S01.E02: Someone Is Lying

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Arabella thinks about the hazy events of the previous night while having lunch with Terry, prompting her to probe Simon for answers; Arabella drops by Simon's apartment, only to find herself at an unwelcoming doorstep.

Original UK air date: 6/9/20
Original US air date: 6/14/20

Edited June 15, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

FYI - BBC is airing two episodes per week so if you read any further in this thread before the US air date, you may be spoiled!

Edited June 15, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

One thing I liked about this episode was the way that being a POC was portrayed in small ways, like the way Terry asked Arabella where her head scarf was before she went to sleep and the way the bandaid on Arabella's face was a totally different color than her skin. Then there were the super obvious things like Terry being asked if that was her real hair and if they could see her real hair during an audition.

DAMN, Simon's secret got out pretty quickly. I don't know why Simon lied to Arabella about walking her back to work when he clearly didn't. That was when he was on the phone with her at work (meaning Kat wasn't around) so he could have been honest and said no. The fact that he lied makes him look shady as shit, which was even more apparent when Arabella went to his house later that night and asked about it some more. Why in the hell was she in Camden?

Ben didn't seem to know she had been in Camden so either he's a good liar or he wasn't involved in her drugging/assault.

I was so glad that Arabella brought Kwame to the police station with her. She quickly moved from "it was an imaginary guy in my head" aka denial to pulling her sweater up over her face and crying, so I was really glad she had someone who cared about her when she accepted what happened to her.

On a shallow note, Kat and Simon's huge couch looks so comfy. I actually thought his plantains and pinto bean thing was something he learned from Alissa and that somehow that detail was going to be what outed his affair later in the season. I was imagining that Simon, Kat, and Alissa had another threesome date or ran into each other at a restaurant and then Alissa would mention that particular combination.

But it seemed like Kat was instantaneously suspicious, which makes sense. After you've been with someone eight years, you know them well enough to know that he wouldn't just plop a can of pinto beans onto mashed plantains out of nowhere. Man, Simon is a terrible liar. He should have said he saw it on a cooking show!

[scrb]

Arabella doesn’t seem like someone who’d be in denial.

She described the guy locking the door and bumping against it, making a sound.  Obvious what’s going on but it didn’t hit her until he police lady made it clear what her suspicions were.

T also had his quizzical look from Arabella’s description.

OK she declined at the audition to show her earl hair but then added that she had a threesome?

Whatever this ad campaign was, her biography figures a lot into their casting decision?  She told them her IG and her follower count?

Or is it only a thing in the UK ad industry?

[Adgirl]

My heart broke when she realized she was assaulted. Good for her persisting to get the full story, or some semblance of it from Simon. He was acting very dodgy. I hope she doesn't have to deal with betrayal as well assault. 

Michaela Coel is going to take home a ton of awards for this show too.

[kieyra]

20 hours ago, scrb said:

OK she declined at the audition to show her earl hair but then added that she had a threesome?

Whatever this ad campaign was, her biography figures a lot into their casting decision?  She told them her IG and her follower count?

Or is it only a thing in the UK ad industry?

The threesome thing was in response to their earlier question about “tell us a time you felt liberated”, or something like that. She had no answer at the time, so gave them her response at the last minute, on the way out the door.

The casting was for some kind of “brand ambassador”, which means they’re selling something, which means they want an “influencer”, which means, right now, they want someone with instagram followers. Because Zuckerberg owns everything. 🙂

[Blakeston]

Damn, Alissa is a mess. Everything about her screams toxic personality.

She and Simon deserve one another.

[Dewey Decimate]

I have a horrible feeling about Simon. Does it seem like he may have "sold" these criminally drugged women to other men? I sure hope it's not that (and only watch the show on HBO in the U.S., so have only seen through this second ep), but look forward to - if that's the right way to phrase it - learning what really happened.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Does it seem like he may have "sold" these criminally drugged women to other men?

That hadn't occurred to me but, yeah that could be it. Ugh, is that actually a thing? So even if an assaulted woman remembers what happened she may have no idea who the man was (or men were). The results of Arabella's rape kit are even more important if she was raped by a stranger who paid for the privilege.

Quote

Alissa is a mess. Everything about her screams toxic personality.

Definitely. I'm wondering if she was involved in whatever happened to Arabella. Seemed awfully convenient for Alissa to volunteer that she'd been roofied before Arabella mentioned she'd been having blackouts. Alissa may have been trying to steer Arabella away from suspecting Simon. After all, Simon wouldn't have roofied his mistress too unless he's more awful than just a cheating husband.

Edited June 19, 2020 by Joimiaroxeu

[PrincessPurrsALot]

They are doing such a great job of showing Arabella trying to piece together what happened to her with the flashes memory and her trying form them into a whole.  The mistress yelling at her was so many kinds of wrong.  I am fully drawn in and wanting to know what happened.  I also appreciate how they are showing her trying to normalize life while dealing with this.

[DearEvette]

Oh man, Michaela Coel broke my heart when during the interview when Arabella came out of denial and finally let herself acknowledge what had happened to her.  Her pulling the sweater over her face and simply breaking down just gutted me.

Simon and Alissa both read as super shady.

[auntiemel]

On 6/14/2020 at 10:28 PM, scrb said:

Arabella doesn’t seem like someone who’d be in denial.

There's no particular kind of person who can be in denial about something like this. The brain is super self-protective when it feels threatened, and it doesn't always have much to do with personality.