S02.E08: Murder, My Sweet

[shapeshifter]

S02.E08: Murder, My Sweet
Drops on Paramount+ July 15, 2021

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As Alma celebrates finally being admitted into the Garden Club, Bertram mourns the loss of the old Alma. Isabel uses her recent discovery to her own advantage. Dee grows suspicious surrounding Mrs. Yost's disappearance.

Much like Al Capone going to jail for tax evasion, I wonder if Alma and Bert will go to jail not for those they actually poisoned, but for killing their neighbor who died accidentally
--but whose body they buried in their garden so as not to have Alma's good standing tarnished by a body having been found outside their window just as Alma was trying to get accepted into the good graces of the ladies of the garden club. 

Alma and Bert really are not a good influence on each other.

Edited July 15, 2021 by shapeshifter

[Kiddvideo]

The strings tighten! I liked this one because the story is getting more tense as we move toward the end game.

I like the shorter series like this -- they can be over-the-top, and none of it has to make sense for more than a couple months. It's not like Lost or Desperate Housewives where the plots devolve into glop.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Kiddvideo said:

I like the shorter series like this -- they can be over-the-top, and none of it has to make sense for more than a couple months. It's not like Lost or Desperate Housewives where the plots devolve into glop

I agree about the tight plotting making it worth watching.

The one exception to the rule of longer running shows going off the rails plot-wise was Breaking Bad.    
I appreciate a show in which everything is as necessary to the final denouement as every jigsaw puzzle piece is necessary. 🧩

[WearyTraveler]

This episode was packed! So many things happened, I can't believe they covered so much in a single episode.

We got:

• Rita and Isabel's backstory (Rita was selling her body, Isabel killed to defend her, and was also her pimp, Carlo was the one requesting Isabel be a maid, Rita didn't start out cruel and manipulative),
• Scooter trying to play the devious game, but not being smart enough to wait for the evidence to burn completely or at least not draw attention to the fire,
• Catherine finding out Scooter was Rita's lover, confronting him, and apparently convincing him to testify against Rita,
• a new butler who is fiercely loyal to Catherine, was enjoying her fight with Scooter and seemed upset when they made up (unrequited love for Catherine, perhaps?)
• Isabel trying to blackmail Rita and Alma, and dropping enough hints to Vern that he figured out he must have caught the murderer(s) on camera,
• Alma suggesting killing as first recourse to deal with Isabel, then pretending to apologize to steal the drug so she could kill her when Bertram refused, then going through with it with ease
• Bertram finding a way to get Rita out of jail without having to expose himself or Alma
• Rita refusing to throw her cousin under the bus, or even expose her to save herself, which is Rita perhaps going back to her original self
• Mrs. Yost's nephew showing up, discovering the missing items, and becoming suspicious of the neighbours
• Dee discovering everything related to Mrs. Yost, from her disappearance, to the stolen items, to the body in one single episode, and then deciding to leave with Vern

Puff! That's a lot of stuff! I don't think previous episodes packed so many plot developments in a single run. And I have to say, I didn't feel anything was rushed or too contrived.

I wonder if Vern and/or Dee will eventually put the pieces together and realize Alma and Bertram murdered Carlo and Isabel.

It's interesting how they are developing Alma and Rita's arcs.  Rita started out cruel and manipulative, and I guess we wouldn't have been surprised if she had actually killed Carlo, or if we found out she had murdered someone before.  Now we know she has never killed anybody, she was being abused and someone else killed to defend her.  And then she surprises us by refusing to endanger Isabel.  In contrast, Alma started out meek, a victim of bullies, someone unhappy and aspiring to better things, who was shocked and horrified when she discovered her husband was a serial killer. Then she started playing devious games to climb up the social ladder, then she hid a body, then she actually manipulated her husband into killing someone for her gain (while framing someone else), and finally becoming a murderer herself. 

If the next two episodes are as packed as this one, we're in for a wild ride.

Edited July 16, 2021 by WearyTraveler

[shapeshifter]

3 minutes ago, WearyTraveler said:

Rita and Isabel's backstory (Rita was selling her body, Isabel killed to defend her, and was also her pimp, Carlo was the one requesting Isabel be a maid, Rita didn't start out cruel and manipulative),

I wondered if this was true, or if Rita just said it; like maybe Rita didn't think Carlo would want a pimp/cousin moving into their palatial home?

