Episode 63: Jessi and the Awful Secret

The episode for "Jessi and the Awful Secret" was originally released on May 15, 2017 and is #61. **You can listen to it here.** This episode is 1:01:03 long.This week's ghostwriter: Suzanne Weyn.

*Previous:* Episode 62: Mary Anne's Makeover | *Next:* Episode 64: Kristy and the Worst Kid Ever | *Or,* see all episodes.

## Official Episode Description

TW/CW: Anorexia, briefly discussed

A "very special” episode this week, Baby Nation, since Ann – in her infinite wisdom and unaccountable cruelty – decided to throw Jack and Tanner another curveball with a powerful novel about the triple threat of poverty, systemic racism, and teenage eating disorders. But with an exquisite grace worthy of Jessi herself, the boys manage to tiptoe shockingly quickly in the opposite direction of these delicate issues and towards the vastly safer ground of Marvel’s The X-Men, which Ann also foolishly included in this text. And it goes without saying that this whole discussion is positively teeming with horrifying doll creatures, so there’s plenty for everyone to enjoy.

## Music Credits

* ”Cinematic Piano," by AShamaluevMusic
* "Whistle and Clap," by MorningLightMusic
* “Chloe’s Lullaby,” by Robert Austin
* “Disturbing Ballet,” by Creepo TV
* “Skyline,” by Sam OT
* Original Intro by Scott Lamb
* Superbrat Outro by Superbrat

## Ann's Epithets

"Soulskinner" is introduced in this episode.

## Book Description

Tanner and Jack describe the book and then take a break to watch some fail GIFs and recover their spirits.

## Segments

###  Burn Of The Week

Tanner: "Not!" (Jack: "I think that's the weakest Burn of the Week we've ever had on the show.")

Jack's burn came from the Chapter Two; Jessi describes her literal best friend as starting to look pretty after you know her for a while.

###  Tanner Googles

Tanner Googles to find out if there was a global event in the winter of 1993. They settle on the arrival of Clinton in office.

Later, Tanner Googles the date of the X-Tinction event story arc (1990). Jack tells Tanner that he's already done the research, and points out the Fatal Attraction story arc. Tanner proclaims that this was "nothing. Magneto's back."

"F\*\*\*ing casual."

 ###  Tearful Moment

Tanner: when Watson funds two children going to ballet school

Jack: Watson whistling ballet tunes

## Theories

###  Doll Theory

"Yeah, I've got dolls."

"We don't really belong here," -- the dancer "dolls"

Emily Michelle Thomas-Brewer keeps thrusting her doll at Stacey, saying "pu way". Jack translates this to mean "the natural way". The dolls were here first.

## Jack's References

* "Why so serious, Anne?" (A Joker reference from Batman)
* "Do you want to talk about the Hermeneutic cycle and Friedrich Schleiermacher? [...] We were talking about Harry and the Hendersons today, but that's different."
* Biblical hermeneutics
* "I wanted to talk about synecdoche." (Tanner asks: the Kaufman movie?)
* "Do you want to talk about the Balanchine conspiracy?" It takes Jack several minutes to get back to this topic, which Tanner keeps steering away from. Jack realizes that Balanchine is a very problematic fave. They touch on the undercurrent of systemic racism throughout the book.

## Tanner's References

X-Men (Soul Skinner)

Correction

Tanner and Jack model some shirts

* David Michael reads an X-Men comic book. Tanner guesses it is the Xtinction event, which is what the recent X-Men movie is based on. The issue from February 1993 was about the Soul Skinner; there is a blonde girl who could be Shannon Kilbourne.
* Tanner's favorite X-man is Colossus. Jack tries to bait Tanner, to much amusement. "His name is Gambit and you know it!"
* "I wanna just do an X-Men podcast. [...] That's my true interest. Actually, if we could do one about Green Lantern, I would love it." --Tanner, setting the seeds for High Brow/Low Brow 001, two years later.
* The fort reminds Tanner of Steamboat Springs, Colorado
* "I was like Hawkeye with one of my special arrows."

## Notes

* Last week, Tanner said this was Jaime's favorite book. He was required to issue a correction
* Shannon Kilbourne is back; Jack apparently wrote a two paragraph short-story about Shannon called "A Time to Kilbourne".
* Tanner has a theory that Kristy and Shannon are a recently broken-up couple; Kristy dumped Shannon and Shannon misses her.
* The boys re-up the theory that Watson is an art fence, last discussed in Episode 6: Kristy's Big Day.
* Jack name-drops his friend Gus, who listens to the podcast but is irritated by Tanner. Gus went to Julliard, just like Quint.
* There is a discussion on the etymology and spelling of the phrase "psych" ("sike").
* In the housekeeping discussion, a fan Etsy shop is promoted.

"Sure, the Lazarus Pit, we know this!"
"Is that an X-Men thing?"
"No, Batman."
(Laughter) "That was a T. S. Eliot quote, by the way, and you should know that, because I gave you a book of T. S. Eliot's."

## References & Links

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal\_Attractions\_(comics)
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men\_(TV\_series)
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeneutic\_circle
4. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich\_Schleiermacher
5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry\_and\_the\_Hendersons\_(TV\_series)
6. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical\_hermeneutics
7. ↑ Synecdoche: a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche
8. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche,\_New\_York
9. ↑ George Balanchine: the Human Cost of an Artistic Legacy: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-kiem/post\_6717\_b\_4640946.html; The Predatory Genius: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-predatory-genius/
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/X-Men\_Vol\_2\_17
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Tanner's correction: https://twitter.com/BSCCPodcast/status/861643287349923842
12. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Tinction\_Agenda
13. ↑ https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Soul\_Skinner\_(Earth-616)
14. ↑ Steamboat Springs does have a few prominent ghost stories: https://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/tales-from-the-tread-county-boasts-haunted-history/
15. ↑ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sike
16. ↑ [0=68.ARDKUZxR\_RB-0lXwaEgeCSnCEBw\_AG3FeERmnCi\_UOpnlFaTDpQr5esoq1GaU78REi90tPzh-GOvWeMxX8\_4Nh-aftDNmCEcYKTk2yKMqpjTyj8JiC6r-G3vONdTafd8Gzw\_\_AU\_w0MS5axO8Z-AS9kvxKsR74nZ6Y5dH5bnU6wcZJrjeieJFT-QwOuVwE8GjIsGDnmNpX\_b3hOzC-r30hxgcjLZ9RMGDfuNf\_Tiy1KsiTegcdaSR36c3DbzdGoS3zitWrjNa5Reumf2-V6gMjHybFcdYzA5lM4KU9w7Zh0wllZC3nSmLGSkxwpPDvNevdbCgVp9uu4I7UIbtLO2Nrihg5KT&\_\_tn\_\_=-R image source] and SkinnySweatsShop
17. ↑ The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/44212/the-love-song-of-j-alfred-prufrock
18. ↑ https://batman.fandom.com/wiki/Lazarus\_Pit

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