nara

It's definitely a reference to Whitney. He calls her Whitman in the book--although I think Britney would have been a better name for the Whitney-based character. He says that there is a portrait of that his wife developed of "Whitman" as a baby during a winter they spent living in Harlem when their pipes froze. No matter how old Whitney thinks her mother is, Helen is not old enough to have taken a picture of Walt Whitman as a baby! ;)

I gotta say, I love this show--so much to analyze! Just watched it again while paying my bills and I saw stuff I hadn't noticed before. In Helen's POV, Eden refers to her as Noah's wife while looking at the calendar on her phone, even though Helen had just referred to herself as his ex-wife. Combine this with Alison's Thanksgiving POV in which Eden was rude to her, and I think we may have a real picture of what Eden thinks of Noah leaving Helen for Alison. In Noah's POV, he asks Helen if she liked the book. We get so many jerk moments from Noah in his own POVs--I thought this was a nice, vulnerable moment. Also, Helen is the only one who laughs at him without him getting pissed off. I think that more than his actual marriage, Noah's biggest loss due to his affair is the loss of his best friend. Max is there, but Helen knows him better and plays the role of his conscience. His entire recollection of the restaurant scene could almost be an inner monologue, with Helen as his conscience. Alison was looking very blonde in the Skype session. Is this symbolic of the lighter Alison due to letting go of the darkness and enjoying her pregnancy or just poor color fidelity of the video? IIRC in the "future" she is back to her dark hair.

Forgot to mention in earlier posts...In Helen's POV, I interpreted Noah's reading of that particular passage to be almost an apology to Helen. He had seen her before the reading started and selected a passage that 1) described that he had been in love with her and their entire life together was not a sham, and 2) it had been a difficult process to leave her (all the 5,4,3,2,1 step references). In Noah's POV, the choice of that passage was more accidental, though he did avoid the sex scene that might upset her--or was it more for his comfort? I wonder how much of Helen's POV is colored by a desire for her not to have been wrong (and her parents being right) about loving and marrying Noah from the start. If she sees him completely as a jerk, then she has to blame herself for not seeing that from the start. If he is somewhat thoughtful of her (even in small ways), than it was circumstances and not bad judgment that led her to her current situation.

I hadn't thought of that. If she's sick, that would definitely explain things. I hope she doesn't end up sacrificing herself on the grounds that she will be dead soon anyway. They thought she was bulimic because she was vomiting, and they confronted her, but she was actually pregnant. I don't think Helen has truly accepted it, but she's putting on a brave face. She's resentful of how much Whitney adores her dad, despite the damage he's caused, and she was annoyed that he hadn't bothered to check on the college tour schedule. She didn't want to go to the reading, but her curiosity got the most of her. (I doubt she's read the whole book.) Once she heard Noah reading, it put her in a sentimental place for the rest of the evening. I bet his writing was one of things that attracted her to him in the first place. That, coupled with being at the place where they met and fell in love, caused her to be more accepting--for the evening. It remains to be seen how she will act during their next meeting. That hat exchange was so sad. I also thought her was gesturing to the two of them. I think Whitney would really benefit from the reality check of working as a model. 1) She was offended by the poster in the dorm room? Well, honey, try POSING for that poster! 2) He family has indulged her in so many ways. As a model, she will be ordered around and if she pitches a fit and doesn't do what she's asked, they will simply replace her with another beautiful woman.

I actually thought he had been pressuring her to have sex and that she defended him by saying they were 19 (i.e., adults) and it was reasonable for him to expect it. Your explanation makes more sense though, given that she was "wild" and probably sexually active.

