gesundheit

I love that the collateral damage just gets more horrific every episode. What I don't get is why Bibi is the only one of the five sisters who doesn't have her own subplot. Outside of the episode where we got her eye-loss backstory, she's the only one we don't follow separately. And I'd like to!

I've yet to be convinced moving him from recurring to series regular was the correct move. Having to come up with material to justify his prominence just isn't landing the way it did when he popped up when necessary.

But sketch comedy/improv troupes are corny, just like Janine and Jacob! I thought this was more a celebration of that than a put-down.

Seriously. And it's not that magical for a 19-year-old to successfully deceive a 22-year-old. Are we meant to develop sharper deception skills as we age? Bummer for me, I blinked a lot less when I lied at 19 than I do now! Exactly -- she wept when she thought she'd ruined her chances, but had a rational reaction (that she was surprised by!) to the boot. Yes! Especially after the "let's have a fake-idol-making party!" ruse... I thought the point of that was to see if he'd give it up, and if he wouldn't it would signal to them that he knows his idol is still active. But he wouldn't give it up, and to them that only indicated that he's clueless? Huh?? I thought the same thing but I also wondered if it was really about how bored they are -- in ways we never see. Like oh, someone's trying to do arts & crafts again? Sure, here's a bead. Maybe it happens more than we think, but we just don't see it when it's irrelevant to the plot.

Exactly -- corny kids can be affirmed by corny teachers, and have been since the beginnings of education! It's important. Yes! I was thrilled it was mentioned in a popular network show so the people who don't get it yet can hear it. Hopefully it didn't get too buried and that people look a little further into it beyond just a "oh this dude's basically white" comment.

I hope so!

I know that's what he claimed but it doesn't change the fact that his claim means he left Macy there to die. He left her there to die whether she was already dead or not because he's not exactly qualified to make that determination. Lucy's selective endorsement of his (alleged but probably more sinister) actions and not Drew's is pretty gross, but of course that's the whole point. He was "in shock and scared" and so she understands why he left, but he was lucid and level-headed enough to make a medical determination somehow, so he did nothing wrong? But Drew, who was also in shock and scared is a monster, because she is not in his thrall. Because she's young, dumb, and full of... well, the machinations of a likely sociopath. Me too, I like Evan a lot, which is why I'm nervous about what his dark secret is.

Stephen 100% knows that Pippa knows, because he threatened her last week with telling Lucy she'd known all this time and had withheld it from her, which is one reason she's not "allowed" to report back to Lucy about his bullshit anymore. (Of course Pippa doesn't know that Lucy already knows what Drew did, and therefore might be mad but not irreversibly outraged by the fact that Pippa withheld it from her, which is useful for Stephen) But dear God yes, we need a flow chart.

Neither did I! I have obviously explained myself very poorly (as per usual). I'm saying we "already know" as in "we know now" when I think it would be better if we still didn't know that.

There's definitely something else going on there, though I don't understand why he would claim that he left her there to die anyway. He's already confessed to a serious crime. I'm wondering if he made up the whole story about being there at all just to manipulate Lucy into re-investing by making her feel like he needed her help. Now she's covering up a crime, so he pretty much has a hold on her for good. And who was Pippa texting?

Drew is such a weird character in that he's constantly just in the background but I couldn't pick him out of a lineup. We seem to get a little of everyone else's point of view but his. I know nothing about his personality. Great, so now Evan has some dark act in his past too? Was that what his whole "everyone thinks I'm this good guy" freakout was about? But I liked him! Stephen's in full mustache-twirling mode now with that camera move. I guess that's one reason this show needed to be in 2008 before every single human had a camera on their phone, considering for some reason he needs to destroy all photographic evidence of his relationship with Lucy (who is incredibly frustrating to watch, but is only 18/19 -- frankly the level of self-absorption typical in folks of that age is being well-represented here but it's also why high school and post-college are far more enduring ages for dramatic storytelling... kids and adults are just harder to hate because they're "just kids" or they're grownups who have begun focusing outward, but those in-betweens make for frustrating viewer connections despite the verisimilitude) (whew, that was run-on). Does the man have a wife and kids somewhere or something?? He is such a chaos agent.

Oh yes, I was unclear! By "already," I meant at any point during this episode. Like I feel there'd be more anticipation if we didn't know that at all, going into the next episode.

Yeah, this one felt a little bit like a cheat. They dangled something out there and then yanked it back with a full reset. I feel like it'd be more effective if we didn't already know that Sam left the body somewhere undetectable. Sure, it's fine that that's what happened, but I think they could've held off on that deflating detail. I don't know. Killed suspense. I didn't understand who the man was at Sam's old school? Was he like the school guidance counselor or something? Who also privately treats some students? I'm hoping that was there for a reason, like his crazy suggestion of living with his therapist raises a major red flag and the guy puts some pieces together or something.

That was such a running gag in Kominsky Method that I kept thinking of that show during this episode and then they went and had a whole bit about Chuck Lorre. It all came together!

