heavysnaxx

So Kiko does steaks at their first lunch (the GravyGate ones) and, when Hannah then asks him what he has in mind for that night's anniversary dinner, he says, "Ok, the main course, rib-eye steak." Hannah counters with chicken but neither says, "Oops, that would be 2 steak meals ON THE SAME DAY." Seriously, there are Texans on the Atkins diet on vacation in Argentina who don't want that much beef. What are they thinking?!

I feel like Hannah completely whiffed on explaining the luxury element to Kiko, and I was baffled by how much both were struggling with a basic high-low concept: luxury executions of fun food. The kind of Vegas that references decadence, glamor, APPETITE. It's not about 6-foot subs for a poker night or drunk-nachos. Sure, yes, Vegas food is also poker night eats and bargain buffets. But this group OBVIOUSLY is about luxury Vegas. Room service for the high-roller suite. Comfort food? Fine! But upscale the hell out of it.

I'm an omnivore and complete amateur cook but I like to eat and I'm reasonably aware of what professional cooks are doing on an everyday basis, knowledge-wise. Kiko seemed ridiculous to me. Jeebus, has he never thought about the massive swaths of cuisine that rely heavily on the use of nuts, olives, legumes, coconut milk, and a multitude of grains? Fine, maybe the provisioners there don't have frickin' amaranth or almond flour but SERVING A DINNER OF SOGGY BUTTON MUSHROOMS IN A WAD OF TIN-FOIL?! Did he really not think of "fresh guac, salsa, and corn tortillas" for the vegan guest at lunch? Ok, I'm putting on my Micro-Managing Captain's Hat and standing in the galley doorway, offering helpful "suggestions": Make a frakkin' sofrito, add some delicious dried heirloom beans, serve it soupy with a vegan rouille made with agua faba, roasted red peppers, and garlic; drizzle with an herby pistou. Throw warm, crunchy-cornered cornbread at them with some hot honey. Quick-pickle some carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower. Grill radicchio, serve with caramelized red onions, drizzle with balsamic. Speaking of corn: Cook top-quality polenta, beat it hard with basil, garlic, and oil; top with a ratatouille-like concoction, plus olives. Do a frito misto using rice flour. Fry up artichoke hearts, onion rings, lemon slices, green beans. Salt-and-pepper tofu. Aloo baingan: a simple curry made with potatoes, eggplant, and tomatoes. Any of about a gajillion curries made with coconut milk, aromatics, vegetables, potatoes. Also: It's not just Kiko - a lot of these "chefs" don't seem to care about creating a menu. They throw a bunch of random items together during a single meal but that's not menu-planning. If I were paying for a private yacht, I'd care a hell of a lot more about well-designed menus than a bunch of cheap schlock cluttering up the table. ETA: FFS, Kiko - moqueca is supposed to be your thing and pivoting to use what you can (versus following an unchangeable recipe) is what cooking is all about.

But it was hardly Bryan's first time eating and handling P-R. It's a well-known, exhaustively celebrated product. Hell, I'm just a home cook/Big Hungry Girl and I know all about the crystals. They're a prized feature; getting rid of them is like a gem-cutter getting rid of facets in a diamond. Presumably my knowledge of aged hard cheeses isn't greater than a TCM contestant's! A frico is such a good idea! For texture, yes, and for a layer of an intensified P-R flavor. Kevin's never-ending Parmesan bowl was giving me a massive early 90s flashback. A server was circling my family's table with a yard-long pepper mill, chanting, "Alittlefreshlygroundpepper?" That poor server. There were 10 of us and by the time he got to #5 we were...ready to just get on with the eating.

It made me better understand why he thought "Grandma's meals" = canape course in the Restaurant Wars episode. The only appetizer-type tradition in my family is the Thanksgiving counting-of-the-shrimp-in-your-shrimp-cocktail to make sure nobody got more than you.

Yeah, I had thoughts along the same lines - Eric's concept brings in a marginalized (to say the least) point of view by presenting a heritage and a whole range of foods and flavors in an incredibly meaningful way. While I wouldn't use the Middle Passage name, I would definitely find a word or phrase that perhaps references place and culture - what is being honored, rather than how people tried to destroy it. I would have preferred Melissa's to Kevin's - I liked the complete specificity of it being about her grandmother, plus it just felt fresher than more elevated-but-keepin'-it-real-Southern. ...and then there was MALARKEY. He had no authentic point of view in that crude mash-up of 2 food cultures. (And I like Karen but I had some similar feelings about her using the term dim sum in her concept. The reference felt unearned.) It felt glib, crass, and opportunistic. I get it - it's business. But It seemed...wrong that no one mentioned the reality that a white man with lots of financing experience has just the kind of confidence that can make a mediocre idea seem brilliant during the pitch. The thought that this was judged alongside Eric's concept made me feel gross.

