Bioshock Rapture: Part 3
There is a content warning on this episode for sexual and domestic violence as we cover some relatively rough chapters in the book, so take heed!
Automated Transcript
Content warning this episode contains descriptions of sexual and domestic violence listener discretion is advised. We love the Welsh our logo designers Welsh you guys
Phil 0:11
have you guys have one of the coolest flags. So, and just one of the greatest languages that I'll never in a million years be able to understand.
Kevin Erhard 0:23
Never. It's so cool. I may be 66% Irish, but I am 100% Hey there everybody. Welcome back to pixel it. My name is Kevin with me as always is Phil. Hey guys. Today we're talking BioShock Rapture. Oh my god. sweet breath of fresh air. Oh, this is our third episode on it.
Phil 0:47
I'm gonna I'm gonna need to check this out. This is my little gift for the the opening of the show. This is a venturi it oxygenates your wine and it makes the coolest sound and I want to see if it can pick up for the people. The sound of x
Kevin Erhard 1:07
I heard that. I think yeah, I definitely heard something there. That was weird. Is that for ASMR folk? Yeah, that listen to us.
Phil 1:20
For those of you who like gadgets, wine, and ASMR You're welcome.
Kevin Erhard 1:25
I don't know if there's any real ASMR folk that listen because we're both we both kind of talk at a yell.
Phil 1:30
Yeah. be bad for the heavy breathing and loud.
Kevin Erhard 1:37
We're not It's not like we're not we're like we're okay. Now. I'm gonna tell everyone here.
Phil 1:43
Yeah. Was. So Andrew Ryan. We're kind of loud people.
Kevin Erhard 1:49
Yeah, I, every time I've done one of these. I go downstairs and my wife is downstairs and she she says you're really loud.
Phil 2:02
She says she's like, she's like you guys have fun, don't you? And I was like, What? What do you mean? Suppose you just laugh and laugh and laugh? You think it's cute now?
Kevin Erhard 2:15
Oh, just wait till it's or wait till it's our full time job. You know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, just wait for that. That's gonna be we are putting that out in the world. That is that is out in the universe now is happening. You know, this is gonna be one of the last episodes of the year.
Phil 2:31
Yes, it is. Yeah. timing wise, I suppose.
Kevin Erhard 2:35
I mean, Wise. It's gonna be the third episode. Yeah, this will be the third episode. So 123 Yeah, it actually might be our last regular episode of the Earth, depending on what we're doing on the 22nd. Right.
Phil 2:50
Wow, we're getting there we are. We are making out the year guys. Thank you so much for listening. We say
Kevin Erhard 2:55
so much for listening. This is we are this is actually it's we're just past our six month anniversary as of as of this episode. And then mind blowing. That's crazy.
Phil 3:06
We got to think of something to do for the year. Yeah, Versary got to start planning.
Kevin Erhard 3:12
Now. You gotta you got to start planning the year anniversary at about six months before the year anniversary, or else that year anniversary. He's just gonna feel like, I don't know. limp.
Phil 3:22
Right? We know you guys are listening. But we were just talking about it. We were watching the numbers. And the numbers are good.
Kevin Erhard 3:29
There's a good people are listening to us. And they're out there. You're
Phil 3:33
listening. And it's so freakin cool. Because let's face facts, this was this was me and Kevin's equivalent of Dad's Garage Band. Yeah, yeah, let's get together and do a cover of you know, Pearl Jam or something like that.
Kevin Erhard 3:51
Let's let's really try to nail black hole sun right now.
Phil 3:55
Right? And you guys are actually showing up and actually listening. Holy fuck, it's cool. Like this is this is way better than the Epiphone explorer that I would have thought for myself. If we had done a band instead like the Believe it or not, this podcast beats the fuck out of mediocre pointed guitar.
Kevin Erhard 4:18
Yeah, yeah. And I don't play the guitar. So it would have been really wasted on me. It would
Phil 4:25
have been Yeah, it would have been, it would have been awkward.
Kevin Erhard 4:27
Yeah. Yeah. So where are we? We're in as far as I'm aware. We're in chapter nine. Lower wharf Neptune's bounty March 1953. So we're gonna achieve solving chapter. Yeah. And he's down there. He's he's investigating. He's he's looking around because this Fontane character he's up to no good, right. And he he gets Sullivan ends up being attacked by a man and they they tussle a bit and Sullivan's partner car Laski ends up shooting the man dead. Right. And basically, the man has has all this information on him as if he is the, the the he is running the smuggling operation. It's like It's like this neat little package that Fontaine has set up to draw very,
Phil 5:31
very too good to be true. You know, too good to be true. Yeah, they're trying to in and they and they figure they see right through it, you know, they they realize that basically what this is, is kind of this guy's been treating as treated as a stool pigeon. So they'll stop looking for the smuggling guy assuming like, well, we got him he's dead. And and, and that so that that if that's what Fontane is doing. It doesn't really seem to work.
Kevin Erhard 6:00
Yeah. And we get a little and you know, written right into the text. We have a little Russian Ukrainian racism because the Arlovski is Carl ASCII is Russian I believe. And the the man that they shoot, Mike Glasgow is Ukrainian. And they have Carlock, he has very strong words for how he feels about Ukrainians.
Phil 6:26
There's not if any of you who have met Ukrainians, there's not as have kind words for Russians.
Kevin Erhard 6:32
Yeah, Ukrainians and Russians tend to have words. I'm not stepping in the middle of that.
Phil 6:37
I'm not because, ya know, if you've cracked the spine on a history book, you'll know. There's plenty of grievances to be to be held. We had Yeah, and I don't get between Russians and Ukrainians and slobs in general. I don't. I don't have that kind of courage in me.
Kevin Erhard 6:57
No, I don't. I don't either. That is that is. As as a wise man once said, This is not my floor.
Phil 7:11
So we get a little bit of old fashioned Euro racism, which we as we haven't
Kevin Erhard 7:16
seen in a long time as modern day Americans. We haven't we have not gotten a lot of Euro racism and in our day to day lives if you know, it's almost wistful Italians. Italians get it on. On a you know, on occasion. Yeah, still. But other than that, yeah, it's it's not super common. Now.
