ADR - Episode 523: Assistant to Mister Hastings

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Al Dente Rigamortis! I'm Review Cultist. I'm Mikey, these days, Rival. And I'm the Gamer in Yellow. And we're here to discuss those internet stories, most creepy and most pasta, AMB critically silly doing it. And tonight we have Assistant to Mister Hastings.

[00:00:41] So Assistant to Mister Hastings is by Serena Wrights, which we've done some of her stories in the past couple weeks actually. And yeah, this actually came as another suggestion from her via an email.

[00:00:54] So yeah, we're going to cover this one and it has a sequel that we're going to cover next week. So look forward to that. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's give our initial recommendations. I am going to recommend it.

[00:01:10] I am not going to recommend it. Interesting. I am not going to recommend it as well. Further interesting. Further interesting. Well, let's find out why one of us gave it a recommendation, the other did not give it a recommendation.

[00:01:28] But you'll sway us to the side of the light who will drag you down in the darkness with us. To the darkest face of hell. Yes, let's find out. Starting with the rundown.

[00:01:40] So the story follows the POV of Valerie Lewis, the assistant to a terrible but infamous movie actor Eric Hastings III, who comes from a line of prominent actors named Eric Hastings. And she utterly hates it. She took the job on the deathbed of Eric's grandfather, Eric Sr.

[00:02:02] Presumably because no one else would and he sensed a kindness in Val that he wished to impart on his shitty grandson. Also, she'd get a fortune if she could keep him alive long enough. You see, the Hastings have a secret.

[00:02:19] Eric Hastings Jr., the third's dad, and Eric III himself have a craving that is vital to their existence. I'm going to let you finish. Okay. He's not his dad. There's Eric Hastings Sr., Eric Hastings Jr., and Eric Hastings III. The third is the asshole that we're following. Yes.

[00:02:42] No, you're right. The one that died on the deathbed and Valerie said that she would take care of his grandson who is the third. Yes. Yeah, I know. Okay, because I'm pretty sure multiple times you said that the one that she works for

[00:02:58] is the son of the guy that she said that she would protect him. Okay, sorry. I meant the grandson. No, I said I even have his shitty grandson. Yes, you said that one time, but all the further times, I'm pretty sure.

[00:03:12] And then one of us just heard it. Eric's grandfather. My notes here that I read. Okay. Yeah, okay. One of us is either not interpreting properly or not listening properly. What? Yeah, exactly.

[00:03:26] I'm just saying you've also had a bad habit of doing that to me this last couple weeks. Did I? Yeah. I don't recall that. Anyway, so yeah, the Hastings have a secret. Eric Hastings Jr. and Eric Hastings III have a craving for human flesh, and they must feed

[00:03:49] every two weeks or bad things happen. Like the late Eric Hastings Jr., the third's dad apparently exploded into gore when his handler wouldn't fulfill the requirement of being his assistant. So now an accomplice to all these terrible things.

[00:04:14] Val finds people when the time comes and lures them to wherever Eric wants to feed and then cleans up the mess after while being creeped on by a predatory Eric III after he's fed.

[00:04:30] She does try to lure dirtbags and human scum, but it's still taking its toll on her soul. I really thought you said dirtbags. Well, I mean also dirtbags. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, this time around she finds she happens to find a super fan of Eric and his movies,

[00:04:55] and they soon arrive at Eric's mansion where Val introduces the fan to his favorite star and then goes to the bathroom to disrobe apparently as a way to placate Eric's Eric into not feeding on her afterward. At least that's what seems like it's insinuated.

[00:05:16] Bob, the fan, tries to escape after the first few bites and Val stops him dead literally tripping him and Bob breaking his neck on the floor. Eric finishes the job and while Val is beginning to break down from the horrific situation she

[00:05:35] finds herself working in, he thanks her seemingly sincerely for her work and offers to share what's left of Bob to which Val agrees. She then decides that she loves Eric and the story comes to a close. Finn? So that was assistant to Mr. Hastings.

[00:05:59] So I suppose we'll move on to everyone tolerates the grammar and positions at this point. So honestly, I don't have much in the way of a grammar that that peaved me off or like like issues with the grammar that peaved me off.

[00:06:13] Um, I kept an eye out for the tense situation in the story because it seemed like it was predominantly a present tense. But honestly, nothing bothered me too badly on that front to merit spotlighting here. So Mikey the East Dance Rival what do you have?

[00:06:31] I have Extruction Junction. All right. And next stop conjunction junction. So a bit of background knowledge about me. My name is Valerie Lewis because I'm the personal hensher for the feral beast that is Mr. Hastings.

[00:06:51] It almost made me forget I had spent the last two hours scrubbing his pee out of his carpet. It made me more angry. So I'm sure you probably guessed what he needs by now. It's nice.

[00:07:11] And here I am stuck with the guy who jerks off to my tits after he eats someone. It took insurmountable restraint to tell him that's why it's my favorite. It actually did look nice. But it keeps Eric from doing worse than murder.

[00:07:37] He dripped onto the floor with the same force as Bob's head. Then Wow, I really got nothing. Yeah, pretty much. Although I'm going to possibly fight you on one of them because I'm the personal handler of for the feral beast that is Mr. Hastings.

[00:07:59] I'm looking at this paragraph right now. You do need context to what like to the couple of the sentence right before that because it's it's a well it's a question. Why do I matter because I'm the personal handler to the feral beast?

[00:08:11] That is it's like she is answering something with that sentence. So like that one's kind of gets a pass, I feel. Yeah, because you could rewrite it without the because of the beginning. How would you answer it?

[00:08:27] Like you'd answer any question by stating the beginning of the question and the answer. But she she repeats the question like why do I matter? Like why do I matter? I matter because like that.

[00:08:41] Yeah, but like that then you go fall into the trap of like they mostly come at night mostly. Yeah, it's all repetitive. Yeah, that one I'm going to fight you on a little bit. I still think it needs to be changed. All right. Agree to disagree, I guess.

[00:08:58] But yeah, OK. And the reason Mikey does do these things is because he's highlighting all the sentences in a story that start with words that they probably shouldn't like it's answer but or because of sometimes because there's always better words to use. Sometimes. Mostly. They mostly. Yeah.

[00:09:21] All right. So onto the grammar in yellow with gamer. Oh, OK. Notes because I don't have any. Indeed on to actual thoughts. So I'm going to start with this one here. He assigned me to be Eric's caretaker when he turned 35.

[00:09:39] If I managed to keep him from an early grave, I would receive his entire fortune. At the time it sounded easy. Fast forward to now and I'm now witnessing the carnage Eric left in his trailer. OK, so.

[00:09:57] One thing I guess this is kind of merge it blending in from from grammar position that I said I didn't have but I also have a bunch of stuff in this for regarding like actual thoughts. First thing here.

