Loi Dunk

Queen Latifah + Found Family Feels | Why We Love The Equalizer

• Barbara & Teja Arboleda • Episode 77

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Barbara and Teja dive into the glorious, action-packed world of The Equalizer starring Queen Latifah. Yes, she kicks butt. Yes, there are explosions. And yes, sometimes it’s wildly over the top—but that’s part of the charm. Because deep down, don’t we all wish we could be a hero like the Queen?

We talk about why the show works, from the high-stakes drama to the warm, believable bond between Robin, her daughter Dee, and Aunt Vi. It’s a blend of vigilante justice and cozy family dinners—and somehow, it just works.

📺 Whether you're here for the action or the auntie wisdom, come hang out with us as we celebrate one of TV’s most entertaining reboots.

#TheEqualizer #QueenLatifah #TVReview #RebootSeries #FoundFamily #BingeWorthy #TVTalk #PopCulture #RobinMcCall #AuntVi #MustWatchTV #StreamingNow

Speaker 00:

Well, what I've noticed since the last is that a lot of people do the the little mitten thing. Like it's all about mittens. So now they make gestures like this.

Speaker 03:

That's why Muppets are so successful.

Speaker 00:

Yeah, it's like Muppet hands. Yes.

Speaker 03:

But it's usually just one hand.

Speaker 00:

Yeah.

Speaker 03:

But so it was one hand is usually. No, actually it's both hands.

Speaker 00:

Well, right, and they've got the sticks on them.

Speaker 03:

Yeah, right.

Speaker 00:

So I don't I know I never understand what this is all about.

Speaker 03:

It's how politicians speak. When you go to politician school, like when they teach you mannerism.

Speaker 00:

Right? But that's so fake. Who who does this in reality? I don't do this.

Speaker 03:

Politicians do that.

Speaker 00:

But and then we're talking about it. Welcome American people. And we do that.

Speaker 03:

Welcome.

Speaker 00:

Today we're and it's just like it's so fake. It's like like this, literally. It's not even like, oh, we're moving around, maybe we have two fingers. See, because like we got the two-finger thing going on. And then we can kind of do this. You know, but no, it's like cupped. Here we go. It's like the Queen's Wave. Remember that?

Speaker 03:

No, I don't actually.

Speaker 00:

I mean, I'll I think I've seen it. You've probably seen it. But it's usually just one hand.

Speaker 03:

Or does she do both sides?

Speaker 00:

No, the Queen's Wave. Yeah, one here we go, one hand, but maybe on the other, then we're gonna go over here, you know. So maybe that's where they got it.

Speaker 03:

That's how I used what I used to do with the rabbit ears for my television.

Speaker 00:

Oh, oh, okay. Well, our cats' ears used to do this too.

Speaker 03:

A lot of things do that. Fish do that.

Speaker 00:

Vocal fold scar does that when it's waving and you see the stroboscopy. There's a there's a there's a I call it the Queen's Wave with the ship. Do you really shoots? Yeah, I say, well, so see that it's kind of like the Queen's Wave there, and like a little like an indent. Wow. Yeah, vocal fold sulcus. But she's no longer. I gotta get science-y a little bit here.

Speaker 03:

She's no longer.

Speaker 00:

But that's irrelevant.

Speaker 03:

It is.

Speaker 00:

No, it's irrelevant. This is still the queen's wave in my mind.

Speaker 03:

I love that. Yeah, I just throw a slipper. Like this and you throw the slipper.

Speaker 00:

Right. But I will not be doing mittens. I will not be doing mitten hands. I'm done with mitten hands now.

Speaker 02:

So now we do this. Jazz hands. Web feet?

Speaker 00:

Jazz hands.

Speaker 02:

Jazz hands.

Speaker 00:

Mitten hands?

Speaker 02:

Jazz hands.

Speaker 00:

Jazz hands.

Speaker 02:

Jazz hands.

Speaker 00:

You know, we haven't even started on what we planned on talking about.

Speaker 03:

What are we talking about today?

Speaker 00:

We were talking about media today. One of our one of our um um pleasures that we watch in the evening when we're tired and we're getting home, you know, and we've stopped work for the night, and then we just want to relax. And you want something that doesn't necessarily make you think an awful lot.

