Mobile Armored Podcast Show

Matt Trakker's Daddy Issues

• Adam Moore and PJ McNerney • Season 1 • Episode 39

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It's Episode 39: "Green Nightmare"! Matt Tracker’s “cultural‑exchange” flight to New Guinea nosedives, unleashing an episode where MASK forgets its own name: almost zero masks, barely a vehicle, but plenty of wildly offensive mud‑people stereotypes. While VENOM cosplays as jungle gods, Scott rewires a live breaker panel mid‑air (Father‑of‑the‑Year, Matt!), T‑Bob swallows a bug and turns into slapstick bridge timber, and Alex cheerfully suggests mowing down the locals. It’s 22 minutes of lore teases and face‑palms that somehow squeezes a crystal‑powered super‑weapon, crocodile wrestling, and raccoon‑eyed tribal masks into one giant, “Wait… what show is this again?”

Join Adam and PJ for another unforgettable episode of the Mobile Armored Podcast Show!


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Adam:

Welcome to the Mobile Armored Podcast show, the podcast that joins the NAACP in condemning this episode of Mask. I am Adam Moore, alongside my co-host and best friend PJ McNerney. How's it going, pj?

PJ:

I'm doing well, Adam. it's funny we've just come off. The last episode where we've made comments about the bifurcated nature of mask,

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

it's sometimes like, what the hell is this story doing? Combined with some really cool stuff. it's fascinating and horrifying when you hit an episode where aspect overwhelms the other in dramatic fashion And what's really unfortunate, there's actually a lot of cool things inside of it that are driven by, at Mach One.

Adam:

a hundred percent. let's set the scene for a second. it's episode 39. green Nightmare, and the log line is Venom agent Vanessa Warfield sabotages, Matt Tracker's private jet, which crashes into the jungles of New Guinea while returning a priceless gem. His father was entrusted with the rest of the mask team goes to rescue them. So on the surface, That's a really cool episode. but now getting to your point, there's a lot of cool world building and mask lore in this episode, but there's hardly any mask in the episode at all. I find that extremely frustrating. Like, I don't know if there's a single mask vehicle that actually touches the ground in this episode. And are any masks ever put on.

PJ:

yes to both, but only at the very end, it's a different episode. it misses, and because it's different it could have worked, but it doesn't. it's missing a lot of the core elements. So we don't get the team assembly, we don't get the

Adam:

Right,

PJ:

we don't get Thunder Hawk. there's

Adam:

We don't.

PJ:

of things that are just absent here. And again, there are so many places where in isolation it actually works really, really well. There's a lot of smart stuff going on. It's unfortunately overwhelmed by this terrible, pervasive racism and native representation that is just over the top.

Adam:

Yeah, I mean, we open on a stormy night in the jungle. We're not quite sure where yet, but of course we'll find out. It's in New Guinea. Um, and I am not even sure how to describe the insanity that's going on. So we have brown skinned tribes, people dancing in masks, more like the bag that Sandman wears and Batman over their heads, and they're in this temple bowing down to the chief who says to a pagan idol, behold the planets move to their places. The prophecy shall be fulfilled. And that right there needs some unpacking, I have to say. we may be kind of, you know, jumping. a little bit further ahead in the episode with this, but the prophecy is what? That, the man from Broken Bird will return a star of life? Okay. So that man is Matt Tracker's dad. the star of life is a crystal that powers the mask, helmets But is that a prophecy or just a reminder like, Hey, by the way, I'll be back someday to return this aren't prophecies kind of more, prophetic as opposed to circling a date on a calendar.

PJ:

they should be. and it would be nice to know what is like the stones in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom were what brought the fertility to the land. It's what, gave, the sort of vitality and when they were taken, everything went to shit.

Adam:

Right.

PJ:

nothing of that here. Like, as far as

Adam:

No.

PJ:

like our idol will have both eyes back is kind of like the understanding that I got out of this, which was like, okay, yeah, I get it. Like when something's busted and you, you lent someone to someone a couple decades later, you want it back.

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

I guess I would prophesize Adam that, one of these days I will get you your birthday gift of the autobiography of Lee a Coca. So that's my prophecy to you. Okay.

Adam:

It has been prophesized, and so I will pray for that day to come when my birthday gift arrives

PJ:

the way

Adam:

in the mail.

PJ:

the way you pray is wearing grass loin claws and with a mud helmet on your head. to be fair, like, and, and it is gonna be very difficult for any defense here, Adam. Okay, I'm gonna say it's impossible, but terms of, hey, what do these people actually look like? It's actually a fairly one-to-one representation based on whatever National Geographic photo they picked that day. should they have done this different question?

Adam:

just to kinda wrap up what's happening here with the tribe, after saying soon man from Broken Bird will return a star of life, the chief opens a box and pulls a picture out of it of a white man that looks a lot like Matt Tracker, only with a very thin mustache standing next to a dark-skinned tribesman. And he puts that picture in front of the idol as an offering. we then cut to the tracker mansion and we're in one of the multiple labs that exists in the tracker mansion. And Alex's hard at work, electrocuting a crystal, and he cries at last a perfect crystal. Matt explains that, this crystal is the power amplifier we use to charge our masks. Alex says that for years they've been trying to duplicate it. And Matt explains to Scott that they've been doing this because of a promise that your grandfather made many years ago.

PJ:

Okay, so slam the brakes on right there. Because this is actually kind of amazing

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

not gonna touch this,

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

which is, now we actually have intimate knowledge of how the masks work.

Adam:

for many episodes of this podcast we have talked about what is the power source, is it radioactive? If so, have all the mask agents been irradiated

PJ:

Right,

Adam:

So now the radioactive properties of this crystal have not been identified, but they're all in a room with it. So either Matt still doesn't care or it's not radioactive. Nonetheless, we now know this is what powers mask. Very cool.

PJ:

So this, but did Matt's father actually understand the power that was in that crystal? Did he invent the technology for masks? and we're never gonna see this, but would the Mudman masks actually be an inspiration for the masks they wear?

Adam:

Yeah,

PJ:

what does this mean for Venom? How do they charge their masks? Do they have a duplicate crystal?

Adam:

that's what I was saying at the top of the pod. Like there's so much cool world building here and it's so frustrating. They do nothing with it at all. Matt's dad gets a crystal of power from a tribes person. We will learn later that the dad, and then I guess Matt later on, promised to use it for the good of the world.

PJ:

Right.