[00:10:11] He would she she receives the into his entire fortune is that is that Eric seniors entire fortune or or the thirds entire fortune. Yeah. Like I assume it's seniors honestly but yeah because he didn't really have anyone to leave it to.

[00:10:31] So this is set up like you were you have to do this ridiculous thing to get all this money. Yeah, but like you have to sleep in the house for a night in order to own it. Exactly. Yeah. Also, is it when he turned 35 or till he turned 35?

[00:10:48] Because I recall that Eric junior like his Eric the third father Eric junior died on his 35th birthday. So is there some significance to this?

[00:11:00] Like are they more or do they do they stabilize at a certain age and so they don't need to have to worry about like being fed constantly. They just live till 35. 35. There's nothing he will explode at 35 and at that point he has nowhere else to give his money.

[00:11:20] In which case Eric the third's money goes to Val. Yeah, like I was like one said how old is senior was he 35? Well, I don't know. Here's a senior have this also kind of goes into like another part of this this whole like rabbit hole I fell down.

[00:11:37] I have like a corp board and everything is like because because at first I was like is this like covenant like the movie covenant where like the witch boys like their their power stabilizes at a certain age.

[00:11:48] So like he's she's just has to wait that out and then she gets like seniors money or like does she just have to like keep keep Eric the third alive till his 35th when he dies.

[00:11:59] And as long as like she's not like culpable to it, she gets his fortune that of Eric the thirds. And then I get down to this part where it's like, you know, a thought literally hit me as I was taking down these notes for this for this episode.

[00:12:13] What if Eric Hastings that the Eric Hastings line is like the doctor make like Dr. Who mixed with Charles Dexter Ward from Lovecraft, where Eric senior Eric junior and now Eric the third are all the same person.

[00:12:29] And everything happens around their 35th birthday, or just if they die. They come back like a cannibalistic Gore Phoenix.

[00:12:38] And and like the money the fortune that like the character gets isn't actually like their full fortune it's just like a good chunk, or like just like their pre like basically their previous incarnations fortune as they like use their backup or something.

[00:12:53] And the logic is the grandfather and the grandson were alive at the same time. The grandfather grandson and the son were all live simultaneously. Yeah, unless the grandson wasn't around before that it was like or just like they the because

[00:13:12] the grandfather had put out this, this, this legend, or this like the sort of like, like this front that he had a grandson, and he had a son.

[00:13:23] I'm a well known actor that a bunch of people already know. Yeah, I don't actually believe this theory wholeheartedly but like, okay, you had me like thinking about it's like because it's like this there's this whole thing, like of like the same names, you know rich asshole celebrities

[00:13:39] and how there's a bunch of shit around that with like Hollywood and like actors in Hollywood like they can sometimes like be interpreted as like monsters because like they're all like shitty and or like they're often like very like pretentious and like rich snobby and like

[00:13:55] like the whole age 35 thing because like his debt like she has to wait till like till or when he turns 35 and then like his dad well the third's dad died at 35 so there's like 35 a special number for some reason.

[00:14:11] Again it had me just like throwing up this like whole corkboard with strings of like, but I don't like I have the tinfoil hat half on because I don't fully buy what my own shit.

[00:14:26] But I'm just curious is just like, huh, is there is there some deeper meaning here, like the gun in the previous story.

[00:14:35] I think the closest you're going to get is it's potentially like a hive mind situation where it's not one consciousness. It's well it is one consciousness like spread amongst the three people. It's not that one person dies and is reincarnated as another person because that can't work. Yeah.

[00:14:55] Okay, who knows. Perhaps we'll find some more clues or like some more answers toward the origin or the nature of this whole situation in the sequel. But I'll move on to the next thing I have.

[00:15:11] Sorry, sorry. Hey, I was wondering if you could find some food for me tonight. You know, it's my time. I froze for a second.

[00:15:19] Eric, I thought it wasn't till next week. Eric's chuckle turned into a full blown laugh. You're always so punctual yet you always seem to forget this. It's not that I'm forgetful. I just hate this.

[00:15:34] Ah, so erudit. So so as I was reading the story and I got to this point and then like we got to this whole like thing is like where Eric needs her to grabs and get something.

[00:15:45] I was like, and here's where the horror is actually starts peeking in because I was like trying to figure out what the story was going to be.

[00:15:52] And then I got the impre... Now I'm getting the at this point in the story you get this impression is like, oh, it's going to be my monster's keeper sort of thing.

[00:16:00] Like and it was like, is Eric a vampire or something? And then an update. It's like not quite a vampire. I'd say more like a ghoul or perhaps just like a cannibalistic fiend of some sort.

[00:16:11] But yeah, I just like that as it turns out just not even cannibalistic fiend just a cannibal.

[00:16:20] Well, a cannibal, yeah, a cannibal with a curse of some kind. Like there's some some kind of like weird, like supernatural aspect to it because like he something bad will happen to him if he doesn't feed.

[00:16:32] So though we don't really quite know what exactly because like no one actually saw what happened to Eric Jr. But his body was just like all over the bits of him were all over the place and like splay with blood in his room when he didn't have food.

[00:16:48] Yeah, he could just be going nuts and like going on stage and then like tea into himself or something. Or even work or even it's it's pizza the hut. He ate himself to death. Possibly. Like that's why he just ripped himself apart. Yeah.

[00:17:06] Um, they just said if he doesn't eat like somebody he just auto cannibalizes. I love and hate that that's a word in the dictionary. Yeah, auto cannibalism. Moving on though. He used to ask me to bring him horrors as well. But this was my compromise.

[00:17:32] No way in hell am I letting him do whatever he planned to do to them. The food is enough emotional weight on me. I like Valerie's fraying moral code in the story. Like she's not willing to subject people who don't deserve a terrible end like this.

[00:17:50] And like those people who are socially like already in a rough spot, like prostitutes and stuff like that. Or like people who have families kind of thing like she's not willing to like she doesn't want to like.

[00:18:02] She doesn't want to like give up innocence to the whole thing but she's like managed to be able to like compromise by like giving him like the shittiest of human beings. What was wrong with Bob though? Nothing. Bob was just some random like dude bro.

[00:18:17] To be fair we know a Bob in our group of friends. Yeah. Yeah, I wouldn't like but like on the outside.

[00:18:25] Yeah, on the inside like knowing that person that kind of person. Yeah it's a shitty deal and even like in the story as she gets to hear a little bit more about Bob she realized she has regrets about giving up giving Bob to Eric.

[00:18:38] Eric. But yeah, I'm not saying like she's like a completely good person for doing this but like you can, she's basically a Renfield to Eric's Dracula with a tarnishing of like a very heavily tarnished heart of gold.

[00:18:54] Like she's trying but she's still human so she's like it's not enough. She's still a horrible human being because she's committing all these atrocities for money. Yeah. I'm not saying is he equivalent of a mercenary or a hit man or contract killer.

