S01.E08: Your Next Life Could Be So Much Happier

[Cranberry]

Original airdate: 11/11/21

[Cranberry]

So Lennon intentionally ran at the car and Alison intentionally sped up to hit her. That's interesting, although it obviously does not absolve Alison of anything.

Dylan was indeed part of the cult, and now it looks like he'll be bringing more people in...

The murderer reveal was crazy, and the resolution was even crazier, but also kind of made sense... both Alison and Margot just wanted to be loved, and they found that in each other, as twisted as it is. The fact that they're both supremely messed up helps, I guess? If Alison ever leaves Margot, though, she is dead.

On that note, for a while I wondered if Alison was just lying to Margot to save her own ass, considering her choice in that pivotal moment was A) back Dylan up, probably go to jail, and then be "set free" by his cult-crazed ass once she'd been absolved of her sins or B) back Margot up and take the chance Margot wouldn't just murder her as soon as possible. However, I think she was being truthful. Her sister hated her. Dylan rejected her and threatened to kill her after finding out her real identity. Her dad pretty much said the wrong sister died. Her mother, the one person she identified with and who she always assumed loved her unconditionally, had just told her they were nothing alike and that the cult was her real family. Margot was the only person left who could potentially love her for her, and Alison really had kept going back to her for comfort every time something went wrong. I think she's being truthful.

I call absolute bullshit on Riley surviving all that blood loss and then being stuck in a freezer for 3+ weeks before suddenly opening her eyes. Please.

(I also call bullshit on Margot and Alison being left alone in the ambulance together -- paramedics would be keeping an eye on that stab wound! -- but I liked the scene, so whatever.)

If we get a second season, who are we supposed to root for? I am not going to root for Riley and the love of her life Dylan the Cult Freak teaming up to take down the Murder Girlfriends.

 

[RachelKM]

Lois Duncan would have hated this so much.

That said, I .... didn't. And I'm low key disturbed by that fact. This show was absolutely bonkers. It managed to make me dislike Dylan so much and like Margot that I was totally satisfied with the way it resolved. I mean, all three surviving teens committed homicide and, apart from being the worst generally, Dylan's culty "setting Clara free as she wanted" motive was lame. And anyway, he now has his own congregation of cult nuts. Which is probably his personal best case scenario.

And damned if I'm not rooting for MargAllemon. Those two (batshit) crazy kids have the til death do us part kind of love. Totes, literally. No way that ends without one of them dead. Upside for the survivor of Murder Girls is that they're both so documentedly fucked up that faking a suicide would sell. 

6 hours ago, Cranberry said:

(I also call bullshit on Margot and Alison being left alone in the ambulance together -- paramedics would be keeping an eye on that stab wound! -- but I liked the scene, so whatever.)

Same. 

Could have done without the Riley ending. But this show was fun.

 

And finally, RPI Harold, you poor, sweet man.  You def deserved better than being shot due to unfortunately timed constipation. 

[Keywestclubkid]

I'm sorry but I laughed out loud when they did the Riley revel.. she just cant catch a break in this show at all ... IF they give this thing a second season they really need new show runners and a better streamlined story 

[AntFTW]

I enjoyed the show but I'm disappointed in the ending.

4 hours ago, Keywestclubkid said:

I'm sorry but I laughed out loud when they did the Riley revel.. she just cant catch a break in this show at all ... IF they give this thing a second season they really need new show runners and a better streamlined story 

The Riley reveal was not surprising at all.

What caught me by surprise is that Allison and Lennon's father (forgot his name) switched the photos beforehand for the cops examined which twin had died. I thought for sure they were gonna find out that "Lennon" was really Allison at that point.

15 hours ago, Cranberry said:

On that note, for a while I wondered if Alison was just lying to Margot to save her own ass, considering her choice in that pivotal moment was A) back Dylan up, probably go to jail, and then be "set free" by his cult-crazed ass once she'd been absolved of her sins or B) back Margot up and take the chance Margot wouldn't just murder her as soon as possible. However, I think she was being truthful. Her sister hated her. Dylan rejected her and threatened to kill her after finding out her real identity. Her dad pretty much said the wrong sister died. Her mother, the one person she identified with and who she always assumed loved her unconditionally, had just told her they were nothing alike and that the cult was her real family. Margot was the only person left who could potentially love her for her, and Alison really had kept going back to her for comfort every time something went wrong. I think she's being truthful.

