's it's and and I'm always curious now because they said, you know, that first screening people liked it but wouldn't go see it in theaters. I'm like, what like what was wrong with this movie? I don't understand why. I don't know. What like I I want to ask that test screening, like, what about it did you not want to pay for? Yeah, yeah, and and it did not delve into it. And maybe also like coming off of you know 2020, where people weren't going to see movies, maybe they were like, Well, this is one I would just watch at home, or I don't know. It didn't go further into that. I feel like that era like changed fundamentally the way so many people experience and watch movies. Like, I I know so many people who it's just like I think I've been to a theater to see a movie maybe four times since the pandemic. I used to go a bunch, and it's and I know it's like it's something that it really has like changed the way people see new movies, especially because of how accessible brand new movies were. It's like I give it, you know, two months, it'll be on streaming, and it's fine, and I don't have to leave my house. That it's just you know that doesn't, but I think that there are plenty of good worthwhile movies that that's not, you know, especially for like animated movies and like kids' movies. Like I feel like there's so few that it's like put them in the theaters, please. They were throwing everything in the theater because it was just like I need something to do with my kids. This movie is okay for you. Let's go. Like, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And now, yeah, it's like, why put that down? Because it's hard for me to find a kid's movie that I feel like is appropriate for my little kid. And I feel like animation is kind of where you start with that. Yeah. Not like, you know, my kids saw an ad for Minecraft. I was like, I'm not taking her to, I don't know what's in the Minecraft movie. Like, I don't think that's for you, kid. We can watch it at home, yeah, but but not in the theaters. Um, but to what you were saying, Kate, it's like I can't remember if we were talking to you or someone else, but like, you know, you'd see way back when you guys, uh, you would see the Disney movie in theaters, then a year later the VHS would come out, and then you could watch it again. Yeah. Like it was not even that summer, that winter. It was not the Christmas movie. It was, you know, mom went to the Disney store and pre-ordered the movie so that we could get the VHS and pick it up from the store. Like you just, and then now it's oh Zootopia came out, I think, or Zootopia 2 came out in November. It just went on to Disney Plus like last month or this month. It's instant, it's so fast. It's there. Yeah. Yeah, it's just it, there's such a such a big shift there. But like, Eli, you're right. I do want to know like more. I'm like, okay, follow-up question. Why? What I know it was such a weird like put into that article, and I was like, wait, like what happened? Because everything else is like, oh, you know, um, this the uh the Pete Doctor guy. And I'm like, I feel you're the real villain of this. I think you saw that as a reason to pivot away from all of the stuff. Because even like the way Elio dresses and and like he's very much into fashion in the original ones, but like all of that was kind of like explained away. Um and and it's it was um a lot of people were picking up on potential uh uh like a crush on the the kid Bryce, possibly at the camp and things like that. And so it's like that's all you know gone. So yeah, I don't know. No, that's that's a bummer. I feel so bad because we were talking about this in the pre-show where the this movie has such a strong emotional core that it does still, yeah. Yeah, it it like even though it had to deal with all those changes and and ink like lack of coherency towards the end of development, you still feel the emotional core of this movie. I would I would just love to see the original. I would love to see uh oh what was his name? Um the original director, um Adrian Molina's like full vision. Adrian Molina. Yeah, I want to see that full vision. I just feel like that would be I I don't know if the movie would be better, I feel like, but it would be more cohesive, and I would love to see that story um like expressed in that tighter way. Yeah, yeah. Um, so that's that's all my my fun facts. Those are some super fun facts. This is honestly that is exactly what I was hoping you would you would share. I was like, Emily, yeah. I was like, I gotta, I gotta get the story here. Like what's what's going on? Because we know there's something's up and we have to figure out what. I was so something was so suspect with how little marketing this movie had. I was like, this feels deliberate like no. Yeah, it just felt like they were trying to. I had a real hard time finding that first trailer, too. Like I I could not, I mean, I didn't spend an hour looking for it, but I think that's is that's not uncommon for movies, some movie theater uh like distribution, they try to bury it just because like it's a tax write-off, or we just need to get this out and yeah, we'll just cut our losses. But you usually you don't see that with like Pixar. Yeah, no, and for it to like show a totally different movie because I think it was like a TikTok or something, and people were like showing like like Ellie was talking to Lord Grygon as like a friend at the at the the communiverse, and I was like, What is this? It's very, very odd. Yeah, it's it's wild to like and and like you said, Eli, like normally it's like, oh yeah, we did this whole movie and then we just uh we we just buried it, it's a tax write-off, but like airing it and still like kind of burying it as much as they did, like not promoting it, not really doing much, just relying on the fact that it's a Pixar movie, people will go see it. Like, it just like normally just they just don't even release stuff, it's just somewhere in a vault. It was a summer movie, yeah. Something just felt so fishy, it was so weird. The vibes were off, the vibes were bad, but but it just is so unfortunate because this movie is so sweet, like they did not deserve to have get done dirty, yeah. No, I think it's it's still a cute movie overall, yeah. It still has a story, it's you know, sometimes it's about nothing, it's very pretty. Um, the voice acting is all great. It's like yeah, yeah. We want justice for Elio now. We have it. We can promote this. Yes, this is what we're doing here. All right, well, shall we shall we get into the plots? All right, let's talk about this movie. Yeah, um, so first of all, hour and 43 minutes. I was like, what since when are kids movies so long? What happened? We we're pretty good. We used to be a proper country. What happened? Nothing is an hour 30 anymore. Yeah, Hoppers was Hoppers was an hour 40, I think. See a long time. Yeah, it I feel like it's it's not crazy, but it's like it's pushing it. I don't know. Um But yeah, so um so yeah, we uh open on um we open at the Montez Air and Space Museum. Um where is this where is Montez? Where is that? It's it's a fictional place. Okay, beautiful. It looked like Texas to me. It seems it seemed Texas, like there was a beach, but I'll I'm like, I don't know. No, I I I checked it too because I was curious. Okay, it's it's a fictional spot. So no, I love it. Thank you. Um so yeah, so we're in the uh Montez Air and Space Museum. Um uh we pan down to a woman in an Air Force uniform. Um, she is reading a list of space-themed foods off of a menu at a diner or at the uh the restaurant inside the museum. Um she is uh at sitting by herself at the table, and then we pan down further to see Elio, um this little kid who is is he about the same age that he like he's younger than he is throughout the rest of the movie. Like this is like yes, I think this was like I couldn't tell. He seemed little I was gonna say, like we get a sense that it's maybe like like how like a few years before the rest of the movie. At least because uh everything that I've read was like in the in the main part of the movie, he's 11. He's in middle school. So I would say, I mean, he could be like this could be like five years later. I don't know. Yeah, so like a a little, a relatively little kid. Yeah, yeah. Cause even in the picture with him and his parents, he looked little. Yeah. Versus like he, you know, kids scamming other kids for ham radios and stuff like that. Like it it, you know, it felt like some time had passed. Yeah, yeah. So we so the the woman um leans down trying to trying to talk to him. He is um sort of uh just huddled into the corner. Um, she says he needs to eat, and she asks specifically if he remembers what his mom used to order for him. So we already get, okay, there's the mom is not here. We're getting into something. Um, so uh the woman at the table is recognized by someone. Uh, she is Major Siliz. Um, and they ask, Oh, you know, what are you doing here? And she says, She's here with her nephew. Um, and then the woman says, I heard about your brother and his wife, and I'm so sorry. And I said, Jesus, trauma right off the bat. We're going. Um, we also find out that uh Major Siliz is delaying her astronaut training because of whatever is going on and taking care of Elio. Um, and she kind of puts a bright face on it. She's like, you know, it's okay. Like we're, you know, we're we're hanging out. I got my new roommate. Um, meanwhile, uh Elio is underneath the table. He takes out these two little astronaut Legos, um, these little minifigs, um, and looks at those. And then when um um her name is Olga, we've later learn. Um, but when Olga looks underneath the table, Elio is gone. Um, so he is wandering through the museum, he sees other kids with with their parents, um, kind of just sadly meandering, and he slips into an unfinished exhibit room off to the like off sort of through a half-open door. Um, it's this dark room of hanging spheres um that look like planets, obviously. Um, and then we get light reflecting off of what is the Voyager Golden Record. This is a real thing, right? Yes. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I thought so. Um, I know Yes, 1977 was when it was sent out. I know this much about space. A little tiny bit. Um, but yeah, so so at this exhibit, uh, Elio pushes the button and the record starts spinning. Um, and it says hello from the children of Earth in several different languages. Um, we get this, you know, sort of following the light path through this exhibit. Um, and we get the lovely Kate Mulgrew um talking about the Voyager satellite that is floating through space to establish communication with uh extraterrestrial life, um, just transmitting this message of hello, basically. And the narrator in this, you know, in this uh voiceover says, Voyager will never see those who made it again. It will drift on solitary and alone. But maybe one day distant worlds will receive its message and Voyager will complete its mission, proving we aren't so alone after all. And I said, Wow, the theme is established incredibly fast here. It's it's we are we are ready to go. There is a theme of loneliness and connection. Let's we're in it. Um, and then we see Elio is just laying on the ground listening to this void, this, you know, the narrator talking. Um, and he starts tearing up. Um, Olga finally looks in the room and finds him, you know, asks if he's okay. He asks her if the if Voyager is real. Um, and she she kind of blusters over and she's like, you know, you're not supposed to be in here, we gotta get out of here. So they, you know, leave. But you see that, you know, spark of being excited about space. Like he already had the little spaceman stuff, but this is like communication and like the wheels are turning. Core memory. Yes, core memory. Um, so then we get um out, we are out in space and we get this uh shot of the Voyager satellite. It's over Earth that is transmitting in many different languages, it is cycling through different languages. Um, it is floating across Jupiter, it floats across Saturn, it goes past some asteroids, and then a bright green light sucks it up and it is gone. So that is our that is our plot device. Something has happened to that satellite. Yeah. Obviously, Eli, feel free to stop me if you have anything to interject. You know how this works. I don't have to tell you. I just feel I just felt like I was talking a lot. I was like, oh no. Um no, I yeah, I'm gonna tell you. This is crazy. I'm not used to being the the leader. It's crazy. I've I've noticed this with more recent Pixar movies, um, where you know, in the screenwriting classes I'm taught, or I was taught it was just like, you know, do this at this point, do this at this point, do this at that point. And recent more recent Pixar movies, um maybe I it's just me becoming aware of it, but they really like beat you over the head with it. Like I remember watching Onward, and the one of the brothers is just like, oh yeah, with dad, I used to tap on his foot like this, and I was just like, guys, that's so like yeah, like like flashing like plot device, plot device, plot device. Yeah, I just I just feel like in the older Pixar movies it was more subtle. Yeah, I feel like now, like it is just like the highlighting that it's like circling it in a highlighter. It's like keep remember this, watch this one. This, this, this is the important thing. Like, you can you're right, like you can tell when it's like this is pivotal, this is gonna be important, this is gonna come back. I'm gonna write this one down. But I do like the theme though of Elio's connection with the Voyager because he does feel so alone and like Voyager in in Kate Mulger's narration, Voyager is alone, but it will eventually find somebody. So Ilio can kind of internalize that. Like, oh, I can be like Foyer. I'm alone right now, but I will eventually find somebody. So I I don't I I I really enjoy the scene, but maybe that is a casualty of the of the re like editing of the movie, maybe. Maybe this could have been delivered in a more not so front-loaded um opening scene, maybe. Yeah, it's it there's so much exposition in this little bit. It's just like I heard what happened to your brother and his and and his wife, and it's like, okay, cool. It's like, okay. So aunt, nephew, matern uh, you know, uh on the dad's side. Okay, she is an astronaut. Dead parents, air force base. She has a rank, she's important. It's like, oh, it's like astronaut. Oh, she's delaying her astronaut training. Exactly. Oh, yeah, she's probably resentful of that. Oh, he's sad. Exactly. It's it's literally there's so much. It front loads so much, it's literally like the it, it's like a movie scene for I mean like a movie, obviously, but it's like it's a thing where somebody's just like, hey, sis, did you get the thing for dad? You remember, you know how much, and it's like we are expositioning all the way through this. And I'm like, I get it, I understand. But like, I don't know. It's yeah, the fact that we have the setup and then the