S01.E02: Nowhere to Run

[AnimeMania]

“Nowhere to Run” – Forced to form an unlikely team, Cassie and Jenny set out to continue the search for the missing girls. Meanwhile, Danielle, Grace and Jerrie get to work on planning their escape, leading Legarski to struggle with the consequences of his actions as a distracted Ronald deals with a difficult relationship with his mother.

Original air date 2020.11.24

 

[LoveLeigh]

Oops, we started this episode thread at almost the same time. I will delete mine. 

[AnimeMania]

If all mothers suggested that their sons should masturbate more, they would get way better Mother's Day presents.

Too bad the girl decided to head butt her captor towards the door instead of towards the other girls, the outcome might have been different and she is supposed to be the smart one. Oh well, maybe the third time is the charm.

[LoveLeigh]

This episode was slow, not much content. I think viewers will fall away if the plot does not thicken. 

[mertensia]

Loved the music in this. 

I'm amazed that the Sheriff thinks he's acting innocent. Like, no. 

[Adgirl]

I can't root for someone so stupid and a bigot. That blonde girl got herself into this mess I don't care enough about her to see if she can get herself out.

If a woman says a man gives her the creeps just believe her. The BTK serial killer was a churchgoing boy scout troop leader; I hated that other woman dismissing Cassie's instinct about the sheriff. 

Edited November 25, 2020 by Adgirl

[thuganomics85]

John Carroll Lynch might be a great actor, but Rick Legarski certainly isn't, if he's honestly trying to avoid painting a target on his back.  Even if one where to look past his blatant sexist and racist remarks to Cassie (wherever it is him really believing what he was saying or if he was trying to catch her off guard and throw her off her game), he is just going so overboard with the talking and folksy antics that anyone with a working brain would be able to tell that he's up to no good.

Danielle/Natalie Alyn Lind's character continues to be obnoxious (and apparently a tactless bigot), although she actually kind of had a small point with her negative attitude towards Grace's "Find a way to have him unchain us and we can overpower him!" plan, because, well... didn't they already try that and somehow fail miserably, despite it being three against one?

Cody might be sticking around via flashbacks, although Ryan Phillippe has been downgraded (?) to "Special Guest Star" status.

The scenery is still great.

Glad that Jenny and Cassie were more front and center this time, but Katheryn Winnick and Kylie Bunbury still aren't given enough to really standout here.

Still entertaining enough to keep watching and I do feel like the actors are getting a better handle on their characters, but it feels like John Carroll Lynch is a step ahead of everyone at this point, which, to be fair, might be due to him playing a character that allows him to ham it up and devour the scenery in a way that is at least a blast to watch.

[OoogleEyes]

I watched the second episode with the hopes that the writing might be a little better in the terms of female character development. 

When Ronald lead Jerrie past an entire STACK OF FIREWOOD and she didn't grab a log and whack his noggin, I found that screaming at the TV is not good for my blood pressure. 

Hopes = dashed.

[sempervivum]

Surprisingly slow, considering the juicy content and wham-bam ending of the pilot. I think they were trying for another big surprise with this one, but, somehow, Ronald crawling into bed with mom didn't come as a shock to me. I was actually more surprised by Legarski revealing that he and his minion are in it for the money (?) And more Brook Smith, please.

I thought the introduction of the non binary character was woke nonsense last week, but I was really touched by the actor's performance. The shower scene had me cringing.  At this point, I care more about (fill in the pronoun) than I do about the 2 teens. I found their song together really affecting, though ; Jerrie has a lovely voice.

[tennisgurl]

Lord, its like that lady is just trying to raise herself a serial killer, when your telling your son to masturbate to clear his mood up, its maybe time to think about your parenting style. 

Legarski is so bad at pretending not to be sketchy its amazing that he hasn't already been caught. All he had to do was act kind of normal with Cassie and she would have probably moved onto the next lead, but instead he goes on and on about how he wants to use his gun and acts super creepy and sexist and keeps calling her a "pretty thing" its like he was three seconds from twirling his mustache and cackling. I like the actor and I am enjoying watching him hamming it up, but subtle this guy is not. I guess its only because he and the trucker have this system of targeting sex workers and hitchhikers and people that are less likely to be reported missing quickly out in the middle of nowhere that no one has caught onto to their creepy asses yet. 

