First of all, you don't know me.
We all about that high school drama, Girl Drama, Girl, all about them high school queens. We'll take you for a ride, and our comic girl sharing for the right team Drama, Queens of Girl Fashion.
But you'll tough, girl.
You could sit with.
Us, Girl Drama, Queens Drama, Queens Drama, Queens Drama, Drawn the Queens Drama Queens.
Hi, everybody, Hi, I'm so sorry we weren't able to be there last week.
Rob, how to go? It was a disaster too, aren't here? The wheels come right off the wagon.
It was your first time hosting. I meant to text you too.
I kept like thinking of it in moments when I was like driving or brushing my teeth or like the wrong moments, I was like, I need to text Rob. I gotta find out how it went. How did he feel about hosting the episode? You know, it's kind of a big deal, Like totally it fell apart what.
There was a fair amount of nervous crying at the beginning on Life Gorgeous. Luckily, Lee and Antoine are just such great guys and such natural performers that they really helped carry me. And I think at the end of the day, we got something that is going to be usable.
Amazing.
I love that for you, though, I gotta be honest, I was feeling the exact same way.
Joy.
I was just thinking to myself, of course, because we have similar brains at like twelve thirty at night or like six forty five in the morning, when Rob's on the West Coast and it's a deeply inappropriate time to text him, I wanted to ask.
All these questions.
And I also felt myself, like back in my younger self, going, well, I'm sad I didn't get to hang out with the boys. I wonder what they talked about. I wonder if they had a good time, Like I was. I was amped that you guys basically had a treehouse experience episode. And also my little like younger self ego was wounded that the girls didn't get to come and play, especially.
After watching that episode because it was just so fun.
Well, that's why it was perfect, right, and that was sort of how I let in. I'm like, we're it's it's kind of funny because it's like our parents, like the parents are away and it's just like a boy's night in and like but it's the perfect episode for that because that's essentially what we do there as well. Yeah and no, it was great. We had a lot of fun, managed to keep things on track because with those two guys, it's like my brain wants to go
in a million different directions conversationally. But it was great, and now it is awesome to have you back. I feel like before we even get into atoh eight, we do need to touch upon the greatness that was both of your performances in eight oh seven because you two so if you and Sharon at the at the Bride Expo is just like the episode. And of course it was like a heroin Strauss episode. So the episode was
just rife with killer one liners. Yes, with the with the gist of them being between you and Sharon, and then when Joy pops in and Joy your stuff was so funny, like you trying in Earnest to show up as a friend, Hayley's trying to show up in Earnest as a friend for Brooke but because of what's happening hormonally with the pregnancy constantly undermining her at every turn, and just the comedy playing between you guys.
Was so good.
I will say I think that's one of my top five episodes we've ever done. I had the best time with you and Sharon and that little storyline, and especially it was a fun day.
I remember that.
It was so fun and everyone, I mean, the wardrobe was amazing, the set was amazing, Like I remember walking in there and thinking, Oh, this is going to be good. And especially because we are and I think really beautifully in this arc for everyone this season where people are really trying to figure out life, they're figuring out their emotions, they're figuring out things that require the maturity. Our characters
have earned emotional intelligence. So to have just an all out comedic fun fest, yeah, it was relieving for me as an actor.
And like you and I are goofy.
We like to be funny and it was nice to get to show that and to do it with Sharon.
Come on, she's such a genius everything she does. I mean, I tell you she always I said this already, she floats through every room she's in. But the way she played this character. And also I had totally forgotten that she was had this drinking issue, and so as I didn't realize that she was getting progressively more and more
like silly and loopy. I guess I thought she was just being a little more happy or pushy or just but it felt so jovial that you couldn't help, And I think Hayley couldn't help but just fall in line and fall in love with her. And so when you find her collapsed in the hallway, it's like this, The turn was so great because I hadn't spotted it. But if you go back and watch, you can see Sharon's deliberate choices to progress.
It's like the sixth sense.
You don't see it coming, and then once you know the secret, you realize you saw it the whole time. Yeah, it's the best kind of misdirect I think writers can do. And to your point, Rob heroin Stress are just such a good writing team, and they I think they just crush it from the funny to the emotional.
Really, there was a line where it's when you're looking at bridesmaid's dresses and she goes, how about these? And you said, actually, I was thinking about I was planning on designing them myself, you know, something cute And she says, oh no, honey, the whole point is for your bridesmaids to look ugly so you look pretty. And I love that because it was perfect, right, it's there. It is the leanest joke in that there is like, there's nothing extra on it, because first of all, that's accurate. Why
are bride'smaid's dress is always hideous? But it's a perfectly backhanded like, yeah, dear you them to look bad so you can look good.
It's just so rude, so free.
Yeah, because God forbid another woman look beautiful then you don't. It's such an antiquated way of thinking. And it's perfect for a mother in law, particularly for Brooks mother in law, because Brook's entire business is literally based on making other women feel beautiful.
Yeah, just so tone deaf. She just shows up so tone deaf.
It's so good though, because it's it's such a perfect illustration of how these two do not speak the same language, they do not come from the same era, and it's you know, perfect.
I also really like the Sharon didn't make choices to be aggressively pushy, that the pushiness just came out of the flow of her. It's it's the uh, what's her characters name, wait, Sylvia, Sylvia Right, It's like it's the it's the Sylvia Show. It's always been the Sylvia Show in her mind, and everywhere she goes it's just she just floats around. Oh no, no, no, oh, yes, yes, yes, oh, this is what we need to do. Oh that's what It's just so endearing. You love it, but she also hate it.
Yeah.