Phil 7:40
Let's see. Okay, so that brings us to Fontane with his recently acquired scientists. Yeah. You made a science acquisition. Yeah. Yeah. And it looks like they're making big daddies.
Kevin Erhard 7:53
Yeah. Yeah, it then that's the thing is it doesn't say it. No, like, outright, but it felt like a it seemed like a big daddy that they were they were working on.
Phil 8:07
Yeah, they're they're, they're basically testing out all these abilities, whether they're fusing flesh to metal, that whole thing. They're fine. And this is the chapter or the chapter, the section of the chapter, where we get Adam Eve, and plasmids really kind of explained to us were these weird sea slugs, which what a random ass thing to ascribe the discovery of atom and everything like that to like just sea slugs, okay, fine. So they develop the special stem cells from the slugs which can heal and alter the body, they basically tear open this guy up, you know, injecting with some atom and after a minute, the wound stitches itself together, right? And they call it Adam, which is what the gives you the powers and another sort of chemical called Eve which restores those powers because here's important thing to remember is this power is finite. Yep, you can come up with that you can come up with all kinds of powers, and they do right now. It's just healing and some basic vague alterations. And you can do all kinds of cool things with that atom, but you need Eve to recharge yourself the power doesn't stick around forever, which leads to su Shang piping in that that's probably pretty addictive stuff for a lot of reasons. Yeah. Not the least of which is the amazing power. Yeah,
Kevin Erhard 9:46
and Fontane immediately has the dollar signs his eyes turn and dead into dollar signs. Yeah,
Phil 9:54
immediately like a Looney Tunes cartoon just just like someone turns on arm on his head and it turns into a slot machine and he starts spitting up goings.
Kevin Erhard 10:04
Yeah. So and the next part of the chapter, we have a character who is if you've played BioShock he gets killed off. He's your first boss.
Phil 10:15
Yeah, you meet him pretty early.
Kevin Erhard 10:17
He mean pretty early is the first boss of the game. You knock them you take them out pretty quickly. Actually, one of the few bosses of the game that was the thing about BioShock is when you play it, there's only a couple bosses and he is one of them. And you, you play you, you fight him maybe in the first 45 minutes or something like that. Is this guy Dr. Stein men and he's a Steinman. He is a plastic surgeon who has lost his goddamn mind
Phil 10:44
just out of his mind. The thing
Kevin Erhard 10:47
about him is that you don't realize how far back until you read the book, you don't really realize how far back he had lost his mind. 53, seven years before the events of the game, and he is already talking. He sees and talks to the goddess Aphrodite.
Phil 11:08
Yeah, he's basically looking for the perfect face. He's trying to express the beauty of Aphrodite to please her in his work. And it becomes very clear and it gets more clear as time goes on. But he doesn't care what you want done to your face. He has some restraint for now. But he sees every person who's under his knife is kind of a
Kevin Erhard 11:35
potential experiment. Exactly. Yeah, no, really, I guess. So. Not an experiment but clay. Yeah. It's like to mold something to mold and artistic endeavor. Right. And
Phil 11:49
he and he's clearly doing good work. We see him you know, showing off in some of his work to woman who just got her face lifted, got some got some nose work done that kind of thing. And, and they're and they're flat. They're flux, they love it. They love his work. He's amazing. And he's clearly it's not enough for him. He's, he's, he's really really not thrilled with it. There's another really strange thing. In this chapter I highlighted that they kind of fly right past shows I found to be very frustrating because I wanted more information on this. Steinman took a cigarette from the box on the coral desk, lit it with a silver lighter shaped like a human nose and got up to open the curtains of his office porthole. Where can I have a cigarette lighter the shape of a human nose please. I feel like that's information that perhaps we should have there should be a hyperlink or
Kevin Erhard 12:48
or there's like an extra couple sentences. I really like go back to that later. Why
Phil 12:54
don't I you don't have any I don't really have a lot of use for a cigarette lighter. But to have a silver cigarette lighter in the shape of a human nose. Just sitting on my desk where anyone where God and anybody else can see it. I need that kind of insanity in my life. It's just a little detail but it's very important to me.
Kevin Erhard 13:13
It is it is a it is a what a chaotic neutral item of power. Right,
Phil 13:20
which is the vibes I'm always trying to give up. So yeah. So we get that's our that's our first it's our introverted.
Kevin Erhard 13:29
That's our first introduction to Stein minute books are Yeah, yeah, he shows up a couple more times in part two. But he's kind of his chapters are kind of mixed in there to represent the kind of best people that Ryan has brought down or not. Or he's clearly one of the best plastic surgeons clear, right.
Phil 13:53
But he's just Yeah, that's true. He represents something cracked. Yeah, behind that mirror.
Kevin Erhard 14:00
Rotten foundation and then we cut back to Fontane and Fontane is having a little sexy time with Brigid Tenenbaum
Phil 14:10
with seven ball. Like what the hell man like do not look, they make a point of saying that she's beautiful. She's beautiful,
Kevin Erhard 14:18
but and kind of, but also kind of like the nutty professor.
Phil 14:23
She's crazy. Like she's she's she's a she's a
Kevin Erhard 14:27
she's a Nazi?
Phil 14:29
Yeah. Don't Don't fucking you know, don't stick your dick in eugenics.
Kevin Erhard 14:35
There's so many words.
Phil 14:40
Just don't do it.
Kevin Erhard 14:43
And I gotta say, John Shirley writes around it in such a way that that Tennant bomb is never really described as a Nazi. Right, right. But she is a German who worked for the Nazis who was very He who is very honest, who is very into eugenics and experimenting on people, like, like, it's okay. I know she turns out to be kind of like one of the protagonists of Bioshock. Right. But it's okay. That you write her as she is. Which is a eugenics obsess Nazi Nazi? Yeah, she is not a good person. Right. And neither is Fontane.
