gesundheit

Oh, I missed the lawyer telling her that. That seems very bizarre!

I'm pretty sure that what Marianna was doing is literally illegal! If you're somebody's proxy because they're incapacitated and then they wake up -- you're not legally in charge anymore. Unless I missed a scene where they explained some sort of loophole. That did not sit well with me at all! Faking to the board that he's still comatose? Damn, Marianna!

This show is just so good. I'm nervous because it's the best Netflix original I've seen in a while but their release model (and the fact that their dominance has taken quite a blow) makes me worried that folks will binge all of this before the weekend's up and then pretty much forget about it, which seems to do damage to these addictive/quick shows, unlike the ones that are getting constant per-episode engagement and discussion for a full week before the next one comes. Here's hoping this one gets its props! (For one thing, I'm so grateful that it's separated into episodes on this board, because normally the whole-season-in-one-topic format means you either get spoiled or can't discuss the finer points that you've already forgotten by the end anyway, if you wait) I loved the weeping-in-church scene and then the big Amy/George "vulnerability" talk because, even though it's incisive dark comedy, I don't think I'd connect with it as much if it were pure cynicism. There's plenty of humanity going on here.

There was an unnecessary apostrophe on the blackboard in Janine's classroom that was driving me nuts. (In the state capitals lesson, it said something like "match each state to it's capital." Come on production people! She's supposed to be teaching them punctuation!) On the other hand, I'm the absolute psycho who saw, rewound, and paused it so I could make sure. Hardly a lengthy error that stayed on screen. It did feel a little odd when later she told Barbara that she had "offered solutions" to the mother. As far as I understand we didn't see a portion of that meeting, we saw the whole thing, and she definitely didn't offer any solutions other than vague things about "working as a team." She did nothing wrong, I just think that lack of specificity is going to get any parent on the defensive (and in this case, offensive).

She refused to take a plea deal that involved apologizing and a charge/sentence reduction, but she did not seem to be pleading not guilty. So I was just confused about the trial for what appeared to be a guilty or no contest plea. Or maybe I misread it and it wasn't a trial at all but just a sentencing hearing. (I don't know why I'm looking for legal verisimilitude in this show anyway, they don't really seem interested in that side of it other than the possibility for implausible courtroom theatrics)

Granted, we don't have the backstory about how this friend "disappointed" Davia in the past, but it felt like overkill that she looks so offended that a big star had passed on the role before he offered it to her. He still offered it to her! And he still may have written it with her in mind! For some reason this one TV trope where people go to a first readthrough and get introduced to each other with character descriptions always drives me nuts. I know he's apparently not written the ending but they would know the basics of the show by the first table read. Obviously it's for the TV audience but for some reason I just find it clunkier than a lot of other exposition shortcuts. I did like the parallels between Mariana and Malika's storylines. I know this show is didactic by design and meant for young people, so I get why they do it, but I still get a good laugh from the afterschool-special-esque nature of it all, like Dennis's dangerous! cokehead buddy!

I didn't really understand what the trial was for -- what was the defense? Was it that they were trying to paint it as justifiable homicide or something? Also it cracked me up that they let Aaliyah deliver a tearful, heartfelt speech to the defendant in the middle of the trial. Driving the car all the way back to their home in Brooklyn was also completely unhinged.

Indeed, but they sure tried to make it sound like Callie's doing high-level work independently all of a sudden (including in California, and apparently has no agreement with ACLU that she can't just represent whomever she wants independently, which feels absurdly unlikely!), just a few short months into her time with the ACLU, which makes no sense. But the passage of time on this show is always incredibly uneven. At least she didn't get back together with Brandon offscreen? Little blessings.