[00:19:12] Yeah, I'm not saying she's an angel or anything like that but I'm saying at least she like it's cool to see her like her fraying morality in the story. But I'll move on to the next thing I have. His loss was a major one.

[00:19:30] He starred in some of the biggest films in the early 2000s including the cult classic Batman versus Cornelius Sturck. The intensely horrific masterpiece The Devil's Appetite Knows No Bounds and an Oscar winning performance in Choke.

[00:19:45] So first off I had to look up if Cornelius Sturck was an actual Batman villain and he is. Oh really? Yeah. But secondly I was wondering how the story was going to tackle a character or a line of characters who are fictional.

[00:20:04] But in this story are popular and even famous care alec actors.

[00:20:09] And I like how it ventures into a sort of like alternate universe of Hollywood stardom so like or just basically gives us like a world like it's our world but these this fictional actor family exists like this is basically like the cannibal Baldwin's.

[00:20:23] But it is more alternate because like those movies don't exist. It's not like they're like he did great as the Riddler in Batman Forever. That's true yeah.

[00:20:34] Yeah no it's an alternate universe version of our world like or it's a fictionalized version of our world like but it helps ground it in our world because like we we get most of it and then they're able to add a few details that are that are different.

[00:20:46] Yeah. So I liked that I appreciate that because I was curious like how that was going to be handled in the story. Yeah that is a good way of doing it for sure.

[00:20:54] Yeah especially since the next story is like it feels like it's talking more about like public events like like the award goes to I think or something like that so like Eric's getting a possibly getting an award in the next in the next story.

[00:21:08] So yeah the fact that the story is like I've been saying tied into an alternate universe version of our own world it helps tie it in but also like they can play with that world a little bit so. It's more freedom.

[00:21:21] Yeah but I'll move on to the next thing here this one's definitely critically silly. Sir, I yelled back he turned around why I stepped back do you want to me spit it out already. I gulped. Do you want to meet a celebrity. He leaned in. Huh.

[00:21:42] Do you want to meet a celebrity. Do you want to meet a show man.

[00:21:48] Sorry I this this like was stuck in my brain and I had to pluck it out and put it on the paper or in my notes so I could like share that with the world.

[00:21:59] Also, I suppose later on it would actually end up being like she's in the bathroom is like do you want to eat a dumb fan. Yeah. But you're making her into a Disney princess now. I'm cannibalism. The best Disney film.

[00:22:18] I would love to be Disney try pull off a cannibalist horror movie with Disney princesses. For some reason I don't think they'll they'll pull that I'll take that. I don't know there was it might damage their their characters little bit somehow. Maybe.

[00:22:38] We'll just have to wait like 50 60 years when their copyrights go down and then you know as soon as the copyrights for all the Disney princesses are expired. Somebody is going to make a have a horror movie already in the salvo.

[00:22:53] It pretty much like that's what happened with this with Mickey with the earliest interpretations of Mickey mouse this year like either this year or last year.

[00:23:02] Like we like there were day like one day after Mickey mouse like the original steamboat Willie Mickey mouse was was expired from from copyright. Somebody already had a slasher movie ready. Oh really. Yeah. Nice. But I digress I'll move on to the next thing I have here.

[00:23:26] My breasts weren't an ideal size and my ginger hair doesn't look as good down there or. Oh doesn't look as good down there as it does on my head. But it keeps Eric from doing worse than murder. Oh, I don't like what this is insinuating.

[00:23:48] Like, did you see the not safe for work at the start. Yeah, I did. I did. I like and I don't I don't mean this necessarily in a bad way because this is a fucking horror story. So like there's going to be some disturbing shit.

[00:24:02] But like earlier when Valerie is explaining her cleanup duties after Eric's feeding and Eric watches, I did get like there's like a pervy predatory vibe from Eric on that. But it was it was subtle it doesn't it wasn't like too bad but like.

[00:24:20] Does literally read a line where he. J. O. Yeah, that is true. Yeah, but it's like again like there. Yeah, I like that's that's that's it's like it started off like it started escalating I guess.

[00:24:36] And just like yeah no like this is just like very like getting creepier and creepier as it goes. And like this was darkly and morbidly humorous throughout the story like what with with vows current macabre toiling with her employer or like for her employer.

[00:24:55] And up until now, like it was like for me it was kind of like kind of a quirky horror with like basically the Renfield having to help like is their Dracula.

[00:25:06] Then like shit suddenly like hit the fan in terms of like Valerie's like job role here I was like oh shit like suddenly like feel a lot more anxiety for her well being. Suddenly we're in Barassica. Yeah, exactly.

[00:25:23] We went from like, I'm trying to think of like a Mel Brook we said we went from like, not Mel Brooksville but like, like a quirky, like silly thing to like then suddenly Brassica. Brassica.

[00:25:40] And I don't like, this doesn't mean I hate it or hate the story or anything that it like because it's a horror story it's going to have some dark shit. But the shift in tone. Just just like took me by surprise suddenly with that for some reason. Yeah.

[00:25:57] Like the story does a good job at making Valerie for me anyway likable off the hop, or at least like as likable as you can for again like a very morally gray seeping into dark sort of like character.

[00:26:14] Like this all despite her circumstances and role in all this. But when the implication of her own like personal well being or even like humility, her being personally humiliated or in danger suddenly caused me like to be nervous and anxious about the situation.

[00:26:32] In a good way I suppose for the story because it made me like actually care about the character. But I'll move on to the next thing I have. Speaking of characters that made me care and such. Hey, Valerie. He screamed. I said nothing and stuck my foot out.

[00:26:52] He tripped falling and breaking his neck with a sickening crack. I felt nothing. Eric, your dinner's in here. Thanks, Val. I don't know why like I just had no care for Bob at all.

[00:27:04] But like when I read this part, I did get kind of like a morbid chuckle.

[00:27:08] Just like that's just the situation of just like, you know, we're really just like this is the POV from like the monsters point of view of the monster and or the monsters assistant and just like well this is my life. Well, it's a living.

[00:27:23] Yeah, this is just a Tuesday, you know. Yeah, like she's just dead inside from from the shit she's had to do for this.

[00:27:30] Which is sad because she like she like in the backstory, like she started off as a kind soul and then she's just because of that fucking senior. She just got like fucked in this situation though. She could have said no. Yeah, that is true.

[00:27:49] She offered all this, but she could have just said no if she knew what the hell she had to do. She could have. She just no one to blame herself on.

[00:27:57] No, I think I think it's it's like her mostly her but like also senior for like doing this to her as well. But also like, yeah money can be quite enticing for even like the even a semi pure soul so maybe not the purest of souls but

[00:28:15] How many years do you think she had to kill people every other week? Yeah, I don't know. Like we don't have that. Yeah, it's like and you can see like well based on how like how it's affecting her. I'd say some it's been some time since it started.