I will fully admit that I was one of those people who didn't think Noah would sleep with Eden...and that I was wrong. I will say that while watching it unfold, I fully expected it to be some sort of drunken fantasy of Noah's not something that was actually happening. However, there is no indication that it was fantasy, so he must have actually pulled that stupid move. I also expected him to start writing after than encounter, but that didn't happen either. I thought the same thing about Whitney not being in Noah's POV. I didn't record the episode so I cannot check the chronology, but was it because he started his narrative after Whitney had gone off with Christie? Or was Whitney right in the last episode and she simply doesn't matter that much to him? Helen voiced what I said in a previous episode thread--Noah really seems to hate himself. I think that's why he always looks so bad in his own POVs. I hope we get to understand why he dislikes himself so much. It's interesting that Noah remembers that it is Helen who prevents him from acting on the phone number the student gave him. She didn't even remember him getting the number, and it would be in her interest to think of him as a jerk who's cheating on his pregnant fiancee. I really liked this episode. It was the first one to make me tear up-starting from when he read from his book in Helen's POV. I actually thought the passage was very good. I don't know how it compares to other literature, but I found it really moving. The relationship between Noah and Helen is fascinating. I doubt that they will get back together, but there seems to be real affection there. They seemed to both be very honest with each other, in both POVs--though Helen's was unsurprisingly more tender. They know each other so well and they genuinely care about each other. It kinda makes me wonder if Helen is guilty of Scott's death. I can see Noah taking the heat for Helen after this episode. Whitney is still the most likely suspect, but I can also see Noah making a sacrifice for Helen. BTW, why did Whitney object to Max being called Uncle Max? Presumably Helen's called him that since Whitney was a baby. Does Whitney know about Helen's fling? Please don't tell me it's possible that he made a move on Whitney! Also, why was Whitney talking about moving to NY? Do they not already live there? Or is it that in NY'er speak, they refer to Manhattan as NY and the other boroughs by name? And I laughed when Helen threw the boots at Whitney. It reminded me of her throwing the apple at Trevor. It also reminded me of her character in Welcome to Mooseport who who hit her boyfriend (Ray Romano) without knowing her own strength. Ray reacted the same way as Whitney. Made me laugh.

She was free from the time he left her for good, though she went through a bit of a transition in which she was in a daze. She didn't need to know he was dead to start asserting herself. That's why I don't believe he needed to die for her sake.

I actually got the opposite impression. I thought that Bryan saw that Claire believed her happiness being dependent on him being there. He realized that he had to be completely out of the picture for her to become independent, so he left. I thought it was a selfless act, because while she could thrive and have a better life without him, he could never be happy without her. She reacted in anger, calling him a monster, because she did not realize that he was leaving to help her. I thought Paul was more jealous of Toni than of Claire. It was in a dance choreographed by Toni, not Paul, in which Claire made her stunning debut. My understanding: As Claire described the Velveteen Rabbit, the rabbit is worn out from all the love it received and is unsure it can ever be happy after it is brought to life. Similarly, Claire is worn out from the love of Bryan (and I do think his love for her was genuine, if twisted) and is unsure that she can ever be happy in her real life. Romeo's belief is that Bryan is a dragon that is guarding Claire as it's treasure and keeping her from freedom. He feels like he has to slay the dragon to free her. Personally, I don't feel like Bryan deserved to die or that he even had to die for Claire to move on. He was leaving of his own choice because he understood that was necessary for Claire to live. As long as he was in the picture, she would keep turning to him. However, since I think he would be unhappy without her, perhaps it's best for him that he died. Regardless, once she is free of Bryan, Claire is able to assert herself and say no to Paul. I really enjoyed the dancing. I like that they saved the full-body view of the dancing for the finale--it prevented us from getting bored by the moves. I especially liked how Ross let loose towards the end. Fantastic! Regarding the glass in the shoe, I first thought some mean person in the corps put it there. However, it could also have been lodged there when the light burst during the rehearsal. Not sure. When Claire put it in her mouth, I thought we might end up with Claire and Bryan dying at the same time but in different locations. Glad that didn't happen.

