S03.E02: Deadhead

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode Description:

A threat to the Stone family tests Michaela's commitment to play by the rules and forces Grace to make a difficult decision. Ben enlists the aid of an old rival to save an old friend. Olive helps a new friend solve a calling that unearths a startling connection

 

[ottoDbusdriver]

Well, that was dull.  And boring.

Vance's Cuban issue was resolved way too quickly -- and off camera.

Apparently Zeke's new super power post-Death Date is -- empathy.

And the two of the three meth-heads turn out to be not-so-evil.  So why bring them back ?

[Suzysite]

21 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

Ben you need to tighten up the temples on your glasses.  You will never be able to continue with those "thought provoking moments" where you stick the temple tip of those glasses in your mouth again, until you tighten up those temples. 

 

 

Not to mention the way he yanks them off his face by the temple for dramatic emphasis and throws them down.   I was thinking when he did that he'll need to go get those adjusted/replaced pretty often.

[tennisgurl]

Cal has slipped back into tiny all knowing prophet kid pretty quickly, after starting the season sounding like a pretty normal kid. Did we find out why Grace and her brother are fighting? I am kind of already on his side considering how bad Grace's track record is when it comes to looking out for her family. 

Not surprising that one of the swamp people turned on the others, he was the one who let Cal go and has been the one most dragging his feet on all of the bad stuff. I am not sure why any of them are here on the show though, don't we have enough going on? 

It was kind of funny when the Vance's buddy was questioning the espionage capabilities of a math professor. I am glad that Vance is alright, even if it all happened offscreen, but yeah maybe don't tell all of this to every guy you meet Ben. So is this actually not even their plane, but another plane? I am kind of feeling alternate universe as where they went, and they switched planes with a parallel universe or something. 

Please don't restart this love triangle or further complicate it.  

[SoMuchTV]

36 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Did we find out why Grace and her brother are fighting?

I don’t know if there was something in a previous season that I’ve forgotten, but I thought he made it clear that he  needed/asked for her support (when the twins were very young) and she wasn’t there for him. 

And, do we know for sure what their relationship is?  Someone referred to them as step siblings, but the story made them sound more like half siblings. 

[KaveDweller]

I don't remember if that guy Ben met in the cemetery was someone we saw before, but did he really think the 828 tailfin could stay secret after he told some federal agent?

47 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

It was kind of funny when the Vance's buddy was questioning the espionage capabilities of a math professor. I am glad that Vance is alright, even if it all happened offscreen, but yeah maybe don't tell all of this to every guy you meet Ben. So is this actually not even their plane, but another plane? I am kind of feeling alternate universe as where they went, and they switched planes with a parallel universe or something. 

I like the idea of switching with a parallel universe, maybe one that is five years ahead/behind them. But you'd think they would have noticed random differences in their memories or something.

But if there is this plane underwater, you'd think that means a bunch of dead bodies are down there too. I'm guessing the US Government has more resources than those fishermen, and is going to start looking.

[shapeshifter]

8 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Please don't restart this love triangle or further complicate it.  

I do hate love triangles, but it's not the characters' or actors' fault that the writers screwed it up so badly. I don't think I'm softening up my anti-love-triangle stance in my old age, but I'm kind of wishing Zeke will disappear into a pile of frost and Michaela and Jared will get re-engaged --and Michaela's former best friend who was married to Zeke does not exist anymore in this universe/timeline. I mean, why else have Michaela-Jared banter and then have her partner comment on the banter?

Edited April 10, 2021 by shapeshifter

[Camera One]

This episode was a lot weaker than the last one.

Ben, ANYONE could recite the words off Vance's public tombstone.  That doesn't necessarily mean he can be trusted.  That agent couldn't have been too bright either if he was actually sincere and believed that phrase was the key to gain Ben's trust.  Ben didn't even know what was written on his tombstone, if not for the ring of convenience.  They even had to spell it out with the wife proclaiming only people who "love him" would know the phrase on his grave.  

Ben also found out the three men who kidnapped his son and almost killed him were out there somewhere, and he STILL thought it was a good idea to leave to try to help Vance with no plan, no resources and no exit plan?  So Cal's safety is now second priority, right?

Next on the tour of brainless people is the understaffed office of Saanvi.  Does she usually have a receptionist?  If it's a front operation, why does she need to have so many patients?  If no one has noticed  "something's eating at you", it basically means no one cares about you.  You don't need a character that is no longer relevant (aka Zeke) to diagnose such obvious behavior.   I used to like Saanvi, but she is just not fun to watch anymore.  No one else knows she killed the Major?

Meanwhile, at the cabin of bad dialogue, we got really bad character backstory and "development" with Grace, Cal and Uncle Tariq.

So now the Callings are just being lazy, stealing Cal's audio "Go to her" and sending it as a message on a totally unrelated matter.

Paging Michaela and Partner.  There are sightings of 3 guys at King Kone from 5 seconds ago, and one has a knife!  But we'll just leave it up to you instead of calling in police in the city.

I guess the only thing that interested me in this episode was that nicer guy in the gang of 3, and him being in that photo with that girl.  Even though the Callings are still contrived as hell... Did The Callings make the freezy drip requiring Olive to need a tissue and causing the photo to fall onto the ground?  So what if Olive hadn't taught her How To Decode Callings 101?  Then what?  What if they had gone to retrieve the time capsule the next day?  This show isn't fun to discuss because there's no real rhyme or reason behind anything.  It's not a puzzle.  It's a bunch of random crap beside the trash can.

Oooh, Ben now glows in the dark.  Maybe he'll need it next time he forgets a flashlight.  Whoever wrote this cliffhanger thinks we should care because???

