S02.E01: Secret Beyond the Door

[shapeshifter]

S02.E01: Secret Beyond the Door
Drops on Paramount+ June 3, 2021

From IMDb:

Quote

With dreams of status and glamour, Alma Fillcot hopes to fill a recently vacated seat in her local Garden Club, but all of that preparation and hard work is jeopardized when she discovers her husband's shocking secret

Stars: Allison Tolman, Lana Parrilla, B.K. Cannon

The episode title is named after the 1947 film noir of the same name.

And here's a pretty detailed recap in case there's some doubt about whether something you wanted to comment on happened in this episode or the next:
tvfanatic.com/shows/why-women-kill/episodes/season-2/secret-beyond-the-door/

Edited June 4, 2021 by shapeshifter

[skotnikov]

Wow didn't expect that WWK s02 would be the best TV show of the year for me and was pleasantly surprised by the end of the 1st episode.   

[shapeshifter]

49 minutes ago, skotnikov said:

Wow didn't expect that WWK s02 would be the best TV show of the year for me and was pleasantly surprised by the end of the 1st episode.   

I was hoping it might live up to season 1, and, so far, it definitely has. 

[txhorns79]

It was an interesting first episode.  I like Allison Tolman.  I feel like Lana Parilla is just doing the Evil Queen again, but I presume we'll see more emotions from her as the show progresses.

The only quibbles I have is that I think Alma and her daughter look too close in age to be mother and daughter.  I also feel like someone who appears to be middle to upper middle class, like Dee, would be working as a secretary or perhaps as a shop girl during this time period.  I think working as a waitress in a diner would not be seen as appropriate for that social class.  And I get this is a tv drama, not a documentary.   However, those two things just stood out to me.         

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

The only quibbles I have is that I think Alma and her daughter look too close in age to be mother and daughter.  I also feel like someone who appears to be middle to upper middle class, like Dee, would be working as a secretary or perhaps as a shop girl during this time period.  I think working as a waitress in a diner would not be seen as appropriate for that social class.  And I get this is a tv drama, not a documentary.   However, those two things just stood out to me

They stood out to me too.  
However, at that time, likely Alma had Dee when she was 19 (married and pregnant soon after prom and graduation). Perhaps Bertram started out as a veterinarian assistant. 
Still, yes, the actresses are just 9 years apart if I’m reading IMDb correctly. So Alison Tolman is playing much older?
As for Dee working as a waitress —IDK. Maybe that’s supposed to reflect her low self esteem?

[tennisgurl]

The first season was a very pleasant surprise for me, and I am very intrigued by this now season. It has a very different premise but a similar vibe to the first season, it really managed to throw me for several loops. 

They have a great cast, a lot of actors I know from various things around television, with Allison Tolman and Lana Parrilla anchoring things. Allison Tolman is always great and while Lana Parrila is basically doing a variation of Regina from Once Upon a Time before she become a shows favorite mass murdering woobie, she does do that very well. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

How did it completely miss Alma that the gardening club wasn't about gardening at all? She's not very observant.

The Elysian Park Garden Club: No frumps!

Dang, $800 in the 1940s was a ton of money for a dress. That's a nice chunk of change for an off-the-rack dress in 2021 too.

Weird way to try to kill your husband, by having him fall down a staircase in shock. Guess it didn't occur to Rita that the tough old coot could stay in a coma indefinitely.

Alma's daughter and Rita's boyfriend are lovers? Okay.

Yeesh, looks like Alma's husband seeks out dying women to murder. Not sure why he'd keep those souvenirs but maybe that's what a serial killer does. It'll be interesting to see what Alma does with the information once she figures out what those keepsakes represent.

Quote

Regina from Once Upon a Time

So that's where I recognized her from. She is stunning in the 1940s clothes.

Edited June 7, 2021 by Joimiaroxeu

[CRT]

Jack Davenport is a wonderful choice for narrator, as he has a lovely voice.   It's weird that Marc Cherry said he was going to try to bring back actors from season 1 and then he just didn't do that.

In the first scene with Maisie, I thought that Rachel Bay Jones (Maisie) has looked better in other roles than she does here. And then I realized that was part of the plot!  I guessed from Bertram's character description from last fall that he was a serial killer, but seeing him kill Maisie was still affecting.  Bertram killing her in the same way he put down her dog (even using the same words) was both sweet and creepy...

[Chaos Theory]

Ok why didn't anyone tell me that  Paramount Plus started season 2?   One of my surprise favorites of last season? or whatever was the first season of Why Women Kill.  And this is already so much fun but in a different way.     The first time my mother went to a "book club" she didn't realize that most of her married friends used it as an excuse to just hang out and hand off the kids to their husbands for an hour.    So I can see Alma not realizing that Garden Club was just an excuse for a bunch of rich women to socialize.  

I love the idea that Rita's husband just won't die.    

One of my favorite scenes was where Alma was complaining to her husband about how she felt unseen and her husband just handed her his wallet and then kinda asked if she wanted to go upstairs with him and she just blew him off.  I found that really sad.  If he wasn't a serial killer and all I would have found it the type that Alma didn't know how good she had it.  Maybe it is still true.  Even if he is well.....

I see this as Alma and Rita banging against each other.   It is going be fun to watch.

[Ms Blue Jay]

It wasn't sweet at all!  It was cold blooded murder!  I was reeling and reeling.