SurrealTube: Salad Fingers Ep 5-8

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Scary Stories. We tell I am one of your hosts, Chris, and I'm the other one, Emma. Sometimes and we're joined by our good friend on this episode of Surreal two, where we're taking a look at things on the Internet that are joined by our good friend. You've heard him here before, and you'll hear him here again, all the way from parts No Dude, your friend and mine Dustin, Hey, Hello, he's the same energy as Meek. And when it comes to introducing myself, hello, hey, not everybody has to be energy level one thousand.

You know, let's let let let that be a lesson to you kids. You don't always have to try and be the center of attention. Sometimes you can just exist, ladies and gentlemen. And speaking of just existing, on this episode of Surreal two, we're gonna be jumping back into something I wish didn't exist, that thing and being that's so harsh. The fifth episode and sixth episode and seventh episode, Right, we're gonna do three?

I think, so okay, I think we can knock out three? Or said four? Do we want to do four? I guess we'll see how we feel. Play it by you.

Okay, So I'll just I'll mark this part that and on this episode of Surreal two, we're gonna be taking once again another hard look, unfortunately at everybody's favorite Internet monster with salad fingers. N No, I think monsters a little hard. I don't what would you use to describe solid fingers testin given that we've had a little bit of distance in time from this U from from salad fingers, I know I know what I'm creature, not monster creature, because creature can be lovable. I was going to say misunderstood. Uh, but we could also go for scrimblow, scrunkle, sprunkly scrimblow I think also fits, which is a gen Z term that I'm not explaining.

Okay, yeah, because I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about. He's not that much for bloorbo, but he is quite Are you being serious right now? I am. I'm actually being completely one hundred and ten percent serious. You can look that up on Urban Dictionary later.

Wait waite are you wait? Are you being serious about all of them? Or some of them? Everything I have said is true? Okay, all right, I mean fair, So shout out to every gen Z in the audience and or millennial that's chronically online.

Ah yeah, apparently so, Emma. For those listeners that maybe don't know what's out fingers is, give us a quick re update or reprimmer on what what Anyone listening to this or or who knows what salad Fingers is can ex well to hear and listen to us talk about when we talk about salad fears. So salad Fingers I spoke about in the first episode was originally a New Grounds animation. It was one of those that was creepy for creepy's sake, playing around with you know, flash at the time when that was very new for you know, the everyday person of access to and a lot of people made some really cool, surreal, strange, creepy content and I think this one is so infamous for that reason. You can definitely expect a lot of really weird voices, occasional high pitch sounds and jump scares, and a lot of things that will make you generally uncomfortable.

But that's the intention, and it doesn't row up. Boy, isn't it like that? For me? I think is the thing that cannot be overstated is this is creepy intentionally and it's doing a very good job of it. So well, yikes, all right, well, I think without further ado, one might say, we'll take a look at the fifth episode of Salad Fingers titled Picnic has eight point two million views, and it was posted a long time ago, fourteen years ago.

Here we go, brushing you up on your internet history. Yeah right, So how do you feel about those mouth works? That was like the most disturbing one yet to me? Yeah? Really?

Well, yeah, I mean the whole thing with the kids again is like you said that there will be mythology at some point, yes, yeah, there starts to be slightly more of a cohesive narrative as you go, as you all of these are sort of meant to intro kind of world built slightly and introduce, you know, what these characters kind of are. But mostly, you know what Salad Fingers is, We're not there, thought right, it's setting the stage. I think we're still in setting the stage and theory territory. Okay, okay, okay, That's all I wanted to know, because again, like with shows like this, it's sometimes kind of hard to interpret what is meant to be interpreted and what is just weird for the sake of weird, and that's something we kind of have to navigate here, given that this is coming out teen years ago, you know, when people obviously had no idea how to make a story fourteen years ago.

No, it's just it's more an issue of this kind of entertainment doesn't People aren't expecting it to have a cohesive narrative. I mean, Charlie the Unicorn, it doesn't have the staying power of this because you can watch When you watch this, you have you have to and can watch more things to get more of it. Charlie the Unicorn is like a one note bit over and over again. Like again, that was more my question because again, there are some of the things that is just weird for weird sake, and it's not meant to mean anything. So I just didn't know if we were there yet or if the things we were seeing like should be over over interpreted.

I guess so is Charlie the Unicorn in salad fingers Cannon? Is that who he called his friend Charlie? Yeah, that's that's no. I mean I would I mean I would watch that right. Oh yeah, I was about to crossover.

You can I it's it's interesting to me that they keep they keep bringing the kids bet you know, like I mean, like again, I'm wondering where they're going with that, but like it's very clear that like salad Fingers has something to do with kids or has like an maybe I would attraction isn't the right word, but an infatuation maybe I would agree with that. I also think it's important to note that the you know, the kid character, that the little girl that is introduced in this episode, I think she is the most articulate and most quote unquote normal character we've en countered this far, truely comparatively comparatively. I mean, there's one the little child character from the previous episode just went really like you know exactly like yeah, maybe I don't know what I'm supposed to get from that, but that seems like that's just weird for weirdness sake like that specifically, Like though again those kinds of things, it's like, all right, we're just gonna have like a loud noise to like scare you or unsettle you.

