S05.E01: Forty: Part One/S05.E02: Forty: Part Two

[Boo Boo]

What happened to the original Madison?   She is no longer this weird, neurotic annoying person?  It's like they rewrote her character to make it seem possible for Kevin to fall in love with her.  

[Crs97]

I was torn by Randall and Kate's talk because I wondered what his objective was.  Was she just the safe person to dump his exhaustion on?  Had his resentment just been building and building and he wanted to shame her a little bit?  I couldn't tell what his goal was.

An earlier poster criticized Kevin for asking Randall for "free" advice regarding raising a daughter.  I didn't see it that way at all.  Neither has apologized, and maybe they never will.  Each, however, has tried to reach out to the other.  My take on Kevin's question was that it was a way to bond with Randall and to indicate he is a valued member of the family.

Miguel is breaking my heart, and I loved his talk with Toby.  I also loved his look when Randall demanded the phone.  I need Miguel's back story, and their showing me everyone else's but his is annoying me to no end.  I really have this fear that they will tell us his story on the day they kill him off.  That will be a tear-jerker.

[Boo Boo]

This new Randall direction feels like a soap opera tactic.  Nicky's alive and now Randall's birth mom alive?  Is there a twin we didn't know about? 

Edited November 2, 2020 by Boo Boo

[ams1001]

35 minutes ago, Boo Boo said:

Is there a twin we didn't know about?

Plot twist: Randall was triplets. That's why Laurel was in so much pain and she delivered the other two after she woke up.

 

If any of my jokey speculation winds up being correct I will

[Boo Boo]

38 minutes ago, Crs97 said:

I was torn by Randall and Kate's talk because I wondered what his objective was.  Was she just the safe person to dump his exhaustion on?  Had his resentment just been building and building and he wanted to shame her a little bit?  I couldn't tell what his goal was.

An earlier poster criticized Kevin for asking Randall for "free" advice regarding raising a daughter.  I didn't see it that way at all.  Neither has apologized, and maybe they never will.  Each, however, has tried to reach out to the other.  My take on Kevin's question was that it was a way to bond with Randall and to indicate he is a valued member of the family.

Miguel is breaking my heart, and I loved his talk with Toby.  I also loved his look when Randall demanded the phone.  I need Miguel's back story, and their showing me everyone else's but his is annoying me to no end.  I really have this fear that they will tell us his story on the day they kill him off.  That will be a tear-jerker.

I also find it extremely hard to believe that race was never talked about in the Pearson family.  I have friends who have adopted interracially and they are more acutely aware of racism than average white people.  

[readheaded]

5 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Plot twist: Randall was triplets. That's why Laurel was in so much pain and she delivered the other two after she woke up.

 

If any of my jokey speculation winds up being correct I will

And, in another surprise twist, the 3rd Pearson baby didn't die, but Laurel adopted him and raised him with the other 2 Randalls.  😁

Edited November 3, 2020 by readheaded

[Boo Boo]

On 10/28/2020 at 4:30 PM, himela said:

Too much "the Bold and the Beautiful" going on here. I have flashbacks from 30 years ago when Caroline showed up after dying in an accident (?) (I was too young to remember exactly what it was). I thought it was stupid then, I think it's ridiculous now. Stop bringing back the dead!

I'm sorry to say but in this show I find myself to care more than anything else about Kate's story line and once again I find it unrealistic. I mean, she got pregnant, had a baby, and now they just found someone to give them their baby? Who in their right minds would give a newborn to a 40 years old couple with a medically obese mother who has trouble walking the kid to the park? And a couple who also already have a baby of their own? I mean, who believes that?

I like the effort from the writers but I'm sick of seeing Jack and William in the past. I'm SICK of Jack. Let him go. Or just resurrect him and make him live in the present. Enough with the past already.

Exactly.  It's just as preposterous to me as the premise of the show -- that a white couple who just lost #3 is able to magically adopt Randall so quickly.  

