S01.E06: The Uncanny

[Duke2801]

On 4/9/2020 at 9:19 AM, dmc said:

Except the last time I checked when you are frantic with worry the people you call are the police.  Also the fact that her friend made a comment that there still some glass in the kitchen made me know that she’s the person who’s been cleaning up and watching those kids.  In addition plenty of women and men have high power jobs and do their fair share at home that is completely possible to do.  People are just more comfortable blaming the women in this situation.  

While I agree her husband was an oblivious idiot for insinuating that “four kids is no different than three” - and for not really doing much to help alleviate her growing distress with the baby -  I certainly can’t fault him for reaching out to their friends when his wife suddenly goes missing. We really have no idea if he called the police in addition to calling her (even if he did it’s unlikely they’d really do anything until she has been missing for a certain amount of time). 
 

On 4/9/2020 at 9:00 PM, Haleth said:

Do the writers have any idea how far it is from OH to NY?  Did they ever look at a map to see how wide PA is?  Both in last week's episode and this Elena casually hopped in the car and drove to NY.  Uh, no.

The actress playing young Mia was outstanding. 

The photo belonged to Mia's mentor (Pauline?).  Mia was just the model.

Yeah I’m not understanding the geographical stuff. In this week’s flashback episode, I could have sworn that the ex boyfriend said he “drove 6 hours” to get to Rochester to meet her. So I assumed they were meeting somewhere relatively in between NYC and Ohio... until I looked at a map and realized that location makes no sense. Somewhere in central Pa would be a much more equidistant meeting point between Shaker Heights and NYC, right?
 

 

[peachmangosteen]

14 hours ago, Adgirl said:

I can't believe the glass was still on the floor. 

I took it to mean that Linda cleaned up the glass but that, as always with glass, it's hard to be certain you got every tiny piece so Elena should be careful. 

I can understand Linda being upset in the moment that she's been trying to have a baby and can't make it happen while Elena gets pregnant when she doesn't even want to be. I don't think that alone makes her a bad friend. Now, if she continues to hang onto that envy and resentment then yea that's a problem. I don't feel like we see enough of Linda and Elena's current relationship to know if she does or not though.

[Zima]

Was anyone else distracted by the fact that young Mia looks nothing like Kerry Washington? Yes, she had her mannerisms and everything down, but she doesn't look like her at all. I only found it super distracting because the creepy guy who stalked her to get her to be a surrogate kept saying how much she looked exactly like his wife. His wife looked a bit like Kerry Washington, but absolutely nothing like young Mia. I was laughing my ass off. 

[Adgirl]

21 hours ago, dmc said:

No she used Pearl’s name for that reason.  She took her because she can trust her 

We can agree to disagree. Lexie is a predator like many people of privilege. They seek out and manipulate naive doormats like Pearl. Lexie knew Pearl would take her home and nurse her. Lexie trusts Pearl the way dog owners trust that their dogs won't bite them. There's nothing real or meaningful to their relationship just one person arrogantly assuming loyalty.

 

 

[dmc]

15 hours ago, Adgirl said:

We can agree to disagree. Lexie is a predator like many people of privilege. They seek out and manipulate naive doormats like Pearl. Lexie knew Pearl would take her home and nurse her. Lexie trusts Pearl the way dog owners trust that their dogs won't bite them. There's nothing real or meaningful to their relationship just one person arrogantly assuming loyalty.

 

 

Yeah we can agree to disagree. I wouldn’t call a 17 year old raised with entitlement issues, a predator.  

[Sharper2002]

Finally caught up on the series this weekend and thought this flashback episode did a good job of showing how Elena and Mia's past shaped who they are today. 

I thought Tiffany Boone did a great job mimicking Kerry Washington's facial expressions and while she's not a perfect look-a-like, she was believable. It seems that Mia grew up in a restrictive and religious household which left her naive and yearning to be free when she arrived in New York. It was shitty of her renege on her deal with the Ryans (although the way they went about approaching a surrogate was beyond slimy) and Pearl has paid the price throughout her life. I liked the montage showing them on the road throughout the years as Pearl was growing up.  

