S01.E04: Company

[Guest]

Quote

On the threshold of crisis, Sam honours the promise Dr. Strauss made him make as a condition for continuing their work together; the trust built between patient and doctor is tested, with a life in the balance.

September 13, 2022

[gesundheit]

All I know is that I hope if I'm ever captured and held against my will in some dude's basement, there's a therapist on the other side of the door who sings me a song I know the lyrics to.

In other music-related commentary, poor Kenny Chesney and all this No-Shoes Nation(?) slander!

[SunnyBeBe]

Right.  I’m not a mental health professional, however, I think I might try to get Sam to consider some things about the guy he hates and wants to murder.  Ask questions like, what if that guy who he thinks bribed someone was from a country where that was normal and even expected.  Perhaps, he was ignorant of how it works here. Or, the person has a sick family member who is very sick and no health insurance. Or, the man is terminally ill and not much time to live……anything to get him to empathize and not hate.  Also, is the guy in the closet the bribe guy or someone else?  I was confused on that.  
 

And, the Dr.  should have him get a Chesny concert movie.  It’s like being there and could help cheer Sam up.  Nothing more relaxing than Chesney.  lol 

[mansonlamps]

The problem is sociopaths are incapable of empathy,  that's what makes them sociopaths. 

[chuckity]

What is up with the mass amount of urine Sam can hold in his bladder?

[gesundheit]

54 minutes ago, chuckity said:

What is up with the mass amount of urine Sam can hold in his bladder?

I don't know, it's the one thing I can relate to about Sam -- peeing after a lot of coffee and it lasting forever. This show has made me even more self-conscious about who might be able to hear me go that long at work!

[HelloooKitty]

My guess is the pee thing is related to him not having many opportunities to go during his work day if he is out in the field. 
 

I thought the flashback scene was very interesting. I’m curious as to how Alan viewed his wife and the tension between her and their son prior to this and if he is revisiting that since his kidnapping. We have a tendency to elevate those we love to a type of sainthood after their death especially if the death was very tragic or following a lot of suffering as hers was. I wonder if he is rethinking his view of her. 

[BusyOctober]

Even though the Strauss family are not the focus, Alan’s memories of his son and wife’s relationship is intriguing.  So far, I think Alan’s late wife was kind of a (not so) passive-aggressive bitch toward her son. She willfully disrupted the Orthodox wedding ceremony by playing her guitar and singing when explicitly asked not too in the previous episode.  Then we see Alan’s flashback to the family dinner with Beth cheerfully doling out ice cream to her non-Orthodox grandchildren in front of the other kids.  That’s really cruel IMO.  If she has a beef with her son and his wife, she shouldn’t take it out on the kids.   

[HelloooKitty]

Did someone other than the rabbi ask her not to sing? Not that I think she should’ve done it either way, but I could see her justifying it to herself as that it was something special she wanted to do for her son and something she had planned and dreamed of doing at his wedding since he was a child. However, she should have asked her son first. In the end she only ended up embarrassing him in front of those he looked up to and respected. 
 

There is no excuse for the favoritism she showed to the two grandchildren. Im sure she would say that she would love to be able to treat her other grandchildren to ice cream as well, but she can’t. The reality is that she doesn’t care enough to spend time looking for a special treat that all the grandchildren could share. 
 

I wonder if her problem is with orthodoxy in general, or her son converting? Does she have issues bc of the restrictions they place on women? 
Did her son convert by his own choice? Or did he fall in love with his wife and convert for her? Does the mom have issues with her daughter in law and does she make this obvious?

I may be more interested in Alan’s family dynamics than in Sam. 

[MissL]

I thought for a hot sec when Sam kinda smiled at the positive attention at work that Alan may have accomplished something. Then his mom showed up with the phone and I remembered “nope this guy is a psychopath”.

Again the short episodes and the drip of info and action we are getting is driving ME mad. I’m far too used to binge watching I have no patience anymore. I am enjoying this though. 

[EdnasEdibles]

I'm not saying I excuse Alan's wife's attitude but I certainly understand her anger and her hurt. Her son - who she had a close relationship with - decided to leave regular Judaism for orthodox - where women have a lower status and fewer freedoms. The mom's career was in the temple and for her son to select a form of Judaism where she would not have had that career is a rejection of her life and her career and who she is and her importance in the faith. I mean, should she take it out on the grandkids? No. But I can certainly understand how her Judaism was such a huge part of her life and her career and her son was like "Yes, I'd like to do more Judaism but you know, the kind that would not have allowed my mom to be who she is." 

The mother role is very odd here because then Sam's mom needs to grow a pair. Your son is a psychopath. He's going to kill someone in your home. You can't just allow this to happen because he's your boy. 

I'm trying to figure out what the juxtaposition is between the two is trying to tell the viewer. 

Alan's wife in motherhood is saying: I don't like your choices and you are still in my life but you have hurt me and I'm going to let you know that I am hurt in a series of passive aggressive actions. 

