Tatum

I thought that too at first, so I went back and watched, and Lorraine says, "I looked it up. $192,000, spread between your mortgage, car loans, student loans, medical bills, credit cards. Hell, you've got it all". Then she goes on to say, "Don't feel bad, over 90% are debtors, in the red, living beyond their means". I would imagine most of the middle class has loans totaling at least that if we are counting mortgages, and that includes people living at or below their means (of course plenty of people buy/finance more house they can afford, but that does not appear to be the case for Indira). That makes Lorraine all the more out of touch if she is considering simply needing a mortgage or a car loan to be living beyond one's means. Very few people can pay cash for a house. And a lot of the time, even those who could still choose to finance because they either need to keep some assets liquid and not tied up in real estate, or they can simply make more money using their own cash for investments than what the interest costs them. If Lorraine was simply saying people are too quick to finance things, rationalizing that as long as they can afford the minimum payment, they can afford to asset, and are one missed paycheck away from financial disaster, that it absolutely true, but that was not reflected in her lecture to Indira.

This pissed me off. If $192,000 of Indira's debt includes her mortgage, that is really not that alarming. You'd be hard pressed to find a home owner in a metropolitan area who didn't have a mortgage of at least $200,000. And home ownership is the most reliable way to build generational wealth, and has been for decades. Living beyond your means is for sure a very common problem, but needing to have a mortgage is not a character failing. Nor is a medical problem that puts you in debt. It just seemed an excuse for Lorraine to pontificate to the peons and it was obnoxious. Roy and the bankers deserved it; Indira did not. That's how I took it as well. Like, even if I agreed with your philosophy, logically it still doesn't matter. I did like Lorraine for a minute when she said that she couldn't get rid of Dot because that would hurt Wayne and Scotty, which seems to be rather compassionate. Plenty of people in her shoes would rationalize that both would be better off and would eventually move on from Dot anyways.

I wonder if they did know how slick she was. Gator revealed in the last episode that he didn't engage Munch, he engaged Munch's now dead accomplice, who seemed about as bright as Gator is. When Munch said he could not get Dot, Gator mocked him for not being able to get the better of a small woman. While Munch is clearly not a moron or inept, Gator seems to think he is, and was very (inexplicably) confident he would easily be able to subdue Dot. I do wonder if Dot secretly observed militia training and other tricks of the trade, unbeknownst to Roy. I went back and watched episode 3 beginning, when it pans over the wedding pictures. First wedding picture is Roy and a brunette, who I assume is the current wife and mother of the twins. Second picture is Roy and a blonde, who at first I thought was Dot, but the scene rolled over her picture quickly and paused on a third wedding picture with Roy and a blonde, who was clearly Dot. The first blonde looked like Dot but I think is supposed to be another woman. That could be both Gator's mom and the other missing wife, and it would be interesting if Roy is married to three living women currently (although I'd assume the other missing woman is likely dead). Also, I misheard in the last episode. The militia man visiting was his father in law, not his father. Not sure if that bodes well for the current wife or not.

I think it was a cheat to have Wayne and Scotty hiding upstairs in the attic at the start of the show when they had just walked into the house a few minutes prior to Gator rolling up per the cliffhanger at the last episode. I cannot even imagine Wayne being willing to run up to the attic and hide before insisting on calling the police. Or at least his mother, who might be faster than the police. Especially given that Dot didn't come with them. And I am not a fan of Dot telling Scotty that she can't talk about what really happened and coaching her to lie to the police. I understand she wants to keep a low profile, but it should seem abundantly clear this is not going to go away. Roy isn't going to give up, there's an active North Dakota investigation with witnesses, and I wouldn't think her faulty wiring story would hold up if Mama Lyon (in addition to the fire department) launches a full investigation. Every day she lies, she's upping the odds that Scotty or Wayne becomes collateral damage. I did laugh at loud when Dot scolded Gator for coming in with guns when there was a "baby" in the house, and Gator says, um, she's like 9.

