PinkRibbons

Now there's a glimpse of Gloriana. Throwing Thomas to the wolves to protect herself. You have to wonder whether some small (or not-so-small) part of her is relieved to have Thomas dead. Aside from his pulling her into this mess, it seems like she may have been realizing how abusive and wrong his actions concerning her were. I was surprised she told Lord Dudley the general truth, I never thought Elizabeth ever admitted to Thomas proposing marriage. But then again, this is definitely the part of Tudor History I'm not very well-versed in. Somerset's downfall so soon after Thomas's seems like it was very compressed. Still he hasn't been arrested, just displaced, so we'll see. I would have liked to see more of the many weeks a wily Elizabeth actually evaded questioning and drove the council insane, but that had to be compressed too. Ah Mary. Way to shoot yourself in the foot. She had a bit too much smug about her, although I guess with Elizabeth at least she was trying to teach her to withstand hardship in her own slightly petty way. She should not have tipped off Somerset to her change in rank and by that, Dudley, but the latter really should be less dismissive of her. If there's anyone who knows how to bide their time with patience and a long memory for ill-treatment, it's Mary Fucking Tudor. Man will he regret that attitude he copped toward her. Poor Somerset, wasting grief and sorrow over a brother who deserved none. Thomas's actions and death were every step of the way his own fault. I like them showing how mistreating everyone around him really bit him in the ass with his young serving man. That poor kid has looked petrified every time I remember seeing him. Above all, poor Edward. Bullied about by everyone, never sure who's going to betray him next. (Although the bird torture still shows that nasty cold side of him. Jesus, kid.) I wonder if seeing how Somerset clearly loved his own son contributed to Edward's hatred of his Lord Protector, and Dudley's easy manipulation of him. Somerset could have been a father but he chose to be a king-by-proxy. Finally, enter Amy Robsart! I didn't expect to see her and she was an interesting choice. She tends to be romanticized as a very sad and submissive, even frightened creature. And maybe we'll see how she devolves to that state. As a young woman however, it's a nice trick of writing having her be kind of an Achievable Elizabeth for Robert. She's got similar beauty, vivaciousness, wit, charm and if not the same level of intelligence, enough to make Robert give her the eye. She's also missing the sadness that necessarily permeates through Elizabeth at this point in her life. I look forward to seeing how that goes.

Oh no, I meant in the inevitable moment that Max and Murphy's affair is revealed.

If this was the real world, wouldn't the accusation/revelation of Murphy sleeping with Max trigger a mistrial? It would completely cripple Murphy's defense, and she would have a massive case for appeal on the grounds that her attorney couldn't possibly have given her the best defense. Which reminds me, Murphy sleeping with Max this time? I would usually lean more towards the two to tango opinion, but I have to say I'm totally with her when she said it was his fault. She was incredibly vulnerable - not just because of the case, but also she had made it perfectly clear that she was in love with and wanted to be with him. He deliberately sought her out when they were alone together, and she was literally walking away from him when he initiated sex. Add to that his decree that he only wanted her for sex, and for a guy who likes to play the victim role to Murphy, Max is actually a real bastard.

Technically Murphy quit the constant morning after pill in season one after a pregnancy scare, she got an IUD (or said she would, so no real reason to think she didn't). Not to mention the fact that, as mentioned above, I would think Murphy's birth control use is privileged information and the clerk had no right to even mention it.

I think Darnell is running something of his own. I don't believe he blames Murphy for Nia's death or wants to see her go down for it. He was one of the people that helped Murphy the most when she was on the run. Nia also killed his sweetheart, and got Tyson into the drug trade. Murphy single-handedly proved Tyson's murder case and got him at least some justice. Add that to the flash-forward from the start of the season...nah. Darnell is one of the only genuinely smart characters on this show. There's something going on there. I just wonder if Murphy's in on it and they planned that little courtroom confrontation.

Not to mention I'm pretty sure Canada kid perjured himself. Wasn't he the one who brought the pot?

Wow, everyone on this show except Murphy can eat a dick. Leslie is a terrible lawyer. Your client should not have to prove her own case against a witness with a laundry list of issues that should have gotten the case thrown out before this. So much for how great a lawyer she is. She barely seems competent. Maybe, I dunno, CROSS-EXAMINE some of the defamatory witnesses?

