S01.E06: Mother’s Mission

[Bort]

Since their brush with ICE, Fiona and Thony’s relationship is strained, as a result of Thony’s lies. Meanwhile, Arman uses Thony’s relationship with Garrett to feed information to the FBI. Then, as Luca’s health declines, Thony must decide if she can work with Mother Donna, who may be a potential resource for a liver transplant for Luca, but at what cost to Thony.

Airdate: 14 February 2022

[Raja]

2 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Thony must decide if she can work with Mother Donna, who may be a potential resource for a liver transplant for Luca, but at what cost to Thony.

And who pray tell is Mother Donna? 

[AnimeMania]

Guest Cast: 
Betty Buckley as Mother Donna
Navid Negahban as Hayak Barsamian
Harold Fisch as Carlos
Antonio Leon as Dr. Daniel Saroyan
Ivan Shaw as Marco
Esodie Geiger as Renee Lawson
Shiva Negar as Isabel Barsamian
Conphidance as Dr. Nnamdi
Walter Anaruk as Politician
Mo Beatty as Nurse Julia
Elsianna Martinez-DeLeon as Lizzie
Ramiro M. Montanez as Jose
Rocko Reyes as Bosco

Mother Donna and Thony

[paigow]

Agent Scumbag is smarter / luckier than he looks.

Arman was getting rid of Isabel and reclaiming his cut of the empire, but now he is in trouble...

Marco should have brought "The liva from Manila"

[possibilities]

I don't remember the scene where Fiona got mad at Thony, which they showed us in the previouslies. Was that a cut scene last week, or am I just forgetful?

I'm getting irritated by the soapiness but I guess that's what this show wants to be. It makes me appreciate how Breaking Bad actually didn't turn on infidelity or love triangles. You can in fact write a show without them, and I hate that they didn't do that here.

A liver should be easier than a kidney, since you can harvest part of one, and not actually deprive the donor of the entire organ. But I guess it's a more complicated surgery? 

 

 

[eel21788]

2 minutes ago, possibilities said:

A liver should be easier than a kidney, since you can harvest part of one, and not actually deprive the donor of the entire organ. But I guess it's a more complicated surgery? 

Since they already know that Lou Diamond Phillips is an HLA match, why don't they just coerce him further into giving up part of his liver?

By the way, no one in his right mind would have done a transplant (which was more likely stem cells, not bone marrow) on a child who is already in liver failure. Liver complications occur in at least three-fourths of all transplant patients. When you're already starting out with a bad liver, just using chemo or radiation to kill off the diseased marrow before transplant would most likely progress to liver problems which would be fatal. 

[Irlandesa]

So that happened.  I do wish they hadn't kissed quite so soon.  I love a slow burn and this is only episode 6.  That said, I rewound to watch.  Happy Valentine's Day!

I don't know how I feel about the liver situation.  I kind of liked that she was in a weird zone harvesting organs from desperate adults.  It morally compromises her.  But bringing in the child sort of gives her an "out" because we know she probably wouldn't do it to a kid.

1 hour ago, paigow said:

Agent Scumbag is smarter / luckier than he looks.

I absolutely loved that. Too often they'd have him go dumb to drag out the drama.  Instead, I like that he's flawed but not totally incompetent.

But the show has been burning through story/story twists.  It makes me wonder where things would go in a Season  if they get one. 

[SonofaBiscuit]

Yeah, it took Hayak’s daughter all of five minutes to figure out that something shady was going on with the club.

Oh man, Thony, do not tell the folks dealing in illegal transplants that you are a doctor 🤦🏻‍♀️ (and maybe you should have used a fake identity as well).

Also, it looked like Thony had pretty close to $70,000, so negotiating the price down was a bit strange anyways (and even if she didn’t have the money, it’s pretty obvious that Arman would have helped her if she asked).

The kiss was hot, and I may have watched it a few (or like, six) times.

Spoiler

Looks like another possible kiss next week.

Don’t even care about the husband - they’ve already set him up to gamble away all of their money, LOL.

Edited February 15, 2022 by SonofaBiscuit

[paigow]

6 minutes ago, SonofaBiscuit said:

Don’t even care about the husband - they’ve already set him up to gamble away all of their money, LOL.

