Season 1 Discussion

[Guest]

4 hours ago, gesundheit said:

Exactly, seems like the type of thing that would make folks want to move on to healthier bonds!

Or you have to stay close to ensure no one tells the truth. 

4 hours ago, xhoipolloix said:

I hate Stephen so much it was difficult to watch episode 6 in full. He's such a cruel liar, and Lucy is so lame. It's hard to find anyone to root for in this mess.

Same. I like the idea of a story about a toxic relationships but it doesn’t work when the pace is so slow and both people suck for the very beginning of the relationship. This just feels like Lucy and the rest of us a glutton for punishment. All I can think is that Lucy and Stephen deserve each other and Max deserves much better. 

Although the guy who is probably in his mid to late 20’s dating a 18 year old and then calling her immature makes me think he might not be that much of a catch. Lucy sucks but if you don’t want immature find someone your own age. 

[bilgistic]

12 hours ago, gesundheit said:

Wow. Okay, I guess we've officially shifted from "Stephen is a run-of-the-mill young asshole whose brain hasn't finished developing and still has time to grow" to "Stephen may well be a sociopath." What a prick.

Also, what did I miss? Was this the first we heard that Stephen was in the car with Macy and just... left? And somehow this endeared him to Lucy further?

And somehow this whole friend group still exists in 8 years?

7 hours ago, CarpeFelis said:

Even before I read the book there was no doubt in my mind that Stephen is a sociopath and a narcissist. He treats women as if they’re toys to be tossed away when he gets bored or annoyed, and has no guilt over hurting them. But he wants them back the minute they have any interest in another guy.

I think this was the first time we heard that Stephen was in the car with Macy, though I’d suspected it. No wonder he was so invested in Drew not telling anyone about the crash. 

They’ve changed a lot from the book, which I just read a couple of days ago. In the book,

  Reveal spoiler

Macy was barely an acquaintance to Lucy and didn’t go to Baird. She lived in the same town as Stephen. She was giving him a ride home but he was driving, she was giving him a BJ, and he lost control of her car and crashed into a tree. Bastard escaped without a scratch. There was no Drew. He’s been added for the series.

Lucy was anorexic. The Unforgivable Thing was still her mom cheating, but her dad was very much alive. There was this 23-year-old tennis instructor who 14-year-old Lucy had a crush on. After one of her lessons he kissed her and put his hand up her shirt, but that was as far as it went. Then she came home early one day and saw her mom in bed with him. CJ never knew Lucy saw them until years later. Considering that Lucy treating her so coldly started then, you’d think she’d have been smart enough to figure out Lucy knew, but nooo….

Stephen’s mom was bipolar and refused to take her medication. Could be Katey Sagal’s character is also bipolar. But in the book, his dad finally got fed up with her increasingly careless antics and left her when Stephen was little, so the mom didn’t figure into the story much.

IMO the book was a cautionary tale about a) recognizing signs that a guy is seriously bad news and how miserable he can make you if you willfully ignore those signs, and b) what can happen if you give up your own ambitions to let your life revolve around some guy (which applies even if he isn’t an asshole like Stephen).

  Reveal spoiler

Lucy selected Baird partly to get as far away from CJ as possible, but also because of the overseas trip she was dying to go on. But once accepted, she turned it down to spend the summer with Stephen and lied to everyone that her application was denied. She let her courses in her journalism minor slide, so instead of becoming a travel writer, she ended up with a job she hated. Even after going to a therapist, who put her on antidepressants she badly needed and told her Stephen’s behavior was narcissistic and sociopathic, she only managed to stop seeing Stephen for a while and eventually let him suck her back in one last time. He then screwed her over again (surprise, surprise) and she finally had enough and didn’t see him again until Bree’s wedding. Where he tried again even though he had a fiancée there with him, and she turned him down.

Lucy sucks, but Stephen totally manipulated her in the greenhouse. He pretended to be sad (an actual tear!) about running away from the accident. When Lucy then asked him if there was anything else he'd kept from her, he lied by not admitting he'd had sex with Diana two days prior and over winter break.

Now that Lucy knows about it all...well, she's also guilty of withholding information about a crime just like Stephen and Pippa (and Drew).

