chaifan

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DH3A6SfvE3o/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== OK, I'm not sure why I am having a hard time inserting an instagram reel here, but the link is above... anyways, it's Carrie C. talking about how she was going from TWL filming to The Gilded Age, and had to stay pale for that. She said they were shooting in Thailand for 6 months. Which has me wondering... does TWL rent out the entire resort for 6 months? Just parts of it? How does that work?

1) I never got the impression Belinda was even considering going into business with Pornchai. 2) Belinda wasn't "poor". She definitely wasn't rich, but there's nothing to indicate she was poor. She had $12,000 in her bank account when the $5 million was transferred. That's not a lot, but she's got a decent full time job at a top class resort, and is likely solidly middle class. 3) Even if she intended to go into business with Pornchai, it's highly unlikely Pornchai would have any significant money to put into the business. Yes, they have similar positions with the same company, but I could guarantee you that his salary when translated from Thai $ into US $ would have been very small. Like minimum wage level here. (Maybe less.) He's not poor by Thai standards, but would be poor in US dollars. Again, I really disagree. They really didn't "talk about" opening a spa together. Belinda simply said it was her dream, Pornchai said something like "yeah, I'd like to do that with you", and Belinda said nothing. Where Tanya initiated the going into business together topic, kept bringing it up, got Belinda to the point where she put together a formal business plan. Tanya ditched Belinda for Greg. Belinda ditched all of Thailand because of Greg. It's really an apples & poisonous Thai fruit comparison.

Eh, it's like Lost... the first 2 seasons were so good, that even when Season 3 was going off the rails I kept watching, expecting it to get back on track. It never did. (I will admit I kept watching through the end simply because ALL of my friends watched it, some were super passionate about it, and if I didn't watch I was out of the conversation 1/2 the time. That's on me.) I've never been an uber-fan of TWL. I didn't get the big hype. Season 1 was fine, but nothing great to me. But good enough to tune in for Season 2, which I though went all over the place. I watched Season 3 under a "meh, it's something to watch" attitude. Yep, I complained about it, but like Lost, felt maybe it would find its footing and kept watching. I think at its core, the issue for me is that the story telling just wasn't there this season. White admits to leaving a lot on the cutting room floor, so maybe too much was edited out in favor of keeping endless footage of Tim popping pills in.

I'm copying over from a post in the Media thread from yesterday: I think White knows he strayed too far from the original WL formula - skewering rich people, but in a funny way (dark funny, but still funny) - and is now trying to justify it.

No, that happened the prior morning, before Tim went out and gathered all the fruit, blended the seeds, etc. Lochlan made his power smoothie the morning after they had/didn't have the pina coladas. He was first up. Saxon hadn't made his yet, never did, just went to breakfast.

You're right. Lochlan asked Saxon to make him a power smoothie earlier the first morning. Saxon went off to the pool. Later, we see Tim getting the fruit, taking the seeds out and putting them in the blender. Then he puts the blender in the cabinet for later. After dinner they make the pina coladas. Lochlan makes the smoothie in the dirty blender the following morning. It seems he was the first one up.

But it was an accident incident to a crime - kidnapping with the intent to murder. In the US, if someone accidentally dies during the course of a felony, that will usually lead to murder charges. If you rob a bank and the guard slips, falls and hits his head and dies, it's felony murder. I'm not sure if you can also pin conspiracy charges to a felony murder, but I'm sure prosecutors could come up with something along those lines. (In the US, who knows how it would have played out in Italy.) And I think we got more than hints, right? Maybe I'm wrong on this, but I thought it was certain that Greg was in cahoots with the murdering gay cabal. Eh, but of all the problems this show has, quibbling over whether Greg "murdered" Tanya or not (in an actual or just legal sense) is really low on my list of issues.

Yeah, I'm disappointed there were no real repercussions for Gary/Greg. But it also would have been nice to have the show answer the question a lot of us were wondering in Season 2 - whether Tanya was simply a mark from the beginning (at the end of Season 1), or if Greg & Tanya meeting and falling in love was genuine, at least to begin with. (And then Greg got sick of her, found a group of fabulously murderous gay men to partner with and hatch a plan for her death.) Personally, I thought their bumping into each other at the first WL was not organic, and that Tanya was a mark from the get go. But we never really knew.