Phil 15:33
No, no. And we do get and this and this actually we do get a very another very Randy in a moment here, where essentially she's telling them what how she likes it. They haven't had sex and yet, he says, You look kind of scared. He said he shared about this. I do not like to be touched, she said, but I need it. When the feelings of desire come. What I dream of is a man who who simply takes me, I will make some token resistance, but it will not be real. I must fight a little I can do only do it that way. Which is another kind of eine Rand staple. Sure, there is a lot of rapey sex stuff in Iran's work. It's I believe we're still we're still talking about whether this one actually is the fountainhead there is a scene where our male protagonist takes the female protagonist and she tries to fight him off and he exerts his power upon her. Sure. And, and she even calls it right but she's kind of into it at the same time. And it's and basically, anybody who's ever read ein Rand knows that the woman was a freak. And I'm not here to yuck you're young you know? And I say freak in the friendliest posture way that I can mean it. But there there is a a constant underlying theme of basically, Iran was a sub she wanted to be dominated very, very badly. She She probably went you know, she probably had rape, fantasy, stuff like that. But none of the people that she describes having these moments, right, expresses it the way Tenenbaum here does very specifically yes Taemin bomb does it right, Tannenbaum and Fontaine are doing it right. She's like, I just I want to be taken. I want to feel
Kevin Erhard 17:47
tired. Mom is like here's what I like. I am giving you consent to do it. Right. But I like it when it's it's it seems exactly like this. Yeah. Which it still feels even then it still feels dicey the way short the way it's written.
Phil 18:05
That's not That's not first date fooling around.
Kevin Erhard 18:08
Chenault the whole scene gave me I don't know it. It's like one of those Danger Zone moments in the
Phil 18:20
background very much. So. Yeah.
Kevin Erhard 18:23
Moving on from that scene. Moving on. Let's use min Park.
Phil 18:27
Let's do Oh, I love amusement park.
Kevin Erhard 18:30
I love amusement parks. Oh, wait, this is
Phil 18:35
Prager, the ride.
Kevin Erhard 18:39
Prager, you has been turned into an amusement park. Yeah, basically, Bill McDonough decides to ride the rides of the amusement park. And it's the is the journey to the surface. So it's like it's a ride that is designed to let kids go up to the surface and see above the water and all that stuff. And
Phil 19:00
basically telling them why they shouldn't go up. Yeah, you know, into the real world.
Kevin Erhard 19:08
And it's just all this this rapture propaganda. Yeah. About and it's parasites and all that stuff. It is just shoving it down the kids throats.
Phil 19:18
You've got the great businessman who is destroyed by the parasites. And we talked about this in the last episode. That hands the hands that comes from above and smashes the hard working matches
Kevin Erhard 19:32
the tableau shows. Yes, yes, no, and says the man in Washington.
Phil 19:37
Right. Right. Exactly. And I think the funniest one of these is the artist. They do the same thing. It's like the artist who wants to make great art and the person and the government says you can't say this and you can't do that. You can't make art about that. And it's like, let's really think about this. Like let's really think about this. Who we Is the who is our country's greatest libertarian artist? Vince Vaughn. Like no star artists are tight, okay with all this shit that you're saying is holding them down and they're right like that, like the you know, it's like that's, that's it like artists, artists who don't have a lot of empathy for like, you know, you know giving some money up here to help exactly kids and yeah school and shit like that they don't they don't tend to make stuff that that really resonates with the population at large let's
Kevin Erhard 20:43
right yeah, yeah. So Bill is is a little bit bummed he's bummed that he had to see this and he's like yeah, I don't think I can take my wife on this route.
Phil 20:56
No much less this kid
Kevin Erhard 20:59
is good. He's not gonna let it let his kid
Phil 21:01
we're starting to see we've been starting to see bills apprehension over the world he's helping create this is another example Yeah, yeah,
Kevin Erhard 21:10
it's the apprehension is building and there's there's a lot of things that are slowly coming to a head mean because meanwhile over and Dionysus Park Yes, we have Sofia lamb who is talking to one of the brothers whales, whales, Simon whales and basically kind of trying to get him on her side because she's talking about she uses the word communal concept and that's that right? That's that's similar to communism. It's
Phil 21:43
awfully awfully close.
Kevin Erhard 21:44
awfully close.
Phil 21:45
They're talking treason here my
Kevin Erhard 21:47
phrase are talking treason on paper treason. Here. And we get introduced to Sofia's daughter Eleanor,
Phil 21:57
who she's keeping away from the other kids. Yes, because she doesn't want because the other kids are brainwashed she wants to keep your kid Yeah, isn't pure.
Kevin Erhard 22:05
And she's playing with Mr. Diary. This is how they kind of introduced the the diary, the onset the audio logs. And there's a cute little scene where a kid is playing with Mr. Diary. And then she ends up stabbing Mr. Diary to death. And
Phil 22:23
let's see Hello mister diary. Wanna play she mimic this voice? Actually, I'm quite busy right now. Miss Eleanor, maybe later. Well, all right. But do you mind if I take you apart while I wait? I promise I'll put you back together. Wait, you can't do that. No, wait, wait Eleanor. And to Sofia's surprise Eleanor commenced stabbing at the tape recorder breaking it apart with a screwdriver. Yeah,
Kevin Erhard 22:49
she's doing great. Kids. Great. Kids doing great.
Phil 22:53
Surely rapture is the place to raise your children. Surely.
Kevin Erhard 22:58
Oh boy. We're back with the the the, the trio the the, the trio of treble here. That's what I'm going to call I'm Tenenbaum. Fontaine and Sue Chong. Yes. And they're talking plasmids,
Phil 23:13
they are they are they're starting to eject this stuff into volunteer subjects here. And they start with electric plasma, it's just as we do in the game, just as we do in the game. And and they so he has to be tranquilized because it's unlike anything anyone's ever experienced the the electricity shooting out of his hands, he's losing his mind. He's losing control. And they got to tranquilize them. And instead of going Holy fucking shit, we shouldn't give this to anybody. They start discussing its usage and the practical effects for it and how they're going to make it into a big business.
Kevin Erhard 23:53
Right. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. Why not?
Phil 23:57
Yeah. So while they're doing that Fontane is it's love this moment. It's kind of cartoonish. We're Fontane wants to go into this back room, this specific room it's kind of like what show got Hyden back there. Back where we're back behind that door over there, see and as they start going, you don't maybe want to go back there and he goes, Well, I'm paying for all this shit. I want to see it and he goes in and you get basically a clip from Alien Resurrection where Sigourney Weaver is like, half Zeno morph and half human go down me like it's pretty
Kevin Erhard 24:42
awful. And Fontane. Fontane is Fontane hates it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He thinks it is the worst thing ever.
