Speaker 1: Warning, this episode contains mild spoilers, probably for the Umbrella
Speaker 1: Academy TV show and some other series that we will
Speaker 1: be recommending, including spoiler alert, Legion, Misfits, Magicians, A Death Note,
Speaker 1: and Shadow and Bone, So if you haven't watched those shows,
Speaker 1: go in with that in mind. But we probably won't
Speaker 1: be delving too deep into any really bad spoilers, and
Speaker 1: they're all great shows, so you should go and watch them.
Speaker 2: Hello, my name is Rosie Knight, and don't all a
Speaker 2: nique oh wow, And.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to xtra Vision, the podcast where we dive deep, deep, deep,
Speaker 1: deep deep into your favorite shows, movies, comics, and pop culture.
Speaker 1: Where we are at iHeartRadio, bringing you two episodes every week,
Speaker 1: every Tuesday and Thursday, and sometimes you even get more
Speaker 1: episodes because you're so lucky.
Speaker 3: You are really lucky.
Speaker 2: In today's episode, in the previously on, Rosie and I
Speaker 2: are gonna chat about the impact of Umbrella Academy.
Speaker 3: Then we've got a.
Speaker 2: Great interview with Umbrella Academy's David Kestenada, and finally we'll
Speaker 2: be in the back matter recommending some shows you should
Speaker 2: watch if you enjoyed Umbrella Academy.
Speaker 1: But first previously on.
Speaker 2: I kind of can't believe Umbrella Academy is over. It's
Speaker 2: one of those shows. I know it hasn't been on
Speaker 2: as long as Stranger Things, but we've had it for
Speaker 2: so long and it's had such a journey. Like I
Speaker 2: remember when they announced their like Driidway's comic book, a
Speaker 2: smash Hit is gonna be a Netflix TV show. I said,
Speaker 2: how are they gonna do this? You need a lot
Speaker 2: of young actors who are super talented. It's so like
Speaker 2: edgy and kind of goth. I wonder if that'll hit
Speaker 2: on a larger scale audience. And man, but that first
Speaker 2: season hit, it hit big. People were instantly obsessed.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think this was one of those ones where
Speaker 1: Netflix said it was like forty five million households had
Speaker 1: watched it in the first month of release, which back
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen was actually a lot. Now we're getting
Speaker 1: these even crazier numbers. But yeah, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: part of the reason The Umbrella Academy feels like it's
Speaker 1: been on for so long is because it did hit
Speaker 1: in February twenty nineteen, and five years later, you know,
Speaker 1: we're getting the finale and we've lived through many, many
Speaker 1: unprecedented experiences since then, We've lived through like ten years
Speaker 1: of history in that five years, so I think it
Speaker 1: feels like it's been around with us for such a
Speaker 1: long time. I mean, Anklet got six Emmy nominations along
Speaker 1: the way too, Like it really did become a big hit,
Speaker 1: And yeah, it was great that they adapted something so
Speaker 1: fantastical by Jared Way the artist Gabriel Barr, who I
Speaker 1: just absolutely adore, And basically, in case you haven't watched it,
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you should probably have watched it
Speaker 1: if you're listening to this, but in case you haven't,
Speaker 1: it's about a kind of old universe where on a
Speaker 1: certain day, children are born all around the world with superpowers,
Speaker 1: and a shady man goes around and find these children.
Speaker 1: His name is Sir Reginald Hargreaves, goes around October first,
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine, and basically like buys the children from
Speaker 1: their families. He manages to get hold of seven of them,
Speaker 1: and then he creates this superhero team known as the
Speaker 1: Umbrella Academy. But what's different about this is this is
Speaker 1: a dysfunctional family. This is what if the X Men
Speaker 1: was real, Like how would it actually impact you to
Speaker 1: be raised like someone like Charles Xavier. So yeah, it's
Speaker 1: really just like a really impactful, interesting kind of love
Speaker 1: letter to comics and superheroes and strangeness by Gerard Way
Speaker 1: and then adapted for Netflix. And yeah, it's very interesting
Speaker 1: and it has recently come to a close in what
Speaker 1: was quite a divisive season. But Juelle, what was like
Speaker 1: your biggest takeaway from Umbrella Academy and its impact?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Man, they Okay, first, it gave us Robert Sheehan, who
Speaker 2: I will follow off a cliff. I hope that they
Speaker 2: find many many more parts for Robert over the years
Speaker 2: where he can.
Speaker 1: Be I'm gonna bless you with Misfits.
Speaker 2: Okay, yes, yes, I'm very excited to get into Misfits
Speaker 2: and the joys of that. I really like this actor.
Speaker 2: I love Klaus and like very class obsessed, so that
Speaker 2: was really delightful. I also really appreciate the way this
Speaker 2: show evolved with Elliott Page, like when he was publicly transitioning,
Speaker 2: which I can't even imagine. You know, He's had such
Speaker 2: a long career in the spotlight to transition public like
Speaker 2: that has to be a very daunting experience. Given our
Speaker 2: current cultures approach to trans folks, it's really you know,
Speaker 2: it's a lot and the shows like just embraced him
Speaker 2: with open arms. They went back and they changed all
Speaker 2: of the early credits so that his name was accurately portrayed,
Speaker 2: his character was allowed to transition in a very natural way.
Speaker 2: They didn't make that a plot point, thank goodness. They
Speaker 2: were all like he all the siblings feel the exact
Speaker 2: same way they did before, and we're moving forward. And
Speaker 2: it was really nice as a fan and as a
Speaker 2: viewer to have that experience and to know that that's
Speaker 2: sort of a blueprint out there for other shows in
Speaker 2: the future.
Speaker 3: You don't have to get.
Speaker 2: Rid of a character or put them through some kind
Speaker 2: of trauma or change who they are as a being.
