Ep. 47: Maya And The Three

We are so excited to welcome back voice and television actress Brina Palencia, (My Hero Academia, One Piece, Borderlands) who had joined us for our Cocomelon episode. As is tradition, our guests recommend their favorite show and Brina brought us a GEM in Maya and the Three. 

Summary
Maya and the Three is a one season Netflix series of nine 30 minute episodes. This animated mesoamerican fantasy-adventure show features fifteen year old warrior princess Maya embarking on a journey to save humanity from some furious underworld gods. 

The Noteworthies
Being part Honduran herself, Brina felt excited to see a show that broke away from the Aztec savage warrior trope. This, in addition to the beautiful writing, made for a very emotional viewing for her and the other ladies. 

Even the gods in the show see character development, rather than black and white “good vs evil” treatment from show writers. 

The moon looks like Jack Skellington. We think it’s intentional. In fact, there are lots of skulls and it makes us happy. 

Chimi is played by Stephanie Beatriz, who was Mirabel in Encanto. 

Potentially Problematic
Younger children might not be able to follow along with the complex storylines. 

Infidelity. Revenge. Death themes. Violence with injury. 

Should They Watch It?
Brina: Solid yes

Kara: Absolute yes

Laura: yes

The adults loved it. And the kids did too. We think you and yours will feel the same way!

Follow Brina Palencia on Twitter or check her out on Instagram here. 

Transcript

Kara Edwards: 0:00

The views and opinions expressed by their should they watch a podcast are those of two moms who happen to be a registered play therapist and a voice actor for cartoons. So while they may feel their opinions come from a knowledgeable place, they are still in fact, just opinions. Should they watch it? A podcast that takes the task of reviewing your kid's favorite shows up your to do list? Hi, and welcome to the should they watch a podcast. I'm Cara Edward.

Laura Orr: 0:24

I'm Laura Orr.

Kara Edwards: 0:25

And we're so excited because our favorite thing is to have guests on our show. And we have a returning guest for the first time ever because we've only actually ever had two guests. We've had to one another. But we had so much fun with Miss Brina Valencia when we were talking about cocoa melon, which by the way is our most listened to episode and I think it's because of you Brina say I think it's

Brina Palencia: 0:55

because everyone is everyone knows cocoa melon, but I'll take the credit I think.

Laura Orr: 0:59

I think it's you too. Yep.

Kara Edwards: 1:02

So we are very lucky to have Miss Brina back in studio with us in person so we can actually look in your eye bulbs and see if you're telling the truth.

Laura Orr: 1:10

Yep. And you brought us a gem you brought us Maya and the three Yeah, do we need to sing the song?

Kara Edwards: 1:19

There's Oh, poop. I guess I should have listened to the song. to soak. remember there being like there is it's just like our music, right? It's not like words and stuff. Exactly.

Laura Orr: 1:39

It's hard to do a song that's just an instrumental but I think you nailed you

Kara Edwards: 1:43

nailed it. I mean, this is kind of her. It's kind of her root area of expertise. Right? Absolutely. Okay, so I'm curious what made you choose my end that three.

Brina Palencia: 1:54

So okay, so I love the show so much. I don't necessarily love it to watch it with my three year old. Not like super age appropriate,

Kara Edwards: 2:08

though he is not Maya and the three year old.

Brina Palencia: 2:13

There's a lot of action, and it can get pretty creepy. It can get pretty scary. So he actually loves it. And he has seen the first episode. But I pretty much just have to watch the first episode over and over again. But I've watched the whole thing.

Laura Orr: 2:29

It's not fun when you see a show and then you decide that you are invested in it, especially in a kid's show because there's so many kids show that I just white knuckle through because it's like, Man, my kids love it. This is boring me to tears. But let's just get through it. But then when something actually catches your attention, it's so lovely.

Brina Palencia: 2:47

Yes, yeah, but I love like I love everything about the show. I love the sound design. I love the voice acting I love the music. I love the story. And like because I'm I'm half Honduran. And like growing up, I've always seen like cool, like ancestor stuff for my white side like so my Scottish side like obviously Celtic stuff and that kind of, like zine that is like it hits a certain part of you that is kind of like Ooh, cool ancestry. And then I've never had that on my Honduran side of this is the first time I've ever seen anything, where it's like, like Mayans and Aztecs and like, that type of influence on a story that like, wasn't just like savages. Because that's Yeah, that's so

Kara Edwards: 3:32

true. Yeah, because you're right, it normally is like, oh, here it comes on my end as yet. Here to destroy whatever

Brina Palencia: 3:40

I knew, just because I am 100. And I know that's not true. Like I knew that that's not how that that wasn't the truth of the story. But like, I had never seen it portrayed in media as like, a beautiful, like, incredible time and like, just, it's an It's just like having like creating a mythos around that Mesoamerican culture was like, I just never I never seen that. Like it really, really changed. Like, I didn't change anything it just like awakened a part of me that I didn't know even needed to be awakened. You know, I grew up and I like going I mean, I went to the Mayan temples a couple times like growing up in Honduras and coupon and like just seeing the artwork like and like seeing like characters that are inspired by like Aztec artwork and Mayan artwork and ink and artwork and whatever and like seeing seeing it portrayed in such a cool way. The other thing too is like when you see Mayan ruins and Aztec ruins or any any like ruins like that it they're always just gray because all of the color has washed away, but like to see it animated and like to see like what the temples are, like much more what they actually looked like at the time is so cool. Like it's just Oh, nice because I remember the first time that I had like, realize that like, Oh, this is not like they weren't all just gray, like whatever. Like at the actual time that they lived in these temples like they were vibrant beautiful colors with like gold and all reds and all these things. And like it was just so cool to like, see an entire, like Civilization animated that way it was just it was so neat. Like I can't describe like, it was just it was one of those one of those things that I didn't even know I needed that like when I saw it. It's like like it's hard for me to watch the show like without crying like it really is like the the finale like the last episode, I was just like, totally something touching.

