Ep. 18 - The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

JC is bringing us a very topical book today with The Housemaid. Did he watch the movie? Oh hell no. Do we speak on it? How could we not.

Join us as we discuss Good For Her shit, the best way to hit on people at work, and domestic violence. 

Obviously, there may be some trigger warnings for this one.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

I'm sorry, what?

SPEAKER_02 0:09

I've read the hundreds of colours.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Welcome to Paradise.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Ugh. It's cliterature.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

It's clitorature.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

I'm Chloe. And I'm JC. And we're back. We're here.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

We're queer. Get used to it.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Ha, yeah. Claiming space. Uh I reclaim my time type shit.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

I'm holding space.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

I love holding space.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Do you? Yeah, but I like I don't know what holding space means. I think that might be too straight of me.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

I love holding space on my couch for myself.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Just taking up space.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

When you move the dogs out of the way, you're holding space for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Is it just like hanging out?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

I no, it has nothing to do with hanging out. It's kind of like uh like taking a moment of silence, from my understanding.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Oh. I'm holding space for 9-11.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

You shouldn't. It's been a while.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

It's been a little while.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Yeah. Sorry, I have to look something up. I just realized I forgot to to check on something.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Yeah, you forgot to figure out a book.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

You want to know what I've been reading while you've got it?

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Yeah, I want to know what you've been reading while you figure this out.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

So I recently read uh the book Thy Neighbor's Wife by Gay Talise. Gay? Gay. Um turns out it's uh it's short for Gaetano. Uh he's Italian. It's his name is actually Gaetano Tolese, but I'm not pronouncing it that way because I'm not Italian.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

We don't respect Italians.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Um Thy Neighbor's Wife is a really interesting book about uh sexual proprieties before the AIDS epidemic. Um and and kind of generally about uh American cultural sexual permissiveness. Um so like, you know, he like goes into the history of like um massage clubs as like a place to um that like as a place of sex work and like where that kind of starts culturally. Um he talks about like the history of Playboy magazine as like something that kind of brings uh this type of sexual propriety to the general masses. Um he talks about like various court cases, about like um censorship, um and uh about like um Ooh, I can't think of the terms for it right now, but about like court cases that discuss like um uh what's like appropriate. For example, like the the court case that determined that like you weren't allowed to like send porn in the mail or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Um stuff like that. So um it's really interesting. He like goes into like various like uh he spends like a lot of time going to this like um sexual open community in California. Yep. And he talks he they have like a they have like a sex intentional community.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Um intentionally putting pussy forward.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Yeah. Uh he like talks to people who like were part of that and are no longer, as well as people still currently part of it, and he like does like a history of the guy who um like starts it. Um it's no longer there. Uh and then there's like a bunch of just like really funny guys he runs into while he's there. For example, um he mentions that like when he goes there to talk to uh this guy about like setting up this um like sex house in California, um Daniel Ellsberg is there. Um, who was uh one half of the team that um released the Pentagon Papers. And in fact, he got arrested leaving this house when he got arrested for uh releasing the Pentagon Papers.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Arrested outside your plug space. Only your plug is Pussy Plug.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Yeah, it's Pussy Plug. Um so yeah, so it's um it's super interesting. I it's kind of just like a long book of sex guys. And I'm a favorite. I love a weird sex guy. Oh, I know you do, you weird freak. Um so it's it it's super interesting to me about like, for example, like Nixon has like a real um issue with like um sexual openness, and so Nixon tries to like uh really hardline crackdown on this type of sexual openness. Um, and he kind of like you know uh he kind of talks about how like the a lot of the puritanical um Christian proprieties around sex that we have to this day kind of originate in this like uh in this like Nixon administration uh changes to um like official policy and um PR campaigns to change uh to like kind of like turn back the dial on this type of uh culture.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Your house wasn't a naked house.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Uh no, emphatically no.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

My house wasn't either. I find those houses I find sexually open houses stressful.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Don't do that. Please don't do that. That was because that would just be embarrassing and miserable to me. So like don't none of that, please.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

And none of that, please. Well, I mean I I think it's um because like the the book is kind of clear that he doesn't mean like being naked in front of children. He he mostly means like uh you know like being open about like sex stuff, having like a a a more sexually free society.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

I think the I'm not saying naked in front of children, what I'm saying is like not like body shame, as you know, was like very much built into my household.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Nudity is not acceptable.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Oh, absolutely not.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Uh uh knees knees to shoulders covered, bitch. Um and so that's always something that's very deep, much to your disappointment, because I do not like to walk around the house naked or not. No, or wear slutty clothes even at home. I'm like, oh god. Uh despite your best efforts.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Despite my best efforts.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Yeah, your horniness has not uh defeated my uh body shame.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

I'm working on it.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

You'll never win. I'm coming from an infinite pool of body shame.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

But yeah, it's um it's super it's a super interesting book, and uh I definitely recommend it. Um he like gets into like his own um like experiences with like sexual openness culturally. He talks about like his own experiences going to these like um massage parlors. He talks about his own experience trying to like open up his marriage and having like a lot of fights with his wife about that.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Yeah, no shit.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Um it's it's super interesting. Um and uh Gay Talise is like a guy, because he's still alive, he's like part of this like school of journalism with like um Hunter S. Thompson and people like this, uh Norman Mailer, where it's like writ it's like a very literary style of writing journalism. Um so it's it's super fun. I I liked it a lot. It made me check out Hunter S. Thompson because I like the fact that like he's associated with him made me be like, oh like I should check out that guy's books as well. Um so yeah, I think it it was super good. I I definitely uh recommend it if you're interested in um like uh American culture around sexuality. Um anyway, uh what have what have you been reading, my love, my darling?

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Um you know what DD is.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

I'm familiar.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Do you know about the show D20?

SPEAKER_00 7:50

I'm Familiar.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Do you know about the show Critical Role?

SPEAKER_00 7:52

I'm Familiar.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

So in Critical Rolls, I think it was their last season. Um they had an in-world book.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

It was called Tusk Love.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Uh, and it was a fictionalized book about uh a love story between a poor bore orc blacksmith and a wealthy, wild, magic, sorceress, uh wealthy girl who got kidnapped and he has to save her and get her back down to like where her family is.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Sick.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Well, someone liked the idea so much that they wrote a book. They wrote the book.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

And they wrote the book.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

They wrote the book, and I read that, and I have feelings about it. I I I read it before I knew it was like written for uh critical role, but like I'm not mad about it. Um but I think it does kind of create an interesting situation. It's I think it makes it more cringe. Um but it's not bad. Some people really hate it, they find it really cringe and embarrassing and bad. Um, but I'm already reading monster fucker books, so to me, I'm like, dope. Feels good already. I'm not I'm not sick. Yeah, I was like, oh, an org? Okay, he's anything weird about his penis? Nope, just big and green, fine by me.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

He's as a normal massive green penis.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Exactly. I'm like kind of Shrek style. Kind of PG, if you ask me.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

So I read it and I was like, fine. And some people are like, it's cheesy, it's bad, it's blah blah blah. It's like it's just a DD world book with like romance, and I mean that's lit literally 90% of the books I read.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Yeah, that's all it is.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah, so I was having a great time. Loved it. Lots of fun. I look, okay, I'm gonna tell you something.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

I love D20. Nice. I've made you watch some episodes, some seasons.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

I don't like Critical Roll.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 9:30

I find them they take it too seriously.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Yeah, for sure, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

They play too close to the lore without having fun with it.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yeah, they're they're they're they're taking it uh they're they're it's like a very serious game for them. Yeah, I like more it's not like a goofy hee hee ha ha.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Yeah. Um, which uh some people really like D uh Critical Roll over D20, but I tried to watch a few episodes once and I was like Also, also Matt Mercer's face pisses me off.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

In what way?

SPEAKER_01 9:57

I don't like it. I don't like the way his face looks.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Oh sure.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Um I don't like his little fuck ass Bob. His fuck-ass. He's a fuck ass Bob. And I don't like the way he kind of like always looks like he's sucking on a lemon. And I feel so bad because like that man has done nothing to me, but I'm also like I'm also like, wait a damn minute.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Wait a damn minute here. Yeah, for sure. Uh I'm I mean, yeah, I get it. I I um I played D D a little goofy style.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Girl, I know. I was your DM for that handful of times. That was a lot of work. I did not that was ugh.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

It was alert it was a lot of work to DM me?

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Yeah, girl.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

No, I was I was I I wasn't I didn't do anything wrong.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

You didn't do anything wrong. You're right. You're right.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

You didn't you didn't I was doing little jokey jokes.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Yeah, you were just busy having pulled pork.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Yeah, my character likes pulled pork. That was his thing. Yeah, uh I guess. Yeah, he likes barbecue and uh some other stuff that I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Name is JC. He was got curly hair.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

He does yeah, he does social work data.

unknown 10:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Sometimes he gets a podcast when he feels like it, loves to read.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

When he gets around doing he podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Et etc.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Yeah, exactly. It's just you.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

He pronounces it etc.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

sometimes for you say uh niche niche wrong is one you say wrong. That pisses me off the most.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Oh, because I say niche?

SPEAKER_01 11:16

I hate it.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Oh, shut up.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Also, I don't like how you say Missouri, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Oh, that's also oh you you I've been there more than you, I'm allowed to say it how I want.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

No. No, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

I have a higher level of education.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Uh well, barely.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

What?

SPEAKER_00 11:31

B uh barely. You have like one more year of education than me.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

I girl! What stupid book are we talking about today?

SPEAKER_00 11:42

We're on a we're on a popular one. Uh this this is big in uh the uh the book club community.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Oh god, what is it?

