Cheezwiz

This show is still fun to me, because I really truly don't know whodunnit! Definitely think the blonde attorney friend played by Lily Rabe is involved somehow - I think she also may have also been having an affair with Jonathan. Donald Sutherland is pretty sketchy too - as I suspected, he has a connection. I'm wondering if either Jonathan OR Elena had been blackmailing him for money. And how come he was hovering around outside Elena's apartment? I just love Donald Sutherland. That is all. Although his brown eyes distract me to no end, the boy playing their son is so, so very good as an actor. The scene at the jail where he crumples and tells Jonathan "we aren't a family anymore" just knocked me right in the feels. And Hugh is doing an amazing job as well - I'm finding myself rooting for him in spite of myself even though his character is a total scumbag. The actors playing the public defender & the high-priced attorney are also both kicking all kinds of ass. Hoping to see more of them in the final episodes. Because I held off on watching this right away (I mistakenly thought it was some sort of a political thriller, and those generally bore me), I only have to hold on until Sunday to see the final episode! It must've been torture for those who had to wait for weekly episode drops! I think whoever the culprit winds up being will probably ultimately disappoint me.

Same. Clearly her style hasn't evolved - it's still hideous! I'm all for incorporating older furniture into surroundings, but it needs to be selected judiciously. Everything looks cluttered, and instead of interesting patina that can come with age, the furnishings all look cheap, shopworn and banged up. She also seems to love drab droopy fabrics everywhere. Again, strong paint colours can be striking, but her choices always look dark and oppressive. You don't need to paint the ceiling to match ALL THE TIME. That bedroom! Ugh! The only room that looked tolerable to me was the bathroom because it was white and mostly empty. I now have smoke coming out of my ears after looking at this dreck. Infuriated all over again!

I'm loving it so far, plot holes and all! On an utterly shallow note: the clothing and decor visuals are absolutely gorgeous. The wardrobe is beautiful, and all the interiors look like they're covered Farrow & Ball paint. I've been drooling over the wallpaper and coverlet in Nicole's bedroom.Must be nice to have a big beach house to hide in when you're entangled in a high-profile murder case. Shallow note #2: Beardy Detective dude is kinda hot. I still find Hugh Grant yummy after all these years (to me he was perfection in Sense & Sensibility) and he's ideally cast as a charming duplicitous scumbag. The story is pulling me along, because at this point, I think ANY one of them could have done it: Grace, Jonathan, their kid Henry, Grace's Dad, Lily Rabe's character, the non-existent dog the family didn't wind up getting... The send up of upper-class Moms is pretty funny. This really does seem like an East Coast version of Big Little Lies As someone mentioned upthread, the opening credits featuring the little red-haired girl are a clue. I'm fairly certain that Daddy is involved somehow. If he's not directly tied to the murder, it's a sure bet a connection between Donald Sutherland's character and the murdered woman will soon be revealed. And I think it's significant that Grace is a therapist. Not only are the couples she's meeting serving as stand-ins for her own marriage, but Isn't it a common movie trope that therapists and psychiatric professionals are even more troubled than their patients?

I really enjoyed his performance too - he was totally convincing as an upper-crust social butterfly party boy type. He is unusual looking in an interesting way. I looked him up on IMDB, and apparently he's going to be playing Orson Welles in an upcoming biobic of screenwriter Joseph Mankeewicz. A good likeness I think! He's also in a film called The Souvenir, which I've heard good things about and keep meaning to see.

I too, am kind of bummed by this. I actually liked the initial glimpse of their home-life and and relationship - they seemed funny and sweet together. The boy who plays their son is very good, but in no way looks like he could be the offspring of either of them, so I find that a bit distracting. I think Hugh looks pretty fantastic for someone who has aged pretty normally, and Nicole could definitely ease up on the procedures, but still looks gorgeous - I love the colours they dressed her in in this episode. The actress playing Elena reminded me a bit of a raven-haired Jennifer Lawrence. It's clear that Nicole's character is an unreliable narrator, and is hiding information. I think the guess someone made upthread about the elevator kiss being caught on camera by police is correct. Lordy, the actor playing Detective Mendoza is one handsome dude. I'm already thoroughly hooked on the plot, and also enjoying the NY Upper-West side decor/clothing eye-candy.

Really!? I hadn't heard about this! Yay!