I'm just bingeing the season now - I had no idea it had been on! - and thought MALARKEY showed real potential in this episode for becoming one of his generation's thirstiest Youtube vloggers. Or a human BUY IT NOW chyron on QVC. Watching him this episode, it was too easy for me to imagine poor Mrs. MALARKEY, spent in her child-bed after having just popped out a MINI-MALARKEY, and there's MALARKEY peeking his head in the door, saying, "I brought you something, honey!" But it's not flowers. It's not a bucket of Popeyes. It's a MALARKETING plan he got you to initial mid-contraction that includes: "I agree to my husband's choice of the names 'Miles' because 'S'Miles' is a legit-genius product name that he came up with."

What I'm seeing is a creepy blend of vindictiveness, unfocused hostility, taking pleasure in screwing with people's boundaries, and self-sabotage. All of which reminds me of Mila. I suspect Lara's CV is about as full of lies as Mila's. It's not about being Italian or any other nationality. It's about being a grifter. I know plenty of women from cultures similar to what you describe and their direct, blunt style of communication has nothing to do with trying to dominate through aggression. What's really disturbing about Lara is the obvious enjoyment she gets from putting people in crappy situations on purpose, like walking away from the eggs, refusing to acknowledge an instruction, and touching her boss. It's not each thing, itself. It's the revolting hunger she shows for upsetting others. Also: As the women I mentioned don't approach conversations as blood-sports of domination, they also don't go simple and tell their bosses they intentionally showed up 30 minutes late for a shift. Oof, such a lawyer you would have made, Lara. Truly, there's a bottom-of-the-class position in some law school that should have been yours.

Exactly. The more relevant distinction between Hannah and Pete is that Pete feels entitled to address his superior, Malia, this way. If the difference still isn't clear, try imagining Pete addressing another superior this way. Like Captain Lee. IIRC, Hannah has never done the equivalent to her superior, Sandy.

OMG, at least that slice of cake didn't let me down. It never even occurred to me that Andrew might have botched the job. What I've not been clear on is how long they've even been together. IIRC, Andrew first met Molly when Tiffani was 7 months pregnant, they first-dated a couple of weeks after that, and I've been thinking the baby's now less than 2 months old. That would make 3-ish months the longest relationship either one has ever had, and they're already talking about how they've been "putting time" in? /face palm/ I mean, even if it's 4 months, it's still supposed to be early days/fun time.

Well, in the immortal words of Florida Evans: "Damn DAMN DAMN DAMN!" I did not like a lot of the episode. The Tiffani storyline was rushed and way too partial - honestly, do I really care about Tiff? No, I don't because the show hasn't invested in her as a character - I was deprived of seeing Molly the moment she was actually dumped, and Condola's pregnancy got used like a monster for a jump-scare in a cheesy haunted house. Let me repeat: There was no scene of Andrew walking out on Molly that I could replay over and over. I even had a piece of cake saved to eat during this episode, I was so looking forward to the dumpage. The cake was good! But it could have been so much better, SHOW. I'm sorry, I don't want to see Issa being friends with Molly. Nope. Prefer to see her hangin' with a slowly ballooning Condola. Molly has not been a standard-issue friend with growing pains. She's been cruel and sabotaging. I hate the message that people - especially women - are somehow wrong to end a friendship of many years. The weird thing was that the writers don't seem to have listened to their own character. Andrew pointed out to Molly that the simple fact they've sunk time into their relationship wasn't reason enough to continue it. ...I still can't believe they went there with Lawrence and Condola. I feel for him. Birth control fails. It really doesn't mean either of them messed up. I hope Issa - once (or if) she gets over the shock - gets back to seeing the we'll-make-it-work mindset as an option. I don't get any vibe between Lawrence and Condola but it's easy to understand that Issa would wonder. DAMN!