Speaker 2: You can just adjust the agenda and move forward. And
Speaker 2: I thought that was really beautiful. So Legacy the show
Speaker 2: he's behind.
Speaker 1: That definitely was a really radical moment. I also think
Speaker 1: that this is a great show when you talk about
Speaker 1: a show that learned and moved forward as it went.
Speaker 1: They listened to kind of audience critiques, but not in
Speaker 1: a way that was to do with fans. But I
Speaker 1: think a lot about Ben played by you know, Justin
Speaker 1: h Minn, who's so fantastic, and Ben died and a
Speaker 1: lot of people talked about how he wasn't necessarily very
Speaker 1: well developed character, how they'd kind of pushed him to
Speaker 1: the side as an Asian American character. So they just
Speaker 1: bought Ben back, and they have multiple different versions of Ben,
Speaker 1: and they recognized that Justin h Minn was like a
Speaker 1: vital part of this cast, and I thought that was
Speaker 1: a really cool way that they did that. I also
Speaker 1: love Reto Aya as Leli. I think she's like one
Speaker 1: of my favorite characters. Yeah introduced in the show. I
Speaker 1: thought she was so fantastic. I mean, I just I'm
Speaker 1: a sucker. We've talked about this recently on the Alien
Speaker 1: Romulus podcast. We'll be talking about more in our back mouth.
Speaker 1: But I just love a show with like kids trying
Speaker 1: their best, especially if they're like fucked up kids. So
Speaker 1: every time I would watch The Umbrella Academy or I
Speaker 1: would get asked to cover it, I would just end
Speaker 1: up feeling like a lot of love for these characters,
Speaker 1: and I think that will be the ultimate takeaway. And
Speaker 1: I also think that people love the characters so much
Speaker 1: that I think That's why with the ending of the
Speaker 1: season and the choice that they made of how to
Speaker 1: end it, I think that's why people were so affected
Speaker 1: by it and why it became such a conversation start,
Speaker 1: because people do love these characters.
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, the show knew how to bring the drama.
Speaker 2: It balanced for the most part really well, both traveling
Speaker 2: across different dimensions and time and space, which is really
Speaker 2: a challenge to do. I think another highlight of the
Speaker 2: show that doesn't get talked about enough is their ability
Speaker 2: to cast like secondary characters, Like if you think about
Speaker 2: the secondary Megan Moll, Lally, Nick Offerman, Kate Walsh, Genesis Rodriguez,
Speaker 2: David Cross, Mary and Ireland.
Speaker 3: The list is it's long. Mary j.
Speaker 2: Blige was in season one.
Speaker 1: That's what I was gonna say. Also, like this season,
Speaker 1: when you know they did the Sparrows, I thought they
Speaker 1: did so Yeah, good stuff. Also, one of my favorite
Speaker 1: actors who I discovered during the American remake of this
Speaker 1: weird British show called Utopia, which came out a very
Speaker 1: bad time, during the most badly time, during the pandemics,
Speaker 1: So most people didn't watch it because it was about
Speaker 1: how vaccines were evil, but Javonne Woner Walton was in
Speaker 1: that show and he's so unbelievable And they brought him
Speaker 1: on in season three basically as a kid like posing
Speaker 1: as Diego and Leela's son, and he is so good,
Speaker 1: Like I will watch him in anything. I think people
Speaker 1: most know him now. He was in Euphoria. Yes he
Speaker 1: played Ashtray, but he is like just so unbelievably fantastic.
Speaker 1: And that was another time where like when he popped up,
Speaker 1: I was just like, oh, like they know what they're doing,
Speaker 1: like they they are whoever is casting this show. The
Speaker 1: casting director is legit, like so unbelievably powerful, and I
Speaker 1: think is a large part of why the show has
Speaker 1: been so popular.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I'm gonna miss it.
Speaker 2: I really enjoyed it while we had it, but I'm
Speaker 2: looking forward to seeing you know, Netflix is a space
Speaker 2: that's very near and dear to Netflix's heart, this sort
Speaker 2: of nerd youth space. They've done a lot of whores,
Speaker 2: think about your sabrinas, your Wednesdays. So it's a space
Speaker 2: right for new inventions. So while we will miss Umbrella Academy,
Speaker 2: it's still on Netflix. You can go back and enjoy
Speaker 2: it and all of it's glory. Stick around after this break,
Speaker 2: we're going to have a conversation.
Speaker 3: With David Castanada. We're very excited.
Speaker 2: He was so generous with his time, so yeah, stick out,
Speaker 2: we'll hear at that.
Speaker 1: Hey, David, how's it going. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining me today.
Speaker 4: Well, thanks for having me, Rosie. It's going great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's an absolutely, it's a delight. I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to talk to you. We're huge fans of Umbrella Academy here,
Speaker 1: so just really delighted to dig into the final season.
Speaker 1: When we usually interview people here, we kind of asked them, like,
Speaker 1: what's your origin story? Like if you were a comic
Speaker 1: book character, what's your origin story, Like, what was the
Speaker 1: thing that drove you to acting? What was the thing
Speaker 1: that made you who you are?
Speaker 4: I mean, I think what drove me was I think
Speaker 4: there was a lot of shifting when I was growing up.
Speaker 4: There was a lot of a lot of moving around.
