In a cold open, Dean and Phil share how impressed they are with an animated short made by the college student son of one of Phil’s high school classmates. In the return of “Lawsuit of the Week”, the most recent threats and developments surrounding Paramount’s desired merger with Warners get fully explained and analyzed. Phil shares sadness surrounding the impending departure of longtime favorite son of Los Angeles, Gustavo Dudamel, who is leaving the L.A. Phil to take over the New York Philharmonic. A great story about Lily (Holleman) Leirness’ encounter with Dudamel gets shared. Dean has started watching “Diarra from Detroit” at Phil’s urging and loves it! A loyal listener has a slight correction to something Dean said on the recent, epic episode of “Deep Dive” exploring 1940s Film Noir. Phil follows up on a couple of films discussed in that show, offering greater context to the writing of The Stranger (1946) and Sidney Greenstreet’s performance in The Maltese Falcon (1941). Chris Carter’s “director’s cut” of the 2^nd “X-Files” movie has been released and … Dean and Phil have thoughts. Phil re-watched Citizen Kane, which inspires in-depth discussion of that film’s continued greatness and resonance, and which inspired his watching the recent Japanese psychological suspense film Exit 8, a film Dean is now ready to reappraise!