But again, I'm interested to see when we get something that's not just weird because I don't know, like with don't hug me. I'm scared it kind of set set the bar a little high unfortunate fortunately or unfortunately however you want to kind of interpret it. Yeah, I think don't Hugby, I'm scared. The production value obviously is much higher and had much more you know, brains behind the narrative of and was meant to I feel like, don't have me. I'm scared.

Its purpose was more to relay a complex idea, and I think Salad Fingers is a lot more simplified than that. You know, it's mainly for some sort of condensed narrative rather than a commentary, So I feel like that also, I don't want to say, you know, dampens the quality I think for what Salad Fingers is, like I said before, what it's trying to do, it does very well. But I think the part of this episode that I want to get some opinions on what happened towards the end where that Salad Fingers spoon was stolen by a crow or a raven. I could never tell the difference, And at first he thought it was amusing, and then the child speaks for the first time in the episode, also finding it then amusing and then all of a sudden, h Salad Fangers has a breakdown in his house, and it seems like an odd course of events.

Any thoughts, feelings, predictions, theories. Is it the fact that she spoke so articulately that through him for a loop, because like we've said, we haven't really heard anybody speak quite like him. Salad Fangers is the only other character that actually speaks kind of speaks well, So maybe that surprised him and you, Chris, I don't know, Like again, like it's it's interesting because so much of this maybe it will make sense when we look back on I don't know, Like I can't know you're at a loss. It's not that I'm at a loss. It's just these kinds of things it takes to get to write, It takes getting back into a right mindset to really I don't know.

These are the kinds of things for me that I have a hard time watching and analyzing and making predictions because like right now, it feels like it could be anything that's fair. So in that case, do you want to watch the next one? Say you feel done? Sure, let's do it. I'm let's do it.

So this is the sixth episode, of salad Fingers. This episode is titled Present was posted thirteen years ago. So to eat Jeremy Fisher is to eat himself. There's a lots unpacking that one. Huh ah, Okay, do you feel like there's some more substance to work with now, Chris, Maybe I'm curious your thoughts for a stustin on them, because that episode ended with him eating himself.

Yeah. So well, and it began with him eating his finger puppet, which is essentially myself himself, and it came full circle to him eating himself. His actual self is the physical representation of salad fingers. As the show has shown us. It's almost as if it's getting a look to his tormented psyche.

If he's eating Jeremy Fisher, like I said, he's eating himself. I don't know. It's weird in the whole thing with the toilet. I don't know. Is he like talking to like a poop demon or something?

I have no idea. Well, it's like he was seeing. He was seeing, he was seeing something and he was interacting with it like one reflection. I mean, this whole episode has kind of been himself and himself, right, instead of being called president should we go like Dopple Dope Gunga. I think the horse was the present, oh as in present, not not like not present but pres Yeah, I don't know if the inflection changes are present but not pre sure gift is in present not like the present, not like presently.

There are presents in this room where we are all present, not like that, right, and they are presented to you, the three Stooges and Emma's thet much is yes, yes, yes, yes, sure whatever And now I understand what present meant, but I want to know what that's my interpreting. I mean, that makes sense more than I could have a dual meaning. Yeah, but there's no reason why I couldn't. I'm with you like in the in the present not in the prison makes less sense, and it's harder to show visually than a a present, as as as as we would be interpreted. There's also mentioned about the Great War, yes right, a couple of times, and that Jeremy went to fight it.

And the way that I interpret this episode, or at least part of it, is after Salad Fingers eats the finger puppet the first time, he seems to make believe that the horse that he has been gifted apparently by the puppet of Jeremy Fisher that it is a real horse that could take him places, because after the scene with the toilet, he tells the horse to take him home and then continues to play with it, almost like he's acting out something that had happened in the past. And then when he gets home and he sees the representation of Salad Fingers at the other side of the room, and then it's like the shot reverse shot, and sometimes we're seeing where we were originally standing walking back into the house as Jeremy and again like, oh, I thought you were out fighting, you know, the Great War, which I think brings up an interesting idea that he was potentially acting out something that had happened in the past as Jeremy.

So he maybe suffers from PTSD, And that is a theory that I think is the most prevalent that I've seen online. And I think that he has PTSD. That is what I see a lot of. So Salad Fingers fought the Great fought in the Great War and got disfigured. Oh wow, okay, we could see that, we could see that the Great War potentially caused some sort of apocalypse I think we talked about in the last episode that the escape looks very apocalyptic and there seems to be a lot of deformed or some deformed, which could also I mean, he's like a living corpse though, like if he's a little because that's the thing Solad Fingers is it is he's like a it's I mean in a lot of ways, because I was something I asked last time we talked.

It was like, is this a mask with guys eyes poking out of it or not? Because he looks so emaciated, it's like he's a skull. I could see. We're looking at the image of his face right now. It's just on our screen emblazon to see, Hey you did it.