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Uh we're talking about uh The Housemaid by Frida McFadden.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Uh Frida McFadden is um she's like one of these authors where she writes like 200 books and then like kind of just like a like by kind of the same thing as Stephen King, where Stephen King has like 2,000 books, and you're at a certain point you're like, yeah, statistically some of these will be good.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Uh she's kind of she's kind of in that vein where she's written like 40 books. She she writes like two books a year, uh, and like you're like, yeah, I guess some of these will like be popular. Yeah. By just by virtue of statistics, I suppose. Um this is one of them. This one's extremely popular.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

The movie for this just came out.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

And the movie just came out. I didn't watch it because I uh forgot to, and also it's not on a streaming service that we have. You don't want to pay for it? And I didn't want to pay for it.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

I get it. Um we get a nice sponsor on here that we can play for.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Um there is a movie that came out. I did I what I did the second best thing to uh watching the movie, which is I read the Wikipedia page.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

I mean, that's just the movie for bitches who can't pay attention for long enough to watch the movie.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Yeah. Yeah, the only thing that would change if I watched it would be I would watch it and read the Wikipedia page while watching it.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

No, I know. I've watched you how you do things.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

You are like big, like a Wikipedia page.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

You can't help but do like two things at once.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

And what's wrong with that?

SPEAKER_00 13:25

I love two things. You love two things at once. Don't you?

SPEAKER_01 13:27

I have ADHD.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Don't lie.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

I have ADHD, so it's it's different for me.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

What huh?

SPEAKER_00 13:33

And we're the the actual subject of this podcast today, uh, the ADHD is fake.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

No! It's just a way for kids to get meth.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Yeah, that's why this is my new conspiracy podcast. The CIA invented ADHD. Okay, see, you say that, but to bring meth to the child community and the way they brought crack to the black community.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Oh, gone. Yeah. Well, well, we all know that one. Um. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Yeah, um, so uh I so I did read the Wikipedia page. It seems like in many ways it's pretty close to the book. Um You wouldn't know. I wouldn't know. The book is or the movie is directed by Paul Feag.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Don't know who that is.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Uh he directed uh Bridesmaids.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Okay, interesting choice.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Truly, he's like mostly a comedy director. It's truly a bizarre choice for this movie. I don't know why he was pay he was tapped. Um it also includes like Amanda Seafried and Sidney Sweeney in the cast, and then um that one motherfucker from I can't remember his name. He's he's we don't respect him on this podcast. He's like one of those like actors who has like kind of like a blank face to me. Like he's kind of just like a blank slate to Okay, let me go look up this dude's name to see who it is. He's he's from uh it the ends It Ends With Us movie. Uh but he's not just in Baldoni. He's the he's the guy who plays Atlas in Baldwin.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Oh, uh is that Taylor Swift's ex? What? Yeah, give me a sec. Is it Brandon Sklonor?

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Sklonar?

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Sure. That guy?

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Okay, I said his name wrong. I don't respect him. No, I get it. Alright. Okay, you know what he looks like?

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Pretty tell.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Um, if you took um a young Ryan Gosling.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

A young Ryan Gosling. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

And a young, a young guy, who uh Edward Norton? No, yes, the guy who was in uh Fight Club.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Yeah, that's Ed Norton.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Shoving him together?

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

That's him.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Yeah, I could see that. Um he plays uh the like the other main character.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

I just saw who plays the um, I assume, yeah, the Italian guy. And this is the most like. This guy looks crazy intense.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Yes, yes, he does.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

That photo has got like a lot of guy liner on there.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Yes, he does.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Um his name is uh Michelle Morano?

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Yeah, he's Italian.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Okay, king. It's McKay. 35! That's a rough 35, my boy.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

I don't know. I don't know the joke.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

He was the lead in in in uh 365.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

I don't know what that is.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Oh, yes, you do. Okay, 365 Days was the movie that went viral during COVID on Netflix because it was so graphically erotic that people were like, this is just porn.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

I don't remember that.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

But we'll watch it.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Okay, nice. Um, so The Housemaid, the book we're talking about, which is a book, by the way, by Frieda McFadden.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Um opens with a prologue. Stop reading the MDB page.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

I'm not I'm not reading the MDB page. I was looking at I was looking at this Italian guy again.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Stop doing that then. Sorry! Whatever you're doing, stop it.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

I have to do two things at once. It's my shut up.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

That's that's fake. Anyway, the CIA invented that. Um we open with a prologue. Our main character is sitting on a couch in uh a palatial estate. She's uh in like a mansion. Um there's cops coming in and they keep questioning her, and internally she's like, I won't break. I won't tell them anything. Um They're like asking her a bunch of questions. They're like, what happened? Who did this? Can you tell us anything? And she won't say anything. And then uh uh one of the cops upstairs uh does the uh hilarious uh Hey Chief, uh, you gotta see this. Um and then the prologue ends.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

No.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

And then we get No Yeah, I bet you're wondering how I got here.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

JC, you always read books with that. I want you to know there's very few books I've read that have ever had that in them, but it feels like you constantly seek them out.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

I love uh I bet you're wondering how I got here. No, just for my It's like one of the worst cliches.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

For my own peace of mind.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Our main character here is Sydney Sweeney, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Okay, I'm just gonna call her Sydney Sweeney.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Well, we I have her name here. I'm gonna be calling her by her name. Well, I won't. And you can call her whatever you want, but her name is Millie.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Sydney Sweeney.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Millie Sweeney.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

I just want to put it down there. I do not like Sydney Sweeney.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

I don't like her face, I don't like her acting, I think she's untalented, I think she's a weird uh trad wife uh in waiting. I think she's a a cute little fascist.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

I just don't like her. I just want to put that out there. I don't support this bitch, and I don't like her. And honestly, I'm gonna be dead ass with you. If you wanted to watch this movie with me, I'd refuse to, because I'd be like, we are not supporting that stupid bitch. I support women though.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Oh, sure. Um alright. Sick. Uh anyway, uh our main character, Wilhelmina Millie Calloway.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Wilhelmina is Will Amina, yeah. Bad name.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

I agree. I mean Millie's not great either.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

No, but it's better than Wilhelmina.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

Um I also didn't realize is Millie a common shortening of Wil Amina?

SPEAKER_01 19:04

I mean.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Wouldn't that be Willie?

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Girl, you can't be you can't be named Willie and be a girl.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Yes, you can.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

No.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Um anyway, Millie's uh in a job interview with Nina Winchester. She's like a wealthy woman in in the book, it's just like in like one of those like mad wealthy communities on Long Island. I think in the movie it's specifically the town of Great Neck on Long Island.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

I don't know, I've never seen the movie.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Um shut up. Um anyway, uh Nina is looking for a live-in maid uh for her family. Um it's like a job inter it's just like a regular job interview. It's just asking, like, uh, oh, like have you ever uh have you ever like harmed a child? You know, normal questions.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

That's a normal question. You get asked that a lot in your job interviews.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Yeah, I get that's I guess you're gonna be asked.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

So welcome in, JC, if you ever harmed a child and you have to sit there and go, wait a second, let me run through this real quick.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Um, yeah, I guess no.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Uh well it kind of it depends technically, no.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Um I I hate job interviews, but I uh do my favorite part of job interviews is the part where they give you like a hypothetical and you can just make up whatever.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

I hate the why do you want this job or what interests you about this job.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Truly the worst question.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Fucking money. Fucking money.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Uh cash money and paper.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

Oh no, it's because I'm really passionate about your shareholders. No, eat my ass!

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Shut up.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

I have a mortgage bitch!

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Uh I'm I've I'm bad at job interviews in a really specific way, which is that I um I'm a talker.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

No, I know.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

And so like I get so like chatty with the interviewer that like I've been in job interviews where like we're not talking about the job anymore. I'm like asking her about her recent trip to Connecticut.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

To be fair though, that is what got you your job.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

It's not what got me my job.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Yeah, it's because you and your boss became best friends.

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Yeah, it's because we're from kind of the same place.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Andrew gave him a handy jay under the table.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Didn't do that.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Technically.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

You just held his arm. He held your arm.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Whoa.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

That's called a windmill.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Millie is a homeless 27-year-old woman.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Oh, she needs services?

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Um, yeah. Uh she's been in jail for the last 10 years and she can't find a job.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Why was she in jail?

SPEAKER_00 21:23

At this point, we don't know.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

That's JC's favorite line when I ask the question. Oh my god. Um I think it's for harming a child. She lied in her interview.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

She lied in her interview. Fraud. Kinda. Uh she uh she she's uh there's like a scene where she gets like a callback from like an Arby's and they're like, nah, we're we're not giving you this job. And she's like, I need money, and also jobs so bad.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Girl, I get it.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

My parole officer is gonna kill me if I don't get a job.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Sure, your parole officer is aware that you're kind of, you know. Out of jail, which makes you fairly. How dare you? I always confuse parole officers as having the same values as like a social worker. No. When in reality, they're just cops.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Yeah, they're just like a cop with a desk job.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

They're just like the Taliban in that way.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Yeah, kind of. Anyway. She gets a call back from Nina, and Nina's like, you hella got this job. Great job. Your interview was so freaking good.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

It's because Nina can't afford a background check.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

Yeah. And she's like, when can you start? Uh and so Millie's like, yeah, kind of write this instant. I'm living in my car.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Don't say that, girl. That's embarrassing.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

Well, she doesn't say that, but she's like, Loki right now. Uh sleeping in my car is bad for my like spine. Uh so she shows up at uh the house. Um it's in like a gated community.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

I used to live in a gated community, those things rock.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Shut up.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

There's nothing more elitist than living in a gated community. Loved it. Love telling people I'm not giving you the code. Can I have a code? No, sorry. No, absolutely. Can I park on the street? Ew, no. Ew, no, dude. Ew, no.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Park in the driveway.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Go find someone's driveway to park in. If they can't have you park in a driveway, I guess you'll just have to leave poor.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

She gets there, they're in a gated community. Uh, there's a groundskeeper in front of the house. And uh she does like a lot of like trying to figure out what his race is.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

So did you, to be fair.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Well, so did I, to be fair. Uh his name is Enzo.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

I can guess with right now what his fucking race would be. Is it Italian?