Kara Edwards: 5:40

Yeah, I know. Laura texted me and is like another show. I'm crying over you know, yeah,

Laura Orr: 5:45

all the tears. So So you know, it was really it's a moving, moving show. And I'm guessing Rena for you. If we ask the question. Should they watch it? It would be no, right. Right.

Kara Edwards: 5:55

Yeah, clearly.

Brina Palencia: 5:58

I was like, wait, what? Yeah, solid. Yes. Yes. All right. You carrot. Should

Kara Edwards: 6:06

they watch it? I'm an absolute Yes. I will say there are some problematic things that I want to point out for younger viewers that might be the parents should just be made aware of. But is this something that your children will benefit from watching? I think absolutely. Yes. Yeah. So Laura, should they watch it?

Laura Orr: 6:23

I mean, yes, as Wow.

Brina Palencia: 6:26

I'll be honest, like, whenever we were like, I was like, Yeah, we're gonna do this. We should do this show. And then I was like, what if they say no. Oh,

Kara Edwards: 6:34

by the way, we have in our only other guests, Heather, we love you so much. That is the only other guests we've ever had. And she was a yes. So we were kind of a no.

Laura Orr: 6:45

We tore into that show. But I still

Kara Edwards: 6:48

love little guilty about how bad we Tory.

Brina Palencia: 6:51

So sentimental to me. I was like, Oh, can I handle it? I really did have to, like mentally prepare myself for like, if it's a no, you just gotta be good. We gotta roll with it.

Laura Orr: 6:59

You gotta be okay. You gotta be okay with it.

Kara Edwards: 7:02

No, I like my point, though. I will change their mind. Yes.

Laura Orr: 7:08

We've had those moments, even between the two of us or one of us will love something and the other one will hate it. And then we're just

Kara Edwards: 7:13

tearing at each other. And we're like, but we're friends. And how are our brains? This different, right?

Laura Orr: 7:17

Yeah. And one of us is just trying to convince the other one awesome show and the other ones like not budging. It's like, Yeah, I'm glad you loved it. But anyway. It's it's fun, though,

Kara Edwards: 7:31

but Okay, so I feel like we need to tell everybody what my n three is about. Brina would you like to take the honors to give us the premise of the show? Sure.

Brina Palencia: 7:39

Yeah. Okay. So it's, it's all fantasy based. It's not literally the Aztecs or the Mayans. Were the Incas but it's three kingdoms like the Aztecs are called the Texas and the Mayans are called the Skull Island or whatever. And then or and then the, what did they call the Incas? The barbarians? Yep. And so it's, it's all about it starts off where you think it's a prophecy about King Pekka and his three sons and the gods of the underworld. Like come to take the daughter away back to her. True. Wait, should I even say that? Is that a spoiler? It's in the first step.

Kara Edwards: 8:21

I mean, I think it's not too bad of a spoiler. I think the very last episode is where the spoilers really are is like oh, this is what this has been about. entire time. And I loved the ending, but no, I think that's an important part of it is yeah, that she? She is not the human. We think she is in the beginning.

Brina Palencia: 8:42

Yeah, her true. She's like the gods of the underworld come to like, take her back to her true mother. Which is leading me there.

Kara Edwards: 8:51

Yes. Like, and that's when we find out her dad was a TD MacTutor son.

Unknown: 8:54

Yeah, yeah. Where we're at right from the beacon.

Kara Edwards: 9:03

I mean, at least do it for a god you know, buddy, definitely. Try.

Brina Palencia: 9:11

So yeah, so then we find out that the prophecy is not what they thought it was. And then it turns out that Maya, which is the daughter she ends up being the prophecy and she ends up going to traveling to these three different kingdoms, to look for heroes to fight the gods of the

Kara Edwards: 9:30

warriors. Yeah, because she needs those three warriors to fulfill this prophecy. And basically take back their world from the gods that are coming in to take over it and the gods are prepared portrayed for me as like kind of these horrible rulers that will destroy things because the gods that we focus on so much are the gods of death that Gods of war that you know, these these kind of got bad. Yeah. Bad gods that wouldn't come in until underworld. Yeah, it's bad. So which is interesting where all the good Gods

Brina Palencia: 10:08

now they're boring,

Kara Edwards: 10:08

okay? Where do they live?

Brina Palencia: 10:14

Plants grow?