I did feel for Elena as she was trying to manage with a screaming baby Izzy and the other kids started crying. Her coping mechanism to call her ex-boyfriend to try and relive her carefree times wasn't the best choice and it was extremely selfish, but I could understand she just needed get away. 

22 hours ago, Adgirl said:

Lexie is a predator like many people of privilege. They seek out and manipulate naive doormats like Pearl. Lexie knew Pearl would take her home and nurse her

I agree. At the very least, Lexie and her family are vipers and Mia had them pegged correctly from the start. Despite Mia's faults, I honestly had problem with her remarks to Lexie. She knows Pearl could get run over by a car tomorrow and Lexie might shed a tear, but she'd move on. She couldn't put her name down at the clinic because of how it would affect her future. For Pearl, black daughter of a working-class artist, it won't matter. It's probably the first (and perhaps the last) time anyone was going to call Lexie out on her privileged behavior, so not feeling sorry for her. 

[ShellsandCheese]

On 4/10/2020 at 7:26 PM, dmc said:

No she used Pearl’s name for that reason.  She took her because she can trust her 

She used Pearl's name without asking Pearl first because she wants to maintain the appearance of being a "good" girl and in her world good girls don't have abortions. She didn't consider for one moment what it could do to Pearl or Pearl's reputation if it got out that "Pearl" had an abortion. That is not something that a friend does. I also wouldn't go so far as to say she trusts Pearl, it's more along the lines of she doesn't have any else and she wasn't going to use any of her white friends names to hide her own abortion, probably out of some concern about what people might say about them if it got out. Lexie's actions are the actions of someone who doesn't care for Pearl. 

[Mommycpa]

On 4/10/2020 at 6:14 PM, Adgirl said:

I can't believe the glass was still on the floor. I don't like Elena at all but I certainly can empathize more after witnessing how unhelpful Bill or even Linda. Linda isn't a real friend. I suspect there's a lot of envy there, real friends are happy for you not envious of your happiness.

Mia made a shitty choice to be the Ryan's surrogate but that's understandable for a naive, young woman in her circumstances. The Ryans are creepy, horrible, desperate people. I understand desperate people do desperate things but  who uses a 18 year old virgin as their surrogate? They are disgusting! When Mia said she'd never used a tampon my heart broke a little. 

I love how unapologetic Kerry Washington is in her performance. As a black woman I am amused at the comments here. "Friendliness" is perceived very differently in different cultures. I see intrusion, racism, presumptions based on racism but shrug.

 

I totally disagree about Mia and the Ryan’s. They were clueless as to her virginity until that moment. Mia has a lot of choices she could have made. In 1981 or 82 (don’t remember which year), that $12000 tuition was a super pricy private art school!  I graduated in 1981 and my tuition and room and board was around $2500 for BOTH semesters!  Mia chose what seemed like the easy way at the time. Also, surrogacy was pretty much unheard of then. But her parents definitely treated her like crap!  But yes, the way the guy approached her was creepy!
 

As Elena’s choices go, in the early 80’s I’m certain she felt like her only choice was to have Izzy. Most married women would still feel that way. As far as birth control, Bill told her “last night was fun!” I think she had sex with him before her postpartum appt. Lots of women do. She probably mistakenly thought she couldn’t get pregnant while nursing because most women don’t ovulate then, but it does happen. 
 

In the 80’s there was a definite us against them feeling between working and stay at home moms. We both felt we had to defend our choices. My oldest was born in 1987. Those of us in the 80’s were really the first generation of women to have those choices. My mother worked (was part owner in the family drugstore) and only because she was an owner would the bank use only half her salary in giving them a home mortgage. They usually refused to use any of a woman’s pay because they assumed in the 70’s that the woman would quit work if she had a baby. 