I'd love to know how they got any reception on a boat in the middle of Thailand. 😁 (But I do agree - I think the expressions reflected they were seeing some sort of bad news.)

Sort of morbid thought... I wonder if this show will cause an uptick in suicide deaths in Thailand, via the "suicide fruit". With medically assisted dying becoming more accepted, but still a lot of hoops to jump through & expenses (at least in the states in the US that allow it), I could see terminally ill people looking at this as an option.

Hey, Mike White, I fixed it for you. 😁 Seriously, I hope he goes back to Season 1 format. The satire, skewering the rich & famous, is what made it work.

And how weakly and stupidly revealed. Yes. This. It would have been more impactful if Rick had lived after realizing he killed his dad. OR, if Jim had lived, knowing that he fucked up his kid so much that Rick tried to kill him, then died as a result of it. Both dying, with a one line reveal that this was Rick's dad, was pointless.

I agree that the Belinda = Tanya comparison is a poor one. I said the same earlier. But the big thing here is nothing was promised to Pornchai. That's my big issue with this comparison. It could have been written to make the two plots more comparable, but there was literally a one sentence suggestion/ask by Pornchai, and an incredibly non-committal answer by Belinda. If they had followed this up with going over spa plans over dinner, or even pillow talk after they slept together, then this would be more of a Tanya-esque situation. But it's really nowhere near it. Mook and Gaitok were not in dead end jobs. From a Thai standpoint, those were good jobs in a very hot industry. To be working in not just an upscale resort, but probably one of the most upscale resorts in the country, is not a dead end job. With TWL on their resume they could get hired at any other resort they wanted, they were not "trapped". Gaitok had opportunities for advancement - that was Mook's whole issue. She wanted a guy who wanted to advance in his career. This is why it also bothers me when people refer to Mook as a "gold digger". I think the character was poorly crafted, swung from friend zone to mild interest, to interest only if Gaitok would grow a pair, to disinterested again, and then finally, oh, I'm really not sure where they ended up. If she was a gold digger she would have been going after rich guests, not a mid-level security guard.

If we're supposed to be seeing Belinda as this season's Tanya, I think the show did a poor job of setting that up. There was one conversation - and barely a conversation, more like 1-2 lines - of the possibility of Belinda and Pornchai going into business together. Pornchai made one comment, and Belinda barely even gave a response. In Season 1, Tanya and Belinda had actual plans. Tanya was an active participant in that discussion and was encouraging Belinda. So I see where they tried to go with this, but it didn't work for me. This sounds horrible, but I wish Lochlan died. What I was really expecting was for him to die, then when Tim finally got his phone he'd get a message from his lawyer that a deal was made, Tim would lose significant money but not be ruined, so all his worrying and suicide/familicide plans were for naught. I felt the whole "we're a family, we'll get through this together" bit on the boat was really lame. They don't seem to like each other much, let alone have each others backs when the going gets tough. Oh, yippee. Gaitok shot someone in the back, he's now a driver/bodyguard, and Mook has her "assertive" man. Even though he's too chicken shit to expose the Russians as robbers. Oh, boo hoo. They'll be deported back to Russia. This whole plot line was a big yawn. The only plot that actually surprised me was the 3 women all ending up in a good place after this week. Laurie's revelation actually surprised me. I was certain she was going to tell the other two off, call them shallow, etc., and walk away. And Gary lives, along with his $495 million. Well, it was 8 episodes of pretty scenery, nice clothes, and some interesting discussion here. I guess that's something.

5:30(ish) on Sunday, and I'm wishing it would be 9pm already so I can just get this season over with. I don't know if I'm in the "hate watch" category, but close to it with this season. I just feel I've sunk enough time into this season that I am forcing myself to watch the last episode. Maybe TWL will surprise me with an amazing episode that makes the previous 7 worth my time. But I'm not holding my breath...