In this episode, hosts Brian Kitson and Izzy Friedman break down all the excitement and heartbreak from Heartstopper season 3! Listen as they discuss how the series tackles the top of mental illness, explores growing older into an adult world, and how a confrontation with the real world brings about some excellent conversations for both audiences and the characters in the series. The hosts also discuss how their own queer experiences align with those in the series, and how Heartstopper balances the light and dark tones perfectly in this newest outing, and various topics discussed around living as a LGBTQ+ person. You can find all this in more in our first official Across The Queerverse episode!

[Warning: Spoilers from season 3 are discussed within this podcast]

00:00 - Intro to Across the Queerverse podcast

02:10 - Spoiler alert for Heartstopper season 3 going forward

02:44 - Comparing season 2 vs season 3 of Heartstopper?

05:00 - Dealing with real life problems, mental health, and problems with both friendships and romantic relationships

08:49 - Building friendships and how you define family and build your community around you as a queer person

11:25 - Aromantic & Asexuality, not feeling the need to explain yourself as a queer person and understanding that if someone cares about you they should put in the work and effort to try to understand. The wide array of what being queer means.

18:00 - Characters in Heartstopper season 3 no longer having their friends and support groups around them as much, struggling with that and not being as protected, being politicized. (Elle scenes discussed, Transgender bias and attacks discussed)

24:30 - The world outside not being as forgiving or understanding as their friendship group and dealing with those outside of that group, even family, not understanding mental health struggles.

27:45 - Tori being ace, Darcy (non-binary), talking about responses to feeling such as butterflies and that it might mean something different that some might think

33:05 - Some Like it Hot the Musical discussion about the transgender storyline with Jerry/Daphne, in the musical

34:00 - Clothes as self-expression

35:16 - Nick scenes, not feeling comfortable in your skin, Nick's insecurities, wanting to help Charlie, the idea that you can't cure someone else's mental illness with love. Nick wanting to be there for Charlie, but Nick also really needing to be there for himself too.

42:10 - Exploration of having security and confidence in relationships this season

43:30 - Healing messages in Heartstopper

47:50 - LGBTQ+ adults as role models in the series

51:27 - Is season 3 a comfort show like seasons 1 & 2?

54:45 - Talking more about characters not being comfortable in their own bodies, teenagers, sex, and reality vs the show.

01:01:05 - Heartstopper season 4

01:01:50 - Outro

• Brian Kitson
• Izzy Friedman

Vin and Vic discuss Separation Anxiety and Planet of the Symbiotes, two classic Venom stories from the 1990s might hold clues for Venom: The Last Dance. What can these comics tell us about the future of symbiotes in Sony's Spider-Man Universe and the MCU?

Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 01:00 - Personal history and introduction to Venom (comics and cartoon) 03:48 - Venom in the movies prior to Venom: The Last Dance 06:00 - Spider-Man talk, Tom Holland's Spider-Man 07:12 - Rumors about introducing the symbiot in Spider-Man 4 and future Marvel films 09:48 - Tom Hardy's possible future in the MCU / Secret Wars? 12:00 - Venom comics discussion: Separation Anxiety 17:49 - Venom Comics discussion: Planet of the Symbiotes 24:17 - The art of these comics and Vic's favorite panels 28:13 - Wanting deeper dive, and supplemental reading material for this story 29:30 - Eddie & Venom, a story about a toxic relationship 30:24 - Theories and talking about how these comics might connect to Venom: The Last Dance 32:10 - Marvel Studios vs Sony handling Venom's character 33:48 - Other expected or possible characters that may appear in Venom 3. Rumors, theories, and confirmed. 37:00 - Potential Sinister Six lineup for the films 29:45 - Outros

#venomcomics #venom3 #venomthelastdance #marvelcomics #spiderman

Vic's written review of these Venom comics https://thecosmiccircus.com/venom-comics-separation-anxiety-planet-of-the-symbiotes/

For more nerdy pop culture coverage, including movie and TV news, reviews, and interviews by The Cosmic Circus contributors, visit https://www.thecosmiccircus.com

Follow us on social media @mycosmiccircus or visit the Linktree to find us: https://linktr.ee/cosmiccircus

John & Vin give a midseason check-in for DC's Penguin and Marvel's Agatha All Along (spoiler warning if you haven't seen the shows so far). They also discuss the current state of the MCU, recent trailers for Thunderbolts* and Captain America: Brave New World, as well as whether or not Blade can really be adapted to the MCU.

