Aqua

Also Sean Penn is one who likes to stretch his acting muscles and this was likely a challenging and fulfilling role for him.

I think Sean Penn is a shoo-in and Julia Roberts probably too.

I wonder if that part is true?

That's a cool site!

I think he's the only good guy (i.e., repentant) person to come out of Watergate.

He is John Mitchell.

Are we to believe that all the Watergate convicts were conveniently sent to the same prison worksite so they could touch base and commiserate? Was Martha really allowed to walk into a nursery and pick up a random newborn to cuddle, or was that supposed to be her son's baby?

Betty Gilpin killed it in that scene where she tells John Dean to man up. Nuanced and powerful and that closing line omg. Great performance this week. I don't get this whole John Dean characterization. I've seen videos of him and he is nothing like the goofy nerdy neurotic character portrayed in this show. Does the real John Dean (one of the only ones still alive) approve? I have questions: Was that supposed to be Hillary Clinton with Elijah Cummings in the Frank and Janelle bar scene? What was in the envelope Mitchell handed to Senator Gurney on the golf course? What is the real reason Mitchell wants Martha to have a closed hearing? He implied it was because with an audience they'd be polite and they'd only go hard on her in a closed hearing (not sure I buy that; people going in for the kill like to show off on camera), but it seems to me less about protecting Nixon and more about humiliating Martha by taking away her audience, which she craves--truly diabolical. Or is it both? Was Lurline played by Courtney Cox? I have to say, that forehead bit kind of fell flat, as Lurline's forehead was just as big as Martha's and neither of them are that big really.

This episode in my opinion strayed too far into farcical stupiddom. Magruder's wife gets into the FBI car and makes off with their pizza? Mitchell gets into a physical scuffle at his daughter's boarding school tour? I've come to expect, as I'm told, that some stuff is fictionalized, but now I'm beginning to wonder if any of it is fact-based. And they totally lost me when they started playing very modern music instead of era-appropriate.

Archie Bunker had a remote.

Can someone please tell me what is the music playing at the end of this episode? It sounds like a '70s Broadway tune. The show is really stingy with the end credits, not listing much at all.

Also I had thought the past two episodes that John Mitchell actually loved Martha but apparently not if he is behind this goonish stuff.

I thought this episode was hilarious. The bumbling burglars were hysterical. This episode seemed to be played for laughs. But then the last part where Martha was restrained by the body guard -> I thought they were delving into black comedy. I thought that part must be fictionalized but then I read it's possibly true. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1975/02/19/102749845.html?pageNumber=18 I wonder if this will be a big part of the show. It will be upsetting if they injected this element but don't address it.

I wondered if Dean approved of or was involved in the production of this episode? He is probably the only one of the whole bunch who's still alive.

Wow, I have a totally different reaction. I loved this first episode. I thought Sean Penn was fantastic. He was like a male Meryl Streep, a chameleon! And if I didn't know it was him I wouldn't know it was him. I don't know much about this era, don't remember these characters much, but I am interested in learning more. The Mitchell marriage is certainly faceted, I'll give you that. I think it's interesting to see a middle-aged couple being played with such a nuanced, multi-layered effect. This seems to be told from the perspective of John Dean. Did he approve or was he otherwise involved in this production? P.S. I thought the character who played G. Gordon Liddy was magnificent. What a diabolical character. He tones down his psychopathic affect and acts like a regular guy to get in good with Mitchell in the early part of the episode. I don't remember hearing he was such a nut job.

I cried too but for a different reason. I saw joy in Noah, as in that moment on the cliff, dancing that dance from decades ago, he reached a moment of self-forgiveness.

Okay. As a writer, I was thinking in the literal sense but I get your point.

Well not really her POV because she wasn't in any of those scenes. I think it's more like she talked with each of these people (except Allison) and got their differing recollections of what happened.

Helen, who let her husband sit in jail for three years for a crime she committed, is not good.

It's not a matter of English not being her first language. In fact, she speaks perfect English. However, as a writer, I am attuned to dialogue that is more "telly" than it should be, rather than realistic. For example, she says, "Well, you gotta run back to the store so you don't get cold." A more realistic line would be "You gotta run back so you don't get cold." "The store" is superfluous. He knows where he's going, but the writer is trying to sneak in exposition to make things clear, and it's not necessary and comes off as clunky, IMO.

Well, I feel it sinks into old tropes of older woman initially afraid of the young Black man and then warms to him and they become special friends. But more importantly, I think the dialogue is written very badly for the woman and she comes off as annoying rather than endearing.

The Etsy commercial with Alec. Please discuss.

Okay the Lumes commercial, with the Happy Baby... I cannot.

Because they think they can't be heard.

WTAF with the Charmin teddy bear commercials? So graphic and disgusting! There should be a law . . .