Girl in a Cardigan

I'm here for the Cobel revenge tour, if that's what's next. I'm not sure that's where we're going yet, so I'm still a bit worried for Mark. Hope everyone else enjoyed their last two weeks off and we get the whole gang back together next week.

I had to laugh so so hard when Amber was in confessional being like, "Veronica wouldn't lie to me." Like girl, what? If Veronica told me the sky was blue, I'd go outside to check, just to be sure. Katie and Veronica may suck at the challenges, but that was an incredible game play to get what they wanted in the Jungle.

I really want to be into this, but it's moving so slowly with none of the suspense or chemistry from the first season. I even tried watching this one first before Severance to see if that helped, but nope. James is here for revenge, which I'm into, but I'm curious how he's going to do it since he doesn't even know Sophie's real name is Tess or whatever. I did laugh when he mentioned that he was seeing the sights while in London because it was a bit ridiculous that they were at Somerset House, the Queen's House, the Millennium Bridge and then the Tower of London/Tower Bridge all in the same week. Quinn is sad that Phoebe is dead, even though it seems like that's what he wanted in the first place. (Also Phoebe was a call girl who was also a lifestyle influencer? Or did that happen after she slept with Quinn a couple years ago?) I really really really don't get what's going with Lydia (?) and Tess - like you were injured in a riding accident a million years ago, but clearly had no ill effects since you're a concert violinist. So what's the deal there? I'm glad Tess left the file with Callum to deal with, but given everything he knows, I find it hard to believe that he's going to be able to pin Tess's mother's possible murder on the elder Huntley. And that's assuming that Tess's mother was even murdered - we only know she died young and that William Huntley's doctor signed the death certificate. I'm actually way more interested in what Tess said to James about trying to figure out why she's like this. It's just so bizarre that she "wants to have a conversation" all the while she's hiding the money she stole in crypto and taunting him with it while trying to worm her way back into the Huntley family. Is she actually a sociopath or is she just pretending that too?

That's what I thought! So anyway, Apple tagged Phil in that clip for this week's episode last Friday. Definitely seems to give Quinn a bit of a different look than we've seen so far IMO.

Looking at Phil's outfit in the promo photos, looks like this clip is from this episode (though Apple TV posted it last Friday - so did I forget this scene in last week's episode?): https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGoymiOsWHN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Yes, I was thinking this too as I watched Gemma's Ms Casey innie head back down that elevator. I wonder if that has something to do with why he was so passionate about the Eagens when Helly first starts. Clearly, whatever they do on the testing floor remains in the body, even if the innie on the Severed floor can't remember.

Just when I was out - they reel me back in with the husband mic drop appearance at the party! How did he get in? Who does he know? Was he really part of it in season 1 or is he just here for revenge?? Either way, let's gooo! Very curious who Quinn is texting, since he's now taunting them with Callum's arrest. The easy target is the researcher, but since she seems genuinely distraught by the call girl's death, I'm guessing no. Someone higher at the paper? Curious. (Also Phil Dunster is very pretty and I love him, but he does NOT do intimidating very well. I was totally expecting Callum to laugh him off at the club when Quinn got in his face.) Still have no idea what Tess's game is. She seemed so confident cleaning out the accounts and jumping on a plane to the UK, but now she's just wearing weird feather dresses and lying about boarding school. And does she actually remember anything from her pre-Sophie life or is she just faking it now?

That was wild, but I found myself really liking it. Flirty Adam Scott is my favorite Adam Scott after all. So it seems like Lumon got their paws on Mark and Gemma through the fertility clinic. I'm very interested in how those cards from O&D (and whatever Gemma was doing with them) play into whatever the hell experiments she's going through now. It's also interesting that she seems to know something about what happens depending on what clothes are in her closet that day, even if she doesn't know exactly what's happening to her in those rooms. I'm definitely joining those who were saying that MDR and everything has do with bringing Kier back to life because that definitely seems to be plan. Though I'm not entirely sure what making Gemma write 150 thank you notes has to do with that, except that one guy seems to just want to play house with Gemma. Given that they've had Mark have sex with Helena and Helly, it feels like they are definitely trying for a pregnancy there. And since it seems like Lumon found Gemma and Mark through the fertility clinic, perhaps they are trying for pregnancy in her too. How the goats play into this is mystery - though nurturing mammals is also childcare, so perhaps they are trying to prep those innies to run some sort of human daycare? I'm a little surprised that Devon wanted to call Cobel, given how pissed she was about the lactation fraud, but I guess she was really worried about Mark and doesn't know that basement scientist from Adam. I hope Mark's okay, but I really want to know if he's integrated. Also funny that Drummond called out that no one seems to be refining data these days and Cold Harbor has been stuck close to done for a minute.

This is very interesting to me. The few times they talk about Mark's previous work life, he was a professor and when he went back to work after Gemma's death "it was a disaster." But in what way? Was he crying in class? Didn't grade work? Had an outburst? Because as someone who has worked in higher ed, I would think that the admin would just put Mark on leave until he was ready to return - take a sabbatical or something. But in less than two years since her death (right?), Mark has not only completely changed career paths (no research, no consulting, etc or anything else you'd do with a PhD) and severed to work at Lumon. Did Cobel already live next to Gemma and Mark and suggest it? Did Mark move there after he severed? Did Cobel provoke whatever incident caused him to leave his job as a professor? Is Mark the only one with a "minder" like that?

More press for season 2: And Gugu and Phil will be on Sherri tomorrow

I'm here for Phil Dunster, but we didn't get much of him in this first episode. This is basically a brand new show, and so far, I'm not as intrigued as I was when watching season 1. The brief shot of the old husband did give me hope that they'll weave in some season 1 stuff into this new mystery. It's also unclear to me how much Tess actually remembers now (did her full memory come back in that last episode. I know I only watched it like a week ago, but I can't remember), given that she's apologizing to Eliza for stuff that she shouldn't actually know anything about (I remember the flashbacks, but that was only snippets of what happened.). Seems like Tess was rolling in it before she ever stole all that cash from James, so it's interesting that she was still pulling the con on him in season 1. Loving the luxe locales in this opener. I'll keep watching for Phil, but if he wasn't in it, this season hasn't grabbed me at all.

OMG this is the so funny! I had no idea, but I'm definitely adding some of these to my playlists:

I promise I'll stop replying to myself soon - but I just have such a huge nit to pick in episode 7. Sophie goes to meet Baden at the transit station or whatever to confront him. But they establish both before and after that scene with The Pacific Central Station - which is famously in VANCOUVER. WHY WHY WHY would they do that?! San Francisco has an iconic Ferry Building, which is obviously not a train station (the CalTrain station isn't picturesque and doesn't go further than San Jose - you have to go to Oakland for the Amtrak), but if you're just looking for a gorgeous transit center, we have that (it's not open at night because again, it's just for FERRIES, but it's fiction, so who cares). Totally took me out of that scene.

Wow - I just watched episode 6 - "The Myth of California" and that was INCREDIBLE! Great work by Oliver Jackson-Cohen for anchoring the whole thing. Didn't even feel like it was so much longer than the previous episodes. Can't wait to see how the last two episodes wrap things up before season 2.

Just finished episode five and I'm locked in, but I'm still dying at Sophie taking BART to places all over San Francisco (in empty cars!) or just walking down Market Street in the middle of the night with no one around. The locales are beautiful because our city is beautiful, but some of the logic is ridiculous. (And don't even get me started on the Palace of Fine Arts!)