Now Showing: The Creature: The Beginning

The Creature: The Beginning
Genre: Horror/Fantasy
Director: Robert Eggers
Writer: Ben Collins
Prequel to The Creature
Cast: Taylor Kitsch, Luke Evans, Amanda Seyfried, Sam Claflin, Alexandra Daddario, Riley Keough, Olivia Munn, Dylann Minnette, Ian McShane, Josh Stewart

Plot: The story is set in Scotland, where some people think they have seen strange creatures like beautiful girls swimming in the water. These people are not believed by others and defined as crazy. One day one of these people, a fisherman named Sullivan (Josh Stewart), was approached by a businessman named Mr. Woolrich (Ian McShane) who asked to tell the story. Sullivan says that during a trip he found a series of small islands not marked on the maps and at night his boat was attacked by strange creatures with long hair with the appearance of young girls, he was the only survivor despite the sinking his boat. It was found on a piece of wood a few days later by a large ship that passed. Woolrich seems entranced and confides in Sullivan that he wants to capture one of these creatures. Sullivan, terrified, does not want to follow Mr.Woolrich and shows the businessman where the place where he was attacked should be attached. Mr. Woolrich gives Sullivan a golden coin as a reward.

Mr. Woolrich sends a team to those places, including his son Sam (Taylor Kitsch). Sam was very skeptical and before leaving he had a fight with his father because he believed that the trip was useless and that the sightings were just hallucinations caused by hunger and thirst.

In the first days of travel, the trip seems to be going well, the weather was good and the crew was very playful and in a good mood. After a few days the boat arrives near the "Forbidden Islands" and a crew member named Alan (Luke Evans) tells the captain that he thinks the situation is very strange and that they will have to pay attention. Sam still tells Alan that he does not have to worry, no animal will destroy their ship.

The first day near the islands was quiet, only the dolphins and even a whale in the distance were spotted. During the night the first events began. While Sam was in his booth, he heard Alan and Rallen (Sam Claflin), Sam's deputy captain, speak animatedly. Sam came running and said that all the maps had disappeared and the cabin was untidy. At that moment, Brooks (Dylan Minnette), a young sailor, rushes into the frightened cabin and says he saw something jump off the ship. So the four men are arguing they heard noises in the water and the screams of the other crew members. They rushed to the bow of the ship, but no one remained, only silence. Brooks has a panic crisis and is sedated and brought to rest.

At dawn, Sam saw that many devices had been tampered with, including the engine. The only hope was now that Mr. Woolrich, having no more news sent by his son would send a recovery team. During the day nothing happened, except that occasionally female laughter could be heard coming from the water and so the survivors decided to hide all the food supplies.

With the arrival of the evening, with the darkness, the laughter became incessant and frightening and the survivors began to feel blows on the sides of the ship. The young Brooks looked out for a moment to see what was happening and was captured by two hands and brought underwater. Sam, Alan and Rallen were confused and terrified and did not know what to do. At this point they quickly closed below deck and from the portholes they could see strange figures in the distance. Alan saw a blonde girl with a fish tail and a smooth body (Amanda Seyfried). He approached the oblo and with a disquieting smile greeted Alan, immediately after his arrival, another creature with brown hair (Alexandra Daddario) gave her a shove and gave a blow to the glass of the porthole and immediately jumped into the water laughing. The three survivors they start to look scared as the creatures, the sirens, continue to jump on the ship scaring the three survivors.That was at that moment that a red-haired mermaid (Riley Keough) showed up laughing with the head of poor Brooks in his hands, amused by the frightened reaction of the others. Alan says it looked like the creatures were playing with them and kept looking at the blond haired mermaid and told Rallen that the blonde was named Lily, while the one with the red hair Ross, but she did not know how she knew that. ship began to swing, creatures must surely be many. Suddenly there was a kind of shrill cry, Alan and Sam covered their ears while Rallen, almost hypnotises he took the key and tried to open the door. Alan threw himself on him and after a fight he recovered the key. Rallen kept saying, "I have to open the door," "They want us to go with them." Sam took a piece of wood and hit him on the head making him faint. Meanwhile the brown-haired mermaid kept looking at the scene from the porthole with an amused look. The blonde Lily instead, seemed to behave differently from the other sirens and escaped into the water with an almost sad face.

After a while they began to see the first light of dawn and a terrifying silence fell on the ship. After a few hours Rallen woke up, barely remembering what had happened, said that the creatures were checking him and talking to him. He said that the creatures, in the past, were human beings who had lost themselves at sea and were transformed many years ago by a giant monster that lives in the abyss in sirens and their purpose of life was to capture new travelers to eat them or to be transformed into new sirens.

