The Bicks Pod

We complete our end of the Henry VI trilogy with a play that had bits of everything we liked from Part 2, but with a lot more of what we didn't like from Part 1. Join us as we wrap up the sad story of Henry VI, revel in the reign of Edward IV, and lament the fact that these plays give up so much of what Shakespeare does well for so much of what he doesn't.  Notes: Margaret of Anjou did actually ta...

This episode we decided to get a little personal. Rather than try to take an objective look at the characters in Shakespeare's canon, we just picked out our favourites. The ones that stand out for us after years of study, or maybe just a single performance. Forgoing any rational reasoning, we have picked out our most memorable characters, and then post-hoc tried to defend our choices to one anothe...

Henry VI Part 2 deals with the immediate lead-up to the Wars of the Roses, with court intrigue and tons of backstabbing that results in the First Battle of St. Albans in 1455. Henry VI was an ineffectual king in the actual historical record, and Shakespeare's Henry is that to a 'T'---cuckolded by his wife and goaded into a civil war by his ill-seeming advisers, Henry's eventual downfall is telegra...

To help illuminate a bit of the history as Shakespeare saw it, we’re looking at the Hundred Years' War as we now understand it. All the nuance, the technological innovations, the separate dynastic squabbles that contributed to the way the war ended, and its legacy are all points of conversation we discuss here. We’ll hopefully get a sense of the changes that affected over five generations of Engli...

This episode is dedicated to one of Shakespeare's least performed (and least deserving of performance) plays: Henry VI Part 1. We talk the discrepancies with history, the shoddy characterization, and the reality that this was not likely written by Shakespeare alone. While not huge fans of this particular play, we did come to appreciate the appreciable aspects of it, including the unintentionally h...

As we enter the world of Shakespeare's history plays, we figured it was time for a backgrounder on the period of history being shown, as we understand it today. Starting with the dynastic feud that ran the course of almost all of Shakespeare's English history plays - the twin tetralogies with their numerous Henrys and penchant for big battles - the Wars of the Roses.  Follow along as we give you a...

This week we take a break from the canon to talk about the fandom. We talk the latest Kenneth Branagh Shakespeare film, this time a late-stage biopic entitled All is True. We watched the film and walked away with some very specific feelings - some positive, some negative, and some conflicted. While we agreed that neither of us would name it our favourite work of Shakespeare as a character on film,...

Aidan and Lindsay tuck into the epic battle between Katharina and Petruchio in Shakespeare's early comedy The Taming of the Shrew. In a play about breaking the spirit of a strong woman, the conversation here travels around feminism and the social order of Elizabethan England, Shakespeare-adjacent texts, philosophy, and questions of who really is the titular Shrew in this story? Join us for a spiri...

In today's episode, we dive into the world of Shakespeare's women. Broadly divided into rough categories -- maids and mothers and queens and villains -- we look at the changing roles of women, from Shakespeare's earliest written women to the later ones. Questions covered include: Was Shakespeare a feminist? Did changing societal roles for all people of all classes influence Shakespeare's writing o...

We begin our look at the plays of Shakespeare with the one that was possibly performed first: The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Imbued with all the hallmarks of Shakespearean comedy - crossdressing heroines, witty wordplay, making fun of the peasantry - it also has several features that didn't age as well. Most notably is the controversial ending of the play, which feels not only rushed, but downright...

In our first episode Aidan and Lindsay discuss the life and times of William Shakespeare. From his birth in 1564, through his early years, and on into his career triumphs, eventual death, and legacy. Along the way we'll also be talking about English history, the political and social situation Shakespeare found himself in, and the state of the English language at the time. While today's episode inc...

After more than two years and almost 100 episodes covering the wonderful worlds of Twin Peaks, the films of David Lynch, and the writing prowess of Mark Frost, we're saying a not-so-tearful goodbye. Well, not so much goodbye as a "We'll see you again... in less than 25 years." As we move on to our next shared love -- the complete works of William Shakespeare -- we are supremely thankful for all th...

We join up with Nick and Dylan of 119! A Twin Peaks Podcast to delve into the supremely challenging mysteries of David Lynch's 2006 film INLAND EMPIRE. Tune in for three very different interpretations of the film, and sound off with your ideas about what it all means (or tell us why you think meaning doesn't matter!) Starring: Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, Justin Theroux Directed by: David Lynch Writt...