That was pretty good, Dustin dust I like that. Yeah, for those of for those of you that are not able to see Dustin, because this is the audio media you did. You did a really good impression last time. Oh yeah, oh yeah yeah. I think it's interesting for me with this that now we might be looking at like someone who suffered trauma, So that kind of spins this in a weird way.

I mean, I'm not going to say, like clearly he suffered trauma, because there's something wrong with him, but like there's something immensely wrong with him. South Fingers needs professional help. I don't know if there is professional help for him. You're probably right it got him, as they would say. So with that theory in mind, I think we should start up suth.

Okay, so episode seven is athlete titled. Surely it was posted five years ago, so there was a bit of a jump. Yeah, and I think this is where you start to see a shift in narrative. So well, now I think we have a better idea of what his brother again, like what oh YoY, well, is there going to be an obvious answer or is it gonna be is how? Okay, let me ask you something because again, like this is something you have a frame of reference for obviously because you were there for don't hug me, I'm scared.

Don't not me. I'm scared. It feels like when when, like when the when the jig is up and you kind of know what the score is with don't hug ma, I'm scared. It makes sense, Like I get it. I can see logically a B, C, D, E, F G got it.

Is it gonna be like that with this? Is there that? Or is it like more esoteric and just kind of like, well, maybe it means this. I would say it leans esoteric, but it has been a hot minute since since I've watched it all the way through. Okay, so I might be misremembering.

I don't remember it being like two on the nose. I remember, you know, they're needing to be like fan theories or to sort of decipher Okay, people were still kind of confused on what it all meant. Okay, yeah, because that's I mean, that's my thing. It's like for me, it's one of those things where all I want to do is know is there gonna be something here more than what we're getting, and is It's like, yeah, it's a little bit more than this. Okay, because like again, like if this is how they're going to do the revealing of things, it's like, I mean, there definitely will be more to go off of us.

Okay, Okay, it's sort of at this point, as I said, like you can kind of feel a little bit of a shifted narrative. Yes, totally, it's a little bit. It's a little bit more straightforward than any of the other episodes, this one, you mean, moving forward or so far, so far out of all the ones that we've watched, I think this one is the most straightforward. It feels the most cohesive and narrative. Yeah, well there's things happening that like need to be Yeah, yeah, totally, And so you can definitely see that, like there's been a lot of growth on the creator side, you know, in terms of you know, presenting a narrative, and that does Continueka, So do you have any you want to make any updates to the current theory, because I think at this point it's pretty safe to say that the Great War obviously has a lot to do with this.

Yeah, there was evidently a great war or one going on. Kenneth doesn't seem although he mentioned Kenneth as his brother, doesn't seem to be in similar form. You know, he's got hair, he kind of looks more human. You could tell that it's the corpse of a human. What I want to point out is salad Fingers obviously very much likes to name objects and refer to certain things by like names that we don't really have a freewer reference for, and he just like comes up with names like that.

That's what it seems. Yeah, it's like very just like train of thought, like just words like word jumble. Like we're not word jumble because they all make sense, but it's like just like verbal diarrhea. It's very much like a child playing with dolls, right, I think is what it evokes. But I do think it's interesting to wonder if he saw this corpse and just was like, this is now going to be the representation of my brother.

Like it might not have actually been the corpse of his brother, but I think it's safe to say that he probably did have a brother that went to the Great War, Otherwise he wouldn't be talking about it, either that or maybe exactly either that or maybe he is. OK, there's a lot, Like I think with the episode prior, it's really hard to see where these characters start and where Salad Finger ends. I suppose, Yeah, he does kind of step out a lot. Well, they're all like essentially representations of himself, right, because he has the Finger puppets and we've seen in the last episode he eats one of them and then another version of him creates or exists. Maybe hallucinations, yeah, also play a large right.

Yeah, they do that filtery thing where they kind of wash it out with white to show that it's in a dreamscape or in his head or something to that. But I definitely think that the PTSD angle is very strong, at least at this point with the information we have so far. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't explain his fascination with rest or texture. Butting away from that, I'm wondering because I don't remember if that is better explained moving forward, and I'm curious to see if that is explained because, like I said, it's been a hot minute if they do circle back to that and give that more of a purpose, or it could have just been like this was the throwaway gag of the early episodes for the sake of being creepy.

Okay, so there was there may have been some of that though, right Like I think so, and I think, like not everything. I don't want to I don't want to say that everything before you know, the what ten year eight nine year gap is irrelevant because I think it definitely was world building, but I wouldn't take all of it, you know, completely serious, Yeah, because there's a pretty big gap in all of this, right, It's a really big gap between the start of the series and where the series wound up going where So, how so you said it was like fourteen and then all of a sudden, the last one was five years what geez lo Weeziana. That's i'd say makes I think it makes sense that the original series ended where it did.

It ended with salad fingers eating of representation of himself, and I think like that is a really good bookend for a creepy mini series, and so it makes sense that that was closing out that chapter. And so this could be, you know, the new interpretation of the same character. So kind of like when they came back with don't hug me, I'm scared. Yeah, on the show, on the show versus the YouTube series. That's what I remember it being like, because I wanted to re experience this with you guys, so I didn't rewatch it and I had I think I watched all of these maybe three or four four years ago, all the way through.