Well that's the thing, right. She does the thing that good actors do, which is she makes it hard to just make a snap judgment on like who she is, right, because she's doing things that aren't cool, but she's coming from kind of a good place, Like I think the characters the best of the ones where like the water is muddied and it's not easy to go like they're great where they say. It's sort of like, man, she's kind of being a mom zilla, but she's also offering
to pay for it, you know. It's like, ah, it's okay, so I wanted to ask you.
Though.
At the end of the episode, obviously she gets canned. You have to help her get home. She passes out with all of her jewelry on Brave and at the end of it she says, hey, don't mention this to Julian and he worries about me, which also help tie back to last season when he was like, my mom was in a bad way, and we had a conversation about how it was like, this woman seems very put together.
It doesn't make sense now we're getting a glimpse. But if you were in Brooks shoes and your mother in law did that and asked that of you, would you keep her secret or would you share with your partner?
It depends on how often it happens. I think the first time, I might not say anything. If it became a pattern that I was noticing, then I would I would bring it up.
Yeah.
God, that puts people in such a rock and a hard place. In between, such a rock and a hard place, because you never want to keep something from your partner. But to your point, especially when you don't know someone, I could see if that was a real situation, you know, putting myself back in the shoes of that character, thinking well,
maybe she just got a little carried away. Today, you know, plenty of people do that, and you know, sometimes somebody drinks too much, and it's sort of the lore right of even like a rehearsal dinner at a wedding, you know, half the people there get shit canned and then they're hung over the day of the wedding, Like, how many
times have we heard that story? So I feel like you could rationalize it to yourself in a way, and especially because they're having a hard time, I could see wanting to ingratiate yourself and not make it worse, not make your mother in law hate you. But on the flip side, it would make me feel so icky to
keep a secret. So I feel like, especially at this point, thinking about how young our characters were being in our mid twenties, now different story, I think we've all gotten to the point where you're like, look, you just got to figure it out, be frank, deal with you. But then I might have been like, wow, we had such a good time, and they definitely gave your mom a lot of champagne, but you know, obviously because she said
you'd pay for everything. Like I feel like I would have tried to make it not her fault but alluded to the fact that she wound up drunk.
You would have been passive aggressive.
So what you're saying, No, I think I would have tried to do you think that's passive aggressive?
Oh my god, I think that's so protective.
Well, no, it's not aggressive, but it is.
It is like, Okay, maybe I don't know the definition of passive aggressive. I thought it was that you're saying something directly, but you're not being directive about it. You're being passive about being saying something that is.
V But that's when you're mad at someone.
Wouldn't it be passive gossiping?
Then?
Yeah?
The way I look at it is more like I don't want to rat on her, and she's asked me not to say something, but I don't want to lie to Julian, So I think I would have said something in between, like they really gave you so much champagne yesterday?
Like whoa hinting?
You know? But I would have told him a little, but not said I had to carry her home put her in bed and then she told me not to tell you, you know again, in my forties, I would have a very different conversation.
Because it's your partner.
Though, yeah, it's your.
Partner, but you're also twenty and it's his mom, and I don't I see, I see how.
Tough that is, but I hear it, like I hear what you're saying, lout joy because I would like listen It's not like she went to Applebee's on a Tuesday afternoon by yourself and got you canned. Right, that would be like, oh, oh, okay, you're right.
Yah, that's a conversation.
It is a highly atypical environment that is va tailored to like let's get a little boozy and have fun.
Yeah. And I'm a watcher, like I if I notice behavior, I don't I hold onto it. I'll put it in my filing cabinet. But I don't do anything about it until I see it becoming a pattern, and then I become aware.
Well, yeah, because you have to make sure you're not filling in a story, yeah, based on a moment, because of any subconscious or preconceived notion you have. So you have to make sure you're not filling in the blanks incorrectly.
Yeah.
And an environment like that, like you're talking about rob when it's all catered to that.
Yeah, Like of course they're giving the mother of the bride or the mother in law a ton of champagne at a wedding expo.
So I see how.
And again, hats off to Heroin Strauss because they made it sticky for Brooke. And when I think about the life experience. We're all bringing to this conversation about what would we do. Imagine trying to figure this out at twenty two or twenty three years old, like nightmare.
Yeah, what would you do Rob today or then? I mean in my twenties, I would have kept the secret because I just wouldn't want to rock a boat. Yeah, I kind of It's funny cause when you answered Joy, I went, yeah, that's what I would do. I would
gather with some more data. But then when so I was talking, I kind of agreed to it because it's like, so if your answer was sort of the like halfway between keeping the secret and gathering data, where it's like I'm going to I'm going to tell you some of the information without like laying it on super thick and worrisome, you know, because I think now it's like it's my partner.
I'm not going to that's that's my primary I'm not keeping secrets, Yeah, because I think that's how I would let myself off the hook, is just go like nope, you know, this is the dieout. Everything else comes second. So I'm just gonna go ahead and share that because I suck with secrets. Also, I'm a terrible Secret Surprise Keeper, Me too, Surprise Keeper. Yeah, so can I ask.
You a question? Okay before we move on. This will be the bridge between the episodes. I panic when I have to, for example, like you just said help with some sort of surprise, and people are like, you're an actor, You're supposed to be good at this. And the thing that always comes to mind for me is, no, you're missing the point. Other people write the dialogue. We memorize. That's what we're good at. We make the dialogue true.
When you ask me to come up with the fib to do the thing, I'm not a writer. I don't want to do it. I'm bad at it.
I start to get weird. I start to panic. People are like, why is your voice going.
Up and octave. I'm like, I don't know what are you talking about. I am the worst at that.