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Well, yeah, you you looked up, you like read that guy.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

His name is Enzo! That's an Italian-ass name.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Maybe Hispanic can be named Enzo. La Mayama Lorenzo.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

I would say, oh, uh, uh, uh uh uh uh Pappuccino, uh uh whatever Italian words I can't think of.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Cancelled. Um, she like tries to talk to Enzo, but he's like, I don't know English like that.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Can you imagine that's a power immigration move? Cause like, what are they gonna do? Because you know this country's so racist, they'll be like, what are you, Mexican? He'll have to be like, no, I'm Italian. They'll be like, damn it. Carry on.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

As you were, sir.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Uh uh bellissimo.

SPEAKER_00 24:21

Um, but as she like, she's like, okay, I guess I'll like go inside. And as she turns to go inside, uh Enzo leans forward and he whispers the term Peticolo. Um, and she's like, Oh, that was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

Um, okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

And then she uh goes inside. Uh the uh Nina is there and she's like, oh like your room is up here and it's in the attic, and it's a very small room, and there's like a teeny tiny wen window, and there's a teeny tiny bed, and she's uh Millie's like, oh, like this is kind of sick right now because I've been sleeping in my car. Um, so like living space-wise, this works perfectly. Uh and then she uh turns around and she's like, Hey, I have a couple of quick notes about the room, just like while I've been walking around in here. Uh number one, the window is painted shut.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Uh and number two, um, and I guess more concerningly overall, um the the lock for the door is on the outside.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Good.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Uh and she's like, could I could could you like change that and also give me the key? And Nina's like, uh haha, totally girl, chill out.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Is it is it like a like a skeleton key or is it like our doors where all you need is like a long nail and you can just shove it out?

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Uh they actually don't say. I think it's I think it's like kind of like um you know those like sheds where it's it's like um it's like a metal tab fits into another metal tab and then you put a padlock over it.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

I think it's kind of that type of situation.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Okay, because that's like a prison cell type shed.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Um again, Millie's like being homeless is uh pretty bad. And so I guess I will ignore these extremely obvious red flags.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

You're watching this, you're like, mm, she could use services. I could give this bitch some some housing. Your your count would be so high. You'd be top of the list, bitch.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

Yeah, your prioritization. Um Nina gives Millie a phone, and she's like, this way you can be in contact and you're on our plan. And Nina's or and Millie is like, oh, cool, because I also like do need a phone because I've I've been in jail for the last ten years.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

Girl, this is like a company town, but it's a company house.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Exactly. Um Millie meets uh Nina's hot beefcake husband, Andrew.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

You can't be hot with the name Andrew. Can I tell you something? I knew enough Andrews growing up that were all gay, that now I'm like, that's a gay name.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

That's kind of a gay name.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

If you're named Andrew, Queen.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Well, Andrew's a beefcake. He's so freaking hot, dude.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

I saw the guy as the actor's picture, no, he's not.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

He's mega attractive.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Not really.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

Um, and then uh Millie later tells Nina, she's like, hey, your husband seems like nice. And Nina's like, Do you think so? Is that what you think?

SPEAKER_01 27:29

That's what I say to people when they're like, JC seems nice. I'm like, really? Does he? Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

But she's like being kind of accusatory about it. She's like implying like the implication of this bit is she's like, oh, because you wanna fuck him? You wanna freak on him sex style?

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Don't freak on him girl! Say things normal style. Don't say freak on him sex style.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Uh anyway, uh Millie remembers to look up Pericolo, um, and it's Italian for danger. Which is so awesome. Sure. Yeah, whatever. Hey, th uh, thanks for the Italian warning, but could you be Italian more specific, please?

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Uh warning of.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Um, Millie wakes up the next day and the house is a fucking mess. Um, she's like, Nina must be doing this on purpose. It's so crazy how dirty the house is, like, overnight. Uh, and she uh starts cleaning up, and it takes her several hours to do.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

To be fair, I did have an ex-boyfriend that once took like seven hours to clean a like literally, I cannot stress this enough, maybe like a three foot by two-foot bathroom.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

Well, she well, she's uh number one, she's a woman, and number two, um she's like, and I'm like good at cleaning up.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

Um so she maybe we should get a housemaid slave.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

She's not she's not doing the like male thing where they pretend it takes forever to clean up like a bathroom, so you never ask them to do it again.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

They're like using tweezers to get each individual particle of dust off the floor. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Or they they've like taken like a like a four-hour tangent to clean something that just like never has to be cleaned that much.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

I know. Who knew that the inside of a toilet tank needed to be scrubbed like with a toothbrush? Like, what are you talking about?

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Yeah, exactly. Um she meets uh Nina's daughter, Cecilia, um, who's like, by the way, I'm hungry. And Millie's like, Do you want like a peanut butter and banana sandwich? And uh or she she asks Cecilia what she wants. She's like, What do you want to eat? And Cecilia's like, yeah, food or whatever, I guess. Um and so she goes in and she makes a peanut butter and banana sandwich, and she brings it out, and she's like, No, but like for real, try it. It's like pretty good. And uh uh Ceci like freaks out and uh screams, and Nina comes downstairs, and uh Nina's like, oh my god, Cecilia is allergic to peanut butter.

SPEAKER_01 30:14

Why would you keep it in your head?

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Why why would you try to give it to her? I told you what her allergies were. This is unacceptable, Millie, and it's day one. Um, that's funny.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Uh Millie cooks dinner for them.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

With peanut butter.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

Uh and so Andrew comes home, and so she asks him about peanut butter gate, and he's like, Cece isn't allergic to peanut butter. That's why it's in the pantry. And Millie's like, mmm, that's weird. Uh anyway, she wakes up the next morning and the house is once again a mess. And Nina's in the kitchen yelling at her that she's like, I had a PTA presentation, and I printed it out for normal reasons, and uh you when you cleaned the house yesterday, you must have thrown it away. Uh I'm I'm going to kill you if I cannot find this presentation. And Andrew comes downstairs and he's like, W what what is all the freaking commotion? Uh uh Nina, why don't you freaking chillax, baby girl? Uh surely you have it saved to your computer files. And she's like, I do, but I made some changes, so I'll have to make those changes again before I print it out.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

I can be entirely honest with you. I know that this book is a like a thriller book or something.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

I'm just like, this is just a Karen. I don't This is just that you just went into these people.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

This is just reminding you of the like eight months you uh lived with your mom uh after you moved back from England.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Kinda, yeah. It's like, oh sorry, did I do something wrong? Like ask you if we have any water. Um so yeah, yeah, I'm just like, yeah, this is just like Karen shit.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

I don't kind of Karen tended to.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

Deadass. This is like not spooky or scary or weird, it's just like she likes to be a bitch.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

Um anyway, and then Andrew Um uh Nino leaves in like a huff, and Andrew helps Millie clean up. And he's like and they b they like bond a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Don't do that, don't bond with the husband.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

Ooh, we gotta bond with the husband. Don't bond with the husband. Bond with beefcake husband. Have a little beefcake bond with beefcake husband.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Don't bond with the beefcake husband.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

You must. No. Um this bit happens like ten more times. Oh my god. Where like um uh Nina does something like insane and cruel and then lash out at Millie for something she hasn't done.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

You know, it it's it's in like it's all the time. Uh you know, there there's like a bunch of examples of this. The the main one that I wrote down just as like a a clear example of this type of situation is at one point Millie gets a text from Nina being like, by the way, I need you to pick up CeCe from school. And she's like, Okay, at what time? And it's in like 15 minutes. And then Millie realizes that she doesn't have Cece's school, she like doesn't know what school it is.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

So she has to like like run around and try to find like something with the school's address on it. Um She finally gets that, she gets to the school, she gets there like just in time for pickup, yeah, and Cece is going with another mom, and the other mom is like, k Cece comes with us to karate class on Wednesdays. I thought Nina would have told you that. And so Millie's like, okay, well s Nina didn't tell me that, and she told me to pick her up, so actually Cece needs to come home with me. Um, and so then this other mom calls Nina and she's like, Yeah, the help is here, and she's saying that she's supposed to be picking up Cece. Amazing. But it's Wednesday, which means it's karate class day. And Nina's like, I don't know why Millie would be trying to pick up Cece. It's Wednesday, it's karate class day. Millie, I need you to pay way more attention. This is frankly unacceptable.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

This is j she's just a middle manager. She's just a middle manager, she's just having fun torturing her new employees. She's just girl bossing.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Yeah, she's just girl bossing.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

Yeah, I recognize this.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

You feel this a lot?

SPEAKER_01 34:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

Um, Millie keeps getting close to Andrew. Uh, they talk a lot.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Don't do that.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Um you'll have scenes where like um she like it's nighttime, everyone else has gone to bed, but she's like not sleepy. And so she goes downstairs, and because they told her she was allowed to watch TV on their television, and um so she uh like turns on the T she watches I think it's Family Feud. Um, and then Andrew comes down and she's like, Oh my god, did I wake you? And he was like, No, I was coming to get water. Oh my god, is this Family Feud? I love that show.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

And I kind of This man is the problem.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

And I kind of think everyone who watches Family Feud and they're 27 and thin and white and hot, I I think that's like extremely sexy.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

He's making the problem. He's making a problem. This is his issue, he's doing this, I don't like him.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

Um and and then you usually like these moments will get broken up by uh them being caught by Nina. Yeah. And then they kind of like, oh, like we were just like talking for like a second. I guess yeah, I guess I have like stuff to do right now, Nina, you're right. Um for example, like with the Family Feud, like Nina comes down and she's like, um, what's going on? Uh and they're like, oh, like we were just watching Family Feud, and she was like, Andrew, you have like a meeting in the morning, and Millie, I thought you would have like gotten a TV for your room so you don't have to watch it and disturb everybody in the house with your television watching.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

Deadass. Oh, she's wrote for that one. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

Um, Millie has an enormous crush on Andrew. Duh. Um, 'cause he's because he's hot and also rich.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

Uh, and he's like so charming.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

No, he's not. He's just a white wood.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

So nice to her.