Also, wasn't Callie never admitted to the bar in CA anyway? I can't remember the trajectory on that. Isabella's sendoff was way undercooked, she just handed the baby off, said "no pressure on parenting or adopting either" and left? So there's no plan at all? I really hope that's what they do, that was so cruel to renege on the adoption plan and of course the story didn't focus on the heartbreak for Jasmine and her husband at all. On the other hand, if he offers to move forward with the adoption plan now, Jasmine and her husband might rightly turn it down for fear of future reversals since Isabella didn't actually approve anything.

I couldn't parse it either -- is she flipping condos in LA? Or just the one? Was she painting a condo to put on the market, or was that their place? And UC colleges are extremely expensive for out-of-state students, I guess maybe she can find some loophole to establish residency for the daughter based on the dad having an address in CA for a long time? (I'm overthinking it, I know.) Couldn't help but laugh at Dee Dee filling her daughter in on the private details of each of the other patients from a confidential therapy group.

With such deeply developed, distinctive three-dimensional characters, I'm shocked that I mixed up two very similar names! (More seriously, I confess that the only character names I remember are Kojo, Dee Dee, and Edward -- and his only because it's in the title. I had to scroll up for the other names!)

Not a terrible ending, although there were as many irritating cliches as ever in this episode, but just Dee Dee in general plus Taylor Schilling being such a good actress that she can make me feel something for a story I can't stand? That was worth it. Again with Amanda saying the blandest things and getting a big laugh and applause from her supporters -- she was talking about being in a pizza joint "in New York City" with Kojo and cooking up the plan to run (it doesn't really add a detail while you're standing in New York City talking to New York City residents about the time you decided to run for office representing New York City to mention that the pizza place you were in was located in New York City), and then said something about how the pizza just had cheese and sauce and "none of those extras" and the crowd went wild. What? I was glad Sam's wife left him, although she did it way too nicely. Funny that Edward left such a cherished and sentimental treasure under the radiator of his family's former apartment when they were moving west. (Also I guess not that sentimental since he gave it away to Shay, to whom it means nothing.) Very fortunate that the huge expensive apartment didn't even get a coat of fresh paint before a new family moved in! Really don't care if Edward has another uncle, but I'd be truly shocked if this got another season. There was a little buzz about it in the first week but outside of coming here to vent with all of you about it, I haven't heard a peep since.

So true about Jason Ritter. My heart was basically bleeding every second I looked at his face, it's just baked in. He didn't seem at all surprised that she's so anti-abortion so I'd imagine that's why he didn't include her. But it's too fundamental a difference, so it's good that they split. I found this to be one of the better episodes. Pretty engaging. That said, I didn't understand what the girlfriend said to the mom that made her turn on a dime like that and 100% believe that Jack was innocent and her husband was a rapist after having been so committed to the other version of things just seconds before. It didn't really seem like enough.

This was the episode Malia Obama wrote, which I knew was coming but didn't realize until just after that it was this one. Now I'm curious to rewatch with that in mind!

I'm scared to look because I don't want spoilers -- I took one glance and so many people have already finished! Anyway, loved the first episode. Weird, disturbing, funny, dark. Fishback is stellar.

I agree, I didn't care for Dee Dee essentially absolving Zoe with that mea culpa. Make her meet in the middle!

It's unreal to me how much more cliched and trite this show gets each episode. It's really kind of shocking considering the pedigree and how promising the start was. I'm so relieved there's only one left, because clearly I can't help myself and have to finish it. I'll miss Dee Dee! That's about the extent of it. Why doesn't the therapist offer to continue the group if they're able to pay (or is he just the airline's EAP person)? Why is he so pissy with patients? Who just says nothing till hours later to a child who's just announced that he was supposed to die in the crash that killed his whole family? What congressional candidate exploits her personal connections and wastes the TSA's time for her personal romantic gestures, holding a staged federal apprehension of a Ghanian man WITH A LITTLE KID in the middle of a busy airport? (Way to traumatize an already traumatized child!) Why did the Amanda/Steve scenes feel like a soap opera parody? So unearned! And Sam's wife is way too kind.

