Sheep Detectives Solve A Murder

We review Sheep Detective with our three-part method, then use a talking-sheep murder mystery to get weirdly personal about memory, grief, and what we choose to carry. The jokes land, the whiskey shows up, and the “golden path” turns a simple family film into a sharp rant about algorithm-fed reality. 
• our mind-altering setup with propranolol and bourbon 
• quick plot rundown: sheep gain agency, farmer dies, mystery begins 
• category ratings for acting, cinematography, score, plot, and rewatchability 
• why the movie works as a kid-friendly bridge to death and loss 
• missed opportunities with forgetting and the unreliable narrator angle 
• the “golden path” on trauma, empathy, and the comfort of pain 
• media silos, TikTok-fed opinions, and how platforms shape beliefs 
• inserting ourselves into the story with alternate characters and darker stakes 
• closing spiral on insurance incentives and daily-life absurdity 

3/5.

Transcript

Piracy, Ownership, And Shrugging

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Just see what happens, I suppose. It hasn't steered us wrong before.

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Yeah, I uh I didn't know what to think this week.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Uh oh, you're talking about uh Sony removing uh digital media by 2027.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Uh no, that's not what I was talking about. I haven't played physical video games in a long time. So while while I do care about you know consumer rights and media ownership, oh you're you're insulated from the the issue, I see. Yeah, yeah. It doesn't affect me very much, and so I don't care very much.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

It's just gotten to the point. I remember when like pirating like had such a stigma on it when we started doing it for lime wire and shit like that. But now these companies have just made it, so any anything you do against them is honorable at this point. Right. Like just have at it, have a good time.

SPEAKER_03 1:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

But well, anyway, hey everybody. Welcome to High and Dry Podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Bear North, with me as always, James. Uh, as you all know, we are the only podcast keeping alive the fandom of MASH.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

That's

Welcome And The Three-Part Format

SPEAKER_02 1:21

not that's not an obscure show. MASH is incredibly popular show.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

MASH the film. The film that precedes.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Oh, the film MASH. Oh, okay. Never mind then. I guess MASH. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Yeah, yeah. Where okay. Yeah, okay, good. So that's better then. Yeah, okay. As long as we're talking about something obscure enough. It was either that or Rachel Ray Eats for 40 bucks or some shit like that. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Anyway. I could watch Rachel Ray Eat for probably a three-hour supercut for just eating. Just watch when you eat what you pants up. I'd I'd probably only make it in like eight minutes, and then I just watched it in about eight minute spurts.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Well, I I wait, uh it was either I I I don't remember. I thought she was doing something new. I don't know. Anyway, uh, we're a show about mash. No. Not really. What we're actually gonna do this week, we are going to break down the film Sheep Detective, and we're going to do it in a special three-part method guaranteed to give you the most bang for your podcasting buck. First, we're gonna give you the definitive rating out of five stars, which is completely indisputable after that point. So uh get your uh last messages and comments in now. Then we're going to dive into the golden path and explore the deeper meanings of this sheepy film. And finally, we are going to insert ourselves, drugs, or alcohol into the film. And what makes it so special and fun is that we'll be doing it mind altered. Uh so James, how are you altering your brain chemistry this week?

SPEAKER_02 3:09

I took uh before coming onto the podcast, I took a prop propranolol, which is an anti oh shit. That

Propranolol, Bourbon, And Listener Shoutouts

SPEAKER_02 3:20

was my that was my take my medication alarm. But I took I took a propranolol, which is a which is a pill that I take um as needed uh for uh anxiety. What it does is like lowers blood pressure, so it lowers the symptoms of anxiety, which is reduces the feelings of anxiety. And so I decided that instead of going like I've been doing a lot of stimulants recently, let's go the other direction and let's be really chill for the for the one about sheep and murder.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yes. Awesome. Um I will be joining you with uh just a basic cut of Old Forester, 100 horsepower, 23 bucks. It's good stuff. I am a big fan of Old Forester, so I won't mind this at all. And it's just sort of a I don't know, I I'd I'd say I don't think it's too much of a roll of a dice anymore of where I because you know you've talked to like a lot of drinkers and stuff, and like, oh, that makes me mad, or like sometimes I get, you know, I I feel I just get drunk now, and it's the same every time.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Nice consistency.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah, like I I know how I'm gonna be. I I'll I'll talk a little more and I'll be a little more open with my feelings, I suppose, but uh that's it. I'm not gonna punch anyone, I'm not gonna say anything I shouldn't. Uh you know, I am who I am, and you know. And just gets a little freer, I suppose. So good. Yeah. So uh yeah, I've left behind the the that novice drinking style of so many.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Yeah, the the the that's born of fear of not being accepted like like a winter lamb.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Yes. Exactly. Exactly. I I've uh Brian Cranston's my way out of winter lambhood. I was devoured by the proverbial wolves of alcoholism. And uh I'm good to go. So cheers. Cheers.

unknown 5:23

Whew.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

I I will say sometimes it makes me sweat in my sleep if I went a little too heavy, but that's really about it.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

You can sweat in your sleep for a lot of reasons. It's not a b it's fine. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

It's normal. It's normal to wake up fucking soaked. Anyway, yeah. This next shot, next hit. This one goes out to our newest listeners, these ones joining us from Worthington, Ohio. Walton and Thames in Missouri. Let's see, Ashburn, Virginia joining us again. Tokyo. We got some listeners from Tokyo.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Uh we get the how many, how many, uh, how much what percentage of the Tokyo population is listening to uh to High and Dry podcast? Looks like four percent. So four percent.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