See, that's where I think there's a large divergence between episodes 1 and 2, and this latest episode. Roy mentioned during his chat with the Feds that the constituents love him, as does the governor, and he rattled off obscure laws to the Feds which seemed to be the long way of explaining he knows the letter of the law well enough to skirt around it at all times, while also obliquely threatening that people can break the rather random laws of ND without realizing it and then be surprised with the consequences (should anyone choose to enforce it, which no one has, but could). While they didn't show him doing anything sheriff like in the first episodes, given the whole thing took place over a day or two, I could overlook that. Yet by the third episode, it seems all pretenses of him being official are off. He's just some random dude that seems to have inherited his father's farmhouse and bodyguards (who really aren't all the quick on the uptake when you think about it). I suppose I should give the writers a few more episodes to see how it plays out, but so far, the character of Roy seems inconsistent and disjointed- like a composite of various other characters.

I think both those things are true- Roy wants Gator to get shit done and be like him (Roy) but he can want all he wants- it's abundantly clear Gator is not up to the task and will likely get himself killed or arrested trying to prove himself. Roy himself is flying pretty close to the sun on a lot of things, and he's the much smarter and more charismatic of the two which really doesn't speak well for Gator and his misplaced confidence. I laughed when Gator said if it was just him and Munch, he knows he would wipe the floor with him. Based on what, Gator? You were armed, he wasn't, you had backup, he didn't, and he still won and the fact that you're still alive is based on Munch's discretion only. It was. When he walked in, Roy's wife said, your dad is here. I couldn't tell if he was annoyed having to listen to his dad, or if he was just preoccupied at the moment thinking about Dot.

I thought that too! (about the comparison to Dot and the final girl in that movie). Although, that seems inconsistent with Roy's ramblings in the previous episode that the woman is submissive to her husband and in turn, he 'protects' her. I mean, I can believe he stockpiles weapons and has elementary school age kids practice shooting, but based on the first episode I would assume he only extended that to the boys and men. But the third episode seemed quite different from the first two to me- almost like an entirely different show. I definitely did not like the 3rd episode as much as the first two. (Although Dot and Wayne at Gun World was hilarious. I actually really like Wayne. And I don't see him as a pushover- I think he actually just really respects and trusts his wife, and believes she has her reasons for what she does and knows what to do). I have a hard time believing Roy's influence is so much that state police are intimidated by Gator, or that Gator's admission that he beat a high school rival with a tire iron would be just shrugged off. Not to mention, the guy tampered with evidence and explicitly threatened another police officer. Speaking of Gator, is Roy trying to get him killed? A professional who got the upper hand against Gator twice (and both times the guy was outnumbered) barely escaped with his life from Dot, and Roy wants to send Gator and his low IQ friends to finish the job on Dot? It should be pretty clear at this point that Gator is extremely incompetent at anything, and he wants him to try and carry out a kidnapping across state lines of a prominent, well connected suburban mom? Yes, this should end well. Yes, that was absolutely unnecessary to call them back just to tell them how ineffectual they were. She can privately think it all she wants- to go out of her way to let them know how little she thinks of them just seems like looking for trouble. But based on Fargo's previous seasons, the fastest way to get your ass handed to you is to prattle on about how untouchable you are.

Is there even a way to "flag" them? Like, enter a fingerprint into a system and get an alert if there is ever a hit down the road? If so, I would think such system would be forever inundated with fingerprint flags. I would think as sheriff he might be able to match her fingerprints in MN with what he has on file in ND, but he would have to know she was arrested in the first place and compare the two. We are probably supposed to just suspend disbelief on this score that there is a fictional database this holds on this information in the Fargo Universe.

In her downtown office, JJL did exposit to her lawyer that she had a background check done on Dot that came back clear (clear as in nothing bad, there were school records and such). Now, how Dot managed that we may never know. I am guessing she stole someone else's identity but even back in 2009 that wouldn't have been particularly easy to do, especially given that Mama probably really was invested in finding any skeletons.

He said, no one is listening to me, while grabbing her arm. I don't know if he intended to cause her harm, but he did try and restrain her from leaving, which, even if he wasn't intending to hurt her, by holding her in place he easily could have put her in someone else's line of fire. I really don't blame her for panicking.

I think that's supposed to be the point though- she is amateurish. While I think she would have done better to go a little farther than a state bordering her crazy ex, she was likely very limited in her means while trying to fly under the radar, and I would guess she was also pregnant, and needed a rich, connected patsy as soon as she could get one, hence why she only made it to one state away from him. And I don't think she's a trained fighter- she's someone who cobbled together a series of counter attacks, probably at least some of which came from actual cartoons. THAT was stupid. Can't argue with that. My only guess is, the one in charge didn't want to risk killing her accidentally (and not getting paid) while knocking her around, but they certainly could have tied her up a lot more tightly and they definitely should have. For that matter, wearing those creepy masks was far more conspicuous and served no purpose- any potential witness was much more likely to notice creepy masks and call the cops. Agree, and he is so "big fish in a little pond"- step out of his little jurisdiction and he'd be schooled in an instant. Yet I suppose he insists he doesn't want to go anywhere but his tiny little kingdom in ND.

