S02.E07: Episode 7

[OtterMommy]

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Welcome to the morning after.  "Sex kid" has made a huge mess--and just can't stop barfing.  Chaos comes to class, and in detention, the girls bond.

Netflix drop date: January 17, 2020

[Prower]

Gillian Anderson is a damn good actress.

Really liked the comradery among the girls.

Even Eric's mom sees that that boy is just not right for him. Hopeffully Adam can get his shit together and get over that self-hatred, so he deserves him.

Speaking of Adam, that is why I would always jiggle a door like that. I don't even know how you couldn't. It's just instinct. But wouldn't a store like that at least have a rudimentary alarm system, for the insurance alone, and wouldn't that have triggered the moment the door swung open? Or was Adam not taught how to activate it? If so that seems like the owners fault... there are some holes in this story, is what I'm saying.

Edited January 18, 2020 by Prower

[pootlus]

The door thing was bullshit - they specifically showed the key turning, so clearly the lock is broken and it's not Adam's fault at all.  I suppose it shows that life's not fair.

I loved that they didn't make a huge deal either of Otis losing his virginity, or Ruby getting the morning after pill.  It's just an inconvenience, that's all.  Although why either Otis or Ruby thought that the pharmacist could dispense a medication to someone other than the patient is anyone's guess.

I would have thought it wouldn't take Otis and Jean long to work out that the only way her notes could have been distributed anywhere is if someone with a master key stole the book from his locker, and only someone with a huge grudge against Jean would think that humiliating the student body was an acceptable price to pay, and that could only be one person.  I mean some of the kids could have been seriously upset and self-harmed.

[Garden Wafers]

2 hours ago, pootlus said:

I loved that they didn't make a huge deal either of Otis losing his virginity, or Ruby getting the morning after pill.  It's just an inconvenience, that's all.  Although why either Otis or Ruby thought that the pharmacist could dispense a medication to someone other than the patient is anyone's guess.

I'm glad they normalized getting the morning after pill; but to create this situation, they had to ignore the question of whether or not Otis was sexually assaulted. I mean, the show's been very good about the importance of affirmative consent (each time Ola and Otis have been intimate, they've shown him checking in with her);  but then they put Otis is a situation where he's so drunk he can't remember any of the details of his encounter with Ruby. Which presumably means he was in no state of mind to give consent himself. But I guess it's okay because he mindlessly asked Ruby for consent every 10 seconds? 

[lh25]

20 hours ago, Prower said:

Even Eric's mom sees that that boy is just not right for him.

LOVED that.  The line about that boy not making him sparkle was so good.

[DoctorAtomic]

On 1/18/2020 at 12:08 AM, Prower said:

Gillian Anderson is a damn good actress.

The whole bit with the bra and the phone was brilliant. And the look on her face when she found the fat roll of cash.

I don't like the popular girl but when Otis put his hand on her leg and they cut to her in the pharmacy I totally laughed hard.

I love the dirty talking teacher.

I'm not surprised that Jean found out about Otis' operation. I didn't think it would take this long.

I'm glad we got to see some genuine emotion out of the domineering mother. Long time in coming. She was starting to grate. Doesn't excuse her pushing the kid to self harm though.

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by DoctorAtomic

[DoctorAtomic]

On 1/18/2020 at 8:17 AM, Garden Wafers said:

Which presumably means he was in no state of mind to give consent himself. But I guess it's okay because he mindlessly asked Ruby for consent every 10 seconds?

She did know he was drunk clearly, but if he's asking her if she's ok, it's probably hard to figure out what state of mind he was in.

If he was all sloppy and she just jumped on top of him, then that's quite different, but I got the impression he was 'active,' for lack of a better term based on how they were talking - 'not great, not terrible.'

Can you sell the morning after pill to minors?

I do like how Maeve has kind of protective friendship with Aimee.

On 1/18/2020 at 12:08 AM, Prower said:

Really liked the comradery among the girls.

Yeah, but it's fucking sad as fuck over what they bonded.

I guess this season they're taking Jean down a peg.

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by DoctorAtomic

[DoctorAtomic]

On 1/18/2020 at 5:32 AM, pootlus said:

The door thing was bullshit - they specifically showed the key turning, so clearly the lock is broken and it's not Adam's fault at all.  I suppose it shows that life's not fair.