Speaker 03:

Because thinking while you're watching as a documentary filmmaker, that's not what I want to hear. Although, as a documentary filmmaker, at the end of the evening.

Speaker 00:

But this is decidedly not a documentary.

Speaker 03:

I don't want to be thinking. Right. So I actually prefer to watch non-documentary fiction.

Speaker 00:

Exactly. You're doing mitten hand. Oh gosh. Yeah, you just did mitten hand. You did mitten hand. Did I really do that? Yeah, you went. Yeah. It is that is forbidden. Okay, how's it? I'm Loi Dunk. This is Loi Dunk.

Speaker 02:

Okay.

Speaker 00:

It's not mittenhand. Okay. No mitten hand.

Speaker 03:

No more mitten hand. Oh right.

Speaker 00:

Yeah.

Speaker 03:

That's what David, what's his name? Dukakis? Mike Dukakis.

Speaker 00:

Really?

Speaker 03:

He used to do this, yeah.

Speaker 00:

Oh, that's like stair-stepping. Yeah, it was stair-stepping. He's like going to the stair stepping to the White House. With his mitten hands. No, I never made it. Oh, oh, because he was mittenhanded. Yeah, you can't mitten hand.

Speaker 03:

Anyway, media.

Speaker 00:

Media. The Equalizer.

Speaker 03:

Oh, yeah, one of our favorite, favorite shows, The Equalizer.

Speaker 00:

Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 03:

And that's the TV series equalizer, not the other.

Speaker 00:

That's true, because there have been many versions of Equalizer.

Speaker 03:

There have well, there's Denzel Washington's Equalizer.

Speaker 00:

Right, but I think there was another one before that. I looked it up on IMDb. Do we need to IMDB that again?

Speaker 03:

I guess so. Why don't I just I was gonna touch my screen? This is the screen.

Speaker 00:

IMDB. One of our favorite places to go for all things TV and it's grammatically incorrect. What is it doing?

Speaker 03:

IMDB.

Speaker 00:

Okay. Equalizer. The equalizer. So we've got the the TV show. Yeah. Denzel Washington, one, two, and three.

Speaker 04:

Right.

Speaker 00:

Um, but then there was the that's right, the equalizer, the TV series from 1985.

Speaker 03:

What? And then I just graduated college in 1985.

Speaker 00:

Equalizer 2000, 1987. Why do I have the feeling this is something completely different?

Speaker 03:

Yes, probably is.

Speaker 00:

But the equalizer 1985, a retired intelligence agent's term private detective helps various threatened clients to equalize the odds. So that starred um Edward Woodward. Edward Woodward.

Speaker 01:

Woodward.

Speaker 00:

Oh, say that ten times fast.

Speaker 01:

Edward Woodward, Edward Woodward, Edward Woodward, Edward Woodward, Edward Woodward, Edward Woodward, Edward Woodward, Edward Woodward, Edward Woodward, Edward Woodward. Oh no, no, no.

Speaker 00:

As opposed to Equalizer. Why did you even fasten this?

Speaker 03:

You were even listening.

Speaker 00:

Nope. Um, Equalizer 2000 appears to have been a B movie from 1987.

Speaker 03:

Judging by that cover? Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 00:

You're gonna have to cut this in, this this cover. I will certainly cut that in. Because it has a whopping 4.1 out of 10 on IMDb.

Speaker 03:

Oh, that's less than short.

Speaker 00:

This is a ruthless vehicular gang rules the post-apocalyptic wasteland. That is until a muscled hero named Slade. Oh. Builds the ultimate machine gun. Oh, look, oh no. I see you're mup- you're muppet handing it.

Speaker 03:

Muppet handing it.

Speaker 00:

The machine gun is the equalizer 2000 and declares a one-man war on the gang's piece of garbage leader.

Speaker 03:

Piece of garbage?

Speaker 00:

Yeah. Yeah, that was really in the pitch meeting. Classic.

Speaker 03:

He's a piece of garbage.

Speaker 00:

Classic. Oh my goodness. This is like they couldn't afford to do Mad Max. So they did this.

Speaker 03:

Well, the cover's pretty cool.

Speaker 00:

So back to our equalizer.

Speaker 03:

Movie by its poster.

unknown:

All right.