theme. And to your point, it's not, it's a good theme. I like it as a theme. It's a good message, but it's like, okay, I get it. This is the message. Thank you. Thank you for highlighting it. Um, also, I I love a Chiron of like four years later. I love that. I would love a well, you're wish they had done that. Exactly. It's like, well, you're 11 now, so this is the I would love any amount of how old this kid is because I do not have children and I'm bad at kid ages. So well, this animation also does not lend itself to aging people very well. You're right. It's beautiful and very cute, and I love the way the people look, but like little Elio versus this middle school Elio, is he what a couple inches taller? His legs like it's just stretched a little bit, like not much of him seems different enough for the city. Especially with the little one we see him like we only see him curled up under the table, really. Like we're like lying back. Yeah, we see so little of him in perspective with anyone else. And then it's just like, okay, it was more the voice for me. Oh, 100%. You're right. But yeah, so so after that, that is basically our our uh title title sequence. Um, so we are, however many years later, we are on the beach. Elio is walking out to the beach with a suitcase full of stuff and a transmitter uh radio. Um, he draws this big old sign in the sand, um, basically at Target. It says, Aliens abduct me. And then he flops down in the middle of it. And then we get the talking heads once in a lifetime playing over this. Oh, that was so great. It was good. It was a good needle drop. I liked it. Um and and this is Elio's day. He is like we get the overhead shot of him. He is laying on the beach. We see other people like running around, like actually enjoying the beach. There are so many seagulls. Um, and then towards the end of the day, he finally calls it. He has a big map of the beach on his bedroom wall. He crosses off that spot because there are no aliens. Um, we get a couple time-elapse shots where his map on the wall is slowly coming becoming a conspiracy board wall. Um he he is fixated on this. He has the transmitter, he's standing on the countertop trying to get a signal, um, stressing Olga out. Um, he gets dropped off at school and then immediately bikes away back to the beach to to draw more signals. We see Olga is staying late at work and leaves him a piece of pizza. Um, we see that he is, you know, out of sync, that they're not really like connecting on anything. Um, but as you know, as he's focusing on on establishing communication, um his uh his transmitter gets bigger and bigger, the drawings get bigger and bigger. Um, we see him basically just day after day after day, just trying to get this communication. Um then finally we get the song fading out and he is dozing off under under the stars at night. And then we uh we have a lot of shots of him closing his eyes and then reopening them. We have a lot of like dark and then immediately like we have so many of those scene transitions, and I'm like, okay, I get it, but it was just like every time I was like, What's happening? Is time actually passing, or are we just like, what's up? But yeah, so uh Elio wakes up. Um, there's a crab on his face, and that stressed me out for no reason. I was like, Well, what is this? Um, but there is a um You love hermit crabs. I I I do when I am not asleep and they are calling on my face. I I'll scoop them. I'll scoop up a hermit crab all day. But uh I know no, do not put it on my face. I will be scared. Um so he uh wakes up, there's a bright light in his face, and we think, oh my gosh, is it this? Is this the aliens? It's not, it's another kid, it's another taller kid. His name is Bryce. Um he asks if he asks what Elio's name is. Elio is is sort of evasive. Um, but then Bryce is like, You put up flyers for a ham radio club, um, which is adorable. Um uh Bryce says that he he has his dad's radio, but he has his own call sign. Um, it is P X L O L. Um, he's clearly trying to like actually have a conversation and bond with Elio about this. Elio is still kind of standoffish. Um uh Brace is so excited because he is communicated with people as far away as Ohio. Elio is not impressed at all. Um, but he basically takes the radio and says, Okay, cool, you can go now, which is it's such a such a turn. I exactly. I was like, Elio, are you the bad guy? What are you doing, man? Come on. I I liked I like this because it showed that Elio wasn't this, like, oh, this poor child, like, but saintly, like helpless figure. Like, no, he's kind of an asshole. He's a little spicy, yeah. Yeah, but like that makes sense to him because he just feels so lonely and like that all that negative energy has to go somewhere. So I appreciate the film for not painting him as this like saintly, like sweet kid. Like, no, he's kind of got he's kind of a dick. Yeah, and he's and he's not like he's not like shy and quiet. And I feel like a lot of times if you have the portrayal of like, you know, like lonely and doesn't fit in, you get, you know, withdrawn. And he like, you know, is kind of he's kind of blustery. He's kind of like exuding that like very clearly fake confidence, but it's just like, okay, no problem. I am part of the club, all of the other members are gone, but I'm gonna grab your radio and then we're good. Like, just immediately, like, it's such an interesting portrayal of like someone who is like lonely and doesn't feel like they fit in. Like, he's not quite trying to fit in. He's like, This is my vibe, and uh this is not for me. Yeah, it's like we'll figure it out. This is this is kind of the first instance of the movie showing that like Elio feels he doesn't belong, and like you said, is trying to make it true by not getting along with people. Like, you kind of see that in the montage too, when the kids are running towards the beach and he's like sloughing off and like kind of like hits them in the shoulder and you know, backs people away from his little sand crop circle. And yeah, I I I like the movie that the movie shows that of like the kind of the self-destructive nature that comes with just negative, lonely feelings. Yeah, it's original in that in that portrayal of it, and I really like it. Um, but yeah, so Ellie uh Elio uh takes Bryce's radio. Um Bryce asks where all the other members of this club are. Um, Elio says they all have amnesia. They will probably remember that there's another meeting in three months. Um but yeah, so uh, but then we get um Bryce's friend Caleb who comes up. Uh he wanted to come too. They engage in a very complicated handshake, and Elio immediately seems uncomfortable with how how comfortable Bryce is with another person. Um, just you know, clearly like kind of easily making friends. Um Caleb socks um so much. Caleb Caleb is the real villain. Um, but he uh pokes at Elio, he asks, you know, asks about his hat, his hat, which is a colander. Um Elio kind of pushes both of them away. Caleb pushes back a little bit, um, but Bryce whispers to him, tells him to chill out, says that's the kid whose parents died, which you hate to hear that. You you never want you never want that to be the identifier for someone. Um, Elio is not Elio says that's classified information, like physically pushes them away too. Yeah, like it's it, you know, not like not being shamed by it, but he's just like, I don't have time for you guys. Like this, you know. I do appreciate that because like kids would say that like as tactlessly as that, just like Yeah. Yeah. So while Elio is pushing them away, um, the radio that he is connected to Bryce's radio starts to pick up a signal. Um uh they both are all three of them stop to listen to it. Caleb pushes past Elio to start poking at the radio, trying to get a signal on it. Elio pushes back, they start fighting over it. Caleb picks up the radio. Um, it the antenna whips back and hits Elio in the eye, and then the entire I know, and then the entire radio flings across the beach and just breaks. Um, and Caleb immediately says, Well, that wasn't his fault. And I said, This kid absolutely sucks. Um yeah, and then uh Elio immediately goes to kick Caleb's ass, which is well deserved. Um, and then the cops show up because they shouldn't have been on the beach. I'm assuming this is like either on the base or something. This it just feels like this is very like like base kid living. Yes, but I wasn't it just I was assuming that military base coded. Yeah, a hundred. The kids are being like escorted by military personnel. So yeah, like exactly, yeah. So I'm like this is like Air Force brats, or I forget the term. That's that's what I'm assuming. Yeah, yeah, you're fine. You're fine. Yeah, it was it was hard to figure out are they Space Force or are they Air Force? Like, I know it's an Air Force Space. I was trying to figure that out too, yeah. I was trying to figure out with Olga, and I know the uniform's not gonna be correct, but like she had like literally a patch on her left shoulder that just said space, and I was like, I don't I don't know what that is. I don't know what that is. No, okay, but later when they showed her left symbol, it's right. It's on her phone. Oh, and her uh in the back of her Jeep or car or whatever. The base the base has the base has the bigger. The base it can be in Air Force Base, but you can have different different uh branches within one base. Oh, sure, sure, sure. Like you could have Space Force on an Air Force base. But like her left chest said like Air Force, but then yeah, she had a patch that said space, and I was like, what are you? Like, what are we is that you're supposed to become an astronaut, which also I don't know how that works. I don't know if that's a real track in the Air Force or not. This doesn't mean anything to anything, but yeah, her phone, her phone case also had the Air Force signal, and I was like, what are we doing here? I don't know. We're not trying. That's so yeah. What is your rank, you imposter? She stayed major the whole time, too. I'm like, have you not moved up since that major? That is one thing I liked about the movie was I can't think of any other animated movie that has like a military family like element to it. Um I wish they kind of explored that a little bit more um because it's such an interesting setting of like this uh having like military setting with the space setting and at odds, those two fundamentally are. Yeah. And having Elio somewhere in the middle. I really wished we'll get to this later with when Gordon shows up, who's the son of a warlord. I kind of wish that Elio, maybe his aunt kind of was just like maybe the military might be good for you or something, and maybe that could have been a parallel, but yeah, because I think also like it's that connection, like I it's unclear whether like this is like the first time that Elio's been sort of like, you know, within this like military, like being on base structure, whether like was his dad in the military too? Was that's what I was curious about. Like, was yeah, were his parents also? Yeah, he's got like the little like astronaut like figures. It's like, did they was his dad in the space force question mark? I don't know. Like I the fact that we don't find out any like anything else about them kind of I don't know, that felt like a bummer to me. I don't know. I wanted I wanted a little bit more. And like it wasn't like I need to know how they died, but it's like I wouldn't I wanted to know like anything else about like them and not just like oh I had parents and I don't have them anymore. Like and and right. Well, because even even in the beginning when she mentioned at the museum, like what did your mom get you? So it's like clearly they were at least local to the museum or something because it's still in Monte Montez. Montauk, Montez. Yeah, and and uh really I feel like in most of this movie the military in general is like not great. In and like he's sent off to like the military camp because he's in trouble. He like she works so much because she's in the military. The military is going to take away the alien. The military isn't taking this seriously. Yeah, it's yeah, yes, yes, exactly. So, yeah, no, no, and and in not in like a critical way, but I was like we're not helping anybody. It's very ET, like Eli said, like there are shades of that where it's like the government's coming to take the alien. Like, oh no, okay. Absolutely. Can't have that. No. So after all three kids get picked up by base cops, probably, um, Olga is uh scolding, uh scolding Elio about skipping school and sneaking out. Um, this is when we finally get the purple eye patch. Um, I truly did not know what was what the deal with that was gonna be. I was like, what's how do we feel about the eye patch? What's happening? I was like, does he have one eye? And then I was like, okay, no, it's just injury. Um, but uh as she is scolding him, uh Caleb and Brays are sternly walked the other way. Um Caleb makes a uh threatening throat slitting motion, and I said, This kid is a psychopath. Um worried about Caleb, but you know, what can you do? Um so we need to talk about Caleb. We need to talk about Caleb. Yeah. No, we don't. He's an asshole. Move on. I was gonna say, unfortunately, they might say, I mean, he's also like a white blonde kid, too. So what I mean, he's the problem here. Caleb is the real villain. Grygon has done nothing wrong. Grygon is innocent. Caleb is the real villain. So um, so Olga asks uh Elio what happened. Um, he kind of blusters past it. She stops and demands that he tell her like tell her the truth about what happened. Elio answers in a language that he has made up, Elio E's. Um, and she says she she is not having it. She is like, knock it off. You just need to answer me like a regular person. He said, I think that she's uh refused to learn Lio E's. But because he's in he's in trouble, uh she has to skip a seminar with someone from the astronaut selection program. So once again, having to defer whatever her, you know, that path of her career because of something having to do with Eleo. Um, so Olga uh pulls him into her office. Uh she flips through a parenting book trying to figure out basically what his deal is. Oh my god, that was so fun. Wait, what was the name? What was the name of the book? Uh Teaching Your Uh Oh, the spirited child or something in the covers. Yeah. Just chaos. Yeah. She I remember at this point, like thinking, like, what would you do in this parenting situation? Like, like, I was like, what else can you do? Like, I was genuinely thinking, like, what is the solution here? And I'm like, this is so there is no solution. This is so like when the kid is so like despondent and refuses. No. And so that's why as a parent watching this, I was like, I'm a little stressed out by this. Like, what's gonna happen? Like, this is not a good relationship. And both of them are having problems, and this and that. And I was like, I'm lost. Yeah, and finally she is just she's like, I need you to sit in my office for 10 minutes because I have to