S01.E09: Escape from Shi... Mountain

[shapeshifter]

On 3/2/2023 at 10:55 PM, kay1864 said:

2. Why would Jimmy have only one bullet in his gun?

If the gun was capable of holding 6 bullets, perhaps the gun was a metaphor for Jimmy being only 1/6 guilty as an accomplice?

When Jimmy told Charlie he would protect her, I guess I missed her bullshit-ometer registering, because then he gave her the knockout pills as "advil."

 

 

 

46 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I think that Morty stole Charlie's wallet, which led the cops to identify her as Charlie.

Ah, yes! They didn't have Charlie catching Morty stealing her wallet all those times for nothing!

Kind of sad that we never learn Morty's real name, but maybe that could foreshadow Charlie's real name disappearing? At least long enough to escape Cliff?

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by shapeshifter

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I assume Poker Face will be treated as a limited series and then indeed they will probably get all of the awards especially if White Lotus is not competing the same year.  I found it unfair that WL was treated as a limited series when it's already shooting Season 3 and yet they get to dominate all the Limited Series awards.  I can see Poker Face being treated the same way.

The limited series category includes an anthology series where the location and cast turns over year to year.  The show recently got booted from that category for next season. Had White Lotus not kept Tonya and Greg, and built on what it did with them in the first season, it probably would have been able to stay where it is.  

Poker Face isn't considered an anthology or limited series. The series has been renewed and it's going to continue to follow Charlie whether she has new trouble or this season's issues remain.

[Dev F]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

When Jimmy told Charlie he would protect her, I guess I missed her bullshit-ometer registering, because then he gave her the knockout pills as "advil."

We're not meant to realize it until she spits out the pills. The idea, I think, is that she knew he was lying the whole time and was only pretending to trust him.

Edited March 4, 2023 by Dev F

[Spartan Girl]

10 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I forgot all of that myself.

This is a pretty lengthy summary:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Man's_Hand_(Poker_Face)

No, I remember everything that happened, I just still don’t understand why Sterling Sr blames Charlie for his stupid ass son killing himself to the point where he’s willing to murder her. But villains are gonna villain 🤷‍♀️ 

[shapeshifter]

10 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Can’t wait for the finale.

I hate to try to decider villain/troll logic for Sterling Sr, but why blame Charlie for his stupid son killing himself? He was fleecing poker players and killed himself because Daddy had just found out. Or am I missing something?

10 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I forgot all of that myself.

This is a pretty lengthy summary:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Man's_Hand_(Poker_Face)

34 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

No, I remember everything that happened, I just still don’t understand why Sterling Sr blames Charlie for his stupid ass son killing himself to the point where he’s willing to murder her. But villains are gonna villain 🤷‍♀️ 

I was sort of hoping Cliff would decide Charlie is worth more than any idiotically motivated revenge money Sterling is paying him, but it didn’t sound like that.  
Next week is the finale. 
Maybe [putting in spoiler tags in case I’m right]

Spoiler

…if Cliff has been thinking Charlie did not deserve to die,  
and Cliff has reached the point where continuing to chase her is not worth what he’s being paid,   
and   
this latest incident is the perfect opportunity for Cliff to offer Charlie a cut of Sterling’s payment to kill her,   
if  
Charlie is willing to stay off the grid permanently, pretending to be dead. 

And maybe she’ll even go by “Morty,” at least occasionally, as an homage to her dead acquaintance.

 

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by shapeshifter

[Haleth]

Poor Charlie.  Injured and left for dead not once, but twice in the same 24 hours.  

Did JGL die?  Were the pills (whatever they were) enough to kill him or did the police take him in?  Yeah, it's surprising the news reader (who I thought sounded like Tina Fey until we saw her) didn't mention Jane Doe.  That would have made it make more sense that Ben Bratt investigated and found her.

RIP Morty.  Continuing to steal Charlie's wallet was a funny gag and was more important than it originally seemed.

31 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Next week is the finale. 