[Adgirl]

Quote

vipers

Better word! Thanks

36 minutes ago, Mommycpa said:

They were clueless as to her virginity until that moment.

And they shouldn't have gone ahead. They took advantage of a young naive girl! And the sick part is it wouldn't be up for debate if it were Lexie.

Quote

Mia chose what seemed like the easy way at the time. 

Yeah and she paid for it by losing her virginity to a turkey baster. I'm sorry I find that slightly horrifying tbh.  The Ryans were the adults in this situation and should never have proceeded.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Adgirl

[OtterMommy]

Please remember to keep discussion in this thread to this episode.  References to past episodes are fine, as long as the bulk of the post concerns Episode 6.

 

[Vivigirl10]

I'm going to have to suspend disbelief to continue watching this show.  I need to accept this for what it is....a story.

Because the fact that Mia, with her 8th grade level collage skills, is the brightest artist ever seen by her professor is completely unbelievable.  

Quote

I was hoping Mia's flashback will reveal/explain the source of her anger but it actually did not.

Me too.  I understand her parents may have been strict but she was raised in a stable, middle-class home with a brother that she had a close and loving relationship with.  And ultimately, her parents did let her leave to pursue her goals, even if those goals may not have been what they would've chosen for her.  Where does all the anger come from? That the cards have always been stacked against her?  Where were the lack of choices?  Her seething at Elena, "you had good choices" comes to mind.  Maybe Mia had good choices but made bad ones.  That's on her.  Good Lord I can't stand this character.

Quote

I may be wrong but it looked like she wrote that she had a miscarriage and that she would pay them the money back. Which I think is even worse that she lied about losing the baby.

Completely puzzled yet again.....here's Mia walking around ready to give birth any day and she uses "miscarriage" as her excuse?  The couple obvoiusly would've known how far along she was.  Stillbirth maybe, but not miscarriage.

Others have touched on the biological versus adoptive/surrogate parent theme at play here.  I don't like it.  It's also laying out that not only are adoptive/surrogate parents second class and not "real", but if they happen to be wealthy they are evil baby-stealers too.  Yuck.  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

11 hours ago, Adgirl said:

she paid for it by losing her virginity to a turkey baster. I'm sorry I find that slightly horrifying tbh.

If inserting anything into your vagina counts as losing your virginity, then a lot of girls have lost their virginity with tampons, speculums, and fingers. In my book, Mia didn’t lose her virginity until she had sex. 

[BC4ME]

2 hours ago, Kiki620 said:

I'm going to have to suspend disbelief to continue watching this show.  I need to accept this for what it is....a story.

Because the fact that Mia, with her 8th grade level collage skills, is the brightest artist ever seen by her professor is completely unbelievable.  

So much this. They could've tried a little harder to make her art interesting at least. You can't always hid behind saying if you don't like an abstract art piece then it's on you because you just don't understand it.

[Adgirl]

3 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

then a lot of girls have lost their virginity with tampons, speculums, and fingers.

Yes and most of us weren't coerced into it. I just think that asking a young vulnerable girl to have a baby before she's properly had sex is immoral MMV.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

16 minutes ago, Adgirl said:

Yes and most of us weren't coerced into it. I just think that asking a young vulnerable girl to have a baby before she's properly had sex is immoral MMV.

Unfortunately I know plenty of young vulnerable women who were coerced into being fingered or having sex. But my original point was that regardless of Mia’s emotional state, she didn’t lose her virginity with a turkey baster because insertion of an object is not sex.

As for the morality of asking a virgin to have a baby, Jesse Williams was creepy for staring at Mia on the train and he was extra creepy for following her, but he didn’t know she was a virgin when he asked her to be their surrogate. 

[OtterMommy]

7 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

As for the morality of asking a virgin to have a baby, Jesse Williams was creepy for staring at Mia on the train and he was extra creepy for following her, but he didn’t know she was a virgin when he asked her to be their surrogate. 