Adam:

So basically you get a crystal and say, thanks. I'm gonna use it for the good of the world. What does that. Mean, there's another world where this is like Matt's number one dime from Ducktails, like he built his billion dollar empire on this crystal of power. there's so many ways this could go, but he just gets a crystal and away we go. When did they realize that this crystal had such great power? and does Miles know about it?

PJ:

again, they made a choice here and we're gonna be roasting that choice for the mudman throughout the episode, the masks they wear are made of mud. a really cool thing to tie it together would be what if that crystal or it's sister crystal, charges those mud masks to do something again.

Adam:

Yeah,

PJ:

we can inspire this thing and connect these dots together

Adam:

the fact is to do this episode right, you would need a two-parter.

PJ:

Absolutely.

Adam:

you really would need

PJ:

Yeah.

Adam:

a full 44 minutes of screen time to tell this story. maybe the original writer had that idea.

PJ:

Maybe.

Adam:

and the story editor when it came in was like. No, that's not what we do here. I'm just gonna chop it up into an episode that fits our 22 minute format. maybe somewhere, in some landfill in Burbank. There are hard decomposing script pages that answer all these questions, but unfortunately we're left with this.

PJ:

name is Rosebud.

Adam:

Well, we cut to the tracker Mansion, rape, I mean, library. and Matt shows Scott, his father's journal that catalogs his encounters with the New Guinea Mudman. so there's a Buddy Hawks nomination I think, for the Mudman. Did you do any research on whether the term mudman is from National Geographic or anything

PJ:

I think I did, and I think it, it's not, obviously the right name, but if you go to Wikipedia, they're called the Soro Mudman.

Adam:

Mud? Yep.

PJ:

I'll say that the encounter of the Mud men or even calling them, this isn't in and of itself a Buddy Hawks nomination, I think. But that's all I'm giving the writer again, we're about to hit an avalanche of Buddy Hawks at this point in time.

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

it's like fun. You've encountered a native tribe? I'm almost certain the depiction of their practices at the top was of his buddy Hawks worthy across the board.

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

you know, just the notion of I encounter a native tribe. I'm like, okay, that's not. It's not a buddy Hawkson,

Adam:

Okay.

PJ:

but

Adam:

Granted,

PJ:

hold on

Adam:

yes, Scott says Those masks sure are ugly, and t bobb says, yeah, I bet. For Halloween, they scare each other by wearing suits and ties than Matt chuckles.

PJ:

And there's your buddy Hawks right there,

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

So, we'll call balls and strikes, but it's like, thanks T Bob. for reminding us what you've been programmed to do.

Adam:

Yep. Now, we learned that 30 years ago, Wargo, the native person in the picture with Matt's dad and Matt's father saved each other's lives. What do you think about that image, by the way, of, of Matt's dad? First of all, it's a spitting image of Matt, except for that thin mustache.

PJ:

it's an interesting art direction and maybe a slight bit of laziness you just say like, ah, it looks like Matt. Exactly.

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

Errol Flynn mustache.

Adam:

Yep, yep.

PJ:

you don't see too many mustaches like that in the show. In fact, there's only one I'm aware of that even closely looks like that. Miles Mayhem.

Adam:

True. But Miles is very bushy

PJ:

Well,

Adam:

Now if he started with an Errol Flynn one and it just kind of over the years grew, then sure. But are you saying that maybe Miles is Matt's dad?

PJ:

that's a theory we held on earlier. this episode seems to debunk that.

Adam:

We don't know for sure that Matt's dad is dead. What Matt later on tells Wgo is my father is no longer with us, so it could mean he no longer with us as in mask. he's now with Venom. So let's leave that door open.

PJ:

Let's leave it open

Adam:

Alright, we cut to a flashback and we see Matt's father's plane go down during a cyclone in New Guinea. Wgo, rescues. Matt's dad from the plane, and then the plane's gas tank explodes and Wargo gets seriously injured by the explosion. I love the trading places. It's like, I'll save you from the plane. Now I have to save you from my plane that exploded

PJ:

it.

Adam:

while you were saving me. but now Matt's dad nursed, wgo back to health and in gratitude, WGO gave Matt's dad the tribe's most precious possession. The crystal. Don't they have two crystals, though? One in each socket of the eyes of their idol, so,

PJ:

I wanna touch on that in a second, but I do wanna say there's a series of images here and I'd like to do a little bit of a game. So there's one where, WGO is laying on the floor of a cave and

Adam:

mm-hmm.

PJ:

is kneeling over him. And then another where Matt's dad is nursing him by, giving a cup of water or something like that. And another where Wgo is kind of luxuriously reclining while Andrew Tracker brings a bunch of fruit. let me ask you a question, Adam. Let's say instead of Argo, it was a scantily clad native woman. No judgment, but what would we be interpreting is going on between those two characters? And why wouldn't we assume the same here? No judgment. just saved each other's lives.

Adam:

I mean, this is definitely the beginning of a love story.

PJ:

this is their love story

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

Dreamweaver could be playing right now, for these two.

Adam:

Yeah. And I'll point out too, the assortment of fruit that Matt's dad pulls in, he's got bananas, papayas, oranges, looks like grapes. What? Jungle, are they in that has, this is cornucopia. It's like, it seems like he went to the grocery store and came back.

PJ:

Well, he really wanted to make sure that, WGO was, well fed and felt satisfied.

Adam:

Well, rock was like, no, no, no, I'm fine. I think it's time to go. He is like, no, no, no, let's stay here in this cave together, you and I, who else do we need in this world? But the two of us.

PJ:

I mean, look, they had a traumatic event, a very intense event happen. They both nearly died, and so I think

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

They're latching on to that preciousness of life

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

of them.

Adam:

if only it's just society tore them apart.

PJ:

tore them apart in so many ways. It was the 1950s or sixties. It was a different time. one little comment on the crystal being given,

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

that had occurred to me much later on, which was assuming that Wgo is giving this crystal to Andrew, is there an implication that, listen, saved your life, you saved mine, but my life is so much more important than yours. So I must give you this crystal in common sense to balance the scales here.

Adam:

that's a great point.

PJ:

Hey, I'm the chief. You're some random white guy. here's the crystal.

Adam:

so Wargo saves Matt's dad. Then Matt's dad saves Wargo, who, by the way, his life wouldn't be in danger if he hadn't tried to save Matt's life in the first place.

PJ:

True.

