S03.E08: Who Rules the Land of Denial?

[rose711]

  On 6/10/2017 at 3:31 PM, welcomerain said:

Gloria's attempt at an investigation ended exactly as I thought it would: Failure, demotion, scriptwriter ex machina.

Since she's the designated Brave Heroine, we're supposed to admire her chutzpah or something, but all I can think is how both she and Moe did everything wrong. She made a point of sassing him in the open, and proceeded to disregard everything he said, this man who was going to be her boss in much less time than it'd take to close such a case. He was probably right to prevent her from leading the investigation into her own stepfather's death or any related crimes, but he could have taken advantage of her initiative and energy and kept her on the reservation. Neither of them had the sense not to lock horns, and if it weren't for some heyoka or another playing some tricks for the greater good, Emmit might have gotten away with it.

Ray Wise is the merriest devil and the grimmest angel. I love him with a love beyond love.

Gloria's adventure ain't over yet and I expect the end will be terribly different than where things are now.

I'm very curious about this possibility. I hope you are right! My own prediction is that Varga gets away. Who else is left alive for her to catch except Emmit - and he had to turn himself in (and may still get away) and possibly Nikki. All the other bad actors - Ray and Varga's guys in the woods are dead.
I'm cheering for your ending because mine is unsatisfactory.

[rur]

Nikki did tell Gloria to follow the money. Emmit coming in to the police station to confess is probably the key to Gloria solving the crime, although I don't think that was the money that Nikki meant.

[Stratego]

Emmit coming to the police station "to confess" should be an admission that Ray died an accidental death and that the "crime" was that Emmit "took advantage" of Ray with respect to the long-ago deal with the stamp--a non crime. The writing of this season is "klunky". First we "see" the real story unfold between characters, then anvils are dropped so other characters "learn" what was happening/happened around them so they understand what "we" already know.

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, rur said:

Nikki did tell Gloria to follow the money. Emmit coming in to the police station to confess is probably the key to Gloria solving the crime, although I don't think that was the money that Nikki meant.

I'm pretty sure the money Nikki told Gloria to follow was the money that Ray went back to get. Where is it now, anyway?

[AuntiePam]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

I'm pretty sure the money Nikki told Gloria to follow was the money that Ray went back to get. Where is it now, anyway?

It should be in Ray's house.  There was some speculation that the money (the drawer where the money was kept) was what Nikki noticed in the photograph.

So maybe Nikki will make her way back to the house.  Unlikely that anyone would be watching it. 

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, AuntiePam said:

It should be in Ray's house.  There was some speculation that the money (the drawer where the money was kept) was what Nikki noticed in the photograph.

So maybe Nikki will make her way back to the house.  Unlikely that anyone would be watching it. 

Except Gloria. ;-)

[rose711]

  21 hours ago, rur said:

Nikki did tell Gloria to follow the money. Emmit coming in to the police station to confess is probably the key to Gloria solving the crime, although I don't think that was the money that Nikki meant.

I'm pretty sure the money Nikki told Gloria to follow was the money that Ray went back to get. Where is it now, anyway?

Why would Nikki tell Gloria to follow money that Ray stole from Emmits account? Same idea as the IRS looking into the accounts?

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, rose711 said:

Why would Nikki tell Gloria to follow money that Ray stole from Emmits account?...

Because Ray got killed going after that money. I don't think it matters where he got it from.
I guess we first need to find out whether the money was still there when the cops found Ray's body (like some viewers say they saw in the photo Nikki was shown of the crime scene). If the money wasn't there, it would be like: Money? Which money?

[cardigirl]

Something I've been wondering about, maybe someone here can enlighten me, but why was Varga in need of killing Nikki?  Weren't they going to frame her for Ray's "accidental suspicious" death?  I know Varga initially sent Meemo to kill both of them, but then Ray was killed, and Meemo was called off.  He sat and watched the cops take her away.  It seems to me that it would have been easier to do the frame job. Why go to all the attention-grabbing effort of crashing a prison bus, killing the officer on the bus, and then also killing civilians.  Now the police will definitely start looking for why. 

Or maybe not.  They're not too concerned over one old gentleman dying because they glued his nose and mouth shut.  

[ChipBach]

28 minutes ago, cardigirl said:

Something I've been wondering about, maybe someone here can enlighten me, but why was Varga in need of killing Nikki?  Weren't they going to frame her for Ray's "accidental suspicious" death?  I know Varga initially sent Meemo to kill both of them, but then Ray was killed, and Meemo was called off.  He sat and watched the cops take her away.  It seems to me that it would have been easier to do the frame job. Why go to all the attention-grabbing effort of crashing a prison bus, killing the officer on the bus, and then also killing civilians.  Now the police will definitely start looking for why. 

Or maybe not.  They're not too concerned over one old gentleman dying because they glued his nose and mouth shut.  

This.  Seems finding Nikki's body at the hotel would have left less questions than a prison bus hijacking.  I am not sure Nikki could have talked her way out of Ray's murder either.