go to a meeting. Um, so she uh sits him down in her office, leaves, leaves the door open, and because of that, uh two other officers walk past, um, they're walking past the door, um, and one of them says something about an emergency meeting because Melmac thinks he found aliens. They say it really dismissively. However, Elio is immediately there with like sneaking in the door behind them. He is psyched. I just need to say, this movie's really funny. Like the the the cuts, the facial expressions, the kinetic just like slapstick. Yeah, this movie's genuinely really funny. Yeah, there's yeah, just panning down, like the door does not close all the way, and they pan down. He is like vibrating with excitement with his little claw grabber in the door. The most like gremlin mode face I've ever seen. It's so good, and it's and you love that moment of just like, okay, well, she told me to sit here for 10 minutes. I can't, I have to go, there's aliens just sprinting away. I'm like, okay, this is everything you need to know about Elio. Um, so Elio is sneaking behind uh these two people um into the meeting that Olga was going to, anyways. Um, so uh Melmac is the um I I don't know what his position is. He is the tech, the tech guy. He's literally the only person there, not in a uniform. I don't know what he is. He's just and it's very confusing. Well, because they call him Mr. I'm like, you're not an officer because you're not in uniform. Why are you? I got the vibe that he's like one of those like hackers that people hire to like hack them so they can learn. He's like, he's not official, but he's so just smart they like have him on retainer basically. He's like a like a contractor almost. Yeah. Yeah. Like if we don't if we don't hire you, you're gonna do some serious damage to the infrastructure. Yeah, yeah. So he, yeah, so Mel Mac is is set up. Um the the signal that he picked up is the same uh the musical notes sort of that uh Elio's transmitter picked up out on the beach. Um so it's it's just you know four specific notes. Um very, what is it, close encounters of the third kind? Is that the one with the musical? Um but yeah, so Elio is is inside this room. He is sneaking in, he hops into a trash can uh to hide um but still be able to listen to everything. Um so Melmac uh he adjusts the sound a little bit, um, and it plays the words hello planet earth, which is basically cut and pasted repeated phrases from the golden record um of the that the that was uh attached to the Voyager. Um so basically just sending those phrases back as a reply. Um, so Mel Mac is, you know, like putting those pieces together saying, you know, they found they got this signal. They are replying to us. So we, I just need to, you know, you guys give me the okay and I can send a signal back. We can communicate with whoever is trying to communicate with us. And we get this very brief moment that nobody believes of Olga saying, I need you to knock it off and take a week off, and you have to leave. None of us actually like we're not we're not entertaining this. Um, so Mel Mac is is forced out of the room essentially, and uh Olga addresses everyone else who is there. She says, We are orbital analysts, we track space debris, not rogue UFO signals. And then I also note here I said this is about her having to defer her dream of cooler space stuff too. They could be connecting over space, but instead she's trying to figure out what Elio needs, and she's not really. So we also get, you know, it seems like Olga is maybe excited about what this is a little bit, but she's having to be practical. She's having to say, I don't have time for this. This is not what my job is. I need to be more realistic and focus on, you know, not not the what-ifs, like what is actually happening. Um, so basically everyone else thinks Mal Mac is crazy too. Everyone is very everyone leaves is very dismissive. Like one of one of my big uh I I wish like Mal Mac was in the movie more. I wish Bryce was in the movie more. Like, because uh, you know, we'll spoil it for later in the movie, but I love when all the ham radio enthusiasts all like collaborate. And I wish those seeds were planted more, um, because that's like the big theme of the movie, right? Is Elio um stop thinking about their your life is down here, and then the like like part of me wish there was a scene of Elio like futzing with the ham radio and other people like he thinks he's talking to aliens, but it's you know, somebody from like Ghana, you know, somebody from Japan. And he has a line maybe of just like, These aren't my people, my people are out there. But then like later in the movie he realizes no, those were his people all along. So I really wish that was one of my big hangups. I wish this ham radio community thing was established more that. could have a bigger payoff later in the movie. Because characters like Malmac and Bryce, like, like I I I wish it was like foreshadowed more that these are gonna be the uh Elio's friends, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I think I think especially like with the well like with the radio we get it later. But like even just like the different languages and like like communication and and you know the transmitters and stuff. Like it just I feel like with with you know the idea of community and stuff, I like community and be and feeling alone and loneliness and and you know fitting in. Like I feel like those those themes and like what it's trying to say is very it comes across and it's very clear. I feel like there's another theme that it's trying to convey with like by you know using you know using different languages and like finding ways to communicate. I feel like it's trying to say something else in addition to the the community loneliness thing. And I don't know what it is. Like I feel like there's like a thread of something that I like today I was thinking about it and I was trying to pinpoint like what I thought that that what I thought it was trying to say and I don't know I don't know if it's just like if it all ties together or if it's just you know I don't know I might just trying to be like chasing a thread that is not a thing. Well I I mean that's what I was thinking too of just like I would have loved that realization for Elio of like because his life on earth has been not great. You know his obviously he lost his parents he's not happy living with his aunt he feels like unwanted by her and that he's weighing her down and so he has this affinity for the up there the other like life up there when maybe he could have been interacting with all these people but he dismisses them because he has this fullest this like this like misconception. It's almost like the character's fatal flaw right yeah like my happiness is not here on earth it's up there. It's just like no like your happiness is here. The people around you here like they can be your friends they can be your family they can be what you want these aliens to be and that's gonna be the thing that I realized is we're I I feel like we're projecting a lot of that onto this movie that maybe got lost in the edits movie. Maybe yeah maybe we're connecting the dots that we're like not quite connected by the movie and we're like I see what picture you were trying to make. It's okay I guess I understand yeah just like I I this all stems from Mal Mac is just so funny and I wish he was in the movie more. Yeah I also feel like you're just trying to paint a more elaborate picture when I feel like the the threads the general theme is seen when you get the ham radio in the different languages across the world and they're saying you can do it. You're not alone like it's still I feel like it's still poignant even though we don't get multiple points of connection because the um you know I just I think you're just trying to add more to it which maybe was there originally that that makes sense because that that ham radio scene is like one of my favorite scenes in the whole movie. It's so awesome and beautiful and I I got chills but like I like you said I loved it so much I wanted more of like the the breadcrumbs leading up to it this is us writing the English paper and needing to needing to include another page like so actually trying to do what this scene is what uh what what um what Albert Camus said about oh god we're not we're not no we're not we're not doing this I think I read this in a Jack Kerouac novel in the hero's journey what Elio experiences is no we're not doing that but yeah so so now that everyone is out of the uh control room um Elio finally comes out of hiding um he immediately goes up to the computer um sends a message back says that uh he is ready for them to come pick him up um he is um oh gosh what it I should have written it hardworking shredded yes there were three he ends with shredded and it made me laugh so hard um he tells him to come get them and then he says okay bye I love you and which okay bye okay bye I love you sends it uh it's so good um and then uh hits send and then I fully did not expect the message to go through I thought it was going to be the you know get to 99% and stops. Um the message is sent uh a small electrical fire starts at the computer um we see uh satellite arrays uh turning to send this message um the lights in the base flicker immediately um and Olga turns power shuts down uh the power to the base shuts down immediately we are back at home um Elio is so excited he is packing Olga is on the phone trying to make excuses for Elio's behavior um trying to smooth things over and say hey you know you have kids that you know the the kids are crazy right um Elio is running in circles trying to you know get ready to get taken um he tells Olga specifically I'll be out of your way soon he's ready to go he doesn't think that she wants him around and so he's like not a problem I got you this is easy for both of us don't worry um which felt real sad honestly as he was just like like at first I was like oh no like is he gonna like you know is there anything but he truly is like it's good don't worry about me I'll you know I'll be out of your hair soon I was like oh god okay like it felt it felt real sad but once again it was like the portrayal of a lonely kid who's not just like shy and quiet about it it's just like no worries I'll go be lonely somewhere else I'll see you later we're fine so finally he is um back in his room and Olga stops him like makes him stop and says aliens are not coming for you tells him to you know slow down she uh presents a flyer for a not boarding school camp um she says you know I think this would be good for you I want you to make some friends he says he doesn't need friends he needs to meet an alien and she pushes back she's like that does not make any sense like why are you trying to go to space and he and he says because there's 500 million habitable planets out there and one of them's gotta want me because obviously you don't I know I know and Olga says of course I do we're family and he says you're not my family and then I was like and I know and it was heartbreaking but also I'm just like I gotta know more about like what is going on with them. Like it just I need more about their relationship and not just that they're like emotionally distant and like out of sync but like you know were they ever close before is it like you know was she not around yeah was she estranged was it like you know was she like always working and so this is a huge thing like I don't I don't know I just I need that like other breadcrumb of like like that just it felt like it just it felt so harsh and it felt out of not out of nowhere but it felt like such a dramatically yeah not just like oh it's like you know you're you know they're not parents but like this is your aunt so like what happened between you two to say like you are not family. Like what yeah what happened there? Yeah so I yeah that I don't know just was that's that weird um but yeah so Olga at that point she just drops it she leaves the brochure um in his room she says your life isn't up there Elio it's down here Elio slams his door sorry um uh he lays in bed he looks at the picture of him with his parents when he was a little tiny guy um he opens his door and he hears Olga talking on the phone um just you know stressed out talking to someone else and not sure you know what else to do she said that the uh camp the not boarding school um she's gonna see if they can go ahead and enroll him in the fall and she specifically says this just isn't how I thought my life would be and I said man this is so tough and so like real um and once again I just I want more I want I want to know more about what's going on um but yeah it just it was so hard so we get Elio he climbs up on the roof he has got has a circle of string lights around him he has his suitcase and his uh radio um he is ready to get taken and we see the we see the camera just zoom out and out and out over the neighborhood seeing that little green circle of him waiting to get abducted the next it's the next day right um I think it's like right afterwards um Olga is driving Elio up to it's Camp Carver. Um it is a boot camp with a bunch of really rowdy tough kids um they are playing not touch football um just jumping on top of each other and getting yelled at for it um that that was smear the blank like yeah just chaos it was and he just looks Elio looks so intimidated by it um Olga says that she went there when she was a kid she said you may not believe me but this will be good for you she is you know trying to sort of rebuild that connection a little bit she goes to give him a hug he pulls away and then she you know goes to uh talk to someone before before she leaves um we find out that Caleb and Bryce also got sent here because they got in trouble too no man Caleb still sucks tells Elia to watch his back and pushes him down um but you know that that's boot camp that's what it is um so I know uh so that night um they are all sleeping in tents there are so many buildings when they pull up I thought they would get to sleep in buildings no tents just immediate tent I don't know what like you guys said is this a she because I remember Olga says board or Elio says boarding school and it's like but this is like just a camp I she prefaces with like this is just their camp pro their summer camp program or something. Oh and then enroll in the fall yeah and then like like if this goes well keep going we're gonna push it on down the line like I I I know I mentioned this before but I really wish they played the whole like I it doesn't exist but I would have liked it if Olga pushed like the military on Elio a little bit and that maybe would like fuel the schism more of just like maybe she's at her wits end and just like look like I was also a rowdy kid the military like helped like get me in shape. Maybe it'll help you and maybe Elio's just like you don't understand me like I don't want to do that. So yeah it's like it's like we almost get that when she says she came here too as a kid. It it's those breadcrumbs