This was a step down especially after last week. I mean, to begin with nowhere near enough Mary (although nice to see her without her hood!). What was really disappointing though was how Elizabeth, despite all her avowals of her young naive self being dead, appears to have learned absolutely nothing! What was all this talk about her marrying Thomas somehow fixing the rumors about her? This would only confirm them! Catherine Parr's marriage to Thomas Seymour was a scandal because of how quickly after Henry's death it was, and she at least had a history with him that mitigated the general horror. (I mean I'm sure most people heard about it and responded with "that is tacky, but yeah, they were totally gonna get married before Henry basically seized her away from him. Shoulda waited longer, but...okay.") Elizabeth marrying Thomas with Catherine barely cold in the ground would confirm to everyone that she and he were carrying on an affair while they he was still married. That is terrible for Elizabeth's reputation. And she should know that marrying a commoner is not a simple thing for a Princess (especially since her own mother was a commoner and lost her frickin head partially because she had no status outside what her husband gave her), and that she should never consider it as done until the ceremony was concluded with witnesses. Celebrating in her house with everyone to see? Idiot! And inviting Thomas to bang her in the bed he shared with her stepmother (which even he noticed was fucked up, hence him not even going near it while boning away) just after she had an unmarried pregnancy scare? IDIOT! I think what's bugging me here is that for a TV drama especially, this show has been shockingly historically accurate until now, and the real Elizabeth would have never done this. Not after the nightmare year she's had with Thomas and being sent away from Chelsea. Even if she had entertained marriage to him at this point, she would have figured out that she had to conduct herself in the most pristine manner possible until the question was settled. And that would mean barely looking at Thomas until the ceremony was concluded, much less throwing a party. Seriously, that's the whole reason Elizabeth survived this whole thing, historically. There were tons of witnesses to Thomas's inappropriate behavior when Catherine was still alive, but I don't believe there's any record of her having what to do with him after she was sent away. The real Elizabeth knew he was a powder keg and she had to step away. Going back to actual history, I do appreciate the way they staged the attempted kidnapping of Edward and how much of a shitshow it was. I don't think I've ever seen that mishegas depicted on screen, and it was as awful as described. Thomas killed the king's dog. I don't remember that he beat the ever-loving hell out of Robert Dudley, but that didn't help. His plan was so undercooked and so stupid. Even if he had kidnapped Edward, what did he think, that he'd convince the boy to make him Lord Protector? Dumbass. Although considering that literally the only thing Thomas has on his side is charm, maybe that was the entirety of his plan. I do wish they'd shown how he was slyly currying favor with the king before this, slipping him money when Somerset wouldn't give him any, that kind of thing. I appreciated them showing Edward's threat against Somerset. Edward's diary survived long enough that we know his attitude to both his uncles was coooold. And I loved that that had it as Mary who tipped her brother off about Boulogne, it was a nice historical nod to how incredibly protective she herself was about England's French holdings. I'm liking Lord Dudley (Robert's dad, and if you know about history, someone who's about to get REALLY important). I expected him to be cast as more of a weaselly villain type like they did for Henry Grey, but them showing how he genuinely loves his family, and overall the fact that he is very much a father figure goes a long way to explaining why the king came to rely on him. Because if there's one thing Edward needs and clearly isn't getting from his uncles, it's a father figure. Somerset may have ten kids but he clearly doesn't know how to behave with them. And Thomas doesn't care about anyone but himself. We're coming up on a really interesting and not particularly well known episode in Elizabeth's life. I really want to see Mary and Edward reacting to their sister being arrested, especially Mary. She's on thin ice herself, and now her own sister, who Edward clearly prefers, can be arrested? It's like the days of Henry again, when any woman, no matter how high in status, can't be protected.