Speaker 00:

So the did we see the Denzel Washington one too?

Speaker 03:

I have seen all three of them.

Speaker 00:

Oh twice. But did we see them together?

Speaker 03:

No.

Speaker 00:

No.

Speaker 03:

You have never seen the equalizer series of Denzel Washington.

Speaker 00:

Oh, I have to see it then.

Speaker 03:

Yes, you do. Okay. Maybe we do what we do tonight.

Speaker 00:

Okay, so I have to see that. But we can I came on, first I came on the equalizer by myself.

Speaker 03:

Okay. And I was like You mean with um Queen Latifa.

Speaker 00:

Yes, exactly, exactly. Queen Latifa. I was like, she's amazing. Awesome. Yeah. This is gonna be great. And it is great. It is great. I love this show.

Speaker 03:

I've been watching it with you, but then at the gym, I started from the beginning because I had missed a number of ep.

Speaker 00:

Oh, you're Muppet Hand!

Speaker 03:

Oh I'd missed a number of episodes. So I went back to the beginning to see the origin story. You're not even listening.

Speaker 00:

I am listening. I am listening.

Speaker 03:

She's not l- I'm not even who I'm.

Speaker 00:

I don't know who we don't have staff. Now you're now you're Muppet handing invisible people off the side.

Speaker 03:

I don't uh so equal equalizer. Ah so equalizer. Queen Latifa.

Speaker 00:

Yes. But now it's really it it's also kind of silly. But the characters are great.

Speaker 03:

In the equalizer, it goes beyond. It goes beyond beyond. It goes, as Mike Dukakis would do, it goes beyond.

Speaker 00:

It's it's Muppet hands. It's Muppet Hands.

Speaker 03:

It muppin' hands. It muppin' muppin'. It muppin' Muppet.

Speaker 00:

You alright there? Say that ten times fast.

Speaker 03:

Muppet hands, Muppet hands, Muppet Hands, Muppet Hands, Muppet Hands, Muppet Hands.

Speaker 00:

Did you lose count?

Speaker 03:

Muppet hands. What's that?

Speaker 00:

Did you lose count?

Speaker 03:

Yeah, I have three more. Muppet hands, Muppet Hands, Muppet Hands.

Speaker 00:

Oh, so you didn't lose count.

Speaker 03:

No.

Speaker 00:

Oh, I thought you lost count.

Speaker 03:

Maybe I did. Anyway.

Speaker 00:

That's okay. Um these are great characters.

Speaker 03:

I love the ego.

Speaker 00:

Great characters. First of all, okay. Alright, so you've got this main well, you've got this, you've always got to have a Scooby gang.

Speaker 03:

Yes.

Speaker 00:

Alright, always have to have a Scooby gang, because if you don't, it's no fun. And so at first it starts out, oh, there may be spoilers here. Maybe not, okay, so not spoilers for like the individual episodes, really, but you know, about who the characters are. So if you don't like spoilers even about like who the characters are in relation to one another, then maybe you know this isn't the episode for you.

Speaker 03:

Um cancel culture.

Speaker 00:

Yeah, well, you don't like some people just don't like spoilers of any kind.

Speaker 03:

That's true. Whereas What's for dinner tonight? Wouldn't you like to know? What's the road? Wouldn't you like to know?

Speaker 00:

Okay. Yes. But so Queen Latifa plays a CIA operative who left the company.

Speaker 03:

And you wouldn't expect Queen Latifa to play a role like that, but you know, well, yeah, she's a suspension of disbelief.

Speaker 00:

She's a bad mm. Yeah, because this is a family show, so we can't say bad.

Speaker 03:

Yes, lots of families are watching this show right now. Yes, she's bad. Mm-hmm. And her name is Robin. I'm just, yeah, this is so Robin McCall.

Speaker 00:

Yes.

Speaker 03:

She looks like a typical single mom. I'm reading this. Uh, but to the city's criminals, she's a judge, she's a jury, and an executioner.

Speaker 00:

But she's got the Scooby gang.

Speaker 03:

Because she wouldn't be able to do it by herself.

Speaker 00:

No!

Speaker 03:

Although she thinks she does.

Speaker 00:

No, because she knows, she knows that she needs her Scooby gang.