of like yes and like yeah yeah yeah you can't you came over as a kid why what happened yeah because also that doesn't explain anything like was your brother also at this camp who is Elio's dad like oh yeah just drop like yeah you you you and me like my dad and I went when we were young maybe like it'll do the same for you or something like that. And then like I like I said later that would further um when he's bonding with Gordon and Gordon's dad wants him to be military right like Yeah because like you would understand more. Yeah because like right now like no one wants Elio to be anything they just want him to calm the fuck down like like that's relatable. That's it relatable parenting Kate you have no idea no I should write a book just take it down you guys spirited children yeah you're at a 20 plea like just bring it down you're at a 20 the amount of times where I'm like why are we yelling like whatever needs to be said does not need to be yelled at like girl what's she yelling about I don't know and it could be for any emotion that's the thing she could be so happy and just ah or pretending or sad or upset or mad and I'm just like nothing will be solved by yelling you guys like what's going on. That is the funniest shit to me just like why are you yelling no truly like whatever's being said will not be solved by being loud. So half the time I'm like I literally I'm like my guy what's going on and she's like sometimes she's like I'm not a guy I'm like okay well I'm like bro what's what's what's happening here oh I bro my kid um yeah I'm like my guy my dude what are we doing here um so so we get uh that night Elio is outside in a leaky tent he is trying to pick up signal from his radio he's got set up um he's just not having a great time um we see Caleb and another group of boys uh in alien masks they are gonna sneak up on the tent to scare Elio braces with them and seems nervous um he already seems like he doesn't really want to be doing this um but by the time they get to the tent to scare Elio he has already taken off um he is gone so then we are cutting back and forth between a couple scenes um so we get Olga back at work um she is guiding um a shuttle around a decommissioned satellite um she said right now there is a lot of satellite interference there's a lot of space debris um and she's like yeah that's weird I got basically like just air traffic controller but for space which is interesting um so after she resolves that she texts Elio to see if he's okay um he is not replying to her he is leaving her on red so as she is texting him back another unknown uh an unknown signal that is in the in orbit uh pops up on her screen um and when she looks up she hears those same four musical notes that we heard uh a couple times now on Elio's radio and then Melvax computer um her screen um sort of pixelates and gets it forms this picture of a pink swooshy planet symbol that is what I wrote um it is explained later um and and then the computer cuts off um we cut back to uh Caleb et al. chasing Elio through the woods um it's bad it's just through the woods in the middle of the night everything sucks um Olga gets back into her computer um the screen shows uh the symbols from the golden record from the Voyager um the whole screen glows red and then every screen in front of her in this room is covered in in red glowing images and texts um and then we finally see the um images start to form words one at a time and it says bring us your leader and then her phone starts buzzing and then she looks at it and the screen says please and then all of the power cuts off again. I the please got me it made me laugh real hard um it's so polite um but so we get um Elio hiding at I think the bank of like a lake it looks like like he is just you know hiding a little bit uh hopefully hoping that the the crew can't find him um his phone buzzes and flashes the same pink that we saw on Olga's computer um he looks up and sees a pink light in the distance and that's when Caleb and the guys catch up to him. Elio starts trying to point out the light behind them. They are not listening. And so we get this pink light rushing through the lake and swooping up right as Caleb is about to punch him in the face. And then I said time freezes question mark and then time does freeze thankfully so everything is frozen. Elio uh opens his eyes and everyone is he has not been punched in the face thankfully um but he uh sort of maneuvers himself free um and he sees uh out of the water there is this pink twisty shape that floats up and then opens up and a green beam of light shoots out picks up Elio Elio is jazzed he's so ready he's like it's happening it's we're good let's go this is my day yeah this is my day he's so excited he is pulled into this like spiraling like the the the shape like opens up he is pulled into this spiraling dimension of light this is a really pretty movie I don't know why you wouldn't want to see this in a theater like I don't know why you would see like these visuals and go nah I don't know like I don't know I think it was real fun um yeah and all like the the care especially when it gets to the communiverse and everything and just like how beautiful all of it is the entire time you're like damn cool yeah it's so it it gets like this is where we get like the the start of like the really cool visuals but like it gets so lush and just it's really good. Like the you know Pixar people have been saying that they make a good animated movie. I don't know give them a few more we'll see hot take I know we'll wait till Toy Story 5 this year you guys then we'll find out oh my god let's see how realistic that fabric is in that one or the people's faces oh my yeah finally finally gonna hone that but yeah so uh Elio truly is just pulled through like Rainbow Road essentially it's just like these fractals through everything um and then he ends up in this sort of bubble of darkness um and then there's a little window shape in front of him and then uh he's just literally just floating there is a little blue bubble guy that pops up and scans him as he is excitedly talking trying to introduce himself trying to ask what's going on um the uh blue uh blob it plays those four notes that we keep hearing um sends a bubble a little disc onto Elio and then synchronizes their language so they can communicate um this is ooh a liquid supercomputer that name made that name made me laugh got me good so funny I love ooh big fan of ooh me too and that's the one I believe voiced by the woman who uh from Harry Potter at the British I you know yep you can hear it I can hear it I get it now yeah yeah ooh uh summons a a weird drink for Elio um and enter and welcomes him into the communiverse which is what a title my goodness I halfway through the movie I like forgot what it was called and I was just like it's a collection of words that I for some reason I had to like scroll back up I was like I forgot the whole word um but we are in the communiverse it is remember the communication is key it's the whole yeah and community in the universe oh yeah you're right yes the other ones um so the communiverse is this big multicolored planetary bubble um it also looks exactly like the uh symbol that popped up on Olga's computer um so we are immediately met with alien ambassadors from other planets um we get um Helix who is this caterpillar looking guy he kind of looks like a big water bug um questa who is this like pink um annihilation looking situation um the voiced by Jamila Jamil um just like weird like ripprolling fractals um and then we get Tegman who is a little rock who's like a wheel he's so funny if you look at what he actually says all the time the subtitles were so he's delightful he has a one liner uh in a little bit that I legitimately had to pause the movie because I was laughing so hard there were there were some good lines like especially this I was like I everything happened so fast at this point it was just like here are these three ambassadors we're happy to meet you and then it's like we're just gonna straight up just have a conversation I'm like what is happening this they're ready what this was one of my big uh touch points uh I want to talk about where I I think one of the big hangups for me in this movie is we don't spend enough time in act one in outer space because when when Elio like you said gets in and just like we go from like just so fast meeting all these characters the communiverse and stuff and I was thinking I would almost liked it if he didn't go to the camp at all like he got abducted from his rooftop while he was lying there and that time like axed from the camp it could be spent like getting introduced to the communiverse at a slower pace. Yeah and like it just yeah it just goes by so fast and I'm just like stop yeah stop yeah we and and that's exactly like what you're saying like we get literally introduced to these three ambassadors out of how like easily a hundred so many um so they have said uh you know you're you're here uh if if everyone agrees um they'll let him stay there at the communiverse to share knowledge um they have language discs so everyone can communicate and like you know control your uh temperature to and the gravity basically just you know help everyone from different planets exist in the same space. Um they have nanotech so he gets uh you know a fair Fancier outfit, um, a nicer version of his colander helmet and um uh cape and everything. Um there is the uh universal users manual that has all the questions or all the answers to everything in the world and it gets asked real dumb questions, and I honestly love that. Yeah, who would win in a fight? Yeah, such a funny thing. Nobody wins in a fight and then goes the gorilla. It's it's good, like it's it's so funny, but like it is like it is very much like okay, I want the context. Like I want like I want to know not just like oh man, everything's cool here. It's like, do you I don't know, like this might be jumping on. How did this come to be? Yeah, why do you yeah, like more context for this, but also like the whole thing is that Elio wants to find somewhere that he, you know, is not alone and fe and feels like he belongs. And here it's like, oh, you're here. We, you know, we're so excited about about meeting you. And but it's like it see it just seems like everything is very cool and everyone's like happy, but it's like what like what specifically makes like, oh man, I need to live here? Like, is it just that it's like cool and flashy and it's space, or is it like this is a community? Like I know it's called the communiverse, but it's like I I don't know, like I just I feel like I needed more substance to what the communiverse was to make it seem like, oh man, I want to stay here. I wish that we spent maybe like seven minutes on Earth, eight minutes of the film on Earth, and then we spend the rest of Act One on the Communiverse. I think that's enough time to introduce all the players, get to know the world. I mean, that's one of the tricky parts of because you think about something like Monsters Inc., they they're not traveling to a different world. That is the world, so it's easier to introduce the elements to the audience. Yeah, that's true. Like Elio's entering a brand new world, he's like crossing the threshold and stuff. That's like a much trickier scent. But I I think I think you can trim down all the Ursh stuff in the beginning. We get that Elio is like lonely. I think there you could tell that in visual storytelling there in a very effective way that would make the that could have been used more time on the communiverse, and like you said, Kate, just like like, oh yeah, this is what L Elio has dreamed about, but what exactly what are the like the little details that is like making him like it even more? Yeah, yeah. It's like why is this home? Why is it not just like, oh, this is cool, I want to be here, but it's like why is like why does he feel like he belongs there? And I feel and I feel like it's you know, I feel like later on, like it you get a little bit more of him like you know, connecting with like that and like talking more about how he feels on earth versus there, but I don't know, like I feel that it feels this part feels so rushed, like this little introduction. It was so comically like everything he ever wanted. I was waiting for I was waiting for like yeah, to just be a facade of just like, oh wait, this sucks, like, but that never popped up. I was like, I you should have like introduced the community like the community verse in more of a like, oh this is awesome. Wait, that's kind of weird, but that's awesome. Yeah, like there's no dark side, they're just brain. So at the end of the move, at the end of the movie, it's not that the theme of like, oh, what you want is down on earth. I'm just like, you're not really pitching that. Like, this is literally everything you wanted. No, I'm good. I'll stay. Oh gosh. But yeah, so so in in the communiverse, we find out that they have the Voyager satellite. Obviously, we got you know the green light, um like the sort of green tractor beam, like we've made the connection, but it they have the vo the satellite, and they specifically said that they were looking for Elio since they got his message because they think he is the leader of Earth. And Elio goes, Oh no, I didn't realize that that's what sending a message was going to convey. Um, but we don't have time for that because there's an issue with the other candidate, and I said it's Brad Garrett as a bad guy. What a concept. Which I love it. I I love Brad Garrett, he's great, Mr. Deep Voice Man. I know you need you need someone serious. Um, so this is uh Grygon, and he is instead of taking a diplomatic approach, he is demanding that he be accepted into the communiverse. Um, he is the blood emperor of uh of Hilurg, which rules honestly. Um and he basically says, okay, well, if you won't let they basically everyone's like, oh, you're you're mean. I don't I don't think we can really you're you're a bit much and we can't actually let you in. So he says that he's going to take the communiverse by force, and then he shoots a rocket up and punches a hole in the roof and flies up, and everyone immediately just closes their little windows and says, What if we all hide? What if we pretend we're not home? And this scene was very funny. Oh my god. The line that killed. I when he burst through the door, I by first thought I was like, Oh, why didn't he go through the hole that was already there? Not a second after I was like, the rock alien said that. And I was laughing for like five minutes. You went, that's what I said. I was so funny. And then it's just the rock, the rock alien, so it's just so like dead. Just so dead, because he doesn't know it's just like a flat, the flat mouth, the like the Muppet mouth that just goes. Yeah. Like, why did he make another hole? It's it was there were some very, very good, just like one off one liners. Like this, yeah, this scene. Like it was, it was so funny, but it truly was all