[00:28:30] Yeah, probably like in in Eric's 20s. So yeah, so 15 years of killing people every other week. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And for money. Wow. I mean that happened dude that's capitalism like that's all I know.

[00:28:48] Like, like that's actually it's actually good for the story because that is insane. It's also like in probably intentionally but maybe inadvertently like adding a groundedness because like yeah no.

[00:28:59] Like capitalism and the gig economy is is a thing and it's shitty and I hate it but we all have to deal with it because that's what we're living. And it just ups the the horror to be a moral more realistic.

[00:29:17] Oh my so this is it could not exactly but this is kind of like an economic horror in a way because like she gets us like a bunch of money if she if she does this thing, but it's also grinding her soul to dust in the process.

[00:29:33] And yeah actually my next my next thought was basically going to be like assistant to a cannibal no real relationships.

[00:29:41] All the people I meet our food for him. I fell down and wept, not because of my sins, but because of my hopelessness, all because I wanted to help an elderly family friend. And I was like, yeah.

[00:29:58] Yeah, no this is this is on you but this is also on for me like to me this is also on Eric Hastings senior, like doing this to you, or at least like even offering you this job and tempting him and tempting her with the money.

[00:30:13] And like, I wonder like he must have told but yeah also to your credit era gamer. He must have told her right about the requirement. You would think that that's why I say that like, kind of not redeemable because she's like yeah okay.

[00:30:31] I don't know like we don't get unfortunately the story actually I guess that is something in the story like we don't really get if if that was on the table at the start or if that's something that she kind of like she agreed to.

[00:30:44] And then the NDA came off and is like oh by the way. Now that you're in your contracted this is another thing you have to do.

[00:30:54] Yeah, it makes me wonder like if that was if that was on the table from the get go or if that was something that like was hidden until she agreed. Or if it's something that Hastings the third added because like, you know, she has to maybe after him.

[00:31:13] And it's like oh well you're here for the money then I can make you do whatever I want. Yeah, like maybe senior didn't even know about what what is his son and his grandson. Like what they were afflicted with or what they've been doing.

[00:31:28] So, like yeah maybe this is something that like he didn't know about he just knew that his son or his grandson specifically was a shithead and like Val was this kind soul so it's like hey maybe you should be as you should be his assistant because like my son just died and my grandson's like being a complete another tool.

[00:31:46] Yeah, like yeah like grandfather senior he his children always become like insane cannibalists that will auto cannibalize on age 35 or whatever.

[00:32:01] But he's just a he's normal person he's not a camel he just like went on some adventure and got first or some shit but he wasn't aware of it because like his two sons.

[00:32:13] One way or another they somehow managed to keep it under wraps probably because they're rich and they have people to cover shit up for them. Yeah, exactly. It's just the junior son was more subtle with it and he didn't leave a fucking mess and make everyone hate him.

[00:32:29] Yeah. So he kind of died on better terms with his father.

[00:32:34] Yeah, I could see it be curious because like again like we like did did senior know or was this like just sort of like he saw the what everybody else saw about Eric about Eric junior and and the third.

[00:32:47] And then when his when their handler show up like is like, like maybe that's why like oh like the handler murdered junior.

[00:32:57] But then like the third like yeah that's like so yeah you should be my grandson's handler because like he's too wild he's too much of a wild party goer and he needs some like guidance from a kind soul is like okay yeah I can do that.

[00:33:09] And then she gets into it and like I can't escape. Like I just got a last long enough for like to get that fortune.

[00:33:20] But yeah, so yeah we don't know those situations I guess like the story is almost too short for its own good at that because of that like we should have gotten some more information about that. Maybe it'll come up in the sequel will have to see.

[00:33:36] But I'll move on to the last thing I have here. He smiled and patted me on the back. It's sorry about earlier. If you want, I've still got some of him left if you are if you want to, you know, I nodded my eyes still puffy.

[00:33:53] Great. Love you Val. He closed the door. I looked in the mirror and smiled. I was blushing. God how I love him. What is that's what I felt. I mean he isn't he has such a dreamy voice. Uh huh. The text so well. Yeah, yeah.

[00:34:15] Um, but yeah like is Valor cannibal too? No, honestly I did not see that as okay. Um, saying yes to joining in on the cannibalism.

[00:34:28] I saw that as like okay fine you can do the thing that you do while you eat while I'm wearing this outfit, you know, gotcha. That's what I saw that is.

[00:34:41] Okay, that makes more sense because I was like well maybe that's like was she already a cannibal like maybe that was the connection in the family but like with senior and stuff of that but okay that makes you wouldn't have a problem doing that.

[00:34:52] That's true yeah that makes so much more sense actually like I that the read it that way. Yeah.

[00:35:00] But yeah so um also it seems like she finally caught or maybe she already was affected by it and was just kind of in denial up until the end of the story.

[00:35:12] She caught the Stockholm as in the Stockholm syndrome because the story of the story like she hates this like she can't stand this. Like I hate him. I hate him. Why does he make me do this?

[00:35:25] And at the very end like like she gets a little bit like a bit of kindness from him and then she's like oh how I love him.

[00:35:32] It's like oh oh honey you have either like this is either something that's been like brewing something that what you've been in denial about or like it just you finally just caught up to you. Or she's like trauma.

[00:35:46] What's that uh that term in Japanese anime of like the girl who like hates the protagonist but is actually. Who's Tundari. Yeah might be one of them situations.

[00:35:59] Maybe yeah it yeah I feel like maybe I don't think it's necessarily Tundari but like there might be there is another like there's probably another archetype like that. Where like they hate like they hate this whole thing but they put it up with it.

[00:36:13] But then like deep down like I think what you're getting at is like they really do actually love the character or like love the person.

[00:36:20] Yeah it's kind of like a masochist sort of thing where yeah it's they're doing something that they don't that they shouldn't like but they do like it.

[00:36:31] Yeah well that's why I propose that like might be Stockholm syndrome because like all the trauma and all the hardship or like all the all the emotional burden of doing this and like luring people to him and like him like being a monster and eating people and so in front of her and like being perved on by him.

[00:36:48] She's now just kind of like gone into survival mode and like created this like now like like no I do love him yeah.

[00:36:59] This is like that's sort of like a type of like helplessness in horror and stuff to like in real life it's like when the character like one like a spouse is being abused by their by their partner for like years and years or months or whatever long for long periods of time.

[00:37:15] And they eventually just like no I like he like this is for the best I love him like kind of thing like they the resentment me suddenly becomes like acceptance and admiration out of survival and trauma. Yeah, like it's a psychological thing.

[00:37:30] But yeah it had me curious about that as well and the story does have a couple of things that are like again I want questions to obviously you want answers to.

[00:37:42] Yeah yeah yeah yeah they have questions that I want answers to and I just hope that like the maybe the sequel will give us a few more answers because I do like this the story but I do feel like perhaps it was a bit.