Amen! Also, I'm calling it - Romola Garai is the MVP of this show. I feel like this is the first time anyone has ever shown the real Mary Tudor as she was. That scene at the end, when Pedro asks if she prays for her enemies, the way she responds could have been so holier-than-thou, but Romola just makes it sound so tiredly honest. And despite knowing her later reputation as "Bloody Mary", when she said "let them burn" I did not get a foreshadowing chill, I instead thought, gurl you show. She is so firm in her convictions - just like Edward. A blessing and a curse. Also MAN that scene where Mary confronts Catherine! That was just showing off, and I am here for acting skills. She goes from angry to tearful to laughing in one short monologue. I just loved every scene of her, from her peeved little reaction to losing her bet in the cock fight (yes show, we get that times were different) to telling Elizabeth off and then immediately scolding the Lord Protector for letting rumors about her sister spread. This show on the whole is such a good example of writing layered characters. Catherine could have fallen into mustache-twirling villain territory - she sure teetered on the edge - but her complex of trying to handle what Thomas had done to her, her feelings of being betrayal by but also having betrayed Elizabeth, her seizing her own narrative - that was some strong stuff. And the Lord Protector (who I know is named Edward, but since we have more than one I'll keep to his title) really got to shine too. His scene of informing the King of Catherine's death was amazing on both actors' parts. I love that they didn't have to say out loud that this was likely the only mother Edward could remember. And LP's actor was so amazing because there is so much going on there - it's his sister-in-law, the mother of his charge, a woman he dislikes, an important woman who is ultimately on the same side as him on religious reform. Then he goes to comfort Thomas and shows this real feeling of sadness for his brother. Meanwhile, Thomas is devastated yes, but they slipped that little line "I do not like suffering" in there. He's above all selfish. He loved his wife to a point, he was genuine in being kind to Jane, he has a motherless child that he worries about. And he is dumb and cutthroat enough to already start scheming again by taking another shot at Elizabeth.

It was announced that this was the last season, yes. So, as soon as Leslie (if she's at all competent like she says) gets the murder weapon thrown out because they learned about it through an illegal recording that was not included in the scope of the warrant to search her house (and um...isn't she supposed to be called if her house is being searched? Like even as a professional courtesy?), I'm calling it, Josh will blab about Murphy sleeping with Max to her. He's already got a proven track record that he's fine interfering with Murphy's defense attorney. Nice to hear Murphy call Josh out, even if it was limited. And somewhat nice to hear that the department has been paying attention to his psychotic obsession, even if no one has brought it up as a liability to the case against Murphy yet. He's already done a search on his own of Murphy's personal effects and that was after he used a police camera to spy on her in her cell, which is just. so. gross.

Elizabeth definitely got kicked out after being caught in some kind of inappropriate situation with Thomas Seymour, that's historical fact. How far their relationship went is still debated by historians. (Although I don't think it's ever been doubted that yes, he totally wanted to cheat on his wife with Elizabeth.) Alison Weir fictionalizes it as a fully sexual relationship and uses it as Elizabeth's reason for maintaining her lifelong "virginity". I'm not a fan of a lot of Weir's fictional choices, but her solid historical research is pretty unassailable, which means that she definitely sees room for the possibility of Thomas and Elizabeth having sex in the historical timeline. In real life it might have been kisses or even a simple hug that a paranoid and pregnant Catherine in fact misconstrued. (Incidentally, were those last scenes of Elizabeth picturing her relationship with Thomas supposed to be a memory of them having had sex off-screen?) I have to say, the show threw a surprise at me, I never considered the idea that Catherine Parr never got pregnant until then because she didn't want to. Thomas was her fourth husband and I guess most historians believe she had infertility issues until a miracle pregnancy. But who knows, maybe she did use some primitive form of birth control that happened to work for her. Giving birth was definitely a very scary prospect for women at the time. Bad show, Edward, Henry VII would be ashamed of your comments about Jane's singing. Edward's father would never have insulted a lady out loud at a feast in front of a bunch of other people for a laugh. Henry liked to be seen as the gentleman. (Which is why when he was done with a wife he sent someone else to figure out a way to legally murder her or put her away. I don't think he ever accused any of his Queens to their faces, and usually just pretended everything was normal for his last visit with them and then ran away without ever saying goodbye.) Uh, Lord Protector? You have maybe four years before your king does in fact rule, and you just humiliated him in front of the people who were supposed to respect him the most. Not a thinker about the long run, are we? Still enjoying Romolai Garai as Mary and hope we see more of her. She's started seeing how genuinely dangerous she can be, now it's time to see how she leverages that to her own advancement. Oh Elizabeth had a very nasty mean streak when it came to other women. After she ascended there are records of her breaking one of her ladies' fingers in rage, and apparently she had a habit of smacking her attendant women around in general.

