Parenting Tips from “A Man on the Inside” S1 E3, “The Emily Always Rings Twice”

Welcome to the Parenting Roundabout podcast. I'm Terry Morrow and I'm Catherine Jileco. As parents and parenting writers, we can't help but see everything through a parenting lens. But as our kids have become adults, we find ourselves more interested in getting caught up on movies and streaming than I'm going over the same parenting topics over and over.

So since we're pretty sure we can find parenting wisdom anywhere, we're going to talk about what we're watching, what we thought about it, and maybe what we can learn from it, if only what not to do. Watch and listen along, and let's all make like we're doing something important for

Cute bonding between the two.

Yeah, I mean, I was thinking that it was going to be more of a slapsticky sort of thing, where the real Emily was going to go to the office and say she was Emily, and then there would be confusion and the staff would know that there was some weird you know. I was expecting it to be a whole thing, when in fact it wasn't. And she just came into his room without anybody asking who she was. Which don't they help people sign in? Or yeah, yeah, what is the security in this place? Oh you'd like

Who you are?

But any four purposes? Yes, I'm fine with it. And then Emily turns out to be an extremely proficient liar. I should possibly concern Charles a little bit. Never stumbled she had my name is Julie. I am his niece. Every single time she was called on, she never even had to think about it.

Even with the memory care unit. She was like, my aunt had it, you.

Know, she.

Got that right?

My goodness, she was. That was an impressive performance for that character to just not trip up once. So yeah, maybe they should have gotten her the detector should be what do I need a mom for infiltrate a PTA?

Although she didn't really witness it as yeah, she doesn't necessarily know as much, but still on.

The way. And she also didn't get as kerfuffled about it as I would expect. I mean, I guess she eventually did was when they were talking about him drinking and falling around.

But yeah, but I also thought that was a little like, he's he's fine, you know. I mean she was like before any before she knew about the drinking and before he got you know, punched in the face, she was just like, but it's not safe, you know, like I don't know, like it's fine. Yeah, I mean, he's probably safer there than he is alone in his own home where you know, you can call him obviously, but no one has eyes on him like they do it.

But there is that thing where at a certain age, if you have a certain level of contact with the roles do start to reverse. Yes, you feel parental towards your parent right and especially when your actual children have just had catastrophic accents under your watch.

You're like, maybe I can protect someone.

Can I just wrap you in bubble wrap?

Please?

And set you at your apartment, send me things in the mail. Just just don't go out and do anything.

Yeah, so clip those clippings to your own mailbox.

Don't be walking to the corner. That's right, you might slip.

You feel like you got to take care of everybody, So that would be to find the person who you think you're taking care of is off doing things on his own right and lying to you about them could be disconcerting.

Yes, so this is skipping around a little bit.

But you know, there's this whole thing where Elliott the the sexual rival as they kept calling him of Charles. They get into this altercation and uh so, so then Elliott has to come to Deity's office and did you get the sense that like there's something else going on here, like he was related to.

Her or I don't know. She did say I've always liked you, but I don't.

And just the way that she was talking to him, like yeah, cut the crap kind of stuff like would she talk would she speak that way to like a paying customer?

I don't know, right, Yeah, there was something where in the ending she.

Was like she was he she said, I don't, I don't want to listen to you man's plain anymore, and he was like, yeah, I don't want to tell them.

But at the very end, it seemed like she was maybe on to Charles or suspicious or something that made it seem like she was in cahoots with Elliott or there was like a really weird note to her performance at the end that I just completely did not get.

Or was it just supposed to be like throwing suspicion toward her, like from our point of view as the.

Audience, to think that maybe she's the one stealing, She's.

The one stealing, which which they already tried to do a little bit.

Yeah, maybe it's just emphasizing that.

A little more.

I guess.

I don't know, but it's ending with a huh yeah.

But it was amusing when I think it was she who called Virginia and Elliott the geriatric version of Ross and Rachel. Yes, they were married and then they had divorced.

Married right, they're engaged and they got an old Yeah.

She's like, are they married right now? I don't know. I don't think they know.

Yes, Oh my well, Hiji hijinks are ensuing all over the.

Place, all over.

