gesundheit

Wow, so Dre put in his notice, left his job, started his own agency -- not just in theory but an entity that had to be bought out, so an LLC I guess? -- and didn't get a single client but was competitive enough that Stevens re-hired and promoted him, buying out his new "company," all before he had even cleaned out his old office? Things sure happen fast in advertising, I guess!

Yeah, I really liked what they did with Cindy in this episode, gave her more humanity and made her feel more like a 3-dimensional adult than a caricature. (Tanya, on the other hand...) The whole thing is really confusing because what Kate accused Jeanette of obviously didn't stick, it seems to me that it's some sort of accessory crime. And one would think they would've looked into it and found no evidence to support the claim (or not enough to hold up legally), so that got dropped but the whole town still thinks Jeanette did it. I get that part. But I feel like it would have to be disproven to a certain point before Jeanette would have enough of a civil case to then sue the Wallis family for it, so that's the bit that's confusing. Instead they still don't seem to have actually determined what happened in any way, or even made strides toward it. It's as if there was no investigation at all, yet people are still swinging by the house on their downtime to poke around. The line from the first year to the second is pretty clear but the line from the second to the third is where I really want answers.

It could be about the timing of shooting (maybe he or she had a no-kissing stipulation in the pandemic), but it could also be the show keeping that relationship as a plot point and not a real thing. I was saying before that it's only shown from Liza's POV (she seems them hugging or touching through a window, across a room, etc., rather than us seeing them actually building something). Quinn is still really a cipher and the show seems committed to Charles/Liza as the ideal, even though I can't imagine why anyone would want him at this point.

I feel like the kids burning the journals could be as simple as knowing they all did various illegal things over the years with Erin and just don't want to get in trouble. Which is awful since the child's paternity and clues to the murderer could be in there, but kids are often dumb when they're scared. (It could obviously go another way as well, just saying I don't think it's certain that this really tells us that much yet. Yet.) Colin's poor mom.

I do wish they'd tone down Sarah's character a smidge. It might work if she had all these traits plus an ounce of self-awareness about them? It's just the stereotype dialed up to 1000 and it's like Denise is there to counter that stereotype, but it just makes me wonder why Sarah is so dim. I also don't believe for one second that Marina would've struck out like that. Emily seemed really miscast to me, she was nothing like she was described. That was supposed to be an uber-powerful, hyper-competitive woman? She just felt kind of sweet and slight. I expected a bad bitch. (It's as if they figured casting someone from Succession would be the perfect fit, except went with the person who the Roys can barely even see when she walks in a room.) (Not an actress criticism, that's just the way her character functions over there.) She seemed like a wisp of a presence opposite Tatro. I seem to have nothing but complaints but I'm still having fun with this show! I feel like the pieces are there but they just need to give the archetypes a little more depth instead of defaulting to the stock character stuff.

Agreed. And given that all of the Charles/Quinn relationship happens either offscreen or from Liza's point of view (and yes, she's the lead character but other regulars get POV scenes), it's safe to say that it's just another Charles/Liza obstacle.

This is my favorite Baroness-related thing on the planet. It's like the folks at Younger wanted to cement me as Team Quinn for life. Also, I guess Younger has joined every other scripted TV show on the planet that presents reality TV shows as things that air practically in real time as they're filmed. I'm sure plenty of folks who've been on reality TV would've loved to see what their edit was while they were still filming so they could get out of it somehow.

Yes, definitely 10 eps. I wondered about that, though -- he wasn't local so it seemed odd that he would've been buried at a cemetery in a town where he was known only for this horrific thing. Or did they take a bit of a road trip to his old town for it or something and I missed that? I'm not so sure about this theory that there was a one-way mirror and that's the answer here (i.e., Kate saw Jeanette and felt she was looking at her, Jeanette only saw a reflection). Considering how many times people have been in and out of that house, and surely there would've been a lengthy investigation. Obviously the show is heavy on mirror motifs so it'll probably have something to do with it, but it seems way too easy an explanation and also pretty ridiculous that it didn't occur to anyone yet after all this. I guess part of it is that we're this far in and we still haven't heard Kate identify what actually happened in regards to Jeanette.