Ok show, trying to make me hate Murphy again huh? Not working. I still remember a bts video at the beginning of last season where Perry herself said she considered literally everything bad that's happened on the show to be Murphy's fault which no, it objectively has not. So her sleeping with Max? Eh. Honestly I'd forgotten how I don't like Max in my fury at Josh. Anyway, it's totally in character for Murphy to seek out sex for solace, it's her consistent M.O. Max is the one in a decent relationship who threw it all away on a girl he consistently bad-mouths to others. (And he's not scoring any points with me that he almost let her dog get poisoned. Dude, it's not a pet. Pretzel is her eyes, they have a very specific connection that involves depending her life on him and if she says something's wrong, something's wrong! You shit-heel!) Speaking of shit-heels, Leslie, for the love of God, START GOING AFTER JOSH. She's supposed to be defending Murphy and beyond the "blind woman shooting someone in the back of the head and burying her all alone" defense, she has got tons of improper police conduct to prove. She's now witnessed how obsessed Josh has gotten to the point of breaking down a bathroom door in a library. She's supposed to be a shark, that is CHUM IN THE WATER. It's funny, Josh is awful, but I don't necessarily want him gone. He's fun to hate. Also I need the catharsis of him sitting down with Murphy, who was once in fact a good friend to him, and finally confronting his impending blindness and how he put it on her. He didn't even try to find out who shivved Murphy (which would have turned up Sam who should not be in the same prison and whose transfer is highly suspicious), just decided to chase after a new charge to press against her. It's sick, and lacking basic decency. He started out as a sweet, well-meaning guy and he's become so much worse than Murphy on any day of her criminal escapades. She basically never has malicious intent but he has a boatful. At least her bad behavior is about self-preservation or defending others. His isn't even righteous, though he lies to himself that it is.

Next week's episode description mentions Elizabeth's 15th birthday, so fair to say she's at most 14 in this episode - both historically accurate and wildly gross of Thomas. I like that Jane saw Guilford and they eyed each other with apparent interest. There's no real consensus on how that relationship was (I've read everything from abusive to indifferent to romantic), so I look forward to seeing what dynamic they settle on. I'm loving Romola Garai as Mary, but I expected nothing less from her. I hope we see her speaking Spanish to Pedro. Actually, in terms of the Protestant faction of the country, many people did accept her parents' divorce and considered her illegitimate. She and Elizabeth lived in a super nebulous position between royal and bastard. I thought it was a nice touch last episode to have Jane Grey meet Elizabeth and call her "Lady" instead of "Princess". (No consensus on that one either, I've read that Mary and Elizabeth may have been called both interchangeably, possibly depending on what mood their father was in at the time.) I can see why Elizabeth would be torn on going to Mary's house. (Again, historically accurate, Mary did in fact try to get Elizabeth to come live with her as soon as she heard about Catherine Parr's marriage, and I appreciate them sticking to historical fact on that one, because it shows the love the sisters did have for each other.) On the one hand, Mary's home is safer and frankly, I don't buy that Elizabeth would believe Mary wants her there as a political pawn the way they're making this Catherine's motive in having her in the Parr-Seymour household. On the other hand, Catherine's house is doubtlessly more interesting even without her attraction to Thomas. Elizabeth and Jane, both voracious learners, have great tutors there, not to mention the fact that going to Mary meant she de facto had to practice Catholicism while there. (Btw, what was that whole thing about Mary seeming to believe that Elizabeth was also Catholic so that they could both pray Edward would convert? IIRC, Mary's love of children overcame her hatred of Anne Boleyn, which means she took enough of an interest in her younger sister to know Elizabeth was being raised Protestant.) I liked the observation that both Mary and Edward are religious fanatics, and Edward's actor really is playing perfectly. I do feel like I missed something about the ending, sort of like I needed to see the exact moment when Elizabeth made her decision to curry favor with Edward at cost of her relationship to Mary. Without knowing what exactly was in that letter, we don't know if Mary now believes Elizabeth is against her because of real religious differences or because Elizabeth is simply looking for preferment from Edward. Did Elizabeth chastise her for holding Mass in her house, or did she just write something like "I'm sorry, I have to stay in the King's good graces and you're on the outs"? Finally one small thing - what is with the one braid in Elizabeth's hair? She had the class status and appropriate virginity which allowed her to wear her hair down on occasion, but probably didn't often do so because by her age her hair was probably down to her knees. That one braid feels like a weak concession to the idea that she probably wore her hair braided up almost always for convenience, but without it actually being particularly convenient.

