S03.E09: Red Flag

[Door County Cherry]

Airs 10/15

Quote

While Love tends to some unexpected long-term guests, Joe decides to take a drastic step to get what he wants the most.

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by dubbel zout
added episode description

[eXiled]

Glad the toileting issue was addressed. I'd wondered about that. It's gotta really stink in there when you're by yourself. I can only imagine the stench when there are two people sharing the cage.

Oh, amore!

[dubbel zout]

LOL that the lawyer (Marcia Cross! Welcome back!) described everything as it exactly happened and talked Matthew out of it.

Oh, Ryan. Don't taunt a serial killer, dude.

Oh, Theo. You poor, dumb-dumb. I'm sorry to see him go, but it was inevitable.

This episode was a RIDE. 

 

[gesundheit]

Plenty to say about this episode but mostly just wanted to pop in to say I cannot get enough of Shalita Grant, and I want her to be cast in everything forever in perpetuity. 

[Chaos Theory]

~ Love that Sherry’s first instinct is bribery and to offer to get Henry into the best pre-school.  It’s not a bad first move when you wake up in a cage.  It is better then the open hostility of her husband.

~. It’s kind of sweet how much Theo loves Love but also incredibly deluded and sad.  And it needs to be said.  Poor deluded Theo. 

- Sherry and Love real talking was all kinds of fun.  

[DanaMB]

On 10/15/2021 at 8:08 PM, eXiled said:

Glad the toileting issue was addressed

It was also a bucket when Beck was captive in season one so at least they’re consistent. 

[Glade]

Poor Theo!  I had so hoped he could make it out of this season alive and not too damaged that he can't move on with his life.  This is a really big pile of bodies, I can't see how both Love and Joe get out of this unless they flee the country under assumed identities.

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 10/17/2021 at 4:32 PM, gesundheit said:

Plenty to say about this episode but mostly just wanted to pop in to say I cannot get enough of Shalita Grant, and I want her to be cast in everything forever in perpetuity. 

I didn't care about her until this episode -- but this episode?!  WOW.

Love is the worst, I can't deal with it.  I never liked her and this entire season has not helped!

Although, I do prefer this season over last.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[DearEvette]

Holy shit.  This episode!  Ok, my hate for Love has ratcheted up and surpassed Joe.  Poor, Poor deluded Theo.

But Sherry stays thinking.  And she and Cary survive one more episode.  Yay!  Come on Team Conrad, you can live!!  How can they still be so amusing even in a cage?

At least Ryan got his. 

[SoWindsor]

I was screaming for Theo to just leave the bakery and call the police! I really want someone to outsmart love and joe.

I liked that Marianne’s ex was kind of doing that even though he’s not a character to root for.

I wish they did more with Scott Speedman. I mean it’s Scott Speedman, use him!!

I did a 180 on Cary and Sherry. I’m really rooting for them now when initially couldn’t stand them.

How does Joe not see he’s in an ideal scenario with love. Two psychopaths who murder people.

[peachmangosteen]

28 minutes ago, SoWindsor said:

How does Joe not see he’s in an ideal scenario with love. Two psychopaths who murder people.

Joe thinks he's a good guy lol.

28 minutes ago, SoWindsor said:

I really want someone to outsmart love and joe.

Same. I'm praying when this show ends it's because someone finally outsmarted Joe and he's put in prison for life.

[jaigurudeva]

"Ryan seems like the kind of nut-job who thinks taking the stairs will make you live longer. ... wait, taking the elevator?? You lazy fuck." I lol'd so hard, this is Joe's personality in a nutshell, no matter what anyone does Joe's always ready with his hypocritical, holier-than-thou judgement.

It's a little hard to believe that tech-mogul Matthew, after pouring over the footage for how many days/weeks, and the face-recognition AI doesn't notice the blatantly obvious and clear image of Joe getting into Natalie's car. Then again, it's also a stretch that the CEO of a major technological company would live in a upper-middle class suburb instead of in a mega-mansion compound, but this show wouldn't survive without suspending the disbelief somewhere around cruising altitude.

Up until getting conked on the head, I thought Theo was going to kill Joe and become the next possessive stalker, since he seemed to be veering into obsessive and deluded territory towards Love. Turns out he's just love-blinded and dumb to not take the footage to the police or even his dad (despite the fact that they were recently fighting) instead of taking it to the woman who you believe is at best aiding and abetting a her murderer husband.

[Spartan Girl]

In season 1 Beck proclaimed that Joe uses his “noble intentions” as an excuse to kill people that look down on him and stalk the women he fixates on. And she was RIGHT. Take away his holier-than-thou White Knight act and he’s no different than Ryan. He pretends to be a nice guy with good intentions when in reality he’s manipulating situations to his advantage, controlling his victim’s lives in the guise of “fixing” them, isolating them from friends that he deems unworthy, and when things don’t go his way, he winds up killing them.

