S05.E08: I’ll Take All the Blame

[BreezieBitch]

Mariana is pressured to protect Evan's interests at Speckulate; Gael and Jazmin find that being queer parents comes with challenges; Alice invites Murray, Morrie and Morty to the Coterie.

[circumvent]

This show has some really bad stories intertwined with some that are ok. 

The whole thanksgiving episode also seemed like a filler. Filmed when Maia was in the US, then thrown there for whatever reason because clearly, there is no continuity.

Whatever they did with Jenna's hair, it is awful. I guess it is a wig, a very ugly one. Why? Why can't she have a better hair? 

[possibilities]

Someone needs to explain to Evan what's been going on for the past 2 years. I don't know what his options are about saving Spekulate, but he's being callous and he needs to think about what it means to ask Mariana to protect his interests as his representative while asking her to destroy her own career. It makes him look really clueless, even just from a purely Machiavellian point of view. Even narcissists understand they need to charm people and bait the hook if they want people to serve them.

Also, it is not Mariana's fault that he was shot. She didn't ask him to go to the Farm, and what's his name-- condescending brother of Jenna-- told him to wait in the car when he did go. So Evan choosing to stupidly go walking into a gunfight is on him. Not that Mariana shouldn't care. She cares about him and that's fine. But the guilt isn't working for me. 

I am still uncomfortable with the informality of the parenting arrangement for Lyric, but I'm actually liking that they've decided to make it work rather than portraying it as a disaster that causes the adults to fight all the time and maybe ruins their relationships with each other. Non-nuclear families are under-represented in media, so I'll take it. 

I liked that Alice and Sumi finally had an honest conversation. I liked that Alice's workmates actually gave her good advice instead of just acting like juveniles. I wonder if that's the end of their characters now that their ferret show is cancelled, and what Alice will do next.

I felt bad for Luka. He needs to tell Dennis what is going on, but Dennis is already in over his head with the corrupt funder and the arrogant chef, so I don't know where this is headed or if he can be relied on to do anything helpful. I really like the sous chef who is training Luka. I hope he can trust her and they can help each other, but I don't know what her leverage point would be, so I understand why he may not want to confide in her, lest she get sucked into the drama. But I think the drama is coming for the ntire restaurant, so she will probably get hurt by it one way or another, whether he confides in her or not.

It was a relief not to have to see more of the terrible musical Davia is working on. 

I didn't like Alice's workmates stealing Malika's food. 

I can't get over how rude Evan is to Mariana and how lacking in curiosity he is about her. He never asked her how they knew each other? He doesn't ask her anything about herself? He's so abrupt, and cold. He was never like that before; the personality change goes well beynond the memory loss. And it's not just becaus he's panicking about Spekulate. He's been like this with her since the moment he woke up from his TV-mandated coma.

Why wouldn't the parents of the missing girl hire a PI? And has Brother of Jenna looked into the parents, to figure out if maybe their daughter has a reason to be hiding from them? He should do some due diligence, and he also should stop being condescending to both Jenna and Mariana. I dislike him more and more every episode.

 

 

[Wizardpatch]

Is there a reason that they are ignoring the whole sex aspect of being in a cult. I mean, that is almost always what motivates these cult leaders, right? Is that too yucky even for cable tv?

Edited May 6, 2023 by Wizardpatch

[KaveDweller]

12 hours ago, possibilities said:

Someone needs to explain to Evan what's been going on for the past 2 years. I don't know what his options are about saving Spekulate, but he's being callous and he needs to think about what it means to ask Mariana to protect his interests as his representative while asking her to destroy her own career. It makes him look really clueless, even just from a purely Machiavellian point of view. Even narcissists understand they need to charm people and bait the hook if they want people to serve them.

Also, I am pretty sure Evan did choose to take his company public, even if he doesn't remember making that choice. It was a plot back in the first season...he wanted to expand. Mariana should step back from being his representative at Spekulate now that there is a clear conflict. 

But no one is telling him anything. He asked Mariana about their relationship and she didn't tell him the truth. I don't know if it would help, because if he doesn't remember having feelings for her, knowing they dated would just be weird. 

[circumvent]

16 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Also, I am pretty sure Evan did choose to take his company public, even if he doesn't remember making that choice.

I kind of remember that too and wasn't Mariana already part of Spekulate when this happened? Because he should remember Mariana then, and if he is saying he didn't want to take the company public, then he does remember the option, at least (even if not his feelings about it).

[possibilities]

I think the idea is that he didn't used to want to, but then he changed his mind and did it sometime during the past 2 years (when Mariana was there). What he doesn't remember is that he changed his mind, and why.

[circumvent]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

I think the idea is that he didn't used to want to, but then he changed his mind and did it sometime during the past 2 years (when Mariana was there). What he doesn't remember is that he changed his mind, and why.

The fact that this whole thing is so confusing just shows that the writers don't really know where they are going with the characters and plots. It would be less silly if they had said that he didn't remember certain things, but could remember others. I guess that would also be more realistic, since we tend to compartmentalize things. 

[KaveDweller]

8 hours ago, possibilities said:

I think the idea is that he didn't used to want to, but then he changed his mind and did it sometime during the past 2 years (when Mariana was there). What he doesn't remember is that he changed his mind, and why.

Well someone should tell him he has to learn to live with that.

I have read multiple novels where the main character wakes up with amnesia of the last X years and are shocked by their lives. But the lesson in all of them is that they have to accept what they did, even if they can't remember it. Maybe Evan should read one of them.

[possibilities]

I didn't get the impression that he didn't accept it. I think he was just surprised. He rememberd not wanting to, and he asked Mariana why he did it. 

It didn't seem confusing to me, as a viewer. 

I still think the amnesia is a stupid trope, though.

[KaveDweller]

22 hours ago, possibilities said:

I didn't get the impression that he didn't accept it. I think he was just surprised. He rememberd not wanting to, and he asked Mariana why he did it. 

It didn't seem confusing to me, as a viewer. 

I still think the amnesia is a stupid trope, though.

Well he is trying to screw over all the small businesses he invested in to go back on the decision to go public.  So that sort of seems like not accepting it.

[possibilities]

Yeah, he's not accepting the consequences. I just meant he is believing it happened, just not remembering why. Frankly, I don't remember why either, and I don't even have amnesia. So... that's my level of interest in Spekulate, most days.New Evan is extremely unlikable.

[sara416]

My theory is that we are getting set up for some sort of a mental health crisis for Mariana. Several times it has been mentioned that she should talk to someone about her trauma and her stress is clearly at sky high levels. I'm cautiously looking forward to it, because this show (and the Fosters before this) have generally handled mental health well. Obviously things get solved more quickly than in the real world, but they don't shy away from things. 

The amnesia thing bugs me. It's a tired trope and annoying and feels like they didn't know what else to do. 

@circumvent I'm with you on the hair. I wondered if at the start it was just because she was living on a farm and maybe not always able to access showers and shampoo and the like, but seriously! Cult members can still have good hair!

[Tattooeddancer]

On 5/6/2023 at 11:33 AM, Wizardpatch said:

Is there a reason that they are ignoring the whole sex aspect of being in a cult. I mean, that is almost always what motivates these cult leaders, right? Is that too yucky even for cable tv?

It was lightly touched on. Other members mentioned sex stuff and that they were afraid to come forward because Silas told them there were tapes and threatened to send them to the parents.