Yeah, but you don't check the door after you lock it? I mean, I do that at my own house. Still though, while a lot of where Adam is is self-inflicted, some of it isn't either. There's got a to be an uptick at some point.

I absolutely cannot stand the 'make your own kind of music' song.

 

[giovannif7]

I think my favorite part of the season has been the (relatively) subtle analogy between Adam and the poor little dog deemed "untrainable" by the owner of the store, who just needed a little caring attention and patience from Adam to demonstrate growth. If someone would just show a little interest in Adam and devote some time and "carrot" over "stick" discipline/structure with him, he might start to see his own self-worth and stop sabotaging/hurting himself and others.

It's clearly not going to be his dad, who apparently passed along more than one type of BDE (Big Dick Energy) to Adam, and his mom has her own significant issues to deal with as well. I guess the next choice would be Eric, but that shouldn't be something a boyfriend/partner takes on, especially since Adam has already put him through so much. Hopefully a therapist or another professional (NOT Jean), or even simply another caring adult, can start working with him and help him heal and grow.

I'm also hoping that Adam finds his calling, based upon his interactions with the dog, and builds himself a career caring for and training animals, especially stray/lost/unwanted ones. It wouldn't require the advanced formal education that he's being denied, and he's definitely got potential in that area.

[DoctorAtomic]

They've always shown him being good with dogs - last season he was shown to get on with Madam well. I thought it was a nice continuing character trait.

He needs to just make a clean break and move out. I know he needs a job to do that, but he's not getting any growth and support from them.

 

 

 

 

[possibilities]

Can he really just be denied a public school education? I wondered the same thing when they kicked out Maeve. What are the rules there?

[DoctorAtomic]

How old are they supposed to be? If they're 18, I don't think so. But I assumed they were 16. You can be expelled from high school. It's not on the particular school to provide you with education.

[Acceleration]

I really, really really don’t like any of Eric’s suitors. I actually hate Adam with passion because they keep trying to sell me on his redemption and as a black queer man, I find it highly problematic that Adam is sorta presented as the better alternative to Rahim, who is also annoying the hell out of me. 
 

I like everyone on the show besides Otis, Adam, the principal, Jakob (as a Swede, the actor Mikael Persbrandt is just a big no) and Rahim. These five character’s are just grating, even tho I get their function to the story, I just can’t stand them. 

[Zima]

On 1/24/2020 at 5:50 PM, Acceleration said:

I really, really really don’t like any of Eric’s suitors. I actually hate Adam with passion because they keep trying to sell me on his redemption and as a black queer man, I find it highly problematic that Adam is sorta presented as the better alternative to Rahim, who is also annoying the hell out of me. 
 

I totally agree about Adam. He made Eric's life miserable and was a complete douche last season. Now they made him super pathetic, and we're supposed to ship the two of them. Gross . 

Edited January 29, 2020 by Zima

[Danny Franks]

So Otis having sex with Ruby? That was a surprising turn of events, although perhaps not too unlikely, given how drunk he was, and how she apparently likes nerdy boys when she wants to feel better about herself.

It's nice that they took some time to humanise Ruby, and show that she can be nice, while giving a reason but not an excuse for why she often isn't. She and Otis actually had some cute little moments. I still resent that she and the other minor characters from season one weren't developed more before the half dozen cast additions were forced on us.

Anyway, I did like how this demythologized the act of losing your virginity, thought. It doesn't have to be special, or with The One, or an experience to remember forever. Sometimes it's shit, sometimes you're drunk and don't really remember it, and sometimes it's just alright. Either way, it's not as big a deal as popular culture makes it out to be. Nor is having to get the morning after pill.

But I did also like that they showed Maeve to be more like a 'normal' schoolgirl, going straight to her friend and confiding because she was upset about the boy she likes. It shows a real growth in her ability to at least trust someone.

I liked the girls in detention, bickering like real teenagers, then finally realising they do all have something depressingly in common.

I was never on board with Eric/Adam, and Eric himself completely summed it up in the last episode - Adam made Eric fear for his safety. That is just about the biggest red flag anyone could wave. But he makes Eric "sparkle"? Fuck off.

The scene between Jackson and his mum was nicely written. It illustrated really clearly how you should deal with this sort drive that parents have for their kids - do these things as long as the kid enjoys them, but don't force it on them once they don't any more. Jackson will still love swimming, probably a lot more once he doesn't feel under such pressure to take it seriously.