Oh, good.  I thought this was the season finale.

[Spartan Girl]

I don’t feel that bad about Morty. She was willing to leave Charlie with Trey knowing full well he killed Chloe in exchange for his car.

[Paloma]

9 hours ago, susannot said:

Charlie dug herself out of the hole the first time using her stabby-stick which was Chloe's bone.  She was not thrown into the hole again but was stabbed and left for dead by Trey in the motel, next to the other (dead) guy. 

I don't think your second sentence is right, because when the camera focused on her and the dead guy, it looked the same as when she was in the hidey-hole the first time. If that's where they were, I guess she could have picked up another one of Chloe's bones to use as stabby-stick to dig out.

[shapeshifter]

33 minutes ago, Paloma said:

I don't think your second sentence is right, because when the camera focused on her and the dead guy, it looked the same as when she was in the hidey-hole the first time. If that's where they were, I guess she could have picked up another one of Chloe's bones to use as stabby-stick to dig out.

Chloe was too out of it for stabby-stick climbing the second time, but it didn't matter because we saw the light on the ankle monitor in her hand.

[paigow]

1 hour ago, Haleth said:

Did JGL die? 

No. The pills were sedatives.

[Paloma]

7 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Chloe was too out of it for stabby-stick climbing the second time, but it didn't matter because we saw the light on the ankle monitor in her hand.

So if we assume that she (along with the dead guy and Chloe's bones) was found and pulled out of the hidey-hole by the police because of the ankle monitor, why didn't the news report mention her--that is, say that they found an unidentified unconscious victim along with the dead guy and Chloe's bones, with another dead victim in the car? It wouldn't have changed Charlie's relief at being "dead" when she heard the report, since they had misidentified Mortimer as Charlie.

Maybe we are supposed to assume that the reporter made a mistake or that she added a mention of the unidentified victim being taken to the hospital later; the other explanation is that the local police were in cahoots with Sterling and intentionally concealed the discovery of an unconscious victim. Either way, I don't like it. I don't mind misleading clues if they ultimately pay off, but this just feels like sloppy writing.

[shapeshifter]

14 minutes ago, Paloma said:

So if we assume that she (along with the dead guy and Chloe's bones) was found and pulled out of the hidey-hole by the police because of the ankle monitor, why didn't the news report mention her--that is, say that they found an unidentified unconscious victim along with the dead guy and Chloe's bones, with another dead victim in the car? It wouldn't have changed Charlie's relief at being "dead" when she heard the report, since they had misidentified Mortimer as Charlie.

Maybe we are supposed to assume that the reporter made a mistake or that she added a mention of the unidentified victim being taken to the hospital later; the other explanation is that the local police were in cahoots with Sterling and intentionally concealed the discovery of an unconscious victim. Either way, I don't like it. I don't mind misleading clues if they ultimately pay off, but this just feels like sloppy writing.

Yeah, but I think this👆 sketchy information to us viewers is a feature for this show, even though it feels more like a bug to us.

[Cotypubby]

5 hours ago, Haleth said:

Did JGL die?  Were the pills (whatever they were) enough to kill him or did the police take him in?

No. He’s just woozy. He stumbles into his house after dumping both bodies into the hole and then realizes that his parole officer is outside his front door and his ankle monitor is missing. 
 

Charlie, Jimmy’s body and Chloe’s bones were then found inside the tree hole because she held onto the ankle monitor when she cut his leg and the police tracked it there.

[susannot]

4 hours ago, Cotypubby said:

No. He’s just woozy. He stumbles into his house after dumping both bodies into the hole and then realizes that his parole officer is outside his front door and his ankle monitor is missing. 
 

Charlie, Jimmy’s body and Chloe’s bones were then found inside the tree hole because she held onto the ankle monitor when she cut his leg and the police tracked it there.

I could have sworn Jimmy and Charlie were still in Haunted Moose Manor.  Oh well.