1. Agreed. Sarah Hay is a great dancer, but based on my admittedly little knowledge of dance, she doesn't seem to be quite as good as the character is meant to be. I suspect that's why we get a lot of close-up shots. 2. I didn't pick up on the embezzlement either. When Jessica got the check in the mail, I initially thought that the school returned the tuition and kicked her daughter out because she was a beeyotch to the headmistress. Good thing I'm not a Russian mobster--I'd be rubbish at i! 3. Probably no one else would care about Claire having had a baby, but it's a secret that she's tried to forget. Having it revealed would be traumatic. It would also hurt her image as the ingenue ballerina who became a star. Paul's comment about her going back to Pittsburgh was just an expression, not literal. 4. I don't know if this is true in real life, but in fiction it is often the case that sibling incest ends up with one or both of the parties having serious psychological issues. We also don't know what became of the baby. If something bad happened to it, Claire could be holding on to a lot of guilt. I did think it was interesting that the book on her chest when she was sleeping was Crime and Punishment. BTW, I think the books on her body are some sort of alarm. Her brother would have to remove them to have sex with her and she would wake up in the process and potentially stop him (if she wanted to do so). She's from Polish Hill, which I assume is a small town suburb of Pittsburgh. Likely, there are rumors there. She carried the baby to term, so people would have known she was pregnant. If she didn't have a boyfriend, and people noticed a closeness between the siblings, that could have led to rumors. It does seem uncharacteristic of Kiira not to go out in a blaze of glory, but I assume that's why she wore her costume for the non-dress rehearsal. I think that Bryan is genuinely trying to stay away from Claire after the NYC visit. He didn't ask her to come for Tgiving, he didn't invite her into his bed, and he tried not answering her calls. He is encouraging her to be independent. He probably anticipated coming back to her from the war in some sort of romantic reunion. The NYC visit helped him realize that shouldn't happen and the Tgiving sex got the pent up lust out of his system. He may end up being the one to help her escape her demons. I really love her hair! I hope she didn't cut it. However, I would really enjoy the look on Paul's face when he sees it! In addition to the excellent point mad by WatchrTina about the association between the pony tail and sex, it could also be symbolic of embracing Toni's modern approach vs. Paul's traditional approach.

I wasn't surprised by the pregnancy because I anticipated that Claire's hiatus from dancing was either because of pregnancy or a suicide attempt. I was surprised that she carried the baby to term--wouldn't that alter the shape of her body enough to affect her dancing? (Not talking fat, but her pelvis/hips). The incest is creepy as all hell, but am I the only one who feels a little sorry for Bryan? He has an apparently consensual and seemingly loving relationship with Claire, and then she won't even see him or tell him where she is. Then she encourages guys to beat him bloody when he was trying to protect her from jerks in a strip joint. Then she comes back and not only comes to his room to snuggle, but initiates the kiss that leads to sex. From his perspective, he seems to genuinely feel affection for her (we saw the way he smiled when watching her sleeping in a previous episode), and she is giving him some serious mixed messages. Plus, it didn't appear that they used protection when they had sex. Have they learned nothing? If there is another child, I will be seriously pissed off. I also felt sorry for the verbal abuse he was taking from his father. Some may say that it was justified by Bryan having sex with Claire, but I suspect the abuse predated the relationship. Also, regardless of what Bryan did with Claire, I don't feel like the language their father uses is justified, given that Bryan is helping him go to the bathroom and taking care of him. I am a little surprised by the state of the house, given Bryan's military training and the discipline that included. (We saw him carefully line up his boots next to the couch when he stayed with Claire and Mia.) I want to see Ross further fleshed out as a character. I was horrified that he tried to seduce Paul to get his place back. I actually thought that Paul was doing him a kindness by not taking advantage, but clearly Paul is not that kind. I guess i was the only one amused by his comments about Trey. Trey did essentially blackmail him--it was nice to get tricked right back. I got the impression that Paul's Thanksgiving meltdown and "surprise" party was an annual occurrence. That's why he's surprised that Claire isn't there and someone responded that she didn't know (the drill). Perhaps his previous partner died during the holiday season?