Kara Edwards: 10:15

Why are the good Gods not helping the bad Gods you know, there's a lot of like even the gods have character development and

Brina Palencia: 10:25

it's like that's the difference between like and this is true of like Roman gods and stuff too is that Gods are concept of God in like the in like the more like Western Christian ideals or whatever it's like the All Knowing all loving and whatever. Whereas like when it's more of the like, what what is it polytheism it tends to be that the gods are a lot more human like and that they have jealousy and they have like revenge qualities and all that kind of stuff. They're not perfect, right? And yeah, and the way that we kind of tend to think of them and in Western culture,

Laura Orr: 10:59

that's the one thing I really, really liked about the show is that the gods were, you know, fickle, and they had their own like inner dialogue where they were being asked to retrieve my but then they had their own needs that they wanted to be met. And yeah, that made the story way more interesting, because it wasn't just like, this pure evil god of crocodiles, right, goddess of crocodiles, or wasn't she the theme anyways? The play by Rosie Perez. Right, right. Yeah. And she was in love with the God of earthquakes. Yeah. Anyway, that's right. So yeah, so she she was meant to go and retrieve my but then she had her own storyline that she was dealing with. And so we got to see the story go in a different direction if whereas if she had just been pure evil, she would have come in been defeated. And then she, they would have moved on to the next you know, God that was trying to bring her back to the underworld. So I thought it was cool that they that they were more uncertain about, you know, what their goal was, or whatever were that it would change once they saw Maya or whatever. It just made the whole story more enriched and I felt, as opposed to

Kara Edwards: 12:06

I agree they character development was fascinating throughout this and you and a lot of the characters that you thought were going to be one way or that you thought like, like you said in the beginning, you absolutely starting out in Episode One would think that the three sons were going to be the main focus of this thing. Yeah.

Brina Palencia: 12:22

Super not no.

Laura Orr: 12:25

No, they got the Game of Thrones treatment. Okay, before we move forward, let me just say a few things about the show. It's a limited series. So there's only one season, each episode is 35 to 40 minutes long. And there's about nine episodes about there are a solid nine episodes, a solid nine episodes exactly nine, no more, no less. And you can find it on Netflix. And they

Kara Edwards: 12:55

released it in a way that was really interesting. I remember when this series first came out on Netflix, I remember opening it and seeing that there were three episodes and I'm like, okay, so this is a super short series. But then they release three more, and then three more, which I like that everything's in threes. My n the three. Yep. So there are three sections of three. And so at the end of each of the third episodes, they do a coming up next. And the reason is because that's how they were released was in chunks of three, which I think is why I feel why a lot of people aren't aware of this show is because I know Michael first started watching it when it was first put on Netflix. And the first the very first episode is a little slow. Like it takes a minute to get into the story and get to where you're really hooked in. Yeah, there's not a ton of action in the show. And I think that he watched the first episode and was like peace I'm out. And this is not my thing. When we sat down to watch it for the podcast by episode two, he was completely hooked. He told me I was not allowed to watch the show without him. So that's awesome. Yeah, we watched all nine episodes together after school like he was way in to make it so cool by

Brina Palencia: 14:05

the second like the year because you're right, the first episode is very, like, it's kind of expositional and then you find out that a lot of exposition feels like it's gonna be really predictable because it it kind of tricks you into thinking yeah, it'd be that story and then when you realize everything I've heard is a lie.

Kara Edwards: 14:21

Really fast and you're like what and also like the drama of I mean, like you said the Game of Thrones treatment and you're like, Whoa, this is not your typical kid series.

Brina Palencia: 14:31

It's not I actually got real scared in the second episode when Arthur started watching it and when it got to the point where they see Lord make lon for the first time yeah field and everything is like it's so creepy it's such a creepy scene on their horse loved it because he loves creepy stuff. But I was like legitimately scared for a second I was like wait a minute is this actually could show Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, yeah, it's happening. Oh, no.

Laura Orr: 14:51

Oh, no. Very intense.

Brina Palencia: 14:53

It is why seven for the record.

Laura Orr: 14:55

It is what it is why seven? I would you know, I think it's gonna be a mess. matter of who the child is in the family who's watching it. So, because it I think for some kids, you know, seven might be too young, because there's just a lot of heavy themes. It's very intense. Yeah, I'll say my niece is 12. And she watched it and she cried a lot. When watches her. Her little heart was broken when she watched this. So Michael

Kara Edwards: 15:22

got it, Michael got it. And he was very, of course, he's a kid who, who I know kind of understands a lot of these types of themes. It's also very chaotic. There's a lot of storyline going on. Yeah, so younger children aren't going to be able to follow along with that. And I don't think Michael got all of it at six. I think there was stuff but he definitely was following the story and was like, wow, and he's talked about it since so it made an impact. Yeah, Arthur,

Brina Palencia: 15:48

he loves to watch the first episode over and over again. And it actually you know, he has only three but he he asked so many questions every time and it is kind of it is kind of nice to like, have that. Oh, yeah. Like conversation about stuff with him. And like he wants to know, like, why this person is mad at this person. And like, he's like, what's going on? His favorite thing is mama what's happening?

Kara Edwards: 16:12

Like, oh, well,

Brina Palencia: 16:13

okay, so this person like, and he really likes hearing the description and like, trying to understand like he wants to understand because I think he loves how it looks because there are so many skulls and he loves skulls and skeletons so much.

Laura Orr: 16:25

The moon is

Kara Edwards: 16:26

the skull. Why? Why does the moon look like Jack Skellington I noticed that I like staring at it. I was like That's Jack Skellington like that. There's no question maybe

Laura Orr: 16:38

they're willing to say my in the three tree that we didn't know about? And he opened the door. Yeah, he walks through that door. And in that universe, He is the moon to see everything

Kara Edwards: 16:50

you can like was like it's a no Jack Skellington like, that's absolutely Jack. Exactly. Oh, no. Yeah, Arthur

Brina Palencia: 16:56

gets very excited every time he sees the moon. Yeah, sense because he also does love nightmare before. Okay.

Kara Edwards: 17:05

crossovers.

Laura Orr: 17:08

It's a visually an amazing, visually, it's

Kara Edwards: 17:11

gorgeous. Just so much detail.