About noon they came out of their hiding place to check the ship's situation and saw two severed legs stuck to the bow.

As the evening approached, the fear began to take possession of the three survivors, who brought under the lights they could find on board the ship, hoping that the sirens were really afraid of the light.When it was sunset, they closed down in their hiding place. After a while the creatures started to knock on the ship and their evil laughter was heard. The three men agreed on what to do in case the sirens tried to hypnotize one of them. At that moment, Sam hoped that the creatures could not hypnotize them all together as he looked out the porthole. He was looking at the usual Lily, who rummaged with some objects in the cabin while a new siren (Olivia Munn) arrives on the ship, a wonderful creature with a strange object in her hair. The other sirens treated her with respect and Sam thought that perhaps she was the queen of the sirens. The other sirens moved and the new sirens closed their eyes, opening their mouths. After a few seconds, he heard the shrill cry of the night before and Alan and Rallen were hypnotized together while Sam tried to fight the strange feeling with little success. All three came out and came face to face with the creatures, they were many and all beautiful. The two sirens, the red-haired and brown, invited the three to dive with them and disappear into the water. Alan and Rallen followed them immediately and disappeared into the waves. Despite the resistance, Sam took two steps forward and was close to diving. Suddenly he felt the voice of Lily in his mind trying to communicate telepathically with him and told him not to dive and turn around. At that moment Sam turned and immediately lit a match and threw it close to the queen on a barrel of fuel that caught fire. The queen was frightened and Sam's mind was released as the ship began to burn. Suddenly Sam feels grabbing from behind and takes him underwater. Sam recognized the creature in Lily before losing consciousness.

Then the scene passes in a ship, Sam wakes up in a booth and next to him is his father, Mr. Woolrich, who says he controlled the situation from a distance and saw everything that had happened and intervened when the fire broke out. Sam begins to despise his father for putting him in danger and sacrificing the life of his crew and says he would tell it to everyone. Mr. Woolrich replied that if he had said a word about what had happened he would have him locked up in a madhouse and with a syringe he still put Alan to sleep. Later we see Mr. Woolrich and the captain of the ship talking about how the object is and then we see the poor mermaid Lily tied to cry.

The film ends with the gaze of the mermaid queen full of anger and a scary scream.

Release: Maple Leaf

Maple Leaf
Genre: Crime/Comedy/Drama
Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Harry Wright
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Steve Buscemi, William Fichtner, Sienna Miller, Nathan Fillion, Donal Sutherland, Tatiana Maslany, Ellen Page





Budget: $38,000,000
Domestic Box Office: $49,020,111
Foreign Box Office: $30,122,094
Total Profit: $3,000,097

Reaction: We'll take it. Comedy has been a pretty hit-or-miss genre for us (mostly miss when not combined with the action or superhero genres), so any kind of profit is a win. The film is also the long-awaited return of box office success for director Jason Reitman, who has not had a successful film at the box office since Up in the Air in 2009.

"For the first time in several years, director Jason Reitman manages to utilize his best instincts while holding back his worse ones. It probably helps that the script provided by Harry Wright is smart, funny and clever." - Michael Wilmington, Rolling Stone

"Once again Billy Bob Thornton shows the off-kilter charisma that made him an unlikely movie star. When joined by his two great character actor buddies, played by William Fichtner and Steve Buscemi, they are able to rival the Numero Uno trio as the best 1-2-3 punch in recent LRF history." - Henry Stewart, Chicago Sun-Times

"The story is one that had a lot of potential, but I think writer Wright and director Reitman (try saying that three times fast...) make the film too cute at times. Mark this one down as a missed opportunity." - Charles Yost, Oregonian

Last Resort Films Jukebox: Maple Leaf

1. "Loser" - Beck

2. "Walking on Sunshine" - Katrina and the Waves

3. "Born to Be Wild" - Steppenwolf

4. "The Canadian Dream" - Sam Roberts

5. "I'm Alive" - Celine Dion

6. "Billionaire" - Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars

7. "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" - Celine Dion

8. "The Sound of Silence" - Disturbed

Now Showing: Maple Leaf

Maple Leaf
Genre: Crime/Comedy/Drama
Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Harry Wright
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Steve Buscemi, William Fichtner, Sienna Miller, Nathan Fillion, Donal Sutherland, Tatiana Maslany, Ellen Page