So so ten million people just about, yeah. Thank you, Tokyo, for those numbers. Um, we're also getting uh four percent of Queens, it looks like, as well as uh Margerfeld of Mid Ulster. So quite a few Britain ones. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. So we're uh we're blowing up over the pond.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Wait, Ulster? That might be Ireland. Apologies if if Ulster is Ireland.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

We need to do some fact-checking on that before uh Oh, that might be Ireland.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

I'm sorry, Oda. So sorry, Ireland.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Well, there goes our new there goes our new Irish fans. So oh well.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

I knew to I knew to double check though.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Well, hey, we we got there in the end. So here then is to uh second chances in our new Irish uh viewership. Cheers. And you just you know the other person, I'll fucking kill you. Yes, yes, yes, calm down.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

You don't hear you don't know how often we hear that.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Yeah. Yeah, uh, you and Jeff Bezos.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

So and he's he says it in a really loving way, though.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Yeah, yeah. Um, and it's always via drone.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Yeah, um yeah, he sends a drone to whisper it in our ear before we go to sleep.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

It's very nice. Uh he makes us sweat at night. Thanks for listening. Yeah, thanks for listening, Jeff. Uh glad to still have you as a listener. You, Vladimir Putin. Um we had uh who start yeah, polf. Yep. So this last one, this one goes to our film this week. Is it she is it plural? It's sheep detectives.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Sheep is the plural and singular. Wait, sheep's detective? No, no, no. Sheep is the plural of sheep. It's sheep detectives.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Yeah, yeah, sheep. Okay, yes, okay. All right, we're good to go. So here at the end of the film, sheep's detective.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Oh my I I I definitely prefer the uh different barrel editions of my old forester. Longtime listeners of the show will know that the 1920s Prohibition style, that baby's 115 horsepower is my particular favorite.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

What makes it uh uh uh your favorite?

SPEAKER_01 9:01

I think uh well I discovered it in the hills of Missouri out in the back roads.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

You just you just were driving around and you saw some barrels and you're like, these are from the Prohibition era. Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Uh yeah, no, you know, and it was the it was the first booze that I I drank in a moving truck. And uh, you know, it was just uh it's got a good flavor to it, and it gets me where I need to be for less. So not a price tag wise. Price tag, it's you know, I could buy a PlayStation game in slow. Less volume, yeah. But as far as shots taken, it gets me where I need to be quicker. So let's talk about this movie though. Sheep's Detective. What uh uh did you want to do the uh the honors of telling us about this movie?

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Uh sure. So uh it starts out with uh with Wolfman.

Sheep Detective Plot Recap

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Was it what you expected?

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Was it what I expected? That's a good question. Not immediately when we got started, I don't think it was what I expected, but very soon after it started kicking off, I was it became really, really predictable. Okay. Yeah. Uh but uh but when it first got when it first started up, I uh I didn't really know what to expect. This this isn't typically the kind of movie that I would watch. No, me neither. A movie with talking sheep.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

But honestly, I'm glad I did. But well but uh go ahead. What what is the uh what is this thing about?

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Okay, so our story picks up with Wolverine writing a letter to his to someone.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Professor S.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Uh yeah. Well, no, no, no. He's writing it to someone we don't know who it is. Uh their name is Rebecca, I think, uh, or something like that. But we don't know who I'm gonna double check. Uh yeah, I don't know. Beth. No. I don't know. Doesn't matter. He's writing a note to someone.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

I'm looking at the cast, and it's played by Molly Gordon, but the character itself isn't listed.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Neat. Uh who cares? Writing a name, Rachel, maybe. I think it's Rachel. But anyway, uh, writing a letter and uh telling telling this person all about his sheep, and he's named them all, and they all have personalities, and you think he's just some weirdo, and he reads murder mysteries to them every night, and then he closes the door, and then the movie takes a huge tonal shift where the sheep start talking to each other, and you you learn that they fully understand the English language, and they also have they also have uh the prowess of like uh of narrative thought and uh it's very impressive.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

It's Rebecca, by the way. It's Rebecca.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Okay. Uh I don't know if I think I said that first, but who cares? It doesn't matter. She gets she has like five lines of dialogue. But anyway, there's one specific sheep played by played by Julia Louis Dreyfus. Uh Elaine. This is Elaine from from Seinfeld. Yes. And she's the she's the sheep who is very smart, and she solves she solves mysteries. Uh and then Chris Odad from IT crowd is a sheep who never forgets, and they team up. Standout performance, by the way. I will say Chris O'Dad. Sure. When when Wolverine gets poisoned and dies. Yep. Yep. Julia Louis Dreyfus has to uh go on her go on an investigation. And it's your it's kind of a classic murder mystery where you have a bumbling police officer and several victims and a will, and they reference it in the story and like or in this movie in a really meta way, because uh, you know, um Hugh Jackman would read uh murder mysteries to the sheep. So they keep referencing this idea of like they know they're in a murder mystery uh uh kind of thing. Uh and it's kind of a story about um about these sheep experiencing the world beyond their pasture and um and learning about the nature of reality and yeah, and and in addition to that, there's a murder mystery element. Uh and eventually we find out that um someone that uh I mean if you don't want it spoiled for you, skip this next part. Uh, but uh we find out that uh uh Rebecca was his daughter, his his daughter that he gave up for adoption. And uh and the guy there was a guy there who's been impersonally impersonating a journalist the whole time, he-Man. Uh he uh that was wild. He uh he was actually his long-lost son, and uh and he killed him. And uh the sheep the sheep have to manipulate the police officer into learning how to be a police officer to find uh to figure it out. And then they live happily ever after.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Yeah. So uh yeah, that sums it up pretty succinctly. Um and uh I figured it out though, too, because it was Rebecca, which means that he was either sending Wolverine was either sending a letter to Rebecca Lebeau, the mutant daughter of Rogan Gambit, or Rebecca Hoover twist. So yeah, we figured that out. So um well, let's rate this bad boy. Okay. Yeah, so I mean I could I could kick it off. Yeah, go for it. So I I enjoyed it. Like I I enjoyed