“I can be myself with you.” No, he’s still pretending to be a Nice Guy. He only told Marianne enough of his past to appear the tortured hero version of himself he so desperately wants to be. Love threatens that. She knows what he is and calls him on that. He can’t handle it, so instead he clings to his holier-than-thou hypocrisies: “I’m better than Love. Love is psychotic.” And that’s ultimately why Joe will always go looking for another dream girl: because he loves that idea of himself more than anything else.

To quote a song from Foo Fighters, Joe thinks he’s special, but he’s a creep.

Edited October 23, 2021 by Spartan Girl

[DearEvette]

When I think of Joe, I think of this quote from an graphic novelist:

"When you write an antagonist, you always write him, in his mind, as the protagonist. That means, every villain of a story, to be a good villain, must believe himself to be the hero. Not the villain at all."

This is Joe in a nutshell.  And in a way, it is a necessary way for the writers to write him in order to keep people watching.  It is unsustainable to have your central character be 100% villainous.  Joe wouldn't have lasted one season let alone three is they didn't tap into some method to make Joe palatable.  By letting us hear his inner voice we can at once marvel at his delusion and hypocrisy while at the same time understand what makes him tick. It grants a lot of intimacy between Joe and the viewer and humanizes him so while on the one hand we want him to receive the punishment he deserves we are still a little curious to see how he will circumvent it. 

When they are ready to off Joe, in my opinion they will begin to shift his idea of himself as "the real hero" and will start to inexorably make him irredeemable, even in his own head.

[tennisgurl]

"He brought a gun? What a couple of psychos! Anyway, murder/suicide sound good again?" Oh Love, sometimes she possesses at least a tad bit more self awareness then Joe, but other times she is just as delusional as he is. 

This episode was a real ride, I am surprised by how much I am rooting for Cary and Sherry to get out of this alive, even if its not looking great. I can appreciate trying to ingratiate herself with Love, even engaging in a little suburban mom bantering to get Henry into the fanciest preschool, she was actually making some headway with her until she brought up that Joe isn't here helping out, and as we all know, any reference to Love's marriage and its issues is an easy way to set her off. 

Poor dumb deluded Theo, he really misread the situation with Love but he was too blinded by love to see all of the red flags with her behavior. When he saw the video of Joe I was like "call the cops! Do not call Love!" but he has really fallen for her hook line and sinker, poor kid. As soon as Love found him in the kitchen I knew he would be her next victim, she did that creepy thing with her eyes that she does every time she's about to snap. 

I am very concerned that Joe and I both made the same Chekov's gun joke that I made in the last episode. I swear I don't have a cage in my basement...

[Artsda]

Wow that's a lot of bodies they added up so short.

I feel so bad for the neighbor, first the wife now the son. Although he was dumb and blinded by Love. The actor playing Theo came a long way from the After movie.

[Anela]

What does it take to get people to call the police in this show?? If you find two people in a cage, in someone's basement, take out your phone, and call the bloody police. 

I loved Sherry's "I'm not exactly in a position to lie to you right now!"

Joe blaming everything on Love, as he stalks and then murders his new fling's ex-husband. 

[dubbel zout]

19 minutes ago, Anela said:

What does it take to get people to call the police in this show??

The series finale, probably. Heh.

[Mattipoo]

Team Conrad! I hope they get out of this alive! Poor Theo, can't believe he didn't call the police once he saw the Conrad's in the cage. I have no idea what's going to happen in the finale, but hopefully Marianne doesn't die. 

[bettername2come]

Joe: I have some fucking weirdos in the basement. 

Love: You two are acting super fucking weird. 

I hate their hypocrisy and superiority and entitlement so much. 

Joe: Do you think now that I deserve all the bad things that happen to me?

Yes, yes, you do! For all of the adult choices you have made, yes you do!

Ok, Theo/Sherrie/Carey actors are amazing. The scene of him finding them was so well acted, and then Theo and Love's scene. Although how Theo doesn't just immediately calls 911 upon finding people locked in a clear cage is beyond me. How dare Love have the nerve to look shocked/concerned at the guy she hit in the head with a fire extinguisher seemingly being dead at the bottom of the stairs? How did you think this wasn't gonna be the outcome?

[Blakeston]

I have no trouble believing that Theo wouldn't call the police. If he had, Joe and Love both would have gone to prison.

He was convinced that Joe was the only bad guy. He probably wanted to kill Joe, so that he and Love could run off together.