The Friday High Five

On Crushing Defeats, Piecemeal Stormtroopers, and the Appeal of Lite TV

Paramount Pictures

Every Friday I share 5 things that brought me joy this week. Also, high fives are inherently cool, and I think we can all agree Friday is the bestest day. Hence the Friday High Five. 🙏🏻

5 Things I Enjoyed This Week:

• Going to see the Lions play

• Ahsoka

• The Sum of All Fears

• Dan Carlin on the Tim Ferriss Show

• Virgin River

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Going to see the Lions play

I generally have a good idea of what is going to make the High 5 each week. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I usually identify a couple things that merit mention throughout the week, promptly forget about them until it’s time to write this, and then panic-pace around my office trying to recall what they were.

The Detroit Lions game was the rare item I didn’t forget about, though I’m disappointed I can’t use the headline I’d already planned out: Watching My Detroit Lions Crush and Also Emasculate the Seahawks. Friend, things did not go to plan.

It’s super tempting to chalk it up to ‘same old Lions,’ but I genuinely think they are on the right track. If not for a couple of costly turnovers, it’s a different story.

Here’s a depressing stat: I have never attended a game the Lions have won. This past Sunday was the first time I stuck around until the end of the game, so I guess that’s progress. Typically we dip out early in the fourth quarter, when the only thing left to sort out is how brutal the massacre will be. Here’s a fun yet sad anecdote—one such game, the Lions’ player of the game was the freaking punter. I wish I was joking.

Anyway, I had a great time with my boys.

Our seats, and the recently unveiled Barry Sanders statue

Ahsoka

I’ve written a few times about Ahsoka of late, often from a place of some disappointment. It’s a weird show. On one hand, I love that it is basically a live action continuation of Rebels, one of my favorite Star Wars anythings. On the other hand, something was lost in the translation to live action. One thing’s for sure—I don’t know how you could get anything out of Ahsoka without first watching Rebels.

I did genuinely enjoy this week’s episode, though the fact that we are just now getting to the good stuff—6 episodes in—practically guarantees this season is going to end on the mother of all cliffhangers. Thrawn is everything I’d hoped for. The reunion was suitably emotional, if a bit constrained. I think my favorite part is just how freaking creepy Thrawn’s Stormtroopers are.

Told you: creepy! Lucasfilm

Once again, the MVPs are Baylan Skoll and his apprentice Shin Hati. At this point, I’d be happy just following them around the galaxy. I’m 99% sure they are evil, but that niggling 1% of doubt fills me with such excitement. Star Wars has always preferred operating in black and white. This willingness to stray into the gray is refreshing.

The Sum of All Fears

Spoiler warning. Then again, this movie released 21 years ago. If you haven’t gotten to it yet, you probably aren’t going to.

This was my son’s selection for a recent movie night. If you don’t know or have forgotten, The Sum of All Fears is a 2002 spy thriller based on a Tom Clancy novel. Ben Affleck stars as Jack Ryan, who had previously been played by Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford, and would later be played by Chris Pine and John Krasinski. Jack Ryan is basically the Equate brand James Bond.

The Sum of All Fears concerns a group of fascists operating out of Europe that attempt to goad America and Russian into war by detonating a nuclear bomb in America and framing Russia for the attack. The idea of fascists as villains felt novel yet timeless in 2002 and depressingly clairvoyant in 2023.

It sort of remains amazing to me that they actually detonate a nuke in America in this movie. Like, even when I knew it was coming, I still couldn’t believe it. The best part of this movie is the tension leading up to the detonation, and the immediate aftermath. The film ultimately fizzles out because it insists on ending on a happy note, conveniently skimming over the fact that a lot of people died.

Affleck is fine but doesn’t really bring much to the table. Since nobody asked, here’s how I’d rank the Jack Ryans.

1. Harrison Ford. The greatest and still undefeated.

2. Alec Baldwin. Baldwin is quite good in the best of the Clancy films.

3. John Krasinski. I know. I almost can’t believe it myself.

4. Ben Affleck. Pretty unbelievable as a doctored desk analyst.

5. Chris Pine. I’ll be honest. I don’t even remember this movie.

Dan Carlin on the Tim Ferriss Show

Dan Carlin is the host of Hardcore History, one of the greatest podcasts ever. I recently discovered he’d been on Tim Ferriss’ podcast way back in July 2014. The interview is a must-listen for fans of Hardcore History, but Dan also talks quite a bit about podcasting and building communities.

He made a distinction I’ve been thinking about since, calling the work of many creatives on the Internet ‘narrowcasting,’ as analogous to traditional broadcasting. Dan’s view is that we’ll find the most success by going deeply into a niche, and playing to the people just as obsessed about that topic as we are. Food for thought.

Virgin River

Season 5 of Virgin River recently dropped on Netflix. Actually, part one of season 5 dropped. I don’t quite know why shows started divvying up seasons into smaller sub-seasons, but it feels weird. Is something momentous going to happen at the end of part one, something so shocking that the only humane thing to do is give the audience several months to sit with it?

If you’re familiar with Virgin River, the answer to that is clearly ‘no.’

Virgin River is a feel-good, drama-lite show, which is 2023’s version of “tastes great, less filling.” It’s not great TV. The writing is so-so, the cast is the same. One of the characters has been pregnant since season one. They say time moves slowly in small towns, but this is getting ridiculous.

I don’t really know why I keep watching this show. It’s simple, and inoffensive, and I guess I need some of that energy these days.

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