Speaker 4: I got to live in many, many households before I
Speaker 4: moved to Mexico when I was seven yees seven years old,
Speaker 4: and so I think the origin was more so about
Speaker 4: trying to fit in, you know, trying to understand what
Speaker 4: my surroundings were, and that's sort of becoming sort of
Speaker 4: a superpower where I could show up to room and
Speaker 4: sort of digest it and very quickly sort of understand
Speaker 4: the rules of the room. And that was something that
Speaker 4: I very much was very acute too, especially you know,
Speaker 4: even when I came back to move to live in
Speaker 4: the US in two thousand and four, two thousand and three,
Speaker 4: and and you know, in terms of acting, that's sort
Speaker 4: of what acting is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's why I was going to say, Yeah, it
Speaker 1: sounds like it would be a very useful skill as
Speaker 1: you kind of embarked on your career.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean, it's sort of if you show up
Speaker 4: to a set, you know, you take in the set,
Speaker 4: you take in the scene, you take in your scene partners,
Speaker 4: and then you sort of just go from there and
Speaker 4: you start you start realizing, Okay, what's my role in
Speaker 4: this in the entire space that I'm that I'm in
Speaker 4: right now. And I don't know if that's a true
Speaker 4: superhero origin story, but it definitely was a power that
Speaker 4: I was able to sort of nurture as I as
Speaker 4: I got older.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that sounds really unique. And also as well,
Speaker 1: I could imagine it's very useful on a show like
Speaker 1: Umbrella Academy where you're building relationships that go on for
Speaker 1: you know, seasons. Yeah, and trying to So what's it
Speaker 1: been like going on that journey, you know, getting cast
Speaker 1: as Diego, filming the first season and kind of growing
Speaker 1: in this space of a found family show to actually
Speaker 1: continue that journey with those actors as a family for
Speaker 1: you know, four seasons.
Speaker 4: Well, it sort of feels like you're going to school,
Speaker 4: you know, you start off freshman year, no one really
Speaker 4: knows each other. You're you know, you're kind of trying
Speaker 4: to you know, test the waters. You want to relate
Speaker 4: to them. But also you understand that everyone is from
Speaker 4: all over the world, you know, from different cultures and backgrounds,
Speaker 4: and so as as I can't relate to certain cultures like,
Speaker 4: for example, like Robert Sheehan's culture, you know, but as
Speaker 4: the years go by, there is a relatability because now
Speaker 4: we have the show to sort of fall back on,
Speaker 4: and being able to form friendships was something that you know,
Speaker 4: it took, it became more organic because when we first
Speaker 4: came into the first season, because no one knew who
Speaker 4: you know, we had never met there was this sort
Speaker 4: of awkward pace within all of us and we were
Speaker 4: trying to get to know each other. But it works
Speaker 4: so well with the show. And as the show progressed
Speaker 4: to the second season the third season, you sort of
Speaker 4: started seeing everyone sort of jail and that was instinctually
Speaker 4: what we were doing as actors within our own dynamics
Speaker 4: outside of the scenes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and what does it feel like now to kind
Speaker 1: of the show was returning after two years and it's
Speaker 1: the final season, Like, how does it feel as an
Speaker 1: actor to have crafted a character like Diego and taken
Speaker 1: him from that awkward first season to this kind of
Speaker 1: final part of his story.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's better sweet. It's better sweet because once
Speaker 4: you sort of get the groove of the whole of
Speaker 4: the of the character. I've been very lucky that the
Speaker 4: writers and the creator, Steve Blackman, has sort of allowed
Speaker 4: me to to sort of or it just sort of
Speaker 4: seems things inside of me to feel like, oh, you know, actually,
Speaker 4: Diego isn't He's more likable than not, so let's let's
Speaker 4: add these things. And also there's a there's a comedy
Speaker 4: within his seriousness that let's let's let's dive into that
Speaker 4: and and so the changes in Diego's personality through the
Speaker 4: seasons has been such a wonderful surprise that it didn't
Speaker 4: it wasn't just stale playing the same thing over and
Speaker 4: over again. And I don't know if I'll ever get
Speaker 4: that opportunity to do something like that, but I do
Speaker 4: feel very proud that that this character and the story
Speaker 4: and also the all of these characters exists now on
Speaker 4: Netflix that people can go and watch and can enjoy
Speaker 4: with like the entire family. Because that's I think that's
Speaker 4: the biggest compliment that I've gotten with people, is like
Speaker 4: adults will come up to me and say, you know,
Speaker 4: this is the only show I watch with my kids.
Speaker 4: You know, we all have our own separate shows. I
Speaker 4: don't watch their shows, they don't watch my shows. But
Speaker 4: this is the only show that we all get together
Speaker 4: and we binge. And that's a massive compliment because I'm
Speaker 4: you know, it's obviously because it's all about the dysfunction
Speaker 4: of the family. Yeah that I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, I'm a big family guy, so I you know, yeah.
Speaker 1: It brings people together. That's you know, We're lucky, like
Speaker 1: with this show, doing this show with comic books and
Speaker 1: comic book TV and stuff. I get a lot of
Speaker 1: moms who message me and they go, oh my god,
Speaker 1: we listened to this, you know, with my I listened
Speaker 1: to this with my kid. And that's and then we
Speaker 1: like read the comic books together and we watch the shows.
Speaker 1: So it is like a very special feeling, right to
Speaker 1: know that you're making something that kind of bridges that gap.
Speaker 3: Yeah for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was just going to say, like, so that's a
Speaker 1: part of this that I guess is again different from
Speaker 1: other TV shows, is this is a there's a very
Speaker 1: active fandom with Umbrella Academy, with the comics, you know,
Speaker 1: it's that kind of comic con show. What's it been
Speaker 1: like to get those responses, to get people kind of
Speaker 1: telling you about what the show means to them.