I think of it more like how the bomb squad operates. Heh. There's a scene in the season 1 finale where Tiffany and Kelli are on Molly like they're at Red Lobster and she's a basket of Cheddar Bay biscuits. Despite Molly having been a human freezer toward her at that time, Issa defends her, which is what finally allows Molly to unclench her sphincter and act like a human friend again. Tiffani and Kelli have Molly's number so...please proceed, Counselor. Wait, when has Lawrence been historically trash? I genuinely don't remember him being a bad guy. Immature, indecisive, possibly depressed - for sure. Also: I cannot tell if you intentionally called Condola Corolla (Mazda's cousin?) and I LOVE THAT. That's such a good point but Molly, in this situation and others, is being delusional that she's the one who deserves an apology. Moreover, she's created the situation she complains so much about. Look at her arrival at brunch. Cold. Unwelcoming. And not for the first time. The idea that Issa would make herself even more vulnerable at that point by initiating an intimate conversation is more delusion. I don't like to throw the word toxic around but Molly is toxic.

I wondered if I was being too hard on her so just rewatched a bunch of old episodes. Nope, this is still Classic Molly. Season 1, when Issa had her fundraiser, Molly behaved just as badly. Very similar to what's going on here. Same episode where she refers to Issa's teacher colleague using a racial term. Issa calls her - there's that reaching out thing - and Molly is cold and haughty on the phone. I found other instances throughout the seasons. The difference is that we - like Issa - have focused on the good moments. But the damage Molly does has a cumulative effect and now it just seems worse. ETA: @DearEvette, you beat me to it!

Big props to the show for how they've incorporated Nathan's health issue - it's a fact of his life that he's saying is still taking time to learn how to manage and nothing about it felt Very Special Episode. Lord, is Molly just so effing unlikable. The only thing she was trying to do was ungraciously allow Issa to take all the risks and then criticize her performance. Nothing was enough. I was yelling, "RUN GIRL!" to Issa when she got that text and was so glad she walked away. Everything Issa did with her was done in good faith and this so-called best friend was colder and crueler than a decent person is to a stranger. I'm seriously hoping Andrew tells her it's not working out because, as Molly said about putting just a little effort in figuring out how to have a civil relationship with his brother, "Why would you even want me to do something I don't want to do?" If I were Andrew, that would have been my, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them," moment. Not to mention Molly unilaterally changing the Indian take-out plan. How to lose a guy in 10 episodes, y'all. I'm guessing Molly has no awareness that some people are very empathetic and willing to meet others more than halfway, but if hurt/insulted deeply enough, are DONE. Issa had a pretty DONE look in her eyes at the end. I support that. Loved that I didn't know if the Issa/Lawrence couch love montage was real or imaginary at the beginning. It was kind of a callback to when they'd busted up and we saw this whole future that was Issa's imagination.

You know the acronym YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)? Well, I agree with you - Your Messiness May Vary! I like that we see Issa at the end of this episode really looking around thoughtfully at where she lives - like it's all HER space -- without it being a mopey walk weighed down by an unresolved relationship situation. I like that neither she nor the show's POV seems to be saying she's entitled to know what will happen with Lawrence. As the title indicates, happiness can coexist with uncertainty. What I wanted to say about Issa forgoing dating Lawrence because he used to date Condola (a premise I don't actually understand, I confess): It seems like this only leads to a place I wouldn't want to go to. Where a guy is with me because his ex wasn't available or a third-party had some inappropriate influence. Another problem: If two potential partners are that interchangeable, then the relationships are just not that deep and none of this hand-wringing is warranted, in the first place. It seems like some serious level-jumping to base a relationship decision on what (to me) sounds like an abstract notion of fair play. Maybe I could understand if they were, I don't know, best friends or something. But Condola and Issa are basically acquaintances who are doing some work together. Lastly: Not to be all paraphrasing Moonstruck on ya but love is not about making things tidy. Moving to a new city because of your partner or whatever is not a sad ending, and neither is giving them space to figure out what they want. Again - YMMV. My own limited experience via Mr. Heavysnaxx was the very pleasant shock that circumstances I would have assumed made a relationship with me Way Too Messy became Whatever, We're Doing It with zero drama.