I think that Paul is deliberately playing up the drama queen persona and means for a lot of his lines to be funny--except when he actually loses his temper. You are not alone. I thought that Trey was going to threaten Paul to stay away from Ross, but not necessarily give up the role he now has. I guess I am too optimistic for this dark series! I disagree regarding Nick Coleman. I think it's perfectly natural for him to be taken aback and pissed when Mia did a complete 180 on him. He didn't know that she had been assaulted, and she was the one who initiated the conversation and she seemed quite eager to have sex. She willingly goes with him into a bathroom stall and they continue to advance towards sex. All of a sudden, she screams stop and looks at him like he's a villain. I think his reaction was normal, and note that he didn't try to persuade her to continue or coerce her in any way. He didn't act entitled IMO, but rather, like he was shocked by her change in attitude. The only way I would fault him is for not asking her if anything was wrong--and I'm not sure it's reasonable to blame him for that. I also thought that Cameron would be on the yacht. Glad he wasn't, because he can still be a decent guy,not a creepy pedophile. I get that Claire probably loves Bryan on some level--he is her brother--but I agree that she cannot encourage people to beat him up one day and then be all worried about him the next. I both hope and am terrified that we may find out what happened to the young girl on the yacht to begged Claire for help. That's not going to end well. And I'm annoyed that Daphne, whom I liked for being fairly down to earth and friendly to Claire, seems so casual about underage sex trafficking. I'm curious about the titles of the episodes. They all seem to be military terms, so are the titles from Bryan's perspective, or is it simply a comparison of the ballet world to war? In this case, it was M.I.A., which is a play on the name Mia and her food poisoning causing her to be absent. Bryan was also missing from this episode, so it could have been meant to apply to him,

I am really enjoying this show, but I think I have more tolerance for the inconsistencies and cliches in general than do most people. Bryan is the creepiest. The brother-sister incest in this show makes the one in Game of Thrones look healthy and normal. I'm really curious about whether Claire's hiatus was the result of a pregnancy or a suicide attempt. Did Mia lose sensation in her arm? I hope she won't end up with some illness that impairs her muscles By the way, I cannot get over how much Emily Tyra reminds me of Sutton Foster. Anyone else feeling that? I agree with Toni that these dancers are too robotic in the African dance. But I was really afraid that Claire was going to give in to her brother to have the sex that Toni and Paul felt she needed. The guy in the strip club who fell in love with her is cliche, but I'd rather she sleep with him than with Bryan! BTW, am I the only one who thinks he will turn out wealthy and become a patron of the ballet?

I don't think that she meant that the curse was literally about no children. The curse was about bad things happening to the family, which manifested in different ways: 1) dad hanged himself on Cole's birthday, 2) current generation lost the family property (regardless of the reason), and 3) next generation didn't survive. Three generations after granddad's crime, all trace of the Lockhart's could be wiped out. Of course, she's also being a little dramatic.