Speaker 4: Well, I think of in sort of like, you know,
Speaker 4: when you get a compliment, you know, we're so we're
Speaker 4: so easy to like take in a criticism over a compliment,
Speaker 4: and and that's that's been able. I've been able to
Speaker 4: try to sort of you know, rewire my brain and
Speaker 4: trying to take in when someone really appreciates the show
Speaker 4: and take it for what they mean, it for what
Speaker 4: they mean by it because when the show first came out,
Speaker 4: I didn't I mean, I don't think many of us
Speaker 4: thought that it was going to be what it was
Speaker 4: going to be. We sort of were just kind of
Speaker 4: just I mean, at least for me, I just needed
Speaker 4: a job. And then as as the seasons progress, and
Speaker 4: you know, obviously as the season progressed, and like you know,
Speaker 4: second season, we were in lockdown. So there wasn't like
Speaker 4: a lot of interaction with live interaction with people saying,
Speaker 4: oh I love the show. It was more so just
Speaker 4: online that I got to see, like oh man, like
Speaker 4: this is wow. People are really being affected by this
Speaker 4: in a positive way. I did get one experience where
Speaker 4: like someone did ask me to write my signature on
Speaker 4: their body because they said they were going to get
Speaker 4: a tattooed on that and I said no, I was like,
Speaker 4: I'm not doing that. And then and then they showed me,
Speaker 4: which is so funny. They showed me Robert she Han's
Speaker 4: signature on their forearm and they said, look, Renal Klaus
Speaker 4: did it too, And I was like, well, if Klaus
Speaker 4: did it, will give me that pen and I signed.
Speaker 1: My You're like, of course I have to.
Speaker 4: Yeah. When he did it. I was like, I guess
Speaker 4: I have to do it now. I was like, yeah, sure,
Speaker 4: I don't want. I don't want just Robert she Hen's name.
Speaker 4: I didn't put David in there too. There you go,
Speaker 4: you know, but that was Yeah, that was a pretty
Speaker 4: wild one. Yeah.
Speaker 1: People willing to kind of have that on their body
Speaker 1: forever because of how much they love the show is
Speaker 1: kind of the ultimate compliment.
Speaker 4: Yeah, as much as they enjoyed it. I mean, this
Speaker 4: show did change everything in my life and I'm very
Speaker 4: grateful for so, I know I can relate to their uh,
Speaker 4: you know, gratitude towards it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and how you kind of touched on this, but
Speaker 1: like especially in the new season, and this will drop
Speaker 1: when the new season is out, so we can kind
Speaker 1: of talk a little bit about it. But that comedic
Speaker 1: element of Diego is really there, and you kind of
Speaker 1: get to explore this other side of him. Six years later,
Speaker 1: he's this dad. He's listening to Baby Shock and the
Speaker 1: Van like he loves the mini van. Could you talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about getting to play with that and
Speaker 1: kind of craft this different side.
Speaker 4: Well, Rosie, it tells me that you've seen a few episodes.
Speaker 4: I'm guessing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, good Yeah, I'm lucky. I've
Speaker 1: seen it. I've seen I loved I've seen six. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought it was like perfect. Oh really, I'm a
Speaker 1: huge fan. Yeah, I adored it. I thought it was
Speaker 1: I mean, it might actually be the best season honestly.
Speaker 1: Oh man, there's something about it that just seeing everyone
Speaker 1: back together and kind of the journeys everyone gets to
Speaker 1: go on is really special.
Speaker 4: Well that's really nice, Rosie. I appreciate I've only seen three,
Speaker 4: so you're way ahead of me on this.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 4: Yeah, which is so funny. Obviously, you know, I got
Speaker 4: to read other scripts and do the whole thing. But
Speaker 4: I feel like Diego's realization, or at least what he
Speaker 4: I mean, I think a lot of the effort that
Speaker 4: was put into this was like, you know, the grass
Speaker 4: is never greener on the other side, And I think
Speaker 4: I think Diego's sort of idea because it's you know,
Speaker 4: he's missing his powers, you know, and he's sort of
Speaker 4: in the space of resentment and and and he's trying
Speaker 4: his best to be the best dad and the best husband,
Speaker 4: but he's failing miserably, especially being a spouse, and so
Speaker 4: he obviously believes it's you know, so much care goes
Speaker 4: into his ability to be a dad that he's forgetting himself.
Speaker 4: You know, he's forgetting really he's sort of stuck at
Speaker 4: this idea, I have to be a superhero. If not,
Speaker 4: I'm not defined, but I'm sort of worthless. But his journey,
Speaker 4: it's not so much of like, oh, you look how
Speaker 4: amazing your family is and your wife and all these things.
Speaker 4: But I think his biggest thing was like he just
Speaker 4: forgot to honor himself and to really discover who he
Speaker 4: is aside from the powers. And I think that's sort
Speaker 4: of the I guess underneath all the comedy, you know,
Speaker 4: that sort of what drives him in the season of
Speaker 4: like just he's trying to find himself, you know, with
Speaker 4: the FBI thing and the whole I mean to me,
Speaker 4: that was probably one of the funnest things, you know,
Speaker 4: working with Tom Hopper and doing those little gags between
Speaker 4: Luther and Diego. I never I never get old, I know,
Speaker 4: I never get tired of doing anything with that.
Speaker 1: Guy, you know, mm hmmm, yeah. I Mean the relationships
Speaker 1: that you guys kind of craft on the screen feel
Speaker 1: so organic and it feels you know, as soon as
Speaker 1: you said, oh, Robert Sheehan, you know had done the tatto,
Speaker 1: Klaus had done it. I was like, well, of course
Speaker 1: you have to do it. You know, that comes across
Speaker 1: that kind of friendship. And obviously with a lot of
Speaker 1: that you're doing it's Diego and Laila. Yeah, this season
Speaker 1: and kind of building this kind of really complex I
Speaker 1: think as well for a lot of viewers, I mean,
Speaker 1: because of Lockdown, because of the way TV how long
Speaker 1: it takes to get made. The show has been going
Speaker 1: on for a while, and I think there's probably gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot of people who when they watched that
Speaker 1: first season, they were more of that awkward young adult
Speaker 1: and now they probably do have kids, you know, and
Speaker 1: you're getting to see that reality of like Diego and
Speaker 1: Leila together and what does it really mean? And she's
Speaker 1: running around in the leggings and the ug boots and
Speaker 1: you're trying to get the birthday cake. Could you talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about playing that kind of side of it.