Good point! I hate it when a character "took a self defense course" and all the sudden is an expert street fighter able to take on 5 opponents at once (or just magically turns out to be some kind of deadly accurate sharpshooter). And her means of fighting are pretty unconventional, and luck has been on her side a few times, but it is something that could feasibly happen. I get the impression Bisquick itself has some sort of meaning for the character- I think it's like, therapeutic for her in some way. She looked panicked at the gas station, and then she saw the boxes and seemed to be able to focus and figure out what she needed to do. I actually thought all the Bisquick papers scattered at the station was some kind of message for her from the kidnapper, but then it was revealed he didn't know her so that couldn't be right. And then when she gets home, she immediately goes into the kitchen and starts mixing the pancakes, even though she has a lot of time before Scotty was due to wake. I think the brand itself and the act of mixing the pancakes is a source of comfort to her. Her age is given as 30s- I wonder how much older than the son of the sheriff she is supposed to be. The actress is only a couple years older than the actor playing the son. He doesn't really seem to have an opinion on her at all, other than just doing his dad's bidding. But he likely would have been at least a teen when she ran away.

No, and Scandia is actually part of the metropolitan Minneapolis area (NE suburb). I’ve lived in various Minneapolis suburbs almost my whole life and no one has an accent like that. We do have the long Ohs but that’s it. Nonetheless, I did think her “look, bitch…anywho”…metamorphosis was pretty good.

I did laugh when he referred to the woman federal agent as Mrs. “Partner’s Butchered Last Name”…like any woman couldn’t have been there in a professional capacity and the fed must have brought his wife along. So immature but still a little funny.

Yeah, I would just think a man like him would rather have his own compound free from laws of society, than ostensibly be obligated to uphold the laws of whatever jurisdiction he’s in.

I get that, but so blatantly mixing his interpretation of church with state seems like he’s pretty much daring any other law enforcement to do something about it. Clearly, he’s already attracted the attention of the feds. He doesn’t seem to care, but I suspect he’ll realize soon enough he’s not untouchable. He’d have been better to be a little more low profile than he’s been. He sure is smug though- he’s managed to out-smug David Thewlis’ character so far which was no easy feat.

I really liked the first two episodes, although I find John Hamm’s character kind of contradictory- he seems to be running some kind of fundamentalist cult based on his lecturing of the wife beating husband, as he tells the battered wife to treat his burns and keep remembering her place, which seems at odds with being a member of law enforcement. I understand the allure of it for him, but think that would be too great a conflict of interest for him and the state law officials. Also, the nipple ring thing seems very at odds with both. I would assume Dot did not marry him willingly and spent years planning her escape route, but I am surprised she was ever given the resources to do so. Even self taught- she’d need books or internet or something. Although I guess it’s possible she picked up on some of that after she left, as she’s been looking over her shoulder this whole time. I think her husband knows she’s lying but either trusts her that she has her valid reasons, or doesn’t want to risk alienating her by trying to force the issue. I found the contracted kidnapper to be quite reminiscent of the killer in No Country for Old Men, both with his deliberate calm and his odd sartorial choices. I wonder if he’ll end up working with Dot. He seemed to hold no ill will against her for defending herself and only blamed her ex for downplaying her level of survival skills. Although I don’t know if he did- it would not surprise me if her ex truly had no idea what she was capable of and thought it would be easy. I thought the cop stood outside the gas station to avoid making anyone already in there collateral damage if he could- but help didn’t arrive before he was shot. I don’t think he’s supposed to be dim.