This is the first time I have seen Stephanie Hsu in anything.  The dialogue between her and Charlie was hilarious.  I laughed out loud frequently.  The whole Mortimer Bernstein thing. 

The Emmys are going to have a very difficult time choosing between all the outstanding guest actors from this show.  My guess is that Nick Nolte is a lock for a nomination for sentimental reasons.

[South]

On 3/3/2023 at 9:23 AM, paigow said:

• He could not afford extra bullets
• Morty stole the others while she had the gun

Unless I missed something that would have clarified, I thought it alluded to the notion that he had been contemplating ending his time here.

[South]

On 3/3/2023 at 11:52 AM, akg said:

I was ok with that part (I'm awful at remembering what pills are what colors) but was annoyed Charlie appeared to believe Jimmy when he claimed they were ibuprofen. I told myself it was because of the concussion but was very relieved when they showed later that she hadn't swallowed them. And that turned to love when the pills became Chekhovian and Trey ended up dosing himself.

He was really bad at acknowledging what the consequences of his actions would be. Who decides it's a good idea to take their super fancy expensive sports car out for drive in weather like that? Even if it had been at a reasonable speed, he was asking for trouble.

When he finished the cup of rum with the pills, I hoped it would cause him to drive his sweet set of wheels off the side of a mountain road.  As it turns out, I reckon he will just test hot when he PO gets his hands on him.

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, South said:

When he finished the cup of rum with the pills, I hoped it would cause him to drive his sweet set of wheels off the side of a mountain road.  As it turns out, I reckon he will just test hot when he PO gets his hands on him.

Didn’t Trey drink the rum with the blue knockout pills after he sacrificed his $300K yellow car to the bottom of a cliff with “Morty” in it (after he knocked her unconscious on the steering wheel)?*

Hopefully someone like Monk will show up to bury Trey with evidence for killing Chloe, Jimmy, and who knows else he threw down his serial killer hole. 

––––––––––––   
*Coincidentally, I had a medical procedure Friday that included memory-wiping anesthesia, so I may *have to* rewatch.😉

[Paloma]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

8 hours ago, South said:

When he finished the cup of rum with the pills, I hoped it would cause him to drive his sweet set of wheels off the side of a mountain road.  As it turns out, I reckon he will just test hot when he PO gets his hands on him.

Didn’t Trey drink the rum with the blue knockout pills after he sacrificed his $300K yellow car to the bottom of a cliff with “Morty” in it (after he knocked her unconscious on the steering wheel)?*

Hopefully someone like Monk will show up to bury Trey with evidence for killing Chloe, Jimmy, and who knows else he threw down his serial killer hole. 

Didn't Trey take either Jimmy's truck or Charlie's car to drive back to his home? But he stopped somewhere a bit short of his place and got out of the car when the pills started taking effect, staggering around until he managed to get to his gate and get indoors just in time to answer the PO's call. I may be misremembering, but it doesn't seem likely he could have made it back home on foot.

Wouldn't Trey's ankle monitor in Charlie's hand, as well as any physical evidence of Trey's presence in and around the motel, be enough to tie him to the murders? That's not even counting Morty being found in his car near the other bodies--he could claim she stole it, but if that were true how would he explain Jimmy's truck or Charlie's car (whichever one it was) being near his house (and there would probably be physical evidence of him driving that car or truck). 

Once again I am probably overthinking this.

[paigow]

Jane Doe is a material witness AND an attempted murder victim. The D.A. needs to keep her around for trial - so her hospital room is likely protected.

6 minutes ago, Paloma said:

Didn't Trey take either Jimmy's truck or Charlie's car to drive back to his home? 

Yes. He had to hide it from the P.O. so the staggering was required...

[merylinkid]

On 3/4/2023 at 12:39 AM, shapeshifter said:

When Jimmy told Charlie he would protect her, I guess I missed her bullshit-ometer registering, because then he gave her the knockout pills as "advil."

