BingeyKohan

I keep seeing references in recaps to season 4 being on the horizon or just around the corner. I know it's in the can but did they make an announcement about a premiere date?

I'm glad you framed it out in this way because to me the Gennadi-could-wind-up-in-Time-magazine thing seemed less like a real concern someone like Claudia would have and more like narrative contrivance to place Stan and Elizabeth on a collision course. Preventing him from becoming a Martina Navratilova, though, doesn't seem worth killing him and his (estranged) wife over, which seems to be where Elizabeth's head is at these days.

lol. I thought this too - i think maybe the script intended for the scene around him to be more chaotic and production just didn't pull it off?

In spite of everything I’m still fond of Elizabeth. I’ve decided Renee will turn out to be nefarious in some way so P & E will see enough there for it to be plausible to pin all their activity as ‘illegals’ on her so they can truly get out. The tragedy of the end will be that Paige doesn’t actually want out so she stays in. Eventually Claudia and Paige freeze Elizabeth out and close ranks.

Totally. Last episode we had Elizabeth scrubbing blood off herself in a hazy, scuffed mirror - this episode, another failed mission but a clear mirror for Elizabeth to look in. Hopefully that means she’s beginning to see herself more clearly?

Frayed, crumbling wife dying from the inside, supportive husband patting her on the shoulder - I feel like the artist and the negotiator are actually performing a little play around Elizabeth that is an abstract of the Jennings. I think some of the symbolism and mirror opposites this season are on the nose but I liked how in the sketch-the-vase scene Elizabeth could not find her way from darkness to light. The husband came in talking about a get-together with the Russian and Elizabeth goes right back to dark. (“go save the world,” the dying wife tells her husband right before she retches; wonder if we’ll see a replay of that starring the actual Jenningses)

I'm not terribly interested in the travel agency financials, but I thought it was telling that Stan expositioned to Renee (for our benefit really) that Elizabeth was off working with their corporate clients (as a way of explaining they're not exactly joined at the hip at work, like Renee wants to be with Stan). In his ra-ra speech to his staff, it sounded like Philip's motivation was really about selling to personal-travel customers, about things like where your cabin is on the cruise ship, etc. Maybe they're suggesting that the agency is struggling because she is not doing her part with corporate clients, while she is struggling because Philip is no longer her support in the field? Meaning they need each other in both directions? Although odd that Stan would be the deliverer of that detail. They did show her in the office vaguely looking through a file as if she is keeping up appearances but maybe nobody is actually carrying her weight at the agency in that regard.

What throws me off about this is that Renee was pumping Aderholt's wife for information about 'the couple' - assumed to be the Russian couple from last season, the guy being the hockey player and his fiance the woman who would nervously interact with Stan and Aderholt as she was recruited. if Renee is an agent she would care about them for her own purposes, unless the whole point of that was to keep Elizabeth suspicious and she only asked because she knew Elizabeth could hear her. I guess it will become clearer in the next few episodes what we're supposed to think of Paige's competency as a spy but her competency as a human was called into question for me when she stood up and basically recapped the entire plot of the program they had just watched. Not just one plot point or observation but like four in a row. If I were Elizabeth I would have been like YES HONEY WE WATCHED THE SAME THING YOU DID, now go wait in the car.

I hadn't thought of this - I suppose I was only thinking Elizabeth would see herself abstractly in the work rather than the threat that someone else could see her literally in it. If so, seems key that she was actually sleeping on the job (from being overworked and spread too thin) when she allowed herself to be drawn. But how much contrivance would it take for Stan to see the sketch and have it remind him of sketches he has of a similar looking woman wearing similar glasses...

I still hold out hope we'll get a Renee/Elizabeth knock-down, drag-out. If Arkady knows as much as he does about Phillip's mindset (and the intention to position him to 'stop' Elizabeth) then someone like Renee (if she were a long-game agent) would too. Maybe she'll be positioned to take Phillip out in order to let Elizabeth proceed, but Elizabeth will take down Renee in order to save Phillip (despite being on the same side, technically, as Renee) If you follow. I guess you'd call this fanfic more than true speculation. I do think it's interesting that Renee and Stan actually kind of look alike. You could think of her as a female Stan, almost, if you accept the theory she's an agent who has accepted a very long embed, the way he himself used to, before we met him. I'm kind of surprised the Centre hasn't insisted Elizabeth divorce Phillip (in true American fashion) and enter into another arranged-marriage with someone who actually is a true believer. But I guess that would make Phillip even more problematic, floating out there with what he knows.

The psychologist is actually the reincarnated spirit of Mary from S1 and the Man-Bun (meaning the hair itself not the person) was actually never hair at all but the reconstituted dress stains from Yael's food poisoning in S2.

Ah, interesting - it didn't even occur to me that was his hand, I guess because of the improbability of the posture. That makes more sense - he's trying to be protective (or circling the wagons around the family) but she's not sure she wants or trusts the protection...

I like it a lot (is this the first time the "R" has gotten that treatment?) but I'm trying to decide who the third hand belongs to. Paige? Elizabeth? Oprah? (jk) It matches Elizabeth's exactly so I assume it's meant to symbolize her loyalties being divided between the family and the work she's now doing alone, without Philip. Agree? Other interpretations? ETA: By 'third' I meant one that couldn't belong to Philip or Elizabeth, as shown - I forgot you can't actually see Philip's hand.

One more thing I will say about UnReal (and then I will back away, because I hope there are diehard fans out there and don't want to pile on with only negativity): I am so tired of the aesthetics of this show. The Everlasting set is so ugly, and the show's design (with the exception of Madison's pigtails) has not changed one iota since the pilot. It's like going to a theme restaurant over and over again until you can't stand the sight of it anymore.