[cardigirl]

7 minutes ago, ChipBach said:

This.  Seems finding Nikki's body at the hotel would have left less questions than a prison bus hijacking.  I am not sure Nikki could have talked her way out of Ray's murder either.

There may be more to Nikki than what we've been allowed to see so far.  And yet, the beating she got seemed pretty real.  Ima confused.  Loving it, but confused.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Why did/would Varga care for an actual signature by Emmit for a corporation Emmit didn't even know about?  This makes zero sense.  Would Emmit have gone to the authorities as Varga presented a statement, or even a check, for the dozens of millions gained in the transaction?  And again...Emmit is scared feces-less of Varga - or was until TPTB needed us to forget that minor fact..  

Edited June 14, 2017 by Lonesome Rhodes

[rose711]

Why did/would Varga care for an actual signature by Emmit for a corporation Emmit didn't even know about?  This makes zero sense.  Would Emmit have gone to the authorities as Varga presented a statement, or even a check, for the dozens of millions gained in the transaction?  And again...Emmit is scared feces-less of Varga - or was until TPTB needed us to forget that minor fact..  

Because Emmit will take the blame when the illegal activity is uncovered and Varga is shielded. Emmit is just signing papers in his corporate position.

[becauseIsaidso]

Now that I've watched this episode again, in preparation for the newest one, I've realized it wasn't the green VW that made me  think Nikki and Wrench were alive...it was kittenRay having to remain behind when Nikki was leaving. If they were both dead (or soon to be in Nikki's case) there was no reason to deprive her of kittenRay, or to have manRay make the comment that Wrench was supposed to stay, but he/Ray was able to make a convincing case for Wrench to get another chance - Wrench could have abandoned Nikki the second that chain broke, but he didn't. I'd kinda like to see Nikki and Wrench not only survive, but form some sort of continuing partnership.

[shapeshifter]

On June 15, 2017 at 8:59 AM, becauseIsaidso said:

Now that I've watched this episode again, in preparation for the newest one, I've realized it wasn't the green VW that made me  think Nikki and Wrench were alive...it was kittenRay having to remain behind when Nikki was leaving. If they were both dead (or soon to be in Nikki's case) there was no reason to deprive her of kittenRay, or to have manRay make the comment that Wrench was supposed to stay, but he/Ray was able to make a convincing case for Wrench to get another chance - Wrench could have abandoned Nikki the second that chain broke, but he didn't. I'd kinda like to see Nikki and Wrench not only survive, but form some sort of continuing partnership.

Any chance he plays Bridge?

[TheNewJanBrady]

On 6/8/2017 at 8:57 PM, annzeepark914 said:

I'm not a Twin Peaks fan so I guess this season wasn't written with folks like me in mind.  I sure hope next season (if there IS one) will return to interesting stories like Seasons I and II.

I'm a Peaks fan and don't care for this season either. I think the comparisons are a stretch, Ray Wise cameo notwithstanding.

[VCRTracking]

I've irrationally disliked DJ Qualls since Road Trip so seeing him get him beat up, stabbed in the leg by an arrow then choked and decapitated by a chain was cathartic for me.

[John Potts]

Nikki really has redeemed herself - from a ex-con murderer (and bridge player!) to somebody who has shown considerable loyalty both to Ray and now to Mr Wrench, as well as incredibly calmness under pressure. Still somewhat dubious if it's possible to decapitate somebody with a blunt chain (unless you're moving at quite a speed), but that's hardly the most unrealistic thing in the episode.

My take on the Ray Wise character was that he wasn't an angel or devil, but he was a figure like DEATH (as in Death of Discworld) who can intervene with the living. I'm guessing the "Bowling Alley" is some sort of (to switch metaphors) sorting station, where you can be sent back to the living (like Nikki) or to your "final destination" (like Yuri). It definitely didn't seem like a normal location - you'd have to be very laid back to not react to a bloody guy missing an ear and lugging a crossbow.

Overall... I'm not sure I'm really into this season though. I wasn't a fan when the UFO turned up last Season and I'm not a fan of this trip to the mystical now. But I am interested in seeing who lives.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 6/11/2017 at 10:56 AM, Macbeth said:

At first I thought Varga was gas lighting him with the stamp pictures, etc...  Now I believe it is Nikki- as Varga is driving Emmit to the brink by his feasting.  He doesn't need another tact.

I think it is Varga making Emmit crazy. It would seem that the ideal situation for him would be a crazy Howard Hughes style Emmit locked up in his mansion signing any papers Varga wants and never talking to the outside world. And it seemed obvious that Varga had the fake moustache put on Emmit.

There was also some weird timeline stuff going on. It was night time when the bus crashed. Then Nikki and Wrench ran through the forest all that night, the whole next day and most of the next night. They found the bowling alley the second night and left the second morning. But then it seems like after all that happens it's the second morning that the cops and Marshalls are at the accident scene and Gloria gets called. So did it really take that long to find the bus.

Also Wrench kicking ass on the bus and in the forest was awesome (especially with one hand basically). Especially that he managed to hit Yuri with the axe. Do not fuck with an assassin trained by Hanzee.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Kel Varnsen