For the full video review, go to https://youtu.be/nz_Rr3rKVOU?si=AQ2rqCcG6USg62bi&t=1

DC's The Batman spinoff Penguin stars Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti and is currently airing on HBO/MAX. #TheBatman #ThePenguin #SofiaFalcone #HBO

Marvel series Agatha All Along is currently playing on Disney+ and stars Kathryne Hahn, Joe Locke and Aubrey Plaza. #MCU #Agatha #MarvelStudios #agathaallalong

Timestamps 00:10 - intro 00:17 - Penguin season 1 discussion, history with the Batman universe? 05:40 - Comparing past Penguins to Colin Farrell's Penguin 09:45 - Penguin, Sofia Falcone, and the villain of this story. Breaking Bad Walter White comparisons 11:30 - predictions for the end of the show and who might make it to The Batman 2 16:09 - what is Penguin doing successfully that some past Marvel shows haven't? DC vs Marvel vs Star Wars handling of TV series and films overall. 18:21 - Things we don't like about the Penguin series 19:45 - Penguin episodes have increasingly gotten better 22:05 - comparing crime elements of Penguin to The Sopranos 23:17 - When we get to see more Penguin in the series? More comparisons to Breaking Bad. 25:45 - X-Men '97, talking about the quality of episodes up to mid-season vs end of season for a series. 26:55 - What will happen to Vic? Predictions for the rest of the season. 32:55 - Does the series really look like lower budget than the film? 34:00 - Colin Farrell's prosthetics and performance 37:04 - Agatha All Along discussion 41:18 - Performances have been great in the show 42:20 - Feelings about the current Phase of Marvel shows and films? (Thunderbolts* Captain America: Brave New World 44:30 - The first Blade movie, and bringing Blade to the MCU 47:36 - outros

For more nerdy pop culture coverage, including movie and TV news, reviews, and interviews by The Cosmic Circus contributors, visit https://www.thecosmiccircus.com

Follow us on social media @mycosmiccircus or visit the Linktree to find us: https://linktr.ee/cosmiccircus

Smile 2 is now in theaters and Vin and John have lots to say about this scary sequel just in time for Halloween! So much so that this new movie review will be in two parts. This one will have be spoiler free for the sequel (but not the first film) and a second Smile 2 review to be released soon will be a full spoilery discussion.

Smile 2 is a new psychological horror film written and directed by Parker Finn and starring Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kyle Gallner, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Raúl Castillo. Dylan Gelula, Ray Nicholson.

Timestamps 00:18 - Intro 02:24 - John attended the premiere of the first Smile film, general thoughts on the first Smile film vs Smile 2 04:25 - Personal history with the first Smile film 07:09 - Second film is what sequel dreams are made of. Smile 2 discussion. 10:45 - Sharp editing, great visuals and upside-down sequences 12:10 - Criticisms and confusions 16:29 - A great double feature to watch with The Substance or Trap 17: 41 - Parker Finn might be one of the best filmmakers since Wes Craven. Exceptional work building intensity in Smile 2 18:50 - Intelligent characters trying to do the logical thing, but things still go wrong 20:35 - jump scares 21:55 - Coming soon: a full spoiler review of Smile 2. Do you need to watch Smile 1 before you watch Smile 2? 23:15 - Outro

Find the full video review on YouTube at https://youtu.be/sLlkwM1rn9M?si=JE2cHbmw4EvQUzrx

For more nerdy pop culture coverage, including movie and TV news, reviews, and interviews by The Cosmic Circus contributors, visit https://www.thecosmiccircus.com

Follow us on social media @mycosmiccircus or visit the Linktree to find us: https://linktr.ee/cosmiccircus

Superman & Lois returned to The CW this past week with a 2-hour premiere, signaling the beginning of the end of the Arrowverse's reign on the cable network. In this episode of The Cosmic Circle, host Brian Kitson and fellow The Cosmic Circus writers Wiktor Reinfuss and Vin break down all the exciting bits from the two-hour premiere. Was there anything shocking in the episodes they didn't see coming? Where do they think the season will go? And why does Lex Luthor have such a bad wig!?! And what are their hopes for the rest of the final season. All this and more lay ahead in the Superman & Lois final season premiere podcast!