I like Grace and Jerrie, but Danielle is such a stupid bigoted jerk, I really only care about her for the principle of the thing. What an ass, its her stupid fault that she and her sister are in this mess in the first place, and she is still shit talking Grace and making fun of her? And is also transphobic too? Very classy. Grace at least seems quite nice and has at least some sense, but it is still bugging me that none of the women seem to be making any real attempt at escaping and taking Ronnie down, other than using music to soothe the savage beast. Their last attempt was pretty sad, and I guess they don't want to bother again, despite it being three against one? He isn't all that intimidating, he doesn't even have a gun, just a taser. I think that Jerrie could have taken him when she was in the barn, or when Grace headbutted him they could have given him a few good kicks, but I guess if they all just escaped on their own we wouldn't have anyone for Cassie and Jenny to rescue at the last minute when the season gets closer to ending. 

The scenery is still really nice, and I like the music a lot.

[LakeGal]

I was getting Norma and Norman Bates vibes at the end.

This is one of those shows that it is irritating they don't try harder to escape.  But the script calls for them to not get away yet.

[Valny]

I stopped watching after the first ep, did they find Ryan Phillippe's body?

[AnimeMania]

32 minutes ago, Valny said:

I stopped watching after the first ep, did they find Ryan Phillippe's body?

No, but I am pretty sure he will only be a flashback from now on.

[foxfreakinmulder]

LOL, so am I to believe that being tased, carried, wrapped in plastic, tased again, carried through secret doorways, down steps and put in chains that wig didn't fall off or the short skirt lift up?

WTF freaky mom and son relationship. 

I don't know if I'm going to be able to hang in there with this.

 

[Dowel Jones]

On the lighter side, I got a kick out of the scene where they are burying the two cars on the ranch.  I bet the backhoe operator said something like "I get to swing this backhoe arm into the back of a perfectly good truck, hard enough to knock it into a hole, and you're going to pay me for it?  I like this job already."

[Cementhead]

I made it to the halfway mark of this episode and then called it a day.  Nope.  I guess I'm not in the mood for this type of disturbing shit right now.   Also, this show feels very dated and has a corny Lifetime channel vibe to it along with the twisted stuff.  Really weird combination. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by Cementhead

[AnimeMania]

The author probably read about the alarming disappearance rate of women at truck stops along major highways and wrote a book that would highlight and draw attention to the situation.

[CarpeFelis]

I was SO hoping that when Ronald went to his mother’s room and stood there ominously, he was about to murder her. If ever a character had it coming...  My prediction: by the end of the season, he will.

WTF is WRONG with this woman? All she does is make snarky comments or bluntly criticize him when she’s not infantilizing him. And that portrait of her much younger self over her bed—yikes. All I can think is she’s a major narcissist and wants to keep him childlike so she can a) deny she’s getting old and b) keep the parent/child power imbalance in her favor.

The way she treats him it’s no damn wonder he’s such a sicko, but geez, crawling into bed with Mommy Dearest?! That was nauseating.

Was anyone else thinking “GTFO NOW” when Cassie was sitting in the car talking on the phone after that creepy discussion with Legarski? And when he got in the car with her I thought he was going to shoot her just as he did with Cody.

[preeya]

On 11/26/2020 at 1:14 PM, CarpeFelis said:

 

 

On 11/26/2020 at 1:14 PM, CarpeFelis said:

I was SO hoping that when Ronald went to his mother’s room and stood there ominously, he was about to murder her. If ever a character had it coming...  My prediction: by the end of the season, he will.

I was thinking the same thing until he woke her and said "I couldn't sleep." 

My thought then shifted to possible incest.

Edited November 28, 2020 by preeya

[Court]

5 hours ago, preeya said:

 

I was thinking the same thing until he woke her and said "I couldn't sleep."  My thought then shifted to possible incest.