Adam:

so then Matt's dad keeps him imprisoned to the cave for days, weeks, we don't know to quote unquote nurse him back to health.

PJ:

Oh, I see. So this is a ransom

Adam:

I think he's like, I nursed you back to help. I could have left you there to die. What are you gonna give me? WGO does give him this crystal, and Matt's explaining to Scott, he is kinda like wrapping up the explanation, is that Wargo trusted Matt's father to use the crystals to benefit mankind. And Matt promised that he'd return it to Wargo after he'd learned the secret of its power.

PJ:

What power.

Adam:

Right,

PJ:

Wait, what's the power? this is a frustrating bit about the script because it reverses the facts coming into evidence because

Adam:

right.

PJ:

know the power now by virtue of the fact that it charges the masks. But what proof of there was back then, so it's like, it's an out of order operation.

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

Matt promised Wgo

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

asks about Matt's dad later on. It actually presumes that Matt met Wargo with his dad.

Adam:

Or they went back another time.

PJ:

they went back

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

like in between the first encounter in this one.

Adam:

What do you think happened in that meeting? Like, Hey, Rago, here's my son haven't unlocked the secret yet. I would've called, but you have no phones here. So I had to come and tell you that in person

PJ:

what's great that we could actually add one more thing to that meeting because both WGO and Matt have a picture identical picture, means

Adam:

that's true.

PJ:

took the picture, got the film developed with duplicates, and then either with Matt or

Adam:

That's true.

PJ:

himself, came back to give a picture to Wgo.

Adam:

So he definitely had a moment. He's like, remember the cave? Remember those times? Do you ever think about it?

PJ:

What if we stayed there?

Adam:

Imagine life would've been so much different, Mor Igo. different as he looks down at his son. Well, back to the Tracker library. And Matt says, so how about it? Scott wanna take a trip to New Guinea? Scott says very excitedly, we're gonna explore a real jungle. And I don't understand why he's so excited.'cause this is not the first time they've explored a jungle.

PJ:

So I think he's excited because Matt has asked him as a father and Scott knows he is not gonna be left in the care of someone while Matt sleeps with a floozy

Adam:

Okay.

PJ:

because, Scott leaps up into Matt's arms and Matt looks actually quite fatherly in that moment.

Adam:

Notice though he doesn't hug Scott.

PJ:

that too.

Adam:

Scott jumps up and wraps his arm around Matt's neck and Matt holds onto the book and just kind of smiles.

PJ:

Mm.

Adam:

Right. Interesting. A child touching me. Fascinating. T Bobb has to throw in his 2 cents here and he says, I get nervous when I see crocodile in the dictionary and Scott and Matt laugh and I'm gonna go ahead and nominate this for a Roy Batty award for Scott and Matt laughing at t Bob's fears.

PJ:

A hundred percent, Like, just always putting them down.

Adam:

we cut to Matt flying his awesome high tech jet to New Guinea. I'm surprised though he's not flying Thunder Hawk.

PJ:

Yeah. this is the first time in a very long time. have no Thunder Hawk in this

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

and I, you know, the distance from Denver to Papua New Guinea is 7,600 miles At

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

roughly 10 hours, so I was presumably he just didn't wanna sit in his mask outfit for

Adam:

Yeah. Maybe, but you know, think about this. It's an episode of mask. We've seen no masks yet. I mean, it started like an episode of Mask, a very culturally inappropriate, representation of a native tribe. we meet Alex. We're in a lab. We're doing crystal science stuff, but there's been no mask vehicles, no mask, helmets, no mention of mask, really. At all. And to transport them to the location for the episode is a vehicle we've never seen before. And I'm gonna go ahead and place a wager we'll never see again, which is Matt's private jet that for some reason he likes to fly himself. I mean, I'll give him that. It's a cool jet. He likes to fly stuff. It's fun for him.

PJ:

Yeah,

Adam:

how is this an episode of Mask Aside from the fact that these are characters who have appeared in Mask before?

PJ:

it's an episode of Mask because we saw Masked Mudman at the top.

Adam:

And there was the theme song at the beginning, which clued us in.

PJ:

Oh,

Adam:

imagine if you know it's in syndication, right? As a kid. So imagine if this is the first episode you tune into, do you wanna watch another episode of this show?

PJ:

I just assume it's about some billionaire and his son getting into trouble with their robot all the time.

Adam:

how confusing would it be? at the tail end of the episode, a big jet shows up with a semi-truck in it that shoots laers down.

PJ:

It's

Adam:

you're like, an 8-year-old kid eating your lucky charms after school watching the show. And you're like, what is going on here?

PJ:

It's a

Adam:

Well,

PJ:

huh?

Adam:

they land in New Guinea and go through customs it turns out the Prime Minister's office alerted customs that Matt would be arriving. It must be very nice to be a billionaire.

PJ:

I would love to hear that call where like, that's like, Hey Jerry, guess what? I'm coming into town just so you know, I'm just swinging in, gonna do some stuff, so I'll be bouncing

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

airport.

Adam:

I will alert customs immediately,

PJ:

right.

Adam:

probably assuming that Matt is bringing in weapons of mass destruction with him as he usually does. But the next line from the customs agent is, I understand you're bringing in an extremely rare gemstone. So the Prime Minister, in that same conversation, if they asked like, well, why do we need to let this guy in so quickly? The Prime Minister would've said,'cause he is bringing in an extremely rare gemstone, like bizarre. Why would the Prime Minister's office tell anyone this.

PJ:

It's on the off chance they frisk him and find this gemstone. It's like, just so you know, in case anyone gets outta line, it's a gemstone, it's rare. let him go. my only thought was, we know in a second that this agent's on the take. it's possible that the contact in the PM's office is on the take as well.'cause the PM's not gonna call customs.

Adam:

the agent says, I'll expedite your documents immediately, and once again, must be very nice

PJ:

Private jet flying wherever you want.

Adam:

wherever you want.

PJ:

of the line, be treated with respect all, all the time. It's great. Great.

Adam:

Yeah, by the way, while they're in, in line in customs, just wanna point out that an insect crawls into tbo, which causes him to start giggling. This will become quote unquote important later on in the episode. I'm always curious though, I feel like this has happened once before, maybe twice before with tbo, it doesn't seem like he's sealed very well.

PJ:

It's true. And is also a weird choice on the part of the writer

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

to do this. Like, why, why? It's my question to you.

