On Episode 8 of X-Ray Vision, Jason Concepcion and Cody Ziglar have a latte with The Riddler! In Previously On…(2:56) Jason and Zig briefly discuss the release changes in upcoming Disney films and mourn the cancellation of FX on Hulu’s Y: The Last Man. In the Airlock (13:44) Jason and Zig dive deep (deeeeep) into the trailers that emerged from this past weekend’s DC FanDome, including The Batman, The Flash, HBOMax’s Peacemaker and more. In The Omnibus (42:36), Jason continues his exploration of the ‘deadly games’ genre to further analyze the economic and sociopolitical ideas behind Netflix’s smash hit Squid Game. Next, writer & podcaster Dave Schilling drops by this week’s Hive Mind (58:59) for an astute conversation around what makes HBO’s Succession the best show on TV & why we love the Roys despite their awful behavior. Finally, in The Endgame (1:24:48) Jason and Zig play Top Fives for their ‘favorite’ fictional billionaires. Use #XRVEndgame & tweet at Jason to let us know what you think of their choices!

Tune in every Wednesday and don’t forget to Hulk Smash the Follow button! 

Follow Jason: twitter.com/netw3rk

Follow Crooked: twitter.com/crookedmedia

PLUGS: 

Dave Schilling & Jonah Ray’s Galaxy Brains & Dave’s LA Times article on why men should wear skirts.

Zig’s twitter: twitter.com/yayforzig & his pod (co-hosted with Brodie Reed) The Dark Weeb: available wherever you get your podcasts!

The Listener’s Guide for all things X-Ray Vision!

Batman (’89), Directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton in the titular role with Jack Nicholson turning in a hammily deranged performance as the Joker; the film’s campy atmosphere and theatricality is both eye-catching and divergent from the gritty, more noir later Batman films of the 2000s. Available on HBOMax.

Flashpoint, a 2011 crossover comics series, the bulk of which was written by Geoff Johns with art by Andy Kubert. As alluded to by Jason, this series radically shifted the landscape of the DC universe and led to the The New 52 reboot of DC’s ongoing series.

1989: Bob Dylan Didn’t Have This to Sing About, by prominent cultural theorist and poet Joshua Clover originally published in 2009, which analyzes the year 1989 in popular music and the outgrowths (such as rap, grunge, acid house, etc.) that emerged in the following decade. Clover is currently a Professor of English & Comparative Literature at UC Davis. Available on Bookshop.com.

Peep Show, a British sit-com that ran from 2003 to 2015 and was written by Jesse Armstrong, among others. Following the lives of two best friends, the show, with its offbeat humor, unconventional POV filming style (hence the name ‘peep show’), and voiceover narration offering the internal monologue of the characters’ thoughts, never achieved wide audiences but garnered critical acclaim across its run. Available lots of places.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here.
For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.