S01.E01: Arrivals

[Ms Blue Jay]

Never mind.

Edited July 19, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[edhopper]

Typical Master of the Universe offspring who thinks they deserve the best of everything and are pissed if anything gets in the way. So instead of accepting the great room they have, he will ruin his honeymoon, and looks like his marriage.

[mansonlamps]

They deserve what they paid for,  doesn't make them greedy or "master of the universe."  In fact the hotel worker gaslighting him by trying to tell him they had the right room is far more obnoxious in this circumstance,  in my opinion. 

[edhopper]

7 hours ago, mansonlamps said:

They deserve what they paid for,  doesn't make them greedy or "master of the universe."  In fact the hotel worker gaslighting him by trying to tell him they had the right room is far more obnoxious in this circumstance,  in my opinion. 

I agree the manager acted badly. Needed to comp them something. But he's still ruining his honeymoon and probably his marriage because he can't handle not getting exactly what he wants.

[Shermie]

As soon as I saw Shane, I thought "punchable face". And yes, he proved me right. Even if the manager intentionally ripped him off, he doesn't know that. They have a great room and his wife is happy. It's their honeymoon, just enjoy that. Sometimes you have to know when to let something go. Maybe if he put on his big boy pants and booked and paid for his own honeymoon instead of having his mommy do it for him,he'd have more game negotiating. A quiet, "hey, how about a free massage for my wife to make up the mistake?" would have gone a long way.

Quote

1) the obviously rich family who invited their daughter’s friend yet the son is sleeping on a cot in a tiny kitchen. Hopefully this won’t continue to be played for laughs or whatever. I just find it improbable and annoying enough that it kept taking me out of the scenes. 

Yeah, that was weird. She's the CEO of a successful tech company, so clearly loaded. But they can't afford a 3-bedroom suite? It's bad enough in those family suites when someone has to sleep in the common area on a couch, because they're always going to be disturbed by the comings and goings of the others, not to mention the lack of privacy. But to put 3 teenagers there, including one that's not from your family? Makes no sense. And what an odd kitchenette - a tiny box cut off from the rest of the suite? I've never seen that before. It's like the writers had to come up with the concept of a random extra small room to stuff the boy in, so they thought "kitchenette" even though that's never how hotel kitchenettes are set up.

I don't get the appeal of Jennifer Coolidge. I find her difficult to look at, with her grimace mouth and offputting mannerisms. And she was styled so unfortunately that I thought, is she pregnant too? 

[AzureOwl]

5 hours ago, Shermie said:

Yeah, that was weird. She's the CEO of a successful tech company, so clearly loaded. But they can't afford a 3-bedroom suite? It's bad enough in those family suites when someone has to sleep in the common area on a couch, because they're always going to be disturbed by the comings and goings of the others, not to mention the lack of privacy. But to put 3 teenagers there, including one that's not from your family? Makes no sense. And what an odd kitchenette - a tiny box cut off from the rest of the suite? I've never seen that before. It's like the writers had to come up with the concept of a random extra small room to stuff the boy in, so they thought "kitchenette" even though that's never how hotel kitchenettes are set up.

I've speculated in the next episode's thread that the husband is probably the one who paid for the vacation and he makes a lot less than her.

[Milburn Stone]

On 7/19/2021 at 2:14 PM, mansonlamps said:

They deserve what they paid for,  doesn't make them greedy or "master of the universe."

I'd be inclined to agree with this if they actually paid for it. The fact his mother paid for it makes it far easier to see him as the asshole. "I want the room my mommy got for me!" is not bound to foster audience sympathy.

[BC4ME]

On 7/21/2021 at 10:57 AM, Shermie said:

I don't get the appeal of Jennifer Coolidge. I find her difficult to look at, with her grimace mouth and offputting mannerisms. And she was styled so unfortunately that I thought, is she pregnant too? 

I actually thought that too. But remembered she was in Best in Show over 20 years ago and looked up her age. She's 59 so doubtful.

Edited July 23, 2021 by BC4ME
ETA I was referring to her being pregnant.

[Milburn Stone]

1 hour ago, BC4ME said:

I actually thought that too. But remembered she was in Best in Show over 20 years ago and looked up her age. She's 59 so doubtful.

I'm buying Jennifer Coolidge in this role. A change from the typecasting of the last many years of her career.

[Shermie]

Seems like the same old typecasting to me - overdone, wacky yet vulnerable, very extra in her clothes and hair and makeup. Same old Jennifer Coolidge character.

[AzureOwl]

On 7/19/2021 at 2:14 PM, mansonlamps said:

They deserve what they paid for,  doesn't make them greedy or "master of the universe."  In fact the hotel worker gaslighting him by trying to tell him they had the right room is far more obnoxious in this circumstance,  in my opinion. 

You can have a perfectly legitimate grievance and still come off as the bad guy if you are an asshole in pursuit of it. Which Shane is doing, at least as it pertains to his wife, as he is ruining their honeymoon by making it all about the room. 

I first noticed this phenomenon many years ago while watching The Wonder Years. Shane is running the risk of pulling a Becky Slater in this scenario.