SPEAKER_01 36:40

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

Um, so she like she's like, this is a problem, and I'm a solution-oriented woman.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Says the woman who went to prison. Um and not a lot of solutions there, bitch.

SPEAKER_00 36:51

And so what I think uh what I think I need to do is I need to bang out my crush on Andrew with sexy Enzo.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

I mean, that is, yes, logical.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

I need to, I need to, I need to just like clear my head of one beefcake with a different beefcake. Um so she tries to like fuck Enzo. He's like she's like, the next time he's working on the lawn, I'll like call him inside and then I'll like try to seduce him. And so she does that. Um she like calls him inside, she's like, want some water? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Uh she she's like, ooh, like Enzo, like, do you want to come up to my room? And Enzo's like, I have work to do.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

Good for Enzo. Keep that harlot away.

SPEAKER_00 37:38

Well, my notes is like, d she did this while he was working. He's like, No, I have like I have like quota to do to make today. Like You guys both have the same mean boss, and you're thinking he's just gonna like Yeah, you've yeah, they have like the these the same bitchy boss, and you thought it was gonna be fine. You were like, Oh yeah, like if if uh Nina catches us having sex in my attic room.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

Which I'm sure she's totally chill with.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

She's gonna be totally fine with it. Um there's like several points throughout the book where she like changes her mind on whether or not Millie is allowed to have guests over. Um which she never does because sh uh she was in prison.

SPEAKER_01 38:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

So like she doesn't have like guests to bring up. Yeah, she's like bringing over her Sally.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

Yeah. Just to make it feel like old times.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

Yeah. Um but yeah, like, girl, at least like ask him out or something.

SPEAKER_01 38:29

Yeah, this is rude.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

Yeah, don't if yeah, if if someone like showed up at my job while I was single and was like, hey, like, do you want to have sex right now? I'd be like, no, I'm at work. Millie learns from the other moms at the PTA, uh, well uh the other moms from the PTA come over for like session planning or whatever PTA moms do. Yeah. Um and Nina's like, ooh, like I have to go through the I have to go to the bathroom. I hope I certainly hope there's no gossip about me. Uh and then the moms, the other moms are like, oh my god, Nina's like low-key mad crazy.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 39:03

And Millie's like, oh, like I'm not even like here right now, but like in what way? And they're like, oh my god, you you haven't even like heard yet? No, so like Nina, like several years ago when Cece was a baby, uh Nina tried to drown Cece in the bathtub and then kill herself by ODing on pills.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

Gangster. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00 39:27

Um, and uh this like deeply affects the way Millie sees Nina for the rest of the book.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

Okay, sorry she had a little moment there. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Yeah, oh, oh, she's not allowed to have a little mental health.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

Look, being a new mother is very difficult. There's postpartum depression, there's postpartum rage, there's postpartum psychosis, and honestly, the fact that she experienced one while her husband was there and he didn't bother to help is actually a bigger sign of his failing.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

Yeah, why don't you look at the beefcake you're trying to book?

SPEAKER_01 39:56

Yeah, the beefcake who left her to just he wasn't there to help with the baby.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

Um, she also learns that uh Cece is not Andrew's child.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:07

Um, but like Andrew, this isn't like a secret to Andrew. She like, um Nina, like, was pregnant by somebody else before she met Andrew, and then he married her uh little baby in all.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

That's nice, okay. Um But I know that this makes Millie think that she can, like, ooh, he'll totally accept me in all my baggage. No, girl.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

He'll accept me and all my baggage. Um there's a thread throughout this section that Andrew and Nina are trying to have another baby that's Andrew's baby. Um they go to like an IVF specialist. Um they go to like hella like fertility treatments, and uh they learn that Nina's Nina can't have more babies. She's done with babies now. I don't know how or why, but I guess she's I guess she it's she's like a one and done.

SPEAKER_01 41:00

I guess, yeah. She had that one egg and that was it.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

Yeah, she she blipped out the one and then she uh that was all her uterus could stand.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 41:09

Not the nice. Um but uh uh this is like emotionally devastating for both of them. They have like moments where they like fight, and then like Millie like st comically stands outside their door while she like listens to them fight.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

I don't like this is weird.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

And then uh like at one point Nina like whips open the door and obviously Millie is right there, and uh Millie's like, oh, I I uh Millie's like, I thought that I heard something and I wanted to check and make sure everything's okay. And uh Nina's like, yeah, Millie, bitch, everything's fucking fine. And then for some reason Millie stands firm on this in this moment, and she's like, and is Andrew okay? And Nina's like, yeah, Andrew's fine, and she's like, Well, I want to hear that from Andrew.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Oh my god. Honestly, I'm not on her side. I can't be on her side. What is she gonna gym for? What is she gonna gym for?

SPEAKER_00 42:17

At this point we don't know. We have to. At this point, we don't know.

SPEAKER_01 42:20

I have to know.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

We'll find out later.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

I fucking hate you.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

Later. Um So uh Andrew approaches Billy and he's like, yo, what's up? Loki, uh, this has been like kind of an emotionally trying time for Nina.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

Um, but not for you?

SPEAKER_00 42:38

Not for me at all, actually. Um I'm just like too good a guy for this to be emotionally trying. Um anyway, she's been talking about like seeing a Broadway show. Um it's fake. I didn't even write the show down uh because it has like a dumb fake name. I think I think the name of the Broadway play is Showdown, which sounds like uh which sounds like he's he's like, hey, could you get tickets for us to be like the live studio audience for like a family feud style game show?

SPEAKER_01 43:05

Yeah, amazing.

SPEAKER_00 43:06

Um anyway, so he's like, yeah, could you like get grab us some tickets for Showdown? Uh because Nina loves going to Broadway musicals. And she's like, for sure, and he's like, yeah, like check with her for her schedule, and all like pay for it, obviously. And so she like contacts Nina and she's like, Hey, what's up? Um, what are your weekends like for the next like eight weekends or whatever? And Nina provides her availability, and then she books the tickets. And then when she's like, Oh, by the way, next weekend is the weekend for your Broadway play, Nina's like, Millie, you fucking dumb bitch. I told you I'm not available that weekend because I'm taking Cece to summer camp.

SPEAKER_01 43:59

I love her.

SPEAKER_00 44:01

So she's like, oh my god, she's like, and they better be refundable because they're because if they're not, they're coming out of your salary, Millie. You think I'm going to pay for a show I'm not going to? You dumb little bitch. Um Millie like freaks out. She uh she's like, oh my god, I hope they're refundable. And Andrew's like, Yeah, they're like mega refundable totally. And then he pulls Millie aside and he's like, Millie, they were not refundable. At no point will they take back these tickets, Millie? And then she's like, Oh my god, what are we going to do?

SPEAKER_01 44:39

What do you mean we?

SPEAKER_00 44:40

And he goes, Okay, I have a plan. Millie, what if you dress up nice and then we go to the to the show.

SPEAKER_02 44:51

I hate him.

SPEAKER_00 44:51

We go get the dinner that me and my wife have planned afterwards, and then we stay at the hotel in the city afterwards. Does that sound like a good plan to you? Just you and me, and I'm a beefcake and wealthy, and you're well, you and you're young and hot and sexy. And uh Yes.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

It's always the man's fault. It's always the man's fault. Men should be held responsible for everything that ever happens involving a man. Don't you dare say that to me. Oh, I hate men.

SPEAKER_00 45:24

Yeah, uh, yeah, this is like mad inappropriate. Uh no thank you. I don't want to go to I don't want to go to. I barely want to do stuff with like my current co-workers.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

Yeah, I don't want to have dinner and a show and a hotel room.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

Yeah, stay at a hotel room just us together.

SPEAKER_01 45:45

Oh, and you're having issues with fertility? Yeah, I'm totally gonna stay around, you stupid horny bitch. No. Absolutely not. Everyone knows if you want to make shit work, you butter up the wife, not the fucking husband.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Don't worry about yeah, the husband truly has nothing to do with your employment. Don't worry about him.

SPEAKER_01 46:02

And honestly, he doesn't care. He's just there for puss.

SPEAKER_00 46:04

And he's just there for sweet cooter.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

Yeah. I hate man.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

Um so they uh they they go to the they go to the play. Because she's got no brain. Um earlier in the book, Nina gave Millie. She's like, by the way, here's like a bunch of dresses that just like kinda don't fit me anymore, but like I think they would fit you and you can have them. And Millie has like kind of a mean thought where she's like, these must have fit her a long time ago because these are like a size six and she's a size fourteen.

SPEAKER_01 46:37

Yeah, you texted me to be like, how big is a fourteen?

SPEAKER_00 46:40

Yeah, I was like, what size? How how uh how outraged should I be about this? Um, and and we'll get more into this issue later. I just wanted to bring it up now for when I bring it up. Anyway, Millie wears a sexy dress that she got secondhand from Nina. She like wears one of the dresses, and it's like so short, and it's so tight. And they get in the car, and like the dress kind of keeps riding up, and Andrew keeps looking at her legs.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

Andrew can kill himself!

SPEAKER_00 47:11

Um, they go to the play and they go to dinner, and at dinner Andrew reveals that um he and Nina haven't had sex in like two months.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

I don't care. That sounds like a problem for your wife, not your fucking maid. What in the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 47:28

Yeah, also um inappropriate. Again, if if one of my bosses at work told me like they had that they haven't had sex in a while, I would I would be like, yeah, I don't want to know that.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

Your boss is cozying up to you at a company party to be like, I haven't fucked in in months. You'd be like, okay, and Yeah, I don't want to know about that.

