Ranking ALL The Hunger Games BOOKS and MOVIES! | Miniseries Wrap Up

Welcome back for our sixth and final episode in Ashley & Liz’s dystopian sci fi episode bonus series: The Hunger Games! We have had the best (and most emotional 😭) time covering these heart-wrenching books at such an appropriate point in our history. 

We covered the origin of dystopias of all kinds, where the idea and genre came from, and why it’s so important in literature and popular culture. We discussed how books, and the act of reading itself, are inherently political. And then we took deep dives into the original trilogy, and both prequels! 

Today we’re giving our overall star ratings for both the book series AND the movie series, and then we’re ranking ALL of them best to worst! We’ll yap all about our favorite (and least favorite) movie moments, how we feel now that it’s all over, and we’ll end it by announcing our next book series!

Hint: It’s Gonna Be May. (What rhymes with May, has copper hair, and says “oh my” a lot? 👀)

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Check out these author interviews? ⬇️

We interviewed Callie Hart all about her NYT Bestseller Quicksilver! Watch it here! https://youtu.be/CED5s7qDBdQ?si=8xtIRO1IzX6Rsld4

Check the official Author Interview with Lindsay Straube of Split or Swallow! Now a Barnes & Noble & Amazon best seller titled: Kiss of the Basilisk!  https://youtu.be/fknhocSNIKM

Watch our Author Interview with Indie Dark Romance Author Ember Nicole here | https://youtu.be/tHV9rXSTBpY?si=OwxdMVfPmtFkcYu6

Shop bookish apparel worn in this episode!

Ashley is wearing “Support Your Local Book Dealer” tee from @ShopWildeshadows | https://www.wildeshadows.com

Liz is wearing “Light It Up” Crescent City tee from @thebeanworkshop Use code BOOKBESTIES10 to save! | * https://www.thebeanworkshop.store/BOOKBESTIES10

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Our Hunger Games Wrap Up Minisode
• 3:25 Spoiler Free Hunger Games BOOK Review
• 8:33 Spoiler Free Hunger Games MOVIE Review
• 11:57 Ranking ALL The Hunger Games Movies and Books!
• 22:05 Favorite Movie Moments
• 30:35 Are We Happy with the Hunger Games Conclusion and Fandom?
• 31:34 Would You Change the Reading Order from Publishing to Chronological?
• 33:32 Any Unanswered Questions?
• 37:00 SURPISE QUESTIONS!
• 42:54 Hunger Games Movies Fun Facts
• 46:42 NEXT Miniseries announcement!