He was the guy who shot at Barry from a van or truck as he rode by on the freeway, then tried to do a handoff to one of the passing bikers.

OMG Murphy get that book back to the library so Paula's guy can get the pills back. GET THE BOOK BACK. DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200, DO NOT TRY TO CONTACT ANYONE IN THE DRUG WORLD. High Stocking Bunny-head Felix is a delight. I am not impressed with Leslie and Max basically giving no real shits about Murphy, the way they keep dragging out time. Like literally yes, an extra hour WILL kill her, jeez. For a second when Murphy got shivved and Josh freaked I was still hoping he would realize some damn humanity and be worried about her. But no. I cannot wait for someone to finally tell him that he's personified his blindness into Murphy and that her getting killed/jailed/whatever is not going to restore his sight. And that his behavior in chasing her is what's going to get this case thrown out, because if ever a cop can be accused of framing someone, boy is Josh making himself look good for it. I hope we see the prison guard that told him off again as a witness for the defense. I'm getting real tired of Tyson being mentioned and no one remembering that his killer was caught by Murphy, which also got Gene his job. I was at least hoping Tyson's Mom would ask about her.

Oh yeah, and for all the "Bloody Mary" stuff, all reports say that she was incredibly kind, very sweet, and loved children to the point of being the Godmother of I think it was dozens? Future spoilers:

I really love the casting here, the actress playing Elizabeth is very convincing playing way below her age (I checked and she's 28), I could even believe she was as young as 15, which isn't far off from the 13 she really was. I do feel a bit weary about the characterization of Catherine Parr, but I might be biased because I only know the actress from Wolf Hall, where she played an excellently poisonous Jane Rochford, which might be carrying over for me. I still don't really like her overtly using Elizabeth as a pawn, all indications from history was that they were in fact very close, Catherine having been her stepmother the longest of them and sharing her interests. I also don't believe she was power hungry beyond wanting to marry Thomas Seymour for love and then being left alone. Also, Elizabeth talking about marriage without Kat commenting about her vow not to ever marry (which she made as a child and kept on with) did not hit right with me. But to the good: ROMOLA GARAI!!! I didn't know she was in this, so it was a wonderful surprise, she's a favorite actress of mine. I'd watch a whole series of her as Mary, and hope to see her with Elizabeth soon. I liked the moment when the three siblings are brought together to hear about Henry VIII's death, where first Elizabeth turns to Mary in fear and then after everyone's kneeling Elizabeth and Mary look at each other like, "Ooooh shit is going down." I'm liking Edward and Jane Grey so much too. Considering the kid was basically a fiery evangelical protestant by the time he hit puberty, I like them establishing him having a backbone early on. I do hope they touch on Jane's difficult homelife, it looks like they want to brush it off, with her saying she'd rather be home. I think we will, but fun fact: one of the things that drove Edward crazy about Mary was that she loved dancing and wearing bright colors, which was appropriate to her Catholic beliefs. The new protestant movement was very much about dressing dourly and not being too merry, so very much not how Mary was acting.

Isn't going after Leslie out of bounds? If/when she gets out of the bind, and it comes to light that they tried to deprive Murphy of council, hopefully a hammer comes down hard on Josh &co. The guy who temped for Leslie clearly didn't have time to review the case properly, which means he couldn't have had time to give Murphy an adequate defense. That's retrial shit right there. (Law and Order Degree, you come through again!) Where were Murphy's parents in the courtroom? Her Mother was soooo into the idea of Murphy being in prison, thanks to the way she let Josh manipulate her into turning Murphy in. I would have liked her to see him in court and see if he could still give her that shit-eating grin. Murphy's Mom's awful, but I can totally see her slugging Josh when she realizes that no, he didn't have Murphy's best interests at heart to bring her in.

New episode tonight!