Category Ratings And Final Score

SPEAKER_01 15:07

it for what it was. And like I what was it? So what I think it is because like obviously we we've seen this plot before. We've seen the plot before, and it looked like they were just you know, they were channeling Rain Johnson and like anytime there wasn't a sheep involved. Like it felt very like, alright, let's let's that seems to be clicking right now. But uh would I appreciate it for if you could get you know your kid to put down the iPad for a second. This is a good way to bridge some uh intense concepts like like you and I had at our age with I don't know, like fucking Land Before Time and you know, just just with with movies that take an easy way to start looking at, you know, death and memory and those sorts of things. Sure. And I think it did a good job of it. I I honestly I I hope uh I hope audiences do watch it as a as a family film that teaches some kind of heavy concepts.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Um I hope I hope more kids are watching death and internalizing it. I think so too.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

I think I think that's what we need. And for watching it, I I enjoyed it. And it's funny, I I watched it with um I watched it with Callie, and she was ugly crying like this one.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Really?

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Oh yeah, no, she was uh she was in in in tears. And uh but uh she she really liked it though, and I I was enjoying it too. I you know, was it the best movie ever created? No, yes, but yes, okay. Well, I can't we'll see what I'm I'm excited for your take on it. But for me, um I I thought there was some decent acting here. I I particularly enjoyed uh I always want to call him Roy O'Dowd. Uh Chris. Chris O'Dowd. I enjoyed Moppel. I I thought uh I thought Brian Cranston did well beyond just being Brian Cranston. And that makes sense too, because like the the audience of this movie isn't gonna recognize Brian Cranston Breaking Bad. Like he's not the Chris Pratt voice, you know, the heavy star that they brought in to appeal to children bullshit.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

Listen, what age do you think children should watch Breaking Bad? If they're if they've gotten to like eight or nine and they haven't finished Breaking Bad, they deserve to be a lambast. They they should they should be marched through the streets and everyone rings bells going, shame, shame.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

So I will be honest, I uh I have never watched Breaking Bad. Shame. Never got around to it. Like I get it that it's a show I need to watch. I do, and so are 50 other fucking shows I gotta watch. And you know, I'm just doing the best I can. I'm doing the best I can.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

So well, did you watch Argyle or did you watch or did you watch uh uh hold on, let me scroll through this list of credits.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

I know Panda 3 or I know Brian Cranston as uh the father of Malcolm in the Middle.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

Right, sure. I mean, I guess, I guess that's one of his roles. But did you do you remember him from that one episode of the X-Files where he had to drive the car across the desert?

SPEAKER_01 19:01

I do actually. Uh we I recently had a re-watching of X-Files.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Oh, nice, congratulations. What a ridiculous show. Thank you. It was season two was the best season. It was an upward to season two, season two fucking ruled, and then downward from there.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Yeah, yeah. Everyone lauds it as like the the ultimate of those sort of procedural supernatural things, yeah, and act like it was different in that it didn't go entirely, entirely off the rails. It went off the rails faster than any like that supernatural vampire, like it went off the fucking rails immediately.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

How shocked were you when you saw Seth Green in the pilot episode?

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Oh yeah. What the fuck? No, there were there were so many, but anyway, there were so many faces that popped up in X-Files. Like it was it was the show that launched a thousand ships. But anyway. But yeah, acting here. What were we talking about? Uh yeah, the sheep's detective. Acting here, I thought I thought it was well done. I thought it was well done. Uh particularly from the the side sheep. I I think the the mopples and the cranstons and Ronnie and Reggie played by Brett Goldstein from Ted Lasso. Yeah, I felt that there was a lot of good sheep in this.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

I'm Darby was Wooly's.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Yeah, I thought they were really good. Um acting on this, but um, but then at the same time, uh like I I would not you know dare besmirch the name of uh you know Louise Dreyfus. Uh but uh she I I feel like she maybe didn't bring it as hard as the other sheep.

SPEAKER_03 21:06

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

But I mean even Bellaran's.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

I didn't think they gave Regina Hall enough to do. She was cloud. I could have I could have used more Regina Hall. She might maybe Regina Hall would have been a better lead.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Yeah, Regina Hall was really great. Chris O'Dowd was really great. I mean, Hugh Jackman did his thing. Uh He-Man. He was he was there. Like he he he said his lines, um, and you could tell that they were like they were stuffing, they were that he was already working on becoming He-Man and he was like stuffed into sweaters and shit.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he did alright. Like, wear a vest. Here, put a put a vest on to kind of hide that you're you're barrel chested. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

But no, I I thought a lot of people did it really well. I'm gonna give the acting on this one a 3.5.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Cinematography.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

So far, the average is 3.5.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Oh, interesting. Cinematography, uh, like I had kind of uh alluded to earlier, like when it was sheep stuff on the farm and everything like that. I I thought that they had the opportunity to be sort of be a little more original and especially in like the darker pastures when they were going to the neighbors and things like that. Yeah, that was interesting. Yeah, I felt like they did a really good job of portraying the unknown to sheep.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