Right, that's what I was wondering after his explanation -- who are they to him? All he explained was how he'd met them originally, I just wasn't clear on whether he was in a sister-common-law-wives situation or what. Honestly I think he's a delight, I prefer him a million times over the Michael Sheen character or the mock court guy, but I also don't need his home life to be extra weird.

Yes! An episode where I'm rooting for Marissa again! All it takes is an assassination attempt on Eli and the murder of a one-episode character. So... was Ri'Chard's harem actually his harem? Or were those just women who live there with kids? I was confused. Also, ick. Also, Andre Braugher and Audra McDonald are just fabulous. I actually like Diane/Kurt scenes when they play out but I still cannot really come to terms with somebody with her worldview spending her life with someone who does damage control for the NRA. This is not just a casual, moderate conservative who disagrees with her on a few things. I guess part of the point is that she has a level of privilege that allows her to say "oh but it doesn't count in my personal life," but it should. I don't know, it's just hard to watch when that reality comes up. Always a pretty crucial episode when the series title is in the dialogue!

Interestingly, they squeezed in an extra Exorcist III reference here by casting Ken Lerner (Dr. Freedman in Exorcist III) as Zilber (the man who bought all the belongings). Complicated feelings on Zilber's move there -- the items probably would've garnered a lot more money for the victims' families if the auction had gone forward. But of course the idea of people owning his fridge or knives as keepsakes is revolting. These days some industrious person probably could've auctioned off a video of each item getting destroyed or something. (I don't know, just trying to find a compromise!)

I was going to say -- serial killers were very well known in 1991! 1970-1989 was the historic peak of serial killers in the U.S. and the stories were everywhere. Anyone who grew up then looked at every threat as a possible serial killer, definitely that generation's bogeyman. People in law enforcement, if they paid attention, would've been salivating at the idea of catching one. They looked away deliberately. I wondered that too, about the American Crime Story franchise, but I think it's just a matter of the nature of the producers and the content. ACS is on regular cable, this is Netflix. I don't think a lot of this could've been aired on basic cable, even FX. So it's part of Murphy's Netflix deal instead? That's my guess.

This is all what I like about it. She's doing something wrong and there's no good justification.

Richard Jenkins was really phenomenal in this. I think it just depends on what kind of facilities the state has. Kansas technically still has capital punishment even though they haven't executed anyone in decades, so they have a physical AdSeg unit, which is where I think BTK is. Aileen Wuornos was on death row. Wisconsin hadn't had the death penalty in well over a century prior to Dahmer's incarceration so they placed him according to his sentence. It was odd to me that the man who killed Dahmer had to get special research permission to find out what he'd done, seems like something that's a hot news story like that wouldn't much of a secret inside. I'm guessing that part was pure fiction. Yes, I needed a lot more pre-closing-credits updates! It's not a google rabbit hole I want to have to go down!

Good call -- I definitely think that's going to come back up in some way, but maybe it'll just be more JP fury. But it was there for a reason, for sure. Too specific a plot point to just be inconsequential. The show's gone out of its way to make it very clear that her husband is a really good man, meanwhile depicting Ursula off continuing her affair whilst plotting a (now) slow, painful murder. I don't think we're supposed to find her selfless at all! Just messy as hell.

I don't think that particularly graphic nightmare sequence was necessary. Almost like they couldn't help but dip into American Horror Story-esque scenes for just a moment. The other scenes showing people being haunted and struggling to move on felt a little more respectful while also being honest. I find it difficult to believe everyone in the building just slept sitting up as a group in the front hallway, though. I get what they were trying to show, but it just felt like a bit of overkill. Never proven, but apparently the police chief at the time suspected it was cops, yes. Unreal, but also too real. I agree. And I'm glad they showed it in contrast to the suffering loved ones and survivors, just to drive home how sick that kind of fascination is. Grandma's dementia really did kick in at the perfect time. I wouldn't want to be coherent.

Yes, exactly, he only agreed to one year -- that was always the plan. They wanted someone on the cop side of it from the original run for the revival, and he was the only one they could get and only for a year. They gave him a sweet deal and he did them the one-season favor of some continuity to bridge the gap. He doesn't even live in NYC and still has his game show and podcast series and is EP on Grown-ish, all out west where he lives. There was never any real chance he'd stay.

Wow, seems like they could've held back on something there. Wasn't just a pol's kid, it was the governor of Texas's kid! Murdered by her brother for having an abortion! And then an abortion advocate was gunned down on the courtroom steps! I'm exhausted. I'm going to be honest, outside of the joys of seeing Sam Waterston, I always get a little deflated once we hit the halfway point because I get contact embarrassment in every scene with Price and/or Maroun. Mehcad Brooks is a solid addition to the cast, though.

Anyone familiar with the real-life story know anything about that one very peculiar guy who spoke in court about how much he loved everyone and thanking them?