Laura Orr: 17:14

Like,

Brina Palencia: 17:15

and again, I can't reiterate like how cool it is to see like, Aztec influence and Mayan influence, like and just like having grown up around that. And like, it's the first time I've ever seen anything modern portrayed in such like to portray that type of artwork. So gorgeously and like, cool. And like, it's just, it's just neat. Like, it's so creative, the way they they created every every character is fascinating.

Kara Edwards: 17:39

It's beautiful. And the voice acting and there's a lot of famous voices in the voice

Brina Palencia: 17:43

acting, it's good in Spanish to like the Spanish cast. Some of the some of the Spanish cast is the same, a lot of them are different. But it's still, the performances are just as good in Spanish.

Laura Orr: 17:55

There's so much attention to detail in this show, from the visuals to the storyline. I mean, every character I felt like was so thoughtfully fleshed out in this and man and just watching it. I feel like if I go back and watch it again, I'm gonna see things I definitely did

Kara Edwards: 18:12

no question. I would, I would watch this again. And that's I love the dual language. I loved how much Spanish was in this Michael's learning Spanish right now. And I loved him having a show where he could watch it go back and forth.

Brina Palencia: 18:23

And you should have him watch it in Spanish.

Kara Edwards: 18:24

I'm going to actually, as you said that, I was like, hold on, we're gonna watch this in Spanish. I didn't even know that. Yeah, the only thing

Brina Palencia: 18:31

that I would say I actually do, because I've watched it in Spanish and in English. And I actually do kind of prefer the English version, which I didn't expect. Yeah. And the reason being a lot of the comedy doesn't translate. Okay, because it is more like American NYSED even though the creators are Mexican. But like, like, for example, in the beginning, when they're talking about the widow, queen, and the brothers are like, Oh, it's the widow queen. Like when Yeah, so they did that. Spanish it still works, but I didn't think it was as funny like widow is view them. And then he like was saying that the new that instead, which is like vineyard is like oh yeah, because she's tender as a vine or

Kara Edwards: 19:14

whatever. Oh, yeah, that doesn't play as well.

Brina Palencia: 19:17

Yeah, it's not as funny. Also, weirdly, and this is getting really tech heavy. So feel free to cut this if this is the mix is different. Because like I actually talked to my brother about this, my brother's a mixer, right? Crunchyroll. And he has talked to me about this a lot even before I did like the side by side comparison. So the mix in English is very immersive, and it is still in Spanish. But there's something like culturally, culturally, American audiences really like to be fully immersed where everything feels really equal, where the music feels just as loud as the dialogue and everything is like really like in your face. Yeah. Yeah, whereas in a lot of other cultures, for sure, Spanish cultures, I think also Japanese culture is like they tend to prefer the the dialogue to sort of ride all the elements. Like as though it's a boats like going with the waves like the it's not like in the water, it's always like right above so it's not quite as intense, it doesn't hit you quite as hard. So like, to me the sound design of this is so good that I love being just like immersed in it. And it's not it's not like a huge difference. But I think anybody who like actively listens to mixes will absolutely notice a difference.

Kara Edwards: 20:35

And this is something that I think most people don't think about unless like Brianna and I are in an industry where how how things sound is very important. And so when you have an in what she's talking about is like when the music is that a certain level, the sound effects are going to be at a certain volume level, the voices are going to be at a certain volume level. And she's right like, like in America, we want everything, everything. And so when you go to a movie, it's like

Brina Palencia: 21:00

the booms it's like overwhelming. Yes. Like

Kara Edwards: 21:03

it certainly heightens your emotion because and that's done very intentionally. And yeah, when you watch that, that's when you can think very American. You watch films in other cultures or another languages. Sometimes they won't have that same like, like the emotional response comes from other areas. But not by having everything thrown in your face. Yeah, that's. That's actually really interesting. I want to watch them side by side. Yeah,

Brina Palencia: 21:32

but yeah, both are still really awesome. Yeah. But I did find myself preferring the English version. I think also, I did love the going back and forth. Yeah,

Kara Edwards: 21:40

I was actually curious because I know that you are also bilingual. So I was wondering how, how the Spanish played for you, because I know Spanish can come in so many different dialects and accents. I appreciated

Brina Palencia: 21:52

that it was like, like, like, I guess Mexican Spanish is the best way to like Latin American Spanish, okay. Not like European Spanish, right? I appreciated that. That was the case because it's like, and I'm from, I think, from what I read, they were saying that, like, a lot of times whenever they do Dubs, they'll do a European Spanish version and like a Latin American Spanish version. Okay, and this one, they did not because it is it's Mesoamerica. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Like it'd be very silly to hear those characters with lists, right?

Kara Edwards: 22:28

I did. I thought about that so much when I was listening to you, and especially like, when the wizard would go into his spells. I love such a good character. And I'm like, I can't wait to ask Brina how how the Spanish is playing my

Brina Palencia: 22:41

God when he Oh my god, whenever and this is a little maybe a little bit of sweater. I don't think it is because whatever, when you do it, yeah, when he started because the big thing with the Buho is that like he he uses peasant magic or whatever. Like it's supposed to be like, you know, dangerous and whatever. And I like I love that that ends up being his greatest power. And so when he said like toward the end, this is absolutely spoiler I'm still saying it still exciting when you see it and you don't know the context. Sana Sana Colita Duran as you know, Santa Susana Rosman Yana, that is, every Latino knows that. All across the board like my like my guy.