And when the French sheep showed up, I I enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Yeah, I and I I liked a lot of that. I I thought that um a lot of the work with the sheep themselves was well done. Um early on, I I thought some of the CGI was off-putting. But then I adjusted to that they didn't use a single real fucking sheep, and right it's and then honestly I felt that that was a better way to go, unless they wanted to go full out uh Muppet Puppet style.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

Okay, so I could I you know I hadn't thought about it, but I would have enjoyed Muppets. A Muppet Sheep movie would have been pretty fun.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

I I would prefer Muppet Puppet, but I think what they did is better than real sheep for what they were doing.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

I would like people crawling around in sheep costumes.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

That's what I like. Like, let's just go, let's just go all in.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

Like you can see their let their the human hands and legs.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Like, fuck it, let's let's do it. But then when it wasn't sheep, it was very rushed uh Ryan Johnson rip-off, essentially, from his knives out stuff. And so and so nothing, and so it was sort of uh you whiplash with that. And so for that I'm gonna give the cinematography also a 3.5 score here, nothing um particularly standout uh immediately. And but it was competent. It it definitely like honestly, like I was sitting there watching it, and I felt things. My you know, my girlfriend felt things, and so it didn't never it never Jurassic Park Lost World did Scarlett Johansson dust, where there was a sudden guitar solo that was uh very bizarre.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Bernini.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

Whoa.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Yeah, uh so it's better than some uh Jurassic Park movies I've watched. So for that, I will give the score I'll give it a three.

SPEAKER_03 24:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Um let me think here. Oh, this is plot. Thank you. After the score, I would say uh the plot here, it was it original? No. It was confidently done. Was like the day will come when we run out of plot. And for that, it was a fun, sort of refreshing twist on things we've seen. Like if it was like, hey, let's do a whodunit but with sheep and it was shitty, that'd be one thing, but this wasn't. It was a whodunit with sheep, with some fun little uh little twists here, some fun little places they took it. Uh nothing was insanely wild or original or crazy, you know. You know, Godfather 2 was not here, but uh it was competent and it it the plot did not hurt the film. The it was definitely it was good. It was good. And and um, you know, very middling right now, uh, but I'm I'm gonna give the plot a 3.5.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

I mean this the 3.5 is not middling. That's above average. Um and then they did incorporate a lot of sheep plot to it, you know. There's a lot of sheep, which is unique.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Yes. And rewatchability. Um, like I was saying, the this movie hit a lot of like emotional chords and uh like it it's it's not often, I suppose, that I I sign up into a movie to like really feel shit, you know? Like how often can you how often can you put that on? Like I'm exhausted by just existing in this hellhole of a society we've created, and then to go home and be like, alright, let's feel it now. That's not always easy for me.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

So I will definitely see it again and I will definitely recommend it to other people. Um, but I'm not gonna watch it constantly. Uh for that I give uh rewatchability a 2.5.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

Okay, 2.5. Alright. So your score averages out to 3.2, round down to three. Let's see how it fares after my rating. Yes. Uh we it doesn't seem like we're gonna be able to make it all. I can't drag it all the way up to five, but we'll see how far I can get.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

We'll see. Yeah, yeah. There's only so much you could do now that I've gotten my scores in.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

Yeah. Uh that's okay, I guess. Uh so uh for acting, uh, I thought everyone was uh doing their job. They uh I felt like I I liked Moppel.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

I loved Mopple.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

Yeah, Moppel Mopple was well, no. I thought I thought it was good. Uh and I enjoyed the performances. I actually did enjoy the Julia Louis Dreyfus parts where uh you know the where uh uh Lily learns like the the truth about death.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Yes, yeah, she did she did good, and you're right. She did do I want to re- re-rescind what I had said earlier. She did really good, like especially when she was about to forget and Hugh Jackman stopped her.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Okay, so yeah, I I agree. I agree. I was being a dick.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

You know, this is a little bit, I wouldn't say I don't know if this is golden pathy, but it's a little meta. It's just like, you know, movies leave you with a feeling, and it's a sum of all feelings, and it's not each individual piece. It's not like you you don't look at a puzzle and look at each individual piece and go, like, this puzzle piece is pretty fucking good. You know, you you put the whole thing together and you're like, oh, okay, yeah, that was either good and fun, or that was like that was boring, I don't like the ended result, you know. And so, you know, it's kind of tough to separate those things and no harsh neither way. I'm sure I haven't given due diligence to a lot of performers in our reviews where it's just like I don't know, I thought this movie sucked ass in the end.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

You were pretty tough, you were pretty strong on He-Man.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

Listen, do better, do better, everyone involved in He-Man. But anyway, yeah, so uh so for the acting, I felt it was mostly okay. I felt that I felt that uh oh shit, where is he? Caleb Elliott. Okay, so Nicholas Gallat scene, he-Man. I felt, you know, his his like overly obsessed reporter, like he tipped me off early that there was something up with him.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Yeah, but is that acting or is that plot? You know, I don't know if it was acting or plot.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