Yes, that whole situation was incredibly creepy and I don't think there was any way NOT to make it creepy.  I really know nothing about surrogacy in the early 80s, so I don't know if there was a "right" way to do, but basically stalking a girl on the subway most certainly isn't it.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

3 minutes ago, OtterMommy said:

I really know nothing about surrogacy in the early 80s, so I don't know if there was a "right" way to do, but basically stalking a girl on the subway most certainly isn't it.

My only knowledge of surrogacy in the 80s was the widely publicized Baby M trial which was a mess. But yeah, staring at a girl in an unsettling manner and then following her after dark to approach her with a financial proposition was definitely not the best way to telegraph “I mean you no harm.” The only way he could have made it any creepier would have been writing a letter to her with cut out letters from a magazine.

[Marci]

On 4/10/2020 at 7:14 PM, Adgirl said:

Mia made a shitty choice to be the Ryan's surrogate but that's understandable for a naive, young woman in her circumstances. The Ryans are creepy, horrible, desperate people.

I don’t blame everyone but Mia for her choices. Pearl crying in the car as Mia spends year after year dragging her from town to town — that’s on Mia, not everyone around her.  And while they didn’t explicitly explain Mia’s anger, I would imagine it developed over the years as anger towards herself for the shitty choices she made.

[blondiec0332]

20 hours ago, Kiki620 said:

Her seething at Elena, "you had good choices" comes to mind.  Maybe Mia had good choices but made bad ones.  That's on her.  Good Lord I can't stand this character.

I actually said this to a friend I'm watching the show with.  A lot of Mia's problems come from choices she made. Some people might say her problems are from the circumstances she finds herself in but those circumstances are by and large circumstances she put herself in.

 

21 hours ago, Kiki620 said:

Others have touched on the biological versus adoptive/surrogate parent theme at play here.  I don't like it.  It's also laying out that not only are adoptive/surrogate parents second class and not "real", but if they happen to be wealthy they are evil baby-stealers too.  Yuck.  

The adoption story is the most uncomfortable part to watch for me.  It's the nurture v nature argument that has been going on forever. The adoptive parents did nothing wrong.  They assumed (and rightfully so) the baby had been abandoned.  Now the argument is going to be why the baby was abandoned.  Bebe left her baby someplace because she was unable to care for  her anymore. But what if the baby hadn't been found quickly enough and she died?  

[ribboninthesky1]

It had not occurred to me during the opening scene of the 1st episode, but I would not be at all surprised if Elena burned her own house down.  

As for Mia, I do feel some sympathy for her.  That her mother forbid her from attending her brother's funeral was very telling, and also that her brother alluded to the mom implying "hooker" once he realized she and the professor were beyond teacher and student.  One can argue that overly strict parents were considered normal at the time, but that's a slippery slope.  I didn't see enough of the family interaction to assume stability.  

I assumed surrogacy was more like in-vitro fertilization and another woman carries the child to term.   But I don't know enough about it, and this was the 80s.  As ridiculous as the turkey baster was, I thought it was the father's semen inserted into Mia.  So I assumed that Pearl was the biological child of Mia and creepy Jesse Williams'.  I didn't think Nicole Beharie's character contributed her eggs. I guess that's why I don't think less of Mia for keeping the child, especially when I can't see a reason why an otherwise healthy, financially stable couple wouldn't adopt.  

Speaking of Nicole Beharie, it was good to see her and I wonder what she would have done with the Mia role.  I don't find Mia to be angry per se, just guarded with no desire for being polite.  Elena made the decision to rent to her and (temporarily) hire her despite Mia's disposition.                  

[peachmangosteen]

2 hours ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

It had not occurred to me during the opening scene of the 1st episode, but I would not be at all surprised if Elena burned her own house down. 

I've been wondering that for awhile now and I do think it's a strong possibility. It seems too obvious for it to be Izzy, I just don't see them having it be Mia, and no one else really makes sense.