That was my feeling too. This was a cruelty to Jonah. He has to take this secret to his grave and never get the proper support to process and heal. That family will never recover. Such a bleak ending. I was wondering if the school shooting was the same one from the first episode? I couldn't remember where that one took place. Or they just had two school shooting episodes this close together, completely unrelated? I suppose it would be interesting if some of the cases were linked, just in a way to demonstrate the far-reaching consequences of acts of violence, cover-ups, etc.

This show is exhausting. Throwing a piano down the stairs? In a school where an entire floor is entirely unattended in the middle of the school day for some reason? Sam's a jackass. I felt like the scoring during those scenes was trying to indicate that we should feel excited butterflies for his self-awakening or something? Vernon's a dumbass for engaging.

Full agreement. This episode set up a massive ton of things that could have been interrogated and led to some thought-provoking moments. Instead they provided zero nuance or subtlety to the point that I was repeatedly embarrassed by how old-fashioned it all seemed. Outside of the social media component, this felt like a groundbreaking evening network drama in 1987. Agreed. They have the ingredients for raising complicated questions, but for the most part end up presenting it in the most oversimplified, cliched way possible. I do think there have been some exceptions (Scott's Story, Robyn's Story), but I feel like most episode are taking the most obvious and easy angle.

Another hamfisted, overwritten one, but still interesting to see unfold. I was a little distracted and didn't watch terribly closely, though -- what was Cummings doing? I couldn't tell if she was supposed to be drugged/drunk or have a serious mouth injury from the attack for most of the episode (or just a bad fillers incident?). She just kind of stopped moving her mouth after a certain point and always looked dazed.

This show feels like it would've been really beautiful and groundbreaking in, like, 1998. No clue, but John's an asshole. Lacey might be trying him right now, but he just walked out on his wife and nephew while they're trying to put the pieces back together after an unimaginable tragedy. He should try therapy before abandoning a grieving child. (Granted, I don't personally like that grieving child! But he's still a grieving child!) But he'll probably go off on some spiritual journey on his own now after his magical experience in that field. Although what is with Taylor Schilling's hair? It seems deliberately styled to be pushed in her face in an "effortlessly messy" way that looks very, very high-effort. Comb your hair, Lacey! I loved Kojo and Adriana at first but the story is so paint-by-numbers, I just cringe every time. And yeah, why isn't he the one to move? He has two reasons to stay, considering I doubt Becks wants to be uprooted and live in a new country right now. That story has practically dropped the needs of the orphaned child completely. (Seems to be a pattern.)

But if a living child goes to new guardians, one would assume some sort of trust would immediately be available for his care? Which would be separate from the rest of it? (None of this is really important of course, I'm just obsessed with the idea that you could inherit a rich family's kid but not be provided with any immediate funding for the care of said kid!)

My guess is is the ring theory approach to crisis/grief. He is less affected than Lacey (who in turn is less affected than Edward, the center). Or maybe he just isn't interested in talk therapy -- which wouldn't surprise me since he has a "say the hard thing then leave the room if it's not well received" approach to discussions. John (I think that's his name) should definitely get some therapy, though! And I think Lacey needs more than the support group, too. And obviously Edward does. They should be in family therapy with somebody just focused on them. Not that I understand how slowly or quickly inheritances move since I've never gotten one o' those, but it's clear Edward's family was wealthy so it seems like Lacey and John would've gotten a good chunk of it, and even if the bulk of it is going to take a while to get, they should certainly have some right away as Edward's legal guardians. I've been in a grief group but never one in response to a specific event that took all our loved ones, so I'm just not sure how that would work anyway -- particularly because of complications like people grilling the survivor for details. But what I can say is that our facilitator was much more engaged and helpful! That definitely may have been him! But I'm pretty sure we've never heard him talk about his own situation before this episode.

I think it was just fate -- considering both the lead guest star and the episode's director, this was definitely made to be a February sweeps episode.