He will work for Arman - launder money at other casinos 

[preeya]

10 hours ago, Raja said:

And who pray tell is Mother Donna? 

Mother Donna = Betty Buckley

[Raja]

4 minutes ago, preeya said:

Mother Donna = Betty Buckley

The promo sounded like it was someone we should already know. My first thought was it can't be a  corrupt nun.

While the medical folks are saying no way on those issues I am looking at Marco, his sister and wife have overstayed their visas  and are illegal. It is going to take some powerful bribing of the Americans at an embassy to get him a visa as they would expect him to go TNT also. Just what does he think his wife makes on a cleaning crew anyway? If he knew the situation the FBI would be their in as they already saved Fiona and Thony from deportation.

[preeya]

28 minutes ago, paigow said:

He will work for Arman - launder money at other casinos 

They've already painted him as a "recovering gambler" but I wonder what he really does/did for a living.  After-all he is married to a legitimate doctor.

[Trini]

Well, of course the first organ "donor" was going the kid Thony met! In any case, she should have known the 'sweet old lady' was even shadier than she appeared. It just sucks that if Mother Donna was a little less shady, Thony could have gotten a liver for Luca and maybe even had another side hustle as an underground surgeon. (Maybe in season 2??)

I realize Scumbag FBI Guy is kind of a necessary component to the show, but they still could have had that without him being a scumbag.

Didn't like them fighting, but I'm glad Fiona knows more about Thony's entanglements, and we got to hear her feelings on that. But I hope that Fiona doesn't get too involved (if at all) with Thony's drama, because I like her (and she has her own drama).
 

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

So that happened.  I do wish they hadn't kissed quite so soon.  I love a slow burn and this is only episode 6.  That said, I rewound to watch.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Agreed. I figured we get here eventually; but yeah - it's a bit too soon. Also I was kind of surprised at the kiss, because I thought maybe they were going to rekindle something with Arman and Hayak's daughter. (Dang - Arman has a lot of options!)

Arman is going real surprised next week , because I don't think Thony has even mentioned her husband to anyone outside her family.

40 minutes ago, preeya said:

They've already painted him as a "recovering gambler" but I wonder what he really does/did for a living.  After-all he is married to a legitimate doctor.

His occupation might have been mentioned in the first episode, but I really don't remember. (I think he was also in medicine?? Not sure...)

[phoenics]

Well I was very surprised we got that kiss - I thought it was going to be an almost kiss situation, but DAMN if I didn't rewind that HOT kiss about 50 times anyway.  I mean - I'm only human.  Good grief that was hot. I knew a kiss was coming the moment Arman dropped that kiss on her forehead, but I didn't expect THAT.  Happy Valentine's Day indeed!

I'm wondering now if Arman hasn't totally turned on Hayak - he's just using the FBI as a pressure point to make Hayak realize how important he (Arman) is to him?  He better not get caught by Hayak - all those sessions with Thony in his office owned by Hayak - he better pray Hayak never bugs him because this would be all over.

I wonder what will happen once Garrett starts feeding bad info back at Arman through Thony.  I did think Garrett figuring Arman out made sense but not lumping Thony in with him.  I also wondered what Garrett thought would happen once he raided the club - did he think Arman would just let guns sit in the depot?  He should have just put the depot under surveillance and he would have seen the two sets of trucks leaving at some point - unless his surveillance crew took the bait on the first set (because armed men were guarding them).

Of course Thony's husband has a gambling problem - that just sets him up to be a mark for Arman - or worse to get himself into deep trouble or killed - which would strain Armany because Thony would feel so much guilt over her trauma bonded feelings for Arman and her husband's death.  OR, this would set him up as a REAL mark for the FBI because he'll hate Arman on sight and won't have any compunction about destroying him and all his ish.  I wasn't surprised to see him at the end though - he's a necessary complication.  But Thony's hug with him compared to what we just saw with Arman (which felt like a desperate release) was totally lukewarm and that's before guilt and realization set in.  Also - I don't know why I thought Marco was also a doctor?  Or some kind of healthcare worker? I thought I saw him in scrubs in another episode?