Speaker 03:

Well, meaning to protect the others, because she doesn't want others to get it.

Speaker 00:

Wait a minute. You you cut off one of the main characters here in your screenshot. Yeah. I just what? Yeah.

Speaker 03:

So Queen Latifah.

Speaker 00:

All right, but unfortunately, this only has a 5.6 out of 10, and I don't know why. It is not fair. That is not fair. I love this shot.

Speaker 03:

I give it an 8.2.

Speaker 00:

Okay. All right, yeah.

unknown:

Okay.

Speaker 03:

So who has to be?

Speaker 00:

Her first Scooby Gang, you are missing Harry. Oh, Harry. Because her first Scooby Gang are these people that she knew from her time with the agency. And that was Melody and Harry, and they're together.

Speaker 04:

Right.

Speaker 00:

And Harry is uh thought to be dead by the agency. So they're kind of like hiding out. But now Harry is the tech guy.

Speaker 03:

That's right.

Speaker 00:

Because in every Scooby gang, you need a tech guy. It's missing in this. You cannot not have a tech guy in a Scooby gang.

Speaker 03:

Silly Google.

Speaker 00:

Exactly. All right. And then Melody is with him, and she is lovely. They're so fun together. She knows he's alive, and they're all just trying to keep him hidden.

Speaker 03:

Yeah.

unknown:

Right?

Speaker 00:

That's the initial. They're so cute together. They're so cute.

Speaker 03:

We should look up to them. No, they should look up to us.

Speaker 00:

Well, but I don't want you to pretend to be dead. That that's no fun. And that was not fun for them either.

Speaker 03:

When you die, apparently your body goes into Muppet Hand position.

Speaker 00:

Oh, okay. Yeah.

Speaker 03:

It's kind of like. Oh no, is that more like a that's what vampire vampire, never mind.

Speaker 00:

Yeah, yeah, whole different series.

Speaker 03:

Whole different series.

Speaker 00:

This is not a vampire show, so anyway, I don't know kind of where he's going with that. But then you've got Dante.

Speaker 03:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 00:

Right? So Dante's not really part of the Scooby Gang at first. No.

Speaker 03:

No, no, no, but do you know he will be?

Speaker 00:

I know. And somehow he and well, no spoilers, no big spoilers.

Speaker 03:

No big spoilers.

Speaker 00:

Well, actually, although we are not actually completely caught up yet on this show. Whatever.

unknown:

It happens in the show.

Speaker 03:

Oh, you heard me?

Speaker 00:

So Dante is at first trying to catch her because she's a vigilante. Vigilante bad. Right? Yeah. But then he realizes that it actually helps. That she's actually doing good things. And then that creates angst and conflict.

Speaker 03:

I like angst in conflict. Yes. I mean, not that I like, well, I like I like watching angst in conflict. Yeah, uh, let's see. Um, I was thinking, you know, so why Queen Latifa?

Speaker 00:

Why why she's a bad she is!

Speaker 03:

Oh yeah, I'm not sure if my voice is correct, but she is. She absolutely is.

Speaker 00:

And she's got the to do that.

Speaker 03:

She looks in the camera and she's like, and yeah, and you're like cracking the lens.

Speaker 00:

Oh, you start Muppet handing. Oh, you know.

Speaker 03:

Uh why did we have the Muppet hands?

Speaker 00:

I don't know.

Speaker 03:

Okay. So anyway, um, I just want to kind of review some of the accolades. The accolades to Queen La Latifa.

Speaker 00:

Oh, herself, you mean as herself.

Speaker 03:

Yeah, yeah, because she plays this bad.

Speaker 00:

Robin with a Y. And so you know it's bad.

Speaker 03:

Yeah, with a Y. Because it's kind of like then Y.

Speaker 00:

Right. Right?

Speaker 03:

As opposed to I.

Speaker 00:

Yeah. I like that. Yeah.

Speaker 03:

Yeah. There's no I in Robin. In Robin. Um she got a teen. Um her birth name is Dana Elaine Owens. She was born in uh 1970, March 18. Uh happy past birthday, two months ago. Um she has a Grammy Award, she has a Primetime Emmy Award, she's Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actor Guild Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, an Academy Award nomination. And in 2006, she became the first hip hop artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Oh! Why not Queen Latifa?

