BingeyKohan

Hoping they meant that as straight-up homage. ‘Starling’ was in the episode title, even. I don’t see Willem as being a climber, another reason he’ll be ruled out as the killer. But for Sarah to be right (and I do want her to be right) the killer will also have to have had a traumatic mother relationship.

In this photo challenge all I could think of was the new pringles campaign where they want you to stack a Cheddar Cheese between two Originals and call it a grilled cheese sandwich.

This episode won me all the way over. Of all the mirthful bits amid the gloom for some reason the line that actually made me laugh was Moore saying Mary had to try more than once to set her father on fire. So Buffalo Byrnes is some kind of Olivia Pope for rich homicidal pedophiles? That is twisted. And speaking of Silence of the Lambs refs they’re implying Kreizler invented quid pro quo! I can’t tell what we’re supposed to think happened to Moore. I could see the cop at the beginning just making an off color joke consistent with his views of homosexual practice, or trying to get the story out there that Moore was violated just to sully his name. Moore only accused Sally of emptying his wallet, and Sally seems the type who would have enjoyed refreshing his memory.

Exactly. Mona, I think her name was - only on a couple of times each season, especially after his mid life crisis and he left her.

Anyone know how many episodes this season has? I'm not totally sure what narrative strands they're gathering other than Frances drama over "Robby's" relationship. Was thrown by Lila's warm hug toward her mother. It almost made me think they were airing episodes out of order, as can happen in network meddling. I don't think that's the case but it did feel like we missed a beat. I've found Talia Balsam an interesting and unsettling presence ever since Stephen Soderbergh's K Street back in the day. On Mad Men I never felt like she came across as a true citizen of the 1960s - she never melded with the period for me. I like her in this, though, and wish she had more to do.

Interesting! I wonder if this show is a little like UnReal, in that that one was much better when Marti Noxon was heavily involved (although unlike with that show maybe we never even really got to see what a true Sharon Horgan version of Divorce would have been like)

do we think that Moore is actually going to remember anything he was told by the boy in the room when they were alone, or was that info-dump just for our (the viewers') benefit?

It's nice seeing Frances invested in something, although I wish she had a little bit more of a sophisticated language for expressing what she liked about the painting or the artist's work. So happy to have had no kids this week. This show makes me wonder how much SJP's sense of personal brand preservation fights against Sharon Horgan's natural storytelling instincts. (knowing that SJP is a high level producer who likely can overrule Horgan) For example, Frances' phase of seeking out sexual satisfaction during her affair happened mostly off-camera, before we met her, and post divorce (i.e. in the scenes SJP has had to actively play) Frances has shown no signs of being a sexual being. It just doesn't seem like the kind of lead character Horgan would be interested in exploring, minus a star who has particular ideas about her character's "likability,' etc (not that I would find Frances unlikable if she let loose a little, of course, I'm just projecting as to why Frances is relatively put together when storytelling conventional wisdom would call for her to be more complicated - the F.U. to her own daughter notwithstanding.)

I was prepared to not accept Dakota Fanning as Sara but her no-nonsense, buttoned-up stance (self-preservation, I'm sure, is her and the director's take) sort of worked for me. Probably more realistic than someone "plucky" like Abigail Spencer from "Timeless" might have played her. To me she's a little bit of a soul sister to Anna, the heroine of Jennifer Egan's Manhattan Beach, if you've read that.

Kate’s Mueller freaked me out. Finally realized it was because somehow she looked like Mama June to me.

Has there been a Grace-centric story yet? The only one I can really think of was when HC Jr made his return appearance. She's been a supporting player in the A or B stories of other cast members otherwise, it seems. I wonder why that is.

I missed Lucca. Zoey is still popping pills, right? Didn't she down one quickly before the first tutoring sesh? We're in for a very special episode down the line?

On the work front for Frances, a new development (since last season) is that she was downsized from her headhunting job, correct? And we're to believe she is living off severance and making a go of the gallery? (which can't be bringing in any income, only sucking it out in the form of rent and utilities, I assume) I think we got that detail in an aside she delivered in this ep. I don't understand how they are making their mortgage on that house (with riverfront access! I don't remember the Hudson being so close last season)

Wasn't there also a good quote that referred to the movie Get Out? I got distracted and missed it and haven't seen it cited anywhere else.

One main reason I’m bummed about this three-year jump is because it dissipates any narrative tension in the one genuinely suspenseful thing leading into the final season: is Renee a spy or not? That’s a lot of story to skip and still have it be relevant, and the finale seemed to set her up as having the exact opposite experience of Philip: just as he felt he was out, a development pulled him back, while just as she felt she was in, Stan wanting to quit meant the opportunity might be blown. Whatever, I’m still hoping for an Elizabeth/Renee fight to rival Sydney/faux Francie. Maybe Paige joins in at the last minute.

