dovegrey

When Bunny was found, there was only the knitting needle inside of her. Early in 2x1, the police tell Mabel they haven’t found the real murder weapon, which was described as a knife. Mabel was surprised and had no idea that Bunny had been killed with a knife. The knife they found in this episode was presumed by the characters to be the missing murder weapon and the blood would be Bunny’s. Earlier I think you asked about Winnie’s poisoning - The show never resolved that. If Bunny’s killer could get into Oliver’s apartment to take a knife, then maybe the same killer tried to poison Winnie and that was never related to Jan. I think someone wants these three and their snooping around gone and it started last season.

It's also the proverbial bible for various types of psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, mental health counselors, and basically anyone in a mental health profession (even Bachelor's-level) who works with diagnoses to determine medical codes, work with billing, and either determine or help carry out treatment planning. AP Psychology students learn about it in high school, as do many undergrads who take the equivalent of Psych 101 and/or basic human development courses. It's not obscure by any means. But since the DSM is my professional bible, I'll admit that might have made Lucy's Bloody Mabel tirade easier to understand. The more I think about it, the more I think Mabel wasn't lost/freaked out because of some huge age difference but because this strange teenager she's never met is talking a million miles a minute about inappropriate and boundary-crossing topics. I ended up liking Lucy but that introduction wasn't great for her.

Who knew he’d be so good at acting essentially only with his eyes and facial expressions? That’s no small feat. I mean, the dialogue on this show is terrible and repetitive, so maybe it’s also partly that. I swear I've seen TN's eyes glaze over before LOL. Anyway, if JMW gets a nom for her dry-eyed wailing when Finn "died," but TN doesn’t get a nom for his work here, I’ll cry foul. As an aside, I think Finn would benefit from being written as less of a normal, neutral golden boy who got dropped into a bizarre soap opera land to serve Queen Steffy. This storyline would be a good time to retool Finn a little bit - not as a bad guy, but as a guy who has it less together and isn’t so controlled. It's working pretty well for him right now.

Gotta admit, it’s fun watching Finn truly lose his shit for once, try as he might to hold it together. I find that Novlan is convincingly selling Finn being split between panicked self-preservation and desperately wanting to know if Sheila murdered Steffy. It’s almost like watching a different character. LOL you nailed it. And Taylor is lucky that Sheila has currently been terrorizing people who aren’t going to sue Taylor for Taylor’s professional opinion that someone with a lifelong personality disorder and decades of demonstrated antisocial/psychopathic behaviors was magically “cured” and should be allowed to interact with the targets of her obsession. I can't even. Maybe “world-renowned” means that everyone else in the world knows she’s a terrible psychiatrist who tries to shrink everyone she meets, including her own family members (which is rule #2 of stuff you don’t do as a mental health professional).

That always confused me. Detective Williams automatically and emphatically closed Tim's death as a suicide that night, but was then surprised when resources weren't devoted to further investigating Tim's death. She apparently didn't even think about the case again, until her wife listened to the podcast and Williams realized mistakes had possibly been made. I'm not anywhere near law enforcement, but is it typical to continue investigating a case that has officially been "solved" without criminal charges? I know the show portrayed it as a conspiracy, but was it really? That said, I will be very impressed if the show actually and convincingly ties a lot season 1's loose ends together into the season 2 mystery or incidental mysteries.

This gave me a thought that, back in the day, Bunny asked if Oliver would take Mrs. Gambolini, he said "yeah, sure, I've got a production to plan"...and thought the bird died (what he said in 2x1) and/or completely forgot he said "yes." Total fanfiction but knowing Oliver... Also, I'm very against the idea of using a live animal as revenge. So I'm going with it, or Uma is a lying liar who lies. 🙂

