lazylou

I have been binge watching the seasons made for Netflix the past couple of weeks. I must say, they seem much better to me than those seasons made for cable TV. I seem to recall people on the cable show commuting to clean houses from Durant to Aspen... Ridiculous! As someone somewhat familiar with northern Wyoming, I have to say that it is good to see that part of the world depicted on film. Some of the issues the program has brought to the fore include the neglect of the FBI when it comes to policing major crimes on reservation lands and the poverty typical among natives. During the course of the run of the program, I believe the Violence Against Women Act finally passed Congress and changed for the better at least one of the shortcomings depicted on this show. Although the series is evidently filmed in New Mexico, it really does look a lot like Wyoming, except maybe for the town square in Durant. Most towns in that part of the world sprawl along the sides of a state or federal highway. I do wonder how successful that casino would be ... There just is not a major population center near enough to provide a regular flow of gamblers. That said, I like the Greek tragedy suggestion about Walt. I want him to be wrong about Jacob. He has really always been a flawed man, but I do not want him to bring about his own destruction.

I too found the twins too similar. Of course, twins generally are hard to tell apart, but something has to happen to help us out, here. The easiest thing would be to shave one mustache.

I thought the same thing. First time I have noticed D'Angelo in awhile!

Why would he be in a hurry? The party is his alibi.

One reason I thought Baz had to survive was that he and Lucy were the only ones who knew where the stash was. So, unless Lucy was working with Smurf or someone, if Baz dies, the rest of Smurf's stuff is gone. I just cannot believe that Smurf is allied with Lucy...Smurf was the one who ended the relationship with Lucy ten years before and caused Baz to choose Cath over Lucy. BUT the other day I realized that J's sudden purchase of the truck corresponds with Baz showing up at Smurf s, handing J some cash, and J not having to go to school for some reason. Smurf gives him the POV...and then he showed up at school with a truck. Maybe he needed the truck to follow Baz. Maybe he does know where Baz hid the suitcases. It must have taken Baz some time to build the wall... I wondered, though, why he had put it behind a wooden wall, but Lucy and Marco are shown breaking thru dry wall. It is as though Baz decided to change the hiding place in the house to better camouflage it, which means he would have spent yet more time at the house...more time that J could have used to follow him. If J had followed Baz to the house, if Baz dies, or even if he is in a coma or ICU for awhile, J would discover lthe suitcases are gone, and could conclude Lucy had them. This also increases the possibly that J either shot Baz...but did seem the shooter was probably right handed, ruling out J, though I could never tell for sure....or arranged the shooting...maybe at Smurf's behest. Craig's being in Mexico already may prove useful.

Pope asked Deran to take care of Lena when the s--- hits the fan; in retrospect, I find myself puzzled. If at that time he planned to defend himself against Baz, it would seem he was taking out insurance for Lena in case both he and Baz die. But he has been contemplating suicide for a long time. So was his original plan to kill Baz and then himself? If so, maybe he shot Baz. But where was Lena? Maybe Craig did it ...

Part of the answer lies in Season One. Cath was a long time girl friend, originally of Pope, who apparently burned her parents In their house at Smurf's behest; evidently they were talking to the cops. Cath met Baz at the beach...evidently to get her out of the house. This happened some twenty years ago. According to Baz/Marco/Craig, once upon a time they all worked with Lucy and Marco until roughly ten years before when Smurf put an end to the business relationship between the two groups. Apparently Baz and Lucy date back to that period. When Smurf put an end to the Baz/Lucy thing, he went with Cath, though he knew Andrew had always loved her. ( Cath told one of the cops that she had loved Baz since she was sixteen , and we assume she always preferred Baz to Pope...thus Baz gets Catherine.). However, it seems she was always Baz's second choice. ) So no...he meant Lucy.

Will the family blame Marco and Lucy if they do not know the stash is gone? How will they know, unless Baz is around to make the discovery? He and she are the only ones who know where it was hidden. So I think he has to survive.