No he was telling the truth.  She was just supposed to fall asleep. Then Trey was supposed to pay off everyone to keep quiet in the morning.   He did not believe that the pills would harm her (they were only sedatives) so he wasn't lying when he said he would protect her.   He had already talked Trey out of killing the women.

[shapeshifter]

11 hours ago, merylinkid said:

No he was telling the truth.  She was just supposed to fall asleep. Then Trey was supposed to pay off everyone to keep quiet in the morning.   He did not believe that the pills would harm her (they were only sedatives) so he wasn't lying when he said he would protect her.   He had already talked Trey out of killing the women.

. . . or at least thought he'd talked Trey out of killing the women, right? 
I really should rewatch. 

Anyway, thanks, that helps.

[sharifa70]

Sorry, Double-post

Edited March 6, 2023 by sharifa70

[sharifa70]

On 3/4/2023 at 2:22 PM, susannot said:

This is the first time I have seen Stephanie Hsu in anything. 

I highly recommend her Academy Award-nominated turn in Everything Everywhere All at Once. The entire movie is absolutely bonkers in the best way and she’s great in it.

[akg]

On 3/5/2023 at 2:58 AM, South said:

When he finished the cup of rum with the pills, I hoped it would cause him to drive his sweet set of wheels off the side of a mountain road.  As it turns out, I reckon he will just test hot when he PO gets his hands on him.

Ooh, I hadn't thought of a possible drug test. Yes! Throw all of the charges at him.

On 3/5/2023 at 11:33 AM, Paloma said:

Wouldn't Trey's ankle monitor in Charlie's hand, as well as any physical evidence of Trey's presence in and around the motel, be enough to tie him to the murders?

There'd be physical evidence to collect but, with the towers down, I don't think the police would be able to pull his ankle monitor history. The call from Trey's PO warning him not to go anywhere and to be at home at 7 when things were back up is what prompted Trey to leave in the first place. If he thought they'd be able to see his excursion after the fact, I doubt he would have left.

On 3/5/2023 at 11:36 AM, paigow said:

Jane Doe is a material witness AND an attempted murder victim. The D.A. needs to keep her around for trial - so her hospital room is likely protected.

This might explain why the news report was so unclear. The authorities may be trying to hide her existence/survival so didn't release everything.

On 3/6/2023 at 11:26 AM, shapeshifter said:

they were only sedatives

I think they'd mostly act as sedatives but I'm pretty sure Jimmy identified them as something he shouldn't have had (benzos?). I got the impression he had a history of having illegal substances on hand all the way back to high school (Trey convinced him he'd contributed to Chloe's death by supplying her with bad cocaine?).

[South]

On 3/5/2023 at 8:26 AM, shapeshifter said:

Didn’t Trey drink the rum with the blue knockout pills after he sacrificed his $300K yellow car to the bottom of a cliff with “Morty” in it (after he knocked her unconscious on the steering wheel)?*

Hopefully someone like Monk will show up to bury Trey with evidence for killing Chloe, Jimmy, and who knows else he threw down his serial killer hole. 

––––––––––––   
*Coincidentally, I had a medical procedure Friday that included memory-wiping anesthesia, so I may *have to* rewatch.😉

Snap!  You’re right.

[merylinkid]

14 hours ago, akg said:

There'd be physical evidence to collect but, with the towers down, I don't think the police would be able to pull his ankle monitor history. The call from Trey's PO warning him not to go anywhere and to be at home at 7 when things were back up is what prompted Trey to leave in the first place. If he thought they'd be able to see his excursion after the fact, I doubt he would have left.

The fact the ankle monitor was in Charlie's hand in the hidey hole that was so hard to find you had to know it was there is pretty strong evidence.   How did she get his ankle monitor if he wasn't the one who attacked her?   And then just happened to put in her in the whole with 2 other dead bodies?   

Electronic evidence is great (hello Alex Murdaugh), but sometimes you gotta do it the old fashioned way, with good old common sense (again hello Alex Murdaugh).  

[paigow]

21 minutes ago, merylinkid said:

but sometimes you gotta do it the old fashioned way, with good old common sense (again hello Alex Murdaugh).  