I've seen this sentiment a lot (I think...) about Bunny and Oliver having bad blood, so this is more of a general comment that riffs on your post. :) I don't remember a lot of real animosity between Bunny and Oliver in season 1. Their relationship soured near the end over the podcast and her sham of an HOA vote to evict the trio*, but, at the beginning of season 1, Oliver referred to her as a friend, and Bunny agreed that they were friends and even said their friendship is why she hadn't evicted him despite months of unpaid rent/bills. That was only around two months ago in show-time. I think both characters just happen to be the type to show affection through contempt, just like how Oliver constantly insults Charles. It's the forgotten love language. 😂 About the bird - I think it's a complete demonstration of confidence in someone's character to entrust your pet's continued life and well-being to that person in the event of your death. I thought Bunny seemed affectionate toward and dedicated to Mrs. Gambolini in 2x3, and I'd be hard pressed to believe she'd spitefully give Mrs. Gambolini to someone she didn't like or didn't believe would take good care of her. If Bunny actually willed Mrs. Gambolini to Oliver, I think that speaks volumes about their once-friendship. And, so far, Oliver has dutifully kept the bird. *I wonder if there was something more to the evictions than Bunny being a spiteful jerk. Was Bunny under pressure from someone to shut the podcast down? And is that possibly why she was killed so soon after the season 1 case was solved? Was someone unhappy that Bunny was letting the trio stick around...and now the trio is being framed to get rid of them again...

I caught that, too. Lucy talked about wishing it was Charles taking her on college visits in this episode (present tense), which, in my non-NY area, usually starts junior year of high school. I've only watched this episode once and could have missed something, but I overall took her as being around 15-17 currently, which would mean she would have been somewhere around 7-9 years old when she lived with Charles 8 years ago. But, in 1x4, Charles said Lucy was 7-years-old when Emma (the ex) moved in, and he also said he and Emma were together for 6 years. The only way I can think to get around Lucy's current age is that Charles and Emma dated for a while before Emma/Lucy moved in (which would mean that Charles knew Lucy when Lucy was an infant/toddler), and they didn't live together for more than a year or so before Emma took off with Lucy during the family fun cruise.

I totally missed that she was referring to Howard when she said that LOL. I can put together slang using context but I apparently have a hard time processing Mabel’s stuffed-up line delivery. Nevermind me. 😅 I still think Howard is stuck on Evelyn being the REAL murder victim last year (my speculation). And I can almost see him poisoning Winnie to make a point about it.

From a TV show point of view, I thought it was suspect that Mabel came in saying something about "hot goss," then Charles repeated it, and then, a few minutes later, Howard barged into Charles' apartment talking about "hot goss." Can he hear them talking and/or does he eavesdrop? And he's still clearly upset about Evelyn; I posted in the speculation thread about him a few days ago, but I think he put the note on Jan's door after figuring out she indirectly killed Evelyn when she killed Tim, and I think he has something to do with Bunny's death...or the framing of her murder. I'm much older than Mabel and much much older than Lucy and didn't think anything Lucy said was hard to understand or put together. I don't see how Mabel would be so lost, unless she was just completely creeped out by everything Lucy was saying about Mabel's life being dissected, being diagnosed, and needing benzos. That whole exchange fell really flat for me. Nina's idea to build whatever that was on top of the Arconia is flat out ridiculous. I figured she'd was wanting to put some restaurants, shops, or a gym in the building. I'm wondering if the secret passages relate to the therapist complaining to Lester about weird scraping/dragging/shoveling sounds last season (in the Theo-centric episode). When Oliver was using the ladder to go spy on the Dimases, it sounded like the secret elevator was running. Lucy said the ladder was right by the secret A-line elevator (i.e., Bunny's elevator), so... Who's using it?

Eh, IIRC, Steffy's the one who directly arranged and instigated the confrontation with Sheila that led to the shooting. Steffy knew better than to do that. But Sheila's gonna Sheila, and that's no one's fault but her own. The only thing I ever agreed with Taylor about (in her weird, unprofessional insistence on psychoanalyzing her own family) was that, the more Finn ignored Sheila, the more obsessive and unstable Sheila would become about him. I don't see a good way Finn could have navigated out of the Sheila mess, especially with a wife whose only contribution to the conversation was constantly harping on how horrible his birth mother is. That's a lot. I do hope the Finn character gets some decent development out of Sheila's BS hitting the fan, though. Casual viewer and sometimes-lurker here. I'm enjoying the crazy and don't know if I'm really looking forward to what I expect will be a return to the status quo, where Finn and Steffy talk past each other while regurgitating the same dialogue over and over and over. I'm enjoying them being apart and think it brings out the better in TN.