Kara Edwards: 23:25

Actually, like heard that phrase. You said it I caught I was not. I did not catch. Like,

Brina Palencia: 23:31

I teared up when he started doing that. I was like,

Kara Edwards: 23:34

wait, I know I've heard this phrase. But what does it mean? It literally just

Brina Palencia: 23:38

means like, get well get well by the tail of the frog. If you don't get well today, you'll get well tomorrow. Like it's not like some deep thing but like, like, yeah, my grandparents said that to me. Even my mom says that to me. Like my dad said like, it's just like, it's so pervasive. Like and I you know, a lot of the other the other spells that he would say, like I understood what he was saying, but it didn't have that sentimental value. I love that they saved it for the end. Like I was just like, Oh, my heart like, I can't express like what like, oh, it was so good. It was so good. Because I've only ever heard that referenced as a comedy. Like seeing it referenced is like a powerful thing. Yeah, like it was just so cool. So cool. I'm like literally tearing up you are but it is it was so beautiful. It's so beautiful. I can't express it enough.

Kara Edwards: 24:22

I love when I love, love, love when when things just come together when you can tell the thoughtfulness that goes into something when the writers the sound design, the actors, the everything comes together and you can just feel the passion that everyone put into something and there is passion in the show like you can I mean the people fall in love and storylines are creating than

Brina Palencia: 24:47

like the drama of like the affair and everything like

Kara Edwards: 24:51

yeah, okay, yeah, the drama The affair. So one of the things that I was curious about was the two characters that fall in love, which is Maya and

Brina Palencia: 25:00

Yeah, that's that's which is Arthur's favorite character.

Kara Edwards: 25:02

Oh, I mean, such a great character but but they say at one point that Maya is like 15. I remember catching, they said that she's 15. And I'm like, okay, so then why xats and my are supposed to be the exact same age. He sounds like a 47 year old Latin lover. I was really the only character that I struggled with because his voice is so masculine and

Laura Orr: 25:30

deep. Haven't you seen this 15 year olds who go through the change, and they're, they look like a kid. But they've got the voice of a man

Kara Edwards: 25:37

activity. He wasn't even drawn to look like a kid. And so I struggled with like, as this relationship developed. Over time, I was like and changed and went in different directions. It was like he, I don't know, he was the only character that I kind of kept like, but why is he drawn to look so old and sound so old? Are they the same age? They're supposed to be the same?

Brina Palencia: 26:00

Exactly. That's so funny. Because I, because I was thinking of the two actual actors the whole time. I just I didn't realize like, Oh, right. I guess they

Laura Orr: 26:09

are played by full adults. Yeah.

Brina Palencia: 26:14

Yeah, Diego Luna and, um, yeah, like thinking of the two. I was just thinking of the two of them. Yeah, they are a great pairing. And so just Yeah, I didn't even I didn't think of it. Yeah, cuz I mean, his hair is white, so I could see how you could Yeah.

Kara Edwards: 26:27

Like his face looked like he looked like an old man that was preying on a 15 year old girl, and I couldn't get it out of my own. Sorry, everybody. I'm sorry. But you're supposed to be 15. They show them at the exact the exact same age as babies. So it is fine. It's just every time Maya. Well, yeah, I'm here for you. Why is he literally the narrator from Jane the Virgin? Oh, by the way, as a friend of mine, it is an amazing, amazing human. But well,

Laura Orr: 26:56

I have a theory. He did grow up in the underworld. And that does not seem like a stress free place. So maybe he basically yeah, it's trauma.

Brina Palencia: 27:05

Also around all that fire all the time. So imagine this smoke would have

Laura Orr: 27:11

is probably so dry.

Kara Edwards: 27:14

Okay, there's nothing wrong here. And

Laura Orr: 27:17

he's like the bat kid, right. So the prince of bats, they're not known for having real supple skin. You know? So we always answer the question of whether or not this is an educational show. I wouldn't say that the goal is is an educational outcome. But

Kara Edwards: 27:41

I also have a hard time calling it fluffy. Yeah, because it feels like there are benefits to watching and it can open doors to talking about other cultures talking about history talking about my death, talking about death talking about fables talking about there's so there's so many doors that can be opened. But is it set out to be educational? No, it is set out to be entertainment. Yeah, this is entertainment.

Laura Orr: 28:05

Is there a kingdom that y'all like had a favorite? Did y'all have a favorite

Brina Palencia: 28:11

100% than the one that's based on the Mayans? Which I'm not like what? Skull Island right? That's what they call it? Yes. Sounds great. Yeah, yeah. Skull Island. Yeah. By far, because that's to like, like, like my, I think anyone from Honduras, like your parents, your grandparents are always like, oh, yeah, totally. We remind, we're just minds. Everybody wants to be mine. So I know that my family's indigenous, I have no idea. Like, if it actually does trace back to the Mayans or not, because all of that was raised by colonialism. So

Kara Edwards: 28:47

yeah, he could have even been like, fine, everything's fine.

Brina Palencia: 28:58

So for me, I loved I love the design of that one, because I also love skulls. And I also I love Cimi she's my favorite character.

Kara Edwards: 29:07

Oh, my God, I hands down my favorite character as well. So

Brina Palencia: 29:12

so funny. Yeah. What's her name? Stephanie be Beatrice. Yes.

Kara Edwards: 29:16

That's right. Yeah. did such a good job going between the like you like I'm, I'm, I'm a monkey. I'm an animal. I'm addicted. I'm a human

Brina Palencia: 29:23

being. Yeah. And she was so funny. And she she was the she was also the lead and incoco Yes, she

Kara Edwards: 29:29

was. Put that together. But that makes sense. Yeah, she's

Brina Palencia: 29:32

incredible. She's incredible. I love her voice. It's so unique and so fun. I just love that character. Like, yeah, so definitely Skull Island was my favorite.