[00:37:57] Short for its own good. Yeah definitely. But yeah that's that's my actual thoughts so Mikey these things for evil. Let's see here. So, my first actual thought here is that I was really hoping for some supernatural.

[00:38:22] And like, but I mean like like a wolf or werewolf transformation, like something that makes him more feral because I mean she does clean up piss on the carpet.

[00:38:38] Yeah, and that's something that a feral creature would do and I mean, you know what the piss might be it might be the guy that's being just being scared. Yeah that's also not necessarily his piss she doesn't take it for DNA sampling. Well, yeah. Either way it.

[00:39:00] The thing is once we get the oh it's a cannibal reveal and there's no wolf man or bear man.

[00:39:14] It's more like, it's because like I kind of perceived it like they're still a chance for me that they're supernatural because like it could be a supernatural cannibal because of what happened to junior and what happens if he doesn't feed after every two weeks or so.

[00:39:29] And yes he he's still like very human in terms of like an in control at the near the end like as he's like feeding and she's like hey he's here.

[00:39:40] But I kind of it could still be perceived like he's like a ghoul like a Lovecraftian ghoul kind of thing where they're they are like, they get feral when they're feasting but like even like after soon as even after they're done eating or like done like chomping down.

[00:39:53] They still have control over their some of their their their mind. But it could also just be wrong but didn't he like ripped his arm off. He popped it out it seemed like or like he any he took a bite out of his neck.

[00:40:08] Yeah, he gets like yeah like Bob had like one hand one light when the one arm limping like from to the side and had like a bite wound in his in his neck.

[00:40:18] So so it's it feels like it could be supernatural or it could just be Hannibal Hector. Yeah. Yeah, his arm was hanging from the socket and his neck had a massive chunk bit none of it, but he was still alive.

[00:40:34] So so maybe he is a monster of some like supernatural capacity. It just doesn't show the transformation or nothing. Yeah, and I guess like and maybe maybe there isn't much of one except for like he just his mouth expands or something or like or what have you.

[00:40:52] Certainly that could be maybe added like a description of what he looks like when he goes feral but. I think it might just be meant to be like human cannibal. Yeah, I'm on the fence honestly about like whether or not it is or not.

[00:41:11] Well, the thing is we don't get the clarification. Yeah. And because we it leans into supernatural but doesn't get far enough into it with in my mind a transformation of some kind.

[00:41:30] My mind just went to the cannibal and this isn't as cool as I want it to be. Oh, yeah. No, that's that's a fair play. Yeah.

[00:41:43] That being said, things that can happen in real life are sometimes scarier than anything that is supernatural safety blanket can do for you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, I don't know the I don't see this really happening in real life because I mean, while cannibals exist.

[00:42:08] Pretty sure we know if people were going missing on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

[00:42:15] I you have a very optimistic look at human trafficking and and and how when people go missing like some people there's a whole swath of the population that are just known as like the forgotten. Very high frequency in this story though. Yeah.

[00:42:38] But like also it's it is LA it is it is Hollywood. So like people can go missing from what I've understand from like real world like stories and stuff that about Hollywood people can just disappear in that town. Right. No to self don't ever go to LA.

[00:42:59] Yeah, basically. I know it's not like that's also not just LA like I've like basically any big major city like you're going to have those kind of situations. So yeah, yeah. And my other note here is why did Bob ask for help?

[00:43:26] Like maybe he didn't think that she was still in on it. Well, but when he sees her she's naked except for the headband and glasses. What did he see? Didn't she poke her head out around the corner as like she heard him? And then he stepped out.

[00:43:50] She stepped out enough that she could trip them.

[00:43:52] Yeah, she then well I assumed like like she heard him coming down the hallway like around the corner looked over to see where he was and then then put her her leg out as he was like running past the like he may not have actually seen her in that state.

[00:44:08] But yeah, he's also at that point like in a desperate situation and just like calling out for whoever like he thinks might be able to help. So yeah, that's true. Oh, and that's in my actual thoughts. Okay, on to gamer.

[00:44:30] Okay, so when I first started reading the story, first thing I see is the not safe for work at the top. And then start reading and the character specifically says she's a virgin and works for a guy who's a supreme asshole.

[00:44:42] So like, it put me in the mindset of like, it basically paints the start of this with a really ski V vibe that I just I wasn't enjoying reading.

[00:44:54] It just it was, I don't know, it wasn't the overall overarching vibe I got from reading the whole story actually is it's not necessarily a fun read. It's not really a scary read. It's just kind of awkward and uncomfortable read, you know,

[00:45:14] that's an interesting take because I had the exact opposite except for like when like she's actually stripping down and stuff like that.

[00:45:22] Like to me this was a fun, horrory kind of story like like but from from the POV of like the monster or the serial killer kind of thing. It was like the acceptance of Valerie like being okay with doing this.

[00:45:38] That it was just kind of like, especially with the not safe for work morning at the top and all the other stuff. It just kind of painted it all in a very ski V color. I don't know what color is ski V but

[00:45:51] some kind of see, you know, it's not don't don't don't take this to heart or anything. But honestly, I was like, when I think of ski V, I do kind of think of a yellowing color. I hate you.

[00:46:03] No, no, like that's that's fairly like of like your games. It's interesting that you got that because like I guess it's just kind of like shows like our different personalities. Because I read this and I was like, I actually thought that the the

[00:46:21] I'm glad like the I'm glad the the warning was up there but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It's worse than some of the other ones that I have had. That's fair but like sometimes they're not safe for work stuff just because

[00:46:37] the monster has breasts exposed or something like that. Yeah, but this goes like a lot worse with it. I get like references that he like he he jerks off to her or the image of her and some of that and like that's that's a little like risqué.

[00:46:55] Like obviously like he gives off a very ski V vibe. But like there's nothing is actually really shown. There's something that's told but there's nothing shown. The theater of the mind is sometimes a lot. You're not wrong.

[00:47:11] It can be a it can be a boon and a curse. Yeah. To reference a story we've done recently. A theater of the mind is a terrible curse. It can be a terrible curse.

[00:47:31] But yeah, I just like yeah it's interesting that like that's you went into this with that kind of mentality of it. So yeah, I just I don't enjoy reading super ski V stories as what I'm kind of finding out.

[00:47:47] But moving on every two weeks I lure an innocent person to Eric's trailer house wherever he is at the time. And I step out and come back in to get rid of the skeleton you leave behind when I first read this.

[00:47:59] I had no idea what he was or nothing so I automatically went to vampire first. And I assumed that the corner quotes skeleton was just referencing the drained body after. But it actually ended up being cannibal. So it's like the actual skeleton. However, I don't know this.

[00:48:19] Okay, this might be technically grammar. I don't know if it should be saying skeleton. It should say bones. Yeah, because I switch I had a virtually vampire but then the skeleton thing came up and I was like,

[00:48:31] or is it like Malina or like one of those characters like. Yeah, a full skeleton that's still connected. Yeah, well, because and that was my mentality going into reading this story is like I was getting some like dark humor and like morbid humor vibes this entire story.