[Boo Boo]

So they've had to quarantine etc, but did anyone on this show have a mask on at any point of the show?

[ams1001]

5 minutes ago, Boo Boo said:

So they've had to quarantine etc, but did anyone on this show have a mask on at any point of the show?

Kevin and Madison were wearing them in the doctor's office, and I think Kevin is wearing one when he first shows up at Kate's house but takes it off since he doesn't go inside and stays several feet away.

At the cabin...I don't think so (though some of those scenes were filmed months ago since they were the part of the flash forward in the Thanksgiving episode last year). I assume they decided it wasn't worth reshooting all those scenes that we already saw.

[Boo Boo]

36 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Kevin and Madison were wearing them in the doctor's office, and I think Kevin is wearing one when he first shows up at Kate's house but takes it off since he doesn't go inside and stays several feet away.

At the cabin...I don't think so (though some of those scenes were filmed months ago since they were the part of the flash forward in the Thanksgiving episode last year). I assume they decided it wasn't worth reshooting all those scenes that we already saw.

Ah you're right they were.  I was just thinking I don't recall Malik having one as he walked up to Randall outside.  I mean, I know they're outside, but neither seemed to be concerned about not having masks on and there didn't seem to be a mask insight.  Even outside on a busy street, I've got my mask nearby.  I know they were distanced though but my other thought is:  we're quarantining and yet Malik can come over whenever after walking without a mask on?  

I don't really care that they brought COVID-19 into the series, but I do think it's a bit tricky.  Is it just going to get magically cured this season?  Will they be consistent?  I mean, obviously I don't really want to watch them talk through a mask all season, but I feel like they'll treat this inconsistently.   Like the masks won't happen, they'll not social distance anymore, they won't worry about having random people just breeze into their houses.  They'll all be able to speechify anywhere w/o masks on.

I mean, rewatching the show, Rebecca has cops bringing her back to the cabin.  No one is wearing masks, no one is distanced as they walk into the place.

And if you bring in world events, there's zero talk about a 2020 election?   No Trump?  

 

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by Boo Boo

[pancake bacon]

6 hours ago, Janie430 said:

I think part of the reason that some of us are disappointed that the Randall story has gone in another direction based on current events is that we were hoping this was the season Randall was finally going to hit bottom, and start growing. 

Brilliant summation of what I was hoping to see in Season 5, but while the discussion on racism should still can come into the picture, I hope Randall's start of a breakthrough remains the larger story arc. Randall's realization (or rather, revelation to us viewers?) that his obsessive behavior that without him the family break apart was one of the strongest writing this show has produced, with groundwork for it laid out over several seasons. 

Edited November 3, 2020 by pancake bacon
Spelling mistakes!

[Quickbeam]

Loved that they played Warren Zevon over the birthing scene. “Keep Me in your Heart”.

[kirkola]

23 hours ago, Crs97 said:

I was torn by Randall and Kate's talk because I wondered what his objective was.  Was she just the safe person to dump his exhaustion on?  Had his resentment just been building and building and he wanted to shame her a little bit?  I couldn't tell what his goal was.

An earlier poster criticized Kevin for asking Randall for "free" advice regarding raising a daughter.  I didn't see it that way at all.  Neither has apologized, and maybe they never will.  Each, however, has tried to reach out to the other.  My take on Kevin's question was that it was a way to bond with Randall and to indicate he is a valued member of the family.

Miguel is breaking my heart, and I loved his talk with Toby.  I also loved his look when Randall demanded the phone.  I need Miguel's back story, and their showing me everyone else's but his is annoying me to no end.  I really have this fear that they will tell us his story on the day they kill him off.  That will be a tear-jerker.

