Welcome To The Party Pal: The Mind-Bending Film & Television Podcast You Didn't Know You Needed!

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal dissects Terminator 2 : Judgement Day, the 1991 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Robert Patrick, it is the sequel to The Terminator (1984) and is the second installment in the Terminator franchise. In the film, the malevolent artificial intelligence Skynet sends a Terminator — a highly advanced killing machine — back in time to 1995 to kill the future leader of the human resistance, John Connor, when he is a child. The resistance sends back a less advanced, reprogrammed Terminator to protect Connor and ensure the future of humanity. Join in as hosts Michael Shields and Douglas Grant celebrate T2's 35th Anniversary by expounding on what made the film so ahead of its time and also so emphatically relevant today.

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal dissects The Odyssey, the 2026 epic action fantasy film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who produced it with his wife Emma Thomas. An adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek epic poem the Odyssey, it stars an ensemble cast including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, and Charlize Theron. In the film, Odysseus (Damon), the Greek king of Ithaca, undergoes a long and perilous journey home after the Trojan War and encounters mythical beings as he attempts to reunite with his wife Penelope (Hathaway). Join in as hosts Michael Shields and Ryan O'Connell confront a cyclops, dangerous creature-enchantresses, perilous ocean whirlpools, backstabbing suitors, and more in an episode that praises Nolan's breathtaking achievement of a film.

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal dissects the most recent episode of The Bear, a surprise drop, entitled "Gary." The episode was written by and starring cast members Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Jon Bernthal and directed by series creator Christopher Storer. The episode is a flashback to early 2019, when Richie's pregnant wife Tiff is close to her due date and Richie and Mikey get a job from Jimmy and thus embark on an emotionally charged road trip from Chicago to Gary, Indiana.

This episode of Welcome To The Party Pal celebrates the second season of The Pitt, the procedural medical drama television series created by R. Scott Gemmill, and executive produced by John Wells and Noah Wyle. Each season of the series follows emergency department staff as they attempt to overcome the hardships of a single 15-hour work shift at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, all while having to navigate staff shortages, underfunding, and their own personal crises. Each episode, set in real time, covers approximately one hour of the work shift. In this episode hosts Michael Shields and Ryan O'Connell discuss the second season's most affecting moments, it's most grueling predicaments, how The Pitt holds a mirror up to the current problems in America, and much more.

This episode of Welcome To The party Pal celebrates the second season of Hulu's Paradise, the post-apocalyptic political thriller television series created by Dan Fogelman and starring Sterling K. Brown, Julianne Nicholson, and James Marsden. The second season expands beyond the bunker that was the focal point of season one as Xavier Collins searches for his wife Terri, and we meet a new survivor named Annie in the ruins of Graceland. In this episode hosts Michael Shields and River Jordan discuss how Paradise has evolved in its second season while pondering the endless possibilities in the show moving forward with the arrival of a new game-changing technology.

In this episode of Welcome To The Party Pal hosts Michael Shields and Ryan O'Connell examine A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the television series created by Ira Parker and George R. R. Martin. A prequel to Game of Thrones, it is the third television series in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire franchise and is an adaptation of the Tales of Dunk and Egg series of novellas, beginning with The Hedge Knight. It stars Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan "Dunk" the Tall, the titular hedge knight, and Dexter Sol Ansell as his squire Aegon "Egg" Targaryen. Join in on an episode in which the loss of Baelor Targaryen is deeply lamented, the idea of a Trial by 7 contested, and where Michael And Ryan express their undying love for Lyonel Baratheon.