Transcript

0:00

[Music] welcome to the besties in the books podcast I'm Liz and I'm Ashley and welcome to believe it or not our final part part six in our Hunger Games miniseries crazy covering the Hunger Games it's been it's been an emotional time got to say it's been an emotional time yeah it's true third miniseries guys we started you off with Harry Potter reading for the first time and we're adults so that was a time and then we read Twilight for the first time Hunger Games was a first time read for me a reread for Liz and we lined it up to line up with sunrise on the reaping which if you missed that whole episode that was out last week so you go check that out if you need you know someone to talk to feel free to Hash it out in the comments over there and you guys we have another miniseries lined up for you don't you fret we try to do one once a quarter if you haven't noticed here so our Fridays are like our bonus episode days and stay tuned to stay tuned till the end cuz we will let you know what that miniseries will be and it is going to be a fun time I think it'll be a nice little brain break I think maybe or not we don't know cuz it'll be a first time read for us so there well we'll just put it this right way there ain't no way it's going to be as emotional or serious as The Hunger Games okay it's like we structured it this way intentionally so that we could just have like a silly goofy time after uh this yeah emotional roller coaster which has been The Hunger Games yeah yeah so stay tuned stay tuned to listen to that to the end yeah we can't wait to announce it it's going to be funny okay um so yeah today we're going to be giving you all of our thoughts on The Hunger Games series as a whole uh book series The Hunger Games series as a whole movies as well we're going to be ranking them yep just because why not um and yeah we're just going to kind of talk about we're going to do some smash or passes like it's going to be a fun time there's definitely going to be spoilers as we get into it for sure because we're going to be talking about the series in their entirety we don't want to have to censor ourselves yeah but to kick it off we are going to give our basic star rating and review for The Hunger Games book series as a whole and then for The Hunger Games movie series as a whole so if you want to stick around for that feel free and then we will let you know once we get into spoilers moving on from there but before we get into that we just want to say thank you for being here thank you for being here you guys and joining us for this Hunger Games Deep dive miniseries that we're doing make sure to like follow And subscribe anywhere you like to listen to your favorite podcast including YouTube If you haven't yet join us you know for our weekly Tuesday episodes so just cuz Hunger Games is done don't you worry we got a lot more coming down the pipeline for you we got some fun author interviews lined up some silly some just some silly times too but all book rated and come on in the water is fine you can also check us out on Instagram and Tik Tok at Bess in the books podcast so check us out there and hang out we love to have you thank you so much for listening we'll see time truly so okay so let's just kick this off like I said before with our spoiler-free basic star rating we can give a sentence review if that makes us feel good whatever you want to do um let's do the books first you want me to go first this time or do you want to go first okay the book series okay and this encompasses everything so it's the original trilogy and a ballad of song birds and snakes and sunrise on the re Bean so we're just counting it as Five Books Okay so for all five books shockingly five stars oh what didn't see that coming I know watch it's like you guys follow us like here on Goodreads you're like but you rated every book five stars why is the series not five stars of course it is yeah but it was a whole three I don't know it was all right it was all right but this is confusing no it would be it would be five stars for sure um you know it's hard to sum it up in one sentence but it has everything you need to it's you know it's got important themes throughout excellent character development a world that is immersive a fastpaced uh storytelling style and a variety of perspectives therefore it gets a five stars for me yeah totally excellent great job very good very good yeah five stars for me as well listen I was at that time in my life it just came at the perfect time I really wanted a book series that could really my heart out and sew it sloppily back in together again and guess what I got it delivered yeah yes you did so yeah and then some you know I had very low expectations for this book and we'll talk about that in a little bit and boy was I wrong and I and I'm so glad I was I thoroughly enjoyed it if you're thinking if you're listening to this thinking do I need to read The Hunger Games yes you do this is my new like thing that I'm screaming from the mountains okay I realized this the the other day I'm obsessed with Hunger Games in the level that I'm obsessed with acatar and the Sarah J masse truly yeah okay I think about it day and night I watch all the memes and the funny reals about it like and that's probably what people that read acatar who loved the Hunger Games were like oh yay another one of these you know it's a it's a level of obsession that's such a fun little treat to have totally for your brain you know well and I think that's why we do these Mini episode series is like to help us and then other people find those fandoms that are totally immersive yeah you know it's like we love we love that I love it yeah I had a friend that reached out to me and was like you know off of one of the books that I posted and she's like oh let me know when you find like another Hunger Games level Obsession book to read and I was like well it was like 2 days before sunrise on the reaping came out I'm like what you're in for a tree a Hungry Games book comes out in two days and she had no idea like oh great go yeah and she hadn't read bot of song words so she's going to read both of those but I was like hey you need something that's Hunger Games level Obsession how can I interest interest you in some more Hunger Games you know did you want some more you know boom time I love that what a treat it is what a treat and then also yeah like but what a good like we do love that that next level and for me what I love so much about Hunger Games is the all the tiin I