Phil 24:53
Very, very. What has science rots.
Kevin Erhard 24:56
And he's like, You got it under control and Tenenbaums like yeah. We know what we're doing now. And he's like, great, kill that thing that kill this please burn it. Just get rid of it. Nothing left.
Phil 25:10
No one gets to know about this
Kevin Erhard 25:12
more controllable easy to package stuff that makes a man smarter, stronger stuff that makes us money. You understand money.
Phil 25:19
And once again we see the Yeah, just dollar bills.
Kevin Erhard 25:24
He is really he's really recovered from seeing basically a man made it made eldritch beast,
Phil 25:33
right? Yeah, the cure for that the cure for seeing an untenable horror before your very eyes is money. Money is the saltines and ginger ale of the soul. It gets him through it. And that it does to, to lamb. We're back to lamb. I'm starting to think that maybe this name is metaphorical. Kevin. What do you think?
Kevin Erhard 25:59
I mean, yeah. If we're, you know what it's like we're when we're talking to jam and we're talking about those those Christian songs like in the yes and how and I just started thinking of Washington the blood of the lamb every time I see every time I see her name it's you know, because lamb has deep deep Christian Oh, yeah. And but but not not Christian now but Christian they like the communal Christian meanings and roots where it's like we it's it's a lot of we stuff and ends and togetherness and stuff like that. So
Phil 26:48
small town community Appalachian a frame churches in the woods kind of kind of coming together and getting to get washed in the blood of the lamb Exactly. Going down to the river to pray like that kind of shit. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. It does have that old school vibe. And that's gonna that's gonna play in.
Kevin Erhard 27:09
Yeah. So stanlow It's It's the stories this chapter is told from Stanley or section is told from Stanley Paul's point of views daily pulls the reporter if I recall correctly, right.
Phil 27:20
Yes, he's a reporter. He's there to cover.
Unknown Speaker 27:24
I think I was giving a speech.
Phil 27:26
Yeah, she she's they're giving a speech to the working man.
Kevin Erhard 27:29
Yeah. And it is. It is very, very on the nose. Like, I'm surprised that she is still alive by the end right.
Phil 27:42
amazed that like at no point do we get 1950s style you know, laser sights between her eyes at any point. She goes left of shake Rivara on this one.
Kevin Erhard 27:57
She's done in cooperation with Joe down in Rapture. Oh, no. She is She is deep into it. A house divided cannot stand no competition is division my friends and a house divided cannot stand quoting quoting Lincoln there. And but and she has an LAN and Wales not Wales pool notices that she is basically just as charismatic as Andrew Ryan. Yeah, he's a great speaker, a great speaker, dynamic speaker. Just completely different, like opposite end of the political spectrum. But charismatic.
Phil 28:37
Yeah. And the and there's another person there who noticed the exact same thing. Fontane, Fontane money it's kind of it's kind of cool. Yeah. It's kind of hilarious because he loves her. Yeah, he thinks she's great. Not for her message. But because he sees it. She thinks she's a con artist like him.
Kevin Erhard 28:59
Yeah. So it's like to say this is another grifter, right? He's
Phil 29:03
like, Oh, Games Game respects game. Yeah, that's really what we get here. And he says this, Dr. Lamb was going to be too much competition, of course, in time enough to see to it that Ryan got the info he needed to arrest her. Meantime, she was inspiring him along with the crowd, only not the same way. Basically, he keeps his eye on the prize. He's like, I gotta take care of my shit and Ryan and everything like that first, but along the way, I'm gonna have to, you know, drop a few fleas in in Ryan's ear about this woman. Yeah, because I can't. She's awesome. And that means I gotta get rid of her. It's another thing that just makes I love Fontane as a character so much. Yeah, such a scumbag but they're just
Kevin Erhard 29:49
massive pile of shit but you can't help but kind of root for him.
Phil 29:56
It's like, like Ryan is the they kind of want the same thing right and we've discussed this before, but it's like Ryan isn't having fun with it. Ryan doesn't enjoy it. He's like he kind of he feels himself yoked to it some
Kevin Erhard 30:13
is also stress.
Phil 30:15
Right, he gets more and more paranoid and Fontane is just having more and more fun. And it's because Paul Fontane has no rules. Right you know and and no rules just right. Exactly, exactly. And he sees lamb as the oversized can of fosters that he that just refreshes him in the moment that he's eventually gonna have to crumble up and throw into the recycling bin. But for now for now,
Kevin Erhard 30:43
but for now, he's sipping that fosters he's having a good time
Phil 30:48
Australian for capitalism
Kevin Erhard 30:51
lost his Australian Australian for capitalism. So I don't know if we have any any Aussie listeners yet. Oh, I want Oh, wait. We had cat
Phil 31:04
we do have cat Yeah, Cat Cat cats. Cat count. That was that was pretty good, right? We honored your country and
Kevin Erhard 31:11
we honored your country and heritage Foster's. That's your favorite beer, right? Yeah, Australian. We
Phil 31:16
only drink that and eat bloomin onions for breakfast bloomin onions
Kevin Erhard 31:20
and fosters. That's all. That's the diet of champions. That's
Phil 31:25
the That's That does sound good.
Kevin Erhard 31:27
But sounds good. But also like a huge mistake like I can I can see. I can foresee I have the power for seeing into the future. 30 minutes after that.
Phil 31:39
It's an important power.
Kevin Erhard 31:41
It's important one hour 30 minutes beyond that trouble. Not so good. Only slice down that path.
Phil 31:47
Just the darkness, the dark side, and the dark end of a toilet. And when
Kevin Erhard 31:52
Yeah, and when I say darkness, I mean you're sitting in the toilet in the dark because you're so ashamed of what's coming out of your body. Right? You don't even have the lights on in the bathroom. You're just like, you just want to be in a void.
