S02.E02: Episode 2

[OtterMommy]

Quote

After Jean makes a cringey appearance at school, Otis tries his hand at pleasing Ola--and advising a hapless teacher.  Fearless Maeve buckles.

Netflix drop date: January 17, 2020

[Prower]

Aw, poor Adam. Man the writers really chose the most ironic way to get him expelled. I mean I wanted him back home, but not like this. And it seems so avoidable had he just said a little more than "I won't tell anyone".

[caitmcg]

It's kind of a wonder that it took them so long to use "Push It", considering. (In general, I think the music choices are very well done, and I like that when they do go with a super obvious reference, it's deployed humorously.)

[DoctorAtomic]

He just sort of hovers and loses his nerve. Haha haha haha haha haha haha. 

I love Jean, but I think bombing at the assembly is the right narrative choice for the character. She can be smug. 

I totally lost my shit after the girl threw the orange back and sniffed her finger. 

Edited January 18, 2020 by DoctorAtomic

[festivus]

Loved the orange thing. When Otis just splayed it open, uh, shudder.

I also loved the teacher just saying random words and making them sound sexy. I thought that was a good compromise.

[ahisma]

Jean giving anal sex advice in class gave me life, too, Eric. Me, too.

[Prower]

On 1/20/2020 at 9:36 PM, ahisma said:

Jean giving anal sex advice in class gave me life, too, Eric. Me, too.

But it wasn't really great advice. It wasn't completely wrong, but it was incomplete.

Yes, oil/fat based lubricants will decompose the latex condoms are made out of, so you shouldn't use them, correct. But her advise that "you should always use water based lubricants" is just wrong. Silicon based lubes are also compatible with condoms, usually lubricate better and last longer than water based lubes. Things that are especially important in anal sex (which she was recommending the lube for). You don't want too much chaving. First it isn't exactly pleasurable, second it makes the condom much more likely to break.

Of course silicon based lubes have the downside that they will decompose toys made from silicon, but that was not part of the question

Edited January 22, 2020 by Prower

[beeemkcl]

* Otis is flirting with Maeve when he asks her if she’s going to the fair. I wonder if Otis would dump Ola if he sees Maeve expressing interest in someone else.

 

 

* What is the financial aid situation like in the United Kingdom? In the United States, someone as smart as Maeve Wiley (if she were a US citizen) could possibly get a ‘full ride’ to a ‘Tier 2’ school and possibly even a ‘Tier 1’ school—The upper Ivies, Stanford, etc.

 

Maeve knows she’s very smart, but she has relatively extremely low self-esteem regarding her possible future. She needs heavy encouragement from those like Otis Milburn and Ms. Emily Sands.

 

Maeve’s future goal is literally simply to no longer live in a caravan. She wants to be able to live in a small house big enough to have kitchen table that can accommodate 4 chairs. And she considers she’ll be alone even though she looks like Emma Mackey and her last boyfriend was someone like Jackson Marchetti.

 

 

* I wonder if Maeve’s self-esteem issues contribute to hers trying to deny that she remains ‘into’ Otis. She literally competes with Ola in S02E02.

[ahisma]

2 hours ago, beeemkcl said:

Maeve’s future goal is literally simply to no longer live in a caravan. She wants to be able to live in a small house big enough to have kitchen table that can accommodate 4 chairs. And she considers she’ll be alone even though she looks like Emma Mackey and her last boyfriend was someone like Jackson Marchetti.

She hasn’t had any role model for what a successful life looks like. And every time she’s tried to scrape ahead a little on her own, her brother or her mother comes around and claws her back down. So far, the only person she’s dated regularly is Jackson, and his successful mom looks like someone who believes in being driven to the point of nervous breakdown. I’m hoping for more hands-on guidance from Ms. Sands, and maybe better peer relations with the rest of the smart kids.

[DoctorAtomic]

The English teacher has been fairly good for her. 

[Danny Franks]

Okay, so I just said that that Emily the English teacher is great, then they show that she's having thoroughly unsatisfying sex with the beardy teacher who seems to be inadequate in every possible way. Narratively, it doesn't work. She's been written as a serious and inspiring mentor, and he's been written as a punchline.

I'm not interested in Adam's storyline. There was nothing likeable about him in the first season, even when it turned out he was a thuggish bully because he was embarrassed about possibly being gay. I'm not going to feel remotely sorry for him, and I do not want the stuff between him and Eric being pushed as romantic. It was abusive.

I find it funny that Eric is so extroverted and confident, but when a guy actually likes him, he seems to be utterly clueless about it. Come on, dude, Rahim quoted Pablo Neruda to you!

Yeah, Maeve is completely smitten, and Emma Mackey is definitely selling it. I like that she's got a real friend now, in Aimee. And that Aimee is still with the apparently incredibly smart Top Heavy Steve.

"I think I'm gonna stick with baker. I do really like toast."

But it looks like Maeve's journey this season will be about finding confidence in herself, learning to accept that she's very intelligent and actually deserves to succeed.

Lily cutting through all the BS and just telling Otis, "you're bad at fingering" was brilliant. And then she absolutely skewers Jackson - "but you're acting all the time." I'm glad they realised how great she was in season one, to increase her role in the show.

[beeemkcl]

RESPONSES TO THE THREAD:

 

 

* Maeve Wiley knows becoming a professional leads to financial success. And Ms. Sands is ‘mentoring’ and championing Maeve. And Otis Milburn was encouraging Maeve.

 

 

* Maeve knows she’s very intelligent. She was making money from writing and selling ‘A*’ essays and papers. Maeve reads so much largely to ‘better’ herself.

 

EDIT: Aimee GIbbs is openly Maeve's friend in Season 1 and everyone knows she's Maeve's friend. Aimee simply chose Maeve over The Untouchables, thus becoming an even better friend to Maeve.

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by beeemkcl

[snarktini]

On 1/27/2020 at 10:48 AM, Danny Franks said:

And then she absolutely skewers Jackson - "but you're acting all the time."

That was such a well-written moment. She didn't even mean it as an insult, just an observation. I feel for Jackson. Hot, well-off, popular, a star. And yet his life is so hollow.

[Bastet]

I really like that the kids were typical high school kids to Jean at the assembly, and that the fact she works with adults, not teenagers, was painfully obvious.  I love that she'll be overhauling the sex ed program, but I most love that it's realistically awkward - the kids would rather talk to Otis than the experienced professional because he understands them.

When the teachers were having sex, she said, "Talk to me," and he said, "Hello," I nearly fell out of bed laughing. 

I like the potential of Maeve in whatever this junior overachievers class is.  I'm glad she gave the teacher her essay, showing her why she didn't want to read it to the class to begin with, but especially not after hearing all their visions of their futures.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Bastet