think too and mass Sarah J mass does a lot of good work doing that throughout thrown of glass there's constant tie-ins cuz it's kind of like your own little mental scavenger hunt and I love that and you know I feel like with you know Suzanne Collins and Sarah J Mass too like not that their storytelling style is similar in any way shape or form but I feel like they're not they're not um that's not a bunch of filler it's not well it's not a bunch of filler but it's also not like little side quests off to Nowhere or like little Easter egg trails that literally aren't important it's like that's what I appreciate is like it's going somewhere like we're going somewhere we're piecing it together we get to play detective it's fun it's not it doesn't make me feel sad at the end once we get the answer because it was just stupid and not worth it you know someone said that Suzanne Collins never gives you a description without intention so she won't say someone's eyes are blue with just because it's fun to say they're blue you know there's always a re and that's a bad example but like you know there's always a specific reason she don't got no time you know most of these books are 350 Pages you know so everything's intentional and I appreciate that because when I read a book that feels like everything's supposed to be intentional and it never was it never was what a scream so everything terrible thing was intentional and we appreciated that so five stars what about the movies for you the movies for me cuz Okay so just to clarify this would be like a rating scale against other movies right yeah okay a rating scale against other movies I would rate the movies as a whole as I'd say a five stars as well yeah yeah um like is it five stars like the book is five stars no but like like I feel like as far as movie adaptations of book series go five stars for sure yeah mhm I feel like they if I'm giving a little review I feel like they conveyed the messages in a way that made sense and was fast-paced enough to keep the plot flowing in movie form without leaving out so much stuff that it didn't make sense or that there were plot holes Etc like were they perfect no but it would have been impossible to fit everything in yeah it's true yeah yeah so that's how I feel yeah yeah well Liz was here I just bought the whole DVD collection with Blu-ray and um you know a downloadable version as well very cheap by the way so if it's still available I'll link it down in the comments buy yourself a set too because everybody was pissed right now cuz they're like why don't we have Hunger Games on any streaming service true so and it was actually hard to find one to rent so suspicious anyways so just buy yourself a physical copy so you never have to have that problem again so yeah you know I have to say and at first I was like four stars cuz to me it did have some missing elements in it that I think were important and made people miss out on but that's okay cuz I have a thing to say so still five stars all of them and not because it's perfect by any means cuz it's not but I know I'll watch these over and over again and to me this franchise made me change my perspective on movies versus books like that battle that happens all the time kind of Twilight too a little tiny bit but it's not meant to replace the books and I think I've always had that subconscious feeling when watch book movies yeah and really though what Hunger Games did was probably inspire people like you to go and read the books it was like a little taster or even an extension of the book it's a way to get it into the general public you know it's an art form right to get and and they kind of water it down a little bit but it almost feels like at this point it's an intentional you know to get more young readers to be able to read these books and encourage them to do it so I have a different take on that different perspective so now I can appreciate the movies before this I would have said three stars for the movie I wasn't sold and I didn't love it but yeah look at me Chang my ways your change okay so now that you guys know that everything is a five star just go start it um should we get into our spoiler section yeah we'll do some spoilers here get out of here if you're still in the middle of reading this book for the first time this book series save it to your playlist watch it later okay yep you don't want to spoil anything but we got to rank these and it's going to be hard guys it was really hard I don't know how much we'll be spoiling in the ranking but that's all right just in case cuz like golly you know this was requested shout out to the people that were requesting us to rank these movies and books and I was like we'll do it but it's going to be hard so okay so just right off the bat the book versus movie Showdown so did you like like what did which ones did you like better okay let me just say this I don't know if you're on the same page as me or not but literally I'm going to make this easy for you guys book versus movie books all the way down win same I love the books they gave so much context they gave the entire picture boom done easy that's what I put I just put liked all books better and it's not because the movies weren't good it's just because the books were so good like you just said you can only fit so much into an hour and a half 2our movie you know and then they split up mocking jay into two and still it wasn't enough you know so and then there's some things that are changed in the movies here and there and there's you know there's more focus on the love triangle for me and I felt like that gave the books a diservice in a way because it's so much more than that even with Ballad of song birds it was focused on The Love Story between Cornelius Cory elanus golly I still do it cor elanus snow and Lucy gray and it's so much deeper right now I'm like I'm not a snow apologist okay or whatever they call it I'm a bell of song birds apologist because it's like it's being watered down to this um simp love story and he's just mad that he she didn't want him uh she wanted him like did you guys miss that like I don't want to get mad at people but like he went insane like he would have killed her and if you read his internal monologue that's going on in songbirds like he's on he's he's forgetting the whole thing because of he doesn't want to go live in the woods like he wants his fishy comfy life and he wants that power that he has the possibility of having and simultaneously disconnecting himself from Lucy he