SPEAKER_00 47:44

And it felt inappropriate one time at a uh this is at a retirement party, um somebody in a different department was talking to us about a person who is possibly going to get kicked out of their housing. And uh uh there they were like, also, he's been kind of like inappropriate with the program manager over at that housing program. He got her email address and he keeps emailing her to be like, uh, I'm thinking about your I want to eat your fat pussy. And I was like, hey, like I'm eating.

SPEAKER_01 48:19

Yeah, I'm gonna need you to I uh What I mean at the end of the day, Andrew is just making his own bed and he's gonna make some other bitch lie in it.

SPEAKER_00 48:28

Oh, he's gonna make her lie in it, baby. That's what they do. They go to the hotel and he's and they kiss, and then he's like, Ooh, like we can stay in the same bed if you want, and then they have undescribed sex. So you know it's good.

SPEAKER_01 48:44

It's so boring it can't even be described.

SPEAKER_00 48:46

Yeah. She does mention she she is explicitly like, by the way, and also I'm not a virgin, I've had sex before.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

Okay, congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 48:56

It was just bad because it was in high school. Uh so they wake up the next morning. Uh they've just had they've d uh they've just made beautiful love.

SPEAKER_01 49:04

Boring love.

SPEAKER_00 49:05

You must assume it's beautiful love. Sure. Um, they come back and uh Nina's there, and Nina totes knows they was fucking. Yeah!

SPEAKER_01 49:16

Duh! Hello!

SPEAKER_00 49:18

Um Millie like comes to her room and she finds like the uh the brochure from the musical that she was keeping in her backpack to kind of like commemorate the beautiful loves that she made.

SPEAKER_01 49:31

Are you fucking stupid? Yes, yes, yes, yes. Holy shit, you dumb bitch.

SPEAKER_00 49:35

Um she uh like makes dinner and uh Nina makes a comment. She's like, oh wow, this like dinner was really good. You've really come up in the world from prison food, Millie.

SPEAKER_01 49:50

Did her ass.

SPEAKER_00 49:51

Yes! Like extremely upsets Millie. Millie's like, I can't believe she would say this right in front of my crush.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

Her husband? Her husband? You dumb bitch.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

Um Nina and Andrew have uh a final they have like a big knockdown drag out fight with each other. Um Andrew's like, none of this has been working. Our our our marriage doesn't work anymore. You're not the par person I married. Um she she like doesn't clean.

SPEAKER_01 50:25

Uh she Oh, sorry, she's not a fucking trad wife.

SPEAKER_00 50:29

She's like gained a lot of weight. They don't they don't have sex anymore.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

Yeah, because you're a fat phobic trad lord piece of shit.

SPEAKER_00 50:39

Um He he doesn't like the way that uh she like spoils her daughter.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

Who's the problem?

SPEAKER_00 50:48

Murder him! And he's and and uh and Nina's like, y is this because of Millie? And he's like, it's not because of Millie, it's because of you, Nina. And then he's like, but if you must know, I'm in love with her.

SPEAKER_01 51:01

Oh, kill yourself! Oh I have to be quiet. I'm gonna blow out the sound. I'm so angry.

SPEAKER_00 51:08

Um he kicks Nina out. Um and and he uh and he's like, we'll talk later, but this is divor we're getting divorced. Millie's like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 51:24

Millie! Are you stup No, I gotta calm down. I gotta calm down.

SPEAKER_00 51:28

Millie's like, oh my god, can I like sleep in your bed with you? And he's like, you can, and he's like, but you know what I think we should do? I think we should have sex up in your little attic room. And she's like, that sounds dope. So they go up there and they once again make um what you must assume is beautiful love because it's not described. And then Millie wakes up and Andrew's not there. And she's like, Oh, like my bed is very small, maybe it like hurt his back. And in the middle of the night, he decided to go to his bed where like it's better for his back, and she gets up and she tries the door and it's locked from the outside.

SPEAKER_01 52:14

Duh, hello, are you stupid? Hello, hello.

SPEAKER_00 52:17

And she's like, hey, um, Andrew, and Andrew's on the other side of the door, he's like, Yo, what's up, baby? Hey, what's up, sweet hey, what's up, sweet cheeks? And she's like, quick question. There's a problem here. The door is locked, and he's like, Yes, yes, yes. And she's like, Okay, um, yeah, so this is like a problem for me. Would you mind just real quick open the door? And he's like, No, no, no, no, no. And he's like, Okay. You have to be punished. And then we go to part two.

SPEAKER_01 52:51

What the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 52:53

Part two. We're in Nina's POV. Nina's like, uh, it's it's gone girl style. Nina's uh Nina's like, uh, when your husband is comically evil, um, this is how you have to get rid of him. Um, and then she does like a it's a hilarious uh like step one, uh be stupid and fall in love with him. Step two, and you're like, alright, I get it. Um but she she meets Andrew because he owns the company that she works at, and her supervisor is uh like comically evil. Her supervisor is like, oh my god, Nina, I hate that you're a new mom, and that um you you um leak milk throughout the workday. And she's like, oh my god, I'm leaking right now. This is so humiliating for me as a new mom. And she runs to the bathroom and she comes out and Andrew is there, and she's like, Oh my god, I'm so sorry. And he's like, Don't be. I think motherhood is beautiful. They uh and then they get married. And uh after the honeymoon, Andrew's like, Hey Nina, can you actually come upstairs right quick? Just for one second. He comes up, she goes up there, there's like a bucket in the closet, there's a mini fridge with three bottles of water, and uh he locks her in there.

SPEAKER_01 54:09

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 54:09

And he's like, she's she does the same thing. She's like, hey, um, the door is locked. That's weird. He's like, it's not weird, actually. Uh this is called punishment. And she's like, Okay, can you open the door for me? And he says, No. And he goes, Yeah, uh, lately your hair's been looking kind of busted. Um, and you need to pull out 100 hairs by the root so that you understand that hair is a privilege, not a right.

SPEAKER_01 54:39

Oh my god, okay.

SPEAKER_00 54:40

Um, he leaves her in there for like two days. Uh she like fight because she like fights with him, she's like, I'm not doing that, that's so crazy. And he's like, Okay, well, I have to leave for work, so I guess I'll see I'll catch you on the flip. Um she like pulls out a bunch of hairs, but she tries to just like play him. She tries to just like run her hands through her hair and get like a bunch of breakage. Um, and he's like, actually, and then she pulls out the rest.

SPEAKER_02 55:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:07

Um, so he's like, This is 100 hairs, but actually, I can see that ten of these don't have the root. You have to start again. 100 more by the root, baby girl.

SPEAKER_01 55:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 55:21

Um, so she gets at so she um g gets him his 100 hairs, he lets her out, um, he like gives her a meal and she goes to sleep. And it's like a dirt nap, because she wakes up like a day and a half later. Yeah. And she's like, oh my god, I think I was drugged. And Andrew's in like the bathroom. I guess he's taking a bath because I can hear the tub filling up. And then Andrew calls, or Andrew texts like 900 times, and he's like, Oh my god, you've been acting so crazy lately. Uh uh call me back. Hey, baby, I'm going into a meeting. Call me. I'm worried about Cece. And she's like, Oh my god, Andrew's at work. Who's in the bathroom? So she runs into the bathroom, but she's mad groggy from the pills. And so um, she like kind of like crawls into the bathroom, and Cece's in the bathtub, and the tub is filling up with water. And then the cops bust in and they're like, uh, what the hell? Um, and they arrest her. And then um, she goes to like a mental health facility um for for like eight months or some nonsense um for uh making it look like she tried to murder suicide her daughter.

SPEAKER_01 56:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:34

Um I do want to take pause here just real quick to just throw out here, how did Andrew set this up?

SPEAKER_01 56:40

So, you ever seen the movie Gone Girl?

SPEAKER_00 56:42

I have seen the movie Gong.

SPEAKER_01 56:43

She gone girl that bitch. Um He gone girl the gone girl.

SPEAKER_00 56:46

Well, mostly what I was going to throw out there is all of that part makes sense. Um he's like at work during this. How long does their bathtub take to fill up?

SPEAKER_01 56:57

He did one drop at a time.

SPEAKER_00 56:59

Yeah, he like put it on like real low and then like drove. Like I I don't know, I don't know. At one point she does like um mention that uh she she like confronted him about it. She was like, what if that had killed CeCe? And Andrew's response was like that would show you, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_01 57:15

Damn, he's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 57:17

He's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

Wow, did I call it or what? You can never trust a man.

SPEAKER_00 57:20

Never trust a man. Also, you're he's like the only person that's nice to Millie in the f part one of the book. So you're like, yeah, like something's wrong with him.

SPEAKER_01 57:29

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 57:31

Um anyway, then the uh Nina gets like ongoing therapy. Um she like tells the police, she's like, My husband locked me in the attic, and they were like, Yeah, we checked the attic. Andrew showed us the attic, and it's just like kind of like file storage space. Um so like you're you're low-key kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_01 57:52

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 57:53

Um and then uh there's like a bunch of chapters of Nina's punishments. Um, and there it's it's like each chap there's like a bunch of chapters where it's like, this is my punishment this time. Um she leaves a light on so he fits the attic with a big LED spotlight and then blacks out the window so she can either have blinding light or total darkness.

SPEAKER_01 58:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 58:24

Um he makes Cece wear uh these like ugly ass frilly lacy dresses, and if Cece complains, then he makes Nina hang out in the attic naked.

SPEAKER_01 58:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 58:37

Um he puts peanut butter in the house, even though Cece is allergic, and every so often when he and C Nina have a fight, he puts peanut butter in her dinner, so she breaks out in a rash.

SPEAKER_02 58:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 58:48

Um, I do have like a little note here that just says, what is he making for dinner that can hide the distinctive taste of peanut butter?

SPEAKER_01 58:55

He's only making West African food.

SPEAKER_00 58:57

Yeah, he's only he's exclusively cooking West African food and like that like peanut curry, that like Thai peanut curry.

SPEAKER_01 59:04

Yeah, exactly. He's it's intentional.