I agree that he's too obvious, but I pegged Jan as a red herring due to total sheer obviousness early last season and foo-foo'd away some of the more subtle-but-obvious signs it was her all along. So, I don't know, and I give credit to the show for making another good guessing game. If the writers follow the same playbook, which I kind of hope they don't, the "twist" will come out of the primary storyline being unrelated to the murder rather than who actually did it. I'm really hoping it's not the Totally Super Obvious Cara Delevingne character. I'd take Sting killing Bunny and skipping town, thereby leaving his apartment available for Amy Schumer, over Delevingne Did It LOL. 😆

The board minutes he gave the podcast trio for their murder board read to me as if he was rooting for Nina and referred to Bunny as "that bitch." Once Bunny and Nina started arguing, his minutes went from a verbatim record to catty commentary. It had me wondering if he had something to gain from Bunny retiring from the board. Would that have elevated Howard from minute-taker/parliamentarian to a better role on the board, maybe? It was very odd that he bruised his eye after the board meeting and then tried to insert himself into the trio's sleuthing in 2x2. Really seems like that bruise happened in the timeframe for Bunny's murder. I could also see him being upset, in Howard's way, that the original podcast didn't give more attention to how Jan killed Evelyn via the poison in Tim's blood, thus the framing of Mabel. Didn't Howard say he had figured out Jan Did It way before the trio did? Did Howard put the note on Jan's door, then? I very much still think the painting is a red herring, a la the Dimas/jewelry/Zoe plot last season.

When Bunny was lying sideways on the floor, she had a big blood stain on her back, so it looks like the original knife wound went all the way through her body (holy knife blade, Batman). Bunny falls on Mabel and the knitting needle is shoved through the original knife path and goes all the way through, too, which allows for their bodies to touch? I don't know if stab wounds work that way. I really do question how Bunny wandered around for however long with that amount of blood loss, compared to the lack of blood anywhere except on Mabel and one spot on Mabel's floor. Bunny dies a tidy death... I don't think Mabel can remember clearly because she was stumbling drunk + in shock. And then suddenly completely sober and clear headed again while in police custody. 🤷‍♂️

That sounds like a real waste of a nice big bottle of real champagne and the wrong way to drink it LOL. Charles and Oliver didn't appear very intoxicated to me, so I assumed they were pacing themselves and actually enjoying the champagne. Mabel was stumbly; maybe she smashed it like a six pack of Bud Light, haha. I didn't see Bunny eating or drinking anything; she gave Mrs. Gambolini a peanut, which I assumed was usually there for the bird. I don't think it would take her 30 minutes to sit down and turn on the TV, but, yeah, she could have done something in between. We know she didn't change her clothes.

Jan showed up in Episode 3. A nice touch, though, was that early in Episode 1 when Charles is getting ready to listen to Cinda's podcast, Jan's bassoon (recording) is prominent, which actually tied into how she planned the murder. All the clues were there early in season 1 but they were very subtle and the Dimases were a huge misdirect. I'm less hopeful for season 2, as I'm seeing signs that the writers are holding back and we don't know everything the characters know, which kinda makes it a free-for-all. My biggest thought of the day is... Was there anyone in the background of the "how does it feel to be the most hated person in the building, you cranky old bitch" scene between Mabel and Bunny? That scene was specifically shown again in season 2, and I have a feeling that the killer was there and figured they could use the public display of animosity to build a frame job. Kind of like Theo being in the flashback of Mabel party drinking the night Zoe died - such a tiny detail that ended up being huge.