So, like I said, it's been it's been a while, but do you want to continue? Yeah, I mean I think it's I think it's interesting. I think that what's interesting for me and all of this is again like now that we're seemingly trending towards maybe something more narrative, like it reminds me a lot. And this is why I was like, oh, this is what this reminds me of. It reminds me of no Fielding's character, Old Greg.

I'm off Greg, doesn't it I'm all break and I got a magina Like it's so that like now I can't now, I can't see this as anything else, and it's not nearly as disturbing. I I know what you're talking about, right, I don't know who showed it to me. I could not tell you where that character is from, but I do know what you're talking about. I have seen some clips. It's good.

Somebody showed it to be at some point. It's good. I mean it's weird. I mean it's it's kind of like this, it's kind of weir. It's more it's more of like weird for weird sake.

But yeah, that's what it reminds me of. It's just like again British and weird. Because that's the other thing. This is clearly and this is something we kind of haven't mentioned. It's like coming clearly from British sensibilities as well, because like salad fingers is British, David for clearly British, because he's the one who does the voice for Salad Fingers, So there is a I think uniquely British sensibility to this is David British.

You have her drunk failies from an old chaw. Yeah right, love game is. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't just an accent he was putting on. If that's an accent, he's doing a no way a ray of good yay, I know what that is. I just want to see him his reaction.

That was a little little my Fair Lady. I mean yeah, but it's like that's the kind of British accent that I can do, is like, yeah, no rubbin to a then like yeah, like that's you know, like cast me in that movie for five minutes, give me two lines. You have the remake of My Fair Lady where you're one of the ensembles they're asking. I don't think they asked for rubbin tugs in My Fair Lady, but maybe we're talking about different movies. I know.

No, I will say in this last sound Fingers episode things we're getting kind of weirdly sexual with that corpse. Oh he kept, you know, just saying weird things that he was I mean he was talking, Yeah, he was Canada coming on strong, is it? I mean talking to a corpse is weird? Yeah, Like, I'm sorry, this is a weird tangent, but I kind of want to like, being around a dead body is weird. Yeah.

Yes, I've been around one dead body once in my life, and that was my grandmother's funeral, and it was very strange and very surreal. What is it called when you sit with the with the body after they pass away viewing? No, no, no, there's like a thing where you can like sit with it overnight. Oh I don't know, like Italians do it. I think it's in Jewish.

It's in Jewish and Italian and I think Spanish as well, where it's like you stay up with the body the night before and like, I'm sorry, like it's just I don't think that's I don't think that's the thing in Judaism then, because you don't have to worry about someone doing that at your funeral, because it's like, it's fucking weird to me to be around dead bodies. Like, I'm sorry, so like seeing sound figures because so blase is just I think I think being around her dead body, there's a time limit before it's like it's like hugging too long. It's like okay, it's time to walk away. Yeah, and being around it, it's a very short time limit. Just I want to make that clear.

It's not like sixty seconds and it's like okay, three hours. I mean, I don't know, like I haven't. I saw my grandfather and my mom's mom, my dad's dad, and my mom's home, but I didn't want to see my dad's mom, Like I didn't want to see it like it just like it's not that's not the way I want to remember the person. That's maybe my thing with it. Does that make sense?

Oh? I know I'm the same way because when we uh put my dog down back in like twenty nineteen, I was my senior year of college, and my parents were like, do you want to come home for when we have to put down you know, the family pet? And I said no, I didn't want to be there for that because I, you know, I had my goodbye with him. I knew that he was on his way out because he had had a pretty nasty seizure that was that really killed his quality of life. And so I was aware and so I kind of had my goodbye with him, and then there was no need for me to come home to relive that.

Great, you know, so I can tell I can relate. I've always I've always been very squeamish with death in general. Brings up weird thought, Pats, I'm with you. I don't Yeah, I mean, I'm not like, I don't know. It's just like I don't know.

I don't want to that's not the last and that's not the way I want to remember someone, and that's like the last thing. So it's it's a little mud you know, I get it. I do well, you, Dustin, what about me? What's your stance on dead body? This question?

Mark? Yeah, I was expecting you to say something like pace. Great. That was Moore putting you on the spot for a clever ins er. No, I don't have much Okay, Well, leave them where they lie.

I don't know things that you would say about corpses and legos if you want to make parents angry, Survey says, leave them where they lie. So, uh, who's lying? I know it's a family is a family feud? Yeah? Yeah, is that what it is?

I think they also did that in Who's line? Oh oh, I see what you mean, like make the joke about it. Yeah, never seen that show. You've never seen Who's I've seen Whose Line? And you have like a full episode I've seen like gags.

I stumbled across it on like the old TV when I was like, I don't know seventy EV didn't know what the hell I was watching, didn't get any of the jokes. But Wayne Brady Drew Carrie Boy, that's a blast in the past. God, they have Who's Line? Now? Right?

Isn't there like a new version of it? There? I think there is a new version, and I haven't seen it. I feel like most people would probably say that it's not quite the same, but I'm glad they're keeping it alive. Yeah, I mean, hey, it's an improv show, right, Like yeah, so, I mean that's what YouTube's for, right, Well, I mean and TikTok and and yeah and any short form media anything.