 

4 minutes ago, WearyTraveler said:

• Alma [Isabel?] finding out Scooter was Rita's lover, confronting him, and apparently convincing him to testify against Rita,
• a new butler who is fiercely loyal to Catherine, was enjoying her fight with Scooter and seemed upset when they made up (unrequited love for Alma [Isabel?], perhaps?)

These 2 "Alma" mentions were supposed to be "Isabel," right?
I did notice in this episode that "Alma" and "Isabel" were cast using actresses who were almost body doubles, and wondered if the police detectives could be convinced that the face in Vern's PI picture was Isabel, not Alma.

 

8 minutes ago, WearyTraveler said:

Bertram finding a way to get Rita out of jail without having to expose himself or Alma

Bert is the only professional killer in the cast of characters. And Bert is a killer with scruples.

 

22 minutes ago, WearyTraveler said:

Alma and Bertram murdered Carlo.

Alma and Bert murdering Carlo to frame Rita (for revenge) sort of paralleled the flashback in this episode of Isabel killing Henry with Rita perhaps being an unwitting accomplice, not unlike Bert, who thought it was euthanasia, not the killing of a man who seemed to be recovering from a stroke.
In a way, Isabel saw Rita as her ticket out of poverty. 

[WearyTraveler]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

I wondered if this was true, or if Rita just said it; like maybe Rita didn't think Carlo would want a pimp/cousin moving into their palatial home?

Could be, I thought about it too, but we have nothing to confirm. Rita still seemed a fairly new wife, they spoke about months to bring Isabel to Rita, and Rita, despite being dressed to the nines, didn't seem as jaded and cruel as when we first met her.  But it is possible.

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

These 2 "Alma" mentions were supposed to be "Isabel," right?

No, they are meant to be Catherine! (I will correct in my OP, thanks for catching that)

Edited July 16, 2021 by WearyTraveler

[WearyTraveler]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

I did notice in this episode that "Alma" and "Isabel" were cast using actresses who were almost body doubles, and wondered if the police detectives could be convinced that the face in Vern's PI picture was Isabel, not Alma.

Alma asked Bertram if he'd got the negatives when he got back in the car and he said "Yes", so, Vern sent Alma pictures and negatives, he can't print copies of the pictures anymore, which is why he was asking Scooter about what he heard/saw the night of the murder. It seems Vern will never see the pictures he took again, unless Bertram was lying, but why would he do that? If he thought the negatives could resurface, he would be less likely to try to set up Isabel as Carlo's killer.

 

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Bert is the only professional killer in the cast of characters. And Bert is a killer with scruples.

Who was doing quite well for himself and had been getting away with it for decades without anyone suspecting a thing.  If it hadn't been for Alma's obsession to get in the garden club, which led her to want to make a dress, which led her to a dropped object, which led her to Bertram's collection of victim keepsakes, he would have probably stayed undiscovered, successful, and happy as a clam!

[CRT]

This episode's title comes from the 1944 film noir starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, and Anne Shirley.  It was the first film to feature PI Philip Marlowe, who appeared in 7 novels written by Raymond Chandler. (In 6 of the 7, the killer turns out to be a woman.)

Putting Mrs. Yost's body in the garden was a stupid idea, wasn't it? The body should've gone away with her car, perhaps moved to the driver's seat before the car was pushed into the lake. That wouldn't have been a foolproof plan, but at least there wouldn't be a dead body in the front garden!

Dee has put things together (and even found Mrs. Yost's body), and I love it!  In the season premiere, Dee told Vern, "Oh, I love a good murder. The bloodier the better! You see, violence doesn't bother me."  But now we see that (thankfully) isn't true at all. 
.
Catherine knows about Scooter!  And it wasn't because he said something stupid.  Does Catherine really believe that Scooter has feelings for her? He seems to, but also he does like that she's rich.

I think Bertram and Alma's marriage is as dead as poor Isabel.  He called his wife horrible even before she killed Isabel; the spittle coming out of Isabel's mouth was a disgusting touch.