Yes! No way I would have vacated the palace without the box! That scene drove me crazy! From the way this episode was written, it seemed the Queen issued this award to Maggie Thatcher as a sort of consolation prize, purely out of pity. I have to wonder if Charles was quite as vile as portrayed in this series. Not defending his extramarital dalliance with Camilla, but I suspect Diana had to have been quite a handful at times. His was a family not equipped to deal with normal human emotions let alone serious mental illness. Probably one of the most ill-starred match-ups in history. I did enjoy the scene with an exasperated Queen laying the smack-down on Charles. Olivia was great in that scene. I also enjoyed the scenes of Diana in America - I think she genuinely enjoyed interacting with the people, and contrary to the accusations lobbed at her, I don't believe she was grand-standing by engaging in close contact with those she visited with. I think she was just a naturally empathetic person with a gift for connecting with others, no matter how brief the encounter. I wish the show would go 6 seasons as originally planned. Only one more season. Gonna miss this show!

Yes, the maple leaf flag was adopted in the 60's, so still pretty recent! Prior to that, Canada used some sort of variation that incorporated the the British flag. Canada is a relative young'un compared to other Western nations.

Yeah, they skipped Canada in that sequence, but Australia got a nod. Probably because it wouldn't be obvious to viewers what Canada was, unless they showed people playing hockey? Canada didn't even have a maple-leaf flag at that point, so they couldn't have even used that as a background clue. Later on, at the Commonwealth Conference, I did see someone sitting at the big round conference table with a little Canadian flag in front of him, but it was a brief camera pan to the right. I'm assuming this was probably supposed to be Brian Mulroney. There was a lot of funny stuff in this episode - I loved the verbal sparring between the Queen and Thatcher. I wanted to cheer when the Queen stated that she too saw herself as a "tribal leader in an eccentric costume" - totally laughed at this. Also loved Charles laying the smack-down on bratty self-important Andrew. You can tell the show-runners REALLY hate Andrew.

I agree - I've been thinking it's weird that they've never shown Margaret's children - the show always makes it look like she's completely alone in the world, when she had two offspring who were young adults at this point. A bit of insight into how she interacted with them would have been interesting. Margaret was an awful person and her marriage to Athony Armstrong-Jones was toxic, but their kids miraculously turned out very well - low key lives and never in the press, other than weddings. I'm very curious to know how that happened - I guess Margot and Anthony must've done something right.

The entire Falklands conflict was an utter farce. Had there not been actual casualties (which is even sadder considering how trifling and pointless it was), it would have been hilarious - something straight out of a Monty Python sketch. I really believe it was used as a diversionary tactic to drum up patriotism while Britain was in a terrible economic slump. This ploy almost always seems to work when it's trotted out, and it did in this case - the Brits went nuts celebrating their glorious victory over some distant islands mostly populated by sheep. I found this episode interesting, and definitely dropped lots of anvils about future events to come. Olivia Colman is really bringing it this season - I loved how perplexed she was by each of her children. The fact she had to ask a staffer for briefs on each child made me sort of laugh. I had no idea about Thatcher's family life - I vaguely knew she had kids, but didn't realize they were fraternal twins and that she favoured her son so much. It was sad to watch - what a toxic environment for the daughter. I've often wished for siblings, but this whole episode made me kind of glad that I'm an only child. I'm seconding everyone's lament that they didn't cover a bit more of Anne last season (especially the kidnapping attempt -what a missed opportunity!), and tied it a bit more to this season. The actors they hired to play Edward and Andrew were not nearly as handsome as their real-life counterparts in that era. Andy & Eddie are not much to look at now, but they were extremely attractive looking at that age. I strongly suspect the show totally nailed what spoiled little shits both of them probably were.

I love Charles Dance, but I agree he would have made a much better older Phillip. I was disappointed they didn't bring Greg Wise back as Mountbatten, (they could have easily aged him up a bit) because he was an absolute dead ringer for him. Charles Dance certainly had the right bearing for the role, but doesn't resemble Mountbatten physically at all. I really enjoyed this episode - loved the wild Scottish scenery. Boy, Peter Morgan sure does like trotting out the deer/stag sighting trope when writing about her majesty. The into of Diana has been really good so far. The actress portraying her doesn't resemble her as much when viewed head on, as her face is a bit too round. But from certain profile angles the resemblance is uncanny - she has exactly the right blue eyes. She is doing the coy shy thing very well. When you read about their courtship, it's shocking how little they knew one another. I think they only met about 5 or 6 times before their engagement was announced. So much unhappiness because of archaic rules.