[00:48:53] So I was kind of just in that that was my in my headset or my my my head headspace. So I was envisioning yeah like just like a full like clean like like cleaned skeleton. Straight up when you tune style.

[00:49:07] Yeah, or the very least some blood and viscera also on the skeleton. But yeah. Yeah, I think bones would be better for that unless he doesn't like eat every he doesn't eat the person head to toe. So like there's enough stuff there that it's still connected.

[00:49:25] Yeah, but it's like all the main meets got honestly he could.

[00:49:29] Yeah, I'll see if that if he is like a like he could also still be a vampire just in the more like traditional sense not like the Hollywood sense but yeah because in traditional vampire lore they don't just like you get to bite marks in your in your neck and they siphon no they rip out your throat and eat you.

[00:49:49] Of course Hollywood had to change it make it sexy. Yeah, exactly. And we all know where that evolution went down. Yeah. Like I'm not referencing this episode. You just did. I'm not calling it a nice saying the name of this episode. Okay fine.

[00:50:09] But I'll move on from that Twilight reference. God damn it. Then we get to the point where Valerie just openly bringing victims for Eric to feast on and all that and she's okay with it.

[00:50:24] Because his dad wasn't an asshole to her and like if in this alternate universe, this is the norm. It's probably illegal but still the norm then okay I understand why she's going along with it so easily. Because it wouldn't be overly weird in that universe.

[00:50:44] But I feel like there should be a lot more resistance to her doing these things aside. She's being annoyed by it the same way that you would ask someone to go pick up milk for me before you at the store. Yeah. Like it inconveniences them.

[00:51:00] That's the most feeling I got for this is just it's an inconvenience that she has to put up with. Go ahead. I want to just explain something here. And honestly, I'm actually going to defend your perspective on this.

[00:51:19] I do think that you're negating the fact that she's been doing this for a while.

[00:51:23] But I also think the story should maybe have had some like her still like she reflects on her own like the possibility of her own funeral while she's driving out to Hollywood Walk of Fame.

[00:51:35] Maybe we could have had also like a flashback of like the early days of when she was like how this used to actually like how she didn't realize like when she first started doing this.

[00:51:45] She didn't know how to cope or even like how she was going to be able to keep doing this just for money. Like show that that that declined in morality. Because we have no sense of time over this. Like this could be like in the first month still.

[00:52:00] This could be month two three who knows or it could be 10 years into it. We have no idea based on the end and how like done with it. She she has broken years for sure but we don't really have a good sense of time.

[00:52:14] Yeah, I think that's what the story would definitely benefit from is just establishing how long she's been doing this and like how much of her humanity she's been sacrificing for a really, really, really good paycheck at the end. Yeah.

[00:52:32] Because again money will make like to me like this makes like I can see the helplessness but also the the greed and the like what what because people are willing to do shitty things like killing other people for money.

[00:52:48] Look at mercenaries soldiers look at like like all manner of there's all manner of like people out there that this would appeal to them or this would be like I could do this. The start of the story paints her like she's a goddamn angel.

[00:53:06] Yeah, and that's why senior wanted her to take care of of the third of Eric Eric three. Yeah, he's nice and she'll lead him on the straight and narrow. Meanwhile, if everyone was aware that he's a cannibal and he's doing this shit.

[00:53:28] Senior should be finding like someone who's cold hearted and just cares about the money because someone who's cold hearted just cares about the money will keep this completely under wraps do it efficiently get it done. There won't be any second guessing.

[00:53:47] He chose the worst person to do this, honestly. Again, it helps. It helps for your what you said earlier where it's like what if he doesn't know about this?

[00:53:56] So like I feel like maybe that could have been that could be brought up a little bit more of like yeah he thought he was just like a regular shithead like actor kid or like or like Nippo baby.

[00:54:09] And that's why he got her and then when she finally got when she got the job and found out the dark secret she got trapped in the situation.

[00:54:18] You know, I just thought of yeah wonder if Eric the third is the reason that Eric Junior is loaded on his 35th birthday. Oh, like basically on the 35th birthday. The son will take over the inheritance of senior.

[00:54:40] Yeah. So the third went and killed him his older brother on his older brother's birthday so he couldn't take the fortune. Well, wouldn't have been his older brother who had been his dad. Sorry, right. DER. Yeah, that's good. Thank you for the name to Eric Hastings.

[00:54:58] Yes. Trust me. I understand. Yes, yes. I think that's why we had an issue with the rundown earlier. Debbie said if if the third killed junior when junior wasn't even 35, then how young did you have a kid?

[00:55:18] Yeah, well, yeah, junior could have had the kid like in his 20s or something like that. Yeah, it's still odd. Yes. It is possible though, because if you're like a super powered weird ghoulish cannibal, even if you're like a 10 year old,

[00:55:37] I'm sure you could still kill someone if you're super naturally powered, you know. Actual cannibal Eric Hastings. Yes. Nice actual cannibal Shilabuff restaurant. Sorry, it just like popped right in there. This has been the episode and like when I was taking my notes of it.

[00:55:56] I mean, just like things just popping into my head and like having to get them out from it. So yeah. You're a bar. Yeah, very song focused.

[00:56:05] But yeah, that's a battle I got to say on that part because aside from just what I said before where like I can't really connect with Valerie as a character because I can't.

[00:56:18] She's supposed to be really nice, but she ends up being really horrible and that's like the this tragic story of this story, I guess, but I don't know.

[00:56:29] I think the reason why is because there wasn't enough here for you to like get in and like see that like her kindness or like see her like her sincerity or her humanity breaking. Yeah, it comes and goes so fast that we don't get to see much.

[00:56:51] Yeah, because we're just we're really at the tail end of her humanity like finally like tipping over the edge. Yeah, the only thing we have to say that she's nice is her saying that she's that that senior said that she's nice. Yeah, that's about it.

[00:57:08] And then she did feel bad about like almost getting almost pulling in a guy who had a family and stuff. So like, yeah, but that could just be because it would be more people asking about them.

[00:57:25] Wow. So like I'm interpreting that as like, oh, well, like, yeah, she's actually still guilty about like doing this kind of stuff.

[00:57:30] You're just like, no, she's just calculating 100% because it said earlier that she only goes after people who don't have any connections really people that won't be missed. That's true. That's why she said that she slipped up there almost.

[00:57:44] That's true. But like also she does. But then I'm latching on more on the the fact that she won't like her, like her thing is like not going after like not bringing like prostitutes to to him because like, and I'm interpreting that as like, well,

[00:57:59] they've already had it rough as it is like not also like to like let them just get slaughtered.