[Guest]

I now have two things that I wish this show was. The first is still a flashback mystery about who killed Stephen and the second is a story about a toxic relationship with Diana as the lead. She is the much more sympathetic of the two women Stephen is manipulating. The way he turned her sleeping with someone before they met into a bigger offense than him cheating on her was much more compelling than any of his scenes with Lucy.

The one thing that I did like the way everyone reacting to Lucy saying she was done with Stephen. That relieved we can finally say what we have wanted to say for months reaction was so real. 

[MaggieG]

Evan telling Lucy he liked her came out of left field for me. Other than them going for coffee this episode, have they spent any time together?

Agree with everyone saying Stephen is a manipulative sociopath.

[peachmangosteen]

34 minutes ago, MaggieG said:

Evan telling Lucy he liked her came out of left field for me. Other than them going for coffee this episode, have they spent any time together?

Same. Although, as soon as they had that scene in the library I knew they were gonna go there. 

[AnimeMania]

S01.E07: Castle on a Cloud

The group goes to Evan’s lake house to celebrate his 21st birthday. 

Original Air Date: October 5, 2022

[anonymiss]

This show is my 20s with deadly accuracy. I unfortunately knew and fell for an even worse Stephen who irrevocably harmed me.

I find the dialogue and the coming-of-age sexual discovery (especially from the female POV) realistic, and Stephen's malignant narcissism very convincingly portrayed by the show and actor. They aren't trying to make him redeemable (at least not yet) and are servicing his character honestly.

I'm not having a grand time reliving my Lucy-ness but am impressed with and grateful for the show's veracity. I don't recall seeing any other teen show attempt and succeed in this. I wish I had more of the likes of this growing up instead of the kind that panders to rom-com delusions.

[xhoipolloix]

These people are so relentlessly self absorbed and awful. The only one with any redeeming qualities is Bree.

[gesundheit]

Drew is such a weird character in that he's constantly just in the background but I couldn't pick him out of a lineup. We seem to get a little of everyone else's point of view but his. I know nothing about his personality.

Great, so now Evan has some dark act in his past too? Was that what his whole "everyone thinks I'm this good guy" freakout was about? But I liked him!

Stephen's in full mustache-twirling mode now with that camera move. I guess that's one reason this show needed to be in 2008 before every single human had a camera on their phone, considering for some reason he needs to destroy all photographic evidence of his relationship with Lucy (who is incredibly frustrating to watch, but is only 18/19 -- frankly the level of self-absorption typical in folks of that age is being well-represented here but it's also why high school and post-college are far more enduring ages for dramatic storytelling... kids and adults are just harder to hate because they're "just kids" or they're grownups who have begun focusing outward, but those in-betweens make for frustrating viewer connections despite the verisimilitude) (whew, that was run-on). Does the man have a wife and kids somewhere or something?? He is such a chaos agent.

[xhoipolloix]

This is pure speculation because I did not read the book, nor do I know what happens. But there's no way Stephen is as innocent as he claims to be in Macy's death. He had to have directly caused it, and I suspect he is more responsible than Drew but has convinced Drew otherwise.

[mandymax]

53 minutes ago, xhoipolloix said:

This is pure speculation because I did not read the book, nor do I know what happens. But there's no way Stephen is as innocent as he claims to be in Macy's death. He had to have directly caused it, and I suspect he is more responsible than Drew but has convinced Drew otherwise.

Agreed.  Stephen did something to Macy.

And did he do something WITH Pippa at the lake house?  The way they stared at each other as he dunked the camera made me wonder if they'd taken pictures of themselves IN THE ACT or something and he was destroying THAT evidence - it almost looked like Pippa was smiling at him.  

[gesundheit]

3 hours ago, xhoipolloix said:

This is pure speculation because I did not read the book, nor do I know what happens. But there's no way Stephen is as innocent as he claims to be in Macy's death. He had to have directly caused it, and I suspect he is more responsible than Drew but has convinced Drew otherwise.

There's definitely something else going on there, though I don't understand why he would claim that he left her there to die anyway. He's already confessed to a serious crime. I'm wondering if he made up the whole story about being there at all just to manipulate Lucy into re-investing by making her feel like he needed her help. Now she's covering up a crime, so he pretty much has a hold on her for good. 

