S01.E04: A Wolf in Chic Clothing

[Whimsy]

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Vivian investigates how Anna persuaded powerful Manhattan lawyer Alan Reed to help her secure millions in funding for her ambitious business venture.

 

[Chaos Theory]

I felt kinda bad for Alan Reed.   A boring dude who Anna briefly brought color back into his life and gave the insight and courage to cut off his own selfish daughter but then it all goes away.   Even if men like him do end up failing upward there are consequences even if they are just social ones.  

[Zonk]

1 hour ago, Chaos Theory said:

I felt kinda bad for Alan Reed.   A boring dude who Anna briefly brought color back into his life and gave the insight and courage to cut off his own selfish daughter but then it all goes away.   Even if men like him do end up failing upward there are consequences even if they are just social ones.  

I'm sure he'll dry his tears with his piles and piles of money.

Edited February 13, 2022 by Zonk

[peridot]

I'm surprised these guys are continuing to float Anna's name out to their business associates, after only meeting her 1 time. 

I was not expecting the small twist about her German trust manager.  I'm really surprised that Alan didn't bother to do a video chat to verify the man's identity.

I was laughing when I saw she was staying with the creator of the Fyre Festival.  I guess con artists tend to flock together. 

I was glad to see Alan cut off his freeloading daughter, what a spoiled brat.  The addition of the Trump State of the Union was a nice touch about what happens to men like Alan.

[MaggieG]

On 2/13/2022 at 12:05 AM, peridot said:

I'm surprised these guys are continuing to float Anna's name out to their business associates, after only meeting her 1 time. 

I was not expecting the small twist about her German trust manager.  I'm really surprised that Alan didn't bother to do a video chat to verify the man's identity.

I was laughing when I saw she was staying with the creator of the Fyre Festival.  I guess con artists tend to flock together. 

I was glad to see Alan cut off his freeloading daughter, what a spoiled brat.  The addition of the Trump State of the Union was a nice touch about what happens to men like Alan.

My husband is watching this with me and when I heard the guy talking about his festival, I said "Oh that must be Billy McFarland". My husband asked who that was. So of course after finishing this episode, I made him watch Fyre Fraud. 

[TV Diva Queen]

Fyre Festival. Hilarious that she knew Billy. 

[Marley]

I’m enjoying the show but I’m over Vivian’s pregnancy. She’s always moaning or groaning and having to get massages or whatever. How is this adding to the story? I get it she’s pregnant. Who fucking cares lol.

Wah Alan gets court 12 now. Poor guy has it so rough. Pls who cares. He’s a dumbass.

[Blue Plastic]

2 hours ago, Marley said:

I’m enjoying the show but I’m over Vivian’s pregnancy. She’s always moaning or groaning and having to get massages or whatever. How is this adding to the story? I get it she’s pregnant. Who fucking cares lol.

Seriously.  I keep thinking she’s supposed to be having a pregnancy complication or just going into active labor because she acts like she’s in excruciating pain constantly and can barely breathe.

[SlovakPrincess]

OMG it's Anthony Edwards.  

The high points of the episode were: (a) Edwards; (b) the gorgeous banking woman who manages to make explainers on high scale loans and law firms interesting (I may have a girl crush on her now -- she really classed up her parts of the episode); and (c) the kid who played Billy McFarland ... he made the most of his time onscreen and I got a chuckle out of him.  

Alan and his wife really got turned on by cutting off funds to their annoying, lazy daughter, huh?  Hee.

Did I need to see Vivian peeing on a toilet?  No, no I did not.  Are her vulgar, hostile comments to her husband and constant groaning about her pregnancy contributing to the story or making her a more sympathetic character?  No, no they are not.   

Once again, the older journalists are the ones actually finding the biggest parts of the story!!  

At some point, an actual document that looked like a deed of trust and other financial documents would have had to be created and sent to even start the loan applications.  Did Anna create fake documents?  Is Alan so dumb he didn't obtain and review them carefully before passing them on to banks?   It's not that easy to forge these kinds of documents, and the show simply telling us Anna was Peter Henneke the whole time using a voice distorter over the phone doesn't actually explain anything.   

[AnnieBananie]

Can we just have an entire spin-off series about the Scriberians? I love them all!

[gesundheit]

2 hours ago, AnnieBananie said:

Can we just have an entire spin-off series about the Scriberians? I love them all!

I would absolutely watch The Scriberians. They could do so much with that! 6 seasons and a movie!

I only realized this because I had captions on, but at one point they were doing a closeup on Alan Reed's wife played by Tracy Pollan, and right at that very moment whatever hip hop song they were playing had a verse about Back to the Future (starring Pollan's husband, of course). Anyway, not a huge thing but it was cute!

[Melina22]

8 hours ago, gesundheit said:

Alan Reed's wife played by Tracy Pollan, and right at that very moment whatever hip hop song they were playing had a verse about Back to the Future (starring Pollan's husband, of course). Anyway, not a huge thing but it was cute

That was Tracy Pollan? 😮

[AnnieBananie]

I was trying to figure out who that was! Good eyes.

