overtherainbow

Wow, the plot is really thickening. The Dylan moment and the lullaby were especially creepy. Lumen becomes more culty with every episode. I don't get the sudden switch to confiscate the card off of Dylan though. Isn't severance about keeping their innies and outies separate? Wouldn't that completely change things/cause a distraction since he now knows his outie has a kid and might get even more curious? If they already keep tabs on them it seems like it would be easier to just sneak in his house and nab it but I guess whatever the card was is so "top secret" that they were left with no choice. The code detectors don't catch everything, apparently. I'm now convinced Cobel collects the DNA of the babies to use for whatever Lumen is doing. Maybe they're cloning/engineering people and experimenting on them like the hatchery and conditioning center in brave new world? Whatever they're doing must be pretty wild.

The paintings were like Dante's Inferno but with office workers. I had the same thought about the goats. I'm not sure I want to know what they're doing with them.

So I guess this episode confirmed that the implant really is irreversible. The others must have their outies spied on too without knowing it but I guess Irving and Dylan aren't as central to whatever they're doing? Killing Helly off is definitely too easy, I don't believe they'll let her hang herself. She's far too valuable, they'll lock her in that breakroom and brainwash her some more. I was wondering what happens when an outie decides to just stop going to work though. Does the chip eventually begin to malfunction/destruct, which was what happened to Petey? I did hear it's pretty slow in the middle but the ending has a big payoff. But so far I'm enjoying every episode.

I'm definitely getting the feeling they're not really workers in an office at all, but are in fact test subjects in a lab - it would certainly explain the purpose of the severance procedure, to keep the environment as controlled as possible, not to mention the dimly lit sanitized maze of halls. The "numbers" and how they react to them are like the test itself but what exactly they mean is still unclear. The chip might may them more susceptible to subliminal messages and probably erases more than just their memories of work, making them easier to control and manipulate. So much creepy psychological manipulation in this episode too. Lumen gives Scientology a run for its money.

I'm so intrigued by the show so far. I want to know what Lumen is hiding and what the numbers mean! Why are the severed employees punished by being taken to a breakroom and berated? What led to them to do the procedure in the first place? Promise of a better salary and moving up the corporate latter? What happened to Petey? It's very similar to Homecoming on amazon- labryinth-like, creepy atmosphere, mind games, sinister corporation. The tech reminds me a bit of Maniac on netflix - very dated but it's also unclear exactly when it takes place. A bizarre retro-futuristic mix of past and present. Anyway, it's about time they blended horror with corporate satire. I look forward to seeing where this goes.

It sounds like negligence on the part of the parents who stopped her treatments. There is a girl that's part of a famous Australian youtuber family (Sabre Norris) who has chiari malformation and stopped growing at 10, similar to Shauna though not exactly the same thing. She took growth hormones and is now 5ft at 17 and developed normally. It's a shame Shauna was never able to. The shots may have been painful but she would get used to them eventually and would start growing normally.

Yeah, I honestly think if she had more interaction with them she maybe wouldn't feel so alone/feel like she can't do much. Especially if she interacted with other little people that are also young adults. I think the parents have carefully insulated her from the outside world as much as possible. She seems to think she's the only one who has ever had to deal with "short people problems". Apparently even Rylee has a cashapp link in her instagram profile. These people really are in it for the money. I'm sure all the TLC money they're getting is plenty to support a lavish lifestyle and I can definitely see them dragging it on for a couple seasons like they have with Jazz.

Ah, must have missed it. 🙄

I'm actually surprised Shauna doesn't seem to have any social media of her own (at least not any that's public), you would think she'd be trying to milk her fame from the show and her condition as much as possible by trying to become an influencer on top of it all (considering how many people supposedly consider her "inspirational") but I guess she's either "not allowed" by mommy and daddy or hasn't thought about it yet. Guess we'll see what happens after the show is over.

She's come a long way in her acting.