I just figured out who the Benny character reminds me of! Anyone who has watched the animated series BoJack Horseman on Netlflix will remember the kid who dated Princess Caroline. He fooled her into thinking he was an adult by standing on another kid, wrapping up in a trench-coat and wearing a hat. I knew the actor & his costuming was driving me crazy for a reason! Thomas Brodie-Sangster gave a very good performance as Benny, but he just couldn't pull off the look they were going for. I don't think I would have been as bothered if his character had been wearing more basic clothing for the 60's time period. This cartoon had been floating around in the back in my consciousness somewhere and took awhile to resurface.

I like him a lot - he's handsome and charismatic for sure, but I was picturing someone a bit older by a decade or so. I can't seem to place anyone in the mid-40ish age range who would work. The people I pictured are all too old for the part. Colin Firth, Clive Owen would have worked 10 years ago or so. The only one who comes to mind at the moment is Matthew Goode, but I feel he's very physically slight and not imposing enough. I dunno, I'm out of current casting ideas.

I have no interest in re-visiting the show, or any of the people from it, but I do remember how awful his home looked when he lived in there! It looked like something straight out of an episode of Hoarders. I'm thinking no self-respecting ghost would want to haunt that place!

It's been years since I read the novel so I don't remember all of the differences. The Jack Fevell character who was Rebecca's bit on the side was actually her cousin (not a sibling or in-law), which, while really squicky, wasn't completely unheard of back then. The novel never specified whether they were first, second or third cousins removed. Every movie adaptation I've seen the actors have always nailed his sleaziness perfectly, including this one. In the novel, Maxim was presented as substantially older than the heroine/narrator (by at least 20 years or so), which played a lot into the psychology of their relationship - a serious power differential, plus probably some daddy issues etc. I think a lot of people misread him as a brooding romantic figure, when really he was pretty weak willed and also emotionally abusive toward his new bride. In any case, he was not the sentient tub of vanilla yogurt that is Armie Hammer. Mrs. DeWinter 2 was presented as very shy and mousy in the book - so no, not Lily James, as much as I like her. I do recall the novel revealed Rebecca's true nature as a vicious sociopath who despised everyone around her (including all of the men she had affairs with), which was sort of addressed in the movie. There were no Nancy Drew escapades in the novel - the storyteller does not bust into a doctor's office to search for files to clear her husband's name. The book's ending was somewhat bleaker and more subdued than the happy ending with romantic travel photos presented in the movie. In the novel the couple seems to be yoked together by their dark secrets rather than romantic love, and are drifting together in a rootless life of exile. I'd love to hear from others who've read the novel more recently as my memory is pretty fuzzy, but those are a few points I could remember off the bat.

I found the scenes with the training and the gaming sessions in Benny's apartment a bit draggy, but the rest of the episode was great. I didn't occur to me that Cleo may have been a plant, but I think that may have been the case. It's too bad that Beth can't see there are people around who care about her and want to help. Once she took possession of the house and began to work on decorating and sprucing it up, I really thought Beth was going to be okay - I actually wasn't expecting her to spiral quite that badly. I'm liking the more hip late 60's fashion she's wearing while she drinks herself into a stupor. Jolene! Yay!

I felt bad for Harry Beltik. it's hard when you're not passionate about the things you used to be passionate about, or you realize your skills will not take you where you hoped you might go. I just can't with the actor playing Benny. His performance is very good, but to me, with the unfortunate hat and clothing, he looks like a little boy playing dress-up. Like he seriously looks like a 12 year-old who drew on a mustache. I'm kind of hoping Townes will reappear.

This was a really sad episode. Adoptive Mom has certainly seemed doomed for awhile now, but I was hoping they'd have a bit more time together to continue their relationship. Loved the kid who played the Russian prodigy - he was absolutely adorable. Poor Beth - handling funeral arrangements and all the financial fallout and paperwork is really tough on adults, never mind a teenage kid. And the house isn't paid for yet? Not likely she can make regular payments with her prize money.