Speaker 00:

Because she is a bad.

Speaker 03:

Mmm. Mm-mm-mm. Now at age 19, she released her debut album, All Hail to the Queen. That's I think apparently how she got her name.

Speaker 00:

Probably.

Speaker 03:

With the featuring hit Ladies First.

Speaker 00:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 03:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 00:

Okay.

Speaker 03:

So I played that the other day. And I was like, But still, you would never know.

Speaker 00:

Like somebody, it's like back then she's a late teen, right? And you would never know what she's gonna become. You know?

Speaker 03:

No.

Speaker 00:

Yeah.

Speaker 03:

You would never never know.

Speaker 00:

Unfortunately, we cannot play it on the show because we don't have the rights to. However, if you would like to look it up, that is the name of it.

Speaker 03:

Yeah, just search it up in whatever listening device or software or platform you use.

Speaker 00:

Yes, exactly.

Speaker 03:

Yeah, because I don't want to, you know.

Speaker 00:

I don't want to make her mad.

Speaker 03:

No, no, no.

Speaker 00:

So yeah, you don't you don't want to make Queen Lativa mad. That yeah.

Speaker 03:

So I just wanted to um, in terms of the episodes, right?

Speaker 00:

Yes.

Speaker 03:

Um, there are a few episodes that I I remember that that are pretty cool.

Speaker 00:

Okay.

Speaker 03:

Um that really kind of speak to the power of the of the series. Because there are some weaknesses, there's some things that happen that kind of like this is one episode.

Speaker 00:

Well, is it a weakness or is it like really what they're trying to do? Because serious, because I don't think, okay, I haven't seen the Denzel ones yet, but I'm guessing that the vibe is different.

Speaker 03:

Very different, absolutely very different, right?

Speaker 00:

Yeah, I can't, because Denzel, that's gonna be like a vibe, yeah. And Latif is more like a hey vibe. You know, it's a err versus hey.

Speaker 03:

There's one point when um I think it was the character Melody. Okay, she uh she was told to um uh take to to cover to cover Robin in uh stakeout, I think it was.

Speaker 00:

Okay.

Speaker 03:

And um, and Melody was in the top of the building, I think it was, something like that. And uh um Robin, Robin's hands were handcuffed. For some reason, she had to get caught and she was handcuffed. So she's holding her hands up like this, and the bad guy had launched a rocket that's gonna hit a plane.

Speaker 00:

Uh-huh.

Speaker 03:

And so Robin has her hands up like this, with handcuffed again, and um Melody, you know, she's a sniper.

Speaker 00:

She's a sniper.

Speaker 03:

She shoots, like Robin puts her hands up like this, she shoots, and it hits.

Speaker 00:

Uh-huh.

Speaker 03:

It hits the handcuffs, breaks.

Speaker 00:

Classic. Classic.

Speaker 03:

And without any any time wasted, Robin's just like, yeah, let's keep moving.

Speaker 00:

Right. Yeah.

Speaker 03:

It it was so unbelievable that it was funny, and yet it was like, yeah, that's the equalizer.

Speaker 00:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 03:

Yeah.

Speaker 00:

Because she's got to win. She's got to always win.

Speaker 03:

She has to win.

Speaker 00:

Yeah. But the other thing she's got, though, is her family. And I so what's nice is okay, yeah, spoiler alert, just a mini, mini spoiler. Her family learns what's going on eventually. But her family in this sense, we start out with her uh Aunt Vi.

Speaker 03:

Yes.

Speaker 00:

Who's amazing. I love Aunt Vi. Oh my god. Oh my god, she's such a wonderful character, and she's played by Lorraine Toussaint. And I just love her character so much. But then there is Dee, Delilah, her daughter.

Speaker 03:

Ah, yes.

Speaker 00:

So fabulous. Now, what I love about the daughter, okay, and this family picture.

Speaker 03:

And the show and the way they wrote her in.

Speaker 00:

Right, is that they don't make her one of these caricature teenage daughters who does nothing but hate on her parents, right? Right. She's not really with no motivation. Right. She has her moments, right, where she's a pain in the butt because she's a teenager. Yeah. She's gonna be a pain in the butt. But then she has these wonderful moments of insight, yeah. And you know, the family really loves each other, and so they have these tender moments, and then they have these I'm mad at you moments, so much more like real life. I'm mad at you, I'm mad at you. Anyway, this is. That was a teenager? That's yeah, I know.