Phil 32:05
You don't want to see yourself you don't want to see your own arms and legs because you're afraid of how much sweat is going to be on them. Yeah. So
Kevin Erhard 32:15
Andrew Ryan not afraid of pooping in the light though, because he's a man is a man's man who poops who who poops in the open
Phil 32:24
Exactly. So yeah, he's he's he's hanging out with Bill some more come along Bill moments and Sullivan is showing them he's basically introducing the plasma ads this is this is our first chance to
Kevin Erhard 32:41
see a man in Washington wants you to poop in the dark
Phil 32:49
I want you to poop proudly. Where you stand coming to rapture friends and family
Kevin Erhard 32:56
had Rapture. I would like to poop in the lights no says the man in Washington said
Phil 33:02
it's is a man not entitled to the sweat off his own thighs after he's been pooping for four and a half hours
my cat knows something's wrong he's given me Oh God.
Kevin Erhard 33:25
So somebody brings that bring somebody brings Ryan the the flyer about the plasmids. That's right spontaneous released in the line of plasmids. The original line is hair grow brain boosts sport boost, electro bolt boot more muscle enhancer and watch out for incinerate
Phil 33:48
Yes. Yeah, lots of different usages for these everything from like turning on. You know your gas heater without matches to just plain having a nice full head of hair which which is missing from the game and I'm disappointed.
Kevin Erhard 34:09
I'm disappointed that there wasn't a whole plotline related to hair grow. There wasn't some sort of like Sasquatch man who was who was addicted to hair.
Phil 34:19
Yeah, like after Stephen King found that Meteor in the woods and creep show they starts getting covered in green fur and asked to blow his own brains out. Yeah, that is what were what was missing. Bad luck.
Kevin Erhard 34:33
That's what was missing from BioShock grapeshot was creep show literally Yeah. Yeah. So and you know, there's the the solvent gives him the report that pool had given him that like, yeah, there's been a Fontane has made some breakthroughs and all that stuff.
Phil 34:50
And Randy Sure, they're pretty sure that Fontane is the one that is smuggling sure don't have enough like actual evidence to follow
Kevin Erhard 34:59
it through Yeah, he's Ryan is not super concerned with this yet.
Phil 35:04
No, no he's not he's not concerned about the effects. He's not even really all that concerned about Fontane. Yeah, um, he kind of does have a similar attitude toward Fontane as Fontane has for lamb, but in kind of a more like larvae ego maniacal kind of way. Were fun times just having fun. I'm gonna have to I might have to mess with her. Ryan is he's built up this legend of himself that he's drunk the Kool Aid on so bad. I think he really does see himself as Sherlock and Fontane is Moriarty.
Kevin Erhard 35:38
Yeah, he's like a worthy rival. You know, right.
Phil 35:41
He can China missing the point in time. He can
Kevin Erhard 35:44
kind of let him like he can kind of let Fontane vibe and do his own thing for now. He's not. He's not super. He's not super worried about it. No, I mean, no. solvent. We'll figure it out. Eventually. You know, he'll get he'll get the the proof needed to book them for smuggling.
Phil 36:04
Right, right. And it's just kind of stupid. Like even if you haven't played BioShock or read this book or anything like that. I don't think it takes a genius to see that Ryan's an idiot. Ryan is
Kevin Erhard 36:22
to grind the Dumb Dumb Ryan's like go into like, I'm
Phil 36:25
just letting him out on the line a little longer. Just pull that bait a little longer. And when I'm ready, bam, I've I released the hounds. I don't know I haven't planned anything. And by that time, Fontaine is left and he's fuck that life.
Kevin Erhard 36:42
And empty Ryan Ryan Ryan, slowly becoming Foghorn Leghorn. will say I say I said he he I dive. Fontane has nothing nothing against pooping out in public. God damn it
Phil 37:00
and it's objectivism boy went right past you
Kevin Erhard 37:03
objective isms. Oh, bad. The pooping in the public. It's all about Putin. But when I say I say that's then Miss Lam. She wants us pooping in the dock.
Phil 37:13
Ladies and gentlemen, I argue that from here on out if you meet an Objectivist and they and you know you just dismiss them and it just infuriates them and they'll probably say something like, you know, you tell me you don't even know what objectivism is. Tell me tell me what objectivism is. You look them in the eye and you say I get it you guys want to poop out in public in the sun. I get it like and just make like that's genuinely what you believe. objectivism to be and let us know how it goes.
Kevin Erhard 37:45
Let us know how it goes that you want you want. You want poop and right there in the street. Street poop been brought to you by objectivism. It's just a it's a that's a t shirt and it's a it's a toilet. Yeah, but the toilet has hands and it's doing finger guns.
Phil 38:04
And it's just disgusting. Trainspotting toilet
Kevin Erhard 38:10
just Yeah, it's that old tweet. objectivist want one thing and it's disgusting.
Phil 38:15
It's poop street pooping street pooping.
Kevin Erhard 38:19
Bill McDonogh visits some poor people.
Phil 38:22
Oh, yeah, yeah, he ends up in the slum area of Rapture. Supposed to be slum areas.
Kevin Erhard 38:28
Oh, I thought Great. Men are just kind of make things great. Again, most work and sound supposed to work. Run.
Phil 38:36
Yeah, he's doing some charity work out there. He's there's like, there's, they're one of the heat valves or something is broken. They can't figure out what the problem is. And no one can they need help getting to figure it out. He would never let Ryan know that he's doing all this because Ryan would flip his shit knowing that he was working for free. But there are people out in the area that are dying. They're freezing to death. They're dying from drinking bad hooch it's just it's a real mess out there and Bill can't help but feel somewhat partially response
Kevin Erhard 39:11
so they're they're working on fixing event and they find a dead body inside that there is a 13 year old child clogging up the vent and that's why the fan was not working. Yeah, and that is terrible.
Phil 39:27
It's terrible and and Bill assumes that you know the kid was just you know, just the kids like to crawl in the passages these or you know, and all that shit. He was exploring right and that's what happened and the electrician is working with says No, he doesn't even have home. He went in there to be safe. Yeah, you don't have to hide from anybody else and the fan blades weren't on and then suddenly they were and they just about to capitated the kid.
Kevin Erhard 39:56
Yeah, and Bill is not in a good place from it. No. And then
Phil 40:01
he says, he says there ought to be an orphanage orphanage. And the electrician chuckled grimly. Well, I think Ryan can figure out how to run one for profit. And that is the problem with all this shit.