That's what I was thinking, and I've been bouncing between Bunny running for help vs. Bunny being moved to frame Mabel. I'm leaning toward the latter, as the knitting needle replacing the knife seems fairly targeted at framing Mabel. And, if she ran before being stabbed, would it be hard to explain her being attacked and screaming while Mrs. Gambolini freaked out? What happened in that scene, if not the stabbing? Unless it's suddenly revealed that Bunny was actually bludgeoned or chloroformed before being moved to and stabbed in Mabel's apartment, which, at this point, wouldn't be surprising. I feel like the writers are holding back information that the characters know, like the trio being the last people to see Bunny alive minutes before she was killed (probably shoulda come up in 2x1 🙃).

Or that, absolutely. But, boy, poor Bunny. That would be a long time to suffer. I'd only question that would be a lot of blood to clean up without a trace in those areas (just look at how much blood was on Mabel from a quick interaction), and there should be a whole lot more blood in Mabel's apartment than what we saw (if Bunny's bleeding out in there for 45-60 minutes). I also think it would be convenient that Mabel found Bunny just moments before she finally died, but that's TV. Maybe Bunny beat the odds, faked her death, and is enjoying the terrible heat of Boca Raton in witness protection... 🍷

I think we’re missing time from how the events played out. The presumed killer came off the elevator at the same time the trio went to the roof with a full bottle of champagne. Bunny was still standing up and alive when Mabel came back downstairs to get more champagne. How fast did they drink that entire bottle? Either it’s a goof or the writers are still very slowly revealing new elements of a scene we have literally seen since the first episode of the series. (But wait! There’s more!) Bunny couldn’t have taken herself to Mabel’s apartment after the killer left, unless the killer grabbed one of Mabel’s knitting needles before going to Bunny’s apartment. Did the killer stab Bunny and then march her to Mabel’s apartment to stick the knitting needle in? How did no one else on Floor 12 apparently hear or see anything? How was there no apparent crime scene in Bunny’s apartment that we saw (no blood splatter, no sign of a struggle)?

I think this is why Charles and Oliver thought it was Detective Williams who sent the text, as she would be one of the few known allies who would obviously have known law enforcement was on the way to Mabel's apartment and who would have had their phone numbers. I'm not convinced it was her, though. I've been wondering if the killer sent the "get out now" text. This would be the only other person who would have possibly (?) known that an entire SWAT team (!) was on its way to Mabel's apartment. If they are being framed, it would look mighty suspicious to be frantically escaping from the building as law enforcement arrives to arrest you for murder. As a general comment, I really wish the show would explore this a bit more...a lot of the details seemed to be glossed over in 2x1, such as who called the police, who told the police to go directly to Mabel's apartment, why a full SWAT team was deployed, if the police were specifically told that Mabel killed someone, and/or if the police were also specifically told that Oliver and Charles were involved. I'm honestly a little frustrated that the trio thought to interrogate a bird before asking a lawyer (...or Detective Williams...) to obtain a copy of the 911 call that got all three of them detained as murder suspects. The mystery/comedy balance is off this season, IMO; it's sitcom-y.

1x1 indicated that Bunny's murder happened 2 months after Tim's murder, but, IIRC, the season 1 timeline (established with newspaper dates and cell phone lock screens around the time the Dimases were arrested) indicated it was less than that. So, it's really only been 1.5-2 months since Tim died. I still think it's weird that, aside from Mabel painting a mural, there's really been no sign of anything except old demolition at the apartment. I've done a full down-to-the-studs, knocking-walls-down renovation and had a house built, and, even during lulls in work, we're still walking the site with the contractor, meeting with inspectors, having people over for quotes (for the reno), etc. Maybe Mabel's lying about that, maybe the aunt ran out of money, or maybe Mabel's just not very good at it LOL. And I think it's weird that Mabel is left scrubbing blood but the apartment owner/family member isn't even mentioned; the police would have contacted her, pretty sure.