My favorite line of the episode:  "Bertram, for someone who's murdered dozens of people, you can be a real stick in the mud."

[shapeshifter]

I wonder if we’ll ever hear about Bert paying back his friend the large amount of money, ostensibly for “gambling debts.” It could be more difficult to explain how he got money than how he lost it.

Similarly, once the police had presumed the thief who “stole” items from Mrs. Yost likely killed her too, Bert and Alma couldn’t easily say they had just “borrowed” a few things for a party, apologized, and returned them. 

[Chaos Theory]

I  think the show wanted to differentiate between Bertram and Alma and the kind of killers they are.   For better and worse Bertram has a moral code and won’t kill people that don’t fit into his “they are dying anyway I might as well make it beautiful” way of thinking.   Alma has no such code.   She is killing for the practicality of it.    She doesn’t care who she hurts and I am not completely sure she wouldn’t kill Bertram or even Dee if she thought it was in her own best interest to do so.  Bertram just wouldn’t unless he could find a way to justify it in his own mind as a “sickness” that was killing Alma which might be how it plays out between Bertram and Alma.

As for Rita this may actually be a reverse trajectory for her.   She’s been a bad person all her life but seeing how quick she was vilified she might actually team up with Vern and Dee the only two people who may genuinely be on her side just because they believe in doing “the right thing”.  
 

I think Catherine may actually be more at ease knowing that Scooter is a gigolo.  The way she was raised it makes it more comforting to know where everyone stands then to place too much faith on the heart.  If you know he will stay because you have money then you give him money to stay.  That is something Catherine would probably understand better then Scooter saying he is staying for love.

Edited July 16, 2021 by Chaos Theory

[txhorns79]

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Catherine knows about Scooter!  And it wasn't because he said something stupid.  Does Catherine really believe that Scooter has feelings for her? He seems to, but also he does like that she's rich.

Color me dumb, but I did not realize that the actor who plays Scooter is the brother of the actress who played Jade (the crazy lady who tried to kill the open marriage couple last season). 

20 hours ago, CRT said:

Putting Mrs. Yost's body in the garden was a stupid idea, wasn't it? The body should've gone away with her car, perhaps moved to the driver's seat before the car was pushed into the lake. That wouldn't have been a foolproof plan, but at least there wouldn't be a dead body in the front garden!

I still don't know how Alma had the entire garden replaced, but they somehow missed Mrs. Yost's body when Dee was able to get it dug up in about two minutes. 

[shapeshifter]

1 minute ago, txhorns79 said:

I still don't know how Alma had the entire garden replaced, but they somehow missed Mrs. Yost's body when Dee was able to get it dug up in about two minutes.

I don't think this will ever be explained. Every episode of the dramedy Monk had some loose end like that too.  

 

4 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

Color me dumb, but I did not realize that the actor who plays Scooter is the brother of the actress who played Jade (the crazy lady who tried to kill the open marriage couple last season). 

I'm even dumber because I recognized the last name, but only remembered her from season 1 of True Detective.

[CarpeFelis]

Otto is a great addition! He doesn’t miss a thing. And the scene with him sitting outside Catherine’s room with a drink, eavesdropping on Catherine and Scooter arguing, was priceless!

Bertram making Isabel’s death look like a suicide and pinning Carlo’s murder on her was genius. Anyone else notice that her dress matched so well with the bedspread she almost looked like part of the bed? It was visually interesting enough that I wonder if it was intentional, like the show was implying this woman was so insignificant she just blended into the bedspread. Speaking of visual effects, I notice Catherine is no longer dressing so drably, even though she’s supposed to be mourning Carlo.

I loved Dee taking notes on Mrs. Yost’s disappearance. Maybe she’ll join Vern in his detective agency once the baby is old enough to go to school! He doesn’t seem like he’d be old fashioned enough to not want his wife to work. Plus by then World War II will be going on and plenty of women will be working.

Exactly how stupid are Alma and Bertram? They got the entire garden not just restored but greatly improved (BTW, getting in so many mature plants must have cost a pretty penny—likely more than they realistically could afford) but didn’t think to either move Mrs. Yost’s body before doing that, or at the very least bury her deeper!? When Dee was digging it seemed like Mrs. Yost was awfully close to the surface, like maybe no more than a foot down if even that. BTW despite reading many Temperance Brennan novels, I have no idea what a corpse at this point would look like, but it looked like they just had the actress lie down and scattered a thin layer of bark on her. Wouldn’t her face be either puffed up with gases or shriveled by now, and not so pink?