I was sure we’d see Ashley as an early porn player. Wasn’t one of our first intros into that world through her, shooting those test Polaroids? C.C. seems to have warmed to the concept...

Off-topic for this thread but this past weekend I went to Washington Square Park to see the Ai Wei Wei work and noticed just steps from the arch an apartment building I'm 90 percent sure is the one used for Candy/Eileen's building exteriors. There's an address on the portico they must CGI out for the shots. In this episode when she first arrived in her john's suite she mentions a "house detective," which doesn't seem like something she would have encountered at her pay by the hour fleabags. Another way I guess the episode marked the passage of time? She's built up some institutional knowledge of passing through nicer hotels for a change?

I'd seen on-set photos of Maggie G. wearing that costume for the first porno we saw them filming (w/the guy who chose "Hombre" to re-fluff himself with). My speculative mind figured it was Eileen in her "take me seriously, i'm a filmmaker now" mode, but now I see it was a teacher costume for the set-up of the movie shoot! I loved the look she and Harvey (what a tainted name now) exchanged when the actor fumbled his 'dirty talk.' Just 2 episodes left of the first season, is that right?

With its circular drive i first thought Eileen/Candy's building was The Breevort in the Village but looking at both entries that can't be right because the Breevort doesn't have columns (and they would have had to CGI away the building name). I bet some eagle-eyed New Yorker, though, can identify it. I think there's a building in Prospect Heights, BK, too, that has that kind of driveway in front. I was a little unclear on what type of oasis the mobsters had in mind when they were showing Vinnie the new space at the end. I thought they were angling to get into the porn theater business, but even a rat-less one doesn't seem like it ever would have been a luxurious space, qualified to be considered some kind of haven. Are they working some other type of angle?

I really do like this show and Adlon herself -- and Margaret Lyons of the Times (who I trust) was rhapsodic about this entire season, having already screened the whole thing -- but I hope this is the last episode where almost all Sam does for the (less than) half hour is stare plaintively. She had a burst of being an active character in the beginning, with her (seemingly not entirely justified) rant at her date, then she was pretty passive the rest of the episode. Hopefully that moment of reflection at her cheap seaside motel will inspire a ... less impressionistic rest of the season. I can be in for a half-hour show that's like a sitcom version of ambient music, but I can also understand the feeling that there's not enough pay-off.

I took this that she was lying to her mother about it and that she'd really just dropped out. Her Mom seemed to know it was fishy.

Re: Emmy categorization (although this may not be the correct thread) I wonder if BLL will compete in limited series, since they've tentatively announced plans (at least exploratory ones) for a second season, with the author brainstorming plotlines. It would seem if you're getting a second season with the same characters and setting you are not a limited series. hopefully that dealmaking will sort itself out in time for Emmy submission. i would not like to watch the faces of either Lange or Sarandon as they smile graciously and clap for Nicole Kidman.

I think of that great scene in The Apartment where Jack Lemmon is trying to watch Grand Hotel on TV and between the announcer's reeling off the movie-star names (including our Joan's!) and sponsors they never get to the movie. I agree a small-town girl like the hotel clerk would have known Joan Crawford was coming to town, if nothing else because her mother loved JC back in the day. I'm not sure I'm 100% behind the myth we're perpetuating that Jessica Lange did not prepare for the role or properly respect JC. It's very easy to Google 'jessica lange joan crawford entertainment weekly' and find a story where she is very respectful (and seemingly knowledgable) about JC's upbringing. I give her best line of the night for "I'm perfectly happy to read both parts." I agree a more balanced portrayal in this episode (between JC and BD) would have shown BD insisting on playing the Charlotte character at a much younger age, so that later we understood when we see her regretting it and feeling foolish at the filming. A lot of her stuff happened off-screen, perhaps for time. Ryan Murphy must have resigned himself to the fact that the post-Oscars episode was fated to be a let-down. I also agree it's fun to eavesdrop on JC's sycophantic phone calls. One night I went down a rabbit hole of Google-image searching her letters, usually in response to fans, or to interview requests, or declining invitations. An interesting glimpse of her ruling sense of decorum. (And there are also a few others confused in there, too, like Katherine Hepburn offering not much help to a book proposal aiming to set the record straight after Mommie Dearest, but expressing her sympathies with Joan.)

I find it very telling and completely in keeping with the themes this series explores that "Big Little Lies" (a series about the inner lives of much younger women than JC, BD, SS or JL) is commanding the lion's share of think pieces in the press. I feel like if "Feud" had aired at a time when "Big Little Lies" wasn't sucking up all the oxygen then it would be getting more coverage than it is.

Does anyone recall all the names Joan (and Hedda) dropped on the phone as they made their campaign calls? Off the top of my head I remember hearing Loretta (Young I presume) and Cary (I assumed Grant)... I recognized a few more in the moment but my memory is failing me.