S03.E16: Shift-Less

[LeisureTime]

Literally the second I saw Chad Lowe, I was like "Is that Chad Lowe? Nah, what would he be doing here..." Then about a minute into the Quiet Room chat I determined that it WAS Chad Lowe and he was supposed to be Tyler and basically that whole scene was Owen working things through in his head. Then they called him Robert and I decided he must have been some wise rando character and Chad's just there because "yay, nepotism." For some reason, "half-brother" NEVER occurred to me until it was too explicit to ignore. I feel really dumb.

Also, the young Owen actor was such good casting I though for sure he'd be somewhere on the Lowe or Somerhalder family tree, but if he is, IMDB hasn't figured it out yet.

[EllaWycliffe]

Don't feel bad about missing that Chad Lowe was supposed to be the half brother. I knew he was guesting so I expected him, but I was like "oh weird, I know Tyler is dead, so they cast Chad to play some random guy giving Owen advice and we are just ignoring the eery similarities hahaha good one show!" And then it became pointedly obvious that Robert was the half brother and I was all "ok, that was weird..."

[WinJet0819]

On 5/3/2022 at 7:58 PM, DearEvette said:

I am definitely one who thinks the show features Owen and his entire life way too much.  Somehow the OG 911 manages to give us rescues and give us in depth looks at the life, backstories and current highs and lows of their entire cast.  I never realized what a good balancing act it is until I compare with this show which  simply cannot maintain any balance.

It's not that they can't maintain the balance. It's almost as if they don't even try.

[WinJet0819]

If this show had not been pushing Owen storylines for most of the season, I probably would appreciate this episode better. It's nice to get some depth into the tragedy that shaped Owen's life from an early age. And it's sad he's been carrying the weight of what happened to his brother for so long, and how his father just let him and his mother leave due to not being able to overcome the grief. Though, I must say, if his rage has been caused by the trauma of losing his brother and seeing clowns, it's awfully convenient how the rage didn't appear until this season.

All this being said. It's another Owen-centric episode, so I'm pretty much numb to his character at this point.

It was nice to see Judd connect with his son, in the B-plot, of course. His storylines always seem to be the best on the show.

[shapeshifter]

Since Owen left Judd in charge should Owen not return, 
had Judd not survived, 
who would take over?
What's Bad Billy up to these days?

[Toothbrush]

To paraphrase Dolly Parton in Steel Magnolias, “when it comes to tragedies Owen’s right up there with Elizabeth Taylor”.  Or Meredith Grey. 
 

On 5/3/2022 at 6:32 AM, shapeshifter said:

I completely blew out my ankle, including spiral & compound fractures and had to have it rebuilt. And even with all that I didn’t have an old timey plaster cast like Judd & it was 2005! 

On 5/3/2022 at 4:10 PM, tennisgurl said:

 

I saw Robert in the dad’s room when Owen first looked in so I knew who he was when he walked into the lounge. While they were talking my dumb ass kept thinking about what a great job they did casting Owen’s brother, and then when they talked again after Owen talked to his dad I realized Robert was played by Chad Lowe. Can’t get anything past me, I tell ya 🙄

[eel21788]

11 hours ago, Toothbrush said:

I completely blew out my ankle, including spiral & compound fractures and had to have it rebuilt. And even with all that I didn’t have an old timey plaster cast like Judd & it was 2005! 

Plaster is still used for temporary casts. It is less expensive than fiberglass. Since they put a plaster cast on him, they were planning to do a cast change in the next 24 to 48 hours. That fits with an injury that would require multiple surgeries early in the process.

Now what do you want to be that his injury heals in a ridiculously short period of time?

[Toothbrush]

3 hours ago, eel21788 said:

 

Now what do you want to be that his injury heals in a ridiculously short period of time?

Next week: Injury? What injury? 

[Bruinsfan]

Still won't beat Paul being defibrillated in the midst of his physical fitness gamut and hopping up to complete it in time to qualify for duty.

I suspect the greater success the parent show has in spreading meaningful screen time and story focus around has to do with the combined egos of Angela Bassett and Peter Krause not equaling Lowe's. (Jennifer Love Hewitt might give him a run for his money based on her previous shows, but she was a latecomer after the premise was set.) That said, I do like the supporting characters of this show more even if I'm only seeing cameos of some of them half the time.

[amarante]

On 5/3/2022 at 1:59 PM, shapeshifter said:

I hadn't noticed, but my sister with a hot younger husband (and apparently cash to burn) had her neck done. So, yes. 

My friend also had it done or something similar. She has had an eye lift and a face lift and injectables but she said this was the worst procedure she ever had done especially because of the work done on her neck and her ears.

[Kel Varnsen]

The fact that Owen was 13 in 1984 when in reality Lowe was in The Outsiders a year earlier was probably one of the funniest things I have seen all week. I am surprised that there wasn't some kind of wink at the camera joke about how Owen didn't want to take his brother to the beach because he had a date to go see a Rob Lowe movie with a girl.

The most shocking thing was that Owen went to LA and didn't run into Athena or Bobby or Hen or something.

[auntiemel]

On 5/4/2022 at 12:27 PM, DearEvette said:

And this is why I think the story is underwritten or there is more to it. 

When Owen finally got the nerve to go into the room, she was actually cordial.  It was only after Owen said 'Since you know my name, he must have told you about me" that she got a little tetchy and asked 'What are you doing here Owen?"  Now... if the guy is on his death bed, then that is a somewhat silly question since the normal assumption would be that an estranged oldest son is showing up to say goodbye.  Up to that point, Owen hadn't said or done anything that would suggest he was there to unload. 

Her reaction to his 'he must have told you about me' makes me think that she was blaming Owen for the estrangement (wrongly,since he was 13 at the time) and feels that his presence there now is something of an affront.  Otherwise her hostility doesn't make sense in the context of the scene.  Either that or she is incredibly defensive on behalf of her husband because she knows he is dead wrong for abandoning his child and is deflecting.

One thing I did find kinda funny is that when Owen first got there and the room was full with about 6 or 7 other people, they all just turned and left in a group.  Normally people are like --"well we should be going" and they'll hug or somebody will linger and say something, there is always one person in a group who takes like 20 minutes to get out the door after saying 20 times, "well I better get going."  But not this group, it was like they got an alien signal and all just turned and left en masse.  Nobody even glanced questioningly at Owen standing in the doorway.  It was just so strange... LOL.

Yes! I am just now catching up on this show, and during this part, I actually said out loud, “The fuck is happening right now????”