[00:58:06] Yeah. No, that makes sense. Like you're like you're pulling in like it's like, you know, like you're showing you're showing evidence that's in the story about her being a lot more calculating and cold than how I'm seeing it as like her morality is like fraying and like she does have some kind of a moral code if not like it's breaking.

[00:58:21] So. But again, a timeframe would help with this because if this was killing to and she was thinking like this. That's different to this being kill 30, you know, yeah, if she's still holding on to her humanity for a very long time then I would care more about her.

[00:58:41] Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. But it's hard to tell.

[00:58:45] And then we get to the ending where there's a quote unquote twist of her saying that she loves Eric and says I hated reading it all the time I was trying to sympathize with her character and I was really struggling with it and then just that just final nail in there.

[00:59:05] That's unfortunate. Yeah. Because like, I don't think that that is the moment where she switched to actually caring she probably cared about in the entire time that's for the reason why she's the willing to go up go with all this you know.

[00:59:21] Yeah, so so your take is that she's a student area or like that that trope of like they they like oh this is so fucking annoying I hate him and then like really deep down or like really like underneath that is like they actually do love the person.

[00:59:35] Of course early on she was shwooning his voice on the freaking phone. I mean I didn't. Yeah, fair enough. You swooned at his text on the phone too.

[00:59:49] But like I also interpret that as like like she's starting to like break down like it's starting the Stockholm syndrome starting to take. Which is also another view for sure. Yeah, which is also believable.

[01:00:00] But yours is also as believable because like I could say your I'm I do see your point of view is like yeah she does seem like throughout the story that she's very she could be perceived as very unlikeable. And she's a murderers in a light.

[01:00:17] Yeah, she's basically she's indirectly murdering people. Yeah, in some cases she does directly actually. And to be fair, that could have been a mercy kill for Bob. No, I think that's because he was about to get out and I have other people see shit. Yeah, exactly.

[01:00:36] It could also be that too. So it's like the story is kind of like it's sort of playing with like ambiguity as to like people's motives and and and the and this what the what the situation is actually about.

[01:00:50] But yeah, that's about everything you got to say there. All right. Like at the end it's just basically everything she's been saying has been a lie the whole time.

[01:01:04] Like even if the whole like she's always loved him situation unless it's a Sander situation but like just because it's lie after lie is like it keeps the more I read the story the more it kept painting Valerie in a worse and worse light for me. Personally.

[01:01:21] And that's my main problem with this is we read a horror story you have to care about the main character even if they're the even if they're not the one being killed, you know,

[01:01:33] um, sometimes in horror like in stories yes but in horror sometimes like you can be like like they can't it can just be like like I hate read or just like or just a disgust read layer like you're just disgusted by what's going on.

[01:01:49] But like that's the point like you're not supposed to empathize with the character. Yeah, like you're not supposed to empathize with Freddy Krueger.

[01:01:57] I suppose not but she's also not meant to be the Freddy Krueger in this even though she kind of is and she's kind of like half Freddy Krueger. Yeah, like yeah it yeah you know what I mean like yeah. They're unfortunately a buddy or do well.

[01:02:16] This is kind of a buddy or actually. Yeah, unfortunately. I'm sorry that you don't like the buddy or aspect of it. Just like the skis. Yeah.

[01:02:30] I will say like you know I also see for me what what's really kind of playing with the ski stuff is like I didn't perceive her like getting into a maid costume or anything like that for cleaning.

[01:02:41] I it really felt like she just like went completely nude except for that headband. Is that what's going on or am I misreading it? That was at the end. Yeah, like like when she was cleaning to I think it didn't say anything about her stripping down that.

[01:03:01] No, like when you know like when she talked about like her like that's the thing about like the ski stuff is like what she's talking about earlier and like how she would like have to clean up after him and he just like look at her like all ski like predatory Lee and stuff with that.

[01:03:15] I just assumed she was in her regular clothes doing that and then she strips down in the house and that's when like I the tone shifted for me I was like oh shit like she has to go do this nude and then like kind of along with me.

[01:03:28] Yeah and then with the headband like you kind of brought up like she gets into an out into it like a get up and I was like Aussie I think that would be.

[01:03:37] That might make it better in terms of like not being as ski V because like at least she's in some kind of a clothing and like not just in front of him like stuff about that. I don't know like it.

[01:03:48] She's literally just wearing a headband in her glasses because she already had to have had the headband on. Yeah. She didn't put it on as a costume. She had the glasses in the headband on with her pants before. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:04:03] Like Aussie like that the whole like her stripping down to like have to clean is like kind of made like made all that worse like for me like terms darker tone of like of skiveness but yeah. But that's that's all you have been. Yeah pretty much. Okay.

[01:04:18] Well on to final thoughts. Um you guys haven't swayed me. I'm sorry. Because I still get it. It's a female protagonist. I understand how fucking.

[01:04:31] It has nothing to do with that because this is why I like the story like and maybe again I think it's just because like I like humor in horror and I really got that kind of like this this kind of like morbidly quirky vibe from the story.

[01:04:48] And there are some moments where things get real in terms of like a creepy if like creepy scenes.

[01:04:56] I would probably honestly compare the story to like in terms of it's like feeling and like how it's like constructed and sort of that to like a modern horror comedy something like day shift or night teeth from like recent memory where things are taken seriously enough in the setting and in the in the back drop and such.

[01:05:15] And there's horror clearly present in the scenes and in the themes of what's going on in circumstances.

[01:05:22] But there's also a healthy dose of morbid and dark humor that splashed in for an edge of levity and like dry humor like I kind of got from the story like I don't know like when when she when the when the survivor when the when Bob is like trying to escape and she just like trips him and kills him by accident and she's

[01:05:42] just like I feel nothing and it's like I got a chuckle from that like you know in a more horrible morbid way and like I think maybe maybe just because I'm desensitized or I watch a lot of horror movies and shit.

[01:05:55] So like this felt like one of those kind of like horror movies where they splash in that kind of dark humor. Yeah.

[01:06:03] Because we're basically we're basically like POVing a Renfield or like the servitor of a monster like of a serial killer who's like helping along because if not like oh first they'll get some like a ton of money if they if they go through all this and money corrupts and like she's so she's being corrupted by that but also like she'd been at this so for a while it seems.

[01:06:28] And so like you're seeing her her helplessness and her humanity breakdown through the story. So I really dug that and it's one of the reasons it's the reason I'm willing to recommend this story.

[01:06:43] I'm also very curious and looking forward to the sequel because I do think the story does suffer from short story syndrome. Yeah, it needs more. Yeah, there needs to be a little bit more like like I would like some more like details on like the circumstances.

[01:07:01] Speaking of Disney princesses. I know I must have more. But yeah so that's my my final thoughts. I'm so recommending it. Mikey these days. Well I'm going to agree with Gamer about the skewiness. I that's also something they didn't really care for.

[01:07:25] And it is throughout which is probably why I really wanted there to be some supernatural stuff ingrained in the story but we get cannibal and I'm like disappointment. You get actual cannibal. But. Chalabu can do jiu-jitsu so I mean.