I mean, I think he was good at being like overly invested and interested and uh and stuff like that. I I I felt like everything was a little hammy, but in a way that was it was purposeful. Uh, and so I've I felt like everyone got the assignment, uh, and it was okay, so I'll give it a 3.5. It was above average. I enjoy I enjoyed myself. I was never bored uh with the acting. And I was never like, oof, oof, this acting sucks, except for honestly, except for Rebecca, played by Molly Gordon. I thought she did a shit fucking job. I think she was terrible. I think she had like she I felt like she didn't bring fucking anything to this performance. She seemed like she was like on tranquilizers uh during filming for real. Maybe she didn't know. Compared to everyone else around her, she was like like her her like drew her face was like drooping, just transome lamb. And it's like, I don't know, she was like, she wasn't even there. Uh everyone else did a better job. Okay. She brought it down 1.5. Oh no. Anyway, 3.5 uh for acting. For cinematography, I thought the shots were pretty good. I actually could have used more, like, you know, this whole thing was that it was big open pastures and stuff. I could have used more wide shots of like big open pastoral scenes, like for what a for the life of a sheep and stuff. I feel like, though I feel like um, you know, it's also a PG movie. I'm sure I don't know if like some like I feel like I was missing some of the edginess that comes with, you know, higher-rated movies where they like give you more focus on things like tension and violence with the camera because it's visceral. You don't want things that are too visceral in a children's movie.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Well, you and I are also so riddled with desensitization and PTSD that we barely register PG.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

Right, right, right. And I don't hate PG movies. I think there's some really good PG movies out there, and I really enjoy uh seeing them when they're when they're really good and stuff. I think uh was was Good Boy Good Boy might have been PG, which is really funny. What? I'm not 100%, I don't think there was any violence. I don't think anybody died. You're referring to the horror movie, Good Boy. Horror movies, I don't think by their nature have to be rated high. It's it's it's not about like suspense and stuff doesn't make you doesn't require a PG-13 or higher rating or anything.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Well, it was PG 13, and I think that's because of the uh there was a lot of discussion on drug use, suicide.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

Yes, gotcha. Yeah, my bad.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

And and there there was like uh the spirit was violent to him, not always the dog.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Yeah, gotcha. There was a man getting murdered in this movie, and it's still there. They had a they were wrestling to attempt to kill each other uh in the rain, which they showed, but it wasn't as visceral as you know violence is, you know.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

I I do just a point on Good Boy. I'm curious what I originally rated a rewatchability because I tried to watch it again. I had to stop. Uh why? It was too much. It was too much for me. Uh I'm dogs are my weakness, and you know, right now right now I'm mourning a dog, so I couldn't do it.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

Oh. So I mean, I mean, it doesn't mean you you tried, you know, you wanted to watch it again. I tried. So I'm just curious what I gave it. But anyway, go on, please. We'll we'll go back and look. Uh, but I'll give it a three for cinematography. I didn't think it do did anything super out of the box. Actually, no, I'll give it a 3.5 because I did really like the sheep's this the scene where they like took the world through a sheep's point of view, and I especially liked that uh you had mentioned it before, like the dark hollow of the other farm uh where the ship sheep came out of the mist and stuff. I enjoyed that part.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

I love that they're French. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Bonjour. Uh for score, I don't remember it at all. Uh three. That's all. Uh plot. Uh I thought the plot was super pr after it got kicked off, you know, like after 15 minutes. I thought the plot was super predictable. I wasn't surprised by anything, essentially. No. Maybe maybe a little bit of the details here and there. Like I didn't I didn't guess the um the blonde hair, the cheap blonde hair dye. I didn't guess that for the green. I was like, what was it for the green? I thought maybe it could have been his tie because they showed him without his tie a few times.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Yeah, but it was clearly something that had come off in a tussle.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And there were a few people who were wearing yellow and stuff, and I but I, you know, I point as soon as they showed the green hand the first time, I was like, something yellow, and we just gotta look for the yellow thing.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

Um we're teaching kids check off gun, what it means to die, like the important shit.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

Yeah. I did like, you know, the thing is I I specifically in this movie liked the sheep stuff for a sheep's perspective and like them trying to make sense of the world. And and for that, I'm gonna give the plot uh uh a three. Hell yeah. Which is surprisingly high. I did not expect I would not have expected to give it that high for uh this movie killed He Man.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

What was the last movie we just did?

SPEAKER_02 36:07

I don't know. What else do we do? Uh Princess Bride, but that Princess Bride did better.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

Well, Princess Bride fucking dominated. Um, it m it slaughtered Supergirl.

SPEAKER_02 36:19

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah, this movie the the the fun thing this movie was having fun.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

This movie tried to have fun. This this fun movie about sheep solving Wolverine's murder, the Supergirl, He-Man, Ladies First, it did not beat Obsession.

SPEAKER_02 36:40

No, Obsession was a great movie. Uh uh. Uh actually, I'd say this movie is very like Obsession in so many ways. I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Oh, yeah, definitely. Especially when uh Moppel was abusive to his sheep girlfriend. That was yeah, yeah, yeah. That was intense. That was intense. Some people left the theater for me.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

I would have actually, you know, actually, I'm gonna go back to plot for a second. Uh, I actually I think there were a couple things where I wish they would have done more. Okay. So the whole for the whole being able to forget thing, I wish they would have done more with that. Played, yes, they they there was it was an opportunity to play games with it. Yeah. Um, but I don't know if they thought that would have been too difficult for children to follow. Uh uh, I can't I can't.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

You could do you could do an entire sheep movie just from a because that becomes the ultimate what's the word when your narrator is unreliable. Yes, that would become the ultimate unreliable narrator film. They could do like a memento with sheep.

SPEAKER_03 37:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Like you could do so much with that memory game where you have the ability to forget everything in three seconds. I mean, we could easily turn this into an R-rated thing. Uh, you know, we'll get Tom Cruise involved. Uh like it'll be um it'll be a wild, it'll be a wild ride. But uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Yeah, we just skips it skips between scenes of like violence and you know, they wake up in the aftermath. It's like, what's happening here?

