For the first true guest of season two, we welcome Morgan. Despite enduring a recent divorce, Morgan remains upbeat and mellow. Where does this positivity come from? Where does Morgan come from?

Dan: What do you have in your future that we don’t have?
Morgan: I have everything in my future.

Music by Ergo Phizmiz, MI-GU, Growing, and JO.

We attempt to start season two of We Need to Talk again, this time with a renewed sense of motivation. Things start a little rough as we get back into the groove, but we quickly find our footing among the psychological weeds of making the right choices, and how we can make better choices.

Evan: You spend nights and Fridays and drinks and car rides to their house and the bar and the shuttling to and back and it’s all supposed to be fun, and so little of it is fun.

Dan: Well that just sounds like life, but you have to have the right attitude toward life, too.

Music in this episode from Ergo Phizmiz, Tours, and Jahzzar.

Season two of We Need to Talk begins with a discussion on motivation. We can become complacent, adrift, and lazy. How do we reverse this? Apply advice to all wounds, projects, and relationships.

Evan: I’ll look at the dishes. I’ll say this is a 10 minute job. I don’t have hot water in my sink, so I have to boil water. Kind of a bummer. And that’s another thing, I could talk to my landlord about the water not working in my sink. I don’t do it.

This episode includes special guest Quigley, who is available for adoption.

Sean takes us through the steps to make a fantastic pie dough. Giving tips and tricks along the way, he wraps up with both personal and societal implications of a good pie.

Pie Dough Recipe:
2.5 cups of flour
1 to 2 teaspoons salt
12 tablespoons cold butter
8 tablespoons cold shortening

1. Mix together flour and salt.
2. Cut butter into chunks and place in flour with shortening.
3. Combine flour and butter and shortening with movement across fingers, careful not to overwork flour.
4. Add cold water until shaggy and holds shape.
5. Roll out with more flour.
6. Bake.

In this episode we made the following:
Tomato Tart Recipe
Summer Squash Lattice Recipe

Music by Stefana Fratila.

We’re back with our friend Sean, a guy who makes friends with the person deemed his greatest enemy by OKCupid, who attends a dance marathon not knowing a soul, and who makes a mean pie. Look for the follow up episode, coming soon, that details how to make a pie just as well as he does. Look for a tissue, soon, to dab your eyes after listening.

Sean: I like to look at people that are complete strangers to me,  because usually we go through our lives passing by so many people and they’re just background characters, they’re just extras.
Evan: We’re extras too.
Dan: I’m not.

Music by Dustin Wong and Red Mass.

Show news: changing formats to be more sporadic, but better quality. Y’all know that juggle.

We interview our mothers, which means ghost stories and school lunches from the mid-1900s.

Either mom: Is it recording?
Evan or Dan: Yeah.
Either mom: Oh dear.

Music by Kayne and 2Pac.

Evan and Dan head out to see the Grand Canyon. A coming of age tale that isn’t about the destination, but the journey. Rated R for coarse language and beards.

Dan: If I was driving, I’d be much more comfortable…
Evan: Do you want to drive?
Dan: No. See, but what’s that? What are you doing there?
Evan: I’m not doing anything…

Music by Evan and Dan.

Over mimosas, Ashley talks about two guys she thought would be with her for life. Instead of life, however, she spends some grueling last moments with each, one in a tent in New Zealand, one in an apartment where the only private refuge was the bathroom. Lessons are learned.

Dan: It sounds like you make these big commitments…
Evan: …make these leaps and they just crack.
Ashley: Mmm hmm, yep.
[laughter]

Music by Sylvie Davidson and 14 Foot 1.

Jen with one ‘n’ joins us, and she hits you with some great advice at the very end. Before that, we find out how she’s never been on a date — yet has been in a relationship for 98% of her adult life. Also, we learn how Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is a better aphrodisiac than rhino horn.

Jen: Just surround yourself with good people, whether or not your sleeping with any of them… but if you can have sex with any of them, go for it.

Music by Souvenir Driver.