S03.E07: Episode 7

[paulvdb]

Quote

Home is where the heat is. Jean contends with a hot mess and a cold shoulder. Maeve deals with a mum on the run. The "sex school" finally goes public.

 

[Aulty]

Sure, they managed to write, build, shoot and edit that video in the couple of days. As funny as it was, I thought it really really didn't to them or their message any favours.
Loved Ruby fighting with hope and that bit with the perfume. She is a good egg.

I really don't see the point of Maeve's mum being in this season, she should be in rehab. And I don't quite know why this Anna person is so nice to Maeve, asking her to stay and move in. Not only is she offering her a home, but as a literature teacher there is a common interest that none of Maeve's friends cover.
Yay, Maeve and Otis, finally.

Glad that we got some insight into Jakob.

Edited September 17, 2021 by Aulty

[Zonk]

4 hours ago, Aulty said:

Sure, they managed to write, build, shoot and edit that video in the couple of days. As funny as it was, I thought it really really didn't to them or their message any favours.

There really wasn't much to that video. You could write, shoot and edit it in a day. By far the longest time would be to build the costumes, but they seemed to have a lot of kids on board and there are probably quite a few with experience from the musical.

Should be doable.

Edited September 17, 2021 by Zonk

[possibilities]

Why wouldn't Anna be nice to Maeve? She's fostering M's sister and clearly sees how Maeve's life is. 

[Aulty]

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

Why wouldn't Anna be nice to Maeve? She's fostering M's sister and clearly sees how Maeve's life is. 

Yes of course, that makes sense. But offering to help py for the France trip  and asking her to move in is a big, and costly, thing considering Maeve refused to bond with her. I dunno. We didn't get to know her that well.
I am glad though that her home situation is more stable now. And its only like 10 months until she is off to university anyways.

Edited September 18, 2021 by Aulty

[Danny Franks]

This show made major missteps again with the climax of the season. You have two characters who are held up as the main pairing, in narrative and marketing, yet you have them be apart for almost the entire episode as the 'villain' of the season is defeated. Such a weird writing choice. I guess having Ruby come to help out is closure for her character - she did a nice thing, now we can stop being interested in her.

I just felt really dissatisfied with the scene at the end, between Otis and Maeve. It felt very... flat. There wasn't any great sense of passion or love, or finally figuring things out, it was all very perfunctory and by-the-numbers. I think they've been terribly handled this season, and it always goes back to the 'will they, won't they' dynamic and the tropes that writers use for pairings like this. 

In season three, they're already so laden down with angst, missed opportunities, misunderstandings and pain that I've almost forgotten why they like each other. Those season one scenes where they playfully challenged one another, where they flirted and exchanged loaded glances, are a distant memory now.

Having Maeve's mother be a quasi-antagonist has just been a distraction that the show didn't need. There were already too many storylines without a missing child drama, and there could have been just as much meat for Emma Mackey if she was watching her sister join a happy family that she didn't think that she could be a part of.

[ahisma]

Well they managed to squeeze in another sex musical this year

[ahpny]

This episode and the whole "Hope is evil" subplot was too preachy. We get it, abstinence teaching is less effective than honest teaching about sex. We don't need to hear that conclusion repeated half a dozen times. However wrong Hope may have been, students shouldn't call all the shots. If teenage students already have all the answers, as this show essentially suggests, then what's the point of school anyway? The whole "students know best/anything goes" tangent was irksome and ridiculous. 

[Paloma]

I apologize in advance for a question that shows my lack of understanding of the sexual identity and relationships of nonbinary people, but I was confused by what happened between Jackson and Cal. When they were making out and Cal stopped Jackson when he started to do more than kiss (I think he was moving toward touching Cal's chest area), Cal told Jackson that he needed to understand that he would be in a queer relationship. But what does that really mean in terms of sexual activity? I understand that Cal does not identify as female, but biologically they are female (otherwise why the need to bind breasts?). So if Cal is going to be in a relationship with a biological male who identifies as male, what type of sexual activity would Cal want? 

I realize Cal is fictional and in no way representative of all nonbinary people, and maybe Cal as a character doesn't yet know what they want sexually. But it just seemed unfair to Jackson, who really seemed to be trying to be sensitive to Cal's feelings, to define the potential relationship as "queer" without explaining what that means or what type of physical relationship they could have.

[possibilities]

They address this later on, by saying that Cal's struggling enough already and doesn't have the spoons to educate and bring Jackson along in his understanding. I think that's fair, in that if Cal's not comfortable, they don't need a reason to opt out other than just "this isn't feeling comfortable for me". Jackson admitted he was thinking of Cal as female, which was exacerbating Cal's dysphoria. I can't speak for non-binary people, but as a lesbian, I can say that it really feels different to be with someone who has a queer identity vs someone who doesn't. I think that trying to get inside the binder showed Jackson was not respecting the sensitivity of that boundary for Cal, and that he was looking for a more heterosexual experience. It wasn't malicious, but it showed they aren't well-matched.

Edited October 10, 2021 by possibilities

[Eeksquire]

Whether Jackson handled things well with Cal or not (I think in the end they both seemed to come to a good place), I really LOVED the two conversation's that Jackson had with his mom. He broached the subject, she didn't blink (or get extremely pushy) and it was just a lovely parent-child conversation that is not the norm on TV.

[mbgriffith1]

I find Cal smug, obnoxious and self-righteous, and I hope this character moves away forever.