Kara Edwards: 29:43

Yeah, I can't ever say I don't know that I could sit here and say I have a favorite because I just loved how they had it all came together. And I don't have the sentimentality that Brina has coming into this. So just sitting back and watching you know, I love the tickets just because I loved how they like when they would go in And then put on like the costuming and the makeup and the history behind like the women warriors. And it was okay for the women to be fighters and so there was a lot that I just really love through there. But honestly, I can sit here and think of every single place she went, and why it was really special. You know, I loved the characters with it. I'm like, my brain is going away right now. Like so many the big noses, the bone the blue? Hmm. Yeah, they, I love the way that they did their voices and that sort of like, there was that was really a great thing. And that was something that as a voice actor I really loved throughout the series is they were unabashed and not being beautiful with their voices, like when they would scream at sound and you could hear the roundness and the in the voice cracks and the and I love when when that's allowed. And it's like, you know, as voice actors were up here. Oh, your voice cracked. Let's do that again. But that's what that sound like, when you're when you're yelling, and that's where voices go. That's and I love that they really let people be kind of wacky with their choices, which really working

Brina Palencia: 31:13

Yeah, can't Well, the first line that I remember feeling that with was when King Teca when he was like from my gold, dirt arms or whatever. Yeah, does that does that sounds like you? Like, yeah, the Creator? What's his name? Jorge Gutierrez. Okay. That's the Creator played King Teca.

Kara Edwards: 31:31

Okay, that makes sense. Because it was there were so many moments that I was like, I love that they made that choice. And I love that they let the actors make there was like, it felt like there was a lot of freedom in really exploring what they could do vocally so that the acting came out so much more than the voice for me in that was really fun. Because as again, in our in our business, you don't always get that freedom.

Brina Palencia: 31:56

Yeah. Yeah. What about you? Did you have a favorite kingdom? Or?

Laura Orr: 31:59

I think I think it was Skull Island is that that's where the widow queen was? Yeah, yeah. Oh, man. Yeah, that storyline was heartbreaking. Jimmy's Jimmy's storyline. Yes, yeah, it was heartbreaking. But also, I just felt like the detail jumped out at me a lot watching that storyline, the way that the the subjects that she used to, like get down off of her throne, and there was just a lot of bodywork that was being used. Yeah, the way they were animated. Yeah. And I just found that to be so creative. And obviously, just the kingdom itself was beautiful. And I just loved that. That was definitely my favorite. First, I

Kara Edwards: 32:40

think that was the best like side story is the like them sending away the child that didn't look like them. And then you have the widow ruler who comes back and it's like, we did her wrong. And we've learned and like how she gets her storyline is really wonderful. So

Laura Orr: 33:01

it was so heartbreaking. Yep, exactly that word. just devastating. Two out of three say heartbreaking. Yeah.

Kara Edwards: 33:09

I three, I just didn't actually say 123. And I liked the whole overall theme with my, the you know, she was raised to say, you know, if it is to be it's up to me if it is to be it's up to me.

Brina Palencia: 33:27

That's another phrase that in the Spanish I didn't feel was as good. Okay, it wasn't quite it didn't translate well musical in the in the Spanish word.

Kara Edwards: 33:35

Okay. And that was I mean, and there were so many themes like moments of growth or where there would be like, I've learned this and I am now if not afraid of this and the wizards growth throughout. Beautiful,

Brina Palencia: 33:47

because it's so heartbreaking to

Laura Orr: 33:49

know that they were all just I cried every single with every single backstory they took the time to it was amazing. Can I go wheels off for a minute. So did you notice that the God of War kept calling? My end the three like insolent fools? Yes. I just that is such a common word that villains use that I just don't think gets used in everyday life. Do you notice that?

Kara Edwards: 34:14

Do you want to start using it? Oh, yeah,

Laura Orr: 34:17

actually on my kids, because it means rude and lacking respect. I don't know about y'all being insolent

Kara Edwards: 34:23

right now. Oh My

Laura Orr: 34:25

insolent children No.

Brina Palencia: 34:28

Funny actually didn't notice that but you're right yeah.

Laura Orr: 34:30

All the time. Actually Little Mermaid insolent fools is like a common dig.

Brina Palencia: 34:35

Another thing that I found that that I've started to notice a lot in like kids movies and stuff is you deliberately disobeyed.

Laura Orr: 34:42

Oh my god. As you said that.

Brina Palencia: 34:47

That is so many other deliberative

Laura Orr: 34:50

me, as you said that I heard James Earl Jones saying.

Kara Edwards: 34:55

You can hear it like as soon as you say it, you know exactly what that line is. Yeah. Wondering, there's I kind of thought about this too is like, man, we're definitely seeing a rash of movies and TV shows of children going against their parents wishes to, to grow as humans. And that's like a lot. It

Laura Orr: 35:16

is a common theme,

Kara Edwards: 35:17

I think in like, an all things show. Yeah. And I'm like, I mean, is that is that because like, there comes a point where our children are like, I will do nothing that you told me to do. And I will strike out on my own. Yeah, I

Laura Orr: 35:31

mean, think about a 15 year old not doing what her parents want. Yeah, like, Oh, where did they get that inspiration?

Kara Edwards: 35:37

Like this giant rash of everything we've watched lately is like, Oh, good. It's another children. Another child disobeying her parents. Like,

Laura Orr: 35:45

I don't know. What I love though, is it's it's the parents, it's because the parents are wrong.