Same. So creepy.

[thesupremediva1]

On 11/24/2020 at 10:42 PM, Adgirl said:

I can't root for someone so stupid and a bigot. That blonde girl got herself into this mess I don't care enough about her to see if she can get herself out.

If a woman says a man gives her the creeps just believe her. The BTK serial killer was a churchgoing boy scout troop leader; I hated that other woman dismissing Cassie's instinct about the sheriff. 

I think think that woman is involved somehow. She's always hanging around and for someone who works with two tough female PIs, she sure was quick to defend that creepster sheriff. Just my own instincts but we'll see how it plays out.

I agree - don't care about the blonde girl but I am rooting for her sister and Michelle is, so far, my favorite character.

20 hours ago, CarpeFelis said:

I was SO hoping that when Ronald went to his mother’s room and stood there ominously, he was about to murder her. If ever a character had it coming...  My prediction: by the end of the season, he will.

WTF is WRONG with this woman? All she does is make snarky comments or bluntly criticize him when she’s not infantilizing him. And that portrait of her much younger self over her bed—yikes. All I can think is she’s a major narcissist and wants to keep him childlike so she can a) deny she’s getting old and b) keep the parent/child power imbalance in her favor.

Another one of my crazy theories: I think she's dead and a figment of his imagination, a la Norman Bates. She's always in the same outfit and we never see her outside the house or interacting with anyone other than her son. Wouldn't surprise me if she's been dead under the floorboards for months.

But I agree, if she's not dead yet, she will be by the end of the season, to give Ronald some kind of arc and self-actualization into a full-on monster. He won't kill anyone until he kills her. 

[preeya]

6 hours ago, thesupremediva1 said:

Another one of my crazy theories: I think she's dead and a figment of his imagination, a la Norman Bates. She's always in the same outfit and we never see her outside the house or interacting with anyone other than her son. Wouldn't surprise me if she's been dead under the floorboards for months.

Good theory and a definite possibility.

[mythoughtis]

9 hours ago, thesupremediva1 said:

Another one of my crazy theories: I think she's dead and a figment of his imagination, a la Norman Bates. She's always in the same outfit and we never see her outside the house or interacting with anyone other than her son. Wouldn't surprise me if she's been dead under the floorboards for months.

I would be on board with this except that the weird Mom called Ronald when he was in the same room as the state trooper, IIRC.  People keep referring to the state trooper as a sheriff.  
 

As of the end of this episode, the girls has only been missing right at 24  hours.  Although that still meant Mom had been in the same clothes when Ronald left and when he came back the next morning. 
 

I must admit the trans prostitute was a surprise to me.  I was focused on Jenny in the cafe in the pilot, not her.  In fact I was so not focused on her that I didn’t even realize the woman in the cafe and the woman that got kidnapped were one and the same until the waitress mentioned her to Jenny.  

Edited November 28, 2020 by mythoughtis

[Whimsy]

On 11/26/2020 at 10:24 AM, Dowel Jones said:

On the lighter side, I got a kick out of the scene where they are burying the two cars on the ranch.  I bet the backhoe operator said something like "I get to swing this backhoe arm into the back of a perfectly good truck, hard enough to knock it into a hole, and you're going to pay me for it?  I like this job already."

That was Ronald, the kidnapper, running the backhoe. He didn’t actually look that thrilled. 

[peachmangosteen]

This episode was like a gazillion times worse than the first one and the first one was pretty damn bad.

How this got made in the year 2020, I have no idea. And why so many actually decent and known actors signed on is even more shocking.

That all being said, I'll likely keep watching lol. I just wanna see how much worse it can get.

[MaryPatShelby]

I was out at the third speech by the trooper (in what, 15 minutes less commercials?) as he sat in Cassie's car.  Constant speechifying by a character(s) is one thing that makes me bonkers.  (It's also why I quit This Is Us.)

[Madding crowd]

I don’t see how this can be a series. Either the girls are rescued or killed and how long can that be dragged out? Having the state police guy talk like a character out of Twin Peaks was only interesting for the first few minutes, after that it just seems silly. I just don’t see anything new or all that interesting here except maybe the theory of creepy mom being dead.