SPEAKER_00 59:06

Yeah. He's like, yeah, for dinner is um Virginia peanut soup.

SPEAKER_01 59:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:11

And they're like, no, no, no.

unknown 59:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:14

Um at one point she sprays too much air freshener, and so she has to pepper spray herself.

SPEAKER_01 59:20

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 59:20

Um, which I do gotta say, not a very elegant like some some of these, I guess, are like a little more elegant than others.

SPEAKER_01 59:27

I mean, this is just what men are like.

SPEAKER_00 59:29

This is just what men are like.

SPEAKER_01 59:30

I mean, you've basically done this to me.

SPEAKER_00 59:32

In what way?

SPEAKER_01 59:33

I mean, now you just sound crazy for denying it.

SPEAKER_00 59:36

Oh my god. Uh, yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna put the dogs in the bathtub and then fill it up, and then I'm gonna take the train to work.

SPEAKER_01 59:43

I don't think they would do that. I think they would just They would just hop right out. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 59:49

Um, she tries to tell one of her friends about it, and her friend immediately snitches to Andrew, and they think Nina's unraveling again, and they make her go back to the hospital.

SPEAKER_01 59:59

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:00

Uh, that's fucked up.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:01

Yeah. Oh, okay. Seems like we ain't got no homies here. Okay, nice, nice. That's amazing. Hey, quit.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:10

Um, so she starts trying to make herself unappealing to him uh by refusing to cook her clean. Uh, she gains hella weight.

unknown 1:00:19

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:20

She's a size 14 now, which is uh, as we all know, uh so gross and disgusting to be that size. Imagine being size 14, gross and disgusting style. Um they get a new groundskeeper. His name is Enzo. Um, he's uh everybody's like he's mega hot, but he doesn't speak very much English. So one time while he's in their yard, Nina's like, hey Enzo, guess what? My husband locks me in the attic and he makes me do crazy punishments. And Enzo's like, wait, what's up? Hold on, what was that? Hang on, no, like for real though, that's crazy. I understand English very perfectly. Um, and you said something mad crazy to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:01

Um So uh they they like form a friendship. She does ask him, she's like, Why do you pretend to not understand English? And he's like, Yeah, because at all these houses, the wives try to fuck me. But if I pretend like I don't understand English, then uh I can it's easy for me to rebuff their advances.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:19

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:20

Um which is also funny to me, mostly because I like I'm like, are they just like from a distance asking like Enzo, will you have sex with me? Yeah, and then he's just like, I do not understand, and then they're like, okay, I no nothing further.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:35

Hey, he can't consent, we gotta move on.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:38

Um I I I just have like a note here, I just wanted to bring something up here, which is I think the character of Enzo is originally meant to be Hispanic. Oh I think he's changed to Italian, and I only have one reason for this, which is that um throughout part two he refers to uh Nina as Signora Winchester.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:04

S-E-N with an N-Y-O-R-A. And the term in Italian is Signora S-I-G-N-O-R-A.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:13

Um, I just think he's meant to be Hispanic originally, and then she just like didn't change this.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:18

Whitewashing. Whitewashing.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:21

Um, she and Enzo hatch a plot to get her out of there. Uh Enzo's motivation. Enzo has like comical background, tragic backstory styles.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:30

Oh god, okay, what's his backstory?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:31

Uh his sister had an abusive husband who killed her. Um he has a tattoo with her name on it.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:39

It's like Antonia, and it's because her abusive husband killed her.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:43

Sure, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:45

Um They They make a plan. They're step one, obtain a bunch of fake documents and hoard a bunch of cash. Uh, two things seemingly very available to the two of them.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:57

A landscaper and an extremely surveilled abused wife.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:02

You know what? It's amazing what an abused wife can get away with, though.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:06

Apparently.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:06

Apparently.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:07

She just like hoards hella cash. She just has she just has like a bunch of like stores of cash around. Yeah. Um, and also they like casually have access to like fake passports and birth certificates and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:20

Well, I mean, you know those Italians, they're big mobsters.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:23

Fucking apparently.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:24

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:25

And then while Andrew is at work, she'll flee. That's the plan.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:29

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:30

Um, Andrew finds the documents. He doesn't find the cash though. Uh he's like, what was your plan here, bitch? Um, she's like, I'm gonna get away from you. He's like, Well, you're gonna get up to is the attic, baby girl. No! Um, she just like runs out the door. She's just like, nuh-uh, and then she runs out the door. She goes to Enzo's house, and they hatch a new plan. Replace her by getting Andrew to fall in love with someone else.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:02

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:03

Um They never bring up what happened earlier. How did he how did she get out of her punishment? He like caught her trying to leave, she ran out the door, she immediately went to another man's house. It's been implied throughout part two that um Andrew has like a like a lowjack on her car, so he like knows where she is at all times. Um so like she went to like another guy's house while she was supposed to be getting punished, and then not even sexy style, and then um an abused woman, it's not as sexy as you think. Yeah, it's kind of unsexy.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:40

Um, assault is unsexy, you guys.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:43

And then uh uh she like comes back and she's like, I'm a good wife now. And he's like, Oh, that's fine. Oh, sick, thanks.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:52

I mean you're stupid and you can manipulate them.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:56

She just like comes back, she's like, I have Chinese.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:58

Look, men are stupid and they're easy to manipulate, that's all I'm gonna say.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:01

Um, she hires Millie. Uh Andrew is super upset about this, but lets her stay. Andrew like pulls her to the side after he meets her for the first time. This is like the tension she kind of like picks up on in uh part one. Uh he pulls uh Nina to the side and he's like, um, what do you mean she's staying in the attic? That's your room. Yeah. Uh and Nina is like, well, no, because she has to stay in the attic because if your mom wants to come visit, what's she gonna do? Sleep on the couch? We have to keep the guest room open. And he's like, You've got me this time, bitch.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:41

Amazing, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:42

Um So uh Nina reveals that she's actually like mad nice and she's like respectful of all um service employees all the time, but she had to be mean to Millie, so Millie would seem like a victim, so Andrew would want to have sex with her.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:57

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:58

Um She pushes them together. She like explicitly sets up the Broadway play thing where she's like telling Andrew she's like, ooh, like we should also like get a reservation for a restaurant, like a nice fancy restaurant, and also get a hotel room. And then uh she like pulls out so that way she knows that like they'll go to it together.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:19

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:20

Um one of the funnier ones is uh she knows that Andrew wants a baby, so she has Enzo's private investigator blackmail a fertility doctor into saying that she's mega barren.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:39

Honestly, amazing. Okay, I'm so with her. You know what? I'm back with her. Everyone but women, please.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:46

Everyone but the men in this world are are uh after they um after they go to the uh fertility doctor and he's like uh oh your wife is uh can is only a one and done uterus-wise. Yeah, um, she calls Andrew's mom and she's like, Oh, like we've been thinking about having like kids lately. Could you send Andrew's baby stuff? So like he can get excited about the baby, and uh so like after they have the meeting and Andrew's like upset about it, a bunch of baby stuff shows up.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:22

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:23

Um and then uh Andrew throws her out, and that's all part of her plan. Uh Enzo comes over and they have amazing undescribed sex. Uh, and then Enzo is like, BT dubs, uh, we should get Millie out of there. And Nina's like, I don't want to do that, and Enzo's like, okay, but she's nice, and like she seems like a good person. And uh Nina's like, um, yeah, but she like went to jail. So like I think she's fine with like the being locked in a small room.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:55

Hell yeah, hell yeah, hell yeah, hell yeah, hell yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:57

And Enzo's like, Nina, Nina. And she's like, well, I'm not going back there. And then we're in part three.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:05

I still don't know what she went to jail for.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:07

At this point, we don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:10

I don't like that. Okay, fine. Who's in whose POV do we have?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:14

We're back in Millie's POV.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:15

Oh, great.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:16

Her Andrew Punishment. Um, oh, by the way, so like what she did is uh she was like in the library and she like took some of his books off the shelf and just like set them on like a table and then didn't put them back. And he's like, You're not respecting my books.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:32

JC, this is what you do to me. Yeah. What are you doing to me later?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:36

Um so what she has to do is she has to lay on her back and then she has to balance three books on her midsection for three hours. But the books are like a high school biology textbook, like a hardcover phone book, and like the fucking hands-on big book of bricks. Like, I don't know exactly what books they are, but it's like three comically heavy books.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:00

Nice, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:01

Um, they're very heavy. He makes her do it twice because the first time wasn't three hours by his clock. So she has to like do it again. Amazing. It like bruises her midsection. Um, he he like he's like talking to her through the door, and she's like, No, no, like I totally already did it. And he's like, No, you didn't. I can see I'm like watching you right now, and she's like, How? And he's like, Yeah, hang on, let me show you my app I use to monitor you, and um, I'm gonna hold it, I'm gonna hold my phone very loosely in my non-dominant hand, and my eyes are very wide and uncovered, and I'm gonna go ahead and come inside. Uh, and then she pepper sprays him with Chekhov's pepper spray, um, which Nina left in there, I guess, for her at some point. Um, and then she grabs his phone, because he's holding it, again, very loosely, which by the way, this is something that like my father was worried about when I went to when I started working in DC for the first time.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:06

It was like, don't hold your phone in your hand because um people do a thing called apple picking, where like if you hold it in your hand, people like go by on like little scooters and they snatch your phone out of your hand and steal your phone.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:18

Yeah, if you're holding it like by your pinky.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm holding it very loosely in my non-dominant hand. Now I'm not looking at anybody near me.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:26

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:28

Um so she obviously takes the phone and uh uh she runs out the door and then she locks the door. And then back in Nina's POV, Nina has like two pages to be like, I know Millie's gonna be okay because I know what she went to jail for. And it turns out what she went to jail for is she killed a man who was raping her friend when she was 16, and she took a plea deal because she'd also beat up uh like mean boys in school and slashed the tires of a teacher trying to coerce her into sex when she was in middle school. Uh, and so Nina Loki hired her to kill Andrew.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:10