[snarktini]

Kinda slogging through. It came recommended, but...

Seeing her play on Alan's daughter issues is the first time I've believed her as someone who could genuinely snow people. Usually she's so unpleasant and charmless! Though I probably underestimate the appeal of bitchy mean girls. People respect that.

Val's insight was key -- it's virtually impossible to fake being old money / posh. She pulled that off, and that launches her because once you're in the door, everyone assumes someone else vetted you. They think they can spot the takers and the fakers. Usually the users do gauche shit like overstay their welcome on a yacht. Oh, wait...

I assumed her trustee was fake but I assumed a hired person, not a voice changer. Alan's an idiot.

I recognized Tracey Pollan's voice before her!

[chediavolo]

On 2/16/2022 at 10:10 AM, SlovakPrincess said:

OMG it's Anthony Edwards.  

The high points of the episode were: (a) Edwards; (b) the gorgeous banking woman who manages to make explainers on high scale loans and law firms interesting (I may have a girl crush on her now -- she really classed up her parts of the episode); and (c) the kid who played Billy McFarland ... he made the most of his time onscreen and I got a chuckle out of him.  

Alan and his wife really got turned on by cutting off funds to their annoying, lazy daughter, huh?  Hee.

Did I need to see Vivian peeing on a toilet?  No, no I did not.  Are her vulgar, hostile comments to her husband and constant groaning about her pregnancy contributing to the story or making her a more sympathetic character?  No, no they are not.   

Once again, the older journalists are the ones actually finding the biggest parts of the story!!  

At some point, an actual document that looked like a deed of trust and other financial documents would have had to be created and sent to even start the loan applications.  Did Anna create fake documents?  Is Alan so dumb he didn't obtain and review them carefully before passing them on to banks?   It's not that easy to forge these kinds of documents, and the show simply telling us Anna was Peter Henneke the whole time using a voice distorter over the phone doesn't actually explain anything.   

Unfortunately it seems to be a thing now to include scenes of someone using a toilet in way too many shows. This was mild compared to some. It’s unnecessary and gross. Yes we all use the toilet but we as a society as seen on medias are really becoming more and more unpleasant, gross & classless. 

On 2/20/2022 at 6:56 PM, AnnieBananie said:

Can we just have an entire spin-off series about the Scriberians? I love them all!

Yes! Do we know who they are in real life? So funny. 

[Melina22]

1 minute ago, chediavolo said:

Unfortunately it seems to be a thing now to include scenes of someone using a toilet in way too many shows. This was mild compared to some. It’s unnecessary and gross

Yes! I guess we're supposed to think, "Wow! What an edgy, realistic show!" In reality, I just think, "Ewww. Not this again." 

I don't watch people in my real life doing this, because I don't want to. I'm sick of having to see TV characters doing it. The shock value wore off a long time ago, and now it's just tiresome and adds nothing. (I'll bet the actresses don't love having to do it either.) 

[SailorGirl]

It is mind boggling to me that not one person did even a cursory Google search about her. Especially when discrepancies began to emerge. Seriously -- NO ONE at any of the finance companies made any effort to vet her until she was 99% of the way there? WTAF? 

Rachel -- wouldn't you want to learn more about the person to have more things to talk with them about to help deepen/solidify a friendship? 

Val -- umm . . . you saw her passport. It not like it was just a name discrepancy. It was from an entirely different country than she said! Wouldn't you try to protect your sugar momma, both for her interests and your selfish reasons? 

How -- in today's connected world -- even with knowing the "right people" and having the "right people" introduce her to other "right people" -- did that happen?

I know it all happened, but it is just incomprehensible to me. 

[LuvMyShows]

On 2/13/2022 at 12:05 AM, peridot said:

I'm really surprised that Alan didn't bother to do a video chat to verify the man's identity.

Or even do any credential search about the guy, especially since he was dealing with a foreign country, and it always seemed like Alan could only reach him when the guy called Alan and not when Alan tried to call him.

On 2/24/2022 at 6:23 AM, chediavolo said:

Unfortunately it seems to be a thing now to include scenes of someone using a toilet in way too many shows. This was mild compared to some. It’s unnecessary and gross. Yes we all use the toilet but we as a society as seen on medias are really becoming more and more unpleasant, gross & classless. 

On 2/16/2022 at 10:10 AM, SlovakPrincess said:

Did I need to see Vivian peeing on a toilet?  No, no I did not.  

I guess I haven't been watching the right shows, cause I have never seen graphic toilet use before, and am thankful!  It made no sense and was jarringly out of place and pointless.  And not to make it even grosser but I could have sworn that when she wiped, she reached around behind her, so, uh, not just peeing!

On 2/24/2022 at 6:23 AM, chediavolo said:

Yes! Do we know who they are in real life? So funny. 