Adam:

Yeah. And we'll get to the big payoff of it. And I think once again, we'll ask why. Well, as you alluded to, the customs agent goes into a back room and meets with sly racks, and Sly gets rough at the guy,

PJ:

what's great about this sequence is the guy says, oh yeah, match tracker's here with the gym. Without saying a fucking word, sly pushes him against the wall. Like it's a really hard push. Like it's just like he's angry. It's like,

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

what kind of gem? It's like sly, why do you care, man? Like, come on.

Adam:

Do you know what kind of gem it is? Sly? Like why does it matter? But yeah, the agent responds. I didn't ask. I didn't want him to get suspicious. What about my money?

PJ:

So in my mind it was like, yeah, not asking actually in order to stay conspicuous actually makes a lot of sense to me. it also occurred to me, Hey, sly miles, Vanessa, why not just kidnap the billionaire? It doesn't even matter that he is the, the leader of mask. It's like, wait, we have a billionaire. Let's just kidnap him.

Adam:

Meanwhile, Vanessa Undercover as a maintenance worker, places an override device on Matt's jet.

PJ:

Okay. This was actually one of the most unbelievable parts of the episode for me.

Adam:

Yeah, Vanessa.

PJ:

undercover maintenance worker, because she would get hit on by everyone on the staff. Cliff would be a much better choice here.

Adam:

Also with her flaming red hair,

PJ:

Yes.

Adam:

Hey, you don't look familiar.

PJ:

Unless had she been in this job for a number of weeks to get undercover?

Adam:

There's no way that Vanessa Warfield would agree to anything like that. I think Cliff is absolutely the right choice for this. I don't know why it was Vanessa, but anyways, we're back in the air and suddenly the steering goes out on the jet as predicted, and now we cut to Manta following behind with racks. And Vanessa inside Miles tells them to follow closely. He doesn't want any mistakes. And Vanessa says to Sly, who is sitting next to her, I'm sitting next to the world's biggest mistake. Like Ouch.

PJ:

You know, on a couple different reads of that line, I was wondering, she saying that whatever happened between the two of them was a mistake

Adam:

Is she saying that adding him to the Venom team was a mistake? Is she saying the fact that he was born at all was a mistake? That's where my head went and I felt really, really bad for Sly.

PJ:

I, I had actually interpreted it as it was a mistake for her to get drunk that night with him and have relations.

Adam:

Okay. Well I think they all fit probably.

PJ:

All the above.

Adam:

Matt asks Scott to disengage the autopilot, by sending him to like this computer room in the back of the jet Scott goes in there and competently knows exactly what to do, which is proof that Scott is a genius.

PJ:

It's true also that computer room's insane,

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

like

Adam:

What kind, I mean is this Air Force one, like do they have let's actually talk about it. I would assume Matt has some pretty impressive countermeasures

PJ:

you

Adam:

on his private jet.

PJ:

but if so, wouldn't he be able to counteract whatever they've got?

Adam:

Yeah, I agree. why does his private jet need and it's not really a computer room. it actually looks like it's a bit of a boiler room is this a steam powered private jet?

PJ:

It's true.

Adam:

rather than I guess press a few buttons, Scott and t Bobb pull a couple of wires. autopilot is disengaged Matt regains control. However, the bug that crawled inside of t Bobb earlier causes him to go haywire and he kind of he pulls all sorts of wires out shorts out the plane's computer and. They're going down.

PJ:

once again, this bug bit's a bit contrived for the entire episode

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

also unnecessary. It seemed

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

bring that plane down.

Adam:

How about Manta, which has lasers on it. fire at the jet that would've worked too. Again, it's an episode of Mask Folks, like, let's have a mask episode. Anyways, uh, sly and Vanessa have a lover's quarrel inside of Manta, causing one of the wings to get damaged. Vanessa calls Miles and states that Manta is out and they have to meet back at the airfield. Um, uh, folks, PJ puts the best little Easter eggs in the, uh, in the rundown. You've yet to catch, catch me, but one of these days I. I'm going to give some inaccurate information about what happens in the episode. Well, anyways, Matt's plane crash lands stopping short of going over a cliff, but they survive. But then the natives show up and greet them with blow darts, and as the natives start to approach the plane, t Bobb says, go away. We already gave at the office why?

PJ:

I don't know. if it wasn't such a non sequitur, I would nominate it as a buddy Hawks. it is so many steps removed from what

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

supposed to mean. It's like,

Adam:

it makes no sense. But now the locals. Start pushing the plane over the cliff

PJ:

why?

Adam:

no, exactly. Why are they like, no rules have been set up for this tribe. you know how there's that island off the coast of, it's like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh area. There's this island where there's, there's this, indigenous tribe that's never been met by the developed world. anyone who's ever approached has been fired at by like poisonous darts So there's actually never been any true interaction between them. This is not that tribe. I'm trying to figure out why, because earlier the prophecy about the broken bird crashing from above was spoken of, is this not a broken bird from the sky?

PJ:

So I think what will come to know really quickly, it's a different tribe. and again, you're a hundred percent right. There really is no. Like everything is inferred.

Adam:

Yeah,

PJ:

like what venom's about to do to bell lock these guys. at this point, venom hasn't shown up, so the best we've got is this chief doesn't want this hunk of metal on his lawn, and so therefore it's like,

Adam:

yeah,

PJ:

Like that does not belong here. I don't care who's inside. just get it gone.

Adam:

Well, the plane, does go falling off the cliff. They all go down falling to their doom. at least they're all gonna die together. But I really gotta wonder what's gonna happen.

PJ:

don't know. I don't know.

Adam:

We will find out after these messages.

We've got them in sight. Hold on. Mask will be right back. Now watch what Mask does.

Adam:

We're back when we left you. A group of natives pushed Matt, private jet off a cliff sent Matt, Scott and t Bobb falling to their doom. They hit the bottom, they're dead. Who will carry on the mask mission. And that becomes the question

PJ:

Gloria

Adam:

the remainder of this.

PJ:

have to deal with the loss of her husband and stepchild through the billions of dollars that she's just inherited.

Adam:

Yeah. And if she takes over mask, she'll have the venom problem solved in one episode.

PJ:

Yes, she'll have a lot of problems. I feel like she'll deal with venom in one episode and then take on something with a little more meat, like the Iran Contra scandal,

Adam:

yeah.