Yes, and we.

Met the geriatric hijinks.

Yes.

They showed us the like residents Council meeting with a very power hungry president of the the I don't know what you call the the council or whatever. She loved being in charge.

Very very much.

Yes, that that had a very pta vibe to it. I've been to that meeting.

Yeah.

Well, and then there was a part where they're sort of suspecting this this driver kid, which we know it's not him because it's way too early for it to be him. And Emily says, oh, it's not him because you know, somebody tried to give him a tip, like give him money, and he wouldn't take it. So he's on the up and up like, no, that's what he would do if he was stealing.

Yeah, I don't need your little tip.

Yeah, that's that's not proof of anything. Even though yes, you were a very good spy family, I don't I don't think you got that one right.

Yeah.

I wonder if she will be continuing to be in on the spying now that she's said the taste of it and maybe like get all the way through a facial next time. She just fit in very comfortably there.

Yes, they liked her, she liked the yeah yeah, and we had her her husband being the voice of reason, you know, like, why are you so upset about your dad like doing what you told him to do, which was basically get a life.

I met yoga, not espionage. I laughed when these are all easy jokes, the family jokes with the kids. They're very easy jokes, but they're so real. Yeah, obviously, like where the kid wants a box and so he just like dumps everything in and on the table and walks right, and the dad says.

Yep, that's where that goes. Good job, buddy.

They are very nice, those parents. I don't know.

Although do kids still use shoe boxes to make dioramas anyway?

They I don't know.

This is a question that I have.

Now, what would they usual? They just would do them a virtual diorama on their computers.

Yeah, I mean they make like power points and stuff.

Now, I would be even as much as a pain in the butt is when your kid tells you the night before it's toue oh, by the way, I have to make a diorama, and then you have to find a box, and you have to find construction paper, and you have to find all of this stuff and you have to help them make it because who knows how to make a diorama? Nobody, And even with all of that, I'm kind of sad if those went away. Yeah, it's like a write of passage of a diorama and a shoe box or a triptych.

Or oh yeah, the three the poster board.

Yes, yeah, us these are I mean I was since my kids were in special ed some of those things they don't do, and I was always like, once my daughter was an inclusion, it was like a diaryrect direct science rap. I gotta do it.

I have to make a diagram.

But still I remember these. It's normal.

There's a commercial for you know, some kind of internet, like you know, home internet or something.

Have you seen this where they they're talking about how they have fast, fast internet, And it shows the little boy like in bed and says to the dad like, how fast is our internet?

Is it fast enough to learn about dinosaurs? Dad's like, yes, is it fast enough to learn.

How to make a diama?

And then the the dad's like when is it due? And the kid says tomorrow. And the dad's like, all right, let's get busy. And the dad is way nicer than I yeah, would have been in Sario because it's clearly bedtime already. Dad's like ready to put the turn off.

The light and go watch a show or whatever it is he wants to do.

Nope, he's going to be making a dirama about dinosaurs.

Yep. Well, but it's a it's a school right of passage. You know, everybody's got to do this. If you're just doing it on your on your laptop, it's not the same. And also your dad's not going to be able to help you because he's on the right. I was amused when somebody described Charles as he's like if a podcast wore a suit.

And he does have a new friend, the backgammon.

Player, Oh yeah, even though he doesn't I believe, know how to play backgammon.

No, and he talks way too much for that guy's taste.

Why is it about backgammon? Because this is we're watching two Yes, it's a very very different shows, a light light comedy mystery and a serious, uh sci fi ish almost show, and both of them predominantly feature backgammon.

Yes?

Is that just the game. Do you know anybody who plays backgammon at the present time.

No.

My boyfriend in high school played backgammon, and so I learned to play so I could play with him, and then once we no longer were dating, I have not played it since.

So I feel like my kids played in school for some reason.

Huh. I think it's just, you know, it sounds good in a sirrup. It could be chess or checkers, but that's that's too big.

It's kind of heavy handed, right.

Backgammon is like everybody knows what it is, but they don't necessarily know how you play it right, so it gets less scrutiny and it just sounds more exotic or hard or something.

Similarly, my mom in her retirement in her home, that is a lot like this place.