Ep. 63 Timestamps: Superman & Lois final season premiere podcast

[Warning: Spoilers discussed for the premiere episodes of season 4 within this podcast]

00:00 - Intro

01:20 - General thoughts on the first episodes of Superman & Lois season 4

06:00 - Another strong emotional season for this beloved series

10:45 - Did you see this Superman storyline coming at the end of the last season?

15:00 - The Super Sons, Jordan and John . Who is ready to step up and be a hero like their dad?

18:00 - Could Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) return to mentor the boys?

21:00 - Lois' grief this season and her seemingly checking out on the boys.

23:00 - Where did Doomsday go?

25:40 - A more "human" approach to superheroes in this series than other shows/films

30:49 - Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz), comparing this iteration to the previous, including Michael Rosenbaum in Smallville

42:26 - Is there another HUGE fight coming for this show?

43:20 - Milton Fine

46:45 - Are they saving the budget for something big at the end of the season?

54:07 - What are your hopes for the rest of Superman & Lois season 4?

01:03:07 - Outros

Season 2 of the epic series Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has recently wrapped up, and writers Drew Reed and Uday Kataria have thoughts to share! Listen in to their in-depth discussion about the second season, what they expect to see in Rings of Power season 3 and possibly 4, and take a deep dive into some of the J.R.R. Tolkien lore behind the Prime Video show.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intros

00:28 - Season 2 vs Season 1 thoughts (SPOILER WARNING for both seasons!)

09:00 - Galadriel and Elrond's story this season

11:00 - The challenges of having so many characters stories and working with Tolkien's narrative framework from the novels. The Silmarillion discussion.

15:00 - Learning more about what the orcs are and their lives

17:30 - Annatar

19:00 - Remaking the films vs coming up with new ideas.

22:00 - More depth to Sauron, and comparing his depiction in ROP vs the books vs the Peter Jackson films. Charlie Vickers performance.

30:00 - Is everything too rushed with a compressed timeline?

33:10 - Issues with season 2

40:30 - Tom Bombadil

45:00 - The Harfoots and Gandalf's story, the Blue Wizards.

50:00 - What are we likely to see in The Rings of Power season 3 and 4?

57:00 - Outros

• Uday Kataria
• Drew Reed

• Lizzie Hill

Recorded on 10/10/2024

John & Vin dive deep into the Joker duology. Are they worth awards buzz or angry backlash? How does the new film compare to the original?

Joker (2019) Directed by Todd Phillips Written by Todd Phillips and Scott Silver Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, and Zazie Beetz

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024) Directed by Todd Phillips Written by Todd Phillips and Scott Silver Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, and Brendan Gleeson

Timestamps 00:00 - Intros 00:45 - Joker 2019 discussion 06:45 - Joker: Folie à Deux 17:45 - Joaquin Phoenix performances in both films 18:10 - SPOILER WARNING after this point for Joker: Folie à Deux 21:28 - Does the sequel make the first film better? 22:43 - Will there be a Joker 3? If not why set up all those Easter eggs? 25:00 - The message of the films (Ending of the sequel discussion) 27:00 - Will you like the sequel if you liked the first Joker? 32:15 - Outros

For more nerdy pop culture coverage, including movie and TV news, reviews, and interviews by The Cosmic Circus contributors, visit https://www.thecosmiccircus.com

Follow us on social media @mycosmiccircus or visit the Linktree to find us: https://linktr.ee/cosmiccircus

John & Vin discuss Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and the career of Tim Burton. Starring Michael Keaton, Wynona Ryder, and Jenna Ortega, and Catherine O'Hara Originally recorded September 7, 2024

Timestamps 00:10 - Intro 01:45 - history with the original Beetlejuice film starring Michael Keaton, Wynona Rider, Gena Davis and Alec Baldwin 10:10 - Discussing Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 16:38 - Spoiler warning for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 26:10 - special effects in the films 28:15 - would you want a third film? More misc thoughts on the sequel 34:30 - Outros

For more nerdy pop culture coverage, including movie and TV news, reviews, and interviews by The Cosmic Circus contributors, visit https://www.thecosmiccircus.com

Follow us on social media @mycosmiccircus or visit the Linktree to find us: https://linktr.ee/cosmiccircus