S02.E07: Face Value

[Trini]

Malcolm, still reeling from the latest events with Ainsley, focuses on the next case, in which a famous plastic surgeon is murdered. Meanwhile, Martin gets a new job working in the infirmary with resident MD Dr. Vivian Capshaw. Then, Jessica is surprised to learn her younger sister is in town.

Airdate: March 2, 2021

[KaveDweller]

Is it me, or is Ainsley a bit of a sociopath?

[Chaos Theory]

Decent winter finale.  I was actually surprised that the whole thing with Ainsley was  a setup by her because she had figured out Malcolm had been lying to her.  Still the fact that she would go to such lengths and doesn’t care that she killed someone is rather scary.  
 

Yhis episode plays a lot like a setup for the rest of the season coming in May?  A lot of pieces getting moved.   Martin and his new job in the infirmary.  The introduction of Jessica’s sister which was mainly there to forward the idea that there are people out there wanting to publish a book (I am just surprised there isn’t already a book or three out there already) but I guess a first hand account by a relative of Martin is the point.   Also the investigation of Endicott’s murder.

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Chaos Theory

[redfish]

Wow. This show really leans into the crazy.

I think Malcolm's neurosis over the years has made him doubt himself. His first instinct to call the police on his father when he was a kid was the right one because by shielding/covering up for Ainsley made it worse now. His sister is a remorseless psychopath and now Alan Cummings is coming to expose their crime.

Ainsley has truly embraced the Whitley. She is truly her father's daughter and it's scary. I mean in previous season she was ruthless but now she is enjoying her cut throat (no pun intended) tendencies.

What is going on with the prison doc and Martin? Oh god, are they going to be murder couples?

 

[nodorothyparker]

So I guess we're to think Ainsley figured it all out or remembered on her own and then devised the pig's blood fakeout in short order to get back at Malcolm? She didn't seem the least bit concerned about the hey, I killed a guy part, just the Malcolm lying to her about it. Priorities, I guess.

This episode felt pretty stuffed with a lot of moving parts. I would guess there were probably at least one or two sensationalist serial killer groupie kind of books and maybe one "serious" journalism tome about the Surgeon in the years immediately after Martin's arrest, but Martin's been in the news again recently between Ainsley's stunt interview and Malcolm's kidnapping by one of Martin's buddies. I could see someone wanting to make a buck off of an inside scoop about the serial killer and his now grown up family in the same way people are still interested in O.J. Simpson. Given Martin's popularity as a character, I'm not at all surprised that the show is giving him more to do and more people to interact with, but for the love of whatever TV gods exist, please please please don't let this turn into the hapless female doctor not able to help herself from falling for the bad boy serial killer.

I'd say poor Edrissa, but even the most socially awkward person has to read the room occasionally.

[mertensia]

Ainsley is definitely on the boat to Psycholand.

Do you think Catherine Zeta-Jones is enamored of Martin or a relative of a victim who wants to get even?

[l star]

Of course Jessica’s sister is awful. Very predictable. I missed why her accounts were frozen if that was part of the story. I love however that there is a Grandma Milton out there to meet. Please show! Bring her on. Sister did give a hint as to why Jessica is so steady though. She’s always had to be.

Interesting that Martin’s new friend looks so much like Jessica (or like Jessica would if she was actually age appropriate. I know, old news, it’s just stood out to me more recently). I wonder if that is on purpose or just a coincidence since they got Catherine Zeta-Jones. I’m not looking forward to the competition between the two any more than I am their bonding. I laughed out loud when Malcolm ‘comforted’ Dani by saying he can’t kill the guy twice, but I haven’t warmed to Martin. Not on his own anyway. 

So are we supposed to assume that Ainsley had no idea Malcolm was investigating something high profile? Because this is the first time I can remember her being uninterested in his cases. 

Edrisa was a cringe. That level of tone deaf is hard to feel anything but pity for. They do seem to be making it clear which woman Malcolm is interested in which seems unnecessary. I was fine with Edrisa’s crush at sane levels. It’s not like he and Dani are hooking up next ep. 

Speaking of sane, I’m not convinced Ainsley is. Girl is cold. It wasn’t so much the prank as the way she acted at the end that makes me think psycho. 

[Trini]

Ainsley pranking Malcolm? That's certainly a twist, but i don't know if it's a good one. I guess it's better than her being a serial killer, but now she's going full sociopath?

Looking forward to seeing more of Cumming's Europol detective.

[AnimeMania]

It was weird that Malcolm was being so precise with his measurements since there is no way for him to know how pure the cocaine was.