PJ:

you know, just tensions in the Middle East, the Cold War, like

Adam:

yeah, absolutely. that is actually not what happens folks. the plane lands in a tree. Matt, Scott and t Bobb are still alive somehow without a scratch, and so I'm gonna nominate them all for a sly racks ragdoll award here.

PJ:

A hundred percent on the sly racks.

Adam:

Switchblade appears and opens fire on that group of natives who had pushed the plane over and appears to open fire for no particular reason at all.

PJ:

Or racism.

Adam:

could be. Yep. Buddy Hawk's nomination then. Yeah.

PJ:

or then again, switchblade will frequently fire at folks for no reason at all. So it

Adam:

Yeah,

PJ:

be a hatred of humanity in general. Maybe it's not racism, maybe it's

Adam:

yeah, sly and Vanessa jump in with Piranha and they also open fire.

PJ:

So

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

you notice, like one of the shots,'cause this one scene basically has a lot of natives being hit, one of the natives gets hit squarely in the ass. So we're

Adam:

And his like, like steam or smoke coming off his butt as he is running away. Yeah. I haven't seen a lot of people get hit by lasers, run away while their flesh is smoking. Seems more like a cartoon effect than anything in real life. But anyways, what's fun is that slide gets hit with sleep darts, from the tribe's people, and almost drives piranha off a cliff. Fortunately, Vanessa in the sidecar, grabs the wheel, puts the brakes on just in time, and she says, just like Rex, he falls asleep and I wind up with the nightmare. Is this a reference? To the time he got her pregnant. Is this the mistake she was referencing?

PJ:

I mean, she did say he was the biggest mistake in the world.

Adam:

There you go. switchblade Lands and Miles Reveals himself wearing a native mask and says, stop, I command you. I am your fire God. And they start worshiping him and I give him a Buddy Hawks nomination.

PJ:

So Adam, I have a question for you.

Adam:

Yeah,

PJ:

did he get that mask from? some local curio store and

Adam:

Or did he make it outta construction paper?

PJ:

and this was not the original plan. Did he know

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

this way? So he actually did this in

Adam:

Yeah,

PJ:

needed to pull, like I said before, a bell lock. or is this a Hail Mary? Because he didn't expect things to go down this way. It's like, oh shit. none of this is what I expected. Let me get my mask on that I brought just in case.

Adam:

I'm confused. Help me out here. What was the plan again? Miles one, two, steal Matt's gemstone.

PJ:

Yes.

Adam:

Okay, that's why we're here. So many questions. I guess the idea then was that Matt called the New Guinea Prime Minister's office and said, Hey, I'm coming with a gemstone,

PJ:

Right.

Adam:

clear the way for customs for me. And then that's how the information got out so someone was on the take in the New Guinea Prime Minister's office called Miles and said, Hey, there's a dude coming in with a crystal. I mean, everyone knows who Matt Tracker is, so if Miles's like, oh, Matt Tracker, he is got a crystal must be valuable. there is nothing laid out in this episode that explains why Venom is really here, why they want the crystal, how they found out about it. no setup or information whatsoever.

PJ:

No, there's not. And again, there's so many good places where a connection would be amazing. Like Venom needs the crystal because their duplicate is failing them for charging their own masks.

Adam:

Great.

PJ:

venom had gotten a hold of this duplicate of a crystal somehow, like through Andrew Tracker's father. there's easy ways to, cinch it, to make it really work well together. And again, we're just kind of inferring across the board here.

Adam:

No, I mean, this goes back to there is so much world building that could have been done in this episode that they just whiff on. They just don't even, they swing and they miss by a mile. I mean, what would've had to have happened though is that Venom would've had to have discovered that Matt is somehow connected to mask, if he has this crystal of power, which okay, out of just over halfway through the series could have been an interesting turning point.

PJ:

Yeah. you can actually get around that by, you know, tracker Industries is a major supplier of weapons to mask. it's actually a weird leap think of the idea of a billionaire being the head of a paramilitary group. you could easily see a billionaire being a supplier of material

Adam:

Sure.

PJ:

group.

Adam:

absolutely

PJ:

You don't have to give away the ghost of the secret identities, but also create that connective tissue. I don't know, it just helps us get invested into the world even more.

Adam:

But they do none of that.

PJ:

Nope.

Adam:

what happens next is that for no reason whatsoever, the mask jet shows up the big giant blue vehicle carrying mask. Jet shows up. Alex Dusty and Brad are on board.

PJ:

So few things. We have to either believe that there was a time jump of at least 11 hours, or Matt had said, you know what, we need the mask Jett following, just in case, or related. There's always mask agents like a standby alert team flying around when Matt travels just in case.

Adam:

Well, and then this would take me back to what I said very early on when he got his first father of the year nomination, this episode where he was like, why would you bring Scott to a place where Venom might be operating? the only reason you'd have mask in their mask jet, just kind of following where Matt goes is in the event Venom shows up.

PJ:

or it's like, oh, because I'm a billionaire and I need security.

Adam:

in which case they've done a pretty bad job because he crashed in his plane, could have died there. Natives pushed his plane off. A cliff could have died there, and now they're, you know, Matt, Scott and Tbo are running through the jungle, pursued by the natives, switch plates, also firing in them. They reach a river, they can't cross because of crocodiles. They turn t bobb into a bridge to cross the river. But the bug inside t Bobb causes him to wiggle, which sends Matt and Scott into the water about to be eaten by a crock. again, the team trailing Matt to protect him to this point, has done an awful job.

PJ:

Brad was allowed to fly, which is why they were delayed by a couple hours.

Adam:

Okay, well speaking of that crocodile, just as they're about to be eaten by it, which by the way, Matt does nothing to try to save Scott. He just holds him and says Scott, t Bobb actually, sticks his foot out to hold the Croc's mouth open.

PJ:

he's got his angry eyes on too, in this

Adam:

He does,

PJ:

like,

Adam:

he really does.

PJ:

with the wrong family asshole. Like, I don't know what happens to that crock, but I don't think it's gonna be pretty.

Adam:

I feel bad for the crocodile. it was just living its life

PJ:

Just living its

Adam:

doing its crocodile thing. And then here comes Matt, Scott and t Bob.

PJ:

Ooh.

Adam:

And

PJ:

Ah,

Adam:

it probably wasn't trying to eat them. It was just swimming along and happened to open its mouth. Uh, well they are, uh, they're saved of course. Matt Scott and Te Bber run through the jungle and they arrived at a walled off tribal village. They kind of hit a, hit a dead end, and they're surrounded by these angry, natives tribes people. They're about to be killed when they lean against a stone wall, which spins around kind of, you know, Indiana Jones style. and it brings them face to face with the mudman from earlier.