Speaker 5: Well, I mean one thing that I will say when
Speaker 5: you talk about, you know, people growing with the show,
Speaker 5: I have I have seen like comments or messages of
Speaker 5: like people saying like I was a freshman in high
Speaker 5: school and now I'm I'm.
Speaker 4: A junior in college, and I'm like, it blows my mind.
Speaker 4: And the and the sort of the length that it
Speaker 4: takes for us to finish the show, from the moment
Speaker 4: we you know, come into production to the moment and
Speaker 4: actually premieres. It is like almost like a two year things.
Speaker 4: It's such a long and just stating a sort of process.
Speaker 4: But you know, working with with you know, Ritch to
Speaker 4: ritu Aria, you know, it was a gem. You know,
Speaker 4: it was it was lovely to sort of because you know,
Speaker 4: she was game for anything, you know, when we were
Speaker 4: working and so and obviously I'm open to anything that
Speaker 4: she would throw on me because she's super talented. And
Speaker 4: so when we got to that state of okay, we're
Speaker 4: going to be these disgruntled parents that are sort of,
Speaker 4: you know, never really liking each other, you know, we're like, okay,
Speaker 4: we'll lists lean into that. You know, what is that?
Speaker 4: How do you find that? And I think the more
Speaker 4: you lean into it, the funnier it gets. And and
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm not here to speak about anyone's relationship
Speaker 4: or anyone's marriage, but I think there's a lot of
Speaker 4: qualities in there that a lot of people can see
Speaker 4: in themselves of how they you know, the dynamics within them,
Speaker 4: and you know, and the humor in it also.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, I think it's that there is a lot
Speaker 1: of humor in like the mundanity of just like trying
Speaker 1: to live your life, you know, and obviously in a
Speaker 1: superhero show you don't always get to explore that, but
Speaker 1: here we kind of do. Whether it's you know, Alison
Speaker 1: doing trying to just audition audition, or there's actually like
Speaker 1: a normality we get in those first couple of episodes
Speaker 1: before of course, everything kind of blows back.
Speaker 4: I mean the second the second episode to me is
Speaker 4: my I mean, it's obviously it starts with a bank.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay. So what I'll ask you then, is, seeing
Speaker 1: as it's the we're coming to the end, you know,
Speaker 1: of the show, what are your next plans? Like what
Speaker 1: are you most excited to do, like leaving Diego behind?
Speaker 1: What is David?
Speaker 4: Oh? I mean I want to direct, you know, I
Speaker 4: want to direct. Obviously, there's there's there's some projects in
Speaker 4: terms of acting that I'm I'm you know, very excited
Speaker 4: to start and some that I've already finished and are
Speaker 4: going to come out next year. But in terms of
Speaker 4: just like for my own selfish journey, yeah, I'm like,
Speaker 4: I'm I'm really I'm really close to finishing my first
Speaker 4: feature in terms of my my wow and so you know,
Speaker 4: getting that off the ground and you know, getting cameras
Speaker 4: up and cameras rolling. I feel like that's going to be,
Speaker 4: you know, coming very very soon.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much for joining us. Congrats on
Speaker 1: Umbrella Academy, and good luck with everything that comes next.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Rosie, I appreciate. Hopefully I'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 6: We're going to take a quick break and we'll be
Speaker 6: right back, and we are back.
Speaker 3: Thanks David. That was a great interview.
Speaker 2: We really liked Social Love you a warm human being.
Speaker 2: Now we're headed into the back matter to make some recommendations.
Speaker 2: So we were thinking, you know now that there is
Speaker 2: this gap in our young people try their hardest in
Speaker 2: a school or found family situation.
Speaker 3: We decided specific niche listen. It's specific but strong. There's
Speaker 3: a lot of content here, so we.
Speaker 2: Decided to take a look back at some shows we
Speaker 2: liked in the genre and mix some recommendations. If you
Speaker 2: need to fill this space while on Netflix is cooking.
Speaker 2: So Rosie, you you had oh, you were popping off
Speaker 2: with ideas.
Speaker 3: Where do you want to set it?
Speaker 1: I love this I'm going to start with Misfits because
Speaker 1: it is where Robert Sheehan got his start. I absolutely
Speaker 1: love this show. It's an old British TV show, and
Speaker 1: I can say it's old now, fine, two thousand and nine.
Speaker 3: That's not I was just started in college.
Speaker 1: I'm no baby, baby that was fifteen years ago. Sixteen
Speaker 1: years ago, my pal. So basically, it's a show about
Speaker 1: a group of young offenders who are sentenced to do
Speaker 1: community service where and while they're doing it there is
Speaker 1: a strange storm and they gain superpowers. Right now, this
Speaker 1: is like literally comes out one year after The Dark Night,
Speaker 1: one year after Iron Man, so it was in production
Speaker 1: kind of before them, so you get a pre emcu vision.
Speaker 1: It is exceptionally working class. It has an unbelievable cast.
Speaker 1: It has Nathan Stewart Jarrett who's an absolutely fantastic actor.
Speaker 1: He plays Curtis. It has Iwan Rian who plays Simon
Speaker 1: Bell and Me who would go on to Game of Thrones.
Speaker 1: It has Lauren Sosha as Kelly Bailey, Antonia Thomas as
Speaker 1: Alisha Daniels, Robert she and is Nathan Young and as
Speaker 1: we get later into the season, they are it's another
Speaker 1: show with brilliant casting. We get to see Joseph Gilgan,
Speaker 1: who people know from Preacher. He's in here. And basically
Speaker 1: the thing that's really cool about this is powers that
Speaker 1: they get are all kind of directly related to who
Speaker 1: they are. So there is when it comes to somebody
Speaker 1: like Alisha, she's very beautiful, so her power is an
Speaker 1: awful power, which is anytime anyone touches her, they just
Speaker 1: become obsessed with her and they want to fuck her now.