And who was Pippa texting?

[gesundheit]

1 hour ago, WatcherUatl10 said:

I don't recall who knows what about who regarding the Macy/Drew hit and run, but I'm fairly certain that Stephen knows that Pippa knows....and then it gets complicated by people not knowing other people know what they know. It needs a flow chart. BUT Stephen DOES know that Pippa's texting someone all weekend, and tried to reveal it during the drinking games, and she knows he caught her again out by the pool. He basically dared her to tell on him by slowly submerging the camera while she watched. The fact that she DIDN'T tell probably means there's more to the texting than she wants known, and she's willing to keep his secret. Which is terrible in general, but even worse considering that Bree said she borrowed the camera, which means she's responsible for paying for it, and they just discovered her family situation, which is far less affluent than anyone else in the group, except maybe Stephen.

Stephen 100% knows that Pippa knows, because he threatened her last week with telling Lucy she'd known all this time and had withheld it from her, which is one reason she's not "allowed" to report back to Lucy about his bullshit anymore. (Of course Pippa doesn't know that Lucy already knows what Drew did, and therefore might be mad but not irreversibly outraged by the fact that Pippa withheld it from her, which is useful for Stephen)

But dear God yes, we need a flow chart.

[peachmangosteen]

5 hours ago, WatcherUatl10 said:

The guy playing Wrigley is NOT as muscular as they keep insisting he is. It bugs me.

Thank you lol. The guy playing Stephen has a much more fit looking body than Wrigley so when he comments on Wrigley's body it's so stupid.

5 hours ago, xhoipolloix said:

This is pure speculation because I did not read the book, nor do I know what happens. But there's no way Stephen is as innocent as he claims to be in Macy's death. He had to have directly caused it, and I suspect he is more responsible than Drew but has convinced Drew otherwise.

This. I feel like he must have outright killed her or something. I kind of hope so because otherwise this is all dumb.

4 hours ago, mandymax said:

And did he do something WITH Pippa at the lake house?  The way they stared at each other as he dunked the camera made me wonder if they'd taken pictures of themselves IN THE ACT or something and he was destroying THAT evidence - it almost looked like Pippa was smiling at him.  

I thought they must have fucked but now that a couple posters reminded me that he has her knowing the Drew secret to hold over her that's probably all that was.

I don't understand why Stephen destroyed the camera. Is it just because he's an asshole or is it more nefarious?

I do think this was actually the best episode so far though. Any episode with significant screen time for Bree is the best.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, gesundheit said:

There's definitely something else going on there, though I don't understand why he would claim that he left her there to die anyway.

He’s not. He claimed that she died on impact. I’m guessing that the fact that he did leave her to die is what he is hiding. 

4 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I don't understand why Stephen destroyed the camera. Is it just because he's an asshole or is it more nefarious?

I think it was because there were photos of him and Lucy on the camera and he didn’t want to risk Diana seeing them. Pippa was taunting him about posting them to Facebook and updating his profile pic since she knows him not wanting to be scene in public with Lucy is a point of contention. 

14 hours ago, xhoipolloix said:

These people are so relentlessly self absorbed and awful. The only one with any redeeming qualities is Bree.

I think both Evan and Bree are likeable. Mainly because they are the ones calling out how self-absorbed the others are. 

4 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I do think this was actually the best episode so far though. Any episode with significant screen time for Bree is the best.

I agree. I loved Evan’s remark about Lucy not getting enough attention and Bree pointing out that Pippa and Lucy had never asked about her family. I also really liked the comment that no one needed to call shotgun for Bree since she’s not a seat in a car. Bree makes everything better. Can she and Diana become friends? 

[gesundheit]

2 minutes ago, Dani said:

He’s not. He claimed that she died on impact. I’m guessing that the fact that he did leave her to die is what he is hiding. 

I know that's what he claimed but it doesn't change the fact that his claim means he left Macy there to die. He left her there to die whether she was already dead or not because he's not exactly qualified to make that determination. Lucy's selective endorsement of his (alleged but probably more sinister) actions and not Drew's is pretty gross, but of course that's the whole point. He was "in shock and scared" and so she understands why he left, but he was lucid and level-headed enough to make a medical determination somehow, so he did nothing wrong? But Drew, who was also in shock and scared is a monster, because she is not in his thrall. Because she's young, dumb, and full of... well, the machinations of a likely sociopath.