Plot: It’s 1987, a young Paul Garber (Billy Bob Thornton), Jeff Kieslowski (Steve Buscemi) and Will Haggis (William Fichtner) are crossing the border between Canada and the United States illegally, with quads. They have illegal cigarettes in a trailer. The Canadian government has put a high tax on the cigarettes, so many are opting for illegal cigarettes smuggled in Canada by opportunists Americans, like Garber, Kieslowski and Haggis. They trade their cigarettes for cash in a small town in Quebec, always at night and they leave without leaving a trace, like they always do. A couple of days later, they do another run and once again cross the border illegally, only this time, they trade their cigarettes to an undercover cop. He arrests them and seizes their cigarettes. They’re ultimately thrown in a Canadian jail and serve a grand total of 13 years in jail.

After being released in 2000, the three friends returned to their native village in the state of New York, where they got a job at a local grocery store to pay the bills, as they lost everything they had. We’re now in the winter of 2010 and they’ve been working together for 10 years. Haggis works as a cashier, Kieslowski as a packer and Garber, the smartest of the three has been promoted to manager. Garber has been living with his daughter, Ellie (Sienna Miller) since he got out of prison. She’s doing relatively well by herself and can afford things Paul can’t, for example, a Canadian delicacy, maple syrup and I’m not talking about corn syrup, real 100% maple syrup, straight from Canada. Paul tastes it for the first time and can’t believe how good it is. He puts a little drop in a cup and goes off to work.

Paul is going on his break, along with Jeff and Will. He opens his lunchbox and hypes the maple syrup has the best thing he’s ever tasted and keep them waiting to taste it. Jeff gets annoyed and wants to taste it right away. He opens the can and tastes the sweet substance. He ends up eating all of it and Will is angry that he didn’t get to taste it, but Jeff and Paul make sure to tell him how good it is. This is where Will comes up with a plan. He tells them how bored he is working as a cashier and wants to live his life how he used to live before he went in jail. The others don’t really understand where he’s going with this. He says he wants to steal maple syrup in Canada and sell it in the United States. Paul isn’t so sure about it, but Jeff says he could use a little more money.

It is the end of their shift and Ellie arrives at the grocery store to pick them all up, she’s the only one who can afford a car. On their way home, Jeff mentions the plan Will had to Ellie, while Paul urges him to shut up. Ellie says it’s a bad idea and they shouldn’t do it. She drops them off at their apartment and she’s silent on the way home with her father. When they get there, Paul finally talks and tells her that they really want to do it. Ellie interrupts him and says that he shouldn’t do it, it’s just another stupid plan to go back to jail. He says they’re going to do it with or without him and he can’t let them do it alone, I mean look at them, they can’t pull it off by themselves, they need help and they’re going to get caught if they do it alone and Paul can’t live knowing he could have helped his friends and he didn’t. Ellie is now really mad at her father and says that he either don’t do it, or he steals maple syrup to sell it illegally in the States and she doesn’t want him to live with her anymore. She doesn’t want to get in the mess he’s going to create. She gets inside, and he stands outside. He tells her that he loves her, but he can’t let his friends do it without him, they don’t deserve to get caught for something he planted in their minds. She slams the door and Paul walks back to his friend’s apartment.

Will and Jeff are busy on planning their illegal trip to Canada when Paul comes knocking at their door. They answer, and Paul looks at their plan, which is bad, to be polite. He suggests that they should go in Ontario this time, they got caught by those pesky Quebecers the last time and he doesn’t want to get caught by them this time either. He also suggests that they should go with their snowmobiles, through the woods, just like the old times. They all say it’s a good idea and they want to do it as soon as possible. The following day, Paul goes to his boss at the grocery store to ask for a day off for him and his friends, but they can’t have one for at least three days. Paul is mad and the others are sad.

John Benson (Donald Sutherland) the head of the Maple Syrup Syndicate, the MSS for short, is looking at this year’s stat for the maple syrup production. He says to his assistant, Vicky Smith (Tatiana Maslany) that it looks like it’s going to be a record year. He says he has to visit a man who reported numbers way higher than the others. They get in their SUV and leave to meet the man. They arrive at the field of Daniel Carson, the man who Benson thinks is intentionally reporting higher numbers to be paid better by the MSS. Carson says he doesn’t understand how the MSS works and why it is necessary. Benson says that all the maple syrup producers are all put together in a same group and that the MSS takes with them all the maple syrup produced to store it in a warehouse. They sell it elsewhere, in stores or to other countries (like the one Paul tasted and found so delicious). Depending on how much maple syrup someone gave the MSS, they give them money accordingly. Benson thinks Carson is reporting high numbers to get paid more, but he vehemently denies these claims. Benson says to Smith that he’s had enough and she changes the numbers Carson sent, just so he would get less money. He protests, but Benson remembers him that no one argues with the MSS and if he tries to sell it to others illegally, he may not like what’s going to happen to him. They leave as Carson is left speechless, he just got bullied by a woman and an old man.

