S05.E02: Think Twice

[Lady Calypso]

Ok, so I have a slightly unpopular opinion; I REALLY appreciate what they're doing with Maggie. I think her having hyperemesis gravidarum was a surprisingly good idea...but also, at the same time, this show does a terrible job with nuance so I think I'll quickly regret this choice once it veers into jealousy and bad choices. I think shows have pregnancies go so smoothly that they don't often explore the real complications that can happen. I don't even think hyperemesis gravidarum has been explored in TV much, if ever. So I like the idea of Maggie having all day morning sickness and think it's a shame we had to skip ahead to the end of her pregnancy and missed out on how she's dealt with it throughout the last few months, because it does make it look like she doesn't really know how to handle it.

23 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

In fairness to Maggie, she didn't seem aware a temporary host would be coming in while she was out.  Given how far along she is, that's really more of a management issue to let her know what is happening than a Maggie issue. 

And this is just a question because the show played it up as something nefarious seeming, what are the ethics of a therapist temporarily taking over a talk show for the girlfriend of one of her patients?     

From what her new boss said at the end of the episode to her, he hadn't even committed to a temporary host until Gary stepped in, so it sounded like the next few shows (as many as Maggie could bank) would have been pre-recorded (which WAS a stupid idea to begin with because there's only so many episodes they could bank before the viewers would want to actually call in). Her boss only seemed to warm to the idea when the audience was receptive to Gary filling in, which led him to commit to a temporary host (which, of course, led him to push for that being more permanent by not so gently telling Maggie that she can outright quit. Show definitely wasn't subtle with her boss being a complete dick and wavering on potential legal issues there).

So, for the first time since season 1, I actually do think I could be ok with this as Maggie's arc. How they handle it is another story, though. For now, I do think it's a good one.

Dr. Jessica is chosen to be the temporary host...of course she is. And of course Gary shared her name, which means we'll see an upcoming episode where Dr. Jessica shares a story about Gary that she may not reveal who it's about, but will lead Maggie to become jealous and upset and...joy, miscommunications all around.

So, Eddie has his break-up with Anna so his final season arc can be...him going to college? I guess that could be an ok arc for him. I also really like his friendship with Greta. It surprisingly works for me, especially since Katherine/Greta can be annoying sometimes.

I didn't hate the Regina/Sophie arc but I was annoyed with Regina for instantly jumping on Sophie's new friend being the culprit when there are literally other people who also hang around the food truck. She saw one guy with track marks and immediately thought "hey, this has to be the guy who stole from us" instead of maybe the other dozen people who are also in the area. That being said, Regina is right in telling Sophie that she needs to be more careful. Regardless of her new friend being elsewhere, they are in an area where they can't be leaving the truck unlocked. Regina was wrong in immediately jumping to the new friend, but she wasn't wrong in being wary of the area they are selling their food in.

I do like Rome's story with his father. It is the most realistic and the most sad one of them all.

[cardigirl]

13 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

From what her new boss said at the end of the episode to her, he hadn't even committed to a temporary host until Gary stepped in, so it sounded like the next few shows (as many as Maggie could bank) would have been pre-recorded (which WAS a stupid idea to begin with because there's only so many episodes they could bank before the viewers would want to actually call in). Her boss only seemed to warm to the idea when the audience was receptive to Gary filling in, which led him to commit to a temporary host (which, of course, led him to push for that being more permanent by not so gently telling Maggie that she can outright quit. Show definitely wasn't subtle with her boss being a complete dick and wavering on potential legal issues there)

Sorry, but I disagree with the bolded part of your post. I thought they were being super subtle about it, if he is, indeed, a dick at all. 

Maggie hates him, but as far as I remember we only have her word for it?  Was this the guy responsible for getting rid of her boss? That storyline was also badly handled, and Maggie would have been let go anywhere else in the world. Of course, getting pregnant not long after those events means that even if the station was contemplating replacing her at some point, they can't do it NOW. 

If this is where the show is ramping up to, a showdown between Maggie and her boss and women's rights, well, not sure I have the patience for it, as the show will likely handle it all weird.

And I think most of the time pregnancies on tv shows are shown to be fraught with danger and mishaps. It's done for drama, and not a fair representation of what the majority of women experience when they are pregnant. I could get behind a storyline where Maggie feels that all anyone cares about anymore is the baby, and she's just the mom.  THAT happens to all mothers. LOL. 

[Lady Calypso]

11 minutes ago, cardigirl said:

Was this the guy responsible for getting rid of her boss? That storyline was also badly handled, and Maggie would have been let go anywhere else in the world. Of course, getting pregnant not long after those events means that even if the station was contemplating replacing her at some point, they can't do it NOW. 