Agree. But whoever was doing the shooting seemed to haVe been aiming at Baz...maybe not a very good shot. That's why I was thinking maybe the kid himself. Great cliff hanger!

Even though I think I have set out a good case for J as the shooter, this show loves to spread red herrings. So they will probably have the shooter be the kid kidnapped by Lucy or something!

It could have been Pope, J, Marco, or the recipient of Smurf's envelope. I suspect J. Pope must have Lena with him...surely she is not at the graduation party or the bar; I do not think Pope would leave her in either environment. Marco and Lucy have no immediate need to steal the stash so as long as they have Baz. But now that Baz is critically wounded, they have reason to retrieve the stuff. I think Lucy may have feelings for Baz...but not so much as to risk getting caught by the cops in that driveway. The other possibility is that Smurf hired someone...but since she tried to get Pope to take Baz out, I am thinking that money for Trujillo really was to keep her safe. I hate to say it, but I think J did it. 1) he is dressed in a black hoodie in the final scene 2) getting rid of Baz solves his immediate problems as holder of POA 3) it is revenge for being told about his mother's rape and his actual father in a cruel and threatening manner, 5) Baz's treachery has put J in an impossible position. Smurf may be mainly out for herself, and may ultimately betray J, but thus far she is the only one in the family who has done anything at all to help him, either before or after Julia's death, 6) like Nickie, J is an angry, neglected kid who, on a day when his family should have been celebrating his achievements, has demonstrated complete and utter disinterest in him. it is a shock to all of them to learn it is graduation day, 7) J solves his own problems, as in season one, and Baz's death would solve his problems though of course it means writing off the hidden stash...the only reason I can see that J may not have been the shooter. I hope he used that throwaway gun he had hidden at the neighbor's.

So no one thinks that was J in the black hoodie? only problem...where was Lena? Not at the Mai house, where Nikki is having her party...with Pope? the school year seemed to have gone by pretty fast. guess I completely misunderstood the passage of time.

We don't see much of J doing homework any more. As a former teacher, I am hoping the show just has more important things to depict. He told Smurf he was doing just enough to pass...but if he is actually taking AP Physics, doing enough to pass would involve doing quite a bit. I am not sure he actually had a test at all the day he went to see Smurf at the jail...and I noticed Lucy "tested" Nicki by asking about he chemistry..."or was it physics" test. Nicki recovered well from her flub...she is good at lies.

Hey, he knows his way around power tools!

Pope seems to break into the cars the old fashioned way... and the cars he steals seem to be older models...but I was just reading that new cars with key fobs, etc., can be hacked with an electronic device. There is much here that is not quite believable...such as successfully robbing all those banks in one afternoon...and the amount of money he got from the robberies. But, this is TV, not reality.

Nicki's mother did leave when she was very little. In Season One, Smurf seemed to understand Nicki quickly...remember when she suggested to J that some girls are just trying to shock their fathers? And then Nicki at one early point told J, "You aren't keeping up your end of being a bad influence." So...this may all have begun as a way to get her dad's attention, even though she seems to ridicule him. She has always had a frightening attraction though to drugs... J seems destined to go with addicts. Maybe not surprising, since, as someone said earlier, boys do marry their mothers.

Oh, thank you so much for the explanation. He must have used the shards to break the glass door at the last bank he robbed. I watched that scene two or three times trying to figure out what he had thrown that broke that glass. I wonder how the crooked banker will contrive to deposit Pope's money. I fear you may be right about Pope. But Hatosy has turned in such a great performance the past two seasons, I hate to see him go.

I am a little confused about this comment. As others have noted above, Pope and Catherine slept together after Lena was born, according to a conversation they have early in Season One,...and, since Lena is about 6, that would have happened well before Pope went to prison. I recently found Season One free on Amazon Prime, and watched the first episode again. in that first episode, a different actress plays Lena. She appears to be much younger...by episode two, the permanent Lena appears. Also in episode one, a conversation between Pope and Baz makes it sound as though Lena was a tiny baby at the time Pope went to prison. She would have had to have been around three when Pope left if Pope did three years and was just released. I wonder if there was a revision to the back story after the first episode was filmed. Maybe the original movie had a slightly different story, one in which a pregnant Catherine chooses Baz because Pope is going to prison. I am baffled about that, too. Hope someone knows.