Perhaps I am mixing this up with another show, but wasn't there some mention of them having lost some of the drugs they were selling? Their supplier would still want to be paid. Maybe that's related to their financial issues. I seem to be one of the few people who thinks that Noah did not have sex (or anything close) with Eden. He is very career-focused right now, and no woman--no matter how pretty or sexy-- can compete with that. This is his big chance and he will do what it takes to promote the book, even ignore his pregnant fiancee. I doubt that Eden would be his next muse--she's not vulnerable enough IMO to excite him that way. Also, I don't know the title of this episode, but it should have been called Burst Bubble. Now that they are for the first time living real life together, it's obvious they don't really fit together (yet). Noah may not have been the center of a celebrity party like he was in this episode, but he likely attended them in the past with Helen. We don't get his POV, but if he noticed Alison at all at the party, he would likely have compared her unfavorably to Helen, who would be independent enough to talk comfortably with the people in this crowd, and probably instinctively know which contacts were valuable, and would have left on her own (without troubling him) if she felt the need to do so. I thought that Alison was not very understanding and supportive of the networking opportunities, possibly because she's never had the type of job that required it to be successful. However, she's probably hormonal and tired, and she probably wouldn't really understand the importance of networking to the success of Noah's book, so I guess I give her a pass. Perhaps he should have briefed her better ahead of time on how these things work. For her part, Alison saw for the first time the downside of being with "the great artist". It's an unspoken expectation that she's expected to hold down the fort and get all the practical stuff done (like Tgiving dinner) and to be an asset to his career by chatting up the right people at the networking parties and to put up with flirty fans and PR girls. Also, she never asked to be Noah's muse, but that's who people want to meet--the woman who inspired him to write. Meanwhile, all she really wants is a normal family life, but she's looking for it with the wrong man. She's used to Cole, who volunteered to fix her toilet even after they split up. IMO, Noah wants someone who will take care of that stuff and not bug him with it. Sadly, unless she inspires his next book, Alison will probably never again enjoy the role she played at the center of Noah's attention and life. Somewhere, Barney Stinson (from How I Met Your Mother) is waiting for Whitney to turn 18. She is the perfect example of how girls with bad relationships with Dad look for love with all the wrong men. But for the record, I think that Scotty is very handsome, so it doesn't surprise me that she was attracted to him. He also was able to create a (temporary) rapprochement between Cole and his family, so he does have some redeeming value. However, not being able to refrain from texting while saying grace? WTF? I actually liked the fact that Cole's family held him accountable for his actions. Not comforting his brother and SIL after the miscarriage? Complete jerk move. Mom was right to draw the parallel to his father--Cole is heading down that path. (Though I cringed every time they said hung instead of hanged.) BTW, since I have not seen any comments about this, I must be the only one who was afraid that Cole would sleep with Whitney. The past comments that he always takes what belongs to Scotty (Luisa, the restaurant) and the idea that she might take revenge on Scotty by sleeping with his brother had me worried. The way it turned out was just perfect though. I loved the way Cole said, "She thinks she's in love," to Noah. Did anyone else think he was kinda referring to Alison too? I think that Cole made up the missing money clip to drive away Luisa. It happened right after she said I love you and he saw that she had moved Gabriel's picture. She was getting too close to him. Glad they patched things up.

I didn't say she personally reviewed every resume that came in. However, for a firm that size, it would absolutely make sense for her to provide guidance (like the need for diversity or a preference for certain past experience) to a more junior lawyer or HR person, who would review the resumes and make recommendations for who should go to the interview round. Diane would the bless or challenge those choices and the interviews would begin. It's not a company with hundreds of employees, so a senior partner like Diane might well take a special interest in the hiring process.

My impression was that Diane was okay with her law school and had allowed her to get through the resume review process to interviews. The others were likely not involved until the interview stage. But i've taken to doing other stuff while watching the show, so I might have invented that part.

When I watched the trailer for this show, I thought it would go down the path of Allison (I didn't know names at the time) and her husband targeting Noah, seducing him, framing him for a crime, and then blackmailing him. Once I actually started watching the show, I quickly moved away from that theory, because there was no evidence to support it. However, for those who feel Noah raped Allison, do you think that it's likely that she might stay with him to set him up?

Not a big fan of the NSA guys either... When the interviews started, I actually thought they were testing her toughness by deliberately being obnoxious. I was a little surprised when that didn't come out in Diane's second meeting with the candidate.

Agreed. Especially since Lockhart Gardner had a name partner (Michael Ealy's character) who lived inthe DC area, and an equity partner, Julius, who was also African American, this plot was very poorly executed.

Although Noah seems to genuinely believe he left his wife because he fell in love with Allison, I am not sure that I believe it. He may have never articulated his dissatisfaction, but I think we observed it. However, I don't think he was dissatisfied with Helen specifically, but rather his life --particularly his unsuccessful career. The fact that his in-laws looked down on him and were not checked by Helen exacerbated the issue. (I think that a person can face the same temptation when they are vulnerable and when they are not, and have two very different reactions.) That made him vulnerable to the attraction to Allison, the same way that Allison's grief made her vulnerable to Noah's attentions. Whether he actually fell in love with Allison or was running from his life 1) does not make Helen to blame IMO and 2) will not affect whether or not he stays with Allison for the duration of the show, so it's moot.

The kids are children and grandchildren of writers. I think that accounts for their overly dramatic behavior (Martin's fake suicide, Whitney's drama, and Trevor's idea of a romantic relationship with a dying girl).