It's been a while since the end of last season so I may not remember everything. This new boss is the son of the owner of the station, right? So I don't know if he was directly responsible for what happened last season, but at the end of the day, they fired her boss over her, so they chose to keep her own as a host. Yeah, I remember what she did last season was probably grounds to let her go, but they made the choice to fire her boss instead so they don't have grounds to let her go now (and clearly, they don't plan to). So, you are right, in that they definitely can't, but that's why they had the new boss hint at her leaving after she has the baby. Hence why I don't think it was very subtle. With him telling Maggie that she could become a stay at home mom and they'd be "totally fine" with her not coming back after her 12 weeks, it was the show's not subtle way in showing how the new boss doesn't want Maggie to stay as a host. At least, it was very obvious in his intents to me (though was him being nice by buying her that soda machine a way to soften her up or was he genuinely trying to be nice? I still haven't figured that out).

11 minutes ago, cardigirl said:

And I think most of the time pregnancies on tv shows are shown to be fraught with danger and mishaps. It's done for drama, and not a fair representation of what the majority of women experience when they are pregnant. I could get behind a storyline where Maggie feels that all anyone cares about anymore is the baby, and she's just the mom.  THAT happens to all mothers. LOL. 

To be fair, they usually show the absolute extreme, as in "oops, baby and mom are about to MAYBE DIE", rather than natural, though extreme, pregnancy symptoms. 

[cardigirl]

17 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

It's been a while since the end of last season so I may not remember everything. This new boss is the son of the owner of the station, right? So I don't know if he was directly responsible for what happened last season, but at the end of the day, they fired her boss over her, so they chose to keep her own as a host. Yeah, I remember what she did last season was probably grounds to let her go, but they made the choice to fire her boss instead so they don't have grounds to let her go now (and clearly, they don't plan to). So, you are right, in that they definitely can't, but that's why they had the new boss hint at her leaving after she has the baby. Hence why I don't think it was very subtle. With him telling Maggie that she could become a stay at home mom and they'd be "totally fine" with her not coming back after her 12 weeks, it was the show's not subtle way in showing how the new boss doesn't want Maggie to stay as a host. At least, it was very obvious in his intents to me (though was him being nice by buying her that soda machine a way to soften her up or was he genuinely trying to be nice? I still haven't figured that out).

To be fair, they usually show the absolute extreme, as in "oops, baby and mom are about to MAYBE DIE", rather than natural, though extreme, pregnancy symptoms. 

I guess when her boss mentioned that sometimes moms decide to stay home after the baby comes (which is true, btw) and then realized he shouldn't have said that because she could take it as him encouraging her to not come back, I didn't see it as calculated, but I was already annoyed by Maggie, so I probably was inclined to think he was more hapless than calculating.  I guess we'll have to see how it plays out. Of course, whatever happens, Maggie will not be in the wrong, and all of her friends will come to her rescue. 

 

 

[Lady Calypso]

9 minutes ago, cardigirl said:

I guess when her boss mentioned that sometimes moms decide to stay home after the baby comes (which is true, btw) and then realized he shouldn't have said that because she could take it as him encouraging her to not come back, I didn't see it as calculated, but I was already annoyed by Maggie, so I probably was inclined to think he was more hapless than calculating.  I guess we'll have to see how it plays out. Of course, whatever happens, Maggie will not be in the wrong, and all of her friends will come to her rescue. 

Well, it was that scene, coupled with the new boss telling Dr. Jessica that she'll be on "12 weeks....but you never know", (aka, I want to keep you around longer to replace Maggie) which adds to the whole "new boss doesn't want Maggie around as a permanent host anymore and he's going to try to find legal ways to edge her out". That was my reading, anyway. It wasn't just the one comment; it seems to be adding up and making it quite clear, to me, what his intentions are. The only thing I cannot grasp is WHY he seems to want Maggie out as host. We haven't seen anything to say why he likes or dislikes her, so it's a mere guessing game, at this point.

I just think AMLT isn't very good at writing nuance so maybe it just seems to me that he's an antagonist and not just hapless. Either way, it IS only the first episode in Maggie's work arc, so I'm sure we'll see where they're actually going with the new boss in the next few episodes.

[KaveDweller]

2 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

The only thing I cannot grasp is WHY he seems to want Maggie out as host. We haven't seen anything to say why he likes or dislikes her, so it's a mere guessing game, at this point.

Well Maggie is not exactly the most likable person.

But most people on the show like her and we've been told she has amazing ratings, so I'd think her boss wouldn't care.

[Sandman]

On 2/15/2023 at 11:56 PM, txhorns79 said:

It speaks to what a void Katherine is, and how the writers mistook making her a lesbian for giving her a personality.

I think Katherine used to have a personality; I mean, beyond being pissed at Eddie. Now she has a haircut, and a girlfriend.

On 2/17/2023 at 6:43 PM, ams1001 said:

*Echoing what was said above - how do you "bank" a live call-in show?

Well, record interactions with callers -- it just wouldn't be a live show.

On 2/17/2023 at 4:38 PM, circumvent said:

If she is "banking" the shows, she is taking calls live and then airing them weeks later, as entertainment? Way of objectify people!

There is an entertainment aspect of the show, regardless of whether it's live or not: the listening audience is wider than the half-dozen people who call in to each episode. Banking the shows doesn't make that more explicit, I don't think.

Not going to argue with anything said above about Maggie's assumptions about her leave, but, man, the Colton Cutler character took a sinister turn at the end there!