only wanted to kill her because she was a loose end that was going to rat him out possibly you know yep so I got tangent here sorry no I feel no I feel like that's an important thing to know you know if anyone has watched the movies and it's like oh I I feel like I got you know the gist it's basically like The Hunger Games is like a pea versus Gale kind of game and bad of song birds and snakes it's just you know it's a man scorned essentially it's like no no no no no no literally from the movie I would get that I get that yeah yeah um but and while the love stories in all three stories are important because I feel like you know an ongoing theme throughout the whole Hunger Games and the prequels is you know the devastation of War on people's real lives and relationships um so it's important to show those connections to other people lots of times the relationships are very symbolic of other things and I think that that is what is important to remember when going into the books exactly exactly so that being said okay so we we've established that we liked all the books better than the movies but not because the movies were bad just because the books were really good the movies gave us like good visual aids for sure I did there I will give a shout out to Ballad of song birds So Hunger Games for me yeah they focus too much on the P Peta versus Gail situation you know whatever but the ballad of song Words did change a couple things that I really liked that scene with Lucy gray and the snakes that was completely different in the books she still had her scene but she didn't win at that scene or in the movie she won with it and it was like crazy and intense and then we find out she's live seeing it so there they did do a good job on a couple things tweaking they took out the nut being called the nut in mocking J they saw the error of their ways you know so we could give credit to there okay but movie ranking you want to do movie ranking first sure okay this was really hard for me oh yeah yeah yeah all of them were it was really hard okay so number one should we do number like our favorite to least favorite or least favorite to most favorite most favorite to least favorite okay so number one my most favorite movie we're doing movies was The Hunger Games so the first one and I think I think I just say that because of the fact that it's what sucked me in to it was good enough of a concept and well enough done to where it convinced me to read the books yeah so and I feel like I appreciated all the casting and it was just yeah it was great visual aids so yeah that's why Hunger Games is number one for me yeah number two is a ballot of song birds and snakes um because same thing like I feel like the visuals really helped me um I felt like it was just a really well done movie in general I feel like the casting was perfect um so yeah so it's the Hunger Games a ballot of song birds and snakes number three would be mocking jay part two M interesting mhm um number four would be mocking jay part one and then number five would be catching fire and this was very hard for me because they were literally all amazing so I kind of I mean we're splitting hairs here honestly they're like by decimal points yeah um so what what would you say what did you do okay so I had to just sit back and think okay if I could pop on any Hunger Games movie right now what would it be because like literally I love them all for different reasons I would do a ballot of song Words and snakes it was so good mhm it's also a little bit later but it's just like ah it's just so much symbol of it's very moody you know yeah different vibe different tone so I'm going to go with that one and then I'm going to say the original Hunger Games cuz you get all that original lore then catching fire okay number four and five would be mocking J one and two so those were my least favorite yeah again it's like I'm picking least favorites like based on pretty much like you know thoughts and prayers like literally like just what I felt like it's not like I disliked Catching Fire and that's why I put it last it's just to me I guess that's a good way to put it it's one of the ones i' more least likely put on if I am just wanting to throw a Hunger Games movie on yeah exactly yeah Mock and Jay movies for me stood out to being I knew those right away were my least favorite cuz they were just like fine I don't know they were slower I felt like they missed some stuff that was important but whatever what about your book ranking okay here we go book ranking uh my favorite and again guys like this is so hard they were all Five Star reads okay um my number one is mocking jay mhm uh number two is sunrise on the reaping oh ah yes uh number three is a ballot of song birds and snakes mhm Number Four The Hunger Games and number five Catching Fire interesting it almost feels kind of opposite almost or just mixed up no Rhyme or Reason no Rhyme or Reason um no I feel like for me mocking J stands out to me as being my favorite book because I really liked like reading about the games is necessary important entertaining interesting all the things that you want in a book however I felt like mocking J stood out to me because that's when we actually saw the real life implications of war yeah um and how that played out in like taking down this tyrannical regime so that's why it got my number one um spot yeah um and then sunrise on the reaping got number two simply for the fact that it filled in a lot of the blanks yeah yeah yeah so what about you okay again all five stars so it's hard um I'm going to go with number two favor or sorry number one favorite book start with number two just I know I was like that's confusing but okay just going to hop around number one favorite was Catching Fire oh I love opposite of mine interesting it's very funny um number two two would be the Hunger Games it's what made me it's what made me love okay um number three would be Ballad of song birds and snakes mhm and then sunrise on the reaping but gosh you know I feel bad putting it there cuz I did love it and I'm just coming off of it so let me marinate for a second cuz they're all really equal truly okay and then mocking jay again it's more mostly because they're underground and you know me I get I don't like being stuck underground like so it gives you Shadow and Bone flashbacks being in the cave um that's interesting though because literally mocking jay and catching fire are reversed for us as our least favorite most favorite and the ballot of song