The bagel pulses, and every version of Evelyn feels it at once. We watch them in rapid succession staring directly into the camera — from the IRS, from Hong Kong, from a robotics factory with a red eye, from a winter street where she appears to be the cold itself, from a scene near the end of the film with blood in her mouth looking genuinely monstrous — before landing at Gong Gong’s party, where red envelopes are being handed out, the Chinese New Year decorations are finally up, and Debbie the Dog Mom has somehow actually shown up. Then Jobu’s voice comes in from the temple: all this time, she wasn’t looking for someone to kill. She was looking for someone who could see what she sees and feel what she feels. We get pulled through the eye of the bagel, past a swirling vortex that turns out to contain an enormous number of toilets and guitars, and land outside the Hong Kong theater with Foxy Waymond.
We go frame by frame through the entire montage, cover what red envelopes are and why Gong Gong gets to hand them out, try to explain why Joy is simultaneously inside and outside the laundromat at the same time, and spend a long time on the moment Jobu’s plan is finally revealed, comparing it to the script version and to why the finished line lands so much harder. The short version: we thought this was a movie about stopping a villain. It turns out it was always about a mother and a daughter who stopped being able to talk to each other.
- Show archive
- Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It’s just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.
- Banana for Scale Facebook Group
- The Devil’s Details: The Evolution of the Devil Through Art & Literature
- The Exorcist Minute
- Connect with Kynan on Instagram or Letterboxd
- Connect with Lester on Facebook, Instagram, or X