happening so fucking fast. I was like, oh my god, there's conflict in space now. Like you just got here. Well, I feel like this was the this was the bad thing about the communiverse, I guess, because you guys were waiting for the ball to drop, and it's like, oh, oh, there's other, there's other candidates, number one, because they were like, oh, you know, if we vote to whatever, and then like this, this is a bad guy. So I guess to me that was like, oh, this is the bad part of space, is there a bad guys? Oh yeah, I definitely yeah, and I and I definitely think like obviously there was gonna be like a bad part of space. And I think I guess I guess also like the communiverse, like kind of kind of sucking a little bit and not wanting to solve their own problems. Like for sure, yeah. They said they flee every time someone threatens them. Yeah. Honestly, yeah, I f yeah, and and immediately I'm just like, okay, explore that more. Like, tell me like exactly I don't know, like, is everyone they've ever run from like what if they all catch up? What if there's a s what if there's an evil communiverse, and that's what Gregon makes. I don't know. That that could have been the bad communiverse, the anti-communiverse. Yeah, but that would that would have been an interesting, um that could have been an interesting parallel if Elio down on Earth was like running away from his problems too. And maybe he had to stand up, or maybe the opposite where Elio was so abrasive on Earth and he he didn't like people who ran away, and then he encounters all these aliens running away, and he's just like, no. Like maybe that might have been something. Um Yeah, I I think we do get a I mean, we get a little bit of like the the concept of like just running away from problems and the you know, it's like not like not giving Earth a chance, basically. Like not necess not as much running away, but it's like you know, actively getting trying to get abducted by aliens. Like, I mean, that's the most dramatic running away of all. If you if I'm being real, I'm not running away from home, I'm running away from planet. What inspires Elio to stay is whether running away, the the ooh is like, all right, time to send you back to Earth. Like, sorry your election doesn't count. And he does he says, like, I'll deal with this, but it's purely from the I need to stay, I don't want to go back to Earth and not like a personal, like, you need to stand your ground or anything like that. Yeah, that's selfish, yeah. Another thing I was thinking about, I was like, I don't I don't understand why uh what's the what's the evil guy's name? Grygon. Grygon. Why doesn't why does Grygon not try to conquer them right away? Yeah, he knows he's the only applied weapon and application. He could he could take them. He'd be five. But what but like why? Why don't you apply first to see what happened? Yes. Why waste the forces when you don't need to? Yeah, that's true. But he was also like, I'm the best, why wouldn't you want me, basically? Yeah. Right. Because it's the rejection of them that, you know. Well, this is one of the things I wanted with with the the theoretical, because I love that idea, Emily, and I wish like the like I said, I wanted Act One to be more centered on a space station. Maybe Grygon's there, and you get more of the why he's there and what he what he'll do if he's not elected and stuff in. Yeah. And going back to probably my biggest point I wish was in the movie was we could have had more time with Gordon because the friendship between our beloved, yeah. Yeah, but but Jenna, I had to double check. Glordon doesn't show up in the movie till 40 minutes in. Like I knew he used to be there like right away. Like I know the friendship between him and Elio is like the core of the movie, and it speaks to like Gordon's character that we we remember him so fondly, but he doesn't show up till like so late. Yeah, I feel I feel like that we don't we don't find out anything about Elio until we get Gordon. Like we really like we get a little bit. He doesn't open up to anyone, yeah. We get little bits and pieces. We get we get the the version of Elio that he is trying to portray. We get like fake versions of Elio, literally in a second. Um, but we but we don't we don't like we don't get any amount of like you know growth or communication or anything until until we get a counterpart. Um but yeah, I truly I was like, what's this other guy? And then I I think I paused it at one point and it went back to like the title screen, and I'm like, well, when's this guy? Who is this guy? I was like, this he's on who this is. I was also majorly, I remember seeing a trailer where it was it was them crawling around and he's like, I've got a problem, this, at this, a disappointment. Like that was in the trailer. I laughed watching the trailer of the movie and thinking like this is very funny. It's great. Um but like, yeah, he's not until like barely halfway through the movie that this funny part happens. So yeah, that's crazy. I still this I mean, this is the hill I'm gonna die on, and I'll keep harping about it. Just spend spend the first like bulk of act one on the space station and have Glordon there, and I think this movie bumps up an entire letter grade. Like genuinely. That's that's so fair. Yeah. Um, so yeah, everyone is running to hide. Um, Elio is like, hey, what about me? Uh they say, oh, we can't accept members, new uh new members right now. We're real busy. Um, we'll check back in a few thousand years. Um I yeah, Questus says, Oh, well, maybe someone should talk to Grygon. And everyone says, Well, I don't want to do it. And in the mean, and uh meanwhile, ooh is like, okay, uh, okay, well, I will send you the send Elio back to his old life just as it was, and we get flashes of Elio's sad life. Um, and then he he volunteers his tribute, um, and everyone is so happy because they don't have to solve a problem. Um, Elio talks about uh he pretends that he's good at conflict resolution. He says his life is full of conflict. Um, so they say, Okay, sounds good, figure it out. Um so uh Ooh asks for a DNA sample, um, and she makes a little pizza out of it um with uh cloning clay. Um I loved I loved Ooh and the the little the animation of her. So obsessed, obsessed. Um reminds me of um Treasure Planet, the little pink thing that um we just watched that within like the last month or so. Um so that's why space was kind of on my mind. But yeah, he it just I don't remember the thing's name, but I know exactly what it's like. Reminds me of the little pink guy guy. Yeah, God, that is it, that is exactly like the same same type of critter, essentially. Um, but yeah, so uh so makes a uh replacement leader out of cloning clay. Um, because ionically planet running um and uh fake Elio syncs up perfectly. Um they are I was worried it was gonna be a weird, bad clone, um, but it's great, honestly. Um so they open the portal back up to the moment before Elio gets punched in the face. Elio goes, sorry, and the fake Elio goes, it's a living, it's a living. The self-awareness. That's that's a joke for the parents, and I love the clones, incredible. I I love clone Elio's. No, no, for the for other Elio, like truly amazing. He says, So should I change anything or just stick with the low self-esteem and desperation to belong? And I went, oh be it took me out. I was like, oh my god. And then Elio gets defensive and he's like, be normal. Yeah, he's like, just be normal. The fake Elio's like, okay, goes back to and goes back to goes back to reality to get punched in the face by Kayla. Oh my god. That was an amazing cut. Just the thumbs up getting decked. Yeah, just thumbs up, and then just the like the thud of a fist, and then the portal closes. I just god have fun. Boom. Yeah, just it's a living killed me. I love it. Oh no, truly. I was like, what is what else is in this this clone that like makes them so like aware of like what their job is, but they're not, but it just Yeah, and so chill about it. I'm like, bro, what is that? Both of them, yeah. When they do the other one, it's like, yep, this is what I do. And you're like, what do you mean? It's so funny. So now uh Elio needs to learn about um uh conflict resolution and um figuring out Grygon's deal. Um, so the the uh universal user manual pops up and offers help one uh leading with empathy. And Elio says, nah, and fostering connection, Elio says, nah, and then he says, making the killer deal. And he goes, ooh, that sounds good. Ooh asks specifically about notifying this next of kin if he dies, and Elio thinks for a second and declines, which is sort of doubling down on the I don't have family thing, which still pretty dark. Yeah, sits weirdly with me, feels crazy. Um, but speaking of next of kin, we get Olga um who is picking Elio up. She is super mad at everyone about letting Elio get beaten up. Um fake Elio is having a great time. A little weirdo. I appreciate Olga giving it giving it uh to the camp staff. Yes, just like what the hell? You can't do that. Exactly. Yeah, it's like, yeah, I mean, I thought this would, you know, be good for him. Like I thought this would like toughen him up, but like, damn, that didn't mean like not like that. Yeah. I love I love the storyline of the clone and Olga because you see that like as much. I mean, I mean, we'll talk about it later, but this was just like I because Olga, I I I liked her, I wasn't I liked her character, but I wasn't invested in her a whole lot in the first act. But as this B plot goes on, I'm just like, oh yeah, she's she's a yes, she's a she's a trooper. I love it. You see how cool and smart she is, yeah. Yeah, and like she didn't it like we got little bits and pieces of like what she like wanted to be doing, but like we didn't really know much about her. Like we just knew like what she was like managing essentially, and now it's like like these parts of it are when we're actually getting like, oh, what does she actually think? What does she actually care about? Not just like to Elio's face, basically, not just his reaction, but like her actually like what she's actually thinking. But uh little fake Elio is in the car. He says, Um, they chased me because I'm weak and small, but there was pizza for dinner, so overall, a pretty good night. Um, which was hilarious. Um, so Olga um you know says she starts to tell Elio about the weird stuff that she saw on bass, and he is not interested. He leans forward and fiddles with the radio and asks her what they're having for dinner, and he and she was like, But you're really into aliens. And he basically says it seemed it seemed like it would be better if I just dropped it. And she goes, Oh, okay, I'm this is nice, and kind of seems confused, but then she's a little relieved, and they, you know, turn on a song that they both like and have a peaceful drive home, which won't go wrong at all. We are back in the communiverse. Um, Grygon is on his way uh back to meet up with Elio. Um, he's not coming onto the communiverse. Elio has to go meet him. Um, he gets put into a really wacky spaceship. Um, he is offered coordinates uh to get back to Earth and declines them. Um this will come up later, and finally gets over to the ship. Um he is just beamed into uh Grygon's ship. Um, pops up in another much spookier council meeting room, essentially. Um he is led down a scary hallway to a throne room um to meet with Grygon. Um he is he do they do like a weird skeet shooting thing with these little like fluttering bird things. Yeah, just very weird. Um but Elio like lucks into a weird trick shot and Grygon has a little begrudging respect for him. Um Elio has all of his notes about um the, you know, in making the killer deal, he has all of his notes written on his hand, which is very funny to me. Um so he's trying to level with Grygon. He's trying to find common ground, and he suggests that if the Krim Universe doesn't want Grygon's help, maybe Grygon should find someone who does want his help. Maybe, you know, maybe not every place is for everyone. Maybe he can find his own place. Um while they're talking in underling uh that's the word that I wrote. It seemed the it wasn't servant, but I was like, I guess underling is the closest thing I can come up with. Um yeah, so a guy uh comes up, um, tells Grygon that the princeling needs something. Uh Grygon is exasperated. He's like, I'm busy. Um immediately asks Elio if he has kids. Elio says, Yeah, totally. Which I the concept immediately of like, oh, you're the leader of Earth. You have kids, right? And Elio's like, sure. They fully don't know what an adult is of an earthling. So it's like, yeah, you're yeah, it's like absolutely. Um, but yeah, it's like one of my favorite tropes, just the character that's in so deep that all inhibition just disappears. Like, yeah, yeah. Just a pure like apotheosis level fake it till you make it. It's so good. It's it's just yes, yes, anding off the edge of a cliff. Yeah. It's like you got kids, oh yeah, yeah. Like kids, man, they're tough. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just come starts complaining about parenting. Elio just says, Oh, you should just ship him off if he gets too hard to handle. And Grygon immediately gets offended. It's like, oh, well, I, you know, uh hard to handle. And Elio says, It's okay, I'm a bad parent, too. Which is insane. What I want to say about this though is that the language that Elio uses when it comes to parenting is incredibly telling. Yes. Too hard to handle, all bad parents. Then he says, We didn't really want this anyway. So it's like, it's also very depressing what he thinks about himself as a child and as adults as parental figures. And so it's very, it's played very comedically, uh, I'd say in this also. It's just like, you know, but like, yeah, the juxtaposition. I was like, oh my God. Yeah, because I I even wrote like it's it's him parroting like things that he's definitely heard Olga say. And it's like, like, you know, in the sort of like, oh, it doesn't bother me. Like, I'm I'm gonna not worry about it so it doesn't hurt my feelings, but like clearly has like internalized like a lot of it. And because of that, I'm just like, okay, what aren't we seeing? Where are these scenes where any of this is discussed? I don't, I need, I need more, I need more of this part. I don't know. But yeah, so uh Grygon is um very, very unhappy with that. Um, he's oh gosh, what did he say? I meant to write it down. It was so good. He like yells, he's like, I am like I am strong and powerful and a great parent. And I was like, Yes, I do. He takes great pride in being, it was like Lord of the whatever and a great father or something. And we were just like, yeah, go for it. Yeah, it was just like, how dare you? And I'm like, I love this, this rules, but yeah, uh Gryon um is offended by Elio's tone and takes Elio prisoner. So meanwhile, back on Earth, um, Olga is watching Elio be super normal and make small talk with uh with their neighbors. Um, but she is she is going back to, you know, she's talking to her friend about how, you know, how her hard work is being noticed, and that's great. Meanwhile, in the background, fake Elio cuts his finger off when. He is pruning a hedge and just pops it back on. That that scene was shot so unnervingly. Yes! The voices like become muted and it just focuses on this, and the music just becomes like weird and a little tense, yeah. Yeah, like what's gonna happen? I love this this movie just plays with horror like in a way that's so fun. Like, yeah, like it's not it's not a horror, like obviously no parts of the movie are scary, but it's just so like homaging like sci-fi horror. It's yeah, it's just it's it's so it's wild. Yeah, I saw that and I was like, oh, okay, cool. So there are there. We're gonna catch on eventually. I see what's going on. There's signs. There are signs. There's nothing wrong with my child. Snip. My child is perfectly normal. Oh god. Um so we are back to uh Elio in a prison cell. He is looking longingly at the communiverse off in the distance. He is able to escape out of a grate and the like the ceiling, essentially, like up at the top of the wall, um, and into some vents. Um he is crawling through there. Um, he falls through a hole and he is met with. I wrote a l another little monster guy um who um immediately like he falls into sort of a spider web, and this little monster guy uh wraps up Elio in a cocoon of web. Um, and then finally his uh translator disc uh kicks in um and he says he uh like he tells Elio to calm down. He says he swaddled Elio because he seems scared, and that's what his mom does when he's scared, and he is rarely unswaddled. Um, and this is Glordon. He is our pride and joy. Glorden is our favorite, he is the best little guy. Um, he is just this squishy little worm guy. Um, but he is, you know, showing Elio around basically his room. Um he points out this uh a carapace, which is this giant mech suit that you are installed in. And I didn't like the word installed, but uh uh it is a mech suit that he is going to go into when he comes of age, because quote, to expose your soft warm flesh will dishonor you and your whole family for all eternity. But then he says, I'm gonna look so hot, which killed me, and I loved it. That really threw me off. God, it's he's so little kid voice. Yes, his line reads are perfect, he's so funny. But so while we're in here, uh we hear uh guards who are looking for Elio. Um, so Elio um decides to tell Gordon his secret that he is really he's just a kid and he has to get out of this, and he is trying to negotiate and he is trying to figure out what Gregon really cares about as a bargaining chip. Um, and and then he finds out that uh he's like, Oh, well, my dad really likes, and he's like, Wait, Glor, uh, Grygon's your dad. Um, and uh Glordon is indeed uh Gregon's son. So we get this great shot of Elio looking at bargaining chip written on his hand and then back at Glordon and then back at his hand and then back at Glordon. It's hilarious. Um and then and then and then the the great line, we are in the vents again, and Gordon says, I've never been a bargaining chip, I've been a liability, a disappointment, a deduction. So funny. It just got so so funny. It's incredible. You can say any criticisms of Elio that you want, but if you don't say the movie's at least pretty funny, I object to it. It is, yeah, yeah, it's genuinely so funny. Yeah, honestly, watch this movie for Gordon alone, please. Please, please, please. Pretty much. Yeah, our our squishy little son. I love him. Um, our little boy. Um, we still Glorden. Oh, I love when he's flexing, dude. Oh my gosh. Little flappy arms. Yes. Yeah. It's so good. Um, but uh yeah, uh Gordon is excited to be a bargaining chip because this is gonna make his dad pay attention to him. Um so uh yeah, so they're talking while they're going through the vents. Um and Elio says that honestly, uh hit Olga is probably thrilled that he's gone, so now she can go be an astronaut. And Gordon says she gave up being an astronaut for you. Wow, she must really love you. And Elio has a Elio has a little tiny crisis and and but shakes it off and says, no, that's not, you know, that's not it. No, she she's I'm sure she's happy I'm gone. Um, so they are getting through these vents, um, and they see that Grygon is pointing the cannons at the Communiverse, um, which uh they are lava cannons, and of course, the uh tunnels that they are in are the canals for the lava that go out of the lava tunnel tunnels. Yeah, the lava tunnels. So in order to, so in order to not be burned by lava, Elo has to climb inside Glorden's mouth because Glorden is fireproof. I love that just get in my mouth. All the teeth. So many teeth that so unsettling. It's like it's like the sandworm from um uh Star Wars. Yeah, it's the yeah, it's ridiculous. Yeah, and then um, but then they get they get through it, and that's adorable. And then Elio gets to give his first high five, which Gordon knew how to do. I don't know. It's aliens, it's fun. I that's true, it's aliens. I'm not gonna be so unrealistic. I how would an alien know how to high five? Alrighty, like calm down, man. I get it. Okay. I have a friend, he says he can't watch Star Trek because universal translators are very unrealistic. Yeah, that's why. It's unfortunate. I mean, listen, we all we all have our lines that we draw. It you know, it is what it is. Um but yeah, so uh they so Elio and Glorden hop back into Elio's um weird little spaceship. Uh they fly back to the communiverse. Um, and they call, they vi they FaceTime Grygon, and uh Gordon uh helps Elio bargain, really plays up that he is being uh kidnapped and tortured. Um they're having a great time, it's very cute. Um so finally Grygon concedes. Uh he said that he will leave the communiverse alone as long as his son is unharmed. So I love the tickling. I know because he's like, oh my god, what is that awful noise? It's horrible noise. He's tickling, it's so cute. It's so cute. Just yeah, just playing the whole time. It's so I I just if they they could have sold this movie so much better by selling Glordon plushes. Like, just like Gordon is so marketable. Emily is looking. It's got it, it's got it. It has good. How big is he? That's the question. Oh big just a giant. I need I need a neck pillow, Glordon. That's what I need. Nine point eight inches? That's not bad. Super cute, soft Elio stuffed toy perfect color. Oh no, that's Ambassador Grygond. Wait, where's Glorden? Does he have the eyebrows? Okay, there is a there is a Glorden. Okay. Okay, and Grygon and Elio. Elio's not as cute. Um I definitely want to like deep dive into like the fandom of this movie because I'm like, it's gotta be somewhere. There's gotta be friends. I gotta get on Tumblr after this. There's gotta be someone like okay, every alien, here's their deal, here's their whole extended backstory. I'm like, tell me everything. Let's go. Or at least like Etsy be like, what what what did people make? Yes. Oh my god, I love it. Okay, sorry. No, you're fine. Um, but yeah, so everyone, everyone in the communiverse is so excited, they cheer. They are heading down to the entrance question mark, I guess, to meet uh Grygon as he gets here. Um Elio uh waits behind with Gordon. Uh Gordon is looking outside. Uh we find out that he's never actually been outside. Uh Elio shows him how to um activate the the climate control, essentially, on his on his uh translator disc. Um and then Elio uh wants to show him around um and show him around the communiverse and give him the the full tour. Um so meanwhile, back on Grygon's ship, he realizes that Glorden was taken because he is soft. Um, and so he asks for Glorden's uh carapace to be prepared, and um they're basically going to use the ceremony as a show of strength at the communiverse, and he's going to be installed into his carapace. So we get this. I I feel like it went on too long. I feel like we could have used this time for something else. But we have Elio and Glordon truly doing every single thing they possibly can in the communiverse. They drink so many of those weird drinks. We get clips of both of them barfing into bushes separately or something. That did make me laugh. It was so funny. It was it was very funny, but it just I feel like this, I feel like the scene took it went on so long. Um, they came up with more and more elaborate handshakes, which I love. I love a I love an immediate best friend, like too complicated handshake. It makes me laugh. But yeah, they're they're having the best time and they are bonding, and Elio has a friend, it's really exciting. As the montage winds down, they are hanging out talking. Elio is teaching Gordon a little bit of Elioese. Um, and we find out that um that is how Elio used to talk to his parents, um, but he still uses it sometimes, so he doesn't forget how to use it. And Glorden asks if something happened to his parents, and Elio doesn't I don't think he really like says anything, and Gordon's Glorden says he's sorry. Um he says it's not the same, but his mom is gone a lot. Um, and so it feels like his dad doesn't want him. Um and we get, you know, Elio is is sort of thinking that thinking about like being wanted and saying, what if there's nothing about me to want? Maybe Earth wasn't, maybe being on Earth wasn't the problem. Like maybe, maybe it's me. Um so Glurden reassures, reassures Elio that he likes him and that they're friends, um, and sort of like makes that connection that Elio doesn't seem to have ever really had. Um, and it was really sweet, and I liked it. But uh then we get the the Grygon ship is overhead, it is landing for the meeting, um, and they are and we see that they are in the distance, they are bringing in the carapace, and Glordon gets visibly stressed out. Um, he said that he doesn't want to get into it. Uh he says it's tradition. He doesn't want to disappoint his dad, though. Um, he's is this where he says he's worried his dad will hate him if he doesn't get into it? I wrote worrying about upsetting parents. So maybe maybe. Yeah, yeah. It's it's very much just a reactive, like, I don't want to get in this. But like he he had hyped it up so much. He was like, it's so cool, and I don't want this. And Elio, yeah, so Elio wants to help him. So he takes him, uh, it takes Gordon to where the cloning clay is. Um he uh yeah, and and Gordon gets a little worried. Um so Elio asks Ooh to show what his clone is doing to prove that everything's fine. Um, so what we get is this window of the fake Elio is cooking with Olga. They are getting along, everything is great, and then we get, you know, Elio is seeing this a little bit upset, seeing that the clone is maybe doing a better job than he was, and he is determined that he is never going back to Earth either. He's staying there. Um so then they clone Glordon, and it's great. Um, and they are gonna hide the real Gordon in the weird little orb spaceship and take the real or take the fake one down to meet with Gregon. Um, meanwhile, back on Earth, we have Olga and the fake Elio eating dinner. Everything is everything. Oh, go ahead. Quick quick pause. I'm going I'm going through the movie as you're talking about it. And after the the clone Glorden is flexing, he's like flexing his pecs. It's so funny. They they do so much with this weird little worm kid who doesn't have eyes or any other features. It's so expressive though. Yes, no matter what, like the fake lines for the nose and stuff, like it's crazy. Good, yeah. It the character design peak. It's one of those, like, this is peak physical condition they don't want you to know when it's Gordon. You may not like it, but this is yeah, this is peak physical fitness. This is this is peak character design. Yeah, we got the weird little guys, yeah. He's a weird little guy. We got weird little guys. Uh that should have been the that should have been the sub um title for the movie. Elio, comma. Weird little guys. Weird little guys, positive. We're Saltmore. Yeah, please. Yeah, so back on Earth we have um Olga and fake Elio are eating dinner. He is perfect, he is washing the dishes, everything is totally good. He uh, you know, decides he is going to bed. He wishes her a good night. She kisses him on the head and he goes into his room and closes the door, and she gets serious because she knows something is wrong, and she uh disgusting, like has a hair on her tongue from his head, which smart is she gonna get it? Smart as hell, but Jesus Christ unsettling. I'm just like okay. Um yeah, uh she she is suspicious, she is not sure what has happened. She has books in her room about signs of having been abducted. So your kid's been abducted. Yeah, so your kid's been abducted. It yeah, she is exploring all of the options, and this is where we get some actual like development and depth and personality from Olga. We get so much Olga in this scene, she is focused, she's gonna solve a problem because she's good at this. I like her red threadboard too. Yes. Oh my god, one of the threads just friends question mark. Yeah, bless. But it's like, I just I love the idea of just like, yeah, it's suddenly perfect. Okay, something's wrong. Like, I know because this is not Elio. And in turn, it's just like that's not the Elio that like I know, and that's not the Elio I want. Like, you know? Yeah. Yeah, it's it's it's exciting. And like you get the little bit like in the car when she picks him up from camp. It's like for a split second, it's just like, oh, is this gonna be immediately a red flag? Is she gonna pick up on something? And then it's like, oh, this is actually great. And for like for a second, it's like, oh, oh no, she likes this version. And then I like that we were getting the no, I, you know, this is fine, but this is wrong. And so she's gonna figure it out. Um, so she is looking at his hair underneath a microscope, trying to see a, you know, any microscopic distance. Um, when she looks away, the hair breaks out of the slide, hops off of the microscope, slithers away to Elio's. I forgot about this, uh, reattaches to his head, and then he like reloads essentially. Um, at this point, she uh looks at him, she peels away the eye patch to reveal that there is no eye underneath it, it's just blank skin. And at this point, fake Elio wakes up and says, we should probably talk. I just like it's so like horror movie coded. Yes, it's it's so funny, it's so funny, it's so it's so good. Just the comedic timing of this clone. I chef's kiss. So good. I want to highlight the the scenery too. It his room looks completely different. Like he replaced all the like the no conspiracy board. Yeah, it's just like basketball. I didn't even notice that. That's funny. I like you can tell, like I think the only thing I picked up on was that like the red string stuff was just gone, and I was like, oh, okay. We're like we're like normie core now, just like sleeping like a corpse, yeah. And all these generic like posters, like take it through the hoop with just a basketball. God. Oh no. Oh because it's normal. It's like, what does a what does 11-year-old boy