Okay, onto episode eight, Take us Away, Rob, Here we Go.
Season eight, Episode eight, Mouthful of Diamonds Air date November ninth, twenty ten. Nathan's career as an agent takes a big step forward when he visits Atlanta. While Haley consoles Jamie regarding his new braces, the drama between Brooke and Sylvia finally comes to a head, Oh boy does it, and Chase makes a decision regarding Mia and Alex does He directed by all love this man, Mike Leone, and it was written It was.
For our lovely friends and listeners at home. Mike Leone, you've heard us talk about before. Our script supervisor on our show, the person who literally keeps every single note and beat and moment organized in the entire script in every episode, sits right next to the director. I think there's probably nobody who knew our show better. I agree with that, and God, he directed the heck out of this episode.
I just loved it.
Also, hats off to Mike Cleon. I've told the story on the podcast, but he The best burn I've ever received on a set was courtesy of Mike Leon while shooting our show one day. I was normally very good about my lines, but I just I went up on a line. I was like, what's that line, Mike, You'll scream me across set because he's far away, and he shouts it back to me. I go thanks, and then he just goes, it's a good script, you should read it. That's right, And I just died so to this day.
I still repeat that to people when they ask for a line. You got me, Mike.
Just the funniest, sweetest man, Mike Leon.
He really was such a sweetheart, so so generous.
This episode had so much funny and good in it. I loved The opening scene was so sad and funny to me. It's when Brooke is signing away all of her assets and she's liquidating everything she's signed all over clothes for bros. Close overbros. Excuse me. And at the end of it, when she's kind of just sitting there shell shocked, there's like a pause and the lawyer goes, could I have the pen back?
Yeah?
I noticed that too, wrong, Like they even stripped her of the ballpoint pen.
Couldn't just be like keep the pen just you know, it's fine?
So good? Yeah. The look on your face too, like sure you can take this? Yeah great all her pen?
Even this, speaking of looks on face is joy You pull off an eye patch quite well?
Oh, thank you a much.
Shoting consider it for my next look. Yeah, that was fun. I remembered that. Isn't that funny? All the random things that we remember. There's so many scenes we shoot that I'm just like I have no recollection of being in that location or anything, and that one I really remember wearing an eye patch.
You. I was very appreciative of your performance because you you always do this and I always say that, but you fully committed to the lame parent jokes. Yes see, there's a later scene in which you're wearing the wonky glasses and the messed up teeth and I and it even because what struck me was you're funny in the
whole scene. But the scene ends Jamie leaves the room, yes, and you just you just create this additional moment where you kind of turn back to camera because it's sort of like over your shoulder ish and you sort of like like do something with your mouth and you look around. It clearly wasn't scripted. I was like, look at her just leaning into the absurdity, Like there's no vanity in comedy, and you were hilarious because you looked for none.
What I loved about that beat too, is that what it told me as an audience member was that Haley was having a good time. Yeah, you know, not just for Jamie's sake, by the way that you were enjoying yourself. You were having a silly day with your kid, and it it took the what Rob's talking about the nature of like you know what we call dad jokes. It took the dad joke a step farther and it made it yours. And I was like, yes, that's so nice, that's so cool.
I think I've discovered it, which is funny. You know, I wasn't a parent then, but I was actually pregnant, so I was going to be. But now that I am one, I think I've one of the secrets to parenting is that Rob really genuinely enjoying yourself. Like all the things that we do to entertain our kids, it just you know, you can go through the motions, but if you can't find a way to make old McDonald has a farm like actually fun for yourself, like.
You're going to be bored.
Like that's part of enjoying parenthood is do you know, how do you sing Twinkle Twinkled Little Star in four different languages? Or like teach your kids a sign language or whatever it is. It's like something you can get out of it too.
Yea of my day is doing voices and stupid bits. Yeah, and if and so, like we ran into this problem a lot when we were trying to find a nanny.
No one knows how talented you are except your kids and your wife, right, like, because it's amazing the kind of talent that really comes out when you're.
With your kids, because it's a terrific mix of desperation, exhaustion and a spark of talent. And but truly, like the key is like to just not care, to not care about how you look, to let it all go right. And we ran into this issue when we were like trying to see if we could find a nanny up here. We found people who were great at like looking after a kid and sort of doing play. But when it came time to do a voice or be out and out silly not in their wheelhouse, and boy, that shuts
things down so fast. We had to start saying, like, hey, silliness is our brand here. If you're not comfortable doing voices and outrageous like silly bits, like, it's not going to be a good fit. Because like, you're right, that's the key. It's like enjoying and just not caring how dumb you look.
Yeah, and that's part of it, I think, like you're saying, when you get to the eighteenth repetition of something or the one hundred and fortieth repetition of whatever song Twinkle tonkle, It's like you're so desperate for the laugh that every parameter goes out the window. And isn't that really just what great improv is?
Yes, Yes, that's what acting is. I mean, you just gotta push all the boundaries.
You're like, I'll give you anything you want. You want me to do it in a headstand?
Fine?
Yeah, truly were those braces actually Jackson's real braces?
Yeah, he got right.
I became a storyline. I thought, that's it.
That's his little head gear. So funny.
And how how far along in your pregnancy do you recall around this time?
I looked like I was five or six months along. I mean I was, I looked big.
You're not like big big, but you you can tell you are. You are starting to grow a human being.
I actually wonder if I was wearing a pad at any point, because my on screen pregnancy was ahead of my personal pregnancy, so it's possible I was wearing Yeah, I.
