WerWerWer

This has been driving me crazy since the beginning of the season! Can't unsee it now.

I know we've barely met Dempsey yet, but in my head she will always be Waldorf.

Maybe the lawyer needs a reminder of where she is? "In case you've forgotten, you're at your LAW FIRM now. Doing law."

Anyone else have the eerie feeling that Tanya from The White Lotus has come back to life as Debbie? Just me? 🤔

Apologies in advance for what I'm sure is a stupid question, but what's up with this "business account" they keep referring to? I thought she's a nurse, and he works in real estate? What would they have a business account for? TLC cash?

Did I miss the part where they explained why Russ and Pao were having their couples therapy session in a corporate conference room? Was it a detour from the divorce lawyer down the hall or something?

You literally JUST beat me to the punch on that post! Who knew "bad plastic surgery" was a type? 🤷‍♀️

Fair enough, it played a little role--but, point being, the role it played didn't require the script to get into details about the smallpox "virus" and such. The simple fact that there had been a smallpox outbreak at the prison--well known at the time to be contagious--would have sufficed. And Eliza could likewise have visited the coroner and asked questions about smallpox and how contagious it is in a more general way. OK, done nitpicking this point. I just found it jarring, was all.

It's really interesting historically: they were vaccinating against smallpox for a good century before they actually knew it was caused by a virus. (They got the vaccine material from cowpox pustules, at least early on.) They knew it worked, but they didn't understand the mechanism. Back to the show....this is exactly why the references in this episode seemed so gratuitous to me, first when the coroner mentioned it and then later when Eliza brought it up in the prison. Given that it played like no role in the actual plot, why bother?

I would have enjoyed this episode a lot more without all the blatantly anachronistic references to a smallpox "virus" and its viability outside the body. (Viruses weren't even discovered until the very end of the nineteenth century.) I know, I know, we've already established this show isn't aiming for historical accuracy. But this just seemed gratuitous and it really did distract me from the rest of the episode!

Either that or I'd say to Jace, next time you try something like this, I'll take you at your word and you can go live with your feral bio mom and UBT on THE LAND. And I'd mean it, too. (I understand why it would be REALLY hard for Barb to say something like that and mean it, don't get me wrong. But Jace can't go on putting the both of them in that position.)

Done. (Hopefully correctly.)

After Barb refuses to let Jace come over, Jenelle tracks her down. Briana gives Luis an ultimatum. Kailyn and Javi are forced to face each other at Lincoln's soccer practice. Chelsea and Cole catch baby fever.

Thanks for doing that! Very interesting...it says that they send a therapist to talk with the participants after filming wraps. Which is good, that they don't just leave some of these very vulnerable people hanging after these experiences. I dunno--normally this show is in the category of amusing trash TV for me, but something about this epi was particularly depressing, like I almost felt squicky for entertaining myself at the expense of Mary's obvious misery and sickness. (Not judging anyone else who felt otherwise--just how it struck me.)

I'd be interested to see that article. Not at all surprised to hear they have professionals on hand during filming, as these kinds of confrontations have the potential to go very, very wrong. But I was thinking of longer-term aftercare more along the lines of what they offer on shows like Hoarders. Maybe MTV already does this, but it really doesn't seem like it from what we see.