MCMLXXVII

True. I don’t know how famous Lori would have been to non-porn watchers, since even the john she picked up didn’t recognize her. She was famous enough for a music video and feature dancing, but they were still in the era where you had to go that section of the video store/ magazine rack.

Does anyone know if 2019 Vincent’s hotel room was in that Time Square Marriott that caused so much drama? Heh. Never really noticed it with all the other bells and whistles in the area, just that it’s super expensive for The New Year’s Eve ball drop.

We’re done. I rolled my eyes at Franco in old makeup. All in all it was about as expected. I guess it would have been too meta to have Vincent notice that HBO got rid of their entire “Late Night” section (yes, I’m still bitter).

Yup, pretty much all HBO dramas have the BIG SCENES in the penultimate episode, then the finale is tying up loose ends.

I predicted a Shauna Grant (or Savannah for us ‘90s folks) type ending for Lori, but was sad to see it. It seems the two porn star extremes are women who really embrace their persona and become sex-positive legends (Candy), and those who become trapped by it (Lori). The “After Porn Ends” documentaries are pretty awesome to see where people end up.

i love this show! It’s like it was custom-made for me (a fan of Mad Men, The Wire, and numerous mafia shows). I’m kind of surprised/amused at Adam Clayton Powell’s performance since I assumed he was a revered figure.

That actress looks so much like Jami Gertz it’s ridiculous! I would have thought it was her (but she’s like 50 now) or her daughter. Her name is Sepideh Moafi.

I was kind of surprised they went there. As a Howard Stern fan I remember the biggest gang bang “competition” of the 90s between Annabel Chong, Jasmin St. Claire, and Houston, but I guess it had to start somewhere. I really thought “Chekhov’s gun” would come into play and Lori would shoot the boyfriend and the other girl, or die by suicide, or he’d shoot her for trying to leave. Glad to see her moving on. Good to see Paul joining the protest. Bobby is a dumbass. Of course you have no leverage to pimp women/girls unless they’re naive and underage, in the country illegally, hooked on hard drugs, etc. Good for the girls going independent. #capitalism Surprised to see Rudy gone, but I guess it was the end of an era for mobsters who were “above” selling drugs.

I know! Weird that she has no female friends. I was inspired to google Ginger Lynn this morning since she would have been the top star in 1985 and there seems to have been camaraderie among the stars of the day.

Exactly! I’m sure half the reason Lori is with the boyfriend/suitcase pimp is that he’s de facto bodyguard in these situations. I’m kind of surprised he didn’t realize that and let her travel alone. You often hear of sex workers having unusually possessive/abusive partners, then there’s this guy. Her tapes were only $20 each, I feel like 1985 prices would have been higher? And no one selling Polaroids? I am impressed that the show created a whole faux hair band and single just for Lori to be a music video vixen, though her hair looked way too 90s in this episode, this was the height (pardon the pun) of big 80s perms. Nice to see Darlene’s moved on, but you could tell that Abby realized she’s lost much of her privilege in the eyes of the nursing school board by still managing the same bar. NYU grad Abby would have had more clout to advocate for Darlene. Happy that Black Frankie is free.

With his club shuttered, a distraught Vincent follows a lead down a dangerous path. Paul reaches out to Tod's parents. Candy battles Harvey over her latest script and reunites with her estranged son, Adam. Lori hits the feature dancing circuit with mixed results. Abby reflects on her choices when she gets an unexpected visitor. Bobby does right by Black Frankie. Alston defends the plan to clean up Midtown. Gene reckons with his conflicted personal life.

I found the Dworkin/WAP/Candy stuff really interesting.

So, from watching The Grifters” I thought the whole point of beating a person with a bag of oranges was to create nasty bruises without too much actual damage, so I was surprised Vincent did it right in front of Ghost and Tommy. Obviously it worked on Tasha but I assumed those two would know that trick?

Agreed. I think by ‘93, “The ‘90s” culture was in full swing- Clinton, mainstreaming of grunge, etc. The beginning of the show/ decade was still very “late ‘80s” fashion and culture-wise. I always think of the pilot as John Hughes or “Less than Zero”-lite. Compare to “My So-called Life” which was fall ‘94, and it’s a whole different vibe.

I was pretty iffy on this storyline (especially when the dad spoke of being two years sober iirc) because we know that so many of these girls ran away from home in the first place due to sexual abuse. My 2019 mind gave this a huge nope. Contact Melissa and let her meet him at a coffee shop or something if she chooses.