I gotta say, being 25 years on from this stage of life, this does not seem messy to me at all. (Apologies for sounding like a cranky old person.) Jumping into an affair with your married friend without really understanding anything about open relationships like Molly did with Dro - that's messy. Cheating on your partner like Issa did - that's messy. I think what this is, is single adults dating, who are also doing very common things like maybe changing jobs, trying to decide if a move is worth it, figuring out your professional goals, sharing a social group, and maintaining a relationship with an ex that might/might not lead to a reconciliation. There wouldn't be anything wrong or even messy with Lawrence dating/sleeping with two different people. (Or Issa deciding in the next episode to go out with Nathan.) But I don't even think Lawrence did that in this episode, since I saw his evening with Issa more as a drink with a friend that turned into more, and our most current intel is that he and Condola are broken up. The idea that Lawrence should just cut ties altogether with Issa or Condola purely for form's sake seems wasteful and sad. It's not necessarily messy to not know what you want from a relationship - that's what the beauty/function of dating is! It's not like they can go to the store and find a replacement person with customizable features. It's not messy for people to have lives and for multiple issues to happen at once. Any of these 3 characters seem entirely capable of managing the typical challenges of moving, finding a new job, etc. if that's what they want. More importantly, Issa (like Condola) has no responsibility to recuse herself from sleeping with and/or dating Lawrence because of Condola. What would be ugly to me is Issa deciding to manage Lawrence and Condola's relationship or positioning herself as an unrequested sacrifice. That's the kind of boundary-violating, codependent interference Molly got into between Nathan and Issa. It would all be based on Issa assuming she knows what other people want and what's best for them. I'm really glad she didn't do that and that she respected all three of them. One thing I like about this show is that it doesn't do the villain thing, it really delves into the why of what people do. So I tend to not see Lawrence as being up to no good just because he's in touch with Condola. TBH, it would be Issa I'd be more watchful of, given that she was the cheater!

Yeah, it was the accuracy of the emotional arc that struck me - though I realize what I'm calling accuracy is "something I went through myself." We were long-broken up, we had a reason for a catch-up chat, yada yada - it was great, warm, loving, blah blah - but I was maybe most pleased to feel zero need to have it turn into relationship 2.0. Like Issa and Lawrence, we were both single, 30-ish, and my ex had another ex page him twice (ha!) during our interlude. I feel like the look on Issa's face on her way home showed that it was a bittersweet experience. What I saw was Issa continuing to navigate clear of potential messiness by being self-aware and adjust in the moment as she was figuring out what she wanted. Again, I think Molly's own limitations in the self-awareness area often distort Issa's greater maturity into "messiness." It's not that Issa's maturity (or anyone's) prevents them from having some messiness or hurt feelings, and it seems like Molly conflates hurt feelings with failure. Issa, on the other hand, demonstrates that what matters more is how her mistakes precede her growth. Truthfully, if it were Molly in Issa's position, I'd say it was a sad mistake. If it had been Molly and Dro, for example. But that's because Molly (never mind Dro) has shown a lesser capacity for self-reflection and far less generosity or grace when a relationship could use them. (Also, it's always been weird to me that Molly feels entitled to school Issa on relationships, given that Molly has no experience with a committed partner, much less one with whom she's shared a home. Not to mention her seriously fucked-up attitude toward queer people like Jared. It's like bisexuality is just too messy.) The script's precision showed that both Issa and Lawrence were feeling their way through the evening to see what they each really wanted. They both had easy escapes at different points; they both chose to keep the evening going. Finally, Lawrence invites her in. Finally, Issa states, "I'm not ready for this evening to end." "This evening," not "our relationship." I won't be surprised if Issa realizes she DOES want to keep going with Lawrence. But it won't seem like a reflexive, desperate gesture.

I thought it could just as easily be either and that rang true to me. Not sure about Lawrence but Issa seemed pretty at peace on her way on home. (Nitpick: Not cool to leave your Lyft driver hangin' cause you can't wait to start your bangin'!) Like you, I was reminded that we never saw them when their relationship was working. Their conversation at dinner - and other times - gives me reason to believe they were a good couple because they have a solid foundation of liking each other. They didn't just fall into bed in this episode, which is such a relief, story-wise. So...I don't know what Lawrence is up to with Condola. My first thought was he's just being a typical serial-relationship dude, where he's making sure he won't be without anyone. My fear is the show will veer away from the really great character-driven relationship storytelling like this episode had and introduce a cliche Plot Obstacle, like Condola being pregnant.

FWIW, I rewatched the scene. But YMMV! Molly saw Issa walking up. At that moment, she very deliberately turned away and struck a pose of feigned absorption in her phone. As I mentioned upthread, at least Issa's self-aware enough to know she's avoiding Molly. Molly, not so much. We see Issa pause for several beats at the door. What Molly should have done was pretty much the minimum: Look at her friend and meet her eyes when they were both in the same place. A hey-I-see-you-nod. That's too much? She was too caught off guard? Use that phone and call her when you see her leave. It seemed really obvious that Molly expected Issa to come to her, and that she felt entitled to withhold any kind of friendly encouragement in the moment. Like a nod to Issa at the door. That selfishness is what seems petty to me.