I was wondering that myself, like does Barry have GPS on him or something? Probably Ryan's dad was following him - I wonder what he thought on that motorcycle chase! The paramedics thing is actually shown: Ryan's father is a doctor and he drove Barry almost directly to the ER. He pulled forward a little past it to figure out what he was going to do with Barry and/or himself. I think he may have even driven the car back to the front of the hospital before shooting himself - more a doctor than a killer in the end. Gunshots are loud af, all it took was one person inside the ER hearing it and running over to the car. Maybe the car was even in an ambulance zone, which no ER would allow for long. It's not Sally's story at all. It's Natalie paying attention at the meeting when Joplin was canceled and crafting something "watchable". The only similarity is the mother/daughter thing, and that's hardly a unique premise. (Not to mention it wasn't actually part of Sally's personal story, the "theft" of which seems to have her feeling righteous about attacking Natalie.) I loved D'Arcy Carden on The Good Place, and I spent the whole elevator scene wishing she could Janet herself out of the situation. I LOVED that she recorded Sally on her phone. Natalie's always been portrayed as slightly dim and very much a pushover, so it was nice to see that she was underestimated in more ways than one. I would love to see the how/why the video ended up on what looked like a Hollywood tabloid site. Natalie had ever reason to get the recording to prove harassment if she felt Sally posed a serious danger to her physically. But maybe she also wanted to get back at Sally for say, stealing her role as Lady MacBeth...

I can't decide where on the line between hilarity and awful watching Sally working in a writer's room would be. Sally? Having to cooperate with other people and consider their opinions? Yikes. That poor writer's room. In reflection that scene is both funny and kind of sad because it was actually a really nice text. Someone on reddit basically decoded the latter half to say that Barry was telling her he'd keep his distance and give her all the space she needed. He was fully owning his behavior and apologizing without trying to get back together. Honestly it sounded like him just wanting to end the relationship on at least somewhat good terms. And it became...that. Is it weird that I actually felt like I understood what Sally's Agent and the Banshe Lady were saying to each other?

I wonder if Kyle getting shot was the show's commentary on glamorizing gun violence, cause lets be honest, Barry killing an entire warehouse full of people was definitely impressive (in a truly sick way). Like I've considered buying a gun for a while now and decided against it because at the moment, the likelihood of me needing it for defense of self and property is way lower than the likelihood of me shooting someone I love accidentally. Kyle and his mom are the exact people who should never have a firearm and particularly not without training with it. I mean for shit's sake, my parents were forcible reserves to the Soviet Army (which is why, despite their staunch republicanism, they are not at all interested in guns because, and I quote, "we're sick of guns") and 50 years later they still know that you never point so much as a water gun at someone unless you intend to shoot. (There's actually a pretty great demonstration of this in the Pilot of this show, when Barry shoots up the Chechen assassin's car - he doesn't pull his gun until he absolutely has to fire. He actually tries to talk them down first. Ah for the days when he still had some sanity.) As for Sally, in the Prestige Podcast Bill mentioned that they wanted Sally to fail despite having done everything right, but in the scene where she found out she was canceled I was like, "you cannot have this reaction, you will literally never ever get another chance in that industry if you get an attitude without any proven selling power". Also couldn't she shop the show to other networks?

I actually thought they just dropped Kathleen on us the very first time during the Craig episode (in the flashback). Turns out on a rewatch her portrait is prominently displayed in the pilot episode on the altar Beef made for her when he was still pretending she had died. (And gone to Pencil-Heaven.) It's a quick shot, but the character design is very consistent. I wonder if they've always intended for her to show up in a later season? I think it will take landing someone really astounding to voice her, and then the writers will bring her in.

Bill Hader's completely earnest delivery of psychological warfare techniques made me pause and laugh so long and so hard there was genuine concern for me voiced from the other floor of my house. Then I unpaused it and Sally kicked him out which was such a hard turn, I replayed the whole scene again to see if it was really that funny. And it turns out that monologue was in fact still super funny. I feel like Bill is tired of seeing himself on screen or something because for example in this episode it was so much about everyone else. I really enjoyed seeing Barry in his scene with Sally being absolutely batshit insane but not in his usual depressing and/or terrifying way (well, I mean still terrifying, but...chipper?). There are layers there, and only a really great comedian could pull that off. Kind of like how during the whole Chechens getting raided scene I was watching and wondering how the hell were they making something that on literally any other genre show would be tense and shocking instead so very funny.

It's how real-world Tina sleeps because she has night terrors. I guess she wrote it into Robot-Tina's programming? (Incidentally, this has been consistent since season 1, which, holy hell.)