PJ:

So this is actually like, in the world of it, a pretty terrifying scene. jumping from the pan into the fire.

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

given that we know momentarily, this is where Argo's village, it's

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

weird that the chief doesn't come up to see these random white folk being tied up.

Adam:

I agree completely. He just, I guess he just hangs out in the temple and waits for broken bird to fall from sky with power Crystal.

PJ:

Yeah. Someone's gonna return it. By the way, they're

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

I mention they're white? If you see some white people come by, just'em into the temple, huh?

Adam:

They're the ones inside the broken bird. And by broken bird, I mean plain, you know, the things in the sky. Anyways, venom.

PJ:

hit the ground, according to my knowledge of them.

Adam:

So stay away. Wait for them to explode. And then you wanted, we wanted to give up the other crystal venom, by the way, arrives outside this native village, to attack, miles Yells at. I guess so. I guess the thing is he has his tribe of natives

PJ:

Yes,

Adam:

versus this tribe.

PJ:

yes,

Adam:

Something we have to infer by watching the episode that is not explicitly stated, but he yells at them to attack when he gives the order. Why does he need them to attack?

PJ:

I have no idea because you know, my thought was Miles could blaze the video village down with switchblade,

Adam:

one Missile from Switchblade destroys the village.

PJ:

is he power tripping again? Is it's like, I get to like these folks around.

Adam:

Just awful episode.

PJ:

Yeah.

Adam:

so much interesting stuff and such a poorly written episode.

PJ:

Yeah.

Adam:

so inside the village, Matt, Scott and t Bobb are tied to posts, ala, star Wars the bug inside t Bobb causes him to dance around, which causes a distraction. Matt Unties himself and Scott, and then he lifts up T Bobb who is still tied to the post and they run away towards the temple. How strong is Matt t Bobb is what? 700 pounds

PJ:

Yeah.

Adam:

the weight of a giant tree?

PJ:

we know from past episodes that Scott Juices, so where do you think he got the steroids from?

Adam:

the power crystal, I guess. they do run inside that temple from the beginning of the episode. and he holds out the crystal and says, I'm returning this to you and I. Wgo says you, Andrew, and Matt says, I am his son, my father. He has left us, which contradicts what we thought earlier, which is that Matt as a child with his dad, must have gone to the village,

PJ:

Well, it is super hard because Matt said he told this to Wargo

Adam:

right?

PJ:

because of the art direction, I mean the art direction was not well thought through here to say, let's just make Andrew Matt with a mustache.

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

the confusion on Margo's part is understandable, given

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

looks like Andrew shaved

Adam:

Yeah,

PJ:

and

Adam:

yeah,

PJ:

Matt had a lot of pimples when, he met Wargo a couple decades ago. I mean the confusion that's in this has a lot to do with the writing and the art direction. I will say, I mean, you know, I, were right. There's an ambiguity here about what does he left us mean. assuming it was done to say that he passed away, this

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

right way in an eighties cartoon to state that it's a, it's

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

but it's like, oh, he left us. But that said, I kind of, sort of wanted the line to be like my father, left us. He lives in West Palm Beach. Now, the altitude wasn't good for him anymore, so he wanted something where it hydrates the skin

Adam:

wargo says he was a good man many seasons ago. He saved my life. You have used it for good. And Matt says, but of course now this is referring to the crystal. So let's discuss. Has Matt really used the crystal for good? yes. Now, how is Venom powering its vehicles and masks? Is it the crystal as well? So he's used it for good venom, has used it for bad. Matt and Miles worked together to develop the mask technology, which means that Miles knows the crystal exists. How many lives have been lost as a result of the unleashing of the power crystal's power, through these masks? the property destruction, I don't know if we can say he's used it for good.

PJ:

So I'm gonna back on Winston. In this case, Adam.

Adam:

yeah.

PJ:

asks you if you are a God, you say yes. So I don't think Matt really wants to recount the number of times an earthquake machine or a venom sub blowing up, costs the lives, uh, many, many people because of the existence of this crystal. It's like you've done good with it. Of course, of course,

Adam:

absolutely.

PJ:

Hmm. Oh yeah.

Adam:

about the bad people outside my village? Yeah. I don't know how they got there. Oh wow. I don't know how they got there, crystal, that they must have gotten it from some other tribe, I guess. a man runs in and says something to the chief in the native language, and I guess Matt speaks it because he responds, yes, my enemies are after me. I need your help. And so what happens is they're trapped in this temple, completely surrounded, there's too many to defeat. Um, and, uh, the mask jet shows up. rhino fires down from inside the jet. You'd think they'd put weapons on the jet itself, but I guess it's not necessary.

PJ:

I think Alex doesn't like it to be easy. He wants to fire with a challenge

Adam:

Yeah,

PJ:

we've seen this before when they were India, I think when he is parachuting and shooting at the elephants.

Adam:

that's right.

PJ:

firing at stuff while landing?

Adam:

Yeah. Now Alex's line, by the way, is Tally ho mow him down. Is Alex suggesting that they massacre the natives?

PJ:

typical imperialism and a Buddy Hawk's nom forum.

Adam:

Oh, for sure. Now, continuing potentially on the Buddy Hawks, nomination pathway. Brad uses hocus pocus to make the natives think that their giant God has shown up and is telling them to run away.

PJ:

okay, we're gonna talk about this again in a moment, but, if the implication from Alex is to murder the natives, Brad is just as horrified as we are, in which

Adam:

Okay.

PJ:

he sees the use of a God to scare them off as actually the far lesser of two evils.

Adam:

Sure.

PJ:

So he is like, oh my God, we're not gonna mow him down. Alex, what the fuck? yeah, it's a god. oh, they ran away. I'm sorry, Alex, you don't get your blood this time.

Adam:

Gotcha. Okay, that's, well, thanks Brad.

PJ:

ho, hold on. But just, but hold that thought. Okay.

Adam:

Yeah. well, now Dusty uses the electric Ouch. To shoot sly off, piranha sly flies hundreds of feet into the air and into the jungle where he's then chased by a warthog. this is a ragdoll award for sure.

PJ:

Yeah, this is more butt shots

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

it's a square aimed at his butt. He goes flying.