Speaker 03:

Well, no wonder.

Speaker 00:

Um, but she's fabulous. So then she's just a very well-balanced, well-rounded character. She's not a caricature of a teenage daughter.

Speaker 03:

And the her her story arc and her learning, her learning moments are are real.

Speaker 04:

Yes.

Speaker 03:

Sometimes they're very passionate, sometimes they're really um, you know, indicative of what teens go through today. Uh, and uh the Robin character, her mother, brings br brings her, I think it was the first episode, when the daughter gets uh in trouble, Delilah gets in trouble, she brings her to um uh a prison to look at the girls who are in the prison.

Speaker 00:

Oh, I know, and then Delilah, and then Delilah's all like, oh, what is this the Scared Street moment and blah blah blah.

Speaker 03:

But you know, because Robin herself, when she was a kid, she kind of got out of that track, yeah.

Speaker 00:

So there's there's so many other great characters though. But this is this, I I just I have to say, as the the show gets really silly, and I think that's the problem. Like, so this is fascinating. I'm on my IMDB again, and I'm saying on user reviews. So you either you have a bunch of ones, like they don't like it at all, a bunch of tens, right? And then all the other reviews in the middle, there's fewer of each number, but there's like either one or ten. So it's like you either love it or you hate it, kind of thing. And you just have to know that you're going in there for it to be fun and silly and Queen Latifa. And it's and she is kicking.

Speaker 03:

She just kicks butt.

Speaker 00:

Kicking butt.

Speaker 03:

I and it's it's it does get ridiculous because she can literally do and she can do archery, skydive, she can do martial arts, she's a snuff. Like, how does she do it? She's a rapper, right?

Speaker 00:

But how does how does nobody know who she is at this point? Like in this thing, because like she's all over the place and she's like literally sneak up on the bad guys, and like they have no idea. She'll just pretend like you know, yeah, she'll pretend to be whoever. And people just believe her, because well, disguise is always working Shakespeare, right? You know, they do. I was at I was at Anime Boston today, and they one of the things they were talking about was you know, story arcs and things like that. And and the the the panel people were commenting on Sailor Moon, and they're like, How do the people not know who she really is? Because she's always got like she's just got like a different like outfit on. And I'm like, and and I'm thinking to myself, disguise because disguises always work in Shakespeare, right? That's like in Shakespeare, someone dresses in pants instead of a dress. Suddenly, I have no idea who you are. Yeah, you know, or they put on a hat.

Speaker 03:

It doesn't work in front of the judge, though.

Speaker 00:

No, well, not usually I hope not.

Speaker 03:

I haven't been, but I would imagine if you wear like, you know, a hand on glasses, like put into your glasses into your shadow.

Speaker 00:

Put on glasses. Are you sure you're the defendant?

Speaker 03:

Sure.

Speaker 00:

Yeah. How to how to know that like TV and film is all written by people with face blindness? Put on glasses, don't know who you are. That's not that be me. That's not it. Right, exactly. Oh, actually, oh, it is, yes. Yeah. So it's it's fun. It's fun. And we love it.

Speaker 03:

And sometimes you just have to watch a TV show without any expectations. Just have fun.

Speaker 00:

Exactly.

Speaker 03:

And if it's Queen Latifah, it's gonna be fun.

Speaker 00:

It's just gonna be just gonna be fun. You're fine. And you get to see her kick.

Speaker 03:

Ah, and she's also a good person from what I've read. She's a she's all about social action and social justice. And uh so, and she's an executive producer on the show, so I can imagine. This is just you know certainly part of her. I just wouldn't want her to be my hygienist.

Speaker 00:

Okay, cool. I think we can arrange that to not happen. Right. Yeah. Okay. Cool. All right, so Equalizer! Equalizer! It gets the Loy Dunk four thumbs up.

Speaker 03:

Four thumbs, four thumbs up. All thumbs.

Speaker 00:

All thumbs.

Speaker 03:

All thumbs up.

Speaker 00:

Hey! Muppet hand!