SPEAKER_01 38:25

And then it's idyllic, and like you could do so much uh with that with uh a cast of characters who can willfully forget. You could have you could have a you could have a wild movie for sure.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

Like jumping through time would be that'd be fun.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

Yeah, yeah, that would be fun. Uh that would not be for the kids.

SPEAKER_02 38:45

That would be for the kids, yeah. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

Yeah. Hey, you wanna you want to watch a sheet movie that tests everything about yourself? What is time? High and dry's gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 38:58

So yeah, so three for plot. They missed some opportunities there. Yep, yep. Uh and for rewatch, rewatch, I'm gonna give it a three also because I'm gonna show every child this movie. Hey, you want to know what death is? Yeah, I wanted to learn about death. Uh, okay, so final school. So beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. It's exactly the same. 3.2. 3.2 round down to two. No, round to three. It was exactly the same.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

Yeah, three out of five. Congratulations, uh, Mopel and gang. Um, that's fairly good story. That's a solid score. You guys made a kids' movie about sheep and beat, like I said before, Supergirl, ladies first, he-Man, like you did okay. You did just fine. Yeah. So good for you.

SPEAKER_02 39:57

Yeah, I would watch this movie again. I'm not gonna watch He-Man again. I'm not gonna watch Supergirl again. Ladies first, I wish I could. I wish I could close my eyes for three seconds. Forget.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

Yeah, I wish I wish I could print not Princess Detective, could she detective uh that fucking shitty movie. Ladies first sucked. Rebel Moon. Oh my god. No, I you can forget Rebel Foon. I I will remember one. I will mopple Rebel Moon because someone needs to remember how bad that was.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

I tried to watch the director's cut, and it just opens with like like sexual violence against slave women. That's how like it opens the director's cut. It's like, Jesus Christ, guys, like what? They didn't have anything to say about it. You know, nothing.

SPEAKER_01 40:55

The whole the whole Snyder cult is irrelevant because of Rebel Moon.

SPEAKER_02 41:03

Yeah. Like you're all something to say about it. You can't just be like, oh yeah, fuck yeah, slap those tits around. Just watch porn. Just watch porn if this is what you want.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

You're all a bunch of fucking morons. And Zach Snyder, go fuck yourself. Anyway. So it's time now. It is time now. Oh, I'm heated now. I forgot about Rebel Moon for just a minute. I I'm glad you brought it back because that is our cross to bear. High and dry's cross to bear is Rebel Moon. And we cannot let the public forget what a shitty movie that was. Three, two, one.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

No.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

We must remember. So it's time now to get into the golden path. And here's to remembering. Fuck you, Zack Snyder, and fuck you, Rebel Moon.

SPEAKER_02 42:09

Alright.

Rebel Moon Detour And Reset

SPEAKER_02 42:10

We talked about uh sheep detective for quite a while. Yeah. In the review section.

SPEAKER_03 42:15

Yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

We did. Um but I but which I think works out because the the deeper meanings here are they're self-evident.

SPEAKER_02 42:29

But a lot of them are. I've got a little bit. Please. Okay, so yeah, Golden Path. Let's talk about the deeper meanings behind the sheep detectives and the the transom lamb. And let's uh let's talk about the desire to forget painful things. The desire to maintain an illusion of I the idyllicness like like that the sheep go through. There's this there's this diary. Why would I want to remember something painful? Well, I can tell you why. Well, well, what do you think? What what do you what do you think I'm gonna say? Or what do you what do you uh what do you got for me?

SPEAKER_01 43:17

Well, I I'd like your point. I I would like your point first. Uh I didn't mean to to hijack it, but no, no, it's okay. I'm just saying like my entire life has been an exercise in holding on to the painful.

SPEAKER_02 43:31

Oh, you're you're saying you're saying there are reasons, whether they're good or not, like there are reasons to want to hold on to the pain.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

But that would be the point of our our PG13 R rated version of sheep forgetting and why sometimes you refuse to forget, even though you should.

SPEAKER_02 43:53

Fucking wake one of the time skips had mutilated one of their arms is missing and fucking.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

And Mopel was so hungry, he ate the arm.

SPEAKER_02 44:07

Oh man. But like this, this, you know, why why would we want to remember something terrible? And it's something that uh affects a lot of people. And you know, they kind of bring this up in the

Memory, Trauma, And Media Silos

SPEAKER_02 44:20

movie a couple times. Do you know what they call humans who don't who are who are stupid? They call them sheep, you know? Um and we kind of do that to people who follow along thoughtlessly with things. It's true. And it's a lot of times it's people who search for search for answers without digging deeper because they don't want to consider the really negative realities of the world. And we see that we, you know, we're we're actually like in a really pivotal, pivotal, pivotal moment in human history with siloed media. You know, this is a conversation that happens a lot, uh, you know, with our generation and and how uh how especially like you know the the people who get it really bad are like boomers on like Facebook and stuff who who have like siloed information. And then we talk about it with younger people on TikTok. It's like as you get everybody just onto one platform and have one message for them that dominates a platform, and and and also within those platforms, the algorithmic nature of being able to target a specific audience that is already agreeable, it creates like a distorted reality where you really can erase people's memory about negative things or implant specific negative things in order to get the results you want. And I thought that this movie really kind of highlighted that sheep, that that sheep animal, sheep person connection. Like the thing that joins those two things is like this desire to forget bad things and move on with like this the not have your reality tested, your preconceived notions of reality tested.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

Yes. I have a lot of just left-leaning friends, and you you hear their thoughts and opinions, and it's like, oh, you got that from TikTok.