I think both can be true in that Alison was lying to Margot to save her own ass and Margot had become a real source of comfort for her that Alison didn't want that to go away. I think Alison was lying to Margot save her ass. Margot knew the truth, and Alison (at this point) knew that Margot knew the truth and Alison still lied because she didn't want to die... and also didn't want to go to prison for Lennon's death... and also wanted to feel that unconditional (and batshit crazy) love that Margot provided.

Edited November 12, 2021 by AntFTW

[AntFTW]

15 hours ago, Cranberry said:

I call absolute bullshit on Riley surviving all that blood loss and then being stuck in a freezer for 3+ weeks before suddenly opening her eyes. Please.

I also call bullshit on that. There's no way in hell.

[Cranberry]

Maybe it's actually supposed to be supernatural? From this interview:

Quote

Do you have a certain season arc in mind for this story? Are you just seeing where it takes you in the hopes that you get to tell more of it?

When I originally did the Bible for season 1, I pitched a potential season 2 and 3. They all took place in this world. And there is a way to do a couple different time periods in the same season, because I wasn't going to not satisfy the murder story. There's no way, I hate that. But I also feel like these two women are now stuck in a relationship for their survival. I think a person is in prison for something he did not do. And all he has is his faith at that point. And Riley's eyes are open after being covered in honey and maybe that's a way of taking us back into what the cult belief system is and what happened in the cave that night and what their original sin was. So there's a lot of ways to go.

 

[Mabinogia]

5 hours ago, AntFTW said:

The Riley reveal was not surprising at all.

As soon as they showed her I started the countdown to eye opening and...there it was. Riley was probably my favorite character but THE FUCK? That was a big no for me. 

I think, in her twisted way, Allison did fall in love with Margot. I've thought that for quite a while actually, so it didn't come out of nowhere for me. I was surprised to find out Margot knew the whole time. There is story to mine in their relationship. Talk about a fatal attraction. 

I wonder if we were supposed to feel bad for Dylan when Allison lied and turned him in but I really didn't. I hate him so much that I really, really didn't care what happened to him. 

As crazy as this season was, I kinda liked it and wouldn't mind seeing what they do with a second season. 

[AntFTW]

20 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

As soon as they showed her I started the countdown to eye opening and...there it was. Riley was probably my favorite character but THE FUCK? That was a big no for me. 

So did I LOL

As soon as they showed her I said "let me guess... she's still alive. Why else would they show her?"

[AntFTW]

31 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

I think, in her twisted way, Allison did fall in love with Margot. I've thought that for quite a while actually, so it didn't come out of nowhere for me. I was surprised to find out Margot knew the whole time. There is story to mine in their relationship. Talk about a fatal attraction.

It was hard for me to keep track of what Margot knew during her "evil scheme MUAHAHA confession moment" for one reason... I couldn't remember the characters' names. She starts saying these names of people that died... and I'm like "who the f*ck is Dale? When did Dale die? And whose this other guy she killed?"

She lost me when she started mentioning names.

Edited November 13, 2021 by AntFTW

[Mabinogia]

58 minutes ago, AntFTW said:

She starts saying these names of people that died... and I'm like "who the f*ck is Dale? When did Dale die? And whose this other guy she killed?"

Who the fork was Dale? Was that the cop? Oh, or that creeper who worked at the place. Yeah, most of the deaths were side characters so I never bothered learning who they were. It sounded like Margot figured it out before Allison came back. she said something about figuring it out when Lennon ghosted her after that night I think, maybe, or not. But then that "you have them too" doesn't add up...actually, it does, because she didn't sound all "OMG it's Allison!" so she clearly already knew and was just surprised Allison also had the cuts. 

Yeah, the more I think about it the less I'm sure how long Margot knew. But I did get the impression she's known for a while and was just waiting for Allison to tell her so she could stop killing people and they could ride off into the sunset. 

[TeeVee329]

Hoo boy did I hate this finale.

Margot being the killer was my guess and I think her motive tracks reasonably well (I like the idea that all the shit talk Margot was doing about Alison this season was another part of the psychological game, trying to get "Lennon" to crack and admit who she really was), but what played out after didn't work for me at all.  Sure, Dylan sucks, but Alison using what she had to think was her dying breath to selfishly stitch him up was some piss-poor Final Girl-ing.  And I think some pockets will be happy with this because Dylan is the worst and Alison and Margot are bisexual lovers heading off into the sunset, but I don't think anyone would think it was cute if the roles were reversed and Dylan and Alison had framed Margot and left her to rot, or Dylan used his access to money and resources to kill a bunch of people.