birds and snakes is both of our number three that's interesting yeah what does that say what does that say about us I don't know I have no idea yeah that it's really hard to rank five books that are all equally as good as each other that's what it it's at that point we're just on vibes you know yeah so hey so favorite movie moments do you have any movie moments that stand out in your brain as being pivotal first of all what a treat it was that Liz was down here and we got to watch so many of these all of them actually together yeah and and whenever sunrise on the reaping comes out next year we better do it together I think comes out this Thanksgiving I think it's next one 2026 I heard that they bumped it up that's weird look see we're just two halves of a brain that make a hole so we're both right and wrong someday we'll find out we we could just Google it also all right you Google it while I tell you one of my favorite Parts I have a list okay but the standout Parts in the movie for me The Lumberjacks of district 7 spider monkeying up the tree like Edward does with Bella that was crazy though that was crazy that was not in the books but we were so happy to have it that was crazy yeah Lov that I loved that whole montage yeah that's on my list of favorite Parts in the movies because that is for anyone who hasn't done this if you feel tree uh if you feel like emotionally hurting yourself today do this okay so I think that's in mocking J part two right where it's like the mon yeah it must be because it's like um all the Lumberjacks going up the trees but then putting throwing bomb down to kill all the peacekeepers okay it's basically just showing a montage of all the acts of rebellion that are going on in all the different districts that we previously were not aware of um which wasn't really fully uh like in that kind of detail explained in the book so that's why I thought it was really good in the movies too and then it switches to whatever District um goes in and bombs the dam yeah and takes the whole Dam down and so the version of the Hanging Tree that's playing during that montage is so good it's like literally gives me chills every time I think about it because it starts off with Kat is singing it and it's just her and then you have all these other voices that come in like it feels like you know true like kind of like protest song and then they show all these things happening and it just picks up momentum and picks up speed and intensity and like even like once you've watched it go listen to that song specifically on the soundtrack because they do that from beginning to end on the soundtrack too so that you can really like re-experience it it was so good so so so good let's see sunrise on the raping movie release let's see if they can just tell us yeah no you're totally right so it's November of 2026 is what they're saying I wonder where yeah I was hearing that it got switched to this year but it didn't so I wish yeah that would be so crazy well I was thinking wow that's ballsy too to like come out the same month and time as wied part two and you'd have like nine months to get it together there's just no way yeah unless they're already in the works you know but they haven't even cast people yet stay tuned in the end cuz I'm going to ask you guys what who you think is going to be cast as who Okay MH um Peta as a rock and P as a rock love it classic classic a part that you will never forget never forget Peta getting electrocuted oh my God I forgot for got about that part especially because Ashley and I were like having like this whole discussion we're like oh my God Peta he's so annoying cuz he's like so useless out in the Wilds you know and then he finally gets this machete and he's like well look he's how did he figure out how to hack through the woods oh he didn't boom like immediately electrocuted we're like oh my God had to be resuscitated like literally it was so much more tragic and horrifying in the books but then in the movies it just just something about people get electrocuted and movies that it just doesn't translate as well it was much more comical than like sad I don't know sorry we're just those people that laugh at prank videos okay um so the and I mentioned this already but the snakes crawling up Lucy gray as she's singing one final Fu to the capital yeah so that was crazy that's a scene I will never forget mhm snow walking back into the capital yeah that was I put that I had to put that in our real this week you know oh I saw I was like wow that's so good it's good so good it's like the start of like the freaking evilest evil ever to evil wow it's just the beginning yeah anything else that comes to head yeah I mean I feel like the parts that always stand out to me are like obviously when Katniss you know says fire is catching like she does her whole like speech I feel like obviously that was really impactful in the books obviously but I feel like the way that Jennifer Lawrence delivered those lines was so compelling and yeah it was just like expertly done like that sticks out in my brain for sure and then there's obviously like the horrifying Parts like that I'll never forget like literally you know when finck dies for example yeah yeah mhm like those those moments in the movies I feel like were just like you may have pictured it a little bit differently in your head when you're reading it but then watching it is also I feel like really impactful too I feel like they just did a good job yeah yeah it's sunrise on the reaping is going to be brutal I got to tell you are they going to keep that scene well especially cuz we know it's not like we know it's not going anywhere good you know what I mean crying the whole movie theater I'm going to cry so loud they're going to kick me out oh um I remember also we talked about this when Katniss's dress turns into the mocking J with all the feathers and everything that was really cool to see like on screen as well yeah cat is having to see Senna being taken down and beat up and and she's like screaming oh yeah everybody was cast so well overall it's just amazing I feel like in all the movies I mean I we struggled with peta's casting yeah sorry pea but it is he grew on us but it was it was hard he grew on us cuz you have to you know he grew on us when he was all traumatized and messed up that's when he grew on us so it's just the fact that he's only what did we look it up he's 5'4 or something and he's supposed to be this big dude that can throw things that are heavy and it's just like