Because I'm remembering at the end of the season, we had to obviously get you out, so you didn't come to Puerto Rico. Yeah, and then I remember, which sucked. Oh my god, I've never felt worse. I was like, oh, I guess we're all going to the beach and you're not coming. But do we send you photos and say wish you were here? Or does that make it worse? Like what do we do? But I remember how weird it was. I don't know if this helps the timeline.
This is episode eight. I remember how weird it was when you had to come back and do the episode where Haley has lydia, because you were like, I just did this. This is to this is like way too remember, because we talked about I sat in the hospital room with you and you were like, I don't know how I'm going to tell them that I don't want to do this scene where I give birth on camera. I don't want to do it. And we were like, just tell them, just say no.
I think I was nervous about it because I don't remember I was going to try, like I really would, you know.
I mean, it's work, I know, but it was weird. It was too personal.
Yeah, that's right when we and yeah.
Whenever that happens, you had already had the baby a few weeks before then three.
Or four weeks.
No, it was the other way around. When we got to this, I didn't I didn't want to go through a fake labor with people that I loved around me, oh and have it like like I didn't want to experience my first labor that I was going to experience in like four weeks or whatever.
It reversed in my timeline.
Yeah, whoa, that's what it was. I was time. We were talking uncomfortable with this. I don't know, I don't know, and then we got there and I I felt like I was hyperventilating and it was a I was I thought I was having like a mental breakdowns, like this is the thing with my real life, Like I'm trying to have a baby for the first time ever, and now I have to do a fake labor that it's not real, but like Sophia's going to come visit my actual baby in the hospital, but now she's here in
the fake hospital. Like I'm this is real life intersecting with fantasy in a way that I can't make sense of.
I got to go. So what ended up happening.
I pulled Greg Aside, our executive producer, and just started like weeping and told him like, please, this is really hurting me. Can we can we do this later? Can we can we film this later? And I've never done that on the whole show. I'd never asked for a request to like I mean, I told you his story about Atlanta, Like I went to Great Links, you know, driving thirteen hours, like great lengths to make sure I
was at work and got my work done. So this was it was an exception, but I'm really glad they did. Greg said no, Brad, let's shut it down. Moved on to the next scene, and they pulled it up a few weeks later after I'd had my birth.
That's great.
So that's what it was.
We were in the hospital and then I'm combining two days we were in the h hospital before and then when we finally came back that they brought the whole scene back up.
Yes, they brought it back up. And that day was hard because we were in that hospital setting where there were all those rocks to remember between the trailers. Yes, it's a gravel parking lot, but it was it wasn't just gravel. It was like no, like this big, big,
big rocks, so weird. Anyway, I was really having had a hard labor and I was having trouble walking and I needed them to take me to set in a wheelchair, and I felt so ridiculous and like over dramatic, but I was like, I this is hard, I need I need help. But then they had to wheel me over these rocks, which kind of made it worse.
I was just.
Like this shit man, it really was.
Yes. Meanwhile, everyone from a distance is like, look how committed Joy is to her character.
Oh no, I think they were like, look how dramatic she is.
No, I wish they would have just not done that scene because I got to say, labor scenes. Yeah, like we've all seen him. They all look the same, you know, but you're a trooper.
We'll find out when we get there. I mean we'll watch it eventually. Sorry, we're totally off this episode right now. Derailed.
It is helping us sort of track your timeline.
Yes, so yeah, how far along I was? But yeah, it was really cute seeing Jackson with his braces and everything. And I liked the device.
I really liked.
The device of Julian going around with his camera and finally having it work this time. So I love to set up that they presented at the beginning of it failing and then previous episodes excuse me, and then bringing it up to this point where he's really figured it out. I liked watching the artistic process. I like to see people open up and be honest. It was great, It really was.
And it was an interesting way to just get a
layer deeper with all these characters that we know. But there is something that happens when you're in a first person interview like that and let alone with someone you trust, and to see how sweet he is with Jamie at the top of the episode, it's so disarming that in a way, I felt like that disarming nature carried through every single interview and particularly seeing Nathan be the sort of torch bearer for this group theme of my life is changing and I don't really know what comes next.
I'm trying to figure it out. I'm a I'm in a period of transition. Yeah, it was really beautiful.
I loved Nathan in this episode. Oh so fun to watch.
You did a great job joy of playing Hayley's I feel like discomfort being on camera. Yeah, because the first time I was weird. Because it gives it gives strong hostage vibes and I was watching it going, why do I feel like I'm watching a Ransom video? And they realize, oh yeah, Joy's playing it like. Haley is uncomfortable. She's not natural in front of the camera. You know, she used to be on a stage, not sitting directly in
front of a of a lens. And it's funny because if you go back and watch it, it looks like you're being coerced to say everything you're saying, because especially because you're like, I'm I like parenting, I'm a I'm a good parent.
It's fine, Yeah, I'm a good mom.
Yeah.
Yeah, that was definitely a choice.
It was fun and what I like about it too is and it is also hats off to Mike Leone for talking to all of us in the way he did as a director. It's really smart when a director can be present for actors who are all doing the same thing but give them such different colors in it.
And we needed the levity from Haley because Nathan is giving up his dream and even the metaph for you know, or the action rather of him taking the Ravens basketball down and putting Troy's football up, He's moving on to this next chapter, and he's not hiding that it's hard. He's hopeful, he likes it, he knows it's the right fit. He's proud of what he's doing.
He's using the fact that it's hard to make it better to make it through exactly why are the other guy Troy?
And I like that he's not hiding that it comes with loss. And then Brooke is in all loss. It's so sad. She doesn't know what to do. She feels like she's losing her identity. So it's really nice to sort of counter where Brooke is, to have Haley in this very comedic, uncomfortable I.
Like my life. I don't know why you want to ask me about it?