I think you have to go back to through Randall's earlier scenes.  There was a bit earlier with Randall and Beth where it is heavily implied (or maybe outright stated, my memory is sometimes faulty) that the family is getting tired of Kate's sudden activism.  It's the scene where Kate is sending Randall photos from the BLM marches.  At this point, unless they want to backtrack and show Kate as being a long term ally, it feels like suddenly, with George Floyd's death, she's become active.  And I'm not discounting the activism.  It's great that she's willing and able to march.  But sharing all this with Randall felt like she was asking for some kind of validation from the Philadelphia Pearsons for her good deeds.  So at the cabin, when she walked up to Randall, I could feel Randall's exhaustion of Kate's sudden spirit.  And understand, I'm Caucasian who is still learning and hope to one day be the right kind of ally.  Because what I have learned in the last 12 months is that I grew up with what Martin Luther King Jr. called a White Moderate.  One who was perfectly happy with the status quo and was thoroughly shocked to hear and see what my friends in the black communities have been saying (and in some cases, not saying) for years.  On some levels, I did know (my black friends always over dress for every occasion, even when the activity doesn't warrant it), it just did not register (which shows my privilege).    I'm trying to see better now.  And what I'm seeing is that Kate appears to be over-compensating for having not done enough in the past.  So where I'm trying to sit down and watch/listen, Kate is doing the trademarked Pearson Grand Gesture.  So for me, seeing Randall in front of Kate saying that while he loved her, he couldn't do this right then, made a certain amount of sense.

I agree with your assessment of Kevin.  I would only add that that Kevin does admire Randall as a father even if he doesn't always admire him as a brother.  The resentments that Kevin and Randall have had growing up are certainly hard to let go.  And it definitely looked like Kevin was trying to move passed it, not with a trademarked Pearson Grand Gesture, but with more of an olive branch.  Which makes me think Kevin is likely still in therapy and still working through his issues.  But both men were raised by one very closed off father figure, so both are going to have to come through this to the other side. 

Overall, there were a few missteps, like trying to shoehorn the mask wearing into the explanation of the flash forward scene with Older Rebecca.  And the fact that Miguel should have been aware of his wife's poison ivy itch.  I know from experience, that when dealing with care-giving and dementia/alzheimers, you have to be more vigilant about what they get into and how to respond to it.  I would have preferred if Miguel had been calling the doctor with the pill bottle in hand to confirm possible drug interactions.  At least if they had written it that way, Miguel could have put the phone down and said "I got this Randall" and given Randall a break from his savior problems.

Lastly, I just wanted to say that I'm okay with Randall changing therapists because he explained to the current one why.  Reasons matter and I suspect therapists, like doctors, are used to this.  What isn't okay is being racist about choosing your doctor/therapist.  But Randall is essentially saying one of his issues is the hole left by his adoption and being raised by a white family, even as he acknowledges that his family was indeed loving.  I have heard similar things from Asian adoptees (adopted by white families).  Randall is certainly not saying he doesn't like white people. 

 

[topanga]

On 11/2/2020 at 2:04 PM, Boo Boo said:

What happened to the original Madison?   She is no longer this weird, neurotic annoying person?  It's like they rewrote her character to make it seem possible for Kevin to fall in love with her.  

I agree. Madison's idiosyncrasies in the first season are what made her, yes annoying, but also interesting. 

Many women who've struggled with disordered eating in the past find it difficult to watch their bodies grow during a pregnancy. I wonder if this will be an issue for Madison this season and if the show will address it. 

But please, TV gods, Madison does not need her own flashback episode, okay? 

[himela]

6 minutes ago, topanga said:

please, TV gods, Madison does not need her own flashback episode, okay? 

Okay you just put it out there in the universe.

[topanga]

1 minute ago, himela said:

Okay you just put it out there in the universe.

My bad. LOL

[Scarlett45]

On 11/1/2020 at 2:54 PM, Ohmo said:

I've always had the impression Kevin is very aware of his straight, white, male, rich privileged status.  I even see that when he talks to Tess. She comes from money, but she's Black, female, and not straight.  Kevin takes his position as her uncle very seriously, and I believe he takes his overall privilege seriously as well.  He doesn't want the outside world to know that, though.  That's for him and those closest to him.  His outward public behavior is a cover or mask.  He understands more than the world believes he does.