[dippydee]

Yikes Ainsley! That was utterly cold. Poor Malcolm, that’s the thanks he gets for helping her. I knew she wouldn’t take kindly to being lied to but talk about missing the point, she seems totally fine with the killing someone part. Definitely her fathers daughter. At least she hadn’t actually killed anyone else, though it may only be a matter of time.

I know it’s probably inevitable but I hope Martin and the doc don’t hook up. I do however want to see the rest of the family react to her if/when it does happen.

[cameron]

8 hours ago, l star said:

Of course Jessica’s sister is awful. Very predictable. I missed why her accounts were frozen if that was part of the story. I love however that there is a Grandma Milton out there to meet. Please show! Bring her on. Sister did give a hint as to why Jessica is so steady though. She’s always had to be.

Interesting that Martin’s new friend looks so much like Jessica (or like Jessica would if she was actually age appropriate. I know, old news, it’s just stood out to me more recently). I wonder if that is on purpose or just a coincidence since they got Catherine Zeta-Jones. I’m not looking forward to the competition between the two any more than I am their bonding. I laughed out loud when Malcolm ‘comforted’ Dani by saying he can’t kill the guy twice, but I haven’t warmed to Martin. Not on his own anyway. 

So are we supposed to assume that Ainsley had no idea Malcolm was investigating something high profile? Because this is the first time I can remember her being uninterested in his cases. 

Edrisa was a cringe. That level of tone deaf is hard to feel anything but pity for. They do seem to be making it clear which woman Malcolm is interested in which seems unnecessary. I was fine with Edrisa’s crush at sane levels. It’s not like he and Dani are hooking up next ep. 

Speaking of sane, I’m not convinced Ainsley is. Girl is cold. It wasn’t so much the prank as the way she acted at the end that makes me think psycho. 

Thought Catherine Zeta-Jones looked a little shop worn to me.

[Chaos Theory]

Ainsley did have a point though.  The entirety of season 1 was Malcolm being gaslit by Martin about him being just like dad and the his faulty memory about the girl in the box.   And now he is lying to Ainsley about something so apocalyptically bad as her cutting a man’s throat and stabbing him to death.   Maybe she is missing the headline and going to a bit of an extreme to prank her brother who already is on the extreme but she isn’t wrong about what he did.  

[seacliffsal]

I really liked this episode and am excited about the multiple possibilities for future plots.  Ainsley is heartless as Malcolm's anxieties are increasing and intensifying.  It seems like she will go beyond his understanding and experience.

[sempervivum]

54 minutes ago, cameron said:

Thought Catherine Zeta-Jones looked a little shop worn to me.

I was surprised to google that she and Bellamy Young are the same age! BY could be 10 years younger. 

[dippydee]

1 hour ago, sempervivum said:

was surprised to google that she and Bellamy Young are the same age! BY could be 10 years younger. 

Yep! I didn’t believe it but darn if it isn’t true. Bellamy Young looks absolutely fantastic. 

[Roxie]

3 hours ago, cameron said:

Thought Catherine Zeta-Jones looked a little shop worn to me.

At the end, my husband said, "That was Catherine Zeta-Jones?"  Although she did look very pretty at the Golden Globes.

[tennisgurl]

I totally knew that Ainsley would be more upset about her family lying to her than her killing a guy, but I certainly didn't guess that she would figure it out on her own and play a "hilarious" prank on Malcolm to teach him a lesson. I guess J. Walter Weatherman was busy.

And that's why you don't lie to your sister...

Yeah that was wild, I think its time for Malcolm to just admit that Ainsley is their fathers daughter and this has all just made it worse. Ainsley has always been pretty ruthless and apparently has a serious murder streak, but this was so calculated and cold. Its reads as more sociopathic than anything we have seen from her before, I think that lying to her really awakened something bad in her. Malcolm had the best of intentions, and despite what Ainsley said this is not anything like what Martin did to Malcolm, but he messed up hiding this from her. I guess we can just be glad that she didn't actually kill anyone. For now. 

Case of the week was pretty good, another one with a beautiful and damaged young women that Malcolm is clearly projecting his Ainsley stuff on to. Malcolm also got flirty moments with both Dani and Edrisa, with Edrisa clearly dressing up to hit on him and Malcolm casually calling Dani beautiful while Dani flushed, but he is really not in the right headspace to start dating. Malcolm is even more twitchy and falling apart than usual trying to keep everything with Ainsley under wraps while also feelings horribly guilty about being involved in a cover up and lying to his sister, and knowing that this was just Ainsley fucking with him is just going to make things worse. His family was messed up before, but now its going to be even messier. Malcom was already always a twitchy mess of trauma and anxiety, but now this is just going to make everything worse. He should have trusted his gut like when he was a kid and called the cops on his dad. Even his subconscious knows that Ainsley is the next Surgeon, he just cant admit it. 