Sam's mom: I don't like your choices but you're my boy so continue to create harm in the world because you are my boy. 

I mean Alan's wife is more outwardly hostile which isn't good. But I wouldn't say she's the worse mom. Sam's mom is literally allowing people to die. 

[Milburn Stone]

Loving the discussion here.

The new kidnap-ee seems younger than I was imagining him. From Sam's account, especially his description of the guy as smug, I was imagining a more "connected" guy, cocksure of his ability to pull strings in the bureaucracy. That equates to older in my mind.

Also, in what city does it normally take 7 months for a reinspection? Here in Chicago, if your restaurant is cited for infractions, you're given a short time to fix them, and only if you fail to address them in that time do you face more severe consequences. Putting a restaurant into 7 months of limbo after a first inspection seems nearly as insane as serial killing.

[chaifan]

On 9/13/2022 at 10:03 PM, MissL said:

Again the short episodes and the drip of info and action we are getting is driving ME mad. I’m far too used to binge watching I have no patience anymore.

I actually appreciate the shows that do not dump all at once.  I find I enjoy them more if I watch them at a "normal" pace (the good old fashioned one episode a week).  I can exercise enough control to do a slow binge (one episode a day or every few days) when shows are dumped, but, yeah, I've lost all patience, so I like when the show controls the pace for me.

But these episodes do just seem soooo short.  I know they're standard length for a "1/2 hour" show, but the time goes by so quick.  I think that's a testament to the show - the writing and the acting.  I'm liking the pacing, though, and where we're at with another 6 episodes to go.  The episodes just end so abruptly, though, it gets me every time.

I'm not sure what we're supposed to be getting out of the flashbacks with Beth and Elias.  Are these the memories Alan is actually having in the moment, and if so, why?  I think Beth's behavior is more of a commentary of her views towards Orthodox Judaism in general, then her views towards Elias.  The singing at the wedding struck me as, "your rules are silly, this is my son, and I'll sing if I want to sing, it's not going to kill anyone."  But it is also a swipe at Elias' choice to be Orthodox, which she obviously doesn't approve of.  But still, why are we seeing these moments?

This show is disturbing, but so good.  I really prefer Steve Carell in dramatic roles over comedy, for the most part. 

[EdnasEdibles]

I read an interesting observation / possible symbolism on another site. The mom comes down with a fire poker as her weapon to protect herself against any possible attack from the doctor. What does a fire poker do? It keeps the fire going. It fans the flames. True it could be just a weapon that anyone would have at home. But ever since that was brought up I'm curious about whether symbolism was intended. Is the mom fanning the flames with her son? 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 9/13/2022 at 8:39 PM, HelloooKitty said:

I wonder if her problem is with orthodoxy in general, or her son converting? Does she have issues bc of the restrictions they place on women? 
Did her son convert by his own choice? Or did he fall in love with his wife and convert for her? Does the mom have issues with her daughter in law and does she make this obvious?

Their son did not convert.  He was already Jewish; he just chose to become more observant (from his point of view).  In the earlier episode where the plastic knife couldn't cut through the cake that the son's fiancé had brought to the Strauss house (and the mother later threw the cake against the wall), the Rabbi sitting with them had said that his wife had introduced the couple.  The son was already religiously observant, and sought a wife with a similar outlook.

On 9/13/2022 at 8:39 PM, HelloooKitty said:

Did someone other than the rabbi ask her not to sing? Not that I think she should’ve done it either way, but I could see her justifying it to herself as that it was something special she wanted to do for her son and something she had planned and dreamed of doing at his wedding since he was a child. However, she should have asked her son first. In the end she only ended up embarrassing him in front of those he looked up to and respected. 

If she was a reform cantor, she knew that there would be a major issue with her singing in front of many of the men at the wedding (let's not go into the reason for the issue, but she knew.)  There was no way this would be something "special" she was doing for him at his wedding; it would be mortifying.  Although it would not have been at the wedding, she could have given her performance in front of her son, his fiancé/new wife, Alan and their daughter.  It wouldn't have been her "dream" performance, but everyone there could have experienced some enjoyment.

On 9/13/2022 at 8:39 PM, HelloooKitty said:

I wonder if her problem is with orthodoxy in general

She feels rejected, plain and simple.  There are no female cantors in traditional orthodoxy, but it's more than that. 

On 9/14/2022 at 12:40 PM, EdnasEdibles said:

I don't like your choices and you are still in my life but you have hurt me and I'm going to let you know that I am hurt in a series of passive aggressive actions. 

Yes.  She is passive-aggressively rejecting the son; the son is not rejecting his mother.

He and his family are living their lives the way they think appropriate, while still happily attending meals with the rest of his non-traditionally observant family. As was shown in this episode, since the grandparents aren't kosher, the son's family just brought their own food and ate off of disposable plates. Everything was fine until his mother brought out the fancy ice cream for the other kids, in order to show her disapproval of their lifestyle.

Edited December 6, 2022 by ItCouldBeWorse