I agree. By all of the data points Kevin is VERY privileged, but he is also likely the most emotionally messed up. We talk about this in my Sib Support and advocacy work- the burden of being the "normal one".

[kili]

Last season, Rebecca says that she doesn't want to do the study because she wants to enjoy the time she has left with the family. She wants to stay in California and be close to baby Jack. The study requires her to move to a city where none of her kids live.

So, when the trial gets cancelled and Rebecca no longer has to move, why does she move to the cabin where none of her kids live and is a country away from where Baby Jack is? Sure, there is COVID, but if her purpose was to be with family, she  and Miguel could have formed a bubble/pod with Jack/Kate/Toby (Toby is in tech, so he could probably work from home?). 

It's like they just nuked that story-thread and all the build-up and reasons why people were taking well-intentioned different sides. 

[debraran]

5 hours ago, kirkola said:

I think you have to go back to through Randall's earlier scenes.  There was a bit earlier with Randall and Beth where it is heavily implied (or maybe outright stated, my memory is sometimes faulty) that the family is getting tired of Kate's sudden activism.  It's the scene where Kate is sending Randall photos from the BLM marches.  At this point, unless they want to backtrack and show Kate as being a long term ally, it feels like suddenly, with George Floyd's death, she's become active.  And I'm not discounting the activism.  It's great that she's willing and able to march.  But sharing all this with Randall felt like she was asking for some kind of validation from the Philadelphia Pearsons for her good deeds.  So at the cabin, when she walked up to Randall, I could feel Randall's exhaustion of Kate's sudden spirit.  And understand, I'm Caucasian who is still learning and hope to one day be the right kind of ally.  Because what I have learned in the last 12 months is that I grew up with what Martin Luther King Jr. called a White Moderate.  One who was perfectly happy with the status quo and was thoroughly

 

Lastly, I just wanted to say that I'm okay with Randall changing therapists because he explained to the current one why.  Reasons matter and I suspect therapists, like doctors, are used to this.  What isn't okay is being racist about choosing your doctor/therapist.  But Randall is essentially saying one of his issues is the hole left by his adoption and being raised by a white family, even as he acknowledges that his family was indeed loving.  I have heard similar things from Asian adoptees (adopted by white families).  Randall is certainly not saying he doesn't like white people. 

 

My daughter wanted a black therapist and found one she clicked with and helped her more than an older white woman did. She just didn't understand how she felt and platitudes aren't always welcome. I knew a white couple who adopted 2 Asian children and they were Jewish. She was shocked (and they were doctors) that her son wanted to know where he came from and visit his birth country in his teens. Also being Jewish wasn't a big deal for them as many young adults go through. She had to address it later whether she thought it was needed or not. She gave an interview with 4 other couples in our paper who adopted internationaly and she was the only one who didn't talk about it as  much or address issues when her kids were younger. I feel the Pearson's were like that. If it was forced on them from outside, they would say something, a "That's wrong" type of thing but they never showed them really wondering or trying to put themselves in his skin.

Edited November 4, 2020 by debraran

[Crs97]

3 hours ago, kili said:

So, when the trial gets cancelled and Rebecca no longer has to move, why does she move to the cabin where none of her kids live and is a country away from where Baby Jack is?

I think they explained that Rebecca and Miguel went to the cabin just as a retreat right before the big move to St. Louis.  When the trial was postponed and everything shut down, they were stuck there.

[bros402]

On 11/2/2020 at 5:18 PM, Boo Boo said:

I mean, rewatching the show, Rebecca has cops bringing her back to the cabin.  No one is wearing masks, no one is distanced as they walk into the place.

