S02.E09: Sparring Partners

[Emily Thrace]

On 8/16/2022 at 10:14 PM, chaifan said:

I agree.  I think there's a lot of misdirect going on in this episode.  For example, I think that the shot we had towards the end with Kreps in the bar and turning and looking at Cinda...  I wouldn't be surprised if they do the same shot next week and pan a little farther back and there's Poppy standing a few feet back.  Is "the smartest woman in the world" Cinda, or is it Poppy?  Or someone else all together?

I did love the reveal that Rose was impersonating Lenora.  I only feel about 1/2 off on my speculation that Lenora and Rose were the same person.  They were, sort of...   But I truly don't understand why there was a fake painting. 

A few things that didn't make sense...  Charles' father's watch - ok, that was good sleuthing to open it up.  But why would anyone put an address in the inside of a watch?  I could understand a love inscription, to keep it secret (instead of just inscribing the back of the watch like normal).  But who would inscribe an address?  And what are the chances the same person would live there after all this time?  And Kreps' moonlighting in Oklahoma.  Yeah, I'll buy the Coney Island job, and taking cases with other departments.  But he's getting paid enough by an OK department to pay for flights, hotels, etc.?  I'm not buying that.  If it was murder in New Jersey, yeah, ok.  But not OK. 

I can't wait for next week, but at the same time, I don't want it to be over...

If the case was as big as it appears the family may have hired Kreps privately. Plenty of cops moonlight as private detectives, the "overtime" reference could be a figure of speech. The families in cases like these often receive donations and sometimes groups like churches or other charities will cover those sorts of costs. Its a bit odd they would choose an apparently mediocre detective like Kreps but perhaps the reputation of NYPD homicide cops (generally considered one of the best in the country) convinced them.

I always thought Cinda was behind it. I think her first podcast was a success based on a lie and anything after it wasn't as successful. Until our trio came along. So once the first mystery is solved she decides to prolong her success. By framing Mabel for murder.

[PurpleTentacle]

On 8/16/2022 at 2:03 PM, FGomez said:

Caution. In this episode it seems that people say a lot of things, but they don't really say anything. We don't have Krebs stating that he is GG, or a flashback of GG taking off the mask. We don't have Kreps stating that Cinda is the mastermind. We don't have Poppy stating that she is afraid of Cinda, well we have a non-conclusive "yes" but it can be yes to that she is so afraid of somebody...

It is possible that all this is just as it seems, but it can end up being completely different.

It's possible. But I don't see how they could upend everything in one half hour episode and still bring this to a satisfying conclusion.

Unless they are dragging this murder out into the next season. In which case: (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

[FGomez]

2 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

It's possible. But I don't see how they could upend everything in one half hour episode and still bring this to a satisfying conclusion.

I think that Cinda will be mastermind because in first season they singled out Jan in episode nine, and I expect the same pattern this season.

Having said that, they haven't really explained anything yet (the masked characters in the bar and passageway, the motive to kill Bunny, the painting, Poppy = Becky ... nothing) . So they can change the focus in the first scene of next episode, for example, to Nina Lin, and they still have the same amount of time to give a satisfactory explanation. At least with Nina Lin they have a simple motive.

[MollyB]

23 hours ago, MisterGlass said:

Bunny's death may have been an accident during an unexpected struggle, but why waste a death when you could use it as a jumping off point for a new, different podcast.

This totally makes me believe Cinda is the mastermind.  At first I thought, "yeah, she could have killed bunny" but then I factored in the artist.  She wants to make a name for herself, too, and she rattled off so quickly about Rose Cooper that I think she's the investigation in at the Arconia sent there by Cinda.  She would also wear jumpsuits (like Mabel did when she was painting her mural windows) and heavy shoes.  That's why she glommed onto Mabel in hopes of finding the painting and furthering Cinda's podcast.

[Natalie25]

Just curious, do we know for sure that Cinda knows Poppy is Becky? She doesn't seem to threaten her with jail time or anything serious, just promises she'll never do well in this industry. She certainly doesn't treat Poppy as someone who could easily destroy her credibility and the success of her podcast just by coming forward about her identity.

I'm wondering if Poppy/Becky never intended for her disappearance to turn into what it was, but with Krebs planting evidence and Cinda turning it into a national sensation, she was too afraid to come forward and just latched onto the podcast as a way to keep tabs on everything.

Or another theory...has Cinda had any prior successful podcasts or was the Becky one the first? If she's faked evidence leading to a successful podcast before Becky, maybe it ruined the life of someone Becky knew, and she decided to get revenge by creating a fake story to draw Cinda in and then plans to bring about a fall from grace. And she's the mastermind Krebs was talking about.

[Quilt Fairy]

11 hours ago, Natalie25 said:

Just curious, do we know for sure that Cinda knows Poppy is Becky?

This is what I'm wondering as well.  There's a movie with Richard Gere called Primal Fear (airing quite a bit on Showtime recently)  where a submissive, nebbishy young man turns out to be a sociopathic killer. 

[Red Fields]

On 8/17/2022 at 12:00 PM, Lugal said:

At first I thought the address was the watch company

It is an Ernest Borel Kaleidoscope watch from the 1950-60s and is Swiss made. I was excited to see it on the show because I have a women’s cocktail version. It originally belonged to my grandmother. They are really cool; the black lines rotate/swirl around when it is wound up, hence the name. My version doesn’t have a metal back. It is glass so you can see the 17 jewel movement. It’s such an interesting choice; I wonder how they decided on it.

[aradia22]

Hiding the painting under the birdcage is fun... but seems like a terrible way to preserve a painting.

So Leonora WAS an imposter. I am glad Leonora and Rose weren't the same person though.

Oh, no... the poor flying monkeys stuck in the rafters. 

Excessive Force Gym 💀

I love Winnie

"I mean, I was a bad student, but you're just... a stupid man." 😄 Rapaport is perfect casting for this part. Glad Mabel got in a few shots at his arm. So... Cinda and Kreps. It was killing me that Mabel took sooo long to put it together.

Pairing Martin Short and Nathan Lane for those combo scenes of physical comedy and dramatic acting... I would rather they hadn't gone in this direction for Will but they're making the most out of it.

That was a really lovely Mabel as Freida painting/puzzle.

Cinda being the criminal mastermind is hilarious after all the hate comments on this board. Why would she kill Bunny though?

Loved the choice of Fiona Apple over the credits.

[aradia22]

Quote

That is something they continue to do poorly, they never present us with a large number of viable murders and let us try to figure out who might be guilty. I hope they do better in the future.

I'm fine with it. Everything can't be Clue. And if I wanted to watch a murderer trying to get away with it, I'd watch Columbo. My issue with season 1 is that I didn't buy Jan and Tim as a couple.