10 minutes ago, Dani said:

I think both Evan and Bree are likeable. Mainly because they are the ones calling out how self-absorbed the others are. 

Me too, I like Evan a lot, which is why I'm nervous about what his dark secret is.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, gesundheit said:

I know that's what he claimed but it doesn't change the fact that his claim means he left Macy there to die. He left her there to die whether she was already dead or not because he's not exactly qualified to make that determination.

In reality I agree but I do think it makes a difference in his and Lucy’s minds. So to him he is specifically not admitting to leaving her to die. 

13 minutes ago, gesundheit said:

Me too, I like Evan a lot, which is why I'm nervous about what his dark secret is.

I didn’t think what he was said was hinting about a dark secret beyond deep insecurities from his parents. Generational trauma seems to be one of the shows themes.  

[gesundheit]

7 minutes ago, Dani said:

I didn’t think what he was said was hinting about a dark secret beyond deep insecurities from his parents. Generational trauma seems to be one of the shows themes.  

I hope so!

[SoWindsor]

On 9/29/2022 at 12:10 AM, Dani said:

The first is still a flashback mystery about who killed Stephen an

Did you just reveal a major spoiler without adding spoiler tag? I had no idea about this and now the ending has been spoiled.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, SoWindsor said:

Did you just reveal a major spoiler without adding spoiler tag? I had no idea about this and now the ending has been spoiled.

No. That is just what I wish the show was about since I hate Stephen. We see Stephen in the future scenes of the first episode. 

[mandymax]

17 hours ago, WatcherUatl10 said:

I don't recall who knows what about who regarding the Macy/Drew hit and run, but I'm fairly certain that Stephen knows that Pippa knows....and then it gets complicated by people not knowing other people know what they know. It needs a flow chart. BUT Stephen DOES know that Pippa's texting someone all weekend, and tried to reveal it during the drinking games, and she knows he caught her again out by the pool. He basically dared her to tell on him by slowly submerging the camera while she watched. The fact that she DIDN'T tell probably means there's more to the texting than she wants known, and she's willing to keep his secret. Which is terrible in general, but even worse considering that Bree said she borrowed the camera, which means she's responsible for paying for it, and they just discovered her family situation, which is far less affluent than anyone else in the group, except maybe Stephen.

You're right - I totally forgot about the Pippa texting thing and that that's what he caught her doing out by the pool.  That makes the whole scene make more sense.  Thanks!

[peachmangosteen]

11 hours ago, Dani said:

Bree makes everything better. Can she and Diana become friends? 

They need to! I'm sad that Bree and Evan invited these assholes to their wedding. Those 2 and Diana need to run far away from Stephen, Lucy, and Pippa. Drew and Wrigley can still be salvaged imo.

10 hours ago, Dani said:

I didn’t think what he was said was hinting about a dark secret beyond deep insecurities from his parents. Generational trauma seems to be one of the shows themes.  

I agree. I didn't get the sense that Evan was hiding some sinister thing he did in the past.

[DoubleUTeeEff]

14 hours ago, Dani said:

He’s not. He claimed that she died on impact. I’m guessing that the fact that he did leave her to die is what he is hiding. 

I think it's even more than this. I mean, if Macy was found dead on the scene there is no way to prove or disprove whether Stephen left her to die. And Stephen doesn't seem like the type to just come out with the truth especially it's going to hurt him. I haven't read the book either so this is pure speculation--but I think Stephen must have been the one driving and he put Macy in the driver's seat before he abandoned the accident scene. He was probably drinking and/or doing drugs so he knew he'd get in trouble and that's why he fled after setting Macy up to take the fall/possibly also die. I bet she knew she was too impaired at the party to drive herself so she trusted Stephen to drive her home instead. I don't know whether this would make Drew more or less or equally responsible as Stephen, especially if he had been drinking/doing drugs as well but Stephen's doing his best to spread the blame to anyone besides himself. Of course, my hatred of Stephen might be coloring my view, too.

[peachmangosteen]

Great spec, @DoubleUTeeEff. I'll be shocked if that isn't what happened.