I'm thoroughly hooked on this show even though I have absolutely no interest or inclination towards chess. My Dad tried to teach me how to play, and I guess my brain just isn't wired for it. I'm not great at strategy games, and found it impossible to keep the various movements of the pieces straight in my head. This inability probably explains a lot about how my life in general has turned out. Seeing period Vegas is fun, and I'm glad her adoptive Mom is bonding with her during their travels, but am also worried that she's begun enabling Beth's addictions since she seems to be a functional alcoholic herself. She also had the ominous *cough of doom* this episode. It was extremely weird seeing the adult version of the kid from Love Actually in this episode, because to me, HE LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME! Except with scruffy wispy facial hair. It's bizarre! I know he's about 30, but he doesn't look any different to me. I felt bad that she thought maybe something might happen with Townes. The show certainly made it look like he was gay or at least bi. Goodness, the actor playing him is definitely dreamy - great casting there.

It seems like they become cognizant that they're replaying a script mid-way through, or that fragments of what they're experiencing are very familiar. Maybe sort of like ghostly deja vu. It would be awful to be trapped in an unending loop like that. In the same way, the notion of reincarnation does not appeal to to me at all. I'm exhausted this time around - do I really have to come back and do this again?

I don't think they were actually going for glamour, I think they were trying to make her look harsh and scary, which is the effect troweled on make-up can often have on older women.

I just watched it tonight. I didn't think it was terrible - costumes and settings were gorgeous, so it kept me entertained for 90 minutes, but it also wasn't great. And although I thought Lily James was too beautiful for the part, I didn't mind her in the movie. I was totally dismayed by Armie Hammer being cast in this - he just doesn't have the brooding air of mystery needed for the role. No charisma. Not sure why Hollywood keeps trying to make him happen. Kristen Scott Thomas, on the other hand, was PERFECT for the role - I just wish she had been given more to do - in some ways her character was made slightly more sympathetic in this version. Danvers is much more fun when she's deliciously evil. The other supporting players were also excellent: Ann Dowd was hilarious as Lily James' awful employer, and the actor who played Jack Fevell did a great job as well. I feel like this version felt far too rushed and truncated - I think a two part (mini)- miniseries might have given the story more time to ratchet up the suspense & tension. I would have liked a bit less time in the South of France at the beginning as well as the courtroom stuff at the end. I think a bit more time needed to be spent on the middle section - how perfect everyone seemed to think the 1st Mrs. De Winter was, and on Danvers toying with the new wife like a cat with prey. It also felt really sunny, and I wanted a bit more gothic atmosphere, though the manor house sets were great. Those were swarms of starlings that often fly together in strange formations that turn back and forth in the sky (they're called murmurations). I can't remember 100% from the book, but I think to new Mrs. De Winter II, they often looked like they were spelling the inescapable letter 'R' in the sky. I loved the book when I was younger, and as far as movies go, there is still nothing that tops HItchcock's adaptation. I did like the PBS version that was done in the 90's with Diana Rigg as Danvers. This one was a distant, waaaaay distant third place for me.

I really hope I don't wind up as a ghost if it's endless repetition for all eternity - which is what this episode kind of felt like. I liked aspects of this episode, but agree with most everyone else and felt it went on too long. The story could have been told in 1/2hr tops. Now we know who the poor little no-face boy is - that part got to me and made me sad. Also the jump scare with the trunk was fun. I'm still trying to figure out who in the 1980's time period is living/dead. Also curious to know the connection to the framing story - how does Carla Gugino's character know the haunted history of Bly? Guess I'll have to wait for the finale. Too tired to watch it tonight.

I have to agree with everyone else that this episode was a major let-down. For me, it contained all the things in the show that bored me, namely all the magical nonsense. Through all 10 episodes, I haven't been able to make heads or tails of what the Braithwaites were hoping to accomplish and what Christina's end game was supposed to be, so I just tuned it out completely. Instead I was content to just sit back and enjoy each of the episodes as separate self-contained stories, wherein the characters went on different odysseys that touched on real historical events, and incorporated fragments of literature and poetry along the way. Most of the show's episodes were hair-raising, insightful and moving. The finale however, was a confusing hot mess, and I had no emotional reaction whatsoever to anything that was happening. I was unmoved for the most part by the character's deaths, and Christina was such a low-stakes villain, that a show-down with her as a conclusion just made me shrug. Count me in as someone who didn't care for the actress portraying her either. Nothing about her held my attention - she wasn't scary or charismatic or intriguing at all. Not what you want in a villain! Honestly, as much as I love supernatural elements in stories, I almost would have preferred it if the series had just been about an extended family who travelled places and worked on green-book guides, and had odd encounters with the unexplained. The pet shoggoth can stay though!