Everything we canât stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture.
[Manage newsletters]( [View in browser]( [The logo for Daily Beast's Obsessed] Everything we canât stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture. with Kevin Fallon Everything we canât stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture. with Kevin Fallon This Week - Inside Out 2 [doesnât disappoint](. - You need to be watching [Fantasmas](. - The weekâs best singing. - My king won another tournament. - The best casting idea ever. The Star of the Moment Sadness really is that bitch. Imagine if your whole dealâyour job, evenâwas to cry the second anything became too overwhelming. I mean, that is my dealâand what I currently do at my jobâbut it is not expected. It certainly is not valued. But I have come around to the fact that it should be. Sadness is the secret breakout star of the moment. I used to banish her whenever she lurked; now, I welcome her. Have you been alive these last few years? With apologies to [Taylor Swift](, [Beyoncé](, [Donald Trump](, that lady with the bizarre [flag fetish]( who is married to that guy who is taking away our rights, and the Pope [who canât stop saying]( âfaggotâ: There is one figure who is the most consequential presence in our collective lives. Sadness is fierce. Sheâs dangerous. She makes people uncomfortable. She is the breakout star of the moment. I am, of course, talking about the pivotal character in [Inside Out 2](. Sadness is not, technically, the star of Inside Out 2âthough, speaking from experience, when is Sadness ever the previously announced attendee of any major occasion? She kind of just shows up unannounced, but when she doesâ¦sheâs the star. Even if she doesnât want to be. The fascinating thing about Inside Out 2 is that it unleashes, as is the tradition of a sequel, a new, great adventure. There are new characters, voiced by a star-studded cast. And yet, the crux of it is still the same revelation: We would all be screwed if it wasnât for Sadness. The actual movie Inside Out 2 is brilliant in that it delivers on exactly what you want from a Pixar sequel: The plot is obvious, the twists you see coming, and the voices are hysterical. I would imagine that they didnât bargain for an elder millennial to dissect the profundity of a side character, but at this moment, who carries more weight than Sadness? The gambit of Inside Out 2 is that the movie introduces new emotionsâAnxiety, Embarrassment, Ennuiâbut it reveals to us how, whatever complications encroach on our lives, the binary still exists: Are you sad, or are you feeling joy? Even if unintentionally, Pixar has made Sadness the hero. In this sequel, she is the one who has to clear the physical and emotional hurdle that eventually leads to the solving of the movieâs big problem: If anxiety takes over, how can the person weâre controlling still exist? The answer is Sadness. I think weâve all tried to move past a truth that is, honestly, inescapable: Weâre all really sad. The reasons why? I donât intend to have my mentions poisoned by that, but suffice it to say: People are sad. In reaction to politics, power, pop culture: the answer is the same. Getting a little teary. In Inside Out 2, the film, the central character, Riley, hits puberty. There is a flood of emotions that (literally) encroach on and disrupt her life: Envy, Ennui, Embarrassment. Riley, I get it. But what crystalizes to me is those nuances: There are two things that energize us all. Joy, and Sadness. What struck me in my screening of the film is the assumption: When Sadness is involved, things will become a disaster. What actually happens is that, even while sitting by the sidelines, Sadness is the reason that anything is a success. Sadness is the reason for happiness, My therapist and I are currently untangling these things: why Sadness is the most relatable emotion; how to wrestle that into progress; the revelation that being sad is actually the greatest super power we have. Imagine that! In this climate: drowning in the muck of *the world* right now, but discovering a way to scrape your way out of that into some sort of triumph. Itâs so stupid, and yet, thatâs what a great Pixar movie can do. I can tell that weâre all excited to see our Queen (being unapologetically sad and crying in public), so here are my favorite reactions to Sadness feeling her Angelina Jolie self at the red carpet of Inside Out 2. This bitch canât even eat popcorn. I love her. I am her. Iâm so sad. Rejoice me.
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The Show You Should All Be Watching Julio Torres is a genius. Heâs the weirdest genius we have right now in pop culture, and Iâm so grateful that heâs being given a platform. Amidst the chaos of everything in the world, we need weird voices! Strangely, theyâre what help us feel normal. Torres is a former [Saturday Night Live]( writer who created the HBO comedy [Los Espookys]( and wrote, directed, and starred in the movie [Problemista](. His new series [Fantasmas]( launched last week, and is, for me, HBOâs most important show and the one I consider appointment viewing. (Sorry to [House of the Dragon](, which is apparently a big deal.)
Fantasmas is a continuation of Torresâ unique comedic perspective: turning the mundane into a fairy tale, exploding simple concepts into dreamscapes, and through fantasia underlining the basic humanity beneath injustice. His work is bizarre and surreal, and also is some of cultureâs clearest dissections of queerness, immigration, and class. Fantasmas starts with the argument that there should be a crayon the color of âclear.â The first episode also makes points about the gig economy, the housing crisis, and the significance of the letter âQ.â So much of television these days is algorithmicâcreated based on what research says you should like, with the knowledge that youâll enjoy it. For a show like Fantasmas to exist as the manifestation of the phrase âwhat the fuck?â is a miracle. Please watch it. Come On, Get Happy Ben Platt reopened the renovated Palace Theater with a residency, the highlight of which has been a duet with a different guest star each night. Kelli OâHara [sang]( a Joni Mitchell song with him, Rachel Zegler [performed]( a song from Waitress, and Alex Newell [launched]( âSuddenly Seymourâ into a vocal stratosphere that hasnât been heard before. The performances have all been jaw-dropping, but I canât get over this weekâs duet with Cynthia Erivo. Platt and the future star of the Wicked movie recreated Barbra Streisand and Judy Garlandâs performance of âGet Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again.â This, people, is singing. The Perfect Celebrity It is my understanding that all famous people are terrible. So it is refreshing that we have Carlos Alcaraz in this world. To be so young, and also perhaps the greatest athlete in the world right now is one thing. But to also be so humble, and find joy amidst the intensity of the system that surrounds him? Anyway, here is Alcaraz following up his [French Open]( victory by taking a photo with the ball boys and girls who worked with him during the tournament. It is one of the cutest things Iâve ever seen. A Perfect Idea If they donât make a Notting Hill sequel where Nicholas Galitzine is the son of Julia Roberts and Hugh Grantâs characters, then what is even the point of having the internet? More From The Daily Beastâs Obsessed Youâll be scandalized by whatâs happening on The Boys. [Read more]( Glen Powell wants to sell out. Thank god. [Read more]( The big Bridgerton sex scene is here, and itâs hot. [Read more]( [See This] - Inside Out 2: Donât have any anxiety over whether this sequel is [worth watching](. (Now in theaters)
- The Boys: This continues to be the [most fun and most shocking]( TV series. (Now on Prime Video)
- Fresh Kills: The [best mafia movie]( in years. (Now in theaters) [Skip This] - Love Is Blind: Brazil: Please stop this show from its global reign of terror. (Wed. on Netflix) Like our take on what to watch?
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