I think J will see what Lucy said as confirmation Baz is his dad. I think this will just make him more resentful...after all, Baz left him in dire poverty with an addict. If anyone helps them, it was Smurf. J has just learned that Smurf killed Catherine. Wonder if this has affected his feelings at all toward Smurf. Does he believe it? Remember, he wanted Javi killed... Nikki is really a dubious ally. Someone he has to take care of... Maybe they will disappear to his neighbor's place. Or, in his new truck. Pope seems to have deposited everything he has in the account for Lena; maybe he is planning to take off with her. If so, hope he has some more money stashed someplace. They all seem to have a treasure trove of fake IDs, so maybe that is not a problem. It does not seem as though Baz will notice she is gone very quickly.

I think you are right that buying the truck has a purpose. Up til now J seems to have limited his purchases to basics...is that a new bike? New clothes?. Baz may now think he has bought J's loyalty; shows, though, that he has not been paying any attention to J. He told Lucy he did not trust J but knew how to handle him. Then he hands J the money. He thinks J's eagerness to be on jobs is eagerness for $.

Thanks for the translation, Cosmosgravitation! I guess one function Nikki serves is she is someone J may actually have a conversation with...though I think he does not totally trust her, either.

He was only 17 at the end of the first season...a minor who had been "sexually assaulted" by his teacher at the behest of the cops. assuming he has had a birthday...he would now be 18. I am always at a loss to know what time of year it is supposed to be on this show. Nicki had a "final"...so, end of semester? Quarter? When J is complaining about the cold air in the vents, Deran tells him it is unseasonably warm...but Pope puts on a jacket as he leaves the church. It has been mentioned previously that Lena is often wearing. Coat that seems out of place in Oceanside. But then they film there, so... They do need to consider the dialogue, though, and dress accordingly!

I think we have now!

I think that was Baz in the Polaroid, exhibiting the scars from a whipping Smurf had told him about but did not actually remember. Seems to me that Baz is blaming his dad for what he has become...just like last season, after ungraciously semi-admitting to being J's father, he showed up at his dad's, forced him to drink, and raged about his father"s behavior to him when he was a boy. As though Baz, realizing his shortcomings as a person, is shifting the blame to bad old dad. I was disappointed but not surprised by Craig's behavior. Clearly, the Cody family has a big problem with addiction...Julia, Smurf's mom, Craig. And Smurf drinks pretty heavily, too, at least this season. Maybe Ren is conning Craig, but maybe he burned through his own bankroll and then bummed more from her. I think Smurf was able to manipulate Pope by using his fear of prison to convince him to kill Catherine. This is why it is so important to him that Cath was not talking to the cops. J is definitely paying the long game. That is why I am wondering about his sudden purchase of the truck and then driving around in it. Is he supposed to have shown up at a dealership with one of those wads of cash? How much money are we supposed to think he was given? I guess maybe the car dealer would take the cash and let the questions go, but...hey, he is only 18. And whom does he hate more for abandoning him, Smurf or Baz? Smurf seems to trust him...he can't be so sure of Baz. I think Deran and Craig were surprised when Lucy showed up. I am hoping for someone to translate for us what was said...I thought maybe she was angry Marco had involved Deran and Craig. Does Baz realize she is a sort of Queen of the South? I thought Marco was a minor drug dealer and Lucy some sort of con artist...turns out they are maybe big league cartel players. I definitely do not want Lena under Lucy's care! I am hoping someone can explain why Smurf is trying to fence the jewelry from the boat heist after she told J that it was too soon to do so? Looks to me as though everyone except J is en route to jail.

I do not remember the note from Season One and could not read it. What did it say, please? I guess I could rewatch the episode...but.. I guess Samwell's "son" is now heir to the Tarly estates?