Special Episode 28: Glass Onion

In their latest special episode, Flourish and Elizabeth discuss Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion, follow-up to the 2019 surprise hit (and Flourish’s absolute all-time never-liked-anything-better favorite film!!!) Knives Out. Topics discussed include the film as a commentary on sequels, the mystery genre versus true crime stories, and how much their perceptions of the film changed—for the better—when they watched it a second time.

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Show notes

[00:00:00] As always, our intro music is “Awel” by stefsax, used under a CC BY 3.0 license.

[00:01:08] Well Daniel Craig did work with a dialect coach on this one:

I went away to work with an accent coach for three or four months before we started shooting [Glass Onion],” Craig reveals. “I’d forgotten the accent and I didn’t want to do a pastiche. I wanted to make it as grounded and as anchored in reality as possible.

And Elizabeth is still pretty sure she read somewhere that he did not try to make the first one…“anchored in reality” in comparison, but the source on that may be lost to the Tumblr sands of time.

[00:02:03] WHO WORE IT BEST:

Photo of Chris Evans as Ransom Drysdale from Knives out in That Sweater, sitting in a wooden booth at a restaurant, bottle of beer in front of him

Photograph of Flourish in That Sweater, making a fake-serious face and a thumbs-up

[00:05:44] Bookmark this baby because Elizabeth will bring it up 100 more times in the next hour: Rian Johnson interviewed by Fresh Air producer Sam Briger.

[00:06:23]

Animated gif of Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Brick, flipping through papers

[00:08:00]

Animated gif of Steve Martin, Selena Gomez, and Martin Short in Only Murders in the Building. Captioned: "Why am I holding this knife?" Short chucks a bloody knife towards the ceiling, where it sticks.

[00:10:26] Cafe Spaghetti—more than just vibes!

[00:12:28] Perhaps the article Flourish was served about Rian Johnson not wanting A Knives Out Mystery to be appended to Glass Onion’s title was not that garbagey, as it was in Variety.

[00:15:38] If you want to listen to someone who really knows what they’re talking about re: mysteries, definitely check out Caroline (Crampton’s) podcast “Shedunnit.” The episode she recorded live at the festival was about prize mysteries—when newspapers would publish installments of a story, and readers would send in the solution.

[00:17:43]

[00:21:11] He’s still in character.

[00:29:37]