SPEAKER_02 46:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:51

And like that's really like of it's a very small like because like you know, me, I I am uh, you know, I'm a hardcore fucking bottom left anarchist. Yeah. Yeah. And they'll I'm a top left. No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_02 47:13

You know, you know why you know that I'm not.

SPEAKER_01 47:16

Yes, I know. Like, wait a minute. And uh, you know, and so I'll have people who who realize um that that side of it when they're trying to to sound educated on the issue, and then they'll start talking to me about this and that, and then then they'll bring up a thought on it, and I'm like, that's not your thought. That was fed to you. That was regurgitate. That was that was gravity fed to you, and you were uh conditioned to just like this this is right, this is right. Yeah. It's like no. And like I appreciate that you're at least on this side of it.

SPEAKER_02 48:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:03

But you're to me, there's very little difference between you and a Fox News viewer.

SPEAKER_02 48:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:12

We you we still can't incorporate you into the conversation.

SPEAKER_02 48:16

Yeah. Um whatever whatever your source chooses to feed to you will be your opinion, and that is not a a holistic view of what needs to happen to fix society or solve issues that we have.

SPEAKER_01 48:35

Yeah. No, and um no, and I appreciate the the grain-fed gravity analogy of it, of that silo. Um, and because that's what it is, and and and oh, it drives me it drives me absolutely insane looking at w what's being grain fed to uh younger millennials and the Gen Z and as they just scroll left wing TikTok.

unknown 49:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:06

And it's like, you guys don't realize that this fascist movement gets to make the changes, and then your left wing makes you feel like there was a victory in between the changes by maintaining any level of status quo.

SPEAKER_03 49:26

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 49:28

And so, yeah, the you are, yeah. No, you are what the fuck are we talking about? Sheep? We're talking uh sheep sheep detectives. Sheep's detective's detective. Sheep detective sheep's detective. That's right. Sheep's detective. Sheep's detective. Infuriating. And uh God damn it.

SPEAKER_02 49:47

Yeah, I mean, I mean, you know, I I think it brought up a really good point. The analogy might be a little, it's probably a little too much for children. It's probably a little too much. It's probably a little too much for the vast majority of adults watching.

SPEAKER_00 50:01

Yes. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 50:04

Um when the winter lamb was accepted right at the end. That's where that's that's that's what we got, Sarah.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

Callie cried and I cried with her. I uh I didn't cry.

SPEAKER_02 50:17

I didn't cry. I was so bored. I was right at the end, I was like, obviously, duh. I knew. You fucking idiot. That's what I said to Cher. I was like, you fucking idiots. Nah, I didn't.

SPEAKER_00 50:31

You silo grain fed moron.

SPEAKER_02 50:37

You didn't know that they were gonna do that as soon as the characters introduced. What the fuck is wrong with you? No, I just uh I'm just teasing. I didn't say that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:47

But no, I I did too. I like I've just learned me as a person when uh I have a a level of empathy that when I when I see other creatures, especially creatures. You know, if it's not like a human being, I'll massacre millions of them. I don't give a shit. But when it's an animal coming to a realization and feeling things, and like I that that's when I'm like, oh god, oh god. So yeah, I did. I I cried in this movie.

SPEAKER_02 51:18

We're the loss of innocence. Yeah. That's what you that's what you and and that that's for a lot of people, that loss of innocence is like really uh really really it makes people sensitive. So people are sensitive to it because it's like, man, wouldn't the world be better if everyone was a little more innocent and people weren't like these cruel predators? And then you you eventually lose your innocence about the world being full of cruel predators, and it's like fuck, you can never go back. You everyone feels like they've lost something.

SPEAKER_01 51:49

And like I said, I think that's super true for you and I, us PTSD riddled, anxious 30 somethings. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:00

I'm working through my trauma now with a therapist, it's pretty neat.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

Well, I keep trying to, but they only want to tackle surface level stuff, and I'm like, hey, I need trauma work. Yeah. Like, my daily life is always gonna irritate me. We created a hellhole society. I need to I need to work on the baseline. But anyway, my only my part of it, just in terms of the memory forgetting, um, was sometimes the I guess propensity or the the willingness for some individuals to hold on to painful memories. Like like for these sheep, obviously they wanted to lose them.

unknown 52:45

Right.

SPEAKER_01 52:46

And maybe that's why I identified with Mople so much. For me, the problem has always been not that I forget things or a willingness to forget them, it's that eventually I stole I will start holding on to trauma and pain like a security blanket. Because yeah, like the day is weird and everything like that, and things change and alter, but I can always come back and grieve, or I can always come back and just remember this painful thing, and it's always with me, and it becomes the constant, and there's a there's a strange psychological comfort in that, and and so that that's probably why I was so identifying with Mople. Uh, was my you know, I I tend to do that a lot, is I hold on to shit.

SPEAKER_02 53:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 53:43

Where I know some people who they prefer to forget it. Uh so there's there's definitely two sides to that coin, and Mople is the sheep forgetting everything are just as traumatized as Mople. They've just both picked the pain that they want.

SPEAKER_02 54:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

And so that's my that's my two cents to the golden path. But uh I think now it is time to dive further into inserting ourselves into this. So uh James, how does the Sheep's Detective change with the addition of you? I know with the addition of me, the title becomes Sheep's Detective. So how does it further change

Inserting Ourselves Into The Movie

SPEAKER_01 54:32

with you?