well I don't think so not believable like didn't seemen that believable yeah I'm willing to look past it just like I look past everything else in Twilight okay yeah right at least okay yeah well it's like Twilight's supposed to be terrible well originally wasn't but yeah yeah yeah um so any movie moments that you hated meaning like they actually weren't good not like cuz a lot of bad stuff happens yeah yeah of course um like anything that was just like cringe yeah the one thing that stood out to me I was with you watching this and we were yelling at the TV when Katniss and Gail have to sneak through the capital after leaving tigress's place and they're just wearing a cloak to hide themselves that wasn't like that in the book in the book they got like all crazy Capital dressed up and then they're just wearing like a gray cloak with their face completely like up out in the open yeah for like 10 minutes give me a break it didn't make any sense that was that piss me off that's the only move that's the only part I could remember that I'm like I'm actually pissed off about that but okay like the only nonsensical thing yeah I feel like I feel the same way the only other thing would have been like how cheesy the like uh Peta dressed up as a rock was but like that gave us enough laugh to where it was okay yeah exactly but yeah I mean it was definitely like really seriously like there's no way he would have been able to do that in there but okay yeah yeah um so okay just to go back to the like series as a whole like not necessarily the movies but just like you know whatever the whole fandom the movies the books whatever are we happy with the conclusion the ending where we're at with it right now Etc two thumbs up for me I'm happy oh wow I just did fireworks on her FaceTime great what about you yeah yeah I mean we talked about this a little bit in our last episode but I definitely feel like you know this is such an intricate world with so many stinking characters that are that we care about that like I will always be open to more yeah but I'm also I feel settled and content with like where things are at right now even you know having pretty large gaps of time still you know in between um I still feel pretty good about where we're at yeahh yeah okay I have a question for you would because we touched on this on a previous episode but officially now that we've read sunrise on the reaping would you change the reading order from publishing to what is the word chronological chronological would you change it would you want to read it like would I reread it in a different way would you recommend reading it differently how about that no I wouldn't I was just talking to my sister about this because she um wanted to read sunrise on the reaping because the movie doesn't come out for a while and she wants to know what happen she hasn't read the other books she's only watched the movies yeah and I was like I would not recommend like I feel like you might not be completely lost per se but would you be invested to the degree that you should be invested would you appreciate all of the connections in Easter eggs probably not and I feel like that would be doing a disservice to yourself I feel like um I would recommend reading them in release order 100% yeah same 100% through and through I feel like but then you know with that being said let's say that you're someone like us who's already read them in release order we've watched all the movies you know maybe when I do a reread maybe I will read them in um you know chronological order or whatever read start off with Ballad of song birds and snakes then read sunrise on the reaping and then read The Hunger Games like maybe it would give you a different perspective if you read it in that order yeah as a reread sure as a first read yeah uh publishing no yeah I mean you would still get those Easter eggs once you got to Catching Fire from sunrise on the reaping but still still you'd be doing yourself a disservice I think yeah yeah I feel like that might be interesting though maybe I will do that next time just to see if you pick up anything different reading it in that different order yeah just like thrown of glass like let's just keep it going just keep picking up and reading it again I'm going to miss them I'm going to miss them any unanswered questions that are just like gnawing at your brain that you're upset about Tigris Tigress still don't know how to say her name what is it yeah yeah just wondering what happens to Tigress wondering what happened to Lucy grey be I think that those are the two that yeah Will haunt us but it's my own fault so it's okay it's me Hyper fixating oh I was going to say how is that your own fault yeah I'm just hyper fixating on it that's all yeah yeah same same same cuz you had that ah moment when she helps hoard them or hide them whatever and uh then then that that was it so mhm that that wasn't it because I immediately went to Ballad of song birds and there she was in the first chapter and I was like yeah like we can fill in the blanks we could see there's probably a falling out she already can see that he's turning into her dad in a bad way at the end of B song birds yeah but you know yeah golly yep so no I feel like you know the only thing is that's left really to say is do we understand why the series is so hyped and the fandom is so strong as being a part of it now absolutely I get it I get it now I get it I was wrong Liz you were right I was wrong eat my words Y and I'll eat them all day and all day I get I get it I get it now thank you for changing my mind Liz another shout out to you you're welcome I knew you'd love it I knew you would love it like I I have never ever like it I'm sure these people will pop out of the Woodworks now but like out of the people that I know I have never known a person to start the Hunger Games books and not finish them or to start them and be like you know what I'm dnfing cuz I hate this like I don't know a person who's done that like and I'm sure that there's plenty of people who've done that but like I personally everyone who starts can't stop we thought it was me we thought I was that person because I thought I had started reading it a while ago a long time ago and I was like I couldn't get into it must have been something else cuz it wasn't this there is no way I could have read even one chapter and been like nah so I think for me the movies did the opposite thing of inspiring me to read and want to consume more the movies didn't hit for me so the I