Yeah, why are we talking about this? I'm so confused.
I like it's great, it's a great energy.
And who know who else is in transition? Is Clay? This can for.
It was so great.
First of all, you had such a babyface. Oh my gosh, I'd never seen a baby face like you did. Was it the angle, the lighting? I don't know what it was, but you were like eight years old.
Yes. In my confessional with Julian, I was like, oh my gosh, like like a twelve year old who ate too much salt?
You committed to this bit with the can so well, you really figured it out. Good on you, physical comedy.
Listen, there's some lines between uh Brooke and Sylvia that are my favorites. But suck it soup. I'm just gonna spoil it. Is my honorable mention. Yeah, I left out loud high up there, and I love the subtle nod back to it when Clay there's a very very sweet homecoming where Clay is waiting for Nathan at the airport and he's clapping for him. I love that friendship. But when Nathan gets in the car, he's like, what is this?
And Clay just goes an electric can opener and it's perfect because he doesn't talk about it, so it's just like a little like to the audience for him.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you did that so well. It wasn't there was no cheese on top of it. It was just you just said the line and through the thing in the back seat. It's all it required. Cool.
I conquered it. Now I'm never going to do that again.
But I got that little spread of pride being like I solved the puzzle moving on like it was such a good little vibean actually made me.
Laugh out loud.
I also liked seeing Clay Uh. It was a great device when he spills the like chips are cereal and on the newspaper and then he sees Will's obituary. Yeah, And it was nice to see him go to the cemetery just because he's he got so close to dying and we haven't really seen him talk about it or feel anything about it, so it was I liked the sort of still quietness of him just sitting there and having that speech to Will's headstone, and he kind of ends it with saying like, thank you for what for
what you did, I'm I'm going to earn it. Yeah, And I just I thought that was so effective.
And the mirroring of the earning with Troy as well in the way that Nathan was talking him through that at the end. I just love seeing this transition for Nathan. How did we shoot those scenes with the braves? By the way, was it the falcons? Falcons? Excuse me?
So last episode there are only there's only one shot. It's the first shot we see where Nathan is sitting down with the representative from the Falcons and when I watched, I was like, holy cow, we're at the Falcons stadium. Why do I not remember this? And then the scene
is so short. I thought, oh. I went back and watched itause I thought, oh, maybe we green screened it, because you don't go to you don't go all the way to this Atlanta Falcons stadium and only do one scene and then there's a bit on like Nathan the escalator. So I was so confused because it was clearly not a green screen. So this episode it really pays off because holy cal First of all, shout out to Stephen Howell, who played Troy, because he's I'm so earnest and believable and likable.
He's a great actor.
It is the perfect pairing with Nathan. And but he got to dress up, get to excuse me, suit up in Atlanta Falcon's gear with the pads and take the field through the tunnel with an actual crowd there. How did we do this?
I mean, we must have just gone to a real game and made a deal with the Falcons and told everybody in the stadium, here's what's going on. We're shooting a TV show, so badass. I love it when shows do stuff like that that's incredible.
We had Tony Gonzalez, who was an Atlanta Falcon at the time, who, by the way, much like Jerry Rice, very good on camera.
Great actor, right, yeah, Tony was great.
He's gone on to host, so I guess it makes sense. But I remember I was watching going like, oh, oh, okay, you know, and then just going back to what you said about Nathan, like, like, one thing I liked is he is not hiding the fact that he's in transition and he doesn't have it figured out. I like that in his conversations with Troy and in his conversations with Tony Gonzalez, he references it and he's like, yeah, I don't know.
But it was just cool to see that as opposed to like the other like kind of cliche guy thing of like nah, it's good or I'm good or what are you talking about? And said he was like, yeah, I don't have it figured out, man, wish me luck.
You know.
Oh, that's so cool. Like he's self aware enough and he's not he's not hiding the fact that like he doesn't have it figured out and he doesn't know what's next, but he's just showing up for it.
In a mature phase of life.
Yeah, well, it reminds me kind of of what we were talking about at the top of the episode, even figuring out what would you do in this situation. What I love about where all these characters are is there in these phases of discovery and change that require a level of emotional intelligence, to be patient, to be honest, to be upfront about what you're going through. You have to check your ego and just say this is what
it is. And especially for you know, it's TV, obviously, but for something that people always used to bring up about our show, like wow, for a small town, these people all have these really big, unique careers, Like it's nice to see all these people who've succeeded in ways that are kind of ridiculous just say, I don't know either, And I think it's one of those things that was good for us, you know, to be experiencing as actors,
because the challenges felt grounded and real. But these are the things that our fans talk to us about where they say, oh, this made me feel so seen, that's what I was going through. The circumstances are really unique, but the transitional journey in life is so universal and even now looking back at it as a viewer, I feel like I see myself, I see all of you, I see people I know, like I see relationships to people's real lives in this show, in this episode.
In a way that made me feel so proud that we got to do this.
So nice.
I think that's great. Yeah, it was really. It was tied together all so well with Julian being the voyeur and you know the well, maybe that's too aggressive of a word, but the you know.
The.
Glue that's sort of like, yeah, not really what I meant, but.
Well, in a way, he kind of he fills the role almost in a therapist as a documentarian in this episode. You know, it's like you get to see people on.
The couch, yeah, but giving us that feeling, you know, that feeling that you're talking about, And it was so carefully crafted to bring us to that place where Troy's running out and it's the stadium and the smoke, and you know, we're we're cheering for him, sure, but we're cheering for us and for everything that we're achieving and the new transitions and the new phases of life everyone's stepping into. That's the culmination. So they gave us that in this big, gorgeous, glittery, huge moment.