 

Cops aren't really wearing masks that much - at least in my area, they are only wearing them when inside

[debraran]

3 hours ago, bros402 said:

Cops aren't really wearing masks that much - at least in my area, they are only wearing them when inside

Here either but in groups when they are outside I see masks on police. 

I think they explained it was too difficult and more expensive to re-shoot the scenes already done. I understand, doesn't bother me if some of them don't line up perfectly.

Edited November 4, 2020 by debraran

[Boo Boo]

2 hours ago, debraran said:

Here either but in groups when they are outside I see masks on police. 

I think they explained it was too difficult and more expensive to re-shoot the scenes already done. I understand, doesn't bother me if some of them don't line up perfectly.

Ah that makes sense.    I guess I'll just have to suspend disbelief like I do when these characters just easily adopt, easily switch jobs...

Edited November 4, 2020 by Boo Boo

[Crs97]

19 minutes ago, Boo Boo said:

Ah that makes sense.    I guess I'll just have to suspend disbelief like I do when these characters just easily adopt, easily switch jobs...

I don’t know if this helps, but I am pretending that the police had masks on when they approached Rebecca, but the masks scared her.

[Blakeston]

21 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

I agree. By all of the data points Kevin is VERY privileged, but he is also likely the most emotionally messed up. We talk about this in my Sib Support and advocacy work- the burden of being the "normal one".

In season two I would have agreed with this completely. But Kevin has made a whole lot of progress very quickly, while Randall has been backsliding. I think Randall needs therapy a lot more than Kevin does right now.

On 11/2/2020 at 5:36 AM, zillabreeze said:

Because Randall is a well spoken, educated, devoted family man and the  "picture perfect"  black dude for a conversation that our country desperately needs to have?   

They spent last season making Randall insufferable, so if the writers' goal was to choose a sympathetic character to explore these issues, this was poor timing.

I would find it a lot more interesting to explore these issues through Malik than Randall.

[Jinak]

I didn't go through the whole thread, but just the first 3 pages and it seems that no one is bothered by how they just jumped into the covid and all of a sudden it's all around us. I thought it was so weird. The season finale had no talk about covid and then all of a sudden they're all talking about the virus when there was no mention of it earlier.

It would've made more sense if perhaps the story line jumped ahead 6 months or something but it was just continuing on from last season. Maybe they could've eased it into the story line slowly by talking about an outbreak in China or something. If you watch last year's finale and how it connects to this year's premiere, it's kind of like you went through some type of time warp. That just bothered me. 

[ams1001]

1 hour ago, Jinak said:

It would've made more sense if perhaps the story line jumped ahead 6 months or something but it was just continuing on from last season. Maybe they could've eased it into the story line slowly by talking about an outbreak in China or something. If you watch last year's finale and how it connects to this year's premiere, it's kind of like you went through some type of time warp. That just bothered me. 

I don't remember specifics of the season finale (and no idea when it was written/filmed, but for what it's worth, the Vulture.com recap was published on March 24), but this episode did cover several months, it seems. When they first mention covid, it's as if it's a new thing, so it was probably Feb/March, then they're talking about quarantine, then we see them watching the George Floyd video, which was late May, then it's their birthday which is the end of August. (Maybe some other markers of time in between but I don't remember.)

[gonzosgirrl]

12 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

I don't remember specifics of the season finale (and no idea when it was written/filmed, but for what it's worth, the Vulture.com recap was published on March 24), but this episode did cover several months, it seems. When they first mention covid, it's as if it's a new thing, so it was probably Feb/March, then they're talking about quarantine, then we see them watching the George Floyd video, which was late May, then it's their birthday which is the end of August. (Maybe some other markers of time in between but I don't remember.)

I think we're supposed to assume at least some time has passed since the finale because when Kevin and Madison are outside on Kate's lawn, it looks like she's showing at least a small baby bump (or at least it looked that way to me.