Speaker 1: And it's like this kind of horrific existential power. And hilariously,
Speaker 1: Robert's character, Nathan, he kind of doesn't have a power,
Speaker 1: or he does, but he doesn't know it. And I
Speaker 1: will say I was. Me and my friend Bianca have
Speaker 1: both been rewatching this, and Bianca to point out a
Speaker 1: good thing that I think is worthwhile to bring up here.
Speaker 1: This is definitely dated in that it has a casual
Speaker 1: use of like certain like slus, not like terrible slus,
Speaker 1: but that kind of like don't teens use slus? Like
Speaker 1: isn't that what they do? Isn't that edgy, and this
Speaker 1: was from an era of like Skins. It's from the
Speaker 1: same TV Shows channel as Skins, so it definitely is
Speaker 1: a little bit dated in that way. But generally I
Speaker 1: do still think it's one of the best superhero shows
Speaker 1: ever made. There are some truly horrific, weird episodes. There's
Speaker 1: an episode with a character who can control the lactose
Speaker 1: in people's bodies that to this day is one of
Speaker 1: the most scary episodes of TV I've ever seen. There
Speaker 1: are fantastic long term arcs here. The kids are also
Speaker 1: It's rare that you get to see a bunch of
Speaker 1: working class kids trying to make their way. They have
Speaker 1: to contend against the parole officer and also kind of
Speaker 1: the shenanigans of other people who've gotten these powers. I
Speaker 1: will also say that Elisha Simon arc is still one
Speaker 1: of my favorite arcs in any series for a pair
Speaker 1: of characters, and it was very hard for me when
Speaker 1: I went on to play you know, Ramsey Bolton one
Speaker 1: of the worst villains of all time and that would
Speaker 1: obviously define him forever, when Simon is just such a
Speaker 1: fantastic character in my opinion. But yeah, I love Misfits.
Speaker 1: I would definitely recommend it. I believe there may have
Speaker 1: been an American remake or talks of an American remake.
Speaker 3: I believe.
Speaker 1: My recommendtion. Okay, fantastic news. When I used to write
Speaker 1: about Misfits, it was never streaming anywhere. It was impossible
Speaker 1: to find. But now, thanks to the joys of streaming,
Speaker 1: you can watch it free on Peacock, you can watch
Speaker 1: it free on Amazon, you can watch it free on
Speaker 1: Pluto TV. You watch it on Disney Plus, which seems
Speaker 1: exceptionally strange because it is so out there, a lot
Speaker 1: of sex, a lot of swearing. But yeah, I think
Speaker 1: if you are a Robert Sheham fan like us, if
Speaker 1: you are a fan of kids with superpowers, if you
Speaker 1: want to watch a show that's gonna feel totally different
Speaker 1: to anything else that you've seen, Misfits is that show.
Speaker 1: So that's my first recommendation.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm going to pick it up with one of
Speaker 2: my favorite shows of all time.
Speaker 3: It's The Magicians.
Speaker 2: If you are no longer allowing yourself to participate in
Speaker 2: the horror show that is JK.
Speaker 3: Rowling, but you miss your magical world of.
Speaker 2: Uh chass, Yes, yes, your magical schools of chaos and hope.
Speaker 2: Uh do I have a show for you? It requires
Speaker 2: you to be an adult to view it, not four children. Yes,
Speaker 2: but what if your magical beings were American and they
Speaker 2: were in grad school.
Speaker 3: Suddenly everything's on the table.
Speaker 2: It's super sexy, it's murdery, it's got so much trauma.
Speaker 2: But because your showrunners are Sarah Gamble and John McNamara,
Speaker 2: you're in good hands. You probably know Sarah Gamble's work
Speaker 2: more from you. If you missed The Magicians, you was
Speaker 2: her next big project. You see how she handles a sabby,
Speaker 2: stabby murder. Some of you are in love with him.
Speaker 2: That's not Sarah's fault. She's trying to tell you that's
Speaker 2: a bad person.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying. I'm just saying that. It has a
Speaker 1: lot to do with pem Bagley. He's a good at
Speaker 1: playing like a a.
Speaker 2: Wed murderer and he's fine as hell. Listen, she casts well,
Speaker 2: she casts beautiful people.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: So namara wrote Trumbo if you're a person who really
Speaker 2: likes old school Hollywood cinema and the political dramas, he
Speaker 2: nailed that. But then he also wrote on Super the
Speaker 2: Lowest and Clark the Avengers of Superman.
Speaker 3: So he's oh my god, I have read.
Speaker 1: I watched that show quite religiously. It's now streaming. Deankane sucks.
Speaker 1: But I ignore that because to me, that is where a
Speaker 1: lot of my format of Superman feelings came from. But
Speaker 1: I think you've got a great recommendation here. I really
Speaker 1: love the Magicians. I got to visit the Magicians set
Speaker 1: a couple of times, early days of TV writing, and
Speaker 1: this is a great what if you know Hogwarts was
Speaker 1: grad school. There's sex, there's queerness, there's murder. And also,
Speaker 1: don't be dismayed. We know people who listen to this show.
Speaker 1: You love an inclusive cast, you love a diverse class.
Speaker 1: The main in character of this show is essentially a trick.
Speaker 1: You're not sees to like him. That is not really
Speaker 1: your main in character, and the people around him are
Speaker 1: what make the show special, as well as the inner
Speaker 1: workings and politics of this secondary world of magic. Who
Speaker 1: are the hedge witches? Who are the people who can't
Speaker 1: get a school? Yeah, it's a system. What is the
Speaker 1: class system in a world where magic exists? And how
Speaker 1: do we define who's allowed to use it? I do
Speaker 1: think this is such a fantastic cool recommendation and also
Speaker 1: has a lot of fun metatext about like what if
Speaker 1: a book that you read as a kid was actually
Speaker 1: real life.