[Milburn Stone]

On 7/22/2021 at 5:52 PM, Shermie said:

Seems like the same old typecasting to me - overdone, wacky yet vulnerable, very extra in her clothes and hair and makeup. Same old Jennifer Coolidge character.

I see most of that, but I would say the difference is in the "wacky yet vulnerable" part. I'm used to seeing her do wacky, not so much the vulnerable. And yet another layer to her character here is that paradoxically, her vulnerability comes with a real capacity to do harm. (Whether intentionally or through sheer obliviousness to the needs of anyone but her.)

Edited July 23, 2021 by Milburn Stone

[EtheltoTillie]

On 7/16/2021 at 7:50 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

"Enlightened" is way better than this.  The only positive I got from this is that I got to clear off an hour from my DVR.

I grew up poor, but I'd still want the hotel room that I (or my family) paid for.  Asking for that isn't weird to me.

You just reminded me that he was also on a recent season of "Survivor"!  Haha!

It’s so odd he was on Survivor. Was it celebrity survivor?  I don’t watch, so I just don’t know. 

[peachmangosteen]

4 minutes ago, GussieK said:

It’s so odd he was on Survivor. Was it celebrity survivor?  I don’t watch, so I just don’t know. 

Nope, just regular Survivor. And he was on regular old The Amazing Race as well.

[EtheltoTillie]

On 7/21/2021 at 10:57 AM, Shermie said:

 

I don't get the appeal of Jennifer Coolidge. I find her difficult to look at, with her grimace mouth and offputting mannerisms. And she was styled so unfortunately that I thought, is she pregnant too? 

So glad to find others here with this opinion. I don’t get her. Always weird accents that sounds like she s trying too hard and can’t master it.  And they all sound the same. Her over the top comedy shtick doesn’t belong in this show. 

[EtheltoTillie]

And I’m really liking this show. I’m commenting after seeing episode 2. It gets even better. 

[answerphone]

Does anyone else have a bit of trouble picturing Connie Britton with Steve Zahn?  They seem like an odd match. 
 

Maybe she’s supposed to have gotten more sophisticated as she’s aged, and he’s a bit of a dork. 

[aghst]

On 8/12/2021 at 9:39 PM, answerphone said:

Does anyone else have a bit of trouble picturing Connie Britton with Steve Zahn?  They seem like an odd match. 
 

Maybe she’s supposed to have gotten more sophisticated as she’s aged, and he’s a bit of a dork. 

Maybe but in some closeups, she’s visibly older, more wrinkled.

[chocolatine]

7 hours ago, aghst said:

Maybe but in some closeups, she’s visibly older, more wrinkled.

Which is one of the things I love about her! Considering how many actresses her age are barely recognizable due to all the work they had done (looking at you, Nicole Kidman), it's great to see a few brave souls resist the pressure to get fillers and/or surgery. She's beautiful at any age.

[izabella]

And she can actually use her face to act and emote.  I can't stand actors whose faces don't move.

[Irlandesa]

11 hours ago, aghst said:

Maybe but in some closeups, she’s visibly older, more wrinkled.

The actors are basically the same age. She's only a year older.

[gryphon]

I wanted to like this—or at least like one of the characters.  The scenery was pretty, but I just couldn’t root for any of the characters—except jerkface’s wife—and I don’t think that’s enough to hold me. 

[BluBarbi98]

On 7/13/2021 at 11:53 PM, Bulldog said:

Speaking of Shane, he's a jerk.  No doubt.  But, he wasn't wrong about the room.  If you pay for the (presumably) more expensive room, then you should get the more expensive room.  Of course, that is somewhat hypocritical of me to say as I would have definitely taken the Rachel stance of the room we have is nice enough.  Didn't really like the manager trying to gaslight him into thinking they got the room they purchased. 

I agree with this 1000% He is a jerk but he was right about this and I feel like the show wanted us to sympathize with the manager but you can't KNOW that you're wrong and not do anything to try to resolve the situation. The fact that it took the travel agent (who could affect future business in a very tangible way) calling and cursing him out before he even begrudgingly gave them champagne is just horrible customer service. 

Also, also Shane could have and should have said it differently but Rachel's wrong to work on their honeymoon. 

[BluBarbi98]

On 7/21/2021 at 11:46 PM, Milburn Stone said:

I'd be inclined to agree with this if they actually paid for it. The fact his mother paid for it makes it far easier to see him as the asshole. "I want the room my mommy got for me!" is not bound to foster audience sympathy.

Why does that make him an asshole? If someone spent their money to buy me something and I wasn't getting what they paid for then I'm still getting ripped off. No matter who paid for the room, the hotel received payment for the most expensive accommodations and provided lesser accommodations. I know it was unintentional but it is basically a bait-and-switch. 

[LuvMyShows]

One thing that rang so untrue to me dialogue-wise, was that when we first meet the two girls and they are dissecting everyone on the boat, one of them says something regarding Tanya about "an American Brigitte Bardot".  No way that two college-age girls in this day and age have any idea who Brigitte Bardot is.

On 7/12/2021 at 2:13 PM, candall said:

Also, Steve Zahn's balls.  Brave choice.