But Molly isn't respecting boundaries, Andrew's or Issa's. She doesn't have to like her boyfriend's friend and it's unkind to Andrew to use him as a dumpsite for trash-talking his friend. Molly had already inserted herself into Issa's and Nathan's relationship, blocking Issa from deciding how/if she wanted to proceed with Nathan. That was a serious breach of trust and it's clear Molly still doesn't get how wrong that was. It looks like Issa's negotiating a friendly, work-related thing with Nathan. Molly should be taking her cue from Issa about Issa's relationship.

This is so interesting - I see Molly as not being good at maintaining work relationships or picking her battles. She alienates colleagues at all levels and then struggles to do damage control. If she's really needing all of her emotional resources to simply not blow up at clients, she seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Yes, she's in a stressful job but a fair amount of the stress specific to her is the result of her own behavior. All a snotty, "I don't pay you to make me look stupid," gets is an assistant who's thinking, "No shit, that's what the firm's paying you to do right now." For whatever reasons, I just didn't have a lot of sympathy for her in that scene. Maybe because it was like The Molly Who Cried Judgemental. This was probably the time when she was right-on in calling out a wrong but I felt like she'd squandered her supply already. This was the episode when I really starting seeing Molly as someone who chose to be a lawyer but doesn't really like it in any deep way. It appeals to her comfort with rules and accountability (ha!), addresses an understandable desire for external status, and compensates her with a comfortable lifestyle that's the reward for doing what you're supposed to do. I've met a lot of Mollys! My gut says that a big part of her anger at Issa has to do with her beginning to feel how unfulfilling her career is to her. (Which makes her prone to losing her temper, etc.) Or at least way less creative/fun than what Issa's doing. She's watching Issa and feeling like Issa's being rewarded for fucking up her job, i.e., not following the rules. Whereas she, Molly, has been toiling away - like a REAL adult! - and suddenly her role as The Successful One doesn't feel so successful. I'm guessing that at some point Molly's going to say something shitty to Andrew about the area of work Issa's pursuing. He's going to point out that his work is more similar to Issa's than Molly's, she'll dig the hole deeper, and...we'll see how chill Andrew is about that.

I was just kind of thinking that there was another power dynamic at play, the class one, and how Molly's roughness with her admin assistant set me up to recognize it with the towel woman. Molly - again, not to negate the racial stuff - was also the wealthier, more powerful person compared to a service staff-person in a resort. It's just that kind of emotional complexity that makes being the member of a marginalized community such a rich pageant of experience! Also: SO right about the importance of respectful relationships with staff who support you. Aside from it being the right thing to do, you can't be good at your job without their labor. If nothing else, people will stop going that extra mile for you. Molly's just not great at being real and direct without being overly harsh.

I'm gonna take a wild guess that this was not the first time you've been pegged as the Fancy-Ass Paper Bandit, so to speak. It's the cumulative thing. A much younger person recently told me they choose not to get angry and to have patience about the kind of prejudiced BS we both encounter after I had expressed some frustration. I wanted to (but didn't) suggest they update me on their patience levels in 30 years. Molly's demeanor and tone with her assistant did make me think, though, about her interaction with the towel worker. I detected some notes of brusqueness-with-those-beneath-me. Which doesn't mean Molly was wrong about the towel. But I do wonder if she's always been like this or if it's new.

As my past comments attest /cough/ I think Molly is currently starring in Searching for Hector Projector Part III: The Avoidinging. BUT I think it was unfair to judge the pool towel incident as an isolated occurrence or to respond initially to Molly's clearly being upset by telling her that she's doing The Feelings all wrong. She was upset. That's not your debate to have, dude. I winced hard when Molly told the brother to fuck off. I wish she hadn't. But I think his lack of empathy for how that crap has a cumulative effect was really painful in its condescension. (I've snapped in my own way over ostensibly minor disability-related prejudice. That shit adds UP.) He didn't seem to respect that Molly has doubtless stayed more "in control" in countless situations before this.

Lawrence is going to apologize to Issa for saying "Frisco" when Andrew and Molly asked where he was traveling from. He has to apologize to everyone, everywhere for that. You may refer to it as "Ess-Eff," "San Fran," or "up to the City" if you're flying from LA. It is known.