Quote

...  also that her brother alluded to the mom implying "hooker" once he realized she and the professor were beyond teacher and student.

I thought that was in reference to him telling her before she left, I think, that their mom thought she'd either become a hooker or a lesbian and she was in a relationship with a woman.

[Zima]

4 hours ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

It had not occurred to me during the opening scene of the 1st episode, but I would not be at all surprised if Elena burned her own house down.  

                  

 

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

I've been wondering that for awhile now and I do think it's a strong possibility. It seems too obvious for it to be Izzy, I just don't see them having it be Mia, and no one else really makes sense.

 

I said the same in the thread for the last episode. I wonder if we'll find out by the end of the season, or if they'll drag it way out. 

Edited April 14, 2020 by Zima

[LeGrandElephant]

When Mia said she was a virgin who’d never even used a tampon, I can’t believe the woman (didn’t catch her name) didn’t say something like are you sure you want to go through with this, let’s talk about it, we can think about it and revisit it next month. Doing it like that with someone so young and no guidance from professionals was a recipe for disaster. But Mia was far from blameless as well. What an awful situation all around.

I am also judging Mia for not selling that photo years ago to provide for Pearl, given that Pauline (who was creepy and inappropriate with a young student) specifically gave it to her to sell to support the baby. 

Edited April 15, 2020 by LeGrandElephant

[OtterMommy]

2 minutes ago, LeGrandElephant said:

I don’t know the legalities of Mia’s situation but as the genetic and birth mother I’d be shocked if she didn’t have a very strong legal case for deciding not to give up the baby, no matter what she may have signed. However, the bio dad would have probably been able to get at least joint custody, maybe more custody than her since he can provide a more stable home. So I can see why she ran, even though I don’t think it was the best choice for Pearl. She wanted Pearl to be hers and no one else’s and she still acts like that. 

 

I'm not sure that I would go so far to say that Mia had a strong custody case.  There were signed papers, and I'm sure that Mia received---and spent, on tuition--the money.  That, in itself, makes things look shady.  And, if she had left before trying for custody, she could have been charged with kidnapping.  

Legally, the best she probably could have hoped for was some sort of joint custody arrangement with the Ryans and I just can't see Mia sharing Pearl with anyone.

[LeGrandElephant]

28 minutes ago, OtterMommy said:

I'm not sure that I would go so far to say that Mia had a strong custody case.  There were signed papers, and I'm sure that Mia received---and spent, on tuition--the money.  That, in itself, makes things look shady.  And, if she had left before trying for custody, she could have been charged with kidnapping.  

Legally, the best she probably could have hoped for was some sort of joint custody arrangement with the Ryans and I just can't see Mia sharing Pearl with anyone.

You’re right, I thought better of what I said above and deleted it. I wrote off the cuff without thinking. I just meant I thought I’d heard that women giving up babies for adoption have some time in which they can change their minds, but I don’t actually know the details of that at all and I don’t know what I think the rules *should* be. (I think that’s a big reason a lot of people don’t like the idea of adopting, for instance.)  

What a complicated and unfortunate situation all around. I don’t like the way the Ryans went about finding a surrogate and I don’t think it was smart of them to approach it in that particular way, but I don’t like the choices Mia made either. 

Edited April 15, 2020 by LeGrandElephant

[LeGrandElephant]

How many episodes are left? I’m still not seeing any reason everyone would think Izzie burned down the house. The pilot made me think she’d be one of those kids with conduct disorder who can’t be labeled a sociopath because they’re too young, but she hasn’t done anything that bad. 

[peachmangosteen]

12 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

There were signed papers, and I'm sure that Mia received---and spent, on tuition--the money.

I think it's unclear whether they gave her the money upfront or not. That's what it seemed like when she first met with them, but then in her latter she says they don't have to pay for her appts and stuff so  I don't know.

11 hours ago, LeGrandElephant said:

How many episodes are left? 

There are 8 total.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

12 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

There were signed papers, and I'm sure that Mia received---and spent, on tuition--the money. 