The guy who plays Lou is Jeff Perry, and I knew he looked familiar...he played Meredith's dad on Grey's Anatomy.  The woman playing Maud is Anna Deavere Smith.  She's been in a lot of stuff and is also a pretty famous playwright.  I had never seen or heard of the guy playing Barry. He's Terry Kinney and is best known for the prison drama Oz.

Now, time for some Fun Facts.  I'm watching this and The Dropout at the same time, and the woman who plays Nora here (Kate Burton) plays the wife of the lead chemist in The Dropout.  Also, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry from here are co-founders of the famous Steppenwolf Theatre Company (along with Gary Sinise), and Jeff was married to Laurie Metcalf, who is in The Dropout.    

[CeeBeeGee]

1 hour ago, LuvMyShows said:

The guy who plays Lou is Jeff Perry, and I knew he looked familiar...he played Meredith's dad on Grey's Anatomy.  The woman playing Maud is Anna Deavere Smith.  She's been in a lot of stuff and is also a pretty famous playwright.  I had never seen or heard of the guy playing Barry. He's Terry Kinney and is best known for the prison drama Oz.

Now, time for some Fun Facts.  I'm watching this and The Dropout at the same time, and the woman who plays Nora here (Kate Burton) plays the wife of the lead chemist in The Dropout.  Also, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry from here are co-founders of the famous Steppenwolf Theatre Company (along with Gary Sinise), and Jeff was married to Laurie Metcalf, who is in The Dropout.    

Kate Burton is also the daughter of Richard Burton and boy, can you see it in the face. She's awesome. Love Gary Senise.

Terry Kinney was best to known me as the father of the Julia Stiles character in the movie Save the Last Dance (I am an Old)--the absentee father/jazz musician.

[LuvMyShows]

Apologies if my comment is in the wrong episode,, but Vivian was so impressed that when she visited Anna in jail, Anna could tell that Vivian's feelings had been hurt by something in her personal life...uh, yeah, it was kind of obvious...doesn't make Anna some kind of empath genius.

[dovegrey]

I was bored and watched this episode again. I think Vivian's character, and the present-focused storyline, would have worked better if she was Todd's private investigator and her team was part of the firm. It otherwise doesn't make any sense that she was constantly barging into Todd's office, "accidentally"  given access to all of his discovery/case files, begging to work together, etc. Or they should have cut out Todd. The fantastical, goofy Todd/Vivian scenes really cheapened the show. And I realized that I really don't care about Vivian's pregnancy, her redemption storyline, or the hijinks at Manhattan Magazine.

Also, Alan's daughter sounded exactly like Anna (I'm trying to discover my passions; I'm too good for a boring, conventional job), and I thought it was interesting that Alan didn't make that connection despite finally seeing through his daughter's BS talk and fake histrionics.

[AvidFan]

I would absolutely watch a spinoff of The Scriberians. I recognized Jeff Perry (from Nash Bridges) and Anna Devare Smith (from West Wing), but didn't recognize Terry Kinney (from 30something). When Alan first came on, I thought, boy he sounds like Anthony Edwards, but it can't be him. I feel so old.

[aradia22]

This was a little boring but it gave me some hope for the writers. Maybe it was just Anthony Edwards, but I was finally invested in a character and a storyline. I cared about his daughter and I was invested in how he was getting scammed. I mean, my heart isn't breaking for the real person, but the writers finally managed to produce something that felt genuine rather than just fully being generated out of old tropes. 

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Even if men like him do end up failing upward there are consequences even if they are just social ones. 

I rolled my eyes at all the girlbossing in this one and that TV clip at the end (avoiding politics). Like sure, all of that is true, but it doesn't change the fact that Anna is a criminal who intentionally scammed people. People of all genders can be terrible. 

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I was not expecting the small twist about her German trust manager.  I'm really surprised that Alan didn't bother to do a video chat to verify the man's identity.

I was curious if this was actually true. In Rachel's book all this stuff is conducted over email, which seems like a much simpler scam though phone calls would be more believable. Were real people actually fooled by voice distortion or was that just something they invented for the show? The stuff I've heard always sounds like a robot speaking. I know AI has gotten more sophisticated now with mimicking celebrities but she would have to have a "Peter" to base the voice on, not just distorting her own voice. It sounded so good on the show, I thought there was going to be a reveal that she'd brought someone new into her con.

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Did I need to see Vivian peeing on a toilet?  No, no I did not.  Are her vulgar, hostile comments to her husband and constant groaning about her pregnancy contributing to the story or making her a more sympathetic character?  No, no they are not.   

I truly think the writers must believe this is hilarious content. There's no other explanation for why they keep putting this stuff in the show.

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Also, Alan's daughter sounded exactly like Anna (I'm trying to discover my passions; I'm too good for a boring, conventional job), and I thought it was interesting that Alan didn't make that connection despite finally seeing through his daughter's BS talk and fake histrionics.

I think the point was that this was a version of his daughter he could help and save. Anna played a substitute for his daughter that he could be rewarded for believing in. And she also gave him hope that his daughter would also find her way in time.