know I watched the first movie and again I think I saw saw Snippets of a couple of the other ones on TV or something and it never hooked me cuz I thought it was just a kids you know love triangle story and some murder was involved so I had no idea the complexities so for me it worked in the opposite way but I was I wasn't technically the Target demographic being like a you know 20-some year old even though I can confidently say that you will benefit from the series at whatever age group you read it as long as you're like ofe to read it right so at least like 13 or whatever and on and every decade you're going to find something else in this book that resonates with you that's be that's amazing not all book series can do that so commend R Miss Suzanne wow so thank you Liz for changing my ways helping me change my ways hopefully we've convinced some more people to convert over to the hung going to make it my full-time job okay so congratulations what is that what do that sound bite like prepare to be sick of me oh yeah yeah exactly so surprise questions some more okay which mut in any of the Arenas do you think you could have taken on in one none of it um no I'll just go with the butterflies cuz those seemed manageable yeah yeah yeah I liked the blowtorch idea that was butterflies or maybe even the the Mocking Jays mocking you I be like h i I grew up with a really big family I can ignore a lot of people and things talking so yeah mhm okay um any guesses on who you think will play hey Mitch in Sunrise and the reaping movie I have no idea because I'm so out of touch with like the young actors like I don't know who any of the young actors like 20 years and younger are anymore to be someone probably not on the radar yet I think you know cuz I think Katniss that was her Jennifer what's her name Jennifer that was like her huge breakout role so and it's somebody he's 16 right when he gets reaped so it has to be somebody young up and coming um no clue I have to say I sent Liz this there so the guy who originally plays President Snow in the trilogy has a son who is of age that would be president it's the actor he's famous actor I'll pop him on the screen I don't know his name but he would be perfect to play snow so I'm hoping that we see that moment so then you have all three snows so he's that perfect age like around 50 or 60 so that's crazy that is I didn't realize they were related and son and Dad so that's crazy um yeah okay which Hunger Games do you think you have the best chance of surviving in in so we got that we read about so the 74th which is Katniss's first the 75th the quarter quell in the clock mhm the 10th would be corus's Lucy Gray's Arena which is just a crappy Arena yeah or the 50th hitches Perfect Picture Perfect landscape which one do you think you could survive h ly just logically I'm going to go with the 10th because the game makers didn't have the ability to do the things that they have the ability to do in future Hunger Games so there's less things that are likely to kill you yeah but you also feel like a Sitting Duck sitting there just waiting for somebody to come over and stab you like I'm saying though logically it makes sense cuz there's less threats yeah okay I see where you're coming from just from that perspective yeah cuz you could be a Sitting Duck in any Arena really I get that it's smaller but after there's the explosion there's a lot of places to hide and whatnot so like in any Hunger Games you're going to have the rest of the tributes trying to kill you I wouldn't pick the 50th for the sheer fact that there's double the amount of people who are trying to kill you double the amount and d and you can't have you can only use your supplies you have to you can't have the water or the food mhm I would so yeah I would go with that I would go with the 10th yeah I would go with Katniss's the 74th H yeah see I feel like the game makers have gotten way too crazy by that point yeah they have but you can hunt and like Harvest and get water and hide in trees so I don't know I don't think I'm surviving any of them let's be clear but it's true I would feel so CL I don't know at least I guess Katniss's Arena would give me the illusion of safety that I would need or else I'd have like a mental breakdown freak out and bash my head into a wall if I was stuck in Lucy Grays Arena but hey good luck to you okay good luck to everyone yeah so in conclusion I do have this this thinking that came into my brain today okay so Corola snow makes the Hunger Games into what we know it today right right what if there's also the reasoning that he has that he actually can sess out the rebels through the games oh and keep tabs on them and keep them in check cuz now we know that makes sense with hach's story and probably mags probably other ones maybe finck story that in order to win these Hunger Games you have to have you know unless you're just Brute Force like these careers with the outliers you have to have that something else most of the time in order to win these and a lot of those people are powerful in a way you know yeah like are they getting too smart are they learning technology too well are they yeah totally that makes total he uses that as a way too like a there's just so many different branches branches out into yeah no that would make perfect sense it's like obviously we know that they're being surveilled but it would be like a way for him to yeah pluck an example yeah out of every District just to see like what they're capable of yeah mhm yeah so they can always until until they can't do it anymore ha jokes on you you got to take it down the end so do you have any fun facts about the movies nope I focus too much on surprise questions so congratulations sorry I forgot I just looked up Hunger Games movie fun facts and the first thing that pops up is catniss is a potato this whole time I had no[Music][Laughter] idea I love that so much yeah she's just like a potato just rolling through the arena I know they're referring to the name catniss but it's a funny visual no it's so funny especially cuz like it like literally also is like a potato I didn't get that visual when I was reading the books no okay all right so just a couple things that just like pop up from the internets you know random facts there was an upsurge in archery yeah I could see that isn't that interesting Katniss's choice of weapon the bow and arrow has seen huge uptakes in recent years thanks to the films and books making it look like a cool sport in fact USA Archer even