Right. You don't need TV to promote yourself, folks. You're listening to a podcast radio on the intern. I haven't turned on a TV in ages. That's fair.

I mean, unless if it was to access Netflix, that's like to go on the TV. Yeah, that's fair. I haven't flipped through channels except when I was on a plane. Well we're we're because I literally had nothing better. But we're coming in for landing in.

Any of you youngins who don't know what a TV is, check out that we have the satellites on this plane. Guys, check out you can watch TV. Get all these crazy channels right, Look at all this variety and yet nothing to watch. Jesus. So, speaking of things to watch, shall we?

Shall we watch one more episode? I think we can fit in one more all right? So this eighth episode is titled Cupboard. Salad Fingers receives some unpleasant frequencies from his radio and ladies and gentlemen. Two years ago, David Firth posted salad Greenheart fingers green Heart lushies Greenheart green Heart over at saladfingersstore dot com, a real website where you can buy stuffed animal versions of salad fingers.

Thank god, there's no rule thirty four of salad fingers there totally is. I take that back, Fuck me, I why would you even say it? Yeah, well I don't know why I said it. Mistake. Let's just watch the episode titled covered it was such a mistake.

Go back to your idiot hole bro man of you since once except maybe that first, since I think maybe eight ex since I think all of them, because it sure seems like he has a collection of something that people who kill people take. It's one of his very special hairs. That's good. That was pretty good, Dustice, that's real good. I mean, I'm not sure that's one that you can crack out in polite company and or with children.

But you know, unless you want to go to bed or daddy salad fingers will get you. Oh yeah, I think it's a it's a very niche party trick. You have to put the daddy in there, or just call him daddy fingers, which is even worse. Chris your mind. No, these are the same people that came up with the phrase daddy wise for when people are like lusting for it's like lusting for pennywise.

It's the same thing. It's just like fucking you fuckers like you like I gain. Some people just want to be eviscerated by a clown. People lean they want to be a You know, Emma, you're right, put that on a bad shirt. Put that on a fucking shirt and print it because that's awful.

No, and there's the thing they want to be a viscerated by a clown sexually. It's yeah, no, no, It's like, I don't want to yuck anybody's yums because I don't you're yucking to you. I don't want if somebody's somebody's youm right now is being yuck. Other podcasts on this network have the perception of being yum yuckers. We hear at.

Scary stories we tell are not yum yuck heers. Folks, if you want to be viscerated by a clown in a sexual way, we support. Yeah. I mean, hey, you know what you want to do? That cool.

But honestly, though, like that for me is just it's a little weird. That's just a little weird. That's just a little weird. Does not it well, it's but again, like what's weird is like we're making excuses for salad fingers, but salad fingers is eating kids, right, they're trying to make it like but I was leading up to a point because like they try to they're trying to make us feel empathetic towards but he eats kids, right, he murders kids. Yeah, Like, but that's what makes him an interesting character by my approximation, I don't think that is necessarily as canon as it was in the first few episodes.

That felt more very early on, and I'm not sure if that's still a relevant part of his character. It could have been something that was ultimately reccollned. I don't think it's something they revisit, and I think the better focus of this episode is what does the radio represent? Right? And to me it sounded like an abusive parent.

Well, and is the is the like? What I couldn't tell is the radio hymn like? It's it's sound. It was a different it sounded like a different force, and it sounds to me it sounded like a parental figure. I don't know if gender matters.

It was a male's voice, but I don't know if it represents, you know, necessarily a father versus a mother. But it definitely sounded like some sort of abusive parent. And then it's weird because Sala Fangers tends to come off as somebody with like all of these polite mannerisms, you know, the way that he speaks, how he carries himself, and also when he's very quick to judge others for being dirty, that comes up a lot, and so the moment that he's being ridiculed that his house is filthy, he shuts down and to me that that screams PTSD from abuse in some sort of familial situation. Sure, And I think the other important thing to note is where it's said, give me back one of my hairs, or give me back you have one of my hairs given back, or I'd like it back.

And so that makes me think that the collection of hair could have been members of the family who had lived in the house prior. I don't necessarily think it's children that he's killed. I think it might be more so of like a hair from his mother, a hair from his father, a hair from his brother, a hare from his sister, you know, because that's how I see it, Because if this is his home, it would make sense that other people might have lived in empire, and especially if it's posts this great war, you know a lot of people it seemed like a lot of people have died, which I think is a strong possibility. And so the radio he could be, you know, personifying the static of the radio, because it was very fuzzy to hear, and so obviously I'm not saying that like the ghost of a relative was like controlling the radio.

I think it could have been more of an auditory hallucination that he was having because of PTSD. Interesting, And then I think he eats the hair to avoid having to get rid of it otherwise, and that way he could be closer to his family members. Or does that represent getting rid of him so he doesn't talk to him anymore. It could have been that, it could have just been a genuine act of defiance, you know, just in general. But I do think that this open I think this definitely opens up a broader conversation of mental health.