And then the Riley reveal.  Just utter bullshit.  It was ridiculous to imply she made it all the way across town without succumbing to her severe wounds, but now we're supposed to buy she hung in for hours more while Clara transported her to the caves and did whatever woo-woo she performed with the honey?  And didn't the cops find the body in the cave, why is it even in this random lab?  I just...I did not come to this show for supernatural cult-y stuff, keep that chocolate out of my slasher peanut butter please.

And then the condescension of the credits scene of Margot explaining what she did and why.  "Ugh, I guess you nerds will want to know more details about THE CENTRAL MYSTERY OF OUR SHOW, but we needed room in the actual episode for more flashbacks and Margot on the toilet and Dylan cutting out an animal's brain for some reason so here ya go, as fast as possible."  Terrible.  Also, per Margot, Dylan is obsessed with the cult?  Since when?  I guess he hung out in the caves a lot, but I do not remember him really talking about the cult itself.

On a more positive note, I liked that Helen, while despicable, immediately knew it was Alison and not Lennon and hurled back in Alison's face that she certainly can't judge her given her own life-altering lies.

So that's that.  I guess I'd sit through another season, but I kinda hope they give this the hook.

Edited November 13, 2021 by TeeVee329

[peachmangosteen]

3 hours ago, TeeVee329 said:

And then the condescension of the credits scene of Margot explaining what she did and why.  "Ugh, I guess you nerds will want to know more details about THE CENTRAL MYSTERY OF OUR SHOW, but we needed room in the actual episode for more flashbacks and Margot on the toilet and Dylan cutting out an animal's brain for some reason so here ya go, as fast as possible."

I didn't even see this lol. Maybe I should go back and watch.

[gesundheit]

This was really one of the dumbest reveals I've ever seen, and good god that embedded-in-credits explanation of how it worked was supremely idiotic and did not, in fact, explain much of anything at all. Anybody could've been the culprit and they could've shown up in the credits and said pretty much anything -- the whole point of a big reveal is the "wait, now it all makes sense" moment where you either see or imagine how and why it all played out, but that explanation did none of the above. Incredibly unsatisfying.

Did they mention anything about fingerprints, by the way? Twins have different fingerprints but they might've tossed in some line to handwave that ("we couldn't get good prints because they had eroded on her perfectly intact corpse?").

The upside is that with nobody worth rooting for, I didn't really care about the "outcome." Alison's voiceover pretending there was something deep about it was good comedy, though!

Anyway, it was nice to see a show shot in Hawaii?

[paulvdb]

3 hours ago, gesundheit said:

Did they mention anything about fingerprints, by the way? Twins have different fingerprints but they might've tossed in some line to handwave that ("we couldn't get good prints because they had eroded on her perfectly intact corpse?").

There would have to be records of their fingerprints if they want to use them to identify the dead twin. If neither twin has their fingerprints in the system they could not use them to identify Lennon. Dental records would be more likely to exist so they could have been used to identify Lennon as the dead twin.

[Mabinogia]

Re: the identification, not that I think the pictures were a good way to identify the girls, but I have to give the show props for the continuity. When they showed the photos earlier, Lennon was facing one way and Allison the other and when the cops took the photos to be analyzed, I noticed that the girls were facing the wrong way and thought that the continuity fairy had fallen asleep on the job. And then it was revealed that Dad switched the photos. So, my apologies Continuity Fairy. job well done in actually switching the photos. Still a stupid way to figure out which twin was dead, but great attention to detail on the production side of things. 

[TeeVee329]

I was kinda surprised, given how dickmitized by Bruce Lila has been throughout the season, that she even made an effort to dig into Dylan's crazy story.

Edited November 13, 2021 by TeeVee329

[MaggieG]

Well I didn't like that and I kept thinking "Ok, Margot killed everyone and Dylan went to prison for it, now what?" Allison goes to school in Michigan and Margot goes to USC, how will they keep up their relationship? I guess one of them could transfer or drop out. 

Does Riley know who attacked her? Because that could potentially be good for a second season if she saw it was Margot and wakes up and sees in Dylan in prison.