Speaker 2: Yes, it really engages with the fandom, and I think
Speaker 2: the show looked out by cast. The main group of
Speaker 2: people you follow around the school and through this universe
Speaker 2: are so connected with the fandom.
Speaker 3: They were really.
Speaker 2: Engaging at all of your comic con conventions on the socials,
Speaker 2: like they cared about this show.
Speaker 3: They loved it.
Speaker 2: And there are many musical episodes if you're a musically
Speaker 2: inclined person, as I am so much singing, and it's
Speaker 2: all delightful and fun. A great rewatch too. If you
Speaker 2: haven't seen it in a couple of years, maybe you're like,
Speaker 2: let me revisit the It's fabulous, an underly perfect show.
Speaker 2: Shout out to every summar Tella mave icons Argent Gupta
Speaker 2: such a sweetheart of me too, She's really wonderful and
Speaker 2: like Hale Applebomb, I'm sorry, Hal Appleman as Elliott easily
Speaker 2: one of my favorite.
Speaker 1: Episode character of the show.
Speaker 2: I feel like agreed agreed, yeah, that everyone was sort
Speaker 2: of an Elliott stand for reasons that become immediately apparent
Speaker 2: as soon as you've been watching the show. Oh and
Speaker 2: then of course Jay Taylor let me not forget the
Speaker 2: great she is so lovely as well.
Speaker 3: So yeah, check out the magicians. What's our next wreck?
Speaker 1: Next wreck is going to be We're going to go
Speaker 1: for an anime because I feel like we're always trying
Speaker 1: to get more people to listen who listen to the
Speaker 1: show to watch anime, I'm gonna go for Death Note. Yes,
Speaker 1: if you're a fan of the darker aspects of Umbrella Academy,
Speaker 1: if you're a fan of the strangeness, the weird, magical
Speaker 1: aspects of powers, how do they work? Who gets them?
Speaker 1: Are they evil? Are they good? Death Note is definitely
Speaker 1: a fantastic show for you. It's also a great starter
Speaker 1: anime because it's super engaging. It's based on the manga
Speaker 1: which was also a smash hit by Oh I Can
Speaker 1: Remember Oh by Sugomi Ahoba and Takashi Abata, and it
Speaker 1: is about a student called Light Yagami. He's a genius.
Speaker 1: He discovers a mysterious notebook which is called the Death Note,
Speaker 1: and it once belonged to a demon called Riuk. And
Speaker 1: if you write somebody's name in the death note. Then
Speaker 1: they die, and while it might sound slightly different to
Speaker 1: Umbrella Academy vibes, wise, you quickly learn that there are
Speaker 1: other death notes, there are other people using them. We
Speaker 1: also get an iconic detective character in the form of El,
Speaker 1: who's a student who wants to stop the murders that
Speaker 1: Light is committing. It's a great cat and mouse story.
Speaker 1: It's a fantastic murder mystery entry point for anime, and
Speaker 1: it's got very similar kind of dark goffy emo vibes
Speaker 1: to Umbrella.
Speaker 3: There are school uniforms involved.
Speaker 1: You can check it out good schools.
Speaker 3: Check out death Note. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: What's our next pick?
Speaker 3: Joelle? Legion? Okay.
Speaker 2: Because of the controversial ending of Umbrella Academy and because
Speaker 2: of the time travel space woo wu kind of vibes,
Speaker 2: Legion's a good select. If you're missing Umbrella Academy, you
Speaker 2: can debate and ending all over again. It is one
Speaker 2: of the most beautiful TV.
Speaker 3: Shows of all time.
Speaker 2: Like from a production standpoint, yes, from a cinematography standpoint,
Speaker 2: From a special and visual effects standpoint like, this show
Speaker 2: really firing on all cylinders. It gives you your superhero
Speaker 2: aspects this is the son of Charles Xavier slight spoiler alert,
Speaker 2: but this is a very old comic, So here we go. Basically,
Speaker 2: you start with him in mental institute. You're trying to
Speaker 2: figure out why he's there. Mysteries abound, found families occur,
Speaker 2: there are betrayals, so much drama.
Speaker 1: It's extremely surreal and strange and abstract. Also very interesting
Speaker 1: historical document because this was made when Fox was still
Speaker 1: its own separate company and when Disney had been vying
Speaker 1: to get the rights back to The X Men. But
Speaker 1: there was an interesting period where this and The Gifted
Speaker 1: got made, which were two ex memb related TV shows
Speaker 1: that Fox had never been able to make before. So
Speaker 1: Legion exists in this very interesting place. There also incredible
Speaker 1: cost Aubreyor.
Speaker 3: Is here, Gene Smart is.
Speaker 1: Here, Jermaine Clement, and obviously our main character is played
Speaker 1: by legendary weirdo character player Dan Stevens, who we just
Speaker 1: absolutely adore, and yeah, like what this is a total ride.
Speaker 1: I will also say, if you are someone who has
Speaker 1: followed Umbrella Academy and you were maybe dismayed with the
Speaker 1: bleakness of the ending, but you were intrigued by it,
Speaker 1: how did that make you feel. Then I will say
Speaker 1: Legion is another show for you. It's a show that
Speaker 1: was not afraid of upsetting its audience or changing the
Speaker 1: perspective through which we've looked at the show. So definitely
Speaker 1: worth checking out.
Speaker 2: Yes, and finally we have Shadow and Bone another.
Speaker 3: Netflixha oh baby.