[CarpeFelis]

I’m starting to hate Lucy almost as much as I hate Stephen. Book Lucy wasn’t exactly a sympathetic character, but TV Lucy is a complete bitch. She and Stephen deserve each other.

Evan has a hell of a lot more tolerance than I’d have had in his shoes. Because I’d have tossed Wrigley out on his obnoxious ass when he pulled the stunt with the bed when they arrived. It was Evan’s house and Evan’s birthday, FFS.

Bree, Evan, Diana, and Drew are the only characters I actually like at this point, and maybe Pippa. (Yes, Drew. The only thing he’s done wrong is leave the scene of the accident, which I believe was actually Stephen’s fault, and he felt guilty as hell about it, which Stephen sure as hell has not. Drew also hasn’t been an obnoxious asshole like most of these people.)

[sadie]

Am I the only one that thinks Pippa looks about 35 years old. It’s very distracting. What she sees in Wrigley is a mystery, he’s the most obnoxious jerk I’ve ever witnessed on my screen. Why does he think he’s so entertaining? He just grates and how he has any friends is a mystery.

Lucy is interesting to me, on the one hand she is just awful: self absorbed, smug, but on the other hand I feel bad for her. I dated a “Stephen” in my twenties and it messed me up for a long time. She doesn’t stand a chance. Just when you think he might be redeemable, he dunks the camera so there is no proof of them being together. 

Evan and Bree need to move far away and change their phone numbers and not deal with any of these assholes ever again.

[mansonlamps]

On 10/7/2022 at 5:49 AM, sadie said:

Am I the only one that thinks Pippa looks about 35 years old. It’s very distracting. What she sees in Wrigley is a mystery, he’s the most obnoxious jerk I’ve ever witnessed on my screen. Why does he think he’s so entertaining? He just grates and how he has any friends is a mystery.

Haha, I was just coming here to say the same thing!  In a quick Google search I was unable to determine the actress's age though.  Weirdly I thought the same thing about Eleanor on Never Have I Ever and the one thing they have on common is bangs, so maybe bangs age a person?  Either way it's distracting.

[anonymiss]

6 hours ago, mansonlamps said:

Haha, I was just coming here to say the same thing!  In a quick Google search I was unable to determine the actress's age though.  Weirdly I thought the same thing about Eleanor on Never Have I Ever and the one thing they have on common is bangs, so maybe bangs age a person?  Either way it's distracting.

Yes she does look a lot older than the others and it's the only casting decision I dislike. The rest are cast really well. Ironically, bangs are known to make a person look younger lol.

[SnarkAttack]

I'm surprised Lucy doesn't suspect Stephen with regard to the wet camera, she was so sensitive about the fact he didn't seem to want to be seen with her.

If Stephen moved Macy to the driver's seat, that would mean the passenger side would have been more damaged in order for it to have killed her and left Stephen unscathed. Investigators would of noticed she was in the less damaged part of the car (driver's side) which wouldn't make sense.  If that's what happened.

Edited October 10, 2022 by SnarkAttack
Clarification

[anonymiss]

41 minutes ago, SnarkAttack said:

I'm surprised Lucy doesn't suspect Stephen with regard to the wet camera, she was so sensitive about the fact he didn't seem to want to be seen with her.

This is believable, in my unfortunate experience. It's only year 1 of the narcissistic abuse. She thinks he's a typical horny college guy whom she's reforming and she's "won" his love over his (very impressive) ex-gf. She doesn't think he's a manipulative, potentially evidence-tampering POS, capable of just about anything to look out for his selfish agenda. In order to avoid cognitive dissonance from her love of him, she has to believe his explanations whenever he gaslights her.

[rainbowbanana]

On 10/6/2022 at 6:07 AM, gesundheit said:

There's definitely something else going on there, though I don't understand why he would claim that he left her there to die anyway. He's already confessed to a serious crime. I'm wondering if he made up the whole story about being there at all just to manipulate Lucy into re-investing by making her feel like he needed her help. Now she's covering up a crime, so he pretty much has a hold on her for good. 

And who was Pippa texting?