I mean, that's pretty gangster. Um We'll talk about this later, anyway.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:25

Later, like after I finish talking about the book or Yeah, like her closing arguments. Oh, okay. Her closing argument. Like it's court. Yeah. Um anyway, uh Millie punishes Andrew by making a balance uh all three heavy books on top of his dick and also his balls. Um and then he she makes him do it twice, like he made her do it twice. Nina gets a call from Enzo and he's like, I haven't seen Millie for a couple days, and Mina's uh and Nina's like, oh like I should probably like go save Millie because like I I understand what she's going through in a way nobody else can, and I wish somebody would have saved me. Um Meanwhile, uh Millie Millie makes Andrew pull out a bunch of his teeth.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:15

She like slides like needlenose pliers under the door and she's like, pull out your teeth.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:20

He was really abusive to Nina.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:23

He was cruel to Millie. Not rip your teeth out with pliers cruel, I just want to say she kind of escalated this a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:31

Good for her.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:32

She got like kinda wrong by like pretty normal abusive husband standards and is like rip out your teeth?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:41

Yes. Good for her.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:42

That's insane.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:44

Um, Nina comes back.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:46

No, I'm not off of this. Is there at any point in time where she's like, I'm kind of escalating the situation a little bit here?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:55

She like thinks about to be honest, she doesn't really like consider the escalation. She mostly she like keeps Googling like, how long can this guy stay in this room without water?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:07

He told you to balance books on your tummy.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:10

Which seems, I'm gonna be kinda honest, seems kinda easy.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:13

Pretty crazy. Well, it like bruises her because they're heavy. Stubble? What do you mean so? Stubble? What do you mean so?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:19

Put something in it Oh like bruises.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:20

No, no, no, no, no. We're not gonna do it. We're not gonna do Andrew apologize.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:25

Bruising versus ripping out healthy teeth by the root is the fuck that's zero to a billion.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:32

Good for her.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:32

One is like a bruise, the other is like nerve damage and unbearable pain.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:37

Fuck around, find out.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:39

But like the the the Andrew deserves to die.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:44

Not by Millie's hand.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:47

Nina comes back.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:48

She's like, I'm-I'm not done though, but like, do you recognize this, bro?

SPEAKER_00 1:13:52

I refuse to recognize- I I I I support women and their rights and their wrongs.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:56

Okay, anyway.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:57

Nina's back. She's like, I'm here to save Millie. She goes in, she goes up to the attic, she's like, the door's locked, and it's quiet. That's not good. She unlocks the door.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:09

Oh god.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:10

She opens the door, and uh Andrew's in there and he's dead.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:17

Um to me, this is uh pretty anticlimactic. I was hoping that like he would be in there and he would be like um like weakened but like rabid in his ferocity. My understanding is one of the major um div uh um diversions the book takes. The dip major differences in the movie is that this is the case in the movie. She like opens the door and he is alive, weakened but fierce. Yeah. Uh and he like uh lunges at Nina.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:51

Uh and then like in the struggle, he like falls down a bunch of stairs and dies.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:56

Okay. Um, okay, so okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:00

Continue.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:01

Um Nina's like, I'm gonna call the cops.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:08

This is what you want, advantage!

SPEAKER_00 1:15:10

She's like, I'm going to call the cops and I'm going to take the fall. I don't really understand why. I am kind of I think this is supposed to be like a um, I have to do the right thing. I like set up this woman to kill my husband and so like I could protect my daughter, but like I I d that's like not moral of me, and so I need to do the right thing, which is turn myself in, I guess. So she calls the police.

unknown 1:15:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:39

And she's like, it's me. I um or she like the the police show up and by the way, j just once again, just like fuck your daughter, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:49

Yeah, that's what I kind of thought was like, what about your daughter?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:52

Yeah. Millie doesn't have a daughter.

unknown 1:15:55

Apparently.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:56

And frankly, throughout the book, kind of implies that she has like no real family ties. Uh anyway, the chief of police is like, yeah, I'm looking at it, and this kind of just seems like a terrible accident. And Nina and Millie are like, what's up? Um, can can you uh what do you mean? And he's and he like pulls Nina aside and he's like Yeah, my daughter used to date Andrew, and she was never the same, but she won't talk about it. But she it made her like dating Andrew made her extremely skittish, and I always knew something was up there, but I never knew what. So like I g I got you.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:41

Um First of all, a cop would never that his daughter was abused, you'd be like, damn it.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:48

My notes here are like unrealistic.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:50

Damn it, someone got to abuse her before I did.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:53

Yeah, oh fuck. Um so Nina and Millie are both off the hook. Um, Andrew's mom shows up, and Nina's like mega nervous that his mom is gonna be like, yeah, the cops said that like this was fine, but also like I saw his body and he was missing several teeth, and it's like not normal for like a an accident. You're not supposed to like there's no way you can like fall down the stairs or whatever. There's no way you can like accidentally lock yourself in a room and um uh like pull all your teeth out. Um but she's like uh she like pulls Nina aside and she's like, we've had our differences, and I frankly don't like you. But I'm proud of you for punishing Andrew because I punished him by making him pull out his baby teeth when he refused to brush his teeth when he was a baby, or when he was like a child, and I thought he learned that lesson, but obviously not, and so like it's a shame, but I'm proud of you for trying. Bum bum bum.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:03

So the okay twist. Okay, I don't like that, but alright, next.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:07

Uh dumb. Whatever.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:09

Okay. Uh men are abusive because they're men, not because they're mommies abuse them.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:12

They're their mommies may abuse them, and uh now they must abuse women in the same way.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:16

Look, I've been abused a lot in my life.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:19

Every single time I have been abused, that man also is abusing his mother. I have never had a man abuse me who was abused by his mother. The violence radiates off of them in all directions, not downhill. That's all I'm gonna say there. Um, what's this bitch's name, Frida McFadden?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:39

Yeah. Never been abused! Never been abused.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:41

Never has been abused. She writes 200 books, never been abused.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:45

We can I there I only have like one other plot point, but we can talk about this here, which is that for me, one of my bigger problems I had with this book is to me, I think this is like a comically insane way to portray an abusive husband.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:03

Like, uh husbands aren't abusive in like creative and elegant ways.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:08

No, they just hit you.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:09

They're yeah, they're they're abusive in like the creativity they display is like sometimes they like the bruising, like the the way they're physically abusive is in places that don't show ordinarily with like normal clothes. Yes. They're not like, hang on, they're like like can you imagine Andrew like staying up at night trying to figure out like, oh, this bitch, her hair looks so fucking busted today. What am I gonna do punishment-wise?

SPEAKER_01 1:19:36

It's such like a woman's book written by a woman, edited by a woman, thought through read by women, because a man who's abusive is just gonna hit you.

unknown 1:19:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:44

A man who's abusive is gonna scream at you and he's gonna tear you down.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:47

He's gonna scream at you, he's going to make the house like an extremely tense place to be. Um, he's going to make you feel um like constantly anxious and on edge for like the next like emotional outburst. Uh there there's no like, oh, like, um uh our daughter like didn't like her clothes today, so you have to like chill naked in the attic.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:09

Also, I'm gonna say, I didn't read the book, obviously. This book seems to have way less sexual violence than an abusive man would do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:19

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:20

Abusive men are abusive in all forms, not just one or the other. A man who hits you is also going to assault you, a man who ascult you is also gonna scream at you. Like they're all the same. So, like, the fact that he's like humble and I guess I don't fuck you fluckable anymore, so we won't have sex anymore. That's not why he was fucking you in the first place. It wasn't because you were bonable, it's because it was a way to shame and control you. Like the fact that this I'm sorry, I'm getting too upset. She hasn't been abused, and her way of deploy displaying abuse is that of someone who came from a really nice house with a really nice husband nowadays.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:00

It to me it's in the same vein as like, you know how um you know how like in movies men are abusive in like the same way every time, and it kind of implies that the only way men can be abusive is they uh drink so much that they must strike you. But like it doesn't convey the like um really heavy nuances and variations in domestic abuse. When I volunteered with uh D V shelter, um it w one of the things in the training I had to go through um was to like go just like really specifically and um methodically go through like the variations of domestic violence and domestic abuse um to like go through like um you know also like the cycle of abuse as well. That's something that like Freedom McFadden kind of um skips past, which part of the part of the cycle of abuse is that like there's this like um like after an act of you know act after like an abusive act, um whether that be like shouting or or some kind of physical or sexual violence, um your partner will or this this your partner will um he'll be like very uh apologetic and then uh you'll have like a period of time where the relationship or the marriage or whatever is like really good. Uh and then it'll like devolve again. And then like the part of the cycle is that like that period of time where the relationship is good again gets like progressively shorter and shorter and shorter until you're basically not having it at all. Um and that's something that Freedom McFadden conveys extremely poorly. Like the this is like a situation where like domestic abuse is like very like calm and like he's like being like logically it's like a it's like a perverted logic about it. He's like, oh like your hair looked shitty, so like um uh and and you looked ugly today, so you have to like tear your hair out and let me see it.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:15

So I want everyone to know that that explanation was for you, not for me, because I already know about this. I'm a victim.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:21

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:23

I think also it I mean I think it's also it's illogical, like the way that they perceive abuse and like the way that the cycle is done, and like all of it, like all of it is wrong, and I think that's really okay. This book to me has a straight as the crow flies type path to It Ends With Us.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:47

Where these are both books that are about domestic abuse that aren't really good at it.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:53

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:54

That are kind of like what a uh a white feminist neo-lib thinks abuse is without ever having experienced it. And they're like, it's when men are mean. And it's like it's it's not it's not.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:11

Yeah, you're yeah, you're basing your it's a book that's basing um an image of domestic violence on like the show Blue Bloods.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:23

It it feels here's a thought I lost it, now I got it back. It feels like a fantasy recreation of what you would assume abuse is.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:33

Which means that if you're actually being abused, which most women are at some point in time in their lives, you're gonna be like, well, he like threatened to hit me, but he never locked me in a room and made me pick out a hundred hair, so is it really abuse?