I don't think the aunt is dead. In season 1, Mabel said she lived with her aunt at the Arconia during school breaks and was currently renovating the apartment for her aunt. It's a weird situation, though... The apartment has been partially demo'd but we never see crews there (unless Mabel is secretly a licensed contractor and pulls her own permits?), and the aunt hasn't even come back to her own apartment (yet?) after a murder happened there, as of this episode. I can't tell if it's a handwave or tucked away as a possible future plot point.

It struck me last night, as I couldn't sleep, that something is possibly up with the timeline. In 2x3, Bunny gives the trio an unopened bottle of champagne and then, within minutes, returns to her apartment. The trio immediately goes up to the roof, with that single unopened bottle of champagne, at the same exact time we see the presumed murderer arrive on Floor 12. We then ostensibly witness Bunny get stabbed in Bunny's apartment. The trio runs out of alcohol on the roof - "all I know is that we've run out of champagne," Mabel says. Mabel returns to her apartment, where Bunny is still alive and standing. How long would it take those three to empty even one big bottle of champagne? Minutes? An hour? Two hours? Which makes me wonder...did the murderer not immediately kill Bunny? Did the murderer stop somewhere else on Floor 12 before killing Bunny? Or did our trio gulp down that bottle of champagne within minutes of going to the roof? FWIW, it looks like the presumed murderer's elevator possibly came from Floor 6 or Floor 7, based on where the arrow was pointing before it moved to 12. Do we know of anyone who lives on 6 or 7?

What confuses me is that in the pilot episode, when Mabel and Charles are on Floor 12 and talking about how Tim's package was misdelivered to Bunny, they start at the round elevator bank lobby (which also has apartment doors surrounding it), then turn around and slowly walk down a long corridor with apartments on either side. There are red "EXIT" signs on both ends of the corridor: one near the elevator bank, and one at the end of the corridor opposite the elevators. Mabel unlocks her apartment door on the right-hand side of the hallway with a red EXIT sign in view, which means, based on 2x3, Bunny's apartment is near-directly across the hallway on the left-hand side. But both ends of the hallway end in common use ingress/egress points. I don't see how their apartments could be connected by a wall without cutting off one of those exits or jutting straight down through the open corridor. The blueprints are super helpful and are impressive in terms of design. It's almost all gibberish to my brain LOL. It's been a while since I deep dived into this stuff (probably near the beginning of season 1, so nearly a year ago), but I recall that the Belnord building is only used for exterior and courtyard scenes; all the interior scenes were custom built on a sound stage without specifically recreating the Belnord. Don't know how accurate this article is but it jives with what I remember from season 1. I guess the apartment layouts are probably just nitpicking at this point, but the vent-crawling scene killed me in 2x1. I'm also remembering the discussion last year about the 12A/12E goof for Mabel's aunt's apartment, haha. How does it feel like it's been so long??

I don't mean to be a serial replyer today, but I literally just got done chasing this idea and scratching my head about it, to the point I thought we’d actually seen the killer quickly hide in their apartment instead of Bunny retreat into her apartment. I was so happy to see this comment! :) I rewatched 1x1 and the end of this episode again. In 1x1, Mabel says the vent is a “direct route into” Bunny’s apartment, and, in 2x1, they’re able to crawl through it right into Bunny’s apartment, so I would also think their apartments are on the same side and are adjacent. I also thought Bunny’s apartment seemed to be much further down from Mabel’s apartment in 1x1. But I paused this episode (2x3) when the door closes, and the nameplate on the door appears to read “Folger," so it's hers. As I write this, 1x2 is playing, and Young Mabel tells Young Tim that she stays in her aunt's 12A apartment, while 1x1 established that Bunny's apartment was also on the A Line (the same line as Tim, which is how Bunny received his jewelry packages) ...which would mean that Bunny and Mabel couldn't be on the same floor at all, or else they'd both be in 12A, right? Seems like the whole premise might be built on serial goofs (but I'm also terrible at spatial things, so I might be the goof here). From only what we've seen this season, all I can think is that their apartments are L-shaped; I hadn’t thought that the vent might go over the hallway.