S05.E04: Faulty, Okay?!

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

Issa treads awkward waters with her new man and plays defense against online attacks, while Molly juggles multiple suitors.

Original air date 2021.11.14

[SHD]

I wasn’t watching closely enough. When Issa sent the message basically telling Crenshawn that he should’ve been appreciative of all the publicity she got him, where did she accidentally send it? Did she think it was a DM to Crenshawn but posted it publicly on Twitter?

There was a lot of awkwardness in this episode. 

[Hera]

5 minutes ago, SHD said:

Did she think it was a DM to Crenshawn but posted it publicly on Twitter?

This is what I thought happened. I'm not sure how he thought that would prove that Issa is terrible, but I suppose given Issa's silence over their falling out (which is what she, as a professional, should do) makes it easier for Crenshawn to imply that she did something wrong. I hope Quoia does slap him down.

10 minutes ago, SHD said:

There was a lot of awkwardness in this episode.

Yeah, Issa was in rare form this episode. I'm glad she and Nathan cleared things up, though. Speaking of Nathan, I respect that this show isn't shying away from showing the multitude of consequences of his mental health issues, but it does feel like he keeps getting kicked around. Although being hard to live with and getting kicked out is better than where I thought they were going with his awkwardness around Velma. I thought she was going to turn out to be an ex who was now married to his cousin.

Loved that Kelli found a kindred spirit in Resha. And it was nice to see Molly get to have some fun too.

[Amethyst]

25 minutes ago, SHD said:

I wasn’t watching closely enough. When Issa sent the message basically telling Crenshawn that he should’ve been appreciative of all the publicity she got him, where did she accidentally send it? Did she think it was a DM to Crenshawn but posted it publicly on Twitter?

I don't think she meant to send it at all.  It looks like she accidentally posted it when she put in her pocket.  It's easy to do that with smartphones since the screens are so touch sensitive and the buttons have multiple uses.  I've done stuff like that before, whoops.

I don't see Issa and Nathan going anywhere, although I do like him.  I feel bad for him, though.  His bipolar disorder isn't to blame for all his behavior, but a lot of his "ghosting" is attributed to that and since so few people know about it, he just comes off as a flake and unreliable.  And while its nice of his sister in law (or whoever she is) to take the blame for Nathan getting kicked out, it also looked like she was deliberately trying to antagonize him.  If she wanted Nathan and his cousin to be on speaking terms again, why did she keep taking these pot shots at Nathan?  Just to continue to look like the bad guy?

I hope they go more into depth about Kelly's enlightening experience.  They're playing it for laughs, but I'm interested.  

For a final season, the writing feels meh.  They did a Lawrence episode, now one on Nathan.  Even though his arc felt finished, I wonder if Daniel will make another appearance.

[aghst]

I’m not sure what Nathan’s business is suppose to be.  Was that beach party business-related?

If he felt awkward with Issa or didn’t like being friend-zoned, why invite her to the party?

Good that they cleared the air, maybe it won’t be awkward between them.

A little aftershock when they kissed.  But not fireworks?

 

Molly’s love life seems all over the place.  In the first season she wanted to only date accomplish men and then remember they were surprised when the guy she was seeing admitted he didn’t go to college?

In this episode she was looking for a hookup and they alluded to her hooking up on dating apps.

So Issa’s been in relationships and still pursues them.  Will the show end with her going off into the sunset with a man while Molly’s situation is still unsettled, kind of going through the same pattern as season one?

IOW, is Molly still going to have a broken pussy?

[LydiaMoon1]

This episode was underwhelming. I really only got three things out of this episode; (1) Nathan's disappearances are an established pattern of behavior for him (He disappeared after they first began dating, when she went looking for him at Andrew's last season he'd disappeared, he disappeared when she needed him to comfort her, and he disappeared so much when he lived with his cousin and that he ended up getting tossed out of the house) and (2) Issa and Nathan have absolutely no chemistry together and, given the multiple red flags that are right in front of her face, I can't understand for the life of me why she continues to pursue a relationship with him, and (3) Crenshawn is an even bigger azzhole than I already thought.

I give this one a 6 out of 10, mainly because I really loved the beach outfits that Issa and Kelly were wearing.

[Sheenieb]

2 hours ago, LydiaMoon1 said:

This episode was underwhelming. I really only got three things out of this episode; (1) Nathan's disappearances are an established pattern of behavior for him (He disappeared after they first began dating, when she went looking for him at Andrew's last season he'd disappeared, he disappeared when she needed him to comfort her, and he disappeared so much when he lived with his cousin and that he ended up getting tossed out of the house) and (2) Issa and Nathan have absolutely no chemistry together and, given the multiple red flags that are right in front of her face, I can't understand for the life of me why she continues to pursue a relationship with him, and (3) Crenshawn is an even bigger azzhole than I already thought.