When we first had the shot of his balls, I said to myself, "Wow those look big" and wondered if the balls I have encountered in my life maybe just didn't measure up!  Glad to have found out that his were swole, LOL.

On 7/12/2021 at 10:30 PM, DoubleUTeeEff said:

What the heck did Belinda do to Jennifer Coolidge to make her so grateful? I was like, was there a happy ending or was that just the first person to really listen to her in awhile?

On 7/15/2021 at 1:37 AM, chocolatine said:

Belinda said she was doing craniosacral therapy. I haven't had it myself, but my understanding is that the relief in physical tension that it brings can also cause a flood of emotion. 

When the guests were first leaving the boat and walking up to the resort staff greeting them, she said something about being in pain with her back, and she seemed to walk stiltedly.  I think that she was intensely grateful for the immense physical relief she felt, and it did look like she was walking more normally after the adjustment.

On 7/18/2021 at 5:37 PM, chocolatine said:

FWIW, I didn't get the impression that Quinn is on the spectrum, I just thought he's an awkward teenager whose development is being stunted by his mother's helicoptering. Of course it's possible he's on the spectrum (definitely on the high-functioning end of it) and Nicole is being overbearing out of protectiveness. But that's still bad for his development.

It may not have been in this episode, but there was a throwaway line where someone, I think it was the daughter Olivia, said something to the mom Nicole about him having Asperger's.  She replied that he doesn't have it.  And there wasn't any more conversation about it.  I wonder if in some initial version of the script, there was more about that, where Nicole for some reason struggles with believing that her son has Asperger's. 

[PurpleTentacle]

I appreciate that an HBO show has to show some cock and balls to fill a quota and it's not like I don't like it, but maybe don't tell me that those average sized (at best) testicles are massively big and might be cancerous after. That's just insulting. My balls are like twice that size and very not-cancerous.

Other than that this was certainly interesting. I have no idea where it's going, just heard it was good and liked the cast list. Guess I'll see.

On 7/12/2021 at 5:02 AM, BryroseA said:

1) Is the body on the plane Rachel, aka maybe-Mrs.-Patton?

Nah, pretty sure that was a fake-out and she just left his ass.

[PurpleTentacle]

On 7/13/2021 at 1:04 AM, meep.meep said:

And he and his father were on the Amazing Race twice!

That actually was him? I thought that was just somebody who coincidentally looked a lot like him. I don't remember them mentioning that he was a well known actor and writer. But then again, that was so long ago, maybe he just wasn't that accomplished yet. And of course I also didn't recognise the name, because it was ages ago.

I'm just reading that he also competed on survivor. Dude must really love his reality TV. I think that is one of the seasons I skipped. I didn't watch the later half of the 30s and only came back with 40, watched 41 and 42 actually only over this weekend.

On 7/19/2021 at 9:14 PM, mansonlamps said:

They deserve what they paid for,  doesn't make them greedy or "master of the universe."  In fact the hotel worker gaslighting him by trying to tell him they had the right room is far more obnoxious in this circumstance,  in my opinion. 

I am with you in principle, but a simple lie is not gaslighting. It is one of my pet peeves.

On 7/23/2021 at 11:22 PM, AzureOwl said:

You can have a perfectly legitimate grievance and still come off as the bad guy if you are an asshole in pursuit of it. Which Shane is doing, at least as it pertains to his wife, as he is ruining their honeymoon by making it all about the room. 

I put this on the hotel manager. Had he not continously lied about it, Shane probably would have let it go. What is so hard about "I'm sorry, we accidentally double booked the room. We put you in our second best room, that has a better view and of course we are charging you the lower rate. Let me throw an extra *something* in there, to show how truely sorry we are."

I can't believe this show has made me take the side of the rich asshole here...

On 8/15/2021 at 6:27 PM, chocolatine said:

Which is one of the things I love about her! Considering how many actresses her age are barely recognizable due to all the work they had done (looking at you, Nicole Kidman),

Isn't she just known by her bond villain name "stone face" these days?

On 12/1/2022 at 2:41 AM, LuvMyShows said:

One thing that rang so untrue to me dialogue-wise, was that when we first meet the two girls and they are dissecting everyone on the boat, one of them says something regarding Tanya about "an American Brigitte Bardot".  No way that two college-age girls in this day and age have any idea who Brigitte Bardot is.

Very clearly written by a middle aged gay man.

On 12/1/2022 at 2:41 AM, LuvMyShows said:

When we first had the shot of his balls, I said to myself, "Wow those look big" and wondered if the balls I have encountered in my life maybe just didn't measure up!  Glad to have found out that his were swole, LOL.

Really? I've seen a lot of balls and those looked to be on the small side.

[TVMovieBuff]

On 7/12/2021 at 2:13 PM, candall said:

Mike White put me off for a few decades with Chuck and Buck, but I guess we're both older and wiser now.

I thought this was excellent--such an interesting, character-driven, establishing episode.

 

Also, Steve Zahn's balls.  Brave choice.

A body double. You didn't see Steve's face and the junk in the same shot. Don't have to; it's TV.