Kara Edwards: 35:51

Single time is because the parents and it's the parents who actually have to grow to come to their child's wisdom. And I'm

Brina Palencia: 36:00

like, I will say with the mind that three though it was it was kind of like everybody was wrong. Everyone was wrong. Everyone needed to grow.

Laura Orr: 36:10

A good message, right? Nobody knows

Kara Edwards: 36:12

what they're doing as well. This, this is a world world trying to all make mistakes.

Laura Orr: 36:17

No one's perfect. Everyone's a mess. Yeah, we're all in our own journey. I also really liked the music that they use for the underworld, and they played the heavy metal.

Brina Palencia: 36:29

I love the music is so good. It's so good. And they like, I've never like it was so I think it's whenever Cimi comes in. And they're like battling the hurricane or whatever. And they bring in that like, like, like Rancheros, they handle music or whatever with the accordion. I've never heard something like that sound so cool. Like, because usually like as a kid, because my dad, my dad was like a total rock rocker guy and whatever. And so like, he Oh, he always hated that kind of music. And anytime we would like, hear it or see it and be like, ah, like, he just hated it so much. And so I kind of grew up being like, yeah, that's lame. But whenever I heard it in that instance, I was like, now that is rockin. That's cool. That's so cool.

Kara Edwards: 37:15

So I did put together a list of things that are problematic. Yeah, that we want to dive into here. I do have a white little list of for the parents who are like, this sounds like a beautiful show. I want my children watching it, you should know there is a very light, small amount of cursing. She does use a little bit of language but it's very, very, very light. We do have the cheating we've already talked about definitely some lying going on my as lying to our parents, the dad's lying to mom the lot of lying happening in the thing of the running away my runs away that that is something they deal with. There is this whole thought of like avenging death, and they talk about it avenging the murder avenging the death. There's a lot of revenge theme throughout. That's something that Michael struggles with always wanting to get revenge. So I tried to like talk to him about that. Okay. And sometimes the storyline does get confusing, which we mentioned to you is it's kind of like I think there's a lot and I think you'd have to be easily at least nine years old to be able to really start grasping the different storylines. There's

Laura Orr: 38:21

also violence, violence that includes injury, which is something that you don't see a lot in children shows. Yeah, it's not blood. But you know, there's a black guy, there's broken bones that need to heal and things like that, that are included that you might want to be aware of. There's a whole battle scene at the at the end that involves an undead army, which I think could be scary for some kids. The battle scene was very long, and for some kids I think would be intense. It kind of reminded me of like a Marvel battle scene, as far as the intensity goes. So if your child is okay with watching a Marvel movie that as far as with the violence, they would probably be okay with this. There's a lot of death, a lot of death themes,

Kara Edwards: 39:09

and emotional death. Not even just like, oh, this person died, but like, oh my god, like, like you see here and witness children. Yeah, and brothers and sisters. And there's a lot of grief throughout the

Laura Orr: 39:21

death of main characters, which I don't think kids are used to seeing as often either. So just want to be aware of that. There is a joke involving intimate partner and partner violence between the parents mom, she talks about stabbing dad. Oh, yeah. On multiple occasions. Yeah, she's like this time. It's a quick joke, but it's there. And it's, I think, like episode one, or it's the first or second episode. Yeah. There's some witchcraft moments that, for me weren't any more intense than what you would see on princess in the frog. So if you want something to compare it to that it probably would be close to that. So Just something to also be aware

Kara Edwards: 40:01

of, for sure. But other I mean, but outside of all other than

Laura Orr: 40:06

that, it's a really well done show. It is enjoyable to watch for parents, I would say the stories are

Brina Palencia: 40:15

really good. Everyone watching together. So absolutely, yeah, the way that Arthur and I, my son, and I actually watched it the first time we were at his friend's house, and like his friend from school, who's also, you know, a toddler, but he has much older siblings. And so they would all watch it together as a family. And they were just kind of watching it. And I was like, Wait, what is this? I mean, he's amazing.

Laura Orr: 40:40

Take a seat. Let me sit down right here and it was going on. I think that if you're uncertain about whether or not this is appropriate for your kids, you could just watch it yourself and be enjoyable for you for sure. Exactly.

Kara Edwards: 40:52

If you wouldn't be mad at the time you spend watching. Exactly. It would

Laura Orr: 40:56

not be a waste of your time at all to watch it. And then you can decide if you will, you know want to watch it.

Brina Palencia: 41:00

I like to tell all of my adult friends to watch it all the time. It's so good. It's,

Laura Orr: 41:06

it's so good. It's so good. And because it's only nine episodes, it's really like a not even a six hour investment. It's like five and a half hour investment. Yeah.

Brina Palencia: 41:14

Really well, like it's a solid like this. I will say

Kara Edwards: 41:18

I am absolutely not spoiling any endings. This was one of my favorite endings of any show that we've ever watched, especially for this podcast, because it was a surprising ending for me, that wrapped everything up with this beautiful bow or I was like, oh, yeah, that's what we've been watching this whole time. And that's, and I really enjoyed that. I can say no more than that. I really like

Brina Palencia: 41:42

me to answer on any level.

Laura Orr: 41:50

Yeah, I loved it. It was one of those shows to where sometimes I'll watch shows and like play. I don't know, a candy crush type game on my phone. This is one of those shows where I had my phone down.