I feel like that's the shift that we've taken. Yeah, well, I think it's interesting that we have something that is entertaining but also maybe talking about that or at least like the character is dealing with it in a way that's not just like I don't know, inter I don't know, but it is entertainment, right. I think it's a very interesting way to tell a very confusing narrative. They didn't at all detract from the creepy. It's still creepy, it's still weird, but they're doing less but saying more, If that makes sense.

Yeah, Well, and it seems like it's more focused, like they know more of what they want specifically they be I mean again, I'm assuming it's like the one guy I mean again, one has to sit here and essentially look and say, all right, we're moving in a direction now where it seems like he has a purpose and a intent on what he showing us, and it may be going towards something, and it definitely feels that way. So are you more invested at this point because you at the beginning of this episode you seem to very take it or leave it? I am I mean again, Like again, I just didn't know how much longer they could continue with the gag. You know, I think it's evolved past a gag, right, I agree, But it had to get there, and we had to get through the point where it was a gag.

Is also your right, I mean, because that was new Grounds. New Grounds was all about gags and shock humor, like that was animation on new Grounds, And I think YouTube allows people to sort of create whatever content they want, and especially if you're already in an anticipate like a creator of an anticipated series, you're kind of given that freedom to do what you want with it. With a platform that will reach ultimately more people, right right, Well, And I'm I'm of the mindset where I would go wherever I can as the creator to be able to tell the story however I want. So Yeah, I mean, it's not a limitation to be on YouTube obviously, but it also allows them to just do kind of whatever and not be beholden to traditional storytelling measures either.

So that's why you can kind of just be fucking weird for weird sake and go nowhere with it. I mean adults, I mean, like adult swim doesn't exist, you know. That's like adult swim and its core in a lot of ways is like being transgressive and subversive. But I mean this is at times both subversive and transgressive. So I'm enjoying this a lot more than I was before.

What about you, Destin, Yeah, I'm kind of with this whole angle of it. I'm kind of interested in, I don't know, seeing how it's explored further and if it just keeps getting worse or if it starts to resolve itself a little more. That's kind of where I'm at. Where do you think the logical next step would be if you had to make a guest talking about what we're talking about with PTS, the abusive parents. He's trying to suppress some of that.

It seems like it's either going to continue, like start to boil over more like he was getting frustrated with Hubert Kemberdale. I see more like anger coming out. So I don't know this next episode or two he might flip out a little bit. What about you. Yeah, I mean it's one of those things where it obviously is going in a direction, there is something that it is now driving at.

But I'm yeah, I'm very curious. I'm curious where this ends up because there's only you know, nine through fourteen, so there's not that there's not a lot left, but there's not as much as there was at the beginning, and they're just now getting to the story. So I'm curious to see if they're able to get us to that point where the story makes sense, along with the way they've been telling it where it's kind of like giving it to us necessarily the most efficient way. I'm curious to see if they're able to make all of this work because again, like the way that they're doing it, they kind of got a late start on telling the story, and I'm wondering, like if that's going to be a problem again, like they they they could, they could they have They obviously do have plenty of shows out there that have nothing, but these like, you know, five to six minute episodes, but they only have fourteen.

There is an there is a finite amount, So I have to assume that they tell the entire story that they want to tell in this format. But I'm just curious, that's all, if they're able to like make this work in a way that's I don't know that feels rewarding as a viewer, cause by watching Don't Hug Me, I'm scared. I felt rewarded as a viewer by the end of it for sticking with it through all of its problems and also like doing a little bit of extra work to go and watch the things about it kind of answer some of the questions that I may have had and I don't. I mean, this probably has that, But again, will it be as rewarding Were those things there or is this a little bit of reaching you know? That's what I don't That's what you can't know until the end.

So I'm excited. I definitely think that you're going to enjoy where it continues to go. I can't speak for how you're going to feel necessarily about how it ends, because I don't remember how it ends fair, but I do think you're going to like the direction it continues to go in. It really does. It never stops being surreal, it never stops leaning into the creepy factor, and it never stops blurring that line between you know, reality and hallucination, which I think is what makes the series so strong, is that you're never sure what you're seeing, if any of it is actually what is happening, or if it's all a representation.

Like there's no way to say whether or not how we perceive solid Fingers is what solid fingers actually looks like in universe? Right? You know, there's there's really there's nothing that we can go off of and say, like without a doubt, at least in my opinion, of like what is concrete in this I think the only thing that we can say is concrete is that Solid Fingers at this point is alone. And I think that really is like the only like one concrete thing that we can cling to and everything else it's really hard to say what is actually happening and what is some form of a hallucination or blurring the boundaries, and they keep pushing that uh that bar, you know, further and further, which I think is really interesting.

Well, and again, like you said, I mean they're I think it's also the stuff of him in his own head is also so interesting because they keep coming back to it. But I'm not sure. I'm not sure if they ever do they did they get to a point where they explain that, I mean, is I mean, is there more of that? Like I'm enjoying that, but I'm also hesitant to get invested in it because it seems like they were doing it a lot before and now they haven't done it a lot now since the show has kind of come back. I think that's going to be more of a personal opinion as we move forward.