The Bicks dig deep to deliver on the promise of the surprising and inspirational true story of the 1913 US Open as told by Mark Frost in the 2005 film The Greatest Game Ever Played (which, in turn, was based on his book of the same name). Starring Shia LaBoeuf as amateur golfer Francis Ouimet, the film takes us on a leisurely stroll along the links of history, with detours into the upper-crust wor...

Mulholland Drive. A modern classic, and arguably one of the high points of David Lynch's storied career. In this episode we do our very best to walk through the interpretations, the artistry, and the powerful messages woven throughout this 2001 masterpiece. Warning: Our best really isn't good enough. We also talk at length about the connections of this film to other David Lynch works, including Tw...

The Lifetime network holds a special place in the hearts of half of this podcast team, and this episode we're taking a look at the most Frostian of Lifetime made-for-TV movies: The Deadly Look of Love. Join us for a discussion of early-noughties feminism, the appeal and joys of Lifetime's particular romantic/life-affirming formula, and the elements of Mark Frost's work we are finally seeing as the...

Take a slow-as-molasses journey with us across the wide open prairie as we visit David Lynch's 1999 film The Straight Story and delve into a warm dreamscape of a different kind than we're normally used to from the master of surreal dreamscapes. Based on a true story, The Straight Story follows Alvin Straight as he attempts to make it across the Iowa/Wisconsin border to visit his ailing brother. Th...

It might not have been here for a long time, but it was a good time! Buddy Faro was Mark Frost's 90s-noir lovechild that brought a pair of private eyes from different generations together into a colour-saturated, quirky, and delightful private eye comedy. Quick and witty dialogue, interesting characters, and fun abound in this great meetup between 90s and 30s-through-70s culture. Featuring a numbe...

We're talking the big three this episode: sex, lies, and videotapes. Lost Highway has them all in spades, wrapped up in the usual Lynchian elements of mystery, violence, and doubles galore. We discuss the film's confounding interplay of memory, reality, desire, and jealousy, to try and see if there is a single, understandable plot somewhere in that mix, or if the film's best understood as a loose...

"For a millennium, the space for the hotel room existed undefined. Mankind captured it, gave it shape and passed through. And sometimes in passing through, they found themselves brushing up against the secret names of truth." Thus we enter the world of David Lynch's Hotel Room, a series that jumps between times but remains always behind the door of Room 603 of the Railroad Hotel in New York City....

Rain-soaked streets...moss and wisteria...bad guys in the bayou. This is the setting for Mark Frost's 1992 film Storyville, a courtroom drama/thriller mixed with elements of the police procedural Frost knew all too well from his years on Hill Street Blues, a dose of Vietnamese underworld intrigue, and all filmed at the intersection of Deep South corruption and 1990s social conscience. It's messy a...

After The Return to Twin Peaks, we've returned to Fire Walk With Me for another look at the David Lynch film, with an eye on the big picture. What connections are there between the film and the 2017 TV series? What new theories and ideas did it spark? And where does it rank in the list of Twin Peaks filmed projects? Join us for a discussion and a look both forward and back as the lynchpin of Twin...

Fasten your seatbelts, we're goin' for a ride! 1990s Wild at Heart is an adaptation, yes, but it's filled with Lynchian quirkiness and oddities and the unshakable sensation that nothing you see is quite as it seems. While neither of us can call this our favourite Lynch film, we tried our best to see past the goofy madness and over-the-top qualities to get to the (wild) heart of it all... Starring:...

Let's take it back. Way back. It's the Summer of 1992. The viewing public had long since learned the answer to the question of "Who Killed Laura Palmer?"; Twin Peaks had been off the air for a year, and all hope for a revival and answers to the plethora of questions raised by the Season 2 finale had been thoroughly and hopelessly dashed (or piqued even further) by Fire Walk With Me. For some bewil...

The Bicks had the golden opportunity to sit down with Andrew Grevas to celebrate the first birthday of Andrew's legendary Twin Peaks site, 25 Years Later...and we couldn't pass it up! So here, in the space we'd normally talk about Twin Peaks in the chronological cataloguing of the Lynch/Frost professional oeuvre, permit us a moment to talk shop with our partner in publishing! Whether discussing th...