[01:07:50] That would have made this story so much better if there was jiu-jitsu. Yeah, I do feel like yeah I will like on top again not to take over anything but yeah the.

[01:08:02] Getting a description of him being like a monster of some kind like as he's chasing Bob what might have been might have helped with that or like maybe at least clarify the yes this is a cannibal like he's just a regular human. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so.

[01:08:24] That being said like I. I sort of saw. The love thing at the end because I mean it's a love hate relationship. So we got the hate to begin with and then the love at the end. Yeah, this guy but I love money. But yeah I.

[01:08:50] Still don't recommend reading the story. Alright, sure enough. And gamer. As I said before, couldn't really connect with the character too much along the way. I wanted to sympathize with her but she just kept doing stuff that made me not sympathize with her.

[01:09:07] You know what would have helped is if there was a scene where she just didn't take a guy over there. It's like look I need to get out of this.

[01:09:17] I want out of it but we don't get any of that because of how short the story is we've because of how short the story is we missed all of her character building or destruction perhaps of going from a nice person to a cold and dead murderer murder system basically.

[01:09:35] Yeah, so. Because you don't see that downfall. You don't know the character in their backstory and stuff. It's like if you watch superhero movie and a bad guy shows up. He's a bad guy and the heroes defeat him. But you don't know anything about him.

[01:09:53] You don't know why he's a bad guy. You don't know what he's trying to do. You just know I'm here. I'm bad. I'm not bad. You know I can I can kind of to put a superhero like analogy to it.

[01:10:05] It's the difference between the Rhino in the amazing Spider-Man sequel. I think it is or the Sandman in Spider-Man 3 like the the the the. The Ramie Spider-Man movies the Rhino. Is this like thug? Spider-Man. Right.

[01:10:26] Like a mech suit and then he gets a mech rhino suit and like he's just bad. He's just there at the end and like for the fight for just the end of the game. And then the Spider-Man. The Spider-Man. The Spider-Man. The Spider-Man. The Spider-Man. The Spider-Man.

[01:10:45] There he is at the end and like that for the fight just gets that the final like like final credit shot against Spider-Man and then but that's it. Like that's all we get from Rhino in the amazing Spider-Man 2.

[01:10:59] In in Spider-Man 3 the raimie from the Raimie movies we we Sandman. Is a criminal but he was he was he's being a criminal to support because it was the only way he knew how to support his his his dying or very sick child.

[01:11:15] And then he got trapped in like a particle accelerator and became Sam in. Like, yeah, I get what you're saying, like for the analogy of that is like, it's the difference between like finding it. Like we do need, I do think the story needs,

[01:11:29] would definitely benefit from having a little bit more backstory on like, on Val's suffering or like her, or how like she got, how things started out versus like now we're here. Yeah. I think it's like a couple of shows in a row,

[01:11:44] but we need to see the character suffer more. Yeah. We got said that last week too, but it's the truth because that's where you see character development. Yeah. Well, and another thing was, would it help if we knew how old Eric,

[01:12:03] the third was so that we know how much longer she has to do this? Yeah, cause she was, yeah, cause that's where I was thinking with the 35, like is it when he turns 35 or should it be till he hits 35? What's the difference?

[01:12:17] The difference is like, if it's till 35, she has a timeline. Cause then he's like probably like in his 20s. Oh, I see. And she's like late 20s something person that's doing this. It's like, yeah, like that's what I was like,

[01:12:32] kind of thing at the beginning of the story when it's, when I was doing the whole like age 35 thing it was like, I was questioning whether like, like cause she started this at 35 or at him being 35. The way I saw that is she has to do this until,

[01:12:46] just to make sure he survives to his 35th birthday. And if he does that, great. Then she gets the fortune. He's assigned me to Eric's caretaker. Oh, when he turned 35. Yeah. Yeah. That's what it says. I saw it backwards the whole time.

[01:13:05] But like, no, but like it still helps to point there cause like, I feel like it should be till 35 because at least at that point, like there's a timeline. We don't know how long it like, she just has to keep him alive from going into an early grave.

[01:13:20] Like, okay. So like when's that? Yeah. She has to do this for the rest of her life. Basically yeah. And then she gets the fortune. Like great. Love that. So she just might die of old age or just die from the circumstances of trying to keep him alive

[01:13:39] and not see this fortune at all. This might be a typo. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I should keep him from an early grave. I would receive his entire fortune. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I, mm. And this is coming from the guy who likes to say

[01:14:02] does recommend this story. But yeah. Like it was like, I think that needs to be clarified. That needs to be looked at a little bit more and maybe tweaked a little bit. As yeah, at that point, originally I thought she just had to do this

[01:14:17] till he's 35, get the fortune bounces she's out. But she's signing up to do this for the rest of her life. Yeah. At least that's what it seems like if that, if after 35 is correct. Yes. Which I don't know. Like Serena writes,

[01:14:40] if you could please clarify in another email or what have you? Like if that's like, is this an issue or is this something that was intended? Unfortunately, I misread that as until 35. I don't know how the hell I did that. But so be it. Probably because it mentioned

[01:14:58] that the brother died when he was 35. The father. Fuck. The father died when he's 35. The grandfather was like, just keep him alive until he's at least 35. And that makes sense. I don't need him dying even younger than his father did. Yeah. And that's what makes sense to me.

[01:15:21] Like it makes more sense to me that it's a until 35 rather than like when he turns 35. Yeah. Yeah. Either way. That aside, whole concept of the story and everything is good, honestly. It's just the way it's presented and the shortness of it is what maybe not recommend this.

[01:15:47] But with some tweaks, I could recommend this. And I am curious to see how this goes. It's just I personally didn't like the presentation of what we got. Fair. Yeah. Yeah, we'll have to, we'll have to see how the sequel turns out. I think it's called,

[01:16:02] Assistant to Mr. Hastings, the Academy Awards is what it's called. Yeah, we'll be covering that next week. That's it for my final thoughts because that's what we were doing. Yep. Yeah, wow, we got lost in the... Little lost in the weeds there, but that's fine.

[01:16:19] We brought up stuff that we didn't really talk about before. So yeah, that'll do it for this week's episode. So, we're going to be talking about a one recommendation and two non-recommendations. Why is there going to be tangential? Tangential recommendation

[01:16:36] if the story gets tweaked and stuff of that. So, which I mean, again, Serena writes, sent us these stories so that we could discuss them and critique them. So... This is our editing work. Or these are our notes. That's why we call that section notes. Actual thoughts. Yep.

[01:16:59] Right, you call it actual thoughts. I live ahead of it in my notes as notes. Yeah, well, everything in my thoughts is basically notes. And thoughts are basically like how... Is a type of critiquing notes and stuff of that. Yeah. Anyway, that'll do it for tonight.

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