So I'm curious to see what you have to say about that as we okay continue, Okay, Yeah, because for me, it's like, I I like seeing those things because yeah, they're a little kind of obtuse, but at the same that's totally my jam, Like that's my kind of thing where it's like, oh, dream sequences and stuff. But yeah, I don't know, that's like the Lynch, David Lynch stuff. This is I mean, this is a mix of a lot of really interesting things. But I'm I don't know ultimately, all I know is I'm enjoying it. Also, you know it is No, it does really strike me as no fielding old Greg.

So it really is like the voice is kind of the same, like whispery. Shit, it's like a whisper voice. It's whispery and effeminate, and I think like those are the two boxes that it checks off. Yeah, for both characters. Totally, No, totally, You're totally right, which makes it even funnier to me.

When Solid Fingers uses the terms gay and queer to mean happy and weird, he uses them in the best way. It's great. It's too fun. The way he speaks is a trip in a half and I love it again. It's it's painfully British.

It's like it I can't tell if it's like real like polite mannerisms or just like that fake polite mannerism to appear, you know, like a they're of higher class in a sense, because that's like I guess That's one other angle that I think is important to note is the way that's all. As I said, in the way that Selvi carries himself is very if we are to use the British term, it feels posh, right, And so that also makes you wonder does he come from, you know, way back in the day, does he come from a more well off background. So I think there's definitely a lot to unpack as we continue gathering you know, data and evidence of what story this is trying to convey. Yeah, it's it's it is a little bit more esoteric than Don't Hug Me I'm Scared.

But I do like like it's more of a car it's more of like a character piece. It's like a focus singularly on Salad Fingers and him as a character. So, right, whereas, like I said earlier, Don't Have Me I'm Scared is a commentary, right like it is, I think with the newer, the new series versus the I think the YouTube series was more of a commentary, yeah, or a broader I would say, a broader commentary, and I would say the TV series is a bit more of a narrower commentary and a character study. But Solid Fingers to me, is like completely a character study with world building like slight world building, right, yeah, that the world building has been minor best but again it's not not minor as in in quality, just they're not letting that get in the way of talking about him, which is perfectly fine ultimately.

Like, yeah, the character of Salad Fingers is the focus of the piece. The name of the piece is salad Fingers, So Salad Fingers. I honestly, he's the he's the character of the show. Like I care significant less about what happens outside of the house than what happens inside of the house. Wait, wait, I care significantly less about what happens outside.

Oh okay, what happens inside of the house to me seems much more important than whatever was happening outside. You know, the picnic was outside, and that was interesting, but it feels inconsequential in comparison to what we just watched. That's that's fair. That's fair. But to be fair, all of the consequential stuff has more or less like happened inside the house, right, I mean the baby esque character proposing happened outside of the house, that's fair.

But the first but that Baby episode, a lot of it takes place in the house. Though, yes, a decent amount of it does also take place. Yeah, this, you know, I will say I like that the quality of the show has ramped up a significant amount. Oh, seven to eight episode. I mean, now we're talking like actual it looks.

It looks like there was something. I mean, let's not get ourselves like, there was something that was added to the show by having it kind of grainy and gritty looking. It added to the qual it added to the creep factor. I kind of miss but it looks I mean, it's a good I mean, I miss it. But at the same time, it's like, eh, it also looks better now because it's in widescreen's an HD essentially like, it looks good.

So I'm glad it was a product of its time and a product of its original platform. And I guess there is a little bit of nostalgia that comes with that that now you know it is lacking. But I think ramping up in production quality does increase the Oh it's lord. I'm looking for the effectiveness of it for me personally, because it felt like with the original couple of parts that were made for new Grounds, it was very much a story made for new Grounds, where now it just feels like a story that's fair, which I in my opinion, it's less restrictive because of that. That's fair.

With the style of new Grounds, it's very much like what are we expecting from new Ground? But with this, you know, he was able to revamp his style, refresh it, make it new, make it his own again. Right, and reclaiming the story and not just being driven by what he thinks will get a lot of views on new Grounds, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. I agree there, Like I said, the nostalgia factor as well as like that grain equality does add more to the creepiness. But I think the level of detail that they're showing now I think adds just the same level of creepiness, if not more.

Like the details in his fingers, I mean, like come on, yeah, no, I agree with his fingers are so detailed. I agree, Like, I appreciate it. It's a better looking show. I mean, I I wasn't really as good looking as Solidisation. I mean that's I mean, that is the that is the thing, right, It's like, well, ultimately, like fuck it, salad fingers doesn't look great.

It doesn't look great either way, because he's not meant to look great. But he looks worse better in the newer episode, which I am appreciative of. I get it, though, Dustin, Like I do get it because like it did benefit from looking kind of shitty. I think, aside from just the creep factor, it just kind of gave it that, uh that almost like the setting that it is, if it is this dystopian post war like, not everything's going to be perfect. Yeah, that's true too.

Well, It's like it's like that. I mean, they were using it a lot in those first couple episodes where it's like it's clearly like someone using like a gramophone. It's like that it had that quality to it, like that graininess. You kept listening to Vinyl. Did you say Grandma's phone like the video Grandma's Phone.