I couldn’t make it past the sight gag of Serena in the tower as Rapunzel. The writing has gotten too dumb. I used to blame the serious drop-off in quality from S1 on losing Marti Noxon but now I think Lifetime took advantage of that instability to give them notes about intentionally making the show dumber, and easier to follow if you didn’t even have the sound on, like they thought it was too smart for its own good or too much of an outlier from the rest of their programming. It makes me sad for the cast who are for the most part very talented.

And if you're in the NYC area, a random local PSA where the subway cars where completely filled with tennis balls. Or apples. I can't remember which - probably apples and it was promoting a food drive, or access to healthy food choices. That's what I always think of when I see her.

Did anyone else think they were setting up Dallas to be part of a throuple next season? I think her new man is still with his ex and they want a third. I don’t see much momentum for a new season, though. I do like that Frances showed backbone this season, standing up to Cathy and not letting Sylvia or Skip off the hook without making it clear how she felt. But none of this are engines a show runs on for long.

Quinn’s only other layer besides shark is self-pity. Rachel has reluctant-co-conspirator-but-so-good-at-my-job-I-can’t-help-myself, self-doubt, and ‘I’m done!’ Rinse and repeat (or gargle and spit into a bottle) for both of them. My FFS moment was Jasper asking about Mark Zuckerberg. I feel like that’s so obvious and entry level a question Owen might ask it, not Jasper who’s supposedly of Serena’s world and would pride himself on already knowing the answer. I put this into the same category of laziness as mocking Serena onto a magazine cover that looked like a cheap Town and Country knockoff instead of a Wired or Fast Company. She’s as believable as Anne Hathaway was as a start-up founder in The Intern, I guess. If she were really the female Elon Musk wouldn’t she date the male Amber Heard?

Madison is suddenly Anne Hathaway from Devil Wears Prada, post makeover montage. I agree you need a fresh-faced, naive counterpoint to everyone else's ruthlessness, not more ruthlessness (hence she should have stayed in pigtails, or been replaced by another newbie P.A.). And unfortunately the actor who plays Jay seems to have a repertoire of 3 emotions/reactions - I don't think there's much more they can do with his character.

Has it ever been established exactly what kind of network Everlasting airs on? When Chet and Quinn were leaving Gary's office I noticed a poster for a Jersey Shore-like show in the background (such an outdated reference!) as well as one for Everlasting. If Everlasting is an obvious Bachelor rip-off, you'd think it would air on a major general-interest network, but that kind of network wouldn't air a Jersey Shore type trash-fest. Is it then a Bravo-like network, or VH1-like? It seems odd to me that the folks of Everlasting don't seem to exist in the same universe as a franchise like The Real Housewives, or even a fake version of it, and you could argue that the Housewives franchise is as or more influential in terms of the current reality TV standard than The Bachelor/ette. Also, if Everlasting is not on a major network AND not part of a franchise it seems weird its producers continue to take it so seriously and believe it has the power to change minds of the viewing public. (It also seems strange for Quinn to believe Rachel is the only person who can do what she does, but that's sort of a different topic.)

I'm confused on how we're supposed to take the Sylvia defection. Is it really just (perhaps sloppily handled) character-building around the sharkiness of Skip, as some kind of foil for Frances? Given that SATC got knocked for lack of diversity (and then they threw in Blair Underwood and Miranda's neighbor as token ways to address that) I felt like Sylvia was a little bit of the same - an easy for the show to diversify its landscape. Which also makes me think they would be reluctant to complicate her character so much as being perceived to be screwing Frances over. Here I will admit I haven't finished the episode, let alone watched a preview for the next, but I wonder if the machinations are just to keep Skip around and create a reason for Frances to pursue or punish him.

I gasped like 3 times this episode. To have been a serious Dakota Fanning doubter for this I have come all the way around to ride or die for her Sara Howard. I will be sad when this show is over. Good catch above on the dirty fingernails! Interested to hear Stevie’s description of his face.

Couldn’t agree more. I remember Sarah Jessica Parker used to say of Sex and the City that the story ratio was it was half a show about Carrie and half a show about the four friends (which meant SJP figured into 100% of it!) I think they make a similar miscalculation here - half the show is Everlasting drama, half is the personal drama of its makers. I think the ratio in the first season tipped waaay more compellingly to making Everlasting the focal point. I can already see they are up to their unfortunate old tricks of telling instead of showing and rushing developments. Rachel should have spent at least half if not all of the first episode in her farm setting. After Quinn made her pitch and left, there could have been at least one scene showing how bored Rachel was there, maybe manipulating other group members without realizing she was ‘producing’ them too. Instead she’s sucked back in before the title card! It makes it harder to accept she would bring her brutal honesty to work with her.

I feel like they are just going in circles with Rachel’s stories. She starts this season coming back from exile, same as in the pilot. And this quote from Shapiro in The Hollywood Reporter sounds the same as Rachel’s POV last season, just substituting a suitress for a black suitor. Shapiro: And I think what's a great opportunity about having a female suitress, or the opportunity that it provides, is for both of our characters to have this really fucked up avatar that they put everything onto. Rachel is really excited to have a feminist suitress because she thinks it's going to elevate feminism in the minds of America. Quinn is dubious about it. Poor Serena sort of becomes a doll for them that they're moving around and playing with.

Agree. If the killer is climbing onto rooftops and swooping into bedrooms though the window could be that no one has seen him but the victims.