Yes, wonderful, and it was a cool thing. I mean, it gave me chills when I watched him run out there. I was so excited that we'd done that, that we'd been able to pull off the partnership, you know, and it's our second time, by the way. We did it with the Bobcats for James, and now we're doing it with the Falcons for Steven who plays Troy.
Yeah.
Yeah, but I mean, you know, the NBA, the NFL, Like these were big deals, and in a really interesting way. There was the juxtaposition of going from the field with him where I was like, oh my god, like true dream come true energy to seeing Brook alone on that bench on the roof finally just say I'm having a really really hard time yeah, and just be in it.
It was really.
I don't know.
I loved the choice even in the edit to say, like, sometimes you reach the peak and sometimes you're you're hitting rock bottom, and and those things are going to happen on the same day.
That goes to Julian's comment to you about happiness, which I loved this comment that happiness is a mood. It's something that comes and goes. It's not a state of being that you will achieve and just be there permanently. It's yes, it's a it's a mood, and that's okay.
And I like that, he says. I think if more people wish I wrote it down, But it was something like, if more people thought of it this way, the world would end up actually being happier because everybody wouldn't be in this constant state of like, oh no, why am I not happy? It's okay, it's okay.
Well, and the fact that he compares it to hunger. He said, it's a condition. It's like being hungry.
That's what goes.
And to talk about it in that way after acknowledging that most people think, if I get this, if I get that, if I get this job, once I get married, once I have a kid, once I buy that car, once I once I fill in the blank, I will be happy.
Amen's sister.
Then you miss your whole life waiting for a thing instead of living it. And we've all tried that it hasn't worked.
Oh yeah, I mean I feel like we still try it. I still tried subconsciously, and then I'm like, wait, why am I doing this?
What am I doing exactly? But what a cool what a cool thing to do. And I thought, I thought Austin played the scene so beautifully because he didn't try to put a hat on a hat. He just said, look, this is what I'm noddling with, this is what I think, and maybe we'd be happier if we thought about it this way.
And it's so perfect.
It gives Brooke kind of a permission to feel like it's hard and like she's not having it. It's okay to feel that way because happiness will come again.
Yeah, the code of for this episode was so strong, and yeah, Julian was doing some great partnering because obviously the way it ends, like when Brook's having that moment, he just comes and just sits down next to her, which I love. You know. It's like he's not trying to fix it or talk her out of it. He's just like, cool, I'm just gonna be here with you,
you know. And then earlier, I think, in the same location, when Brooke and Sylvia have just had it out and Brooke is chucking water balloons down the street, which is hilarious in and of itself. I guess this was something that Peyton used to do. Did you actually show that on the show? Did we know that?
Yeah? Okay, yeah, we did a lot of water balloons.
So it was so funny. But then that way that first of all, that seems funny because Brooke is like, I shouldn't have yelled at your mom, and as an audience member, I was like, you one hundred percent should have. You're not a doramat you did. You did the right thing. But I love At the end of it, Julian goes up, well, do you want me to go down there and walk around so you can practice your aim?
I was like, it's so good.
All right, let's get into the brook Sylvia of it all, because the lines in this episode were so funny. When she finally snaps, she says, you're a spoiled little bitch, to which Brook responds, okay, Drinki and ends it with good luck with being old God, and then the perfect blocking for the next bit where Julian is there for his mom and she has she has the washcloth over her eyes while she lays out on her fainting couch.
I know where you're going.
And she ends it with because of course, he's just being reasonable and the like, asking follow up questions, to which she takes it as being attacked and not believed. And she ends by saying she has poisoned you with her a perfect line that Sharon delivered perfectly.
She sure did. Sharon is such an icon.
And then Julian, we're done here, We're done here, We're done here, We're done.
Yeah.
That was that was so so funny and for as funny as all of it was. I love the repair.
Yeah.
I love the sincere, not funny part of it where Brooke, showing her character, comes back and makes it right, makes an amends, repairs it, and she receives it and accepts it, and you guys, you know, end up sort of being in a much more I think, respectful, amicable place.
That's so lovely. I actually don't want your money, but I still do want your advice.
Right wow m h Yeah, I respect you enough to be honest with you.
Yeah.
And there's something really inspiring to me about Granted it didn't go well in iteration one where the fight broke out, but for her to say I learned my lesson. I know what it means when you take people's money. Yeah, I don't want that energy in my family. Yeah, and I feel like that's what comes out more in check in number two where they make up to say that, to say no, I still don't want this part. I know that that actually can be what poisons relationships, but
I want you to be part of it. That to me was I was very impressed. I thought it's nice writing. That's a nice little life lesson right there.
Sharon is so effervescent and so easy. She falls in line with all of us so easily. She just folds into the family like I want to see more and more and more of Sylvia means, I love this dynamic between the two of you guys and with Julian. It's so fun to watch.
It's great and yes, to speaking of it's reminded me at the start of episode seven when Jolie's like, I don't know it's going to be my best man in Brooke goes well, who is your best friend growing up? And just as she walks through the background of the scene, Sylvia, I was, Oh, they are killing this nightmare mom thing. But yeah, I thought Brooks repair it's it was such a show or an act of respect and kindness because you can have that conversation and you can build a
real relationship on top of it. Y. Yeah, if you don't discuss it, it's like you're never gonna really have There's going to be a resentment. And I know, but it's a Brooks way of going, like, hey, I take up space. Here are some boundaries inviting you to be a part of it. But now you know where I stand.
Yeah.
Something that dawned on me too, And I wonder if you guys got this the when Julian is explaining why his mom is so particular and he says, look, my dad wasn't around.