Isn’t she the actress who played George’s “paper mache” girlfriend on Seinfeld?

[preeya]

23 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

Isn’t she the actress who played George’s “paper mache” girlfriend on Seinfeld?

Yes, that's her, Valerie Mahaffey. She played Patrice in the Seinfeld episode "The Truth."

https://www.youtube.com./watch?v=_0zr2sXszYM

Edited December 1, 2020 by preeya

[EtheltoTillie]

13 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

I don’t see how this can be a series. Either the girls are rescued or killed and how long can that be dragged out? Having the state police guy talk like a character out of Twin Peaks was only interesting for the first few minutes, after that it just seems silly. I just don’t see anything new or all that interesting here except maybe the theory of creepy mom being dead.

Isn’t she the actress who played George’s “paper mache” girlfriend on Seinfeld?

I’m out. It’s just too much Twin Peaks for me. That’s was brilliant 30 years ago but not now. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I used to watch a soap called The Doctors for a few minutes in the late 70s. Valerie Mahaffey was in it then, as was a little known actor named Alec Baldwin. 

Edited December 1, 2020 by GussieK

[Cementhead]

Valerie Mahaffey was also most recently on Netflix's Dead to Me. 

My husband and I are big Seinfeld fans so we make a papier-mache reference to one another on a regular basis, as well as refer to anybody named Sam as Samuelle.

I agree with the Twin Peaks comparisons.  Except this one feels stale and dated.  Been there, done that, got the bumper sticker.  The specific 90s-early 2000s David E. Kelley vibe also feels very played out in 2020.  

I just googled David E. Kelley shows and see that John Caroll Lynch also starred in a very short-lived series he did called The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire back in 2003.  Only 7 episodes.  We liked that one.  It wasn't on long enough to turn him into a murderer though from what I can remember, but it was probably part of the plan, lol.

Edited December 1, 2020 by Cementhead

[EtheltoTillie]

4 hours ago, Cementhead said:

Valerie Mahaffey was also most recently on Netflix's Dead to Me. 

My husband and I are big Seinfeld fans so we make a papier-mache reference to one another on a regular basis, as well as refer to anybody named Sam as Samuelle.

I agree with the Twin Peaks comparisons.  Except this one feels stale and dated.  Been there, done that, got the bumper sticker.  The specific 90s-early 2000s David E. Kelley vibe also feels very played out in 2020.  

I just googled David E. Kelley shows and see that John Caroll Lynch also starred in a very short-lived series he did called The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire back in 2003.  Only 7 episodes.  We liked that one.  It wasn't on long enough to turn him into a murderer though from what I can remember, but it was probably part of the plan, lol.

Thanks!  I forgot I had seen her recently on Dead to Me.   I didn't stick with that show.  The papier-mache routine is really hilarious, so thanks for that reminder whoever first posted it.  

Finally, David E. Kelley is everywhere now, and maybe he should give it a rest.  I just finished The Undoing, which was a real drag for me and other posters in that forum.  

Six degrees of separation:  Alec Baldwin was married to David E. Kelley's wife, Michelle Pfeiffer, in Married to the Mob.  

[CrystalBlue]

Jerrie/Michelle and Grace Sullivan are my favorite captive characters so far.  I don't know or remember Ryan Phillippe so didn't realize I was supposed to be surprised that a big name star was killed off PDQ.  I was shocked when it happened though!  I kept thinking either the state trooper missed or just grazed his head because of the blood splatter.  I would love more Brooke Smith too.

Ronald and Mama are Norman and Norma Bates all over again.  Creepy AF!

I don't think this series is meant to go on and on; it must be a limited series because there are only four books upon which it is based.  I don't see a sequel panning out because of the quality of the show as it is so far.

[anniebird]

Was there any explanation as to how he transported all 3 of them from the back of his truck to that bunker beneath a trap door in what looks like a barn? (I admit, I wasn't paying 100% attention so perhaps they did explain it.)