[chocolatine]

4 minutes ago, gonzosgirrl said:

I think we're supposed to assume at least some time has passed since the finale because when Kevin and Madison are outside on Kate's lawn, it looks like she's showing at least a small baby bump (or at least it looked that way to me.

Madison did address the pandemic in the pickup of the conversation she and Kevin were having when she first told him about the pregnancy. But like @ams1001 said, the finale aired in March, so the pandemic was in full swing by then, even though TPTB didn't know at the time of filming how serious it would become.

[Ohiopirate02]

2 hours ago, chocolatine said:

Madison did address the pandemic in the pickup of the conversation she and Kevin were having when she first told him about the pregnancy. But like @ams1001 said, the finale aired in March, so the pandemic was in full swing by then, even though TPTB didn't know at the time of filming how serious it would become.

And those scenes of Rebecca getting lost aired during the Thanksgiving episode of 2019.  They would have been filmed well before Covid 19 was discovered.   

[debraran]

10 hours ago, gonzosgirrl said:

I think we're supposed to assume at least some time has passed since the finale because when Kevin and Madison are outside on Kate's lawn, it looks like she's showing at least a small baby bump (or at least it looked that way to me.

Yes even with twins, I didn't show when I got my results and they didn't know about twins until months later.  (few months later) so I'm sure time had gone by.

[Boo Boo]

It is funny:  I groan a lot at the speeches, at the Jack flashbacks, at the preposterous storylines and yet I can't wait til the next epsidoe.

[himela]

12 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

Jack and Rebecca have really done a shit job in raising their kids.  Nothing but a bunch of narcissists.

I disagree. Only Kevin can be considered a narcissist in my opinion and I don't blame him for that because all his life he earns things just by being pretty.

Also, I prefer parents who make their children feel for themselves better than they truly are than parents who don't give their kids enough credit. The second leads to people who don't have confidence so they suffer in their life.

[bros402]

1 hour ago, himela said:

I disagree. Only Kevin can be considered a narcissist in my opinion and I don't blame him for that because all his life he earns things just by being pretty.

Also, I prefer parents who make their children feel for themselves better than they truly are than parents who don't give their kids enough credit. The second leads to people who don't have confidence so they suffer in their life.

and child Kevin wasn't really a narcissist - he only started getting full of himself when he got into football.

[himela]

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

they have run out of things to write about that involve the big three

Oh I think they have run out of stories for a long long time now but they can't let this show go. Of course there are people who will watch just because, and lets be honest, there are not many good family dramas out there. I think people will always find something they like in this show because the stories are many and naturally at least one will touch everyone's heart.

And excuse me for being off topic but in case someone doesn't know it, please watch Six Feet Under. That show knew how to create complete characters without raising the dead (pun intended :P) and their writers knew when to finish it and leave us asking for more and missing the characters still.

[debraran]

I think the mom not being dead and the maybe forgotten siblings is just too much. They are ruining the show with too many people. If they wanted Randall to meet cousins etc. why not have William live longer and have him meet them or get info on them to check out later. IDK, it just seems so contrived but "elegant writing" is what producer promised. We will see.

Edited November 8, 2020 by debraran

[ams1001]

1 hour ago, debraran said:

I think the mom not being dead and the maybe forgotten siblings is just too much. They are ruining the show with too many people. If they wanted Randall to meet cousins etc. why not have William live longer and have him meet them or get info on them to check out later. IDK, it just seems so contrived but "elegant writing" is what producer promised. We will see.

He could find cousins through an Ancestry-type service without Laurel having lived, and/or Laurel's siblings who could tell him more about his mom. Which would be so much more realistic. 

I like the show still but I'm hoping they are serious about only having six seasons. If they keep it going indefinitely I'm afraid of it getting more and more into soap opera territory. Laurel living, apparently unbeknownst to William, is already way too soapy for me.