It was really just me and my mom.
I saw it on my face, and it like it took me back to sitting and making notes in the script, thinking, oh, Brooke knows exactly what that means. Because she didn't have her mom or her dad around. Her friends were her world and you guys still are you know these people Tree Hill? It's so important to her. And in that one sentence, I feel like Julian kind of gave Brooke a key to Sylvia because it's like she had nobody but her kid. I built a community of my peers.
Of course, this woman feels threatened by me. I see Julian as my peer, he's my partner. She sees him as her only person, and so in this weird way, I thought that that simple thing that he said was what gave her the ability later to say, I understand why it could be scary for you that your son has me now, but you're still welcome in this family.
You're still going to be part of this. And it was a very interesting sort of shift in I think the way she could see a parental relationship, especially with what she's been through with Victoria. And I was like, man, it's it's really simple dialogue, but it communicates a lot about the history of these characters.
It's great.
And the way that they wrapped up that scene was perfect, where it's like the repair has been made, You guys are all good, and she goes, well, it's all right, It wasn't even the worst part of my day, goes, oh, no, what happened? Some jackass hit me with a water balloon? What is wrong with people? Awful in your face and just.
Laughing into her forehead exactly.
Because she can't see your face but the audience can. It's it was just you guys crushed it. It was so good.
It was so fun.
That was my electric can opener moment. It was just for the audience, but as an audience member, it's so fun to watch.
Yeah, you know what else was fun to watch was Mouth and Chase.
I loved this. I didn't know I needed.
Exactly this whole storyline of cleaning out the back room, you know, and Mouth opining about what's what he's gonna do, and Chase being indecisive and torn between the two women. It was just it was fun and it was like cool to see the friendship between those two and they both it's so good.
It's such a relief not to have to deal with like sexual jokes and abous shots of women, and like it's like, thank God, we don't have to bear the emotional burden of this right now. We can just watch these two guys just trying to figure out life. It's so nice and there's so much fun to watch, and very much like we've gotten such excellent male friendship with Clay and Nathan.
I love Stephen and Lee together. I love that they're vulnerable. I love that they're questioning. I love that they're talking about what isn't working?
Another sign of maturity because Mouth usually with skills, you know, they're into shenanigans, like they're getting up to things. They're sort of goofing off. There's not a lot of real depth of conversation. There has been a few, but usually that's their routine with each other. So to see Mouth now entering into another relationship that is there's a maturity level, like everybody's leveling up. Yeah, it's so cool.
And have you ever heard the expression you can save your ass or you can save your face, but you can't save them both at the same time.
No, but that's amazing.
I love that quote. But it's you see a lot of that happening when these guys like Nathan, like Mouth, are not trying to put up an appearance or a facade of like it's all good or I'm on top of it. Instead they're just like owning it and they're not trying to save their face or just trying to figure out what to do with their ass. You know, crazy,
that's great. Laura isor is great? Who plays Aaron? Here's a question, by the way, highly googleable questions, So shout out to me for not doing thirty seconds of research on this, But was she acting before this show, because she's terrific and natural.
Yes, she really is. She's so understated. I think I remember her just being terrified and being like, I'm just going to sit here and not do anything and say my lines. And I was like, that's the key, yeh, all you ever have to this? Yeah? She was great. I think I'm actually wondering if maybe we had we must have had it deal relationship with a label, Warner probably and Lindsay had. Lindsay Wolfington had artists that she
was wanting to put on the show. Maybe Warner Records did, and they were trying to find artists that they could bring on to the actual TV show and not just play. So I think Laura was probably one of them. But she was great.
She was so good, and the way she asked questions of Haley, I really just felt like the two of you were sharing about what it's like to try to make something, because how you trust a person with your art it's a gamble, you know.
It's it's sort of like, that's scary showing up on a.
Set and having to act with someone who's a stranger. But on day one they were meant to be your lifelong best friend or signing a deal for a record label. It's like it requires a fully surrendered trust fall without an evidence of why you should trust someone, and you just have to do it.
I mean, it's just showing up to do an indie film or an acting project with a director that you don't know and you haven't seen a lot of their work. It's like, oh, I mean, I know what I can do, but we'll see how it turns out on the actual cutting day exactly.
And I I think what I loved about watching you two talk to each other is I got the sense that Aaron and Haley we're having the same conversation about this gamble without having to necessarily say all of it. And I loved it. And to your point, Rob, I thought, God, she's so good. Has she been acting?
No? Her only other acting credit is one episode of Bones that also aired in twenty ten Stop Yeah, which which is wild that she stepped onto the set and was like this good and this natural, and then it was also probably just like I'm good, I'm good on that she could dease. This is something she could easily do, and she probably just like, ah, i'm good with music.
Thanks.
That's but I also liked they did this cool thing where I feel like there's this can happen a lot in shows where when a guest star comes in, they are immediately ready to trust or jump on board with whatever is happening with one of the main characters of the show, and it's only the main characters whoever question the new people like. The new people never have like stakes, They're just like, I'm all in whatever you say, I
trust you. I like that she came in was and was real thorough with sort of vetting Hayley before deciding to sign on, because I think the easy thing would be like a record deal, I'm in, and instead she was like, Nah, what's your deal? Mature angle friend, what are we doing again?
Maturity the difference between a twenty year old who's like, I'll take whatever I can get and somebody who's like, no, what I have is valuable. What do you have?