None of her tattoos are particularly attractive to me. I still find it ironic Shauna is so eager to do adult things because she doesn’t want to have to act like a child (and understandably so) just because other people assume she is one, like drinking, getting tattoos etc but has no responsibilities like an adult. No college, no job, no license. Although I'm sure later episodes will focus on driving and other things but not holding my breath that she'll get more independent. The worst part about this show is all the things she’s been convinced her whole life that she can't do. Her parents have mollycoddled her. I haven't bothered to watch a full episode but catch bits here and there. How old is Rylee? She looks about 17-19 but definitely acts younger. She'll likely be living at home for a long time too if she has bad anxiety.

Yeah, them getting together was pretty obvious. While I do like this show, it's a bit too saccharine for my taste. Nice house, wealthy families, an insanely patient, empowering and supportive aide. I think it's an interesting exploration of the challenges people on the spectrum face in adulthood though, handling dating, wanting to be "normal", trying to become financially independent, dealing with a sick parent etc. Some things are definitely hard to watch. Violet especially, I have to remind myself she is an adult woman, not a 12 year old girl. I can see why her brother is so protective, even if she needs autonomy.

The falling out with Monica and LaDarius is very unfortunate but I can't believe she and the others are that clueless about why he was so upset. You would think Monica would be much more tuned in but maybe the fame from the show and the DWTS invite really did go to her head a bit. Some of the things LaDarius has said in his lives are pretty exaggerated but he definitely has a right to be upset that she basically checked out at a time when she really should've been there. The way she was going on about how he went to family dinners, she treated him like her son...yet she completely shut him out (or he felt that way), so no wonder he was so hurt by that. I liked Jada okay but thought she had too much of a superiority complex. Agree on the cursing though, that is ridiculous.

The big vet thing was clearly cooked up by the producers to make her seen even tinier. Oh look, teeny tiny Shauna wants to work with big animals. How cute! 🙄

Okay, so she definitely wasn't that likeable on that date and I did feel a bit bad for Abraham, but he was a good sport about it and seemed like a nice guy and even expressed interest in getting together again. Not to let her off the hook entirely (and yes, she could've been much friendlier) but to give her some benefit of the doubt, I think it's obvious Shauna has basically no experience dating whatsoever, and is going into any date that's been arranged for her with the assumption that she's going to be harshly judged which makes it easier for her to justify judging the guy. She's been let down a lot of times, clearly has a lot of trust issues, and the show definitely isn't going to make the whole dating scene any easier. I mean, the majority of the internet that's seen the show itself and are commenting about it seem to imply that she's never going to be able to find a 'normal' guy that isn't a pervert or pedophile because she looks like a child. Basically saying that anyone who is going to be into her is going to be into her solely because she fulfills their little girl fantasies and not because of who she is as a person. That must really do her head in. Perhaps she's even convinced herself of it as well, at least on some level which is why she appears so guarded.

How chilling and sad to think back to the first season and realize Jerry’s bubbliness and almost constant peppiness masked a more insidious predator who took advantage of much younger boys under everyone’s noses (along with the two others involved with the team), all while being considered a popular favorite and at one point even "the heart and soul of Cheer". He's just all around revolting and deserves no sympathy. He's delusional if he thinks there's any coming back from what he did, even if he's miraculously not convicted and put away for many years (knowing so many predators get off quite easily in this country). Most likely, unless they only took a handful of classes. I think Gabi only has one. That's how they can cheer for 3 years, by either extending the classes they take or getting another degree. Though technically you can stay as long as you want as long as the school gets your money/reaches a certain enrollment. I think most of them just take longer to finish intentionally, though. There are only so many associate degrees that are actually useful.

