S01:E05: A Great Place to Drink to Gain Control of Your Drink

[Guest]

Quote

Simone and Wiley join forces to hunt down Clara, the red-haired woman, which leads them to an enigmatic new source and together they uncover the dangerous truth about their connection to her.

Dropping April 27, 2023

[PurpleTentacle]

I mean maybe Arthur should have told his daughter that a mouse died after drinking from the grail, before she drank from it? Just a thought.

That was a good (if weird) explaination of why the real grail was in a commercial though.

I guess having the liver of a grail-drinker explains why Simone has such a special connection to Jesus. I assume Wiley could see him too, if he prayed. Is he also going to end up married to Jesus, since Jesus loves everybody?

The timeline seems a bit weird. Clara died like 20 years ago, right? So that would have been when Jesus blew off the pope because he was talking to her. Was the Pope really mad at Jesus for 20 years? That was even before Mrs. Davis was a thing, wasn't it?

[questionfear]

6 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I mean maybe Arthur should have told his daughter that a mouse died after drinking from the grail, before she drank from it? Just a thought.

That was a good (if weird) explaination of why the real grail was in a commercial though.

I guess having the liver of a grail-drinker explains why Simone has such a special connection to Jesus. I assume Wiley could see him too, if he prayed. Is he also going to end up married to Jesus, since Jesus loves everybody?

The timeline seems a bit weird. Clara died like 20 years ago, right? So that would have been when Jesus blew off the pope because he was talking to her. Was the Pope really mad at Jesus for 20 years? That was even before Mrs. Davis was a thing, wasn't it?

I would assume time is a little funky in Jesus's restaurant. So it's possible the pope visited 3 years ago but his visit intersected with Clara because that's how time needed to unfold? 

Also, it's super unclear if Arthur knew the mouse died from the grail and not from getting eaten by the cat, especially since the mouse's head didn't explode. The whole thing is a little unclear. 

I was watching this episode while my son was getting ready for bed and I screamed so loud when Clara's head exploded that my kiddo came running thinking I was hurt. I feel like a lot of the violence is cartoonish but maybe because Clara's story was so fleshed out it really upset me when she died. 

[PurpleTentacle]

26 minutes ago, questionfear said:

I would assume time is a little funky in Jesus's restaurant. So it's possible the pope visited 3 years ago but his visit intersected with Clara because that's how time needed to unfold? 

I thought about that, but it doesn't seem so.

I guess Jesus said he had sent like countless others to get a king cake, so maybe it really was 20 years? If so, pope can hold a grudge.

26 minutes ago, questionfear said:

Also, it's super unclear if Arthur knew the mouse died from the grail and not from getting eaten by the cat, especially since the mouse's head didn't explode. The whole thing is a little unclear. 

It at least seems that he knew, because his first reaction was to get his daughters liver into another person (not how that works btw.). He must have mulled over something like that in his head, for a long time. Probably not with his daughter in mind though.

---

Also does Mrs. Davis only want the grail destroyed because Arthur wants that and she wants all humans to be happy? Or is there an ulterior motive?

Edited April 28, 2023 by PurpleTentacle

[questionfear]

4 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I thought about that, but it doesn't seem so.

I guess Jesus said he had sent like countless others to get a king cake, so maybe it really was 20 years? If so, pope can hold a grudge.

It at least seems that he knew, because his first reaction was to get his daughters liver into another person (not how that works btw.). He must have mulled over something like that in his head, for a long time. Probably not with his daughter in mind though.

---

Also does Mrs. Davis only want the grail destroyed because Arthur wants that and she wants all humans to be happy? Or is there an ulterior motive?

Well plus the Pope was in Pope-Jail because of the evil priest, though we don't know how long, or if we did I missed it. 

I saw a theory on Reddit that Mrs Davis is actually Clara or connected to Clara, and that's why she's set all these pieces in motion to destroy the grail. 

Personally, I feel like this show is like a half finished jigsaw puzzle. I know there's a way all these pieces will fit together but how? 

[PurpleTentacle]

1 minute ago, questionfear said:

Well plus the Pope was in Pope-Jail because of the evil priest, though we don't know how long, or if we did I missed it. 

He was only put in jail after he talked to Mrs. Davis and she didn't exists yet when Clara's head exploded. But how long after that she got put online, I don't know.

4 minutes ago, questionfear said:

Personally, I feel like this show is like a half finished jigsaw puzzle. I know there's a way all these pieces will fit together but how? 

I wouldn't be so sure. Lindelof doesn't have the greatest track record in that regard. If this all makes sense in the end I'll be pleasently surprised, but I won't get my hopes up just yet.

[AimingforYoko]

I used this Chris Rock quote with Fury Road and it's appropriate here, "This is nuttier than an Almond Roca." But Betty Gilpin's all in, so I am too.