[truthaboutluv]

Well, that's a few hours of my life I'd like to get back. I'm getting ready to do a binge of One of Us is Lying and praying it's not this awful because I actually really loved the book. So I'll be supremely pissed off if the showrunners fuck it up like they did with whatever this shit show was. 

 

On 11/13/2021 at 6:42 AM, TeeVee329 said:

but what played out after didn't work for me at all.  Sure, Dylan sucks, but Alison using what she had to think was her dying breath to selfishly stitch him up was some piss-poor Final Girl-ing.  And I think some pockets will be happy with this because Dylan is the worst and Alison and Margot are bisexual lovers heading off into the sunset, but I don't think anyone would think it was cute if the roles were reversed and Dylan and Alison had framed Margot and left her to rot, or Dylan used his access to money and resources to kill a bunch of people.

All of this. I too hated Dylan throughout the series with the fire of a thousand suns. But here's the thing - I hated all of these assholes save for maybe Johnny the least.  But I can't say I cared that much about him either. So there's nothing satisfying about the ending for me because my hope was for all these assholes to die. 

Yeah Dylan was a self-righteous dick who apparently is also in a cult. But should I root for or I guess empathize with the whiny, overly privileged little rich girl who was creepily obsessed with the asshole chick who went around fucking everyone and screwing them over because of her Mommy issues?

These people were all assholes. So there's no satisfaction to be had here. I guess some might hope for a second season to see them get some comeuppance but I feel like even if there is a second season, it'll still be a complete shit fest like this one was. I can accept shows and books with awful leads but it's hard to care when I literally don't give a shit about any of the characters. 

It's not just that they were unlikeable, it's that they actually weren't that interesting in all their unlikability. It's clear the writers thought they were going for some deep, twisted, complex characters shit. But no...just no. These people were simply all unpleasant dickwads who all needed to be burned up the river 

Hell, about the only character I did like was the oddball police officer. 

Edited November 25, 2021 by truthaboutluv

[FozzyBear]

6 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

Well, that's a few hours of my life I'd like to get back. I'm getting ready to do a binge of One of Us is Lying and praying it's not this awful because in that instance, I actually really loved the book. So I'll be supremely pissed off if the showrunners fuck it up like they did with whatever this shit show was. 

 

All of this. I too hated Dylan throughout the series with the fire of a thousand suns. But here's the thing - I hated all of these assholes save for maybe Johnny the least.  But I can't say I cared that much about him either. So there's nothing satisfying about the ending for me because my hope was for all these assholes to die. 

Yeah Dylan was a self-righteous dick who apparently is also in a cult. But should I root for or I guess empathize with the whiny, overly privileged little rich girl who was creepily obsessed with the asshole chick who went around fucking everyone and screwing them over because of her Mommy issues?

These people were all assholes. So there's no satisfaction to be had here. I guess some might hope for a second season to see them get some comeuppance but I feel like even if there is a second season, it'll still be a complete shit fest like this one was. I can accept shows and books with awful leads but it's hard to care when I literally don't give a shit about any of the characters. 

It's not just that they were unlikeable, it's that they actually weren't that interesting in all their unlikability. It's clear the writers thought they were going for some deep, twisted, complex characters shit. But no...just no. These people were simply all unpleasant dickwads who all needed to be burned up the river along with the murder victims. 

Hell, about the only character I did like was the oddball police officer. 

Yeah, everyone was sort of an mushy asshole. No real form or substance, just piles of assholeness. And why exactly? The lack of any real insight into the twins was especially disappointing because I thought the actress playing them was pretty good. She managed to have a slightly different affect as Allison, Lennon, and even Allison-as-Lennon. But the twins were just damaged-angry twin and damaged-party twin. Those aren’t real characters. What was Allison’s plan before the accident. Why she going to stay in Hawaii? Run off to start over? Take a year off to figure it out? And Lennon, ok she’s a party girl who fucks to get what she wants, but why? She’s fucking teachers, that’s a lot. And why start the porn site using Allison’s name? That's just weird and cruel and maybe illegal? I get their moms (supposed) suicide would fuck someone but why these ways of being fucked up? And why does the Dad seem oddly unconcerned that he’s raising two little sociopaths? Is he supposed to be a sociopath too?

and if you’re going to set the show in Hawaii, use Hawaii! I know they made some gestures, but dig in people! Hawaii is a fascinating place. I couldn’t even tell what island they were supposed to be on.