Kevin Erhard 40:16
That is, in a nutshell summation of it. That is really it. And then there's just a little reveal that that the plasmids have gotten to the have gotten some market saturation already, because Bill's friend, Roland Wallace has uses the electron volt plasmid to power the the fan back on. Yeah, to basically jumpstart that before. Yeah.
Phil 40:45
Yeah, that's a thought. I thought that was a really nice touch because it basically shows it basically in two different ways. Bill is learning about how it actually works. Yeah. Out in the world. He says he's a very absurd over the top fantasy thing. Sure. And, and but enough about objectivism. Now he sees he sees this big absurd, like, I'm using my fucking electrical superhero powers to share to start a fan again. And then and he just also sees the state of the place these Yes, it's a mess. They can't work. They can't leave. No one's paying him anything. And so they just kind of gather together and die. So yeah, he gets a real it's a real
Kevin Erhard 41:40
honor to get to
Phil 41:42
die. Who die. Yeah. And that brings us to the end of chapter 10.
Kevin Erhard 41:49
Yeah. So we're on chapter 11. With one of the it's a well written scene, but it's one of the worst scenes in the book.
Phil 41:58
It is horrifying. And you're absolutely right. It is also one of the most effective scenes in the entire book.
Kevin Erhard 42:04
Basically, it is a domestic dispute between this married poor married couple, Rupert, and let's see rubric mage, his wife what was what was her name? Sally, Sally. Yeah, Sally mage, rooper and Sally Mudge. So basically, they're arguing because Rupert has spent the money that they needed on on plasmids, instead of spending it on things that they need. Yeah, he's, he Rupert has become addicted to plasmids, like he's, he's, he's taken the hair grow to grow his hair back. He's like, he's looking good. Feeling good. And she's. She's been like, She's just mad at him. You know? Oh, she's pissed. She's best.
Phil 43:04
Yeah, he's spent. She's not working. You know, he keeps talking about how he needs these plasmids to go in for a job the next day and everything like that. But it becomes clear, he's just addicted to them. He's just addicted to him. A beautiful full head of hair. He's got new muscles and all that shit. He's got
Kevin Erhard 43:21
new muscles, and basically, he's starting to get the scarring on his face this, this splicer, the telltale splicer scarring from people who like It's like around the eyes, like it's their skin growth.
Phil 43:35
It sounds like meth. If you've seen if you've ever seen meth addicts, sadly, they're usually mug shots. But if their skin breaks open, they've got this. It's from burning and all that stuff. It's there a lot of reasons, but it's this severe acne looking kind of thing. And that sounds like what they're describing here. Yeah,
Kevin Erhard 43:59
yeah. Yeah. And the fight basically just the argument escalates to a point where Rupert is Sally tries to get away from her husband, and Rupert picks up a sofa, I believe. The icebox, the icebox, sorry, yeah, the even he picks up the fridge and he throws it at her and it slams against the wall so hard that all is left that is left of her is just a bloody splotch on the wall.
Phil 44:35
He kills the fucking kills the fuck out
Kevin Erhard 44:39
of her. Yeah. And the he basically is like, you know, I'm going to go to Fontane because Fontaine can use a guy like me,
Phil 44:49
right? It's first of all his first thoughts immediately like, oh, shit, she was the one doing all the work around here. Yeah, cuz she was the one who had a job. He did. He doesn't Yeah, he doesn't. He doesn't Really grieve for his life all that much. Yeah. And and it's a great cut by the way it cuts to Bill and his wife Elaine having a beautiful romantic day. Yeah, out in the past a lovely day. It's such a great cut we go from these dark horrifying slums where someone has literally been murdered. And now these these happy privileged people on what I mean can you imagine it? It's probably not the case because they're underwater but do you imagine is like just a beautiful sunny spring day.
Kevin Erhard 45:33
And there is sunlight in Arcadia. Oh, yeah, they do imitate it. They do. It's like reflected with mirrors and something or something like that because of all the plants down and right. Yeah,
Phil 45:45
that's true.
Kevin Erhard 45:46
And basically, Bill's wife they're they're having this they're this picnic basically. Or nor are they just kind of hanging out. Sorry. Yeah, like they they've left the kid with a letter. Yeah. Ashley and they're talking about how there's bees around in in Arcadia because of the the you need bees. The bees say these guys save the bees don't don't let the bees die. And basically the wife his wife kind of hints that he might be having an affair with this. Julie Langford your Who is the woman who she was the one in this universe she helped create a basically kind of like an agent orange during World War Two. She's far as Japan Japanese islands for the allies. And now she's doing the reverse. She's she's building farce underwater.
Phil 46:44
Yeah. There's this great he he goes he's Yeah, she seems to think that he's interested in her and and she asks him if she if he's got a minute he can talk to her. And so he tells his wife back in a mo love. Clearly she wasn't fine with him strolling off with Julie. And Elaine was a cheerful girl most of the time. It wouldn't do her any harm to feel a little jealousy now and then keep her from taking him for granted.
Kevin Erhard 47:11
Fucking bill like Jesus Christ come on, Bill.
Phil 47:15
I don't care who you are. I don't care if you're a man or a woman if you think that way about your partner Go fuck yourself. Yeah, me twisted shit.
Kevin Erhard 47:24
So the problem is Julia. Julia is informing bill that Ryan wants to turn the the the park which is a public park into a paid experience. That's right. That's right. Because public parks are communism
Phil 47:39
right that that why should Why should there be and that's charity and charities evil as we all know, and and it gets the point where he's kind of she's basically he's like he's going too far. He gets to the point where he has talked about charging a surcharge for oxygen
Kevin Erhard 47:58
and oxygen surcharge and oxygen surcharge
Phil 48:03
so which is easily attacks? Yeah, yeah, what who woulda thunk it?