Did you guys? I had this funny note that I laughed at that. I don't know if you guys, cos I don't think that the normal viewer would saw. But when at the Atlanta Falcons game, Troy and Nathan have
their moment and it's before the game. Excuse me. It's when they're just on the field, the two of them, right, and they're having this like we did it, we're here, this is your dream, earn it, love it, blah blah blah, and then they they say a goodbye as if they're not going to see each other again, or at least for a while. And I found myself laughing, going, dude, that's your agent. You guys are going to be texting and talking probably every single day.
But it was probably the last time he was going to see Stephen Howell because I don't think Troy came back.
I don't think he does either, So I just thought was funny. I really loved Yeah, it's like you're gonna have literally be texting that guy questions tonight. He's probably gonna be texting you great game. He's there, He's literally going to be on the sidelines that they're like, hey, think, hey, hey, thank you for everything. No, no, no, hey, thank you
for everything. It's like, you guys are going to see each other in like sixty minutes, goodbye, my friend, like Harry and the Hendersons, like, guys, you're driving home together.
Meanwhile, Nathan and his whole family are at the first game.
Right, Yeah, that's what I'm saying. They're going to be on the sidelines.
Yeah, that's so good.
Wait was I there? I wasn't there.
I don't think you were there, But in my brain I assure he was right.
Jamie was there, But in my brain, I.
Assume you all would have gone and you probably would have been there. But yes, I think they just didn't want to fly everyone to Atlanta for sure.
Also, they are still, despite being quite pregnant, they are still putting Haley in lots of short skirts, lots of platforms.
Yeah.
I know it's TV, but I found myself going, okay, all right, no sweatpants in her arsenal, no way, no athleisure where she's keeping it cute and chic.
Rob It's a TV show, that's right.
I know, I know, I just wanted to be in real life. So darn bad guys.
Yeah, okay, We've got a question from Lisa, who also gave us her nickname show She that must be. Yeah, when you are going to direct an episode, do you get to pick the episode or is it you get what you get and you don't throw a fit type of situation.
Yeah, Yeah, that's it.
Yeah, and you don't throw a fit like that.
Yeah, because they they make a schedule. Certainly when we have visiting directors based on their availability, then are recurring directors like joy When you were talking about Greg Prange, who I think directed the most episodes of our show of anyone, are on site executive producer, then.
His would fill in.
They basically have to build the director schedule like a puzzle, and then they would essentially slot us as directing cast in last because we're all there all the time anyway, so it's the easiest for us to work around other people's schedules.
Yeah, but still pretty cool. Like they gave us big episodes. They gave it to Halloween episode, they gave me the Thanksgiving episode, like big stuff. Gosh makes me really grateful. I hadn't thought about that. Yeah, it's pretty well. Maybe I had, I just forgot. But it's pretty cool.
But it's dawning on you again and it feels nice.
It's a kind of a great thing about having a short term memory is like I remember new things all the time, even though I already.
You're constantly in a sense of awe and wonder.
Well, it's like a memory pops up like it's like someone's blown bubbles by your face and you're like, wait a second, I know, Yeah.
I love it. Honorable mentions do we have them? Oh, I've already spoiled the beans on minus Suck It Soup.
Suck It Soup. That was great. I really want to give actually Mike leone to me, Like, I think he did such a nice job. He always he always did a really good job directing, and he worked so hard at it, and I don't think he got enough credit.
I agree with that. I absolutely agree with that. I'm going to give mine to Austin. I think he is showing up everything he's doing right now as Julian. He's got this like really beautiful, quiet sort of strength, and he really glued this whole episode together for me, and I think it's a testament to him as an actor to be able to do that sort of service and be what every single other person you're in with needs.
Yeah, And I just think.
He's he's in such a great groove right now and I really appreciate what he's doing.
Love it. I agree.
We have a good gang.
Okay, let's spin a wheel joy.
Can we get that again? With less enthusiasm.
It's been a well where it is? Oh, come on, so many Okay.
Most likely to cry during a rom com me me my knee jerk was joy?
Really? I mean I cried everything.
Yeah, I'm a weeper, do too.
So yeah.
I think because things.
Are so busy, it's like, if I'm gonna, really I don't know, elevate something, it's usually because it's something that I'm fired up about. But then I realize, because most people see each other on the Internet that I think everyone thinks I'm like fired up all the time. And mostly I'm just emotional and reading. And then I get mad about something and I'm like everyone should know about this,
this is really important. And then people hang out with me and they're like, wow, you're really like sensitive and also kind of nerdy and you make weird jokes and I'm like does that not translate? So yeah, I'm definitely a rom com cryer.
All you do is read, eat sandwiches and cry. I thought you'd be different. You know who also would cry to spill the beans listen closet case rom com crer you James Lafferty, Oh wow, no way O a weeper? Such a softie?
Ah he's so stoic that surprises me.
Wow, he can't watch How to Lose a Guy In two I'll burning through a whole box of Kleenex.
I like when the boys know things about each other that we don't.
I need verification on this. Yeah, character, character, it's going to be skills right because of the notebook.
Isn't that the whole thing?
That was the whole thing that he's a scribing softy? Yeah, well that's funny.
Yeah, so skills.
This was fun.
This was fun.
What do we have next week? Joy?
Season eight, Episode nine between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace? Oh okay, a nice place to be. All right, we'll see you then, Matt, Hey, thanks for listening.
Don't forget to leave us a review. You can also follow us on Instagram at Drama Queen's ot.
H or email us at Drama Queens at iHeartRadio dot com.
See you next time.
We all about that high school drama, Girl Drama, Girl all about them high school queens. We'll take you for a ride at our comic girl sharing for the right drama Queens dramaise my girl off girl.
Fashion with your tough girl.
You could sit with us Girl Drama Queens drama, queise drama, Queens drama drama, Queens drama, Queens