Yeah, Maggie's only making the situation worse. I know the first apartment was a ruse but then after she signed on, she looked at another one that was easily a 7-figure value. Charles has read as over 50 since the very first episode to me so this whole thing has been kind of funny. He's a very handsome man, but he absolutely looks at least his age, and the fact that all 7 seasons of this show have only allegedly spanned like 2 years max (wasn't Liza's 41st birthday in season 5 or something?) has been hilarious as everyone has aged in real time. But that's okay, pretending is fun.

I think a better word for Joanna Cassidy might be "striking," but she was certainly stunning back in the day (pre-having all the work done), so I just wrote it off to Liza sort of imagining what kind of a presence the woman must've been back when the fling happened. Because she does look like someone who used to be gorgeous before spending too much money trying to preserve it.

Right? Why does she have to say nice things about these pictures, that's encouraging them! Shouldn't she just tell her to stop? She's not helping herself. And yeah, that Dove plug was embarrassing. What am I missing, does Kelsey have some trust fund tucked away that lets her look at purchasing a multi-million dollar apartment, but in the meantime she shares a room with Lauren? Or do I not understand how real estate shows work? It sounded like she didn't have to pay for the commission or decorating, but otherwise the market value of the apartment is on her, right? Or is this just more TV-fantasy-version-of-NYC stuff? They hadn't been this egregious before on that front. I don't even know what we're doing with Liza and Charles. It's just recycling every other season that they weren't together but hung out all the time with longing looks and will get together by the end, why are we repeating that again? It feels weird. Also did we need to hear about all the dick pics Josh apparently sent Liza when they were together? I don't know why that squicked me out so much, I must be getting very puritanical from all this social distancing or something!

Yeah, I have to say, she's cracking a lot of jokes. That they are dry/dark jokes is definitely a matter of personal taste. I feel like I'm the target audience, though, based on the amount of cackling coming from my couch!

Yes, I don't think it mitigates anything morally -- maybe even the opposite. But it makes the story itself more plausible because I just didn't believe she could be that stupid.

I agree, but what she did have solid evidence of was that he 100% lied to her face about a murdered girl. It would be very strange not to immediately confront him, I think. I think she's stellar in this, and I can't speak for everyone else but when I was demanding all the awards for Peters, it was very specifically for one of the most spot-on drunk scenes I've ever seen, not his overall performance. (Which is solid, but not really the thing to rave about in this show) I feel so dim now! Of course this is it! I knew there was something more to it and that she couldn't have been that stupid. Still an unbelievably horrific thing to do, try to get a recovering addict (and mother of her grandson) back on drugs. But yes, this is it. I think some folks were trying to explain that earlier and I was still being thick-headed, so thank you for spelling it out like that!

He's definitely getting some love for this one, though! Hopefully it'll matter. It was truly a hell of a feat.

I guess for me it was just everything about the question that couldn't wait -- a man she knew who was in that exact current moment in a house full of kids was potentially someone who raped a kid and was linked to a murder of that kid. It certainly wasn't clever detective work or anything at all, but I imagine most people with any concern for the safety of others would've felt it couldn't wait one single second. I'd be more worried about a detective in that position with those relationships being emotionally detached enough to say "well, guess there's nothing to do at the moment, we'll handle this by the book tomorrow, strategically." That would've really thrown me. So yes, bad police work, good human-ing? (That's the best way I can put it.) I'm wondering as was mentioned above if Frank does know that the kid isn't Dylan's but is trying to protect the real bio-father. Erin may have let her friend think it was Frank when she was seen with him as a way to throw her off the real culprit, that's certainly happened in situations like these before. Well, on TV at least! Probably at least 14 times on SVU.

Me too. Lots of people revert like that when they get together with an old group of high school or college friends, I didn't see it as any sort of signifier. Yet. I was sort of thrown by Dylan's reaction to the rumor, he sure seemed like he'd love to rid himself of the responsibility of fatherhood. I was surprised that his parents practically seemed like the Cleavers. Compared to everyone else in town, they're the kindest most loving family around! (Dad looks super young, though... guess every generation in Easttown is only separated by about 15 or 16 years) That's what I didn't get. I feel like there's still more to it because if she really did that, it feels like a trying-to-get-caught situation. But she was obviously very upset about being caught. So what gives? I can't tell if it was bad writing, a red herring that we'll get more information on later, or deliberately telling us that Mare isn't smart/good at things.