I'm sure she is aware, it's not like she's a literal child ripe for grooming. TLC in general is insanely exploitative though, so many gross, awful people involved on the network. Regardless of how much money she makes from the show, she'd be far better served developing actual life skills, getting a job, becoming financially independent from mom and dad. Or going to college. She seems to have plenty of friends, you would think they would be encouraging her to do more things for herself. This "I'm an adult!" shtick is so lame. I could believe it, the parents really don't seem to be the brightest bulbs in the bunch.

I honestly wonder the same thing. Maybe a combination of stockholm syndrome and the cult making Dorothy appear saintly by comparison? I don't think Leanne's ever had much of a mother figure and Dorothy might be the closest she's had to one.

Never seen people that own so many big dogs. I can only imagine how much work they are, but hey to each their own. The show is boring. It's the parents that are the ones keeping her a child. She's an adult woman, stature notwithstanding, if she wants "independence" she can go out there and get it herself, starting by getting her license. Nothing's keeping her from finding work and moving out at 22 years old. This is just another ultra stagey TLC show. I'm probably the minority opinion but I don't think she actually looks 8. She's clearly diminutive but her face is definitely older, she looks like she has dwarfism not like she stopped growing as a child. It'll just become more apparent in 10 years when she starts aging more.

The film really does makes more sense if you consider it in the context of the novella by Elena Ferrante. In the novella, it was very obvious that the family were affiliated with the mafia and Lena had a lot of paranoia because she grew up around the mafia and became a professor to escape that environment and it's like it followed her on her vacation so there's this heavy tension and sense of dread throughout. Leda is a very unreliable narrator and you never really understand her thought processes. I think she ultimately took the doll because she wanted Nina to feel the way she felt, to experience what she felt to somehow justify her own decision to leave her daughters. She saw them having fun together at the beginning and it made her remember leaving her own daughter and what she lost. She made an assumption about Nina and her life from afar and knew how much the doll meant to the little girl. Why she didn't just lie about finding the doll instead of admitting to having took it is another question, especially after having been told they were bad people and not to be messed with. I think she felt for Nina in the moment. Her carelessness with the doll was interesting. One moment she wanted nothing to do with it, the next she's buying clothes for it and getting the water out of it. She even forgets where she put it. It's interesting how fruit of the womb plays such a subtle role in the film, both with the bowl of rotting fruit and Leda getting literally stabbed right in her womb after admitting to Nina that she's an "unnatural mother". Overall, I enjoyed it and I think it will stick with me for a while.

Not that it really makes a difference, but Mady is only 25% Korean, not 50%. Jon is 50. But maybe now that she's more in touch with the Korean part of her heritage she'll want to connect with that side of her family as well.

I liked it too. They definitely wrapped it up far too well though. Something was missing and I would have preferred more explanation about David/The Prophet them having fleshed out more of the other characters. Maybe some things would have made more sense if I'd read the book but it was definitely an interesting concept.

It definitely doesn't seem likely they would all get pregnant at the same time unless they found an untouched sperm bank in the hospital. What happened to the men? Only the women happened to have immunity and survive some way? How were they all able to find each other? The timeline makes no sense.

It seems silly to me these people have been content to stay inside the airport for 20 years, still believing there's a deadly virus out there but I guess the trauma of it lingers so they cling to the only thing they know. Maybe Tyler is right that they need to forget the past in all its ugliness, and just focus on rebuilding, but goes about it the wrong way. The power dynamics in this episode is interesting. No, Clark may not use kids as suicide bombers, but is he honestly any less of a cult leader than David/Tyler? He manipulates people to get his way, holds people captive and doesn't seem at all receptive of any outside influence beyond the people that are "recruited" like the TS. He couldn't be so naïve as to think his airport gang could live in a hermetically sealed environment forever without it eventually coming undone by the world, could he?

Haven't read the book but I agree it felt contrived. My main takeaway is that Chicago in the winter is a really miserable, cold place to hunker down if there's ever a flu that kills 99% of humanity. Though it's interesting how this episode really ties together how much of a dangerous person Kirsten herself becomes.