If Groff doesn't get exposed and fired, then I'll be very disappointed that this is apparently the only storyline that doesn't have deserving consequences. And no, his loveless marriage dissolving is not sufficient.

[Chas411]

On 1/19/2020 at 3:51 AM, lh25 said:

LOVED that.  The line about that boy not making him sparkle was so good.

I was confused at that comment. How does Eric act different around him? I thought they were cute. Far better then the abusive car crash that is Adam. 

[Bastet]

This was my favorite episode of the season thus far; even though I could see it coming from a mile away, I teared up at the girls waiting to get on the bus with Aimee.  I loved all their scenes - in detention, smashing stuff, and getting on the bus.

Otis hardly ever drinks, so he has a very low tolerance, and with how much alcohol he put away I have a hard time believing him capable of giving any kind of meaningful consent to sex.  But he's not concerned with that, so if I take it the way he's taking it, I have to appreciate that he did not flip out that losing his virginity didn't happen the way he'd always pictured it happening.  The way he over analyzes things and gets caught up in his head about them, it's probably for the best that he got that first time out of the way.

There was good mother/son stuff in this episode; Jean saying, "You look just like your father when you lie" and walking away was very well done.  She already felt out of sorts upon discovering he'd been selling sex advice, and she really didn't expect him to lie to her face.  And Jackson's mom saying living vicariously through him was only part of it, that she glommed onto his interest in swimming because it was something they could share, since they don't share biology. 

Rahim loves Eric, is honest with him, treats him and his family with respect (he's even willing to go to a church service with them to see what that part of Eric's life is like), is openly affectionate yet respects Eric's boundaries in situations where Eric isn't as comfortable as he is, and is willing to try things he's not into because they make Eric happy (e.g. dancing).  But he doesn't make Adam "sparkle"?  Am I supposed to think he sparkles around the bully who won't even acknowledge him in public now that he's decided he's more interested in secretly kissing him than tormenting him into a years-long state of fear?

[tennisgurl]

I love that Mr. Groffs evil plan to "get back" at Jean was basically Regina's plot to get back at Kady from Mean Girls. What a dickhead that guy is. 

[Rahul]

On 1/19/2020 at 3:55 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

I'm glad we got to see some genuine emotion out of the domineering mother. Long time in coming. She was starting to grate. Doesn't excuse her pushing the kid to self harm though.

 

I looked up the actress who plays Jackson's non-bio mum and she played Septa Unella on Game of Thrones 

Spoiler

the austere nun who forced Queen Cersei to do her notorious walk of shame through King's Landing. 

Kind of makes sense now!

[Happytobehere]

On 1/18/2020 at 10:51 PM, lh25 said:

LOVED that.  The line about that boy not making him sparkle was so good.

This sums it up. On the surface when looking at the two men in Erick’s life, Adam would get checks in all the wrong boxes, yet somehow, when you look at Erick with them, it is so clear that Adam and Erick are strangely better suited. I chalk it up to the chemistry between the actors. In terms of the story though, I still can’t support the Adam relationship because he hasn’t proved that he is worthy of Erick and the love and joy that Erick brings.

I loved the girl bonding. More of this please. The sexual assault stuff was awful, but people need to hear it. 

Edited August 3, 2020 by Happytobehere

[Eeksquire]

I realize I am so late to the party here, but: 

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But he makes Eric "sparkle"? Fuck off.

I don't think Eric's mom knows a damn thing about Adam - I think her comment was more an observation that Eric makes himself smaller when he's around Rahim.  I, for one, noticed that Eric was much more subdued in church when Rahim was with him than he was when he was there just with his family (and that was in spite of the fact that he hadn't been to church in a long time).  

I haven't watched the last ep of the season, so I'm off to do that now... thank you for tolerating me spitting in the wind here, since I see it's been like eight months since anyone was here! 

[Mr. R0b0t]

On 1/18/2020 at 5:32 AM, pootlus said:

I would have thought it wouldn't take Otis and Jean long to work out that the only way her notes could have been distributed anywhere is if someone with a master key stole the book from his locker, and only someone with a huge grudge against Jean would think that humiliating the student body was an acceptable price to pay, and that could only be one person.

Especially considering the only pages missing from the journal info dump were the ones about him.  

[Which Tyler]

On 1/19/2020 at 9:23 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

Can you sell the morning after pill to minors?

They're 17 / 18, so not minors.
But either way, yes, you can