[Crs97]

The problem isn’t that they have run out of stories; it is that they refuse to cover the stories they have already started:  Miguel and Rebecca’s romance, Tess and Annie (remember her??) dealing with the move to a new school and new community, the aftermath of Tess coming out, Kevin’s continued recovery and career issues, how Kate and Toby’s life changes with kids, Beth’s career.  They all come to mind with little thought.  It seems like they think they need these big moments when drama is hidden in the mundane.

[debraran]

2 hours ago, Crs97 said:

The problem isn’t that they have run out of stories; it is that they refuse to cover the stories they have already started:  Miguel and Rebecca’s romance, Tess and Annie (remember her??) dealing with the move to a new school and new community, the aftermath of Tess coming out, Kevin’s continued recovery and career issues, how Kate and Toby’s life changes with kids, Beth’s career.  They all come to mind with little thought.  It seems like they think they need these big moments when drama is hidden in the mundane.

They keep saying they will cover Miguel and Rebecca romance but had wanted to wait until Jack's death passed a bit. Please they will show it and his death in the same episode. I dislike how they had them together and the infantile behavior of the children with no show of support . When my sister married a widower of 5-6 years he told his children he was happy and it didn't lessen his love for their mother. They were awful for 2 years but his consistency worked and they all get along now.

 

4 hours ago, ams1001 said:

He could find cousins through an Ancestry-type service without Laurel having lived, and/or Laurel's siblings who could tell him more about his mom. Which would be so much more realistic. 

I like the show still but I'm hoping they are serious about only having six seasons. If they keep it going indefinitely I'm afraid of it getting more and more into soap opera territory. Laurel living, apparently unbeknownst to William, is already way too soapy for me.

I thought of that too. This escaping reality is hard because the show is real in many ways. I want more about Nicky and their mom. Did she know or see him? I want more on Randall's kids. But we don't write the show. Have to wait and see.

Edited November 8, 2020 by debraran

[bros402]

17 hours ago, himela said:

Oh I think they have run out of stories for a long long time now but they can't let this show go. Of course there are people who will watch just because, and lets be honest, there are not many good family dramas out there. I think people will always find something they like in this show because the stories are many and naturally at least one will touch everyone's heart.

And excuse me for being off topic but in case someone doesn't know it, please watch Six Feet Under. That show knew how to create complete characters without raising the dead (pun intended :P) and their writers knew when to finish it and leave us asking for more and missing the characters still.

Six Feet Under was so good

"Narm."

and the episode "That's My Dog"

14 hours ago, ams1001 said:

He could find cousins through an Ancestry-type service without Laurel having lived, and/or Laurel's siblings who could tell him more about his mom. Which would be so much more realistic. 

I like the show still but I'm hoping they are serious about only having six seasons. If they keep it going indefinitely I'm afraid of it getting more and more into soap opera territory. Laurel living, apparently unbeknownst to William, is already way too soapy for me.

Yeah - I hope that when they touch upon the story - it turns out that she fell off the wagon. If they want to have Randall have a half sibling, maybe have it be that she fell off the wagon after that kid was born - or maybe post partum depression got her.

Then, Randall's half sibling will be an ass, making him go "wow, this must be what I was like to Kev, I should apologize to him."

[Ohiopirate02]

I hate the way the show is playing with us about Laurel and I think the show is tiptoeing close to jumping the shark with her maybe being alive.  But, I am all for the show delving into her as a character in her own right and not just the vessel for giving birth to Randall.  I do not see why Laurel needs to possibly be alive for the show to introduce Laurel's family into the mix.  I'm all for Randall finding out he has cousins, aunties, and uncles.  It's very easy to write Laurel as being from Philadelphia and Randall could meet them.  There are so many possible storylines that can naturally come from Randall meeting them.  I love when the show plops Randall into the black community, he is always out of his element.  And they can work into the plot Tess's queerness and how the black community see queer people.  There are so many stories that can naturally unfurl without resorting to cheap tricks.

[ams1001]

10 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

It's very easy to write Laurel as being from Philadelphia and Randall could meet them.