Two weeks later, the three friends are gearing up for their trip to Canada. They put on their snow pants and leave on their snowmobiles. They follow each other through the woods and finally stop after an hour or so, when they see a village not far away. They hide their snowmobiles not to arise suspicions. Their plan is to act like total tourists and they should easily blend in. The problem is, they reached a small locality with fewer than two hundred people and tourists don’t come in this town, ever, but they didn’t know that. They enter the first store they can find, which also serves as the police center. Officer Mara Lambert (Ellen Page) greets them. They ask her where they could have some maple syrup, the classic question of tourists. Although she almost never sees tourists in her village, she’s able to recognize them as tourists and shows them the finest bottle of maple syrup she has in the store. Jeff wants to buy it, but Paul says they would rather go directly to the source, so he asks her where the nearest maple syrup farm is. She points out Daniel Carson’s just a few miles down the road. They thank her and leave the store. Jeff is sad that they didn’t buy the bottle and Will tells him that they won’t make money like that.

They finally arrive at Carson’s farm, where they knock on the door. He answers and asks them why they knocked on his door, people usually just come in, they don’t knock. Jeff immediately ask him if he has maple syrup, while Paul tells him to be politer. In true Canadian fashion, Daniel finds a way to apologize even if it wasn’t necessary. He says he can, in fact, give them a whole barrel of the thing, as the MSS decreased his numbers, which were true, by the way, and they were really clear on the fact that he can’t sell maple syrup, so he may as well give it to people who want it. Paul is pleased that they didn’t even have to steal the thing. They go outside and he gives them a barrel. He says they should bring their car over to move it around, but they don’t have a car. Jeff and Will carry the heavy barrel on their own, while Paul smokes with his other hand in his pocket.

Back in the United States, the three friends sold all their maple syrup. Paul and his friends are at Ellie’s to give her a can. She accepts it and can’t believe they pulled it off. She asks them how they did it and she can’t believe that this is how it went. She says she’ll go with them the next time, as they didn’t do anything illegal (other than crossing the border illegally, but she doesn’t seem to mind…, until Jeff reminds her.) but she doesn’t care about the border thing. Everyone living in this town do it at some point (not really).

John Benson and Vicky Smith are back at Carson’s farm and warn him that they will come to count his barrels at an unspecified time to finally know if he said the truth or not about his numbers. Carson says that there’s no problem, confident that he counted them correctly.

Two days later, the three friends, plus Ellie are back in Canada to get some more maple syrup. They knock at Carson’s door, who makes the same remark about nobody knocking here. They ask them for more maple syrup and he says he can’t give them more maple syrup, the MSS aren’t people you want to mess with. They leave, disappointed. They go to a restaurant to eat and to wait until dark to steal maple syrup from Carson. When they’re all seated, Ellie says to Jeff that she admires him. He doesn’t understand why and she says that she can’t believe a mentally challenged man like him can do all of this, because she sure can’t, only to realize Jeff isn’t mentally retarded. Jeff is really hurt by her comments and Will too, because she just insulted his best friend. Paul ends the little conflict with his wise words, saying she just chose her words poorly. They all say they already turned the page. (although she really meant it and they were still both pissed off.)

They leave the restaurant at dark and move towards Carson’s farm. Paul tells them to stay here for a while, he’ll come back and they do. He walks alone in the unoccupied streets of the small town. He sees a pick-up truck. He picks the lock and starts it. He comes back to his friends with the truck, who can’t believe he just stole a car. Ellie disapproves of her father’s action. They locate the warehouse where he keeps the barrels and Paul, once again, picks the lock. They steal a total of 9 barrels, all they can fit in the truck.

A week later, they all managed to sell their nine barrels of maple syrup and they buy a safe to store their growing pile of cash. They say they want to go back and steal even more maple syrup this time. Ellie bought a new car with her share and says she wants to go again, once she tasted the true power of money, she couldn’t resist earning a quick buck.