wrote a letter saying thank you to Suzanne Collins yeah I love that um I also this one was really interesting Donald southernland really wanted to play President Snow Donald southernland was so Keen to play President Snow that he wrote the director a multiple page letter explaining why the character was important and how he would play him he even read all the books beforehand so he knew everything about snow okay so yeah that's the guy who ends up playing him right yeah crazy wow mhm which we talked about this his son is to his son has to be then he's going to be like you have to do it we we just have cuz Ashley and I were voice memoing about this isn't it a little weird that like the guy who plays President Snow's name is Donald Donald Southerland we'll just let you guys think about that for a second um let's see what else do we have oh this is interesting at least at the time of this article I don't know if this is still accurate okay so like don't come for me I have not done the research past this it's banned in Vietnam so while the idea it says this article while the idea of child soldiers and Gladiators battling to the death may seem far-fetched and dystopian to Western audiences sadly in some parts of the world it's too close to home including Vietnam where the first film is banned wow mhm yikes there's one there's one more good one it's only good because it's Peta Jennifer Lawrence gave Josh Josh Hutcherson so the guy who plays pea a head injury whilst filming the first film Jennifer told Josh she could kick higher than his head and proceeded to show him and ended up kicking him in the head of course I can understand why she thought she could though too cuz he's so small I think she's taller than him kick over your head I just love that though like the goofy like stuff on the set too I mean sorry you got kicked in the head but it's hilarious but it's like poor Josh hutchingson or whatever his name is Hutcherson it's like he gets electrocuted he gets freaking turns into a rock he almost dies on numerous occasions he gets kidnapped and tortured by the capital and then behind the scenes he's getting kicked in the head and they said head injury so he had like a concussion yeah oh my God ah it feels weird to close the Hunger Games chapter because it was so I know it was just so amazing this has been such a fun time but guys it's time to announce if you stuck around this far you a real MVP that's for sure yeah thank you we appreciate you and for that you get this treat yes it is time to announce what our next mini episod series will be starting in May because guess what should we say it at the same time it's going to be gr be that's the best we got guys it's going to be gray that means it's what Liz 50 Shades of Gray just in case you guys did not piece that together in May how perfect is that in May yeah we came up with that all on our own it happened organically the thing is it's like we wanted something we wanted something light we wanted something easy that we could just roast that we could make fun of with you guys that and who knows maybe we'll end up really liking it we don't know it's going to be tragic and horrible I don't know oh my God I don't think it's tragic and horrible but maybe I mean I literally have never read the books either of you nope I watched the first two movies when they came out so I remember nothing I didn't watch anything so I know nothing yeah yep so here we are we're starting from scratch but dude GNA be sitting around that table we're doing our work our podcast work setting our schedule for the year you guys going through the miniseries that we plan on doing and we're like lining everything up getting our schedule lined up and I was like Liz let's all let's do these all in May it's like wait with 50 Shades of May 50 50 Shades of May 50 Shades of Gray it's going to be gray 50 Shades of May so it's going to be gray 50 Shades of May okay you guys got it every Friday we're going to be dropping down our unhinged theories and reviews and hot takes of 50 Shades of Gray we're doing the first three books maybe a little parody in there and a wrap-up video of course yeah so you know was it fanfic for Twilight we want to know more about that because uh you know since we covered Twilight obviously that's a thing is that 50 Shades was written as fanfic of Twilight we need to delve into that some more yeah um want to talk about you know did it hurt or help the dark romance genre y as a whole MH um and as Ashley said we're going to be reading you know the first three books so the original trilogy 50 Shades of Gray 50 Shades Darker and 50 Shades Freed there are the three books told from Gray's perspective we will not be reading those unless there's some crazy turn of event yes but as it is now we're not going to be reading those we're just going to be focusing on the original trilogy and then we also so we'll have uh like a little surprise kind of sprinkled in for you um and we will also be watching the movies and you know let us know would you guys be interested in doing like a live watch party with maybe some the 50 Shades movies let us know CU I think that that might be kind of hilarious yeah yeah yeah because as it is now Ashley and I won't be able to watch those together in person so either way we'll be doing like FaceTime or something watching them together do you guys want in on that let us know yeah let us know let us know we are so excited to start that keep your eyes peeled for the next minisode series we'll definitely you know we'll post all of the Fable groups so you can join those you guys will be fully aware if you follow us over on Instagram what's going on with all the reading updates so make sure to follow us there on Instagram and Tik Tok at best the books podcast you don't miss out on all those announcements turn on all those notification Bells so you get notified when we post new episodes which are dropping every Tuesday until those miniseries start up again so still mini still Tuesdays even when the Min series are going on but then those will be on Fridays at Bes in the books podcast everywhere you lik listen to your favorite podcast including YouTube you guys but thank you so much for joining us for this Hunger Games season it was amazing we had so much fun so much fun so enlightened so depressing and sad just all the things all the emotions yep all the emotions and now we get to look forward to the fact that it's going to be gray yep all right guys we see you next time bye see you next time bye[Music]