Speaking of Malcolm's messed up family, we get to meet Jessica's hot mess socialite sister. She was a fun character, and while it was inevitable that she had ulterior motives, I did feel bad for Jessica learning that yet another family member has a secret agenda. I love that Jessica pre ordered her martini to arrive as soon as she got to the table with her sister when she thought she was meeting with her publisher, because Jessica is the most extra member of her whole extra family. We now also know that her mom is around and is still holding the purse strings, so when do we get an appearance? What big name guest star are we going to get? 

So what is Dr. Catherine Zeta-Jones's deal? I hope she isn't just a serial killer fangirl and has more going on. I thought CZJ looked really good at the Golden Globes but she looks not so great here, maybe its the lighting in the prison? Or they are making her up to make her look more tired? Also interesting that she looks a bit like Jessica. I guess Martin has a type? 

Edited March 3, 2021 by tennisgurl

[Trini]

Dr. Capshaw being some type of "fangirl" would be too predictable; I think it'd be interesting if she's the one attempting to play Martin, but why?

[MJBradley1967]

6 hours ago, sempervivum said:

I was surprised to google that she and Bellamy Young are the same age! BY could be 10 years younger. 

It might be a coincidence that Catherine appeared in an episode about plastic surgery.  I wonder if she's had something done in recent years.  She really doesn't look the same, something with her eyes is different.

On a side note, Catherine and Michael in scenes together....Welsh representation!

[xfuse]

7 hours ago, cameron said:

Thought Catherine Zeta-Jones looked a little shop worn to me.

I was wondering what did she do to her face because if she didn't speak I wouldn't known who she was. Which was kinda ironic with an ep about plastic surgery. 

While I generally do love Cumming as an actor I'm not looking forward to his sl. I've seen it one too many times.

Edited March 3, 2021 by xfuse
just added to my post

[willowk]

I was shocked by the reveal that Ainsley faked it, makes me wonder when she remembered. Bellamy Young is my favorite character, glad she is getting more facets of her character revealed. I think CZJ looks as she does for character reasons, Jessica as a character has expensive clothes, hair and makeup while CZJ is playing a doctor in the psychiatric hospital. I think its great she joined the cast, gives Martin someone to interact with outside his family unit. Malcolm is falling apart, I can see him having a breakdown soon.

[rove4]

Pretty good winter finale.

Sheesh.  What happened to Catherine Zeta-Jones?  She used to be gorgeous but I would not have recognized her if the promos hadn't made a point of, er, pointing her out.

So Ainsley is more upset that Malcolm lied to her rather than the fact she killed someone.  Ooookay.  She didn't even seem concerned over what Malcolm had to do to cover it up for her.  Malcolm should've been honest with her from day one but, still...

Edrisa is getting more and more ridiculous.  Malcolm's face when he visited her office was some combination of horror and revulsion, lol.  

[KaveDweller]

8 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

Ainsley did have a point though.  The entirety of season 1 was Malcolm being gaslit by Martin about him being just like dad and the his faulty memory about the girl in the box.   And now he is lying to Ainsley about something so apocalyptically bad as her cutting a man’s throat and stabbing him to death.   Maybe she is missing the headline and going to a bit of an extreme to prank her brother who already is on the extreme but she isn’t wrong about what he did.  

Lying to Ainsley was pretty bad, yes. I'm not sure it was worthy of that prank, but definitely not good. She has a right to be mad.

But Martin gaslit Malcolm because he was protecting himself, and because he wanted Malcolm to embrace his inner craziness. Malcolm at least had good intentions, he was trying to protect Ainsley. He's just too messed up to know how to do that.

[Chaser]

I’m a little concerned Edrisa is going to start murdering people to get Malcolm’s attention. 
 

[foxfreakinmulder]

13 hours ago, rove4 said:

Edrisa is getting more and more ridiculous.  Malcolm's face when he visited her office was some combination of horror and revulsion, lol.  

I thought the same thing, lol.

I don't watch award shows so I haven't seen CZJ in a long time, so to me she just looked aged. Maybe she hasn't had any surgery and is aging normal or maybe it's because she didn't have a ton of make-up on like she would wear at award shows.

The man at the end on the dock with the head was so over the top twirling mustache laughable the way he delivered his lines.

[staphdude]

On 3/3/2021 at 9:53 AM, cameron said:

Thought Catherine Zeta-Jones looked a little shop worn to me.

I recall there was gossip that she lied about her age. Sad if she felt the need to do so...worse is whatever was done surgically.

[HeShallBMySquishy]

On 3/3/2021 at 1:40 AM, AnimeMania said:

It was weird that Malcolm was being so precise with his measurements since there is no way for him to know how pure the cocaine was.