Kevin Erhard 48:08
Who woulda thunk it
Phil 48:10
paying for services? He's Yeah, he's losing it he's and Bill once again we have a moment with Bill Bill is kind of interesting because just like lamb a few chapters ago were lambs kind of telling herself I'm the only one who can stop this I can make things better as Bill starts to see how much further over the edge that Ryan is going as that goes on. He started that's how he starts to see it he still feels like he owes Ryan something. And so he thinks like I really I gotta help him I can I can change this I can make things better. And we end he has he has put a few ideas into Ryan said that have averted crises right um, but that you know no good deed goes unpunished right so we will see later as
Kevin Erhard 49:04
we will see. Meanwhile, meanwhile Oh yes. And it's by the way the reactor has been Savage has been SAP Russia Festus by the way.
Phil 49:19
We do get a wonderful little scene with Sander Cohen and a couple of his boys yeah show up and they're horrified by the bees they freak out a freak out over the bees out over the BS
Kevin Erhard 49:31
like it may or may not be high. No they are high. You're certainly high yet are certainly high and they can stand they get their freaking out over the BS.
Phil 49:39
Yeah, we get it we get a little glimpse. It's it would be hilarious if it wasn't also kind of insulting. Yeah. So yeah, that's Sandra COVID is our only real queer coded named Carrie. It comes off as like Liberace. With like a hair. An addiction which
Kevin Erhard 50:02
I think probably had he had some sort probably had it some something he was doing out drug and I'm sure it was Dick I'm sure
Phil 50:13
one of the most addictive drugs known to man
Kevin Erhard 50:16
it's why it's it's why it's an addictive
Phil 50:19
ah, it's
Kevin Erhard 50:21
right in the Word. Ah,
Phil 50:22
I did that to myself.
Kevin Erhard 50:23
So yeah Sandra Cohen he's he's dealing queer coded character in the book or the may only one of the mains primary or secondary character coded.
Phil 50:34
He's what Yeah,
Kevin Erhard 50:35
yeah. And so is his depiction, not the best for like for being the only queer coded character the way he is depicted? And I don't blame John surely know too much about it because this is he Xander Collins being depict the same way was depicted that way in the game as one of the villains Yeah.
Phil 50:58
Oh, no, yeah. And you could also argue that that, you know, with this kind of a world this ultra conservative Ultra right wing kind of a world that that there's not a great chance that a guy like Ryan would want a lot of gay folks down there anyway. The only reason he has Sander Cohen down there as he's kind of convinced he's a genius that he just shared and really comes down to him liking his his work, that's really all so he puts up with it. And any, you know, anyone again, who's cracked open a history book and tell you that, that, you know, the queer folks who hang out with fascists don't always have a great time in the long run. So right can you can kind of argue that it makes some sense it's just it does have there's some problems.
Kevin Erhard 51:46
There are some problems with the way Sander Cohen is portrayed. And yeah, so we'll move on the fastest has been has been. Ephesus has been sabotaged, according Roland Wallace and Bill exit Bill Bill in rowland's. run off to try to fix it. And then we get as a smash cut over to Ryan who is having dinner at the exact same time.
Phil 52:14
Yes, is old in court with some of us people there
Kevin Erhard 52:17
with his gal, Diane McClintock.
Phil 52:20
And he's increasingly seeing these people around him who he's invited down, he's increasingly loathing them. Yeah, really sees them as a bunch of complaining in grates, they're just hangers
Kevin Erhard 52:31
on that are just there and he doesn't. He doesn't like them. He's, he's talking shit about like, Oh, and this one made one too many visits to Dr. Stein men, he's just being a caddy, you know, a caddy bastard with because he's just
Phil 52:47
he keeps hearing about how people are complaining about his world. So he's pissed off all the time. And he's projecting it onto the people around him. And also, who knows, maybe for the first time realizing that, you know, the way he chooses his friends to come down there with him might have been a pretty, you know, superficial method.
Kevin Erhard 53:08
Yeah. And then he starts kind of like digging into one of the guys that there is, is a man named Garris Fisher, who works at Fontane. The Fontaine futuristics is like a garish what's, what are you working on over there? And so Garris is one of the scientists that's now working over there. And it's like, yeah, you got you know, brute Moore's is selling well, you know, that's one that he worked on. But you can see Ryan starting to like dig in just a tiny bit. And oh, yes, he was in business.
Phil 53:44
Oh, yeah. He's furious that he doesn't have a piece of this.
Kevin Erhard 53:48
Yeah, he is. He is furious. And then you know, there it basically continues there. Diane wants some more, some more drinks and they want the dessert cards. And Ryan is thinking maybe I'm just imagining all this discontent discontent. But then he starts thinking about poppers drop and all of the the pours and and the finding proof against Fontane for communist organizing and, and all that stuff. And as
Phil 54:26
he has this debate me coward moment, yeah. When he starts thinking of lamb
Kevin Erhard 54:32
where he says meet me in public. Yes.
Phil 54:36
That's his plan. His whole plan with lamb is that he's going to get her to bait him in public. And then all of her bullshit facts
Kevin Erhard 54:43
not feelings, that he's gonna facts, not feelings her.
Phil 54:47
I'm the best at this, obviously, obviously, and if it doesn't work out, then he'll simply make her disappear. Yeah.
Kevin Erhard 54:55
And then suddenly, car Lasky shows up and was like, hey, stuff going on down in Festus and Ryan uses sabotage Ryan. He uses us to excuse himself from the dinner table where he wasn't having fun anyway
Phil 55:16
it's like there's a whole like, part of town that is like under lockdown that's serious issues maybe a bombing or something like that. It basically his reaction is Oh, thank God I was so bored.
Kevin Erhard 55:30
I hate these people. I mean, oh, excuse me. I have to go.
Phil 55:33
Excuse me. Oh, terribly sorry. What a shame. So we end up in a Festus bill and they basically this is where Ryan showed up but they escaped a bomb that set there it's it ends up being a minor bomb that basically just sends out a bunch of ticker tape was worn it's
Kevin Erhard 55:55
basically like a glitter bomb. product. Right?
Phil 55:58
Right. And it says things warning against
Kevin Erhard 56:02
rapture, oppressor Rapture. Oppressors be warned? Yes. Yes. It's it's, it's, it's like there's not much to it.