Adam:

Yeah,

PJ:

we've seen this from Dusty before. He does like shooting people's butts, specifically slides and Vanessa's,

Adam:

yeah. There's a lot of, a lot of, but aimed laser blasts in this show,

PJ:

There

Adam:

I have to say. And amazingly, the laser blasts, they're set to Stu because,

PJ:

Burn.

Adam:

or they're set to burn. Not kill. There's a setting in between stun and kill, which is actually burn, which they rarely talk about in science fiction franchises.

PJ:

It is true. It is really true. want them injured.

Adam:

It's char set faces to jar. back to Brad. He, opens fire on the natives at the door of the temple, causing, causing them to flee.

PJ:

So,

Adam:

The guys

PJ:

here's the thing. this was like, at first when I was going through the episode, I was like, I can defend Brad. And then like, no, I can't.

Adam:

nope.

PJ:

'cause now he doesn't seem so concerned with the native safety. The buddy hawks is back in the table. And I do wanna point out the main cannon on Brad's condor is an anti-matter Ray. So, Adam, do you know what happens when matter meets anti-matter?

Adam:

Enlighten us.

PJ:

it causes an explosion.

Adam:

It must be very isolated anti-matter ray, because it just cause little bursts of like explosions on the ground.

PJ:

he is also wrecking war, Argo's like Temple Hut.

Adam:

Yeah, thanks a lot. venom flies away. I guess they assume they're defeated and they fly away and, everything turns out fine. they're inside the temple, things are good. but the bug is still inside tbo and so he dances around, which causes everyone including, all the tribes people to laugh at him. So I guess we're just gonna go ahead and do another Roy Batty Nam here at the end of the episode.

PJ:

Daddy, at the end.

Adam:

And that is it. That's the episode of Mask A Show purportedly about, good guys who drive vehicles that transform into weaponized vehicles who wear masks of power versus bad guys with the same exact, uh, set of tools. and in this episode. There was, a minute total

PJ:

Yeah,

Adam:

of that stuff in it. So let's see if the more you know is going to, redeem the episode in any way. We're back at the village with Wargo. Scott sees some berries growing and he wants to eat one. Turns out they're poisonous. Matt tells him they could give you a pretty good stomach ache or worse. So the lesson is don't eat berries. Got it. What's worse? A pretty good stomach ache, or worse death, I guess. Anything in between that?

PJ:

diarrhea.

Adam:

Oh.

PJ:

would, okay, so it's clearly wgo because he says his name, but Wgo was previously able to speak English. Here he is speaking in his native tongue. So Matt has to translate for him by saying, I think what Wargo is trying to say is those berries of po poisonous.

Adam:

Right.

PJ:

then they say, thanks, Virago. That's good advice in any language. So they all start laughing, including Wargo. So now he understands English again in these 30 seconds. I think that Wargo and Matt were fucking with Scott and

Adam:

totally.

PJ:

this is actually berries that Matt wants to pick for Brad.

Adam:

Because yeah, they could give you a pretty good stomach ache or diarrhea or death or hallucinogenic enlightenment.

PJ:

The real power of the crystal is now known.

Adam:

It was never the crystal. It was the berries. Well, and we are out. Let's take a look at our awards. The Roy Batty Award.

PJ:

there was a few, but to me it was everyone laughing at t Bobb at the end. He's been suffering from a debilitating bug and

Adam:

Yeah,

PJ:

And even the natives think it's funny. So it's like, ah, but a funny little robot and he's just in pain really.

Adam:

the Sly Racks Ragdoll Award.

PJ:

we did get that butt shot with Sly Racks.

Adam:

I mean, he flew hundreds

PJ:

did.

Adam:

meters through the air and crash down in the jungle. that's a classic. Sly racks should be dead moment.

PJ:

be. And honestly, at any other episode for me it would be the winner. But t Bobb and Scott in the jet fuselage crashing to the ground,

Adam:

no. Not the ground.

PJ:

into a

Adam:

In a tree.

PJ:

a tree with shit flying all around like they should all be dead.

Adam:

Yeah. I agree with you on that, but I, I do like sly racks with a classic ragdoll moment.

PJ:

is true.

Adam:

Uh,

PJ:

one.

Adam:

So Matt, father of the Year award.

PJ:

I'm gonna go off the beaten track because I kind of occurred to me thinking through, I've done some electrical work in my own home, You know, working, opening up the panel and hooking up new circuit breakers.

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

the idea of sending Scott to not turn off, but to unplug the breaker panel is not something I would ask my kid to do, especially when the juice is live. this feels really neglectful to be like, yeah, just rip out that wire from that breaker panel right there to help us out. Like, it's like, okay.

Adam:

Yeah. and also Scott's instructions because they come up here when he tells t bobb, I'll pull the red one. You pull the green one. Yeah, no, I, I, I agree with you on that one. I thought just bringing Scott with him on the trip alone was a father of the year moment, but, yeah. Putting him at less at risk of electrocution.

PJ:

Yeah.

Adam:

Sure. The Buddy Hawks Award for this episode. I meant to say this at the top of the episode, but we are now bringing, guest hosts onto the show. We decided not to bring a guest host onto the show this episode because. How Flagrantly Buddy Hawks awarded this episode is. So I guess let's dive in. what's not actually a Buddy Hawks nomination in this episode?

PJ:

I'm gonna make an argument that Matt and Scott well no, T Bob actually gets a Buddy Hawks easily. But Matt and Scott

Adam:

Yeah,

PJ:

don't as far as I can tell, they don't

Adam:

okay.

PJ:

And they're going out to meet the tribe, which is not

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

into unto itself.

Adam:

Okay. Fair enough.

PJ:

dusty, as far as I can tell, makes no statement he is attacking the tribe.

Adam:

True.

PJ:

Vanessa doesn't do anything, as far as I can tell to go after to, uh, something that's flagrantly offensive.

Adam:

All right.

PJ:

it.

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

is me putting my fingernails into the dirt to try to, to really sift through this stuff because

Adam:

Okay.

PJ:

everyone else gets hit with a nomination.

Adam:

All right. I'll go with you on that one, including, the writers

PJ:

writers all

Adam:

or the writer of this episode. It's just across the board.

PJ:

Yeah.

Adam:

but yeah. What, Let's talk about the characters themselves who are, buddy Hawks nominees.

PJ:

yeah, we have the statements coming from, tbo, which is kind of

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

stuff, but then

Adam:

Yep.

