Episode 363 - Mission Impossible, The Last of Us, & Criminal Minds star Joe Mantegna.

·59 min·4 clips

Mantegna says the conclave once had cots in the Sistine Chapel and some electors slept under canopies.

1. Culture Pop Podcast centers this episode on Joe Mantegna, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, The Last of Us, and Criminal Minds Evolution. 2. Steve Mason and Sue Kalinske host Joe Mantegna, who won a Tony Award for Glenn, Gary, Glenn Ross and now stars as David Rossi on Criminal Minds Evolution. 3. The episode asks what makes a summer movie, a prestige TV finale, and a long-running procedural still worth discussing. 4. Mason and Kalinske call Tom Cruise “the last great action movie star” while talking about Mission: Impossible 8 and its Memorial Day box office. 5. They describe the film’s airplane sequence, underwater scenes, and a cruciform key tied to “the entity” in the computers. 6. Kalinske says Cruise spent “a year and a half training” with flight simulations, wind tunnel testing, strength and conditioning, and dozens of practice flights. 7. Mason says the practical stunt work looks more real than CGI and supports theater viewing on the big screen. 8. The hosts also mention Vanessa Kirby, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, and Greg Tarzan Davis in the Mission: Impossible cast. 9. Mantegna and Mason connect the film’s ending to the possibility of a spinoff built around Tom Cruise’s Tropic Thunder character Les Grossman. 10. The conversation then moves to The Last of Us season two and Ellie’s revenge against Abby after Joel’s death. 11. Mason describes the aquarium scene where Mel is shot, reveals she is pregnant, and asks Ellie to cut her open to save the baby. 12. Kalinske compares Ellie’s inability to do it to a real-life moment when Mason was asked to cut his own hair during the pandemic. 13. Mason says Ellie’s worst moment is seeing what her choices have done to Dina, Mel, and the baby. 14. They note that Jesse acts as the voice of community before he is ambushed and shot after a scene where he seems to have the right priorities. 15. Mason says the finale ends with Abby pointing a gun at Ellie, a cut to black, and a shot that leads into Abby’s point of view. 16. They explain that season three will spend time on Abby’s three days leading up to that confrontation in Seattle. 17. The tone shifts from movie talk to a detailed interview when Mantegna starts answering questions about the Pope and Criminal Minds Evolution. 18. Mantegna speaks in a conversational, story-heavy style, with Mason and Kalinske jumping in on Chicago, Catholic, and pop-culture references. 19. People who like Tom Cruise stunts, HBO-style drama, and TV character backstories would get the most from this episode. 20. People avoiding Mission: Impossible spoilers or The Last of Us plot talk may want to skip it.

As heard by us

A loose pop-culture chat that gets sharpest when Joe Mantegna talks about the streaming-era freedom around Criminal Minds Evolution.

Culture Pop stays loose and conversational, drifting from a pope detour into a chat with Joe Mantegna that keeps finding its way back to Criminal Minds Evolution.

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Why you'd press play

You want a pop-culture chat that can jump from the Pope to Joe Mantegna to family stories without losing its stride.

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