I really hope Mrs. Yost’s nephew doesn’t think Dee murdered her since it was fairly obvious it was she who returned the stuff Alma took.

Rita’s black and gold ensemble in the scene where she gives Isabel the maid uniform was absolutely stunning. But who hangs around at home dressed like that in the middle of the day?!

More great lines:

”I have learned that crushing one’s enemies is the best cosmetic.”
”Have fun turning in your grave.”
”Don’t tease Otto. He’s German. It’ll end badly.”
The look on Scooter’s face when Catherine said “You’ll be packing your bags before you know it”!
”I’ve been thinking about Rita and her little cat. She loves him so much.” “Of course she loves him. They’re the same species.”
”Actions have consequences.” “Well, you weren’t keen to face any when you were filling up graveyards with your previous victims.” (Gotta agree with Alma here; Bertram was being really hypocritical.)
”Now, now, Rita is innocent until proven guilty.” “Is she sweet until proven bitchy? ‘Cause I want to serve on that jury.” (I loved the ladies’ over-the-top eveningwear in that scene.)
”Everything you’ve just said is a lie! …  But how much money are we talking?”
”Yeah, I‘m awful. Picking on a nice lady just ‘cause she killed a man and framed my boss.”
”Is he dead?” “He called me ugly. Who cares?”
”I’ll return to our bed when you’re a little less lethal.” (I absolutely LOVED Alma’s floral robe in that scene.)
”Bertram, for someone who’s murdered dozens of people, you can be a real stick in the mud.”
”Killing is stressful enough without quarreling in front of the victim.”

Edited July 17, 2021 by CarpeFelis

[CarpeFelis]

On 7/16/2021 at 2:35 AM, shapeshifter said:

I wonder if we’ll ever hear about Bert paying back his friend the large amount of money, ostensibly for “gambling debts.” It could be more difficult to explain how he got money than how he lost it.

Similarly, once the police had presumed the thief who “stole” items from Mrs. Yost likely killed her too, Bert and Alma couldn’t easily say they had just “borrowed” a few things for a party, apologized, and returned them. 

He could tell his friend that he’d asked a relative to lend him the money but they said no. Then they changed their mind so now he’s paying him back.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Heh, Rita was learning that sometimes it's not about proving your innocence but instead seeing who else you can make look guilty. The art of deflection.

Was Catherine's butler trying to hit on Scooter? What was the new robe business all about?

Good boy, Rocco! Keep at it!

Guess Isabel wasn't worried a killer could murder her too.

OMG, that red gown Isabel bought Rita. Absolutely gorgeous. I want!

Poor, Dee, having to find out not only are her parents murderers, they're also so callous as to keep a body barely buried in the front garden.

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(I loved the ladies’ over-the-top eveningwear in that scene.)

Right? At first wondered if it was supposed to be a costume party because a couple of the dresses looked more 1920s-ish to me.

[Bumblebee84047]

On 7/17/2021 at 2:54 PM, CarpeFelis said:

Plus by then World War II will be going on and plenty of women will be working.

The series takes place in 1949.  Vern served in World War II, that's how he received his injuries.

[shapeshifter]

33 minutes ago, Bumblebee84047 said:

The series takes place in 1949.  Vern served in World War II, that's how he received his injuries.

True, but that actually bolsters the chances of Dee being able to work in their detective agency, right? It was mainly the factory jobs that women had to give up after WWII, but the idea of women working outside the home was not so easily dispelled. 

[Lastwaltz]

On 7/17/2021 at 6:36 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

(I loved the ladies’ over-the-top eveningwear in that scene.)

The wardrobe in this show is outstanding all around : ) I love Alma's transformation. 

[CarpeFelis]

2 hours ago, Bumblebee84047 said:

The series takes place in 1949.  Vern served in World War II, that's how he received his injuries.

I stand corrected. For some reason I had it in my head that it was 1939. Don’t know where I got that from!