S01.E05: No One’s Gonna Harm You, Not While I’m Around.

[PWHCHCH]

Quote

A looming article threatens to upend the entire TMS power structure.

 

Edited November 15, 2019 by GSManiac

[tomsmom]

1. No way would Mitch be let in the building.

2. Alex couldn’t wait to see him until after her party????

3. Wth am I paying $5 to watch this? 🤦🏻‍♀️

[sadie]

Well I guess not many people are watching it. I’m still not sure I understand the Billy Crup character, is he bad, is he good, do I care? I love the story I think they’re trying to tell but wish they would move it along. Were the girls at the bar happy to see Reese? And dear god can we please retire the “woman has meaningless sex to deal with her internal pain” trope. It’s jut old and lazy storytelling at this point. 

[Deputy Deputy CoS]

The romantic turn with Alex and Mitch is a turn off. 

I don't know why the showiest that route. 

I'll cancel my sub at the end of the month

[ichbin]

I'm not hating it.  It's keeping my interest, the acting is fine, and the story is moving along. Not the best I've ever seen but far from the worst.  If it didn't involve so many big names I have a feeling the response would have been better overall.

My biggest complaint about this episode was Jennifer Aniston trying to keep her hair going to one side while at the party.  If she and BIlly Crudup were doing their own singing they did a pretty good job.  I like better when Steve Carrell's story line is being featured rather than Reese Witherspoon's. 

[Caseysgirl]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who doe#nt know whether I’m supposed to root for or despise Billy Crudup’s character. I guess that’s a nuanced performance but it’s annoying. Also, I, too, was distracted with all of the hair play that Jennifer Aniston was doing - couldn’t they have given her a hair clip?

[Kenz]

How did Reese Witherspoon (Bradley) grow her hair about three inches in a day? Or are we supposed to believe she has a new wig as she meets her coworkers at the bar? Strange continuity for a high budget show.

This episode felt boring and cheesy to me.

[txhorns79]

8 hours ago, Kenz said:

How did Reese Witherspoon (Bradley) grow her hair about three inches in a day? Or are we supposed to believe she has a new wig as she meets her coworkers at the bar? Strange continuity for a high budget show.

I saw that too.  You'd think they would have caught something obvious like that. 

I didn't love the episode.  It dragged a lot, and the Jennifer Aniston/Billy Crudup duet felt like it went on forever. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

I also find Bradley Jackson very confusing as a character.

Did she fake the first speech about coal?  I still don't know?

She pretends to be so aw shucks but we know she's incredibly savvy and quite manipulative.

So the whole time she's just pretending to be a naive bumpkin?

Maybe she's just too complicated for me.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[PWHCHCH]

It was nice to see Julian Morris on my screen. He’s very attractive and I cannot deal. Anyway there must be more coming for that story line. It would be weird to waste an actor like him on such a tiny part. 

[Superpole2000]

Parts of this were quite good, but parts of it were just so bad that I wanted it to end. That singing scene, in particular, was excruciating and unnecessary. The "It's complicated" chat at the bar/restaurant was a good scene, but then the show punted away that momentum by showing Alex and Mitch together and joking about him being a sexual predator. And Bradley's quick sex scene with a stranger was also jarring to the plot.

I like that Bradley/Alex aren't Mary Sue characters, but I still want them to make better decisions.

[blackdonnelly]

On 11/22/2019 at 3:13 AM, GSManiac said:

It was nice to see Julian Morris on my screen. He’s very attractive and I cannot deal. Anyway there must be more coming for that story line. It would be weird to waste an actor like him on such a tiny part. 

He got a name (Andrew), so here's hoping.

[Ellaria]

A little late to the party here but this show was nominated for a boatload of Emmys so I thought it was time to tune in...

This was the episode where the hair/wigs finally made me scream. Every female in the show seems to have the same curling iron, for starters. Then...

On 11/17/2019 at 1:25 PM, Kenz said:

How did Reese Witherspoon (Bradley) grow her hair about three inches in a day? Or are we supposed to believe she has a new wig as she meets her coworkers at the bar?

Yes - that's a noticeable difference. Why change the wig in the middle of the weekend? The "network" didn't make it grow longer in 24 hours.

On 11/17/2019 at 1:37 AM, ichbin said:

My biggest complaint about this episode was Jennifer Aniston trying to keep her hair going to one side while at the party.  

It is all I could see when she was on screen.

I enjoy Billy Crudup's character because - on a shallow level - he is stunning. Steve Carell is remarkably slimy but he will always be Michael Scott to me. Not a big fan of either Jennifer Aniston or Reese Witherspoon so, yes, I am having trouble with this show overall.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Ellaria Sand

[Avabelle]

It continues to be awful with Bradley leading as most frustrating character. Half of it is Reese and half is the brutal writing for the character. With every character saying how wonderful, amazing etc that she is. One minute she’s aww shucks and next minute she’s on one of her rants while everyone looks ok in amazement. The writers intentions for how we should perceive the character are like anvils. Feminist. Outspoken. Innocent. Amazing.

Just zero subtlety. 

And if she wasn’t sucking up enough storylines now we’ve her daddy issues too.

also pretty sick of Billy Crudup and his constant looks of amusement. The writing isn’t good enough for me to have a notion what his game is and it’s just boring. I will say though I enjoyed the back and forth with him and Aniston‘S Alex. It was lot more entertaining then the rom com shite we’ve been getting with him and Bradley.

Edited September 7, 2020 by Avabelle

[TeeVeeWatcher]

On 11/15/2019 at 6:10 PM, tomsmom said:

1. No way would Mitch be let in the building.

Furthermore, NO WAY security would only escort him to the elevator. They 100% would have walked him to, and out of, the door.

 

[paramitch]

I'm enjoying the show. It's not amazing, but it's well-done, and I'm enjoying seeing Reese and Jennifer take center stage here. The supporting cast is also really good thus far.

Meanwhile, as a theatre geek, I loved the "Not While I'm Around" scene between Cory and Alex, and thought it was hilarious, weird, and suspenseful at the same time. The text and subtext were amazing, and I loved the comedy of it -- the two enemies singing this (we know of course that Mrs. Lovett is singing this in the original knowing she has to kill Toby) to each other, at least one of them lying just as onstage. And yet by the end, it looked like each of them was caught off guard -- Cory looked genuinely touched or somewhat moved, and so did Alex (although in a different way -- I think her vulnerability scared and angered her, which was why she ran off to Mitch).

Also, Yanko in that scene was awesome. When asked "What the fuck is going on right now?" he never looks away and just says:

"I don't know, but it's weird and fascinating, and I'm super into it."

Nestor Carbonell is fabulous.

I'm also totally enjoying Billy Crudup on the show -- right now Cory's probably my favorite character. I don't necessarily understand him, but I feel like the electricity in the room just ratchets up every time he enters a scene. I believe his machinations will hopefully all make sense to me in the end -- we'll see.

I do think they've made Bradley a little bit of Mary Sue, but I also like her, so am willing to see how it goes.