John Benson and Vicky Smith are at Carson’s farm and she’s counting the barrels, while Benson is looking at Carson disapprovingly. She’s done and announces that Carson is ten barrels short of the number he previously declared. He says it’s impossible and calls the police to report a theft. He asks the MSS to stay here and Officer Lambert arrives. She says she makes this situation her number one priority and she’ll stay here 24 hours a day, in case the robber, or robbers come back. She tells the MSS that they shouldn’t punish Carson for this and Benson answers that you don’t mess with the MSS, the MSS messes with you.

The three friends and Ellie are back in Ontario, eating in the same restaurant than before, when Benson and Smith arrive. They seat near them and they start talking about maple syrup, which triggers Jeff and Will, who go talk to them. They ask them where the big warehouse full of maple syrup is and Benson rudely answers that it’s confidential and he won’t say it to some retarded tourists. Jeff is angry at Benson and Paul comes and grab them, as they return to their seats.

It’s dark outside, now and the four of them go to steal some more maple syrup. Paul goes to steal the same truck. When they get there, however, they’re surprised by Officer Lambert, who wakes up and arrests them. Carson comes outside and can’t believe that the four tourists were stealing maple syrup from him. Carson calls the MSS. They arrive and Benson says they will take care of it, driving away for four of the first criminals Lambert arrested in her career, to her desolation.

When they arrive at the MSS headquarters, Jeff immediately sees the warehouse where they keep all the maple syrup and he’s delighted. They sit in a dark room with Benson who starts intimidating them. He’s surprised to learn that Paul is the mastermind behind all this so easily. He reminds them that we don’t f*ck around with maple syrup, here in Canada.

Three weeks later, all four of them are in court, awaiting their sentence for theft and couple other accusations. Paul is declared guilty, so are Ellie and Will. Jeff, however, the judge said he managed to prove that he was mentally challenged (Ellie’s idea) and the Canadian penal system, being so forgiving (of course) says they will give a chance to him. He’s released from prison immediately.

Jeff goes back to the United States and he opens the safe. He takes all the cash and spends it all on various stuff. He finally realises that he forgot to keep money to pay the rent and that’s going to be hard to come by, after he lost his job at the supermarket. The film ends with Jeff alone with an empty safe, in his shitty apartment, with human-sized carton bodies with his friends’ faces stick on them.

LRF 100: Top 10 Ensemble Casts

To celebrate the 200th release from Last Resort Films, the studio's writers were asked to vote on 100 top choices from those 200 films. The votes were split up into 10 categories, and each writer chose their top 10 choices in the category. First place votes were worth 10 points, while 10th place votes were worth one point (you can do the math for the votes in-between). In parentheses next to the film's title will be the number of first place votes the film or actor received. And now for the results of the next category: Top 10 Ensemble Casts

TOP 10 ENSEMBLE CASTS
10. Guilt
9. Cape Torment
8. Revolution (1)
"Not only does Revolution feature an A-star cast, but each of the roles actually features the fodder and difficulty to warrant such talented stars." - APJ
7. Bad Education 
"Likely the studio's oddest cast but so out-of-the-box that it works like a charm while anchored by McCounaughey's lead performance." - Chad Taylor
6. The Prisoner
"Christopher Nolan is a master at thoughtful blockbuster filmmaking, and the cast he lined up for The Prisoner was more than appropriate for the scale and subject." - Dwight Gallo
5. Death Dream
4. Missoula
3. Solution (1)
2. Cosa Nostra (1)
1. Blood Meridian (5)
"There isn't a likable character in the bunch, but the film is cast so well that it makes you care about the outcome of each and every low-life." - John Malone

In Development

The Creature: The Beginning: Rounding out the cast of Robert Eggers' upcoming The Creature prequel will be Riley Keough (Logan Lucky, Mad Max: Fury Road), Olivia Munn (The Predator, X-Men: Apocalypse), Dylan Minnette ("13 Reasons Why", Goosebumps) and Josh Stewart (Resident Evil, The Mummy). Ben Collins wrote the script.

Nobody: Tom Holland now has some classmates in Marc Webb's Nobody with the additions of Jaden Smith ("The Get Down", After Earth), Justice Smith (Every Day, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) and Kathryn Newton ("Big Little Lies", Blockers). Jack Ryder wrote the script.

Halo: Reach: The lead squad of SPARTAN soldiers has been completed with Morena Baccarin (Deadpool 2, Splinter Cell: Double Agent), Dave Bautista (Mortal Kombat, The Grind) and Patrick J. Adams ("Suits", Car Dogs) joining the Halo prequel. They will be members of the unit of soldiers at the center of the film, joining the already cast Daniel Craig, Jason Statham and Sam Worthington. Colin Trevorrow is directing from a script by Dominic Wilkins.