Kara Edwards: 42:02

And I had the exact same thought is so I mean, we're doing this weekly where Laura and I are watching these series, it is sometimes hard when the show isn't really captivating. And same I'll find myself like scrolling Facebook or something that I hate myself for. This one I actually because like emails would come in from work while we were watching it. And I would find myself like reading it and then going wait, we have to rewind. I don't know what just happened.

Brina Palencia: 42:27

Yeah, you want to know Yeah, I don't want to know. And it does. It is really good for repeat viewers because y'all I've seen that first episode at least 20 times. And the other day we were watching it and I even was like oh, I never noticed that little that little thing. I never realized any tiny foreshadowing I didn't notice so

Laura Orr: 42:47

many details is so beautiful. It's such a rich show that you can you'll find something new every time you watch it. Yeah. And if you're not paying attention, you're gonna miss something important because it is character heavy. It is story heavy. Yeah, there's a lot going on but they do it in such a good and it's so well done that it doesn't feel to me it didn't feel like I was like as long as I was watching it didn't feel confused or lost or anything like that. Like I felt in some of the other shows. We've watched that were story heavy and character heavy.

Kara Edwards: 43:18

No question. Were like at the end. I'm like, I don't even know what I just want. Yeah. I don't know. I think I made notes.

Brina Palencia: 43:29

Yeah, they do a really good job of wrapping it up at the end. Yeah, it's really, really you

Kara Edwards: 43:34

feel like you went on a journey. And you're happy with how the journey ended? Yeah. Yeah.

Brina Palencia: 43:39

I like you might cry a lot. So much.

Kara Edwards: 43:42

It's emotional. Brina thank you for bringing this one too. I'm

Brina Palencia: 43:45

so glad you guys liked it.

Kara Edwards: 43:48

Now with us again,

Laura Orr: 43:49

I don't think we would have done this show justice without you here too. So I'm so glad that you were here to review it with us too.

Brina Palencia: 43:57

Yeah, me, too. I've been I can't express it. I tell everyone I see I don't see a lot of people like that. Have you? Have you seen this? Like anytime I'm like a studio or something? I'm like hey, hi guys. Have you seen my on the street? And the answer is always no. And it makes me so mad because I'm like I'll be like please watch this but I can talk to someone about it because I love it so much.

Kara Edwards: 44:17

Oh my god that's what I told my husband is like brianna is coming into room to record the podcast with us and he was like oh yeah what you reviewing I was like my and that three he just stopped he goes oh my god she loves that show. She

Brina Palencia: 44:26

talks about guys one of the people

Kara Edwards: 44:30

that up she really does tell the people she sees

Brina Palencia: 44:33

yes I want everyone to see this show. It's so good. And you could tell so much passion went into it like you said you really and truly thought like I just feel like like I don't I don't know I just feel so grateful that this show exists and I want more shows like it to so everyone please go watch I agree

Kara Edwards: 44:52

like have passion because it is it is so much more enjoyable as a parent when I am showing my child something that I can feel the passion from the creators coming through versus shows that we have definitely watched where I'm like, holy crap, they really threw this away and did not care and did not put thought into it. And then I feel like I'm wasting my child's time with something that's just

Brina Palencia: 45:11

worthless because they can tell a difference to absolutely, yeah.

Laura Orr: 45:17

Thank you so much for coming. Do you want to tell people where they can find you?

Kara Edwards: 45:22

Oh, sure. Yeah, what are you doing?

Brina Palencia: 45:24

Ah, you can follow me on Instagram at Brina kins VRI. Na kins and on Twitter at Brina Valencia p p l en CIA's how you spell my last name Yeah, and I don't know what else to say. Beyond that.

Kara Edwards: 45:47

He said she's an anime and you can see her in here. And she does lots of anime.

Brina Palencia: 45:53

Yeah, game stuff. I never know when anyone is released,

Kara Edwards: 45:55

or what you've done or what I've never like what do you have coming out? And I'm like, I don't know. What are you doing? I can talk about the beauty of

Laura Orr: 46:04

IMDb and Google though funny. Yeah.

Kara Edwards: 46:07

Just like Google like Google me. Yeah. You should. Just next week we are going to be talking about stranger thing Yes, we are diving into your show the beginning of

Laura Orr: 46:23

a show that parents like to watch with their kids probably older kids.

Brina Palencia: 46:28

I thought about that as a kid show

Kara Edwards: 46:29

you know we we talked about it and we want to make sure that we're always reviewing shows that some of them are for much younger children but we don't want to ignore older audience or preteens. And so we're going to dive in and it's what everybody's talking about right now. Anyways, so we are going to let you know is this something that is safe for your and I'm going to SPOILER ALERT I am allowing Michael to watch this.

Laura Orr: 46:55

Oh, nice. Now Has he seen any of the other seasons? No,

Kara Edwards: 46:59

we are starting we're on literally episode three.

Laura Orr: 47:03

Okay. Oh, so I

Kara Edwards: 47:06

I have lots of thoughts and I will let you know if I have regrets.

Brina Palencia: 47:12

Or a really great open line of communication.

Kara Edwards: 47:16

Like Michael and I are in a place where I feel safe allowing a show like this to be watched. But again I will let you know at which point I am like oh what have I done? What I but I do feel that this is a show that parents are watching and it's sometimes we don't get time for ourselves. And so can you feel safe with your children in the room while you're watching that thing that you want to watch that also your pre teens are probably watching and we're just going to talk about it all

Laura Orr: 47:45

the we're gonna get down to it. Thank you. Thanks everyone for listening. Scribe and follow us on Instagram