That's what I thought. I could see how referring to being gay as "not normal" would be offensive, but given the long and winding sputtering she was doing beforehand, it was pretty clear she meant that gay people are treated poorly many times in their lives due to being gay and she did not understand why any mom would hope her kids would have to struggle that way. I think the root of Amy's animosity towards Meredith is that she simply doesn't like people who aren't in her family. In a deleted scene, Luke Wilson tells Amy she needs to give other people outside of the family a chance. Thad's husband alludes to being disliked by Amy in the beginning. And I think Sybil and Amy's incredibly warm reception of Julie was just a super immature way to let Meredith know just how unwelcome and disliked Meredith was. Sybil and Amy were straight up evil. I couldn't believe the scene when Meredith walks in, and Sybil covers her mouth with her hand to hide her snickering, like a bitchy teenager would. And although Susannah was mildly nicer to Meredith than the other two, I couldn't believe when her bratty, thieving daughter swipes Meredith's expensive shoes, breaks off the heel, and Susannah was like,oh um, sorry, uh...we might have some glue? Really? Really? I still like the movie though, although generally on a rewatch, I skip the Christmas Eve dinner scene.

Is Kaiser's dad and his family still in the picture? I know his paternal grandmother was in the midst of fighting Jenelle for custody when her husband became ill and she dropped the lawsuit, but that was several years ago. At least Jace has somewhere to go besides the swamp. I am so, so worried about Kaiser. ETA: his sister said in July that Nathan hasn't seen Kaiser in months but that their mother does get Kaiser for visitations. Not sure if that's a legal agreement or just between Jenelle and Nathan's mom.

Yeah, that was so funny, on the first night in the house, Elka asks if anyone else in the house is Catholic, to which Sean replied that he was. Elka eagerly asks if he will come with her to church and Sean is like "...". Like you could tell he absolutely did not want to go, and is vacillating between making up an excuse and then dealing with dodging her next time she asks (and again and again), or just admitting on camera he has no intention of going to church while in Boston. While he was a Catholic and probably from a politically conservative family, you're right, that wasn't an archetype he leaned heavily into while on the show. He was much more about bar hopping, with a propensity to randomly debate people about social issues at times (in his defense, I thought he was pretty respectful and willing to listen to the other side. Even if his views were offensive or ignorant to a lot of people, I thought he came across as more open minded and well read than Rachel did on her season. Then again, low bar and all).

So...I assume she's making an analogy here. I am torn between being outraged that she would try and compare a devastating war to her own poor life choices, and being oddly impressed that she even has a clue what's going on outside of her own life, even if she does think it involves 'hummus'. I suppose my bar for her (and all the other Teen Mom cohorts) is so very, very low.

Yikes. The Challenge used to be the MTV sled at (just) under a million viewers, while Teen Mom and Jersey Shore enjoyed huge ratings. 266,000 viewers is the kind of ratings that would lead E! or other second/third tier networks to cancel, so I absolutely can't believe MTV is still buying this show. I guess, though, as pointed out, they have nothing else to put on in its place. MTV must be having a huge identity crisis. 30-40 years ago, it was the voice of the youthful and rebellious. Does Generation Z even watch TV anymore, or just reels on Instagram and Tiktok as everyone competes for followers? I really wonder how long the network is going to drag this show out.

I love the "where are they now" updates they were doing, but they generally pick the most boring people or episodes, and I haven't watched the show in over 10 years since the subjects are so over the top now, so I wouldn't be interested in anything that aired after 2010. Purely out of pettiness, I would love to know how the two girls who were "too beautiful" for their own good are both faring, as well as the 26 year old "model" who was dating an older guy (I know this is catty, but she was entered in a hometown hottie contest through Maxim Magazine and did appear in the picture collage, and she acted like she was Christy Turlington or something). I do believe one of the Staten Island Girls did make it to one of the where are they now episodes, I want to say she was married with a kid. I think it was the one who wanted to be an actress and was trying really hard to lose her accent.

Huh, I don't know what that could have been if it was not Singled Out, which is all that pops up when I search MTV game shows and Jenny McCarthy. The late 90s/early 2000s was so unbelievably random what they come up with. I just did a search of all MTV shows and remembered Boiling Points, starring a prefamous Lady Gaga (think she went by Stephanie back then). That show was hilarious and such a different concept- put people in ludicrous situations while secretly filming them and see how long it took them to lose their tempers. I think everyone on that show was an improv actor. Teen Mom was a cool idea, and the viewership agreed- but they are really scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point.

It really is. And they just keep doubling down on the trashiness of their content instead of considering that maybe it's time to move into a different direction. I wish MTV would track down whoever has the rights to all their old shows- Road Rules, Singled Out, The Blame Game, Say What Karaoke, the early seasons of True Life, Made, Sorority Life, Fraternity Life, Rich Girls, etc and play those instead.