• CSI test for GSR
• Victim testimony
• Why someone smart enough to steal a $300K car with the keys drives off the road

[merylinkid]

Also pretty sure he wasn't wearing gloves when he shot his friend.   So fingerprints all over the murder weapon.   Oh and his DISTINCTIVE shoe prints in the snow near the murder tree.   He might have deleted the pics off Morty's phone but he went BACK to the tree in the same shoes.  

[Milburn Stone]

Tangential factoid I discovered when searching for "other stuff directed by Rian Johnson": He has cast JGL in two, maybe three, movies.

[Johnny Dollar]

JGL has been in all of Rian’s movies since Looper, but some are just cameos.

Why would the cops go searching for an ankle monitor that the perp cut off? Wouldn’t they assume it was simply tossed away?

Benjamin Bratt had to have been clued in by the locals that Charlie was in that particular hospital at that particular time.  Since she’s been heading East all season, it doesn’t make sense that Charlie was making her way back to Nevada. I just hope they don’t continue this part of the story into a second season. It’s been kind of pointless. The show would be just as entertaining if she was just a regular drifter. 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Johnny Dollar said:

Why would the cops go searching for an ankle monitor that the perp cut off? Wouldn’t they assume it was simply tossed away?

We saw the light on the ankle monitor (clutched in Charlie's hand) was lit, meaning it was transmitting, but not from inside Trey's home, so that would at least cause his parole officer to go check it out.

[PurpleTentacle]

For a second there I was ready to complain why Charlie didn't pick up on "It's Ibuprofen" being a lie. Only to be pleasently surprised, a few minutes later, that she had gumed the pills.

Man, Charlie must be a Highlander or something. Run over by a speeding car, stabbed through the heart, barely slows her down.

 

Is it just my faceblindness or is something really weird about Gordon-Levitt in this scene?

Somehow he doesn't look like he does in the rest of the episode. Something is very wrong. Did they maybe not film a closeup, realised they needed it, couldn't get Gordon-Levitt and so painted over an extra's face with CGI?

[PurpleTentacle]

On 3/3/2023 at 7:06 PM, possibilities said:

I loved that they established him as a bad guy via the no tipping scenes, even before we knew he was on house arrest. 

I hate tipping so much. I'd rather live in a no-tipping culture where people are getting payed a liveable wage and I have to pay a little more, but a fixed rate. It's not exactly as bad as in the US here, but it could still be a lot better.

On 3/4/2023 at 3:04 AM, Jordan Baker said:

I thought that line might have been a nod to Jack Donaghy's "Never go with a hippie to a second location."

Both are plays on the advice that you should never let a criminal take you to a second location.

For example, if somebody is robbing you, cooperate, give them all your shit. But if they are trying to take you to a second location, be loud and fight back with all you got, because more likely than not, you are dead anyway and that way you at least have a chance.

Edited March 9, 2023 by PurpleTentacle

[Ms Blue Jay]

18 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

Tangential factoid I discovered when searching for "other stuff directed by Rian Johnson": He has cast JGL in two, maybe three, movies.

Oh yeah.  I forgot.  He did "Brick" and "Looper" and JGL was the star of both.

[TaraS1]

As a lifelong Monkees fan, I was surprised and excited to hear a version of their “Take A Giant Step” being played over Charlie’s frolicking with hot lumberjack guy!

[RedbirdNelly]

I expected some mention of lumberjack or for him to show up at the end in some way. Surprised there was no mention. I'm a fan of JGL so when he showed up early I was hoping he'd be a good guy but realized odds were he was the killer or the victim.

[Hanahope]

Yeah I think the news report , based on info from the cops, did not identify our Charlie/Jane Doe because the cops hope she will be a witness against Trey.  Will she get the reward as being the real cause of finding Chloe’s body?

Morty might have been significantly injured to her face that might affect complete identification with driver’s license.  

Cliff got word because of electronic notification of police reports.