I assumed Pippa was texting Lucys new gay roommate. And they will hook up because Pippa is actually gay? If you go back to the scene of her a Wrigley having sex she doesn't actually seem into it at all, she just likes being with him because of the status it gives her and is starting to show her annoyance with him in the latest episode. Still wondering if they'll reveal anything about why she said she had to change schools in her senior year and why she lies/exaggerates about so much (her orgasms, doing cocaine before etc.)

[AnimeMania]

S01.E08: Don't Go Wasting Your Emotion

Pippa has complicated feelings after Wrigley meets her dad. Lucy makes a decision to protect Stephen. 

Original Air Date: October 12, 2022

[anonymiss]

Sigh. Lucy is so dickmatized. It's uncomfortable to watch people be their very human, selfish, ignoble versions of themselves.

That Pippa oral sex scene and the talk that followed was embarrassingly realistic. I cringed and applauded. Her back story  was really good and makes me like the character a lot more.

Edited October 12, 2022 by anonymiss

[gesundheit]

3 hours ago, anonymiss said:

Sigh. Lucy is so dickmatized. It's uncomfortable to watch people be their very human, selfish, ignoble versions of themselves.

That Pippa oral sex scene and the talk that followed was embarrassingly realistic. I cringed and applauded. Her back story  was really good and makes me like the character a lot more.

Yes, this is all so painful to watch and so many people are just making the wrong choice at every turn, but yes, I cringe because of the embarrassing realism. And Lucy's completely inaccurate sense that she's the one with the upper hand in the relationship right now is so sad and pathetic but, yes, human. She really is only 19. Even in that sex scene at the end with her pushing the whole, "Do you see how good this is?" thing. Made my stomach hurt.

I guess I should've realized that Wrigley is actually a last name but it's always so funny to me when one dudebro has literally everyone calling him by his last name only and then his brother, who is also a Wrigley, is just... Drew. And somehow there's no confusion.

I didn't understand why Pippa didn't give Lucy more details about how Stephen threatened her and why. He has no leverage over her now, she could tell Lucy how he called her a cunt for telling about Diana/Stephen and then later dunked the camera. Although Lucy would probably rationalize why that was okay anyway.

I was glad to see Diana isn't perfect! But she really is truly lucky to hate Stephen.

[mandymax]

I kind of understand Diana's confusion - he cheated on Diana, who he loved to the best of his ability, but he's staying faithful to Lucy?  Or is that just because he wants to hurt Diana for not-cheating with Wrigley before he even knew her?

[gesundheit]

7 hours ago, mandymax said:

I kind of understand Diana's confusion - he cheated on Diana, who he loved to the best of his ability, but he's staying faithful to Lucy?  Or is that just because he wants to hurt Diana for not-cheating with Wrigley before he even knew her?

I don't think he has any interest in staying faithful to Lucy, it's just that he meant it when he said he found Diana disgusting now because she hooked up with Wrigley. He's really that gross.

[peachmangosteen]

Still hoping for a twist at the end and someone murders Stephen at the wedding.

[SunnyBeBe]

On 10/10/2022 at 7:23 PM, SnarkAttack said:

I'm surprised Lucy doesn't suspect Stephen with regard to the wet camera, she was so sensitive about the fact he didn't seem to want to be seen with her.

If Stephen moved Macy to the driver's seat, that would mean the passenger side would have been more damaged in order for it to have killed her and left Stephen unscathed. Investigators would of noticed she was in the less damaged part of the car (driver's side) which wouldn't make sense.  If that's what happened.

Also, if people are wearing a seatbelt, the marks on the body reveal which side you were on upon impact.  
 

What did Evan say his dad does for a living?

Pippa looks my mom’s age when I was in college.  It’s distracting.

Edited October 15, 2022 by SunnyBeBe

[peachmangosteen]

4 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

What did Evan say his dad does for a living?

He invented those sticky hand things.

[AnimeMania]

S01.E09: Sugar, We're Going Down Swinging

Things between Wrigley and Drew come to a head. Lucy is forced to confront her past.

Original Air Date: October 19, 2022

[mandymax]

I'm guessing that was Drew's car over the edge?  I was watching on my laptop and the screen was dark, so I couldn't see much.  But I can't believe Stephen actually felt bad enough to CRY, like they showed, and I certainly can't believe he ran straight to Lucy and told her he loved her.  What was THAT all about?