[Door County Cherry]

I enjoyed the backstory but I didn't love that they flipped to Simone and Wiley reacting to the story in the present time.  It felt jarring even if their reactions to the story are similar to my reactions to the stories. 

[Snazzy Daisy]

Wiley choking on the bone - is this some kinda foreshadowing? The whale will cough of the grail since it can’t be destroyed by the whale’s digestive system.

OMG, I sound crazy for thinking and commenting about this! 😬

This episode and the penultimate episode of Rabbit Hole ended with the same line - “Whatever it takes.”

 

[anniebird]

7 hours ago, Door County Cherry said:

I enjoyed the backstory but I didn't love that they flipped to Simone and Wiley reacting to the story in the present time.  It felt jarring even if their reactions to the story are similar to my reactions to the stories. 

I did enjoy that because I thought their reactions were hilarious. I decided to just go along with whatever the show throws at me and not question anything. I am enjoying the ride immensely.

[Guest]

This is the strangest show in that I still don’t know if I think it is good. I am mostly enjoying the episodes because of the actors. This episode explained a lot but I still don’t know why I should care about the grail or Mrs. Davis. So much is going to hinge on the conclusion. If they fail to pull the puzzle together I don’t think the episodes are strong enough to stand on their own. If they nail it, the early episodes will be stronger in retrospect. 

Mostly, I am sad Clara is dead because I found her story more compelling than Simone or Wiley’s so far. 

The timeline makes absolutely no sense. 

On 4/30/2023 at 6:58 AM, anniebird said:

I did enjoy that because I thought their reactions were hilarious. I decided to just go along with whatever the show throws at me and not question anything. I am enjoying the ride immensely.

I felt the same way. Clara’s story was interesting enough that it didn’t need to be broken up narratively but it was also dark enough that the levity was a nice break. 

In one episode, Mathilde was a better villain than Mrs. Davis has been through the previous four. 

[Ilovepie]

On 5/1/2023 at 7:50 PM, Dani said:

In one episode, Mathilde was a better villain than Mrs. Davis has been through the previous four. 

Totally agree. The show has done a terrible job explaining why Mrs. Davis is so bad. Okay, so Simone and Wiley hate her, but nobody else seems to - what is the problem? Unless I missed something critical, it doesn't seem like Mrs. Davis overtly controls anyone - everyone is going about their lives like normal for the most part. Even Simone has not said why she hates her, just that she does. I hope this show can stick the landing because it seems like kind of mess right now and I've been burned by Damon Lindelof before.......

[SomeTameGazelle]

On 5/5/2023 at 2:32 PM, Ilovepie said:

Unless I missed something critical, it doesn't seem like Mrs. Davis overtly controls anyone - everyone is going about their lives like normal for the most part. Even Simone has not said why she hates her, just that she does. I hope this show can stick the landing because it seems like kind of mess right now and I've been burned by Damon Lindelof before.......

What about the wings though and people bargaining their lives for them? I agree we haven't seen much concrete evidence of suffering but this dog is so shaggy [which I love about it] it's hard to know whether Simone will turn out to be right or wrong.

On 5/1/2023 at 10:50 PM, Dani said:

In one episode, Mathilde was a better villain than Mrs. Davis has been through the previous four. 

I have been wondering who Katja Herbers was playing and it wasn't until halfway through this episode that I recognized her face as Mathilde. 

[Guest]

On 5/5/2023 at 11:32 AM, Ilovepie said:

Totally agree. The show has done a terrible job explaining why Mrs. Davis is so bad.

My problem with Mrs. Davis as a villain is different. I have no problem with Mrs. Davis being bad. Anything with level of access and allegiance from people is an easy sell to be a bad thing. Then you throw in the death tattoos and I am willing to be on board that she is bad.

My problem is that haven’t shown why I should care or why anyone would follow Mrs. Davis. One of the first scenes was a character describing all the ways life is better with Mrs Davis in charge but we haven’t seen any of it. This is supposed to be a world completely changed but it feels like there has been no effort put into effective world building. 

[Ilovepie]

23 hours ago, Dani said:

My problem is that haven’t shown why I should care or why anyone would follow Mrs. Davis. One of the first scenes was a character describing all the ways life is better with Mrs Davis in charge but we haven’t seen any of it. This is supposed to be a world completely changed but it feels like there has been no effort put into the effective world building. 

This! Totally sums up my problem - everything in this world seems completely normal other than being able to talk to this omniscient sentient siri/alexa/whatever-you-call-it. So what? And I'm not talking about Simone's quest or the weirdness with "Jay".......most people are just working and doing normal stuff, it's not exactly a new world order.....the characters we know are weird just because they are, not because of Mrs. Davis. Well, maybe the australian shirtless guy who lost his poker career after Mrs. Davis or whatever, but everyone else.....