like this God? Um, so we are back at the um in the communiverse. Um, Questa is um reading reading people's minds just to as like a party trick to basically stall until until Glordon and um Elio get like show up. It's that was so funny. It was so good. It's like, what number are you thinking of? I'm a mind reader. I can I know what number you're thinking of. It's fine. Um Grygon says that he has had enough. Um, but just then Elio does show up with the fake Glorden. Um Grygon asks if he's ready to get into his carapace. Um fake Glerden is way too ready. He's psyched. There is no no no resistance whatsoever. Um, so these clones are bad. Yeah, clones are clones are too ready to to do the thing they are supposed to do, which is the red flag. Um, so there is a full ceremony of of uh Gordon getting into the carapace. Um, everyone uh I wrote a stomper stompy soldier ceremony, which I don't know why I made it a tongue twister. I just kind of wrote what it seemed like, and that kind of sums it up. Um yeah, but we also see that the uh inside of the carapace is truly just like an Iron Maiden, which feels insane. And I'm like, okay, and installed feels like a an accurate uh term here, and it feels real fucked up. Um, but they uh close the fake Glorden inside the carapace. Um, and at the end of the very serious ceremony, he just pushes all of the buttons and just does a bunch of like weird flashy stuff, ending with a lighter coming out of his thumb, which I love. You love to see it. You love you love to see just the random like flamethrower, light, you know, crazy tale. Lighter. Like, yes, I this is fun. Delight, God, Gordon, uh clone Glordon. Still good, yeah, both, both Glordons. I love them, MVPs. Um so now that this now that this ceremony is is concluded, um uh Grygon says he will honor his agreement and he goes to leave and take the rest uh the rest of his his um army with him. Um he asks Glorden how he feels, and fake Glorden is so excited to go fight in wars, and Grygon hesitates because that is not the correct answer. Um love that parallel between Grygon and Olga. Yes, yeah, just the freeze of that's not that's not that's not my kid. And just yeah, it's so it's so good. Um so Elio uh immediately is like, okay, so can I get inducted into the communiverse now? And his his badge has been made, it is almost set. Um, and then we hear a uh we hear a noise from behind. Grygon has destroyed the clone, which dissolves into the the clone goo again. Um he demands to know where his son is. Um he says a father always knows. He knew that it was the fake one. Um so in order to figure out where Glorden actually is, um they make Questa read Elio's mind. Um and she finds out where where Glorden is hiding. He is in the ship in the where the ships are, the hangar, I guess. The docking bay, I think. The docking bay, thank you. That's what it was called. Um so Glurden is hiding on the ship. He sees uh he's made little like silkworm like puppets of him and Elio, and it's so cute. Um, he sees these soldiers coming to look for him, um, and uh trying to trying to escape. He accidentally pushes a bunch of buttons, and just like it was foreshadowed before, he accidentally picks Earth as a destination for the ship and goes and it uh starts moving immediately. Um so meanwhile, back on the main floor of the communiverse, uh Cuesta opens a portal to Earth and uh tells Elio that if he doesn't tell everyone, she's going to. And he is confused for a second, and then Cuesta tells everyone that he that Elio is not actually the leader of Earth, and everyone seems everyone is very shocked by this. I didn't realize that this was all gonna happen so fast. It's just like, oh, okay, you gotta go, man. Like, we're done. Um Yeah. So while so while we are trying to, you know, while the the denizens of the communiverse are trying to figure this out and feeling betrayed by Elio, um, Grygon has opened fire and attacked. Um he is, you know, capturing people. He is uh searching for um because Glorden's not there. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the ship is not there, the the Glorden is not there, so now they are just attacking everyone. Um in order in order to protect him, uh Questa pushes Elio back through the portal to Earth, and Elio falls through the portal into that same lake and it is washed up onto the shore, and it's truly fucking devastating. Oh, it's just staring at the sky. Yeah, saying, Don't leave me. Just my god, so so devastating. Um oh wait, no, he's not at the lake because it's down at the the beach. Because in a second, um as as Elio is on the shore, we see in the distance uh the fake Elio and Olga are watching walking down to the beach with a telescope. Um and fake Elio uh has to run back um away from the beach to get something. Um Olga uh I think Elio like moves a little bit closer and Olga looks up and spots him, um, starts talking to him. He was trying to get batteries and she she is trying to I think it's a flashlight she's trying to get working, and she gets she gets frustrated um and just is trying to explain. She's like, I'm trying to contact something that I don't I don't know what. She says that she feels alone trying to figure this out, but then she also says you wouldn't understand and which seems like more of that disconnect and trying to like trying to figure out their deal. But I think she thinks she's talking to the clone, so she's like, You're a clone, you don't understand. Yes, that is it. Okay. I think for some for some reason I like forgot that that conversation had happened when I was taking my notes. I was like, I ful fully, I was just like, oh no, it's a fake LEO. And I was like, oh, she doesn't know it's the real. So I don't and I'm like, wait, hang on. And I had to think she had no clones for a second. Yeah, yeah. So she's like, You you're not a real person, you don't understand how I'm feeling. I'm trying to get my real person that I love back and I don't know how. Yeah, yep, that's it. Yep. So so finally she gets the batteries that she's trying to install. She's trying, she gets a circle of lights to to start surrounding them. And in sand, just like all of Elio's other other messages, she she has a message that says, Aliens bring him home. Which this this, if I wasn't pausing it every two seconds, I was like, oop, I would be tearing up right here. I would be sobbing in three, two, one, and there we go. So when they're in the circle of string lights, um, Elio is just looking directly at her. Um, and then Olga look like really looks at him and then slowly peels up the eye patch and realizes that it's the real Elio because he has an eye, which is great, which is which is so good. And she immediately she looks at him and he says, I didn't think you'd miss me. And she says, I missed everything about you, and hugs him. Um, and they it's just it's really good, it's really sweet. It just the the honesty and communication that they have not had that they've needed to have for so long. Um, it's happening. I also I also love that Olga does Elio's like abduct like messaging technique because she's probably thinking like, yeah, it's just like it worked for him. Like, yeah, I don't have anything better. Let's try this. But you can just tell how I love how just exacerbated she is getting the flashlight and the batteries, and she's just like just trying her best and so frustrated. Yeah, I really I really loved Olga and the relationship uh between her and Elio in this movie. Yeah, they did a really good job of um just a as a parental figure who's just trying her best, but is not I what what did she say in the call? Just like, I didn't think my life would be like this or or something like that. Yeah, that's exactly it, yeah. But you know, she what is it? I'm not the step parent, I'm the parent that stepped up. Yeah. Ooh. Is this when they say, you know, this isn't life you wanted? And she says the only thing I want is you. Is that later? Uh no, it's this um was it this? Oh gosh, I can't. I thought it was this scene. Yeah, mine was so scattered. No, it is this scene. You're right. Okay. Yeah, gosh. It's uh it's so good. No, it's really, yeah. And you're like, oh my gosh, the connection is made. Like this is so exciting. You had one real conversation, finally. Like you say, say the thing out loud. Don't assume the other person knows. Well, yeah, despite all the critiques I have for just the pacing and the structure of the movie, I have no like the emotional core is it's there and it's palpable. And I don't know how much of that is like intact from the first iteration of the movie that they edited on, or is this like a newfound like inspiration? God, I just I wanted I would give anything to see that first movie. I want to know. I know. I need I need the original script. Get it to us. Your consolation prize is Coco 2 in like three years. I don't know. Honestly, Cocoa was pretty good. No, it was great. I'm not sure how they're gonna do a second one, but sure. Yeah, that there there was closure. So I was great closure and a lot of crying. We're going to the after after life. Oh no. Well, as long as he's involved, we know hopefully like it'll be like legit and not they're not gonna make shit up. So yeah. Sorry. Anyway. No, that's absolutely valid. Um, but yeah, so as as Olga and Elio are hugging, um, we see helicopters flying overhead. Then fake Elio runs up and says, Hey, something's happening at the base. And it's like, oh, you're back. Unfazed by the fact that regular Elio is back. Yeah, so they uh the three of them are in um in Olga's car. They are driving up to the base, um, driving past um basically where they have Elio's uh spaceship. Um and he points at it and he says, Hey, Glordon's in there. And uh Olga questions it and he says, My friend, and they both immediately say, You made a friend? And they're so good. They're both so excited for him. Cologne is like, good job. Yeah. Um, yeah, so so assuming that his work is done, um, the fake Elio uh starts to dissolve, um, which is so strange and unsettling. Um, they both watch him start to dissolve. And then they don't then tell him to wait. And and then we and then we get this insane scene of fake Elio, fake Elio as a distraction to to uh let Elio and Olga get into the uh where the spaceship's being held, um, where fake Elio is just a full like melting monster, like creeping out horror child, like creeping out of the shadows at these people. Um as they get in, uh fake Elio finally fully dissolves, um, complete with the Terminator 2 thumbs up. I lost my shit. Oh, that was awesome. Just the thumbs up as he dissolves into nothing. It's god, it's good. It's real good. Fake Elio, MVP, real good. Right up there. Truly, yeah. It's like he's a freak and I love it. Yes, a hundred percent. But he knows it, he's aware of it. It's a living, very self-aware. It's oliving. Yeah, it's a living. It's so good. Oh god. Um, so once once they have snuck in successfully, um, Elio and Olga um sneak up to the spaceship. Elio unlocks it. Um, Glordon is inside. He is cold and he is scared. He is starting to cocoon himself a little. Um, but his disc is broken and so he can't um regulate his temperature. Um, so as they get inside the spaceship, guards on the base find them um and tell them to get out of the spaceship or out of the actual shuttle. Um Olga speaks Eleoese to try to get Elio to uh throw the helmet um that is inside there at um at the guards. Um he is so excited that she's was speaking Elioese, but then kind of nitpicks the the word that she's mispronouncing, and they start arguing it's very cute. That fucking sent me. That was like top five I've oh you mean this. Just throw it oh, it's like the um loud. It's like something. Yeah. God, the subtitles in this movie were like working overtime, and it was grooving very good. So much of like, okay, it's an alien thing. Okay, this is what this says. I'm like, all right, man, let's go. Um, but they uh managed to uh throw the helmet, just get the guards off of them. They shut the door really quickly and they take off. They are flying into space, they are out of here. Um, however, they are heading straight through a debris field that Elio says, Well, Olgo, you know how to handle these. And she says, Yeah, from the ground. Um, we need help getting through it. Maybe from someone with a ham radio. Amazing. So then we are connecting all the dots. We are bringing in all of our friends from Act One. Um, so we uh hear Bryce is out at that camp in a tent. Um, we hear the those four alien tones coming from various objects around his tent. Um, and then Elio's voice comes through on the ham radio. Um, immediately Bryce apologizes for what happened. He said that that Caleb is a jerk. Elio apologizes too. He says he was a jerk too, which was really sweet. I like that he acknowledges that. I was like, this is good. This is so healthy. But uh uh Elio explains to Bryce what it what they need help with. Bryce said he can't help, but he knows someone on the ham radio um circuit who can. And it's our buddy Mel Mac who is ready to actually help. Um, he uh is between him and uh Olga. They are doing physics, they are like calculating like angles and getting around space debris. Um, it helps for a little bit, but then finally it gets out of frequency range and they lose the signal. They are getting, they are, you know, trying to escape orbit, they are getting hit with debris. You hear the shields getting lower by 10, 20% at a time. We get just the dark night sky as things seem not great. And then we get a radio signal coming through from Senegal and then Italy, and then we get so many different messages and different communication and directions and and support as they are circumnavigating the globe um from this network of ham radio you know users, essentially. Um, and specifically we get the phrase we oh my god, I'm gonna fucking cry. This is so stupid. This no recapping this movie is gonna make me cry. This is so dumb. Fuck you, Pixar. God. I'm not gonna let them win. We don't make movies for therapies. I'm gonna I'm gonna fight that man in the parking lot. My god. Um, but no, but we you know, we're getting like the directions, and then we get you're gonna be okay, you're not alone. Yeah. And like you can do this, you're almost there. Yeah, and then we finally get through, and then we see Earth behind them. Um, we get this really just the great shot of just like them in open space, and you get like you get the sense of like it doesn't seem like Olga's ever been in space. So like everything is happening, but it's like, but Olga's she is uh she's so happy. Yes, she's so excited, she is so happy. Um, but you but you can tell that it's like it's obviously something that she has been training for, she's just never gotten to actually do. Um it's it's so good. Um, so now that they are free of the atmosphere, they can finally warp speed to the communiverse. Um, they land on the communiverse, everyone's been captured. Um, but it's on fire. It's bad. The communiverse is fucked. Um, but we are um we are landing, um, we are