Even if her family is all in Pittsburgh, that’s only, like, a 2-hour drive for Randall (in the real world, it’s closer to 4½ to 5, but this is a show that thinks Philly is only an hour from way-up-North Jersey), so meeting them would be easy enough.

[himela]

I think the show has got to decide whether the stories will be in the past or the present. This constant changing to the past and the present is becoming old and tiring. I think in 4 seasons we know enough of their past to understand why they are behaving like they are in the present. I mean, it's not that their life used to be so exciting while they were growing up. They were a boring, middle class family. Just forget about the past and lets move on to the present and future (not a day per season please).

[debraran]

6 hours ago, himela said:

I think the show has got to decide whether the stories will be in the past or the present. This constant changing to the past and the present is becoming old and tiring. I think in 4 seasons we know enough of their past to understand why they are behaving like they are in the present. I mean, it's not that their life used to be so exciting while they were growing up. They were a boring, middle class family. Just forget about the past and lets move on to the present and future (not a day per season please).

I don't like the going back anymore, please no more Jack dating Rebecca, some cute toddler shots are okay. More of Nicky maybe to fill gaps but I want to get to know them now. I know we'll see (eventually) Miguel meeting Rebecca again and Randall's kids will be small but I also am tiring of the jerking back and forth.

I hope if Laurel stayed alive, there is no stereotyping and please don't crowd the show with another whole family. A sibling or cousin we get to know is fine. Does anyone want another family when we barely get to see the big 3 for long in present time?

[bros402]

16 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Even if her family is all in Pittsburgh, that’s only, like, a 2-hour drive for Randall (in the real world, it’s closer to 4½ to 5, but this is a show that thinks Philly is only an hour from way-up-North Jersey), so meeting them would be easy enough.

Yeah, they think Alpine is like Trenton, when it's 2 hours away from Philly 😛

[ams1001]

6 hours ago, bros402 said:

Yeah, they think Alpine is like Trenton, when it's 2 hours away from Philly 😛

I live in central Jersey, and it takes me an hour and a half. In the episode where Randall takes Deja down to meet the girl at the community center, one of them mentions that it was an hour drive and I was like, "What? You practically live in Manhattan!"

[deirdra]

On 11/9/2020 at 9:32 AM, himela said:

I think the show has got to decide whether the stories will be in the past or the present. This constant changing to the past and the present is becoming old and tiring. I think in 4 seasons we know enough of their past to understand why they are behaving like they are in the present. I mean, it's not that their life used to be so exciting while they were growing up. They were a boring, middle class family. Just forget about the past and lets move on to the present and future (not a day per season please).

This is exactly why I deleted it from my DVR.  I suspect the multi-year renewal made TPTB complacent, thinking viewers adore their gimmicks. We don't; we are sick of them now.

Edited November 10, 2020 by deirdra

[bros402]

17 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I live in central Jersey, and it takes me an hour and a half. In the episode where Randall takes Deja down to meet the girl at the community center, one of them mentions that it was an hour drive and I was like, "What? You practically live in Manhattan!"

Yeah, i'm in Monmouth and I have family down in Cherry Hill - had a doctors visit in Philly once early in the morning, we stayed with family down there instead of driving at 6 AM for an 8:30 AM appointment.

Instead it was a 30 minute drive 😛

[ams1001]

8 hours ago, bros402 said:

Yeah, i'm in Monmouth

Hey, neighbor! 😉 

I'm at the point where I take any travel logistics on this show with a whole shaker of salt.

[madmax]

6 hours ago, ams1001 said:

 I'm at the point where I take any travel logistics on this show with a whole shaker of salt.

I take travel logistics on any show/movie with a grain of salt.

I remember watching a movie that was filmed in my hometown and they showed a car chase with a car going into a tunnel and coming out  15 miles away where there wasn't even a tunnel.  Now I watch just to laugh.