Speaker 1: Netflix has really been killing it with Okay, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm going to do a duo. You're actually gonna get
Speaker 1: two here because I do love Shadow and Bone. I
Speaker 1: love Shadow and Bone. It's fantastic. It has Archie Renault,
Speaker 1: who has recently seen in the wonderful Alien Romulus that
Speaker 1: we really enjoyed. He played Tyler. It is a fantastic
Speaker 1: adaptation of Lee Bardigo's books. It melds her Shadow and
Speaker 1: Bone series with her Six of Crows series, which were
Speaker 1: tangentially connected, but here you get them at the same time.
Speaker 1: The Six of Crows series is widely seen as the
Speaker 1: more superior series. It's I love both, but it's a
Speaker 1: fantastic heist. It's about criminals, it's about kids trying to survive,
Speaker 1: and she don't. Bonus set in a world where magic
Speaker 1: exists and there are essentially magical armies and if you
Speaker 1: are able to do magic. You end up in a
Speaker 1: special army that's led by a magical, hunky, sexy, mysterious man.
Speaker 4: Sign me up.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And our main character Alena, Oh my god, why I
Speaker 1: like read these books like.
Speaker 3: Fifty millis I understand it.
Speaker 1: We are getting old. Okay, So Alena. Yes, our main character,
Speaker 1: Elena Starkoff, she is She discovers that she has this
Speaker 1: massive magical power that could help them rid the world
Speaker 1: of this villain called the Darkling, and she has pulled
Speaker 1: along into this magical fantasy world where people have powers
Speaker 1: and they're a magical creature and there is essentially a
Speaker 1: wizard war occurring. It's absolutely delightful. I think the show
Speaker 1: is fantastic. It got canceled off to two seasons, which
Speaker 1: is heartbreaking. The cast is brilliant, it's diverse, it's interesting,
Speaker 1: and I think it is a great pick if you
Speaker 1: are looking for that found family, magical aspect. But as
Speaker 1: I was saying, as we were talking about Netflix and
Speaker 1: that you're getting a two fire, I was thinking about
Speaker 1: my brilliant friend Abby White, who is a fantastic writer, critic,
Speaker 1: advocate for disabled writers. They're just generally fantastic and They
Speaker 1: pointed out that, you know, Netflix is so great at
Speaker 1: doing these ya stories right, and that reminded me as
Speaker 1: you brought that up that actually, I think if you
Speaker 1: love the Umbrella Academy, definitely watch Shadow and Bone because
Speaker 1: I love it and I love fantasy. But if you're
Speaker 1: really looking for the Umbrella Academy vibes and you've got
Speaker 1: a Netflix account, you got to watch their Boy Detectives.
Speaker 1: That is so queer, so strange, so funny, so magical.
Speaker 1: It's about two boys who are dead and they are detectives.
Speaker 1: Gay has this one of them is gay, and it
Speaker 1: has this fantastic camaraderie at the center, and it is
Speaker 1: about a found family and it is about the mysteries
Speaker 1: of your past and overcoming your trauma. And it shares
Speaker 1: a lot in both esthetic and vibes with Umbrella Academy.
Speaker 1: So both of those are on Netflix. If you are
Speaker 1: on Netflix Viewer and you are missing Umbrella Academy, once
Speaker 1: you've done your rewatch of your favorite episodes, I would
Speaker 1: say both of those are great picks.
Speaker 3: That's so great.
Speaker 2: Dead Boy Detectives also has strong witchy vibes, which is great.
Speaker 2: They have an anime girly who's like really weird and fun.
Speaker 2: She's so Then and then it highlights one of my
Speaker 2: favorite things, which is like your adolescent besties who essentially
Speaker 2: become your family in the same way like if you're
Speaker 2: a person who habitually watches friends for the comfy vibes.
Speaker 2: This has elements of that, where you're like, they're best
Speaker 2: friends and they'll never betray each other. Look at how
Speaker 2: look at their love. It's so real. Oh my god,
Speaker 2: it's adorable. I really hope we get more seasons of it.
Speaker 2: And unlike some shows we got, this year has a
Speaker 2: great mystery at its core, really fun to watch it
Speaker 2: unfold throughout the season. Delightful, delightful series, great call. I
Speaker 2: cannot believe we almost left off Dead Boy Detectives. I'm
Speaker 2: really proud of you, Rosie.
Speaker 3: Those are our recommendations.
Speaker 2: So check out The Magician's Shadow and Bone, Legion, Death Note, Misfits,
Speaker 2: and of course Dead Boy Detectives Defectives.
Speaker 3: That's our show. Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 2: Tomorrow, Tuesday, August twenty seventh, we've got The Rings of
Speaker 2: Power season one recap dropping than this Thursday.
Speaker 3: Come on back and join us.
Speaker 2: We've got the Mark Bernard and sitting down with us
Speaker 2: to recap his episode of Batman The Caped Crusader. Then
Speaker 2: Rosie and Jason are going to go through the back
Speaker 2: half of Caped Crusader, and then finally we're gonna get
Speaker 2: a reaction to the Crow, which I know you've all
Speaker 2: been waiting for, so stay tuned for that.
Speaker 3: Don't laugh by the seat of their pants, are just
Speaker 3: really hit on. Guess who can.
Speaker 1: Guess how I felt about the Crow. Go to the
Speaker 1: discord to make your bets on my opinions of the Crow.
Speaker 3: Thanks for joining us on a Monday, guys, We'll see
Speaker 3: you tomorrow, okay.
Speaker 7: X ray Vision is hosted by Jason Gisumsion and Rosie
Speaker 7: Knight and is a production of iHeart Podcasts. Our executive
Speaker 7: producers are Joelle Smith and Aaron Kaufman. Our supervising producer
Speaker 7: is a Boo Zafar. Our producers are Carmen Laurent and
Speaker 7: Mia Taylor. Our theme song is by Brian Basquez.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Soul Rubin and Chris Lord, Kenny Goodman
Speaker 1: and Heidi our discord moderator