getting out. The shot of ooh being held at gunpoint by like five cannons. I know it's big, like this is the this is the most powerful weapon of all. The biggest threat of humanity. Ooh. Um, yeah, so the the spaceship lands just in the middle of of all of the chaos. Um, Olga and Gordon and Elio just tumble out of it, basically. Um Gordon is he's cold and he's not doing well, and Elio is upset. Um Gregon sees sees Gordon and rears back with a claw, and we think he's going to attack Elio, and Olga jumps in front of Elio to protect him. And then we see that instead what Gregon is doing is ripping open his own carapace with his claws. Yeah. So then he is once again the squishy silkworm that we would recognize as Glorden's dad. Um, and he hops out and cocoons Glorden up in his little cocoon, and then he scoops him up and he rocks him. And slowly you see Glorden warm up, and then he he, you know, he's okay. And then they I was gonna say they cuddle, but like they, you know, they like Glorden's okay. Like he is, he's regaining consciousness. Um, so Grygon looks at both of them and tells them to explain themselves. Um, and uh Glorden still seems scared, but Elio tells Gordon it's okay. He says, Look how much he loves you. And Grygon says, like he he knows that Glurden didn't want to get in the carabies. He says, I may not understand always understand you, but I still love you. And he says, I he apologizes to Elio. He says it's something I've never said before, but I'm sorry. And I I like that they didn't belabor that as much as they could. I was like, oh no, is it gonna be like a whole built-up thing? But no, it was it was it was it was funny, but it was short and it was tasteful. And I like that. Now that that has been resolved, Cuesta comes back to Elio with his badge that declares him an ambassador. Um, she said, and Elio is surprised. He's like, but I I lied to you. And Cuesta says, but you made up for it, and you, you know, you were brave and you you made a sacrifice. Um, and every everything's okay now. They're all excited, and everyone's happy for for Elio to become an ambassador, and he is pulled, you know, pulled into the excitement, and Olga is standing back and looks and sees how happy Elio is and is you know disconnected from it. Um, but Elio is, you know, celebrating and then turns and sees Olga watching him be, you know, uh, you know, accepted and welcomed into this. Um the portal back to Earth opens behind behind her so Olga can go back. Um, and Elio makes a choice and takes his badge off, hands it back to Cuesta, and he says he he decides he needs to go back. He says, Earth is home. I didn't give it a chance, but I want to try. And Questa, you are unique, and unique can sometimes feel like alone, but you are not alone. Um so then we get Ooh takes back their translators, so all of the languages, as everyone says, okay, bye. I love you. I love you is the cutest, the cutest, the cutest thing. So funny. Yeah, and the the language fades back into like, you know, whatever undistinguishable alien languages. Um, and then Glorden and Elio hug and they can't understand each other, but Elio says, I love you too. And we get cute little squishy Glorden. Um, and then we get the entire communiverse, the entire fucking planet just gets real close to beam them back home, not just the little like the little transit thing. We get the entire planet, and everyone on Earth gets to see it, and it's adorable. Um we get everyone like getting like those beliefs validated, and we get like you know, the the wonder of it, like the thing, the the thing that they wanted to share in the first place, and it's like everyone getting to experience that at the same time. Oh, specifically the shot of Bryce looking at it was Yeah, it's so cool. God, it's that's that's you could hang that like in just in a frame. It's beautiful, it's beautiful. Yeah, like honestly, as soon as that happened, I was like, oh, this movie is beautiful, like it's so just the neon colors, like the contrast between like the neon of the the communiverse and like the just just trees and like fully just like yeah, just dark, natural, like night woods, basically. It just it's gorgeous, it's so cool. Um, and we get um Elio and Olga are gently transported out and onto onto the shore. Um, and we get I don't I didn't write down much of it, but I don't know if this is a quote from something talking about the about the it sounded like when there was the voiceover about the Voyager. The Voyager. Yeah. Let me see. Are you talking about Carl Sagan? Is oh well. It was Carl Sagan. That was Carl Sagan at the end. Okay, yeah, yeah. So we get we get the the discuss the um the quotes from Carl Sagan at the end about communicating with whatever is out there. Um, and specifically it's talking about you know reaching out, but the last line is it touches to the deepest human concerns of are we alone? Um, and then there is one post credit. Yes, dude. I'm so glad you saw that. I was like, I gotta see, I gotta figure it out. Um the post credit is adorable. It is Elio and Bryce on the roof of um Elio's house. They are tuning the ham radio. We hear some growling noises, and Elio um tells Gordon that his his translator disc is on mute. Um and then and then Gordon's little voice comes through, and then they are gonna just hang out and talk. Um it's the cutest, and I want a sequel to this movie now. I'm like, okay, you have two friends. Oh my god. It's so frustrating. They just did not give this movie a chance when they set it up for failure, but oh yeah. This could have worked. This could have been so great. You could have had something, you could have made magic. We could have been magic. Fuck you, Disney. Yeah. But yeah, so that's Elio. Woo! Woo! What an underrated movie. Yeah. I'm I don't know if I I'm gonna be so real. I don't know if I would have watched it outside of like outside of this. Like it wasn't one I don't think I even knew enough about it to say, oh, that sounds fun. But like, man, I I really liked it. It was real cute. Good. Yeah. Yeah. I was I was on uh because I was like, you you guys were I haven't been keeping up with Pixar like I did in the past, and I was like, I want to go through all the backlog, and when you guys messaged me, I was like, oh, this might be a great chance to get started with the ones I haven't seen. And there you go. Yeah, Elio was just the the right place and right time. And I've I'm so happy we saw it. It's this is this is a movie that deserves way more love than it got. Yeah, definitely. Well, I it feels silly to ask how it held up because it's you saw it less than a year ago. Right. Uh yeah, it came out in June, so like it hasn't even been out a year. I think we saw it. We probably even watched it in like August, so it's not even a whole year. Yeah. Um as far as it holding up, uh like, yeah, I mean it was really, really funny. I think watching it though, without worrying about how my daughter was taking it in or anything, was kind of more enjoyable. Yeah. Because I f I still feel like a lot of the themes like that they were kind of pushing, she wasn't getting or picking up on. And like I didn't know if there was enough like silly stuff or just like Enough regular movie for her to kind of take it in. And I mean she has not asked to watch it again. So I feel like that's, you know, kind of telling. But no, yeah, it was um it was almost more enjoyable this time because I wasn't worried about her. Yeah. I was like, oh, I just get to watch. And I was like, yeah, there's so many it reminds me of the Pixar way back when of like the good one-liners and the good things that you say, and just like because we just watched Toy Story One, because I told Evelyn she has to watch all of them before she sees the fifth one in theaters. We just watched the first one again. There are so many things that we just said growing up. She's lying, whatever she says, it's not true. Yes. Or like, you know, just like all the random stuff from this movie. I was like, we used to say those things all the time. Yeah. And I feel like this has a lot of that that as kid, like, you know, elementary school kids, you could you would say or say to your friends, or like, quote. So I think it's it's it's got a lot of good there. Yeah. We rate out of 10. Does anyone want to go first? I we haven't really decided on like an order for who goes first for. I feel like I I feel like I forget every time and then we just go, all right, you wanna go? Um, I can I can go first. I think I have an idea. Um, I am gonna go, I'm gonna say eight out of ten um clones just for fun. Nice. Yeah. I liked it a lot. I think it definitely the heart of this movie is so good. I don't know if it's gonna be one that I am gonna go back and watch often, but it like there are definitely like scenes and parts and lines and you know, weird little guys that are gonna that are gonna stick with me. I'm gonna think of Gordon a lot. I all the time. I love him so much. I would die for him. So funny. Yeah, I so good. Um, but yeah, I think eight out of ten. Okay, cool. Um, Eli, do you want to go? Sure. I I'm so torn because I had so much fun with this movie, and I really love the emotional elements, and it's just so beautiful. But watching it, I just kept thinking about oh, if they did this, oh, if what if they did that? Oh, this could have been this. I like I for me, Elio sits in that category of Pixar with movies like Brave, like Onward, where there's such strong elements that I I come away enjoying it more despite the flaws. So I think I'm gonna give it a 7 out of 10, a very solid 7 out of 10. Just I'm happy it we got despite the production shenanigans this movie went through, I'm happy it came out with a very good movie, very enjoyable movie. And I just I'm so sad we'll never see what what this movie was before they came in and just upended it. Stripped it for parts, yeah. Yeah, but but what we have is is is great. I I enjoyed my time so much. I'll give it a seven out of ten. Very solid, enjoyable seven out of ten. Good, cool, Emily. What about you? I agree. I I feel like reading all that stuff and then watching it and being like, this is still a very solid movie with a message, with enough good stuff in there, and and then for them to just like not care about it and just throw it away, it feels like like you know, like they did good. Um, so yeah, I'd say uh seven out of ten ham radios. Oh, nice. That'll get that'll get you all the way to Ohio. At least, at the very least. So again, first guest. Uh I know you're not currently recording, but is there anything you want to talk about or plug or anything? Anything fun? Yeah, yeah. No, nothing. I've been pretty offline, just it's fair. Yeah, just just doing my thing. Uh I went for uh I recommend biking. I got my bike all tuned up and I rode for the first time this year. And I'll be back to biking. Yeah. I if if you're looking for a hobby to get you in shape, just biking, cycling, um, bicycling. Go do that. And listen to Super Bracket Bros. There's lots of seasons left. Yeah. Yes, we there's a substantial backlog. Yeah, there is a very good backlog featuring many, many Kate and Emily guest episodes. Um very enjoyable. It's currently on hiatus, if you couldn't tell. So we that's okay. Whenever it comes back, uh it'll come back. But for now, yeah, just go don't listen to podcasts, ride a bike. Listen to this podcast while you ride a bike. Exactly, but do it do it responsibly. Low volume. Yeah, safety. Sure. Yeah, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. No noise canceling. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah, safety. Do the indoor bike. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, I pumped that all the way up. There you go. Damage your eardrums. Woo! That's fine. What do you need them for? Uh also, uh, not to not to throw my hat in for a potential next episode, but it sounded like you guys did not watch Wolf Walkers, correct? I have not. No. I think I might have seen it. I don't I don't remember. Okay. Well, like I think I want to say I had like looked it up for something else, and like the animation looked familiar, but I don't know if I just like saw a trailer of it or if I actually saw it. I'd need to I'd need to double check. Clearly, it made an impact if you did. Honestly, yeah. I'm like, that's a bad sign, maybe it's not great. I don't know. It's not great. That's my other recommendation. Watch Wolf Walkers. Yeah, I was gonna say, like, yeah, if you just if you guys want to if you guys want to watch it for a podcast, I would be down for that. Good, didn't you? We'll we'll we have an extensive spreadsheet. I was gonna say, we'll add it to the list. Yes. Yeah, a list of movies you haven't seen. That's definitely a small list, eh? I hey man, yeah, we definitely text each other randomly now. Like, hey, have you seen this? It's been an evolving spreadsheet for truly like two years now. Yeah, it was like at least at the very least a year. It was before, yeah, before we even finished the last one. We yeah, we we had the idea we've been talking about it for a while. So yeah, we've had plans and wolf walkers, and you at home watch it. Yeah, and then you can listen to our episode. Yeah, while we're riding a bike, yeah. Whenever carefully, so carefully, no notes responsibly, yeah, tread so carefully, tread, tread so carefully, so carefully. Oh my god. That was just for us. Eli, thank you so much for being our first guest. Yes, thank you. Of course, I was happy to hang out with you guys for any occasion. Love it. Well, if you listening the uh safely on your bike, um would like to uh if you would like to follow us anywhere else once you have safely parked your bike and are at a stationary position, um, you can follow us on so many social platforms. Um, we are on Facebook, Instagram, Blue Sky, and Letterboxd. We are Sister Cinema Swap at all of those places. I forgot to say that part. That's okay. But they're they're linked in the show notes. It's fine. Yes. Um, we want to thank Ginny Crowley for our amazing, adorable artwork. Nick Heretia for our awesome theme music, and we want to thank you all so much for listening. We still have no sign-off. We're man, we're seven. What is it? Here's the thing. I'm wondering if we need to be, if it needs to be, we'll add it to the list. Because I feel like that's the only thing that we are saying remotely. Oh, that's that's pretty solid. That's a pretty good like we just say that at the end. Or it's like, that's another one off the list. I hate that. Why did I say it like that? I don't God, I'm so sorry. I don't know. I who was that? Hey, you were wearing sunglasses when you said that. I'm in a warehouse. I don't know. You went into the zone. God. Um I like the phrase, but not the way you said it. That's okay. Well, I'll say it less bad, I promise. So then I guess it would be this person who hasn't seen it originally. It would be like, well, check that one off the list. All right, yep, that is that's another movie off the list. And we'll see you in two weeks. Bye.