xlibris

Especially since, as a therapist, she would probably be confronted with this every day in other people even as she's trying to deal with the disappearance of her own fetus. And presumably she wouldn't be getting much help from her husband. That would probably do a number on her.

Good point. And you've put my problem with his character into words, because I don't know what he is into. I use words like "miscalculation" with this show because this is clearly where they wanted to take the character, and whatever it is they did, they've sure done it ... he's just not as interesting to me as he was meant to be, and that comes from the fact that he's adrift, he's always been adrift, and I don't know when he's going to find his footing. One thing I like about Nora is that even though she's lost so much, we've seen glimpses of her sense of humor, her resolve, her dignity, and not least her professional competence. Same with Matt, who I don't even like that much. Hell, same with Kevin Sr. So TPTB obviously know how to create those compelling moments ... they just haven't with KJ.

I know what you mean, but to me, just telling a story takes some artifice. Each of the individual scenarios was plausible, and I found it kind of moving that Kevin and Laurie were going through their marital crises together but separately. And in the end, they were left with nothing but each other. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the show had yet to put us in the position of dealing with an intimate disappearance, right? The stuff in the pilot and the subsequent flashbacks were all public settings (and I don't count the very brief Kevin flashback). If it's just you and someone who's not there anymore, you don't even have the luxury of looking at a stranger's reaction for confirmation that you're not crazy. I thought the show did a good job of sticking to that Pixar rule: "Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating." I'm cool with that. What answer could they possibly give that would be satisfying? I hope they spend the whole "offseason" focused on character development to make this question moot. My opinion of the show has risen and fallen almost 100% based on how I feel about the characters.

It was kind of a bummer that she's not going to go 100% speechless in this series! But I agree. And her best moment of acting in that scene was, in fact, silent. At the diner, didn't Patti say it had been 8 months since she'd joined? So I'm guessing that in the pilot, it had been 4-6 months ... in any event, it seems like she did try to stick it out with her family, but I think she was in a vulnerable state of mind and it couldn't have gotten any better since 10/14. Right down to his signature "huh?" look.

The main problem I had from the beginning was that I had no reason to wish better things for any of these people, and I had no investment in their grief. This episode filled that in, admittedly late in the game. Jill used to be likable, and Tom used to have multiple gears. Nora was making plans to create a life of her own outside her family. Laurie's path to the GR becomes a little more clear -- now we know who she lost, and beyond that she seems like she was already becoming disaffected enough to scrap her frustrating life for something she could believe in. The turns each of them have taken are ironic twists of the knife. The show has miscalculated a few things -- or a lot of things -- but I no longer think it's playing dirty.

We got his back story in the raid episode, and I'm OK with letting his powers be a subject of debate. (Although I'm betting on BS.) I've been thinking about that, too. Someone must have seen it ... but what if no one did? What if the only people who were taken were out of view at that particular moment? It's more interesting to me to only know the fact and not the circumstances.

As soon as I saw the ultrasound image, I started shaking my head in dread. Nice one, show. This is the episode we've been missing. I think I could have forgiven the main characters' likability problems if I'd known what had been lost. It figures that 10/13 Laurie was pretty cool, but I was not ready for how sharp the kids were, and what chemistry they had. Get Jill and Tom together again ASAP. I still don't like Kevin, but I can see where his mess comes from, and if he has to fix himself before he can give anyone else what they need, I'm more inclined to root for that. The subtle callbacks were a treat. The developmentally challenged man whose parents Nora would end up interviewing later, for one. It was very poignant to see what Nora actually lost — the reality, not the idealized version — and what she was going through when she lost them. And FWIW, her daughter reminded me a lot of my niece. Something about kids who are so frank at that age ...

My guess is that she's now Departed. It doesn't make a lot of sense dramatically that the Garveys would be completely untouched by the Departure. And it would give Laurie some motivation for joining the GR.

If he wasn't shouting "FUCK!!!" every time we saw him, he might even pass for normal. The mere fact that there are 10/14 cults all over America would seem to disprove the GR's theory. On that subject, why is there only one cult in Mapleton? It's a pretty radical lifestyle change if you're not down with their program. What if you're only disaffected enough to paint a bullseye on your forehead?

I like the theory that the GR and Dean are manipulating Kevin, but (1) we did see Kevin roughing up Patti in those flashbacks, and (2) all the flashbacks we've seen have been to actual events. Now that the show is beginning to answer some questions, I don't think it would change that particular rule. Taking the fight to the GR also wouldn't be out of character for him if he were to become (even?) less inhibited. So if something's not right here, maybe that's an answer. ETA: Who here said a few weeks ago that the cursing on this show feels gratuitous? I never bought all the f-bombs from Patti. Which is weird, because Ann Dowd did a good job bringing out her saltiness and flintiness, but all of her dialogue would have worked just as well clean, and probably even better.

She yelled that at the GR in the pilot, too. What an unhappy person — and not very self-aware.

So is the GR where you go when you just can't even? They'll soon be as tired of Jill as everyone else. I had to TiVo last week's episode, and I ended up watching that one and the new one back to back tonight. Skipping a week did a lot of good for me -- last week, I think I would have been infuriated about this new wrinkle with the senior Garvey's insanity-not-insanity and Kevin's mysterious blackouts, but now I just don't really care enough. I don't care about any of these people except Nora, and I'm guessing Carrie Coon will be on a better show eventually.

Nice low-key references to Nora's boatloads of money this episode. How much could she be sitting on? SERIOUSLY. But I'm glad they didn't get all HBO and show us.

It looks like his special power is doing cold readings. But that's fine — it's plausible and I was dreading more mystical BS.

Nora feels like the glorious antihero the show wanted Kevin to be. The ways her darkness leaks out of her are easy to relate to, and the ways her intelligence and wit help her regain her footing make her easy to root for. She is way out of Kevin's league, even with the faux pas in the courthouse. I wish they'd found a way to show us this much of the show's world sooner — it could have bought a lot of good will. The professional convention was a great idea, from the protesters outside the hotel to the bored conventioneers inside, and it was a great way to show Nora among semi-sorta-normal people. I'm sure Nora going to town on an inert human form was very symbolic, but it was also funny. I wasn't crazy about the gun scene either, but for a different reason: If it had been edited out, you probably wouldn't have known it was missing. With all the emotional pain Nora wraps herself up in, I don't buy physical pain as an equal part of her character ... she doesn't seem like the type. Still, if they were going to go this route, they played it well, perfectly set up by the futile routine of the grocery shopping and perfectly illustrated by Nora's matter-of-fact walkthrough with ... uh, "Angel." However she's expressing her desires or grief three-plus years on, it would not be cathartic. I hope there's more of this coming. Good examples of how to be mysterious even as you tie up loose ends in the plot.