At least things are finally starting to happen, now that the next episode is the finale.  Is there a season 2 in the works?

[mandymax]

2 hours ago, WatcherUatl10 said:

It's been a while since I graduated college, but wouldn't the test for plagiarism be ascertaining whether Lucy's writing style was comparable to the Live Journal piece, and not about the content? She could very well have had the same thing happen to her as to someone on the internet, but the way it was told would be different enough to distinguish them. 

My impression was that she copied and pasted the LiveJournal piece and submitted it as her assignment, thus the plagiarism.  I think she brought the mom in to explain the situation, so the professor would understand that Lucy did indeed write both pieces because the situation was identical to what the mom described.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, WatcherUatl10 said:

It's been a while since I graduated college, but wouldn't the test for plagiarism be ascertaining whether Lucy's writing style was comparable to the Live Journal piece, and not about the content? She could very well have had the same thing happen to her as to someone on the internet, but the way it was told would be different enough to distinguish them.

I doubt it. Writing style is not always that distinctive. I’ve never had to deal with a plagiarism accusation but my understanding is that most schools are not going to investigate them that throughly. It would come down entirely to if she could prove she wrote the original or not. Her mom telling the same story wouldn’t mean much since she could have lied. 

[gesundheit]

3 hours ago, WatcherUatl10 said:

It's been a while since I graduated college, but wouldn't the test for plagiarism be ascertaining whether Lucy's writing style was comparable to the Live Journal piece, and not about the content? She could very well have had the same thing happen to her as to someone on the internet, but the way it was told would be different enough to distinguish them.

Yeah, "it's autobiographical" is a bizarre way to disprove plagiarism. I never used LiveJournal so I guess I'm clueless here, but considering she wrote it on her LiveJournal, it feels a bit odd that she couldn't prove that. "I don't have access to that email address anymore" is not really enough of an obstacle.

I feel like we're not going to get much next week since it's the finale. No way they can wrap all this up and jump back to the 2015(?) framing scenes. I'm a bit annoyed. I'd be interested in a second season with a new story, but not another season of this story.

I, too, was shocked that Stephen had enough feelings that he actually cried. (Not enough to garner my sympathy, of course!)

Poor Pippa.

[gesundheit]

6 hours ago, mandymax said:

I'm guessing that was Drew's car over the edge?  I was watching on my laptop and the screen was dark, so I couldn't see much.  But I can't believe Stephen actually felt bad enough to CRY, like they showed, and I certainly can't believe he ran straight to Lucy and told her he loved her.  What was THAT all about?

At least things are finally starting to happen, now that the next episode is the finale.  Is there a season 2 in the works?

I don't think anyone's car was over the edge in this episode, Stephen just went to the site of Macy's death

[SoWindsor]

On 9/29/2022 at 12:10 AM, Dani said:

I now have two things that I wish this show was. The first is still a flashback mystery about who killed Stephen and the second is a story about a toxic relationship with Diana as the lead. She is the much more sympathetic of the two women Stephen is manipulating. The way he turned her sleeping with someone before they met into a bigger offense than him cheating on her was much more compelling than any of his scenes with Lucy.

The one thing that I did like the way everyone reacting to Lucy saying she was done with Stephen. That relieved we can finally say what we have wanted to say for months reaction was so real. 

Dude!!!! Thanks for the spoiler!! Had no clue someone killed Stephen.

[peachmangosteen]

6 minutes ago, SoWindsor said:

Dude!!!! Thanks for the spoiler!! Had no clue someone killed Stephen.

Again, Stephen being killed is just on some of our wishlist and is not a spoiler.

I was initially under the impression that this was a one season show. I guess I started to disbelieve that once I realized they hadn't gotten through seemingly 1 year let alone 8, but I still thought it was for some reason lol. 

If they get another season, I'd rather it focus on Bree because she's awesome.

[mansonlamps]

Well, Katy Sagal's son must be a great actor because I hate Stephen with the white hot intensity of 1000 burning suns (or nuns for you former MBTV fans)!  

[bilgistic]

He always looks constipated.

[gesundheit]

I don't know how that man expects to get through life when "meeting the girlfriend's mother" causes him to go full psycho