I think they cut a scene with Fiona and Thony, but ok.

Mother Donna looks a LOT like Katherine Chancellor did (before she passed) on Y&R decades ago.  Her whole business is literally harvesting organs from truly desperate people to get a ton of money from other desperate people.  Her speeches put a nice veneer over it but it's awful.  I'm glad Thony didn't do it but I think she'll be forced back as an underground doctor.  I wonder where her operation is? Is there that much wide open land in NV that she could hide a place like that?

Okay now I've watched that kiss scene 60 times, lol.

Edited February 15, 2022 by phoenics

[SonofaBiscuit]

I was thinking that Thony's husband is also a doctor, but maybe I made that up??

Also, does Arman know that Thony was a doctor/surgeon?  You would think he'd have to know, but it's a little strange that it's never come up in conversation (at least I don't remember that happening, ha).

[SonofaBiscuit]

8 minutes ago, phoenics said:

Of course Thony's husband has a gambling problem - that just sets him up to be a mark for Arman - or worse to get himself into deep trouble or killed - which would strain Armany because Thony would feel so much guilt over her trauma bonded feelings for Arman and her husband's death.  OR, this would set him up as a REAL mark for the FBI because he'll hate Arman on sight and won't have any compunction about destroying him and all his ish.

See, I figured that the gambling addiction would set up a scenario where Marco(?) steals a bunch of that money Thony's been saving and gambles it away, blowing up their marriage.  But I am evil, yes.

[phoenics]

1 minute ago, SonofaBiscuit said:

See, I figured that the gambling addiction would set up a scenario where Marco(?) steals a bunch of that money Thony's been saving and gambles it away, blowing up their marriage.  But I am evil, yes.

Ooohhh well that's even worse.

[preeya]

20 minutes ago, phoenics said:

I wonder where her operation is? Is there that much wide open land in NV that she could hide a place like that?

Yes, there is and part of it is Death Valley (pun intended).

Edited February 15, 2022 by preeya

[Raja]

48 minutes ago, SonofaBiscuit said:

I was thinking that Thony's husband is also a doctor, but maybe I made that up??

Also, does Arman know that Thony was a doctor/surgeon?  You would think he'd have to know, but it's a little strange that it's never come up in conversation (at least I don't remember that happening, ha).

It might have come up in the pilot TNT, I could have sworn him saying that they already had doctors on retainer after her first aid but that doesn't make sense that they would force  Thony to also use that skill along with her superior cleaning skills.

[magdalene]

Mother Donna - evil sugar coated with a coat of pretend altruism.  I do think Thony lost any semblance of moral high ground when she took the path of black market organ trade.  In reality she wouldn't have been able to walk away once she offered her service as a surgeon.  Another thing that happens is that people actually get murdered to harvest their organs. That, and baby kidnapping for illegal adoptions is big business. I got a little education on the subject years ago when I read Linda Howard's Cry No More. A compulsive read that made me ugly cry.

Well, well, well, they are not dragging out the UST between Thony and Arman at all, are they? And of course the husband shows up now, ha.

Agent Scumbag did a smart thing. I didn't expect that.

[sempervivum]

I do like most of these actors, but this plotting! All poor Thony needs next is for Snidely Whiplash to tie her to the railroad tracks.

[magdalene]

So there is only 2 episodes left?  This is going fast.

Thony's husband is a plot device to cock block Arman. Lets see how long how long he lasts.

[paigow]

Arman knows Thony is a doctor. She patched his possibly fatal leg wound. Saroyan is a rare legit mob doctor, so Thony is not needed for her medical skills.

[magdalene]

2 hours ago, magdalene said:

So there is only 2 episodes left?  This is going fast.

Thony's husband is a plot device to cock block Arman. Lets see how long he lasts.

 

[phoenics]

18 hours ago, magdalene said:

So there is only 2 episodes left?  This is going fast.

Thony's husband is a plot device to cock block Arman. Lets see how long how long he lasts.

I think there are 10 episodes.

[preeya]

2 hours ago, phoenics said:

I think there are 10 episodes.

Yes, there are 10. The finale is March 14th.