Maximum Ride: Dylan Sprayberry ("Teen Wolf", The Row), Nicholas Hamilton (It, The Dark Tower) and Alyvia Alyn Lind (Overboard, Shangri-La Suite) have joined the cast of the YA adaptation Maximum Ride, from writer HG Hansen and director Joss Whedon. They will play some of the part-bird teenagers at the heart of the story.

Decrescendo: Jean-Marc Vallee (Heart of Stone, The Child Martyr) is finally back at work for the studio for the first time since Season 3. This time he will direct a film based on the life of famed French-Canadian singer Alys Robi, who will be played by GRA winner Christina Hendricks (Ringer, The Question: The End). Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crowley, "The Deuce") and January Jones (Alan Wake, Atlas Shrugged) have signed on for supporting roles in the film as cabaret singers who work with Robi. Ann Morrow (Amelie, The Price of Fame) wrote the script.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: While it wasn't a huge hit, Season 6's Grand Theft Auto, performed well enough to continue the series. This time, the story shifts to the 1980s in the Miami-like Vice City. Vince Vaughn (Brawl on Cell Block 99, Hacksaw Ridge) will take on the lead role as Tommy Vercetti, a Liberty City thug sent down south to set up drug operations. He will be joined by Matthew Broderick (Manchester by the Sea, Rules Don't Apply) and Ana de Armas (Girl/Girl, 2060). Broderick will play a shady lawyer who does business with Vercetti, while de Armas will play the beautiful daughter of a retired Central American colonel. David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blond) will direct this entry from a scripy by Mo Buck (Paradiso, Obsession).

Behind the Scenes: Maple Leaf - Deleted Scene

With the release of the upcoming syrup caper Maple Leaf next up in the release slate, writer Harry Wright (Spawn, Grand Theft Auto) has decided to share a scene that wound up on the cutting room floor for the film directed by Jason Reitman (Tully, Young Adult).

Maple Leaf - Deleted Scene
Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Harry Wright
Cast:
Donald Sutherland …. John Benson
Tatiana Maslany …. Vicky Smith
Will Arnett …. Vic Lombard

Vicky Smith (Tatiana Maslany) is typing on her computer, just outside the office of her boss who doesn’t want to retire, John Benson (Donald Sutherland). Who’s going to take over from me, he says. John’s son crossed the border for good a couple of years ago. For John Benson, once you go South, you don’t exist, and he doesn’t talk to you anymore. He doesn’t even know what his son is doing in the States, a secret agent, or a country singer, he doesn’t remember. Well, while John was enjoying his yogurt drenched in maple syrup, Vicky was making an interesting discovery. She compares the numbers from two different columns in her spreadsheet and starts to panic. She rushes in John’s office. They compare the numbers together and John concludes that it’s time to pay someone a visit. They put on their winter coats and their mittens and get into a black SUV with tinted windows.

They arrive in a hurry in a small rural farm. They tell their driver to keep the engine running, this one is going to be a quickie. They knock on the door, dressed in complete black attires, looking like the winter mafia out there. Vic Lombard (Will Arnett) answers the door and he’s skeptical. He’s hesitant to let them in, he thinks they look like the mafia and he doesn’t need insurance. John pushes him aside and he enters. He says they’re not the mafia, he’s MSS. Maple. Syrup. Syndicate. Lombard says that it sure sounds a lot like mafia. John whispers to Vicky that they should keep the name, people fear them. John asks Vic to show them the numbers he sent for his maple syrup production this year and he does, nervously. John Benson hits the table with both fists, which knows down Vic’s cup of coffee. He says these numbers don’t match. He’s way short of what they projected. He says they’re the masters of maple syrup, nobody knows it better than he does and he knows these aren’t his true numbers. He gets angrier and angrier. He suggests that maybe he’s selling it to Americans for a higher profit. Vic denies and John points at Vic’s souvenir mug he bought in Maine last summer. He tries to explain that he bought that on vacation, but John wants none of it. He says the MSS is like Big Brother, he’s going to find out if he’s lying. If he’s lying, he says *him* will pay him a visit. He drops a picture from The Mountain from Game of Thrones on the table. John and Vicky leave in their black SUV as fast as they arrived, squealing the tires. Vic shakes nervously, he says they’re going to send the Mountain for him. He throws out his souvenir mug.

Presented by the MSS. We’re watching you.