Is taking Majong lesson.

Oh, yes, that's the other one. And I have been hearing a lot about I've played majong on the computer, but not an actual.

It doesn't it sounds like it's very different, Yeah, because I've played it. I mean it's been one hundred years, but there was one like what back when, basically before laptops. Yeah, like in the day of like Tetris, and Solitaire and mind Sweeper and stuff.

There was a lodge on game.

Yeah I played, well just off the topic, but on the topic of games and maybe more particularly games that older people will play that kids wouldn't go anywhere near. I know you like all the New York Times games, all the various games they have. Did you know LinkedIn has games?

I've seen that on LinkedIn, Like they're like advertised, oh are they?

Yeah? You could? They only let you play one a day. You can play one round of each game a day.

Well, that's the same with the New York Times game.

But they're not incredibly difficult. Yeah, once there was one. I didn't get it the first time I played it, and then I got it and it's fine. So it's just it doesn't take you that long to run through all four of them.

It's a little extra, little.

Little, uh fun thing to do in the day, all right. I doubt the kids are playing them. I think these are for the.

Kids are on LinkedIn though they don't want to be on Facebook, they're on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is we're just wandering off on this this episode. But LinkedIn is getting worse in terms of like finding a job. I get more bogus jobs from them than I used to jobs that are just obviously bogus, right, that just are like, you know, here's a job for you in your town, and the address on it is India.

So yeah, yeah, I don't know what else is going on over there.

The search for freelance work is not getting any more rewarding. No, maybe somedays somebody will ask me to infiltrate ah an old folks place and uh, you know, find out who's stealing stuff.

So yeah, you can go.

I would be terrible at it. I lie very badly. I would stumble all over myself. People would say, well, what the heck ish you doing here?

I mean, you just have to like sit back and enjoy the amenities, and you know, just just try try to listen exactly.

I just sit and listen, I will fall asleep. I think, Well, that won't be suspicious, that's right. I can just put the tape recorder in my pocket and then review it later, right there you go. I also, I don't know how to make a Manhattan, so I wouldn't be winning friends.

Yeah, there's lots of things you'd have to study before you went.

I have in this in the not I don't know, it's been a while. I have made a hot butter groom. I could probably do a hot butter grum.

Then do you like, like you can't just whip that up behind the bar?

You need like I still have. I saved the I used to get GQ magazine even though I am not a gentleman, and there was a recipe in there for hot buttered drum and so I held onto it. And then one time my friends and I all went to uh we went to visit the Snow in California. I went to Big Bear to visit the Snow, and I made hot buttered room while we were there, and everybody loved it. So I still kept that magazine issue with that recipe. And it's basically Hoganda's ice cream and rum

That's similar to a I don't know if it's just a Wisconsin thing or Midwestern thing. It's called it a Tom and Jerry that you that, Okay, So it's like you buy this tub of this ice cream type stuff and then you need boiling water.

And yeah, I'll say basic idea and dump it all together. There's probably a different way to make hot buttered rum that does not involve ice cream. But I think this the magazine said, hey, look here's a super way to do it. Nobody will know. Yeah it was delicious. I don't care if it's if it was absolutely correct, but yeah, that's your warm and drunk and what else exactly?

What better activity?

Sounds like a good activity for a man on the inside. We'll see, ye seen that happens?

Well, next week we'll find out. We'll continue with episode four. It is called the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Painting Class. They really are not thinking of me and my need to title these podcast episodes because that is extremely long.

We're gonna We're gonna just do dot dot dot.

I don't know.

It's the way we surpassed the number of characters. Twitter will allow our promotional stuff just with the title of.

Yeah, exactly, I can't tell you anything else about this, so, uh, that's also not a spy.

Yeah, a good book.

I loved the book, and there was actually adapted into a play that was really great.

But yeah, it doesn't really.

I mean, I guess in the book, the kid is trying to solve the mystery of what happened to the dog right, so, but it makes me.

Wonder if there will be in fact a dog. Yeah, we can look forward to that class. Yes, I'm all for dogs.

We can see.

So we'll see you back here for that next week and tomorrow for our weekly Roundabout round up.

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