I give this one a 6 out of 10, mainly because I really loved the beach outfits that Issa and Kelly were wearing.

Yeah, I wasn't feeling this one, either. It had its funny moments, but it felt underwhelming after last week's episode. 

Nathan's disappearances can be attributed to his mental health issues, so at least there's an explanation there. He dipped on Issa because it was unclear where they stood. She friend-zoned him last season because she was getting back together with Lawrence, and now she's coming back around, so I get why he's confused. 

 Issa and Nathan give me friend vibes more so than romantic. At least she's physically moving on from Lawrence, but more importantly, I hope she's moving on mentally and emotionally. 

I listen to the InsecuriTea podcast after the episode, and the hosts think that Issa owed Crenshawn an apology for not backing him up and asking him to water down his vision. I think TF not. If he felt like he was compromising his vision, he should've walked. He put Issa in a tough position because he flipped the script without telling her. They were both lucky that things worked out with the client. He's a complete asshole. I hope future sponsors are taking note of how immature he is. 

Edited November 15, 2021 by Sheenieb

[Joimiaroxeu]

Folks out here frolicking!

Not sunscreen, just regular ass Aveeno. (I think there are Aveeno lotions/creams with SPF though.)

Kelli doesn't know Nathan's baseline. The World: right there with you, Kel. Nathan's baseline is one of life's great mysteries.

Resha can't be in another tsunami. Gah, those darn tsunamis.

Kelli and Resha bonding was hilarious to me. Kelli really does have a gift.

Another great pregunta.

Gotta let the cat out. That's what he said. 😏

Ehh, Issa, no. Not Nathan either. 😒

[DearEvette]

Yeah this one was rather subdued after the high of last week's episode.

If the show wanted the viewers to invest in Issa and Nathan, then they did those two a disservice.  In S3 when Nathan first appeared, I think he and Issa were very cute together.  And I even liked him with here early last season when he was being supportive n the face of Issa and Molly's estrangement.  But I don't think they ever really sold Nathan as a viable long term love interest for Issa.  The commitment to the character and face time it takes to build the relationship just wasn't there for me, imo.

So now in these final episodes of this final season to be asked to view him in this light is a little jarring and doesn't quite work for me.

Beyond the Nathan/Issa stuff -- on its onw merits this episode has its good moments.  I liked the scenes at the beach and seeing people just hanging out. 

I loved getting a little more background on Nathan's mental health.  Being Bipolar can be very difficult to navigate.  If your manic/depressive episodes are not wildly swinging to the extremes so that they raise alarm, it can be very difficult for people to even recognize that something is wrong.  Especially if conversations about mental health are not part of your vocabulary as we know they are not in a lot of Af-Am households.  So it can easily just be written off as a person being flaky or unreliable. 

Kellie and Resha's conversation needs a close watch all by itself without other stuff intruding because that their convo was crazy and fun all on its own.

I have no idea what they are doing with Molly.

Everybody looked great.

 

Edited November 15, 2021 by DearEvette

[Hera]

1 hour ago, Sheenieb said:

I listen to the InsecuriTea podcast after the episode, and the hosts think that Issa owed Crenshawn an apology for not backing him up and asking him to water down his vision. I think TF not. If he felt like he was compromising his vision, he should've walked. He put Issa in a tough position because he flipped the script without telling her. They were both lucky that things worked out with the client. He's a complete asshole. I hope future sponsors are taking note of how immature he is. 

I agree with you. The vaguebooking about it should be a red flag to people. If Issa had done something truly unethical or had genuinely screwed him over, he shouldn't have a problem telling the full story. But it seems like he might be self-aware enough to know that telling the full story would make him look bad. Certainly I have no sympathy for an unknown artist who wants the money and exposure that come with working with a wealthy sponsor but doesn't think that sponsor should have any input into the final product. Crenshawn is not the first artist ever to be asked to change something for a sponsor (and the notes he got were pretty reasonable)—that has been going on since the Renaissance.

I'm hoping that Nathan isn't who Issa ends up with, but they've been teasing us with this missed connection thing for a while that I would like to see them together just to get it out of their systems. I think the ultimate conclusion will be that they're better as friends. I'm not sure the show has given Issa a love interest who I really bought her with. Lawrence was close last season, but even then, there was still an element of "been there, done that" with him. I'd like Issa to find someone new who doesn't require so much hard work to be. I'd also be fine with the show ending on her not dating anyone, but being in a good place career-wise and with her friends.

[Empress1]

I’d watch a Resha/Kelli spin-off.

[DiabLOL]

I am tired of the way this show treats the fat characters.  Now that the writing is so much weaker it’s really noticeable and disappointing and cheap.