Edited April 11, 2021 by Camera One

[mythoughtis]

Between Zeeks’  death and resurrection, the bank robber guy who drowned, was resurrected and then died again, the Meth heads’ resurrections, and the tail fin being  discovered... I’m sure that the 828 passengers were all dead in a plane crash in the  ocean and  then resurrected.  

Of course I don’t get why the resurrected  ( or made whole again  if you prefer) plane exploded on the tarmac after delivering the passengers.  In keeping with the death date theory, it should have remained intact until the passengers death dates arrived. 
 

so now we have a new step-brother in the mix?   Why?  
what happened to Jared’s’ ex-wife? Jared mentioned that Michaela was the one who was married this time upon her return from vacation, so his divorce must be final.  Refresh my memory - was she pregnant or not? 

Saavi  appears to be over her crush on Ben?  

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by mythoughtis

[KaveDweller]

6 minutes ago, mythoughtis said:

so now we have a new step-brother in the mix?   Why?  
what happened to Jared’s’ ex-wife? Jared mentioned that Michaela was the one who was married this time upon her return from vacation, so his divorce must be final.  Refresh my memory - was she pregnant or not? 

Jared and his wife were trying to get pregnant when they split up. So she wasn't pregnant that we know of. And I don't remember when the time jump was and whether she could still show up pregnant. They didn't really say what happened to her other than getting divorced. Hopefully she's trying to move on with her life.

[mythoughtis]

1 minute ago, KaveDweller said:

Jared and his wife were trying to get pregnant when they split up. So she wasn't pregnant that we know of. And I don't remember when the time jump was and whether she could still show up pregnant. They didn't really say what happened to her other than getting divorced. Hopefully she's trying to move on with her life.

Thank you.  I can never keep track of how long it has now been since the 828 landing.   

[Moxie Cat]

The writing in this one was way worse, and that's saying a lot.

Two girls use a rock (!) to dig up a time capsule in a church's front yard and NO ONE sees them or stops them. (And how many separate time capsules were in that yard?! One for every kid in her class?)

Zeke needs to reach Michaela but his phone died. So he leaves the room to "figure out how to reach her." Wouldn't any normal person just ask Ben or Saanvi to borrow their phone for a minute?

Why do they have to hide Cal at the step-brother's cabin again? Are the Swamp Creatures (heh) psychic? How would they know to look ANYWHERE other than the Stone house? Wouldn't a random motel in their town work just as well?

And along those same lines: why can't the cops help protect the formerly kidnapped child from said kidnappers at some kind of guarded safe house? Are these guys some kind of super villains?

Finally, the most irksome: Your stepbrother doesn't answer his phone and you've been estranged for 10 years. So naturally the answer is to just take two young children to his house and assume you can all live with him for the next three months. 

I used to like this show so much, back when its main focus was on the family and every episode revolved around doing a good deed to help someone. But good grief...

[KaveDweller]

6 hours ago, Moxie Cat said:

Why do they have to hide Cal at the step-brother's cabin again? Are the Swamp Creatures (heh) psychic? How would they know to look ANYWHERE other than the Stone house? Wouldn't a random motel in their town work just as well?

Most hotels would be traceable if they booked with a credit card. But if they are that resourceful and determined, they could probably trace the step-brother too.

But I agree there must be better options for hiding him. It was kind of ridiculous to show up at the step-brother's house when she hadn't even talked to him first.

[Camera One]

I'm surprised Grace didn't go to Danny.  "Hey, remember us?"

[alvajon]

On 4/9/2021 at 4:44 AM, Suzysite said:

Not to mention the way he yanks them off his face by the temple for dramatic emphasis and throws them down.   I was thinking when he did that he'll need to go get those adjusted/replaced pretty often.

They are probably “readers” from Target.

[snarktini]

On 4/10/2021 at 8:42 PM, Camera One said:

Even though the Callings are still contrived as hell... Did The Callings make the freezy drip requiring Olive to need a tissue and causing the photo to fall onto the ground?  So what if Olive hadn't taught her How To Decode Callings 101?  Then what?  What if they had gone to retrieve the time capsule the next day?  This show isn't fun to discuss because there's no real rhyme or reason behind anything.  It's not a puzzle.  It's a bunch of random crap beside the trash can.

There is a rhyme and reason.... it's all Fate. It's fate that they went to the time capsule that day and then the King Kone at that moment, so that she could drop her photo, so that he could find it and then be arrested just as she was coming back so they could meet. Fate led them to be there in that photo together years before. Every single thing that happens is following some sort of undefined but cosmic plan, the puzzle is following and interpreting the clues.

Personally I don't believe in fate/god(s)/whatever. But the show believes in it :)

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, snarktini said:

There is a rhyme and reason.... it's all Fate. It's fate that they went to the time capsule that day and then the King Kone at that moment, so that she could drop her photo, so that he could find it and then be arrested just as she was coming back so they could meet. Fate led them to be there in that photo together years before. Every single thing that happens is following some sort of undefined but cosmic plan, the puzzle is following and interpreting the clues.

Personally I don't believe in fate/god(s)/whatever. But the show believes in it :)

I'm still refusing to believe it's fate or supernatural/religious entities. I'm holding out for a science-y explanation. 
Dear Show Writers: Please "Make It So"

[ctlady]

Whatever happened to Ben's teaching gig and Grace's restaurant/catering business.  I remember something about Ben investing their money and getting a nice return, but is that enough for a family of  2 adults, 2 teens and one infant to live on without either of them bringing home a steady paycheck because, you know......answering callings is a full time job?