 

28 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I think it's unclear whether they gave her the money upfront or not. That's what it seemed like when she first met with them, but then in her latter she says they don't have to pay for her appts and stuff so  I don't know.

No, what her letter said was that she would pay the Ryans back for the medical appointments and prenatal care. She followed that with, "You don't owe me anything," which made me think that she hadn't received the $12,000 yet.

[Natalie25]

12 hours ago, LeGrandElephant said:

I thought I’d heard that women giving up babies for adoption have some time in which they can change their minds, but I don’t actually know the details of that at all and I don’t know what I think the rules *should* be. (I think that’s a big reason a lot of people don’t like the idea of adopting, for instance.) 

You're right that those women have a few days to change their mind, but that's a situation where the intended parents are completely adoptive. Those parents have no biological ties, and the mother can change her mind and retain full custody. In Mia's case, Jesse Williams is the biological father of the baby, so it's not quite as easy for Mia to change her mind because he would still have rights as the father. 

[peachmangosteen]

Quote

No, what her letter said was that she would pay the Ryans back for the medical appointments and prenatal care. She followed that with, "You don't owe me anything," which made me think that she hadn't received the $12,000 yet.

So, are we to think the $12000 was in addition to them paying for all her appts? So, it seems, they paid for her appts but never gave her the $12000. I wonder if she actually paid them back for medical expenses? I'm gonna guess no lol.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Just now, peachmangosteen said:

So, she never received any money from them?

It was never specifically stated either away but since she offered to pay the Ryans back for her medical costs, I assumed that if they had given her even a portion of the $12K, she would have offered to return that too.

[Natalie25]

Also, did anyone notice that in the last shot, Mia was driving on the wrong side of the road? Probably they just did that to get the shot of the "Shaker Heights" sign, but it looks like Mia's leaving town and driving on the wrong side!

[OtterMommy]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

So, are we to think the $12000 was in addition to them paying for all her appts? So, it seems, they paid for her appts but never gave her the $12000. I wonder if she actually paid them back for medical expenses? I'm gonna guess no lol.

I think this may be a continuity problem because, if they hadn’t paid her, how was she able to continue at the art school?  I don’t doubt what the letter said, I just don’t think the writers thought it through.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

So, are we to think the $12000 was in addition to them paying for all her appts? So, it seems, they paid for her appts but never gave her the $12000. I wonder if she actually paid them back for medical expenses? I'm gonna guess no lol.

Even back in the 80s, it was typical for the parents to cover all medical costs, prenatal expenses (vitamins, maternity clothes), and anything related to the pregnancy in addition to the agreed upon surrogacy fee. 

[Bobcatkitten]

If they didn't pay her the $12,000 then there was really no reason for her to be on the run. It only makes sense if she took the money and the baby.

[peachmangosteen]

39 minutes ago, Bobcatkitten said:

If they didn't pay her the $12,000 then there was really no reason for her to be on the run. It only makes sense if she took the money and the baby.

No really since she wanted Pearl all for herself and didn't want the father to have any say in it so she had to run away or else he was likely going to get joint custody.

[Vivigirl10]

This just dawned on me.....Mia is a pregnant virgin.  Do you think this was deliberate on the author's part or that the implications just weren't thought of?  Holy Mary!

 

[MeganG]

Did anyone notice when young Elena goes to the store that the set designer decided to leave products that were definitely not around in 1983? Pampers Pure was established in 2018 and the pacifiers above the ones she was getting were definitely not around then. 

[Aqua]

On 4/8/2020 at 5:54 PM, Armchair Critic said:

I thought the 1981 stuff in the Mia part seemed more like 1984, but maybe they figured NY was ahead of the trends.

I agree, having lived through that time period, 1981 was very different from 1984!