SPEAKER_02 54:34

Uh so I would say, let me think, who would I be if I entered this movie? Hmm, that's a good that's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 54:45

You gotta match your trauma.

SPEAKER_02 54:48

Yeah, yeah. I would be the tow truck driver.

SPEAKER_00 55:00

But you'd suss them out right away.

SPEAKER_02 55:02

Yeah, it'd be like, what'd you say your name is again? I read all the obituaries from that.

SPEAKER_00 55:08

Wait, this ain't right. This ain't right.

SPEAKER_02 55:11

Aren't you uh I've seen your picture. Didn't you have brown hair? Uh let me think. Who would I be? I'd I would be one of the sheep. Uh I would definitely be I I would be a new sheep and I would be I would be named Nugget. And and it's because I'd always I'd always be constructing a bong out of some kind of farm equipment. And uh and every and uh while everyone else was uh was listening to the stories, I would be eating or eating patterns of grass around everyone because I had the munchies. Circle style. Yes, so so what would happen is like when the story was over, all the sheep would get up and there would just be sheep body-shaped uh uh patches of grass still there. Let's see, and uh when it came time to solve the murder, I would be uh the comedic relief. I would yeah, when he's trying to and and when he's trying to escape in the car, like before the ones random, uh I would get hit by the car. And I and I I would die. Holy shit! Just right right at the end, I would die.

SPEAKER_00 56:33

Jesus Christ! Oh god, nugget like a water balloon. Nugget. Oh god, nugget.

SPEAKER_02 56:47

For some reason, his meat, his meat makes us feel amazing. Um the whole town gets the whole town gets high on my button as you burst. Yeah. Well, no, no, they they're like, can't let the sheep go to waste. And then they then the whole town cooks.

SPEAKER_01 57:09

We're having a celebrate catching the murderer barbecue.

SPEAKER_02 57:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We get a nugget. Everybody has some some of my meat and they all get super high. No, no, it hits me, it just hits me right in the head. The rest of the body is fine. My head just explodes uh all over my brain's butchering. Yeah, my brain explodes all over the bumper, but the flesh is fine.

SPEAKER_00 57:37

Yeah, perfect butchering.

SPEAKER_02 57:39

All the THC is stored in the fat, and then everybody just really has a good, really good time.

SPEAKER_00 57:45

Very nice.

SPEAKER_02 57:46

Uh, if the town heals over my flesh, I'm like Jesus, and that's how the end of the movie is he's like Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 57:55

For me, I I would be a um I I would be there providing further that PG-13 rating. I would be a PTSD ridden dog that uh is just looking to finally find somewhere where he feels good, and he he's been forced into this fucking job he has now.

SPEAKER_02 58:21

Of be of like herding the sheep to their deaths, which you hate. You're like a concentration camp guard.

SPEAKER_01 58:27

I I'm just like miserable.

SPEAKER_02 58:29

I'm fucking you herd them into the gas chambers, and you're like, God jay, I can't live with myself.

SPEAKER_01 58:35

I can't live with my fucking self anymore.

SPEAKER_02 58:37

Just fucking cry. You like you're standing in the road waiting for a car to come by, you're like, come on, motherfucker! Come on, motherfucker. You jump out of the way at the last at the last one. I can't do it!

SPEAKER_01 58:49

And then and then I would encounter uh Moppel and Brian Cranston and you know Mary Louise Dreyfus, and uh they they would show me that there are other aspects to this world, uh, and I would join their cause and uh eventually just uh you know chill at this fucking farm that that sucky actress lady wants to run and uh finally just experience happiness and just getting to chill and for the first time like they start teaching me how to let go of my memory instead of holding the trauma. And so we'll start teaching kids now about trauma and how to let it go, and yeah, yeah, that there's two sides to this particular memory coin. Um and that's what that's what I will offer the children.

SPEAKER_02 59:47

You attack the butcher who's kind of like get the virus!

SPEAKER_01 59:51

I rip his fucking throat out.

SPEAKER_02 59:53

Get out of here, you piece of shit. I saw you on Game of Thrones, you're a bad guy.

SPEAKER_01 59:58

I watched Game of Thrones. They they the and the sheep all listened to who done it. I watched from the window Game of Thrones. So I know, I know that he's sneaky. He got Ned Snark's head snark's head cut off. So like I I know what I'm looking out for. So uh I also become an insurance uh hazard. Like uh they they refuse to insure the farm as long as I'm living.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:30

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:32

Good.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:33

So that's it. And and that's how we'll introduce children to the cold heartedness of insurance companies.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:40

Perfect. Yeah, we're really, we're really we're just setting them up for for for being real sad. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:47

Uh, people, so people listening, are you aware that our neighborhoods don't have trees anymore because of insurance companies?

Insurance Hellscape And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_02 1:00:56

Look at you you walk through this this neighborhood and be comp being completely stripped of shade and life. There's there's no there's no birds. You don't hear any birds singing, do you? Except for except for pigeons. You get pigeons and maybe a crow.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:11

Yeah, and that's because of insurance companies, because they won't insure you unless the trees are removed from your property.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:19

Yeah, you can and there's no place to sit down because if you put a bench on your property near the road, you can be held liable if anyone sits on it and hurts themselves.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:30

Mm hmm. Yeah. So insurance companies are a big part of the hellscape we live in. Anyway, I'm your host, Ryan Barrend, with the as always, James Grosland. And then my head explodes.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:44

Oh shit.