SPEAKER_00 1:24:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:44

It's like, no girl, it still is. Actually, it's abuse when your husband looks at you and says, Should you really be eating that? I don't think I would find you hot if you gained any more weight. That's still abuse, bitch. Yeah. Like all of these things are still abuse. And this I understand why you would take like a fantasy recreation, but I think unfortunately there are a handful of things in this world, especially nowadays, that like recreating to be more dramatic than they are doesn't do anything except for disserve the people who are actually experiencing them.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:10

Yeah, it's I I think it I think it's kind of one of these things where part of the issue is that like real domestic violence is very um banal and uh isn't does doesn't have like a a a literary thrilling aspect to it. Um, you know, uh you know, even for example, in at the end of part one of this book, where it and it ends with like Millie like gets locked in the room out of nowhere because she like put the books wrong. Um even that feels incomplete to me because like in a in a real scenario, like it would actually be like several weeks or even like months into the relationship because um like the relationship is new. There's like a there's like a newness to it that like is allowing Andrew in this situation to um kind of get like a honeymoon effect to it. Um and then like once like the that like honeymoon effect starts to like wear off on the relationship, then he he like starts to uh you know, then like the cycle of abuse starts.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:22

Also, a lot of this abuse is based off of like mistakes made of inperceivable rules in a house. But like that's not what triggers a lot of abusive episodes. A lot of men don't abuse because you did something wrong, they abuse because they they perceived a slight against them that you did.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:40

Right? Like he wouldn't be mad at her because her hair looks bad and that's against his rules. He would be mad because her hair looks bad and that reflects poorly on him and how dare she and blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:49

And also how dare she.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:50

It would well, it would be that type of thing. Like it wouldn't be like a I have an imaginary rule that your hair must look nice or you will receive this. Like it would be a response to him being angry at you because he took it personally.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:03

And so I don't know. I don't I don't like it. Also, this doesn't this book have like four fucking sequels?

SPEAKER_00 1:27:09

Uh it has two more. Uh there's two more. Uh there's the Housemaid's Secret, and there's the third one. I don't remember what it's called. Um there's a there's an epilogue, or there's like a kind of like breakdown. Uh Nina moves across the country, um, but Enzo doesn't come because his landscaping business is here on Long Island, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:35

Um famously only one location business landscaping.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:38

Yeah, she moves to like California or something, a place where famously they hate landscapers. Oh god. And Italians.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:46

Um we get an epilogue in which Millie is interviewing for another housemaid job, and the woman is like, uh, Nina Winchester recommended you very highly. And And then she like kinda like pull her like shirt on her arm pulls up, and there's um like big purple bruises on her arms. And um she's like kind of like uh they're in like the kitchen and she's touching like the knife block and uh and Millie's like, uh oh baby girl, I got you.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:18

She's like a murder for hire housemate.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:20

Yeah, she's kind of a murder for hire housemaid for abusive husbands.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:25

I mean And what, you hate that?

SPEAKER_01 1:28:27

No, I love that. Um I'm sorry. I I'm not I'm not thinking about the book. What I'm thinking about, which JC keeps giggling at, is I keep making these faces because you don't want to keep thinking about that. This casting agent must have read the first two chapters and went, hot, dumb bitch.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:45

Hot young white woman. Yeah, I guess that's just Sidney Sweeney.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:49

And then they didn't bother to think about like defends herself, protective of other women, like anything other than like appealing to men.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:56

Uh uh uh conveys a lot of complex and nuanced emotions.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:01

Yeah, they were like hot, hot woman to man to seduce man, Sidney Sweeney. So I'm like, I can't imagine Sydney Sweeney doing anything against a man. One. Uh-huh. You think that Republican would ever go against an abusive man? Calm down. Um.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:24

There is something very funny to me here where like the implication is that like she's gotten away with it before. But like she got away with it solely on number one, her employer going, like, I'll take the fall for this, and then the chief of police being like, Don't even trip.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:38

Yeah, what are you gonna do? You gonna go to jail for your abuse?

SPEAKER_00 1:29:40

Also Like, are you just going to keep hoping that happens?

SPEAKER_01 1:29:44

There are ways to kill your husband that doesn't involve a knife block. You can do this more like Hello.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:50

You can do it a little elegantly.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:51

Also, it is this husband does bruises, he's not even doing deep, long-form metaphorical abuse. Sounds like it's not her problem, then.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:58

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:01

Um, yeah, it's um Is her game gonna be to go into everyone's house, fuck their husband?

SPEAKER_00 1:30:08

Yeah, she keeps just like stealing husbands and then killing them.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:12

Yeah, I don't I don't know about that one.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:15

No, that's her plan, and it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:18

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:18

Um, my understanding is the second one is kind of like this. It's it's like um she she like gets hired, but like um the woman is being kind of weird, and she's like, oh, is like the woman abusive? Uh and then uh the third one I guess in the second one she like starts a relationship with a guy and then I think gets married, and then in the third one, she like uh her past threatens to um ruin her life or whatever. And um it uh oh no, she's uh it might mess up like her own domestic life that she has set up. Oh no. I don't know that I'll read the rest of the series. Um I mean I definitely wouldn't read the rest of them here for the podcast, but I don't even know that I would read them, like, for me personally. Um I I kind of like the idea of like this being like a one-off. I think the idea of sequels seems silly for these. Um I I think the kind of implied ending is is much better than having like an ending because now because like once you have like a second book, you do have to now explain to me like, yeah, like what do you mean she just has to like keep going job to job?

SPEAKER_01 1:31:32

What do you mean she keeps fucking everyone's husband?

SPEAKER_00 1:31:34

Yeah, she fucks everyone husband. She like keeps murdering husband like surely at some point someone would notice, like, hey, this like housemaid keeps like showing up to new houses and then the husbands end up dead.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:44

Yeah. Also, eventually you're bound to end up in the house of the actual police chief himself, since you know how they are.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:50

And you know how they are.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:52

And you're not getting away with that one.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:53

Yeah. Um so yeah, so I I think um I think overall, in terms of like reading experience, I think this one had its fun moments, had like a lot of fun moments. Part one especially is um fun, like reading like all the parts like um, you know, like she she like uh tries to do something and then Nina's like, that's not even what I asked you to do, but like it is. That part was kind of fun with like the mystery of it all.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:25

Haven't you read a book by the woman who wrote Gone Girl?

SPEAKER_00 1:32:28

Yes, I wrote Sharp, I read, I wrote. I read Sharp Objects.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:32

How would you say Sharp Objects writing writing compares to this?

SPEAKER_00 1:32:38

I think she's a better writer than Nina McFadden. Um but she also um she only wrote like four books. She wrote like Sharp Objects, she wrote uh Gone Girl, she wrote like two more, and then now she I think she ex only exclusively does um screenwriting.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:55

Okay, because I can't imagine I I think Gone Girl unfortunately did it well. The movie did it well enough that I don't know about the book.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:01

Yeah, I don't know about the book. Um Sharp Sharp Objects, the book was fine. I didn't like it very much. Um I I thought it I remember it being um there's just like a bunch of stuff that I was like, I don't know. Um and then like I thought the TV show was was alright. Um I haven't read Gone I should read Gone Girl. I'll read Gone Girl for the podcast. And then we'll compare it to this one.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:26

Exactly. We're gonna see who did the girl girl scheming better.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:30

Yeah, who did girl schemes better?

SPEAKER_01 1:33:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:34

Um yeah, for sure. Um but yeah, I don't know that I would read the rest of this series. Um, or I don't even necessarily know that this has like convinced me to read more Freedom McFadden.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:45

I I read my Monsterfucker, but I used to read a bunch of horror thriller stuff, and I don't this sort of just pissed me off. I'd be like, it's it makes me feel kind of like how you do when you're like, oh, it's not a secret if you just have your internal character's thoughts not be about that thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:57

That's not a twist.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:59

I will say this book, that is something I wanted to bring up. This book does do the bit of like um like you're in someone's mind, but like they have like a a twist, and like like for for in like Pretty Little Liars, they're like actively not thinking about the Jenna thing, um, in a way that like is only for me. Um this book does do that much better. Um, where like it's kind of a situation where the implication is that like um uh Millie is actively trying not to think about her experiences in jail because she like doesn't want to dwell on it. She's trying to move past it. I think that does it pretty well. I also think like the reason for her going to jail is like enough degrees of separation away from like I can't find a job because I was in jail. If she was like, and the reason for that, and uh, this is I'm just thinking about this in chapter two, um, like that would feel silly. Uh-huh. So I do think she does that better. Uh, I will say I did enjoy reading this much more than I enjoyed reading uh a man called Ova. Um which I I I did just find I I did find a man called Ova just like a a a really annoying read. Um and I felt like this flowed, at the very least, this flowed. Um it does do the thriller book thing, where like every chapter ends on like a um like a little cliffhanger note, and to me that always like I understand it is a mainstay of the thriller genre, but to me it kind of feels like um like a writer who doesn't have confidence in her book, that like a writer without the confidence that I just won't put the book down. And that's the housemaid.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:55

That's the housemaid. Try try not to get comedically evilly abused.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:01

And if you do, uh hire an ex-con.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:04

I heard Sydney Sweeney is really great at getting a man's attention and murdering him.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:08

I wouldn't like the idea. If this was her plan, surely she could have just hired like like a a like an ex-con who's like a six foot seven, like three hundred-pound guy who just like chokes her husband out immediately.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:22

No, because like he she has to make him fall in love.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:25

Why?

SPEAKER_01 1:36:25

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:27

Just kill him. Just hire hire someone and then be like low-key between us, kill him, I'll protect you in prison.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:33

Loki do murder.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:34

Yeah. Uh anyway, um have a good y'all.