[Lois Sandborne]

20 hours ago, Sheenieb said:

I listen to the InsecuriTea podcast after the episode, and the hosts think that Issa owed Crenshawn an apology for not backing him up and asking him to water down his vision. I think TF not. If he felt like he was compromising his vision, he should've walked. He put Issa in a tough position because he flipped the script without telling her. They were both lucky that things worked out with the client. He's a complete asshole. I hope future sponsors are taking note of how immature he is. 

I've listened to the This Too Much podcast a couple times (re: the name, I think they started as a This Is Us recap 😀). The hosts are a man and a woman, and they seem to have a more thoughtful, even-handed perspective than Crissle and Fran. To wit, they went in on Crenshawn, even comparing him to the show's audience with the whole conversation about Issa being a sellout.

The beach party was a fun idea, but it was way too low-key after all of the momentum from last week. I didn't catch all the background conversations between Kelli and Resha, but I definitely want a Prenny's Preguntas tote of my very own.

I don't want to get into a whole thing about mental health and behavior, but I do want to say that I'm really, really not here for Nathan. For now I'm just asking myself how often is Issa with the same person in episode 10 that she is in episode 4. We'll see.

 

 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Crissle and Fran

Not too long ago they mentioned that HBO's lawyers vet their podcast to within an inch of its life and they end up having to change some things before each podcast is approved for release. With that in mind, maybe HBO didn't want them taking a certain position against Crenshawn. I don't know, I was just as surprised as others by the way Crissle and Fran thought Issa was in the wrong. (But then my opinions of Crenshawn were already affected by my opinions of Ralph Angel, so grain of salt and all that.)

[LydiaMoon1]

11 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

I was just as surprised as others by the way Crissle and Fran thought Issa was in the wrong. (But then my opinions of Crenshawn were already affected by my opinions of Ralph Angel, so grain of salt and all that.)

I also wondered if my dislike for Crenshawn stemmed from my dislike of RA, but...Nope. Crenshawn made me hate him all on his own. Maybe there's something about the actor that I just don't like. IDK.  I just know that I don't seem to respond well to him at all.

[Amethyst]

On 11/15/2021 at 12:13 PM, Hera said:

Certainly I have no sympathy for an unknown artist who wants the money and exposure that come with working with a wealthy sponsor but doesn't think that sponsor should have any input into the final product. Crenshawn is not the first artist ever to be asked to change something for a sponsor (and the notes he got were pretty reasonable)—that has been going on since the Renaissance.

Exactly.  I understand Crenshawn not wanting to compromise his vision, but the way he went about it was completely unprofessional.  He deliberately went behind Issa's back and did the show how he wanted to do it.  Issa was the one in the hot seat for his actions, but unless the sponsors decided to pull the show at the last minute (which they didn't), Crenshawn was fine and still got publicity for his designs.  His work got noticed on a larger scale that wouldn't have happened without Issa's involvement.  Yet he blasts Issa on social media while conveniently benefiting from the show that she helped to plan.  He's a petty asshole and sadly, I don't thinks she's done with him.

  

[tennisgurl]

I don't think Issa owes Crenshawn an apology at all, if anything its the other way around. They're really lucky that the client ended up liking what he did and Issa wasn't in huge trouble after he went off script like that. He seems like a huge prick, especially going on social media to whine about how how Issa is a "sell out" for trying to get him to accept notes, that shows a real lack of class. Even worse, he's only telling part of the story, the part that makes him look the best, instead of the part that makes him look like an ungrateful pretentious dick. If he plans on being successful but also refuses to ever compromise even a bit, he isn't going to get very far. I hate that Issa has to deal with this kind of crap after she has worked so hard to get here and that they might frame it like Issa is in the wrong.

The episode itself was alright, I like that they are continuing to explore Nathan trying to deal with bipolar disorder and how its affected his life. I like that his bipolar disorder isn't the super dramatic version you see on television a lot of the times, with extreme very noticeable highs and lows where its more obvious that something is wrong, its more subtle, which just means that it took longer for him to realize what was going on and for a lot of people it just made him look flaky and not sick. I like Nathan but I do not much care for him and Issa together, they just have no romantic chemistry. 

Everyone looked great on the beach, Issa's swimsuit was really cute.

[LuvMyShows]

They were right about one thing...Nathan definitely does look like Prison BAE.  I've been thinking that this whole season (don't know why I didn't think it so much before)...glad to know I'm not the only one!

Edited November 20, 2021 by LuvMyShows

[MyrnaMinkoff]

This was very poor writing. Which I blame on this episode’s writer. She seems like she may have gotten the job through nepotism - daughter of a respected director (John singleton) - and regrettably that was reflected in this inferior episode after an otherwise excellent season.