Yeah, again, I mean that, and I ran Grandma's phone, but it had that quality. They were using that music. I mean, they were using it in those first couple episodes. So I don't know. I'm curious to see if this ends up being as interesting as Don't Have Me.

I'm scared there's no more of this after fourteen though, right, Like, as far as I know, there are tons of theories as well. I do also want to note, I don't necessarily think it's fair to compare the series to Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. I think they are. I understand why. It's the only other one of so far that you you know, that we have talked about.

So it's a frame of reference, you know, for for all of us to discuss. So I understand the comparison, But I also think it's it's very much like the whole Apple story. I agree they are, so I more saying that for the benefit of the audience. Well, and that I mean, I agree, but I think at the same time, like they are both trying to do the same thing. They're both trying to tell a story, and they're both trying to tell a story in an unconventional way.

And I don't think that either one of them is inherently insuccessful. I think that they're both successful in their own respective ways as they was. I would definitely say that Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared has a broader appeal, But I think it's meant to yes, because again, it's it's supposed to mimic a children's show, and children's shows are supposed to have a very broad, up right agreed, agreed, and I mean again, like, yeah, they're also operating in two different mediums. The expectations are different. They're yeah, I don't compare them as much one to one as much as just like the evocation of the feeling that they're going for, and they are both successful in that regard, because again, they are both trying to be creepy, weird, unsettling, any one of those words you could use to describe what they're doing, and they're both rather successful.

I mean, I think frankly, we're talking about being creepy, weird, and unsettling. This takes the cake over. Don't have them. I'm scared, and this is committed to it longer. Don't help me.

I'm scared. Kind of gave up being scary after a while, Like you know, yeah, it wasn't. That wasn't the interest and the goal of the storytellers was to be scary. It was to tell, you know, the story that they're telling. It was more gross than anything else.

It had kind of gross out humor, But I don't think it was scary, you know, in the way that this is. I mean again, maybe this isn't scary, but this is unsettling. Don't not be I'm scared there was one that you had to watch in a dark room alone with headphones on, and which one would you rather watch alone in a dark room with phones on. I would definitely picked on Harvey. I'm scared over there, Yeah, because it's like a more upbeaten bright show.

Ultimately, even it's core outside of it kind of being subversive. So this is just kind of like it's one note, but it's playing that one note rather well, and that's not exactly a note that's necessarily easy to hit to begin with. And it's not one that's hit off, No, I mean it's hit on YouTube and stuff more often because that's where these kinds of things tend to be. But that's also because again, like we mentioned, this kind of thing would never end up anywhere else, Like who's going to put this on the air other than something like an adult swim So so on that note, I think that's a safe place to wrap up. I'm very excited to finish this.

I don't know if we're going to finish it because the episodes get a little longer. I don't think we're going to finish this in one more one more episode of this show. I think it's probably going to be split into at least another two. I think that will cover that episode and then do the last one. This next one is almost ten minutes long, so I think we're probably going to have to cover a few less.

But yeah, I'm really excited to continue watching this with you guys and going on this journey. So I'm glad that you're enjoying the ride now at least a gentle green man long fingers. He sure is? He? Sure fucking is.

No, I'm enjoying It's fun. What about you, Destin? Are you enjoying? SHANGHI? Well, what I've liked about it is not only just the episodes themselves, but I like our discussions about it because it's it's gone from something that's kind of nonsensical to something that's like, oh wow, there really is a little picture into this character's mind, but the creator's mind as well.

And that's what I love about this series is not just like reacting to creepy shit on the internet for creepy's sake, but finding the meaning within it and discussing it. And I was always into the like theory hunting and lore hunting, and so that definitely scratches that inch for me personally, So I love doing this. This is really fun for me. I like watching those I like watching those videos on YouTube, people that talk about like the deep Tumbler lure shit, that shit trip, that shit trips men like John Lock, the John Lock conspiracy. Oh, Emma, fucking shake in your head because you know what it is.

You know it's true that fourth episode will be coming. We promised, fucking wild dude, I know of it, and I stay away from. Yeah. Yeah, Internet, Internet theories and fan theories are a deep dark hole to fall down, folks. They're a fun one.

Yeah, if you have hours, right, if you despect you've got like ten hours to listen to someone tell you why one group of people on the internet, but two fictional characters were magically gay for one another. Yeah, couldn't do anything better with your time? I suppose I guess so too, But yeah, no, I guess the next time you hear the three of us, we'll be doing close to the end of salad fingers. So until then, Weirdingwaymedia dot com is where you can find this show, but scary Stories we Tell dot com is where you can go for everything else. About this oh big.

Thanks as always to Dustin who's here, I'm here, and Maggie for the album artwork for the show, along with our good friend Alex Malinak. Hey, we know that guy. We know that guy. If you're listening, Alex, we know you, and you can uh you can find him and his band Blondeos kicking it in the Midwest, but also over on Spotify just search blondo Uh Yeah. And as always, until we uh talk to salad Fingers again, We'll let our former We'll let our former friend.

We'll let our good friend, the former host of Sightings, mister Tim White, beat us out. No mystery is closed to an open mind.