On 4/8/2020 at 6:11 PM, peachmangosteen said:

I thought the actress playing young Mia actually was doing all the mouth acting. As much as I hate KW's mouth stuff, I was really impressed that they had the young actress mimic it and thought she did amazing with it. She really evoketed KW's Mia all around to me. ASR was not quite as good at playing it like Reese, but she did have the manner of speaking down imo. Also, wow and lol at the young Mia actress being 31. I never would have thought!

Yea, I thought that woman was creepy as hell. I think maybe we were supposed to look fondly at her relationship with Mia but I absolutely did not.

I did not look fondly either. I thought the older woman was creepy and abusive to take a young acolyte and corrupt her with drugs and sexual advances. She is portrayed as an icon of art but I just thought ick, very sleazy.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 4/15/2020 at 9:56 AM, peachmangosteen said:

I think it's unclear whether they gave her the money upfront or not. That's what it seemed like when she first met with them, but then in her latter she says they don't have to pay for her appts and stuff so  I don't know.

Didn't she say she needed the money right away to pay her tuition? Considering she needed the money before she was pregnant I am not sure how they still wouldn't have paid her 9 months later. Considering she was still in school while pregnant.

On 4/16/2020 at 9:50 AM, Bobcatkitten said:

If they didn't pay her the $12,000 then there was really no reason for her to be on the run. It only makes sense if she took the money and the baby.

Being on the run doesn't really make sense to me. I would have to assume that the surrogate parents could have easily found her in the 14 or so years she has been hiding if they wanted to. It took Elena about a day to figure out who she was. I can't see it taking a PI that much longer considering they know where she went to school and know people who know her (the dealer lady). The fact that they haven't tells me they probably aren't looking very hard.

Also unless my math is off, 4 children 4 years apart (because Lexi is in grade 12 and Izzy is in grade 9 right?) sounds like a nightmare even under the best of circumstances.

[circumvent]

I am rewatching this show and the title of this episode is perfectly chosen but for another reason: it is uncanny how the actress playing young Mia copies Kerry Washington so well, which is not a good thing. It was ill advised, it felt like a caricature of KW, which already had a caricature-esque way of speaking. I feel for the young actress, she didn't act, she just imitated someone - which can be called acting, I guess, but in a very rustic meaning, where no talent in required. 

I did like young Elena. It did feel like someone who has changed over the years. That was good acting, she didn't have to copy Reese's delivery of lines, but she was able to bring out Elena's essence

[kitkat343]

On 4/14/2020 at 3:00 PM, ribboninthesky1 said:

 

I assumed surrogacy was more like in-vitro fertilization and another woman carries the child to term.   But I don't know enough about it, and this was the 80s.  As ridiculous as the turkey baster was, I thought it was the father's semen inserted into Mia.  So I assumed that Pearl was the biological child of Mia and creepy Jesse Williams'.  I didn't think Nicole Beharie's character contributed her eggs. I guess that's why I don't think less of Mia for keeping the child, especially when I can't see a reason why an otherwise healthy, financially stable couple wouldn't adopt.  

           

Today most surrogate use either the egg from the intended parent (mother of the couple paying) or an egg donor.  That way neither the egg donor or the surrogate have a clear cut claim for custody.  IVF existed in the 80s, but the turkey baster method was (and still is) much less expensive.   

Most reputable surrogacy agencies require that surrogates have experienced pregnancy, and potential surrogates undergo extensive psychological testing to ensure they can handle following a complicated medical regimen for implantation of an embryo, pregnancy, and then handing the baby over to the intended parents.  Throwing money at a random kid on the subway desperate for tuition money is absolutely not acceptable.  You need to choose someone who has given this a great deal of thought, and who ideally isn't in a desperate financial situation in which they make decisions they will regret later.    

 

[ombelico]

On 4/13/2020 at 10:34 AM, Vivigirl10 said:

Because the fact that Mia, with her 8th grade level collage skills, is the brightest artist ever seen by her professor is completely unbelievable.  

Mia's art being rather mediocre helps reinforce that her professor's interest in her was unprofessional and predatory, and not about Mia's artistic talent.