Phil 56:12
It's kind of a sad, empty gesture. Yeah, that you get from people who are just being beat down. You know, it's there's not much to it. And it doesn't do much, but it's it's it's essentially these poor people just trying to get some of their anger out. Yeah. Yeah. But of course, Ryan's Yes. He
Kevin Erhard 56:30
is pissed. Yeah. And yeah. Then the The chapter ends with Bill, finally, making the realization that he has been building to four pages now. He can no longer ignore the stunningly obvious I like the fact that stunningly was put was slipped in there.
Phil 56:52
It's nice. It is nice Rapture.
Kevin Erhard 56:56
was cracking at the seams. Yeah. And I think that's where we'll leave it for tonight. Because as we said, a good place to leave it. Yeah. Oh, boy. So what do you thinking? What do you what are you feeling?
Phil 57:10
This is this is been, we, it's part obviously, it's the media's part of the book for a reason. But, man, just the, the little slice of life moments are so well written. Yeah. We get these little glimpses into, and we're going to get a few more in the next part. And these these little glimpses into these people's lives, people will never see again, sure, that just really drive home. The horror of this place in a way that the game couldn't run, you know, because in the game, you get the aftermath.
Kevin Erhard 57:47
Yeah. And that's horrifying. Okay. The aftermath is terrifying. But oh, it's,
Phil 57:51
it's, it's scary. But watching it, happen. All of that stuff, all these these these these moments, that argument between the husband and wife where he literally smashes her to a smear, you know, with an icebox like, yeah, that's insanity. And we're going to get more of those moments where we are getting a real you know, lower class, upper class haves have nots kind of thing, where you're seeing the consequences of what they're building, and on both sides. So I, I really dig it. This is this is just some this is solid writing. I've said it before. Yeah, it's really
Kevin Erhard 58:37
good. And it's the kind of thing that I would have loved to have seen. More of it from martyr from Deadspace. Martyr, or Yes, yes. Because there are, that's the thing is Deadspace. Martyr has scenes like this, where the decay is setting in. Yeah, but it is a lot of telling and not showing.
Phil 59:03
That's exactly
Kevin Erhard 59:04
what you hear so and so killed themselves, blah, blah, blah, right? That was the problem with that space. Martyr was just like, you just getting a recap, recap.
Phil 59:15
All you needed was a page long seen of some guy that you'll never see, you haven't seen yet. And you'll never see again, as an example of how bad things are getting Sure. And a lot of it also, it was all in service to the main plot. Yeah. You know, whereas with this, a lot of it. Sometimes it happens that that one of the main characters mentions one of the crazy things that happens in one of these little bitty scenes, but mostly they're just things that happen build the atmosphere
Kevin Erhard 59:48
is a service. Yeah, it's in service to world building and the setting. Yeah. And that's that is the beauty of novels is that yeah, not every time you have the time Not every page has to be dedicated to the plot. You can have just some character building moments trying to have some then eventually they'll all weave together and form the plot. But that's that's what you you can't get away with that necessarily in a movie right? You don't have the time in a movie everything is his his character and plot have to be lockstep forward together. Here we go. In most movie writing, don't Don't come at me with the the Yeah. Anti plot non plot and the the look into you rob McKee.
Phil 1:00:36
Right. All right. See, so
Kevin Erhard 1:00:37
Is he is he still alive? I gotta read story. Robert McKee.
Phil 1:00:42
Yeah, no. That's Mickey. Oh, hi. Yeah. He's 80 years old. 80 years old. Look at those eyebrows, man. I hope to have eyebrows is impressive. Yes,
Kevin Erhard 1:00:58
those are those are a pair caterpillars about to do of mating dance.
Phil 1:01:03
Oh, wonderful job. Mr. McKee. Wonderful. Wonderful.
Kevin Erhard 1:01:06
I applaud your eyebrows.
Phil 1:01:08
I love it. I love
Kevin Erhard 1:01:09
it. So that'll do it for today's episode. Hell yeah. Before we go, we want to tell you about something special that we have cooking up. And that's a little partnership with Audible,
Phil 1:01:26
and Dede, we recently gained a sponsorship with audible.com. For those who don't know, audible.com is one of the best places on the internet to get audio books, audio dramas, Lecture Series, all kinds of amazing stuff. And if you go to Audible, trial.com, backslash pixel lit, all lowercase. You will find us there and you can sign up for a 30 day trial completely free, including one free audio book and access to countless free radio dramas, radio plays, other audio books, Lecture Series, all kinds of stuff all for free. You get it for 30 days, and after that is 1495 a month. But if you don't like it, cancel it. See we care. I understand. Yeah, no, actually, I don't I've been with Audible for like a decade. Yeah, I
Kevin Erhard 1:02:18
don't remember when I signed up.
Phil 1:02:20
i It's been it's been a long time. I have had my Audible account. Maybe longer than I've known you. Yeah, it's a long time and I get the great courses on there. I tend to I like reading I tend to read the books that we read. But I love getting the Audible audiobook versions of them when they're available because it's just nice to listen to them while you're doing work. It helps put some perspective on it you guys have heard us referencing the audio books before and you can get BioShock rapture you can get Halo fall of reach you can get Far Cry app solution highly recommend that one I remember us talking about
Kevin Erhard 1:03:05
the guy who right reads Far Cry absolution great voice.
Phil 1:03:09
Oh, just it's exactly the atmosphere you want or something like that. So check it out. Check out Audible trial.com backslash pixel lit. And and tell us what you got. Tell us what you're listening to. That would be fun. Yeah, to see what you're listening to.
Kevin Erhard 1:03:26
And in the meantime, follow us on Twitter at pixel it pod and rate us five stars on Apple as you can please if you're listening to Snapple I know about 20% of you are if you haven't already, scroll down to the bottom of the app, hit that five star and it would be greatly appreciated. share us with your friends, share it with your family, share us with your dogs, your cats your hamsters, I hear that we are very popular among durables. So Big time, big time. Big time in the German gerbil community.
Phil 1:04:03
They just they just they they love our stature. They find us to be very handsome and tall.
Kevin Erhard 1:04:08
Yes. Yeah, that's which is true. It's true. And we're hence we are handsome, tall, handsome and superior to them. Yeah. So anyway, that'll do it for tonight's episode. Thanks everyone, and have a good night and I
Transcribed by https://otter.ai