I thought that too. Plus there's the question of what it was cut with. Not that I know, but, you know, fentanyl.

I get a chuckle every time Martin's "my boy!" Something about the way Michael Shannon Sheen screams it will always be funny, as was Martin's excitement in his phone call to Malcolm, he was practically trembling! "I got a job in the infirmary!"

I'll be withholding judgment on the storyline with him and Dr. Capshaw until more time has passed, but I am intrigued with Catherine Zeta-Jones joining the cast. 

It was fun seeing Jessica's awful sister but I don't want her to stick around. Jessica really has the best reaction shots, especially when Malcolm hung up on her.

I liked Dani's reaction after Malcolm called her beautiful. And goddamn, Edrisa! A blind man could read the room better than her, it's not even funny.

That was quite a case. Also, holy SHIT, Ainsley. Poor Malcolm, I really felt for him when he realized, and his scene after confronting her. Tom Payne knocked it out of the park.

Lou Diamond Phillips directed this episode!

Edited March 5, 2021 by HeShallBMySquishy
Typed wrong name

[Popservatory]

On 3/4/2021 at 10:56 AM, foxfreakinmulder said:

The man at the end on the dock with the head was so over the top twirling mustache laughable the way he delivered his lines.

Yes! At first I thought it was just because the lighting and filming looked so different, but it felt like a total whiplash in tone from the rest of the show.

I now spend so much of Edrisa’s screen time cringing. It’s not great when dead bodies are the least gross thing about your scenes.

I realize this family is Extra(TM), but Ainsley and the blood fake out to teach Malcolm a lesson with lolz? Yikes.

I’m interested to see where the infirmary storyline goes because it does shake things up a bit. However, having Martin catch something so easily and quickly that the doctor missed was a little on the lame side.

[mythoughtis]

Ashley did not remember on her own exactly.  She was having flashbacks so Malcolm told her either last episode or the one before. This show is jumping the shark for me,  it was out of character for Malcolm to cover up Endivotts murder and dismember him. 
I have No desire to see Alan Cummings since it appears he’s going to chew up the scenery a la Michael Sheen. 
Why are we only seeing JT and Gil for 30 seconds per episode? 

[Emma9]

On 3/3/2021 at 1:21 AM, l star said:

Edrisa was a cringe. That level of tone deaf is hard to feel anything but pity for. They do seem to be making it clear which woman Malcolm is interested in which seems unnecessary. I was fine with Edrisa’s crush at sane levels. It’s not like he and Dani are hooking up next ep. 

I agree, but on the other hand it's hard not to be amused by the hypocrisy in the episode's narrative. One woman's looks are so obviously superior as to be stated as a casual fact, while the other's relegate her forever to the realm of cringe comedy...but plastic surgery is vapid stupidity because appearance never affects the way a person is treated!

[vibeology]

9 hours ago, Emma9 said:

I agree, but on the other hand it's hard not to be amused by the hypocrisy in the episode's narrative. One woman's looks are so obviously superior as to be stated as a casual fact, while the other's relegate her forever to the realm of cringe comedy...but plastic surgery is vapid stupidity because appearance never affects the way a person is treated!

Which is ridiculous because Edrisa is also quite beautiful. Keiko Agena is older than Aurora Perrineau but they're both beautiful. I hate the show creating a competition between them. Hate it!

[kelslamu]

I was sad to find out we have to wait until May when we just got it back!

[Trini]

2 hours ago, kelslamu said:

I was sad to find out we have to wait until May when we just got it back!

Sooner than that: April 13th.

[eyesopen]

I'm surprised no one mentioned the stabbing with the syringe scene and what it may remind people of.  Geh, when I was watching the scene, I thought oh oh, it's just like the scene from.  And what do you know, you know how something was very memorable, but you don't see or hear it for a long while, and so you only remember parts of it, but not other parts?  Title of a song, or who sang the song, or a movie title. 

So I remember 4 big things from the movie with the syringe scene-John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman, Quentin Tarantino, but I can't remember the movie title.  Argh.  I'm gonna be stubborn and not google it and try to remember on my own, I hope it doesn't take a week, sob.  I guess it's a particular memorable medical thingy that hasn't been used often since that movie.

[Trini]

22 minutes ago, eyesopen said:

So I remember 4 big things from the movie with the syringe scene-John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman, Quentin Tarantino, but I can't remember the movie title. 

Pulp Fiction.

[eyesopen]

Heh.  I knew it.  It was a wisp on the edge of my memory, which is saying I didn't remember the title at all.  It would have probably taken 2 weeks to finally pop out of my memory.  And now I've been taken out of my misery.  Thank ye thank ye.