But we know Mare took the drugs from evidence to do "something bad," so unless she changed her mind and then someone else planted the exact same drugs from evidence, she still framed her. What else could have happened that absolves Mare here? Maybe I'm not thinking big enough but it seemed pretty black and white, especially since she didn't really defend herself.

Yeah, I still can't figure it out other than her extremely prickly attitude and being consumed by work. But somehow going over to her ex-husband's house immediately to ask him if he possibly raped a recently murdered teenage girl because it was reported that he had done so? Actually quite appropriate. That's not a next-day, after-the-board-game kind of situation. But somehow she was the asshole there according to her daughter and everyone else? I don't know. And Faye didn't look at all surprised by the accusation. Interesting. All that said, there's obviously darker stuff underneath if Mare would do something like frame Carrie, that tells us a lot of unfortunate information about her that made me wish I hadn't felt defensive of her earlier in the episode, guess she really is as awful as everyone thinks. But I have to say I'm disappointed in this as a plot turn in general because it just means the "cop off the job goes rogue and can't let go of the case!" cliché, and this show really did not need that. That said, ALL THE AWARDS for Evan Peters in that bar scene, that was spectacular. One of the more spot-on uber-drunk performances I've ever seen. to the point that I felt that irritated knot in my stomach that I get when some people in my life are that lit and still trying to converse. (But it was also hysterical.)

Yeah, I have to say I quite liked the cold open, I thought the whole going-through-the-year-we've-had stuff was lovely, and Sarita Choudhury is always wonderful. It was just literally every single thing after the opening credits that was just god-awful to me.

Ah, thank you! I had forgotten it was supposed to be Texas. Yeah, small town Texas in the 90s, I can buy the necessity of an LGBT speakeasy in someone's house.

Yeah, I'm thinking that was done to her (and this was her desperate version of modifying it into a "look"), or that she did it in a crazed rage at some point that we'll eventually see, set to Nine Inch Nails or something. And yes, I've definitely seen that movie!!

I'm still just hung up on Jeanette's awful wig. Obviously they were planting the seeds of the generic duckling-to-swan transformation with the "maybe you want to try contacts again?" bit, next she'll get her hands on a flat iron. But if someone's hair is that naturally curly, it's not going to look like it does in 1995 when it's that short. Long curly hair is even curlier when short! I'm here doing zero analysis of the plot because I'm just obsessed with the wig. I do love Vince. The first week I was wondering what that silliness was about his crush on Jeanette because I assumed he wasn't into girls, so I was glad to have that confirmed. That speakeasy was weird, though, it was 1994, not the 70s! On the other hand, I'm not sure what kind of town they live in, I guess I'd buy it depending. I don't think we've really seen anything from Jeanette yet to see her actions as anything more than rebellious teen and then traumatized teen, but I guess there's a lot more to unfold. This show is successfully manipulating me with the music choices, that's for sure! Loved Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You" at the beginning bookended by the angsty cover of it at the end.

I think the writing sounds more... writerly. There's a lot of beautiful words in there but they sound less like real people talking and more like great prose. Which is okay, but it hadn't been a show defined by elevated language before, so it's jarring. That's basically how I feel about Charley/Davis. I wish she'd rebuild a decent friendship with him, be a team in co-parenting, forgive him for her own sake. But not take him back. I wasn't entirely sure Nova had decided to stay with Calvin, I thought she was just kind of trying to figure things out and wasn't making an abrupt mid-COVID living arrangement change. Looked like maybe she was sleeping on the couch? I don't know. But it's definitely an interesting turn of events because his turning himself in means everyone else will know. It was one thing if she was considering that maybe she could accept it and truly believed that he had changed in the decades since, but no way can she face the world knowing that. Gosh, must be rough when the world knows your personal business and choices like that! Certainly no one in her family knows that feeling particularly well because of her!

What sold me even further with this second episode is that I laughed out loud several times. Sure, it's dark humor, but a show this bleak really needs some humor to offset it and this one had it in spades. Yes, I was going to say, a lot of super-tiny elite private colleges are in small blue-collar towns -- very little community engagement from the school, very little reciprocity. Not the more standard college towns we think of with big schools that employ half the town. Very separate. (And in fact DelCo has a few of these towns!)