PJ:

this four-way tie that was all relatively tied to the same thing.

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

Miles, mayhem, and this is actually in order of how they do this, miles, mayhem, sly Racks, Alex Sector and Brad Turner. Each of them either opened fire on natives or made the statement mow'em down. maybe Alex was meaning venom, but you know what, maybe be a little more precise with the language next time, Alex, because, you mow grass down, which is, there's numerous of, there was very few venom agents and a lot of natives of that quote unquote enemy tribe.

Adam:

Yeah. I'm Alex Sector all the way on this one. For the, for the buddy hawks. Mow'em down is just like, there's simply blades of grass in his eyes to be chopped down. Not even humans.

PJ:

I have to balance this out because, there's one thing where someone yells something racist. There's another thing when people attack other people for being raised. So like Alex, as far as I could tell. I guess he did fire on, from with Rhino. You're right.

Adam:

Yes he did.

PJ:

guess of, you know, he's the, the first among equals I suppose of.

Adam:

he really is.

PJ:

Alright, good

Adam:

Congratulations, Alex.

PJ:

it out at the end.

Adam:

Yes.

PJ:

I do have one honorable mention,

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

which are the natives themselves. one tribe just pushed Matt's plane over the cliff. the other tribe tied Matt, Scott and t Bobb to stakes. it could be because these were foreign invaders. I can't quite be sure, but

Adam:

I'm gonna give the natives a pass on this one.

PJ:

I think that's fair. We're talking about a drop compared to an ocean.

Adam:

Well, is this episode Panda Poo? I'm gonna let you go ahead and dive in to what I know as a complex, nuanced, and multilayered look at this episode, I'm going to say yes.

PJ:

and that's where we're gonna end up. Yes. This is panda poo. I really wanted to think through, you know, it's not so much what this episode is. It's what it could have been. and it, I think it probably just deepens the panda poo of the whole thing because the characterizations of the natives in this episode are terrible.

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

you know, it's like,

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

like,

Adam:

Yep.

PJ:

congratulations, you've walked, back into this territory. Writers, when you separate out, like a lot of the, that like Venom's plan actually does hang together in a lot of ways and is not panda poo.

Adam:

I'm okay. I have to call foul on that one.

PJ:

it.

Adam:

What plan?

PJ:

I,

Adam:

They're there and that's it. they want a gem for some unknown reason and they learned about it for some unknown

PJ:

they

Adam:

method.

PJ:

and insiders on Matt, and they did enough thinking through to

Adam:

Allegedly.

PJ:

Well, they know, I mean, at least the customs agent,

Adam:

Okay.

PJ:

I agree there's a lot of stringing together here, but they put Vanessa Undercover, they had that autopilot control device.

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

they's a lot of pre-planning that goes into that. you know, even Vanessa and Sly following them, like they didn't intend for the jet to crash. So they actually had basically like this calculation that was going

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

And

Adam:

If we understood why Miles wanted the crystal,

PJ:

I

Adam:

we understood what was at stake for the greater world, if he got his hands on the crystal, and if they actually threaded together any kind of a plot for how Venom learned all this stuff in the first place, then yeah, I'd agree with you.

PJ:

The motivation is left entirely to speculation.

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

it's really just like, Hey, there's, I don't know. I could be reaching for a writer's defense award that should never occur. at least this time it's not happenstance.

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

some indication that Venom is doing some thoughtful execution here. And

Adam:

Okay,

PJ:

is if, if Sly and Vanessa hadn't fought before they were about to make love, they would've caught Matt Scott and t Bobb.

Adam:

Uhhuh.

PJ:

And honestly, if

Adam:

That's true.

PJ:

if it's not for the day of ex mask, jet

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

wins this one,

Adam:

Yeah,

PJ:

And

Adam:

true.

PJ:

it's like,'cause a lot of times we'll award the panda poo based on Venom's fucking up. And I can see myself a way that Venom actually was executing competently. clearly a lot of spots where they're not,

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

like Miles's, curio mask that he got made of paper bache, sly shooting natives for some reason it's like, nope, you're just racist now. And it goes to this whole thing about so many missed opportunities in this episode.

Adam:

Yeah.

PJ:

bit of this lore of the mask, powers from the crystal. We get a little bit about masks, Matt's dad how is he connected to all. We don't ever do this connection between, like I said, at the top, the Mudman masks and the masks themselves with powers. Like, there could have been

Adam:

Yeah,

PJ:

primal and cool and connected. So yeah, this is panda poo. there's so many ways it actually could have been great, if not for the blatant and racism and the real, misses left, right, and center.

Adam:

Agreed. And you know, I'm curious about the next episode because it also has, I. Potential to be great

PJ:

Yes.

Adam:

it's episode 40. it's called Eyes of the Skull Venom Leader, miles Mayhem uses an ancient crystal skull that allows x-ray like vision to see through matte tracker's, mask, and discover his identity mayhem, then kidnap Scott Tracker for ransom. This is all great and continues to grow the world of Mask If Miles finally finds out who the leader of MASK is.

PJ:

It does. I'm looking forward to us watching it, and really digging into it because I think, again, we're seeing a lot of smart things

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

is great'cause you want venom to be credible. we'll see basically, let's see what happens with this one. I have a general question'cause I'm thinking now we're, we're turning the page onto 40. We're hitting a new.

Adam:

Mm-hmm.

PJ:

episodes, the thirties felt like a bit of a slog. am I wrong in thinking that?

Adam:

Yeah. I think in a lot of ways, maybe with an exception or so, it felt like they strayed from what the formula of a mask episode is. I mean, there were early ones, which, were dumb to a degree, but they all fit the formula, Venom does the thing. Mask is assembled. We see the vehicles. they got their helmets, preferably some escape scenes for the mask agents, a couple of venom mask battles, and we're out. And they were like, yeah, okay, cool. Great. This is fun. The thirties were overall, uh, a, a miss, For the show. So I'm hopeful for the forties. Also, I know that we're gonna get some new characters coming in, so that'll be interesting as well.

PJ:

I'm looking forward to it as well.

Adam:

same. I hope you're all looking forward to continuing the Ride with us and our guest hosts who will be joining us. but for the time being, this podcast has to transform and head back to hq. I am Adam Moore.

PJ:

I am PJ McNerney.

Adam:

Bye-bye.

The mobile armored podcast show is written, produced and edited. Bye Adam Moore. And PJ McNerney.