Re: Memory/Vision -- I think that running over Allison is his imagination/vision. I suspect that part of the reason he is suspected in Scott's death is that it is very similar to the end of his book. Re: Cut off -- I think that in a future episode we may see a confrontation between Helen and her father, leading to the money issue. Also, her father's new girlfriend may create a rift between father and daughter. Re: Allison's friends -- Actually, from what we know of Allison, I think it's very plausible that she makes friends faster with men than women. (We saw this with Yvonne and Robert before they read the book.) Even if she is not openly flirting with them, some women just give off a vibe that attracts men. She is close to her sister-in-law and her colleague at the diner, but we don't know how long it took her to become friends. I will allow that this might be exaggerated by Noah's perspective.

My interpretation of that line was that he was an pathetic old man trying to recapture his youth. It did not make me sympathetic at all.

I think he saw love in her face, and was surprised by that. Alicia loved Peter a long time before they broke up. Maybe she's ready to forgive. It's pretty normal for law firms to be particular about the schools from which they recruit. My company was the same, but for MBAs

I think she didn't actually mean to hit him and was surprised that she did. However, that's perhaps not the best example to set for the kiddies. :) I liked that Helen dropped the hostility with Noah. It may seem unfair that Noah gets everything he wants, but I think ultimately Helen will be happier for letting go of the anger. As much as I liked Helen telling her mother off, I hope that she doesn't continue to blame her mother for her problems. Helen had a choice in whose advice she took, and she should own her choices. I assume that it was just a matter of her venting after a scary visit to the ER and that going forward she will have a healthier and more mature relationship with her parents. I do think she was spot on about her mother wanting her marriage to fail. Misery loves company, and Margaret was probably annoyed that her husband loved his little gumdrop more than her. I actually think that the breakup of her marriage might end up being the best thing for Helen--she is releasing pent up emotions that she's been hiding for years. Whitney-- you can share a room with your sister, and not just for a weekend. Plenty of people do this every day, and don't imagine you'll have your own room in college. However, she did show some maturity in comforting her mother and getting an appropriate cake for her brother. Maybe she is the type that steps up during a crisis, but is a spoiled brat in other times. It's nice to see Allison smile -- Ruth Wilson has a lovely smile when she's allowed to use it! The yoga retreat (and the six weeks break from Noah and sex) were good for her. I like that she has become more self-aware about her relationship with sex. However, this is the second time she has had somewhat rough, semi-public sex (first time was with Cole on the hood of the car). That suggests that she has some way to go still. Also, she clearly did not seem that happy that Noah is now free to marry her. I don't think she really wants it. I thought we got good insight into Noah this episode. 1) The shine has come off the affair for Noah. It will be interesting to see if he embraces new fatherhood or feels trapped with Allison. He is clearly nostalgic about family life, but that was a look of fear when Allison announced she was pregnant. "i blew up my life for you, Allison." Sounds like Helen was right in that last episode--he's already starting to blame her for his decisions. 2) "I'm the asshole in the book. I destroy everyone I care about. I ruin my life. The story isn't even about you. It's about me." A) He sees the "story" being about him and not them--that's telling. B) He really seems to hate himself. I think that's why he comes off as such a jerk in his own POV. Perhaps others don't think of him as badly as he thinks of himself. C) Sex with Allison is about him. About Inspiring him to write. Not about them. 3) He is so desperate to have a happy ending in his book--as though that will somehow create a happy ending in his real life. The reiki helps him see that he has to release his demons, so he changes the book ending to the one that his editor wants. It will be interesting to see if he now believes his relationship with Allison is now doomed or if the releasing of the demons helps them move forward as a couple. 4) His reaction to Sebastian Junger was interesting. Noah doesn't seem to have a lot of people to whom he looks up--he has poor relationships with his father and his father-in-law, for example. He pooh-poohed everything about the retreat until Junger recommended reiki. On a side note, was I the only one who was afraid we might see another erection this episode during the reiki?