S01.E08: The Universe

[Bort]

Quote

Cards finally on the table, Ava and Nathan race against time. Matt prepares to expand the operation.

Airdate: June 8, 2023

[AheadofStraight]

That's how it ends?? I thought for sure I missed some episodes.... 

[Emcber]

3 hours ago, AheadofStraight said:

That's how it ends?? I thought for sure I missed some episodes.... 

Yeah this felt more like the midpoint of a season rather than a season finale. 

[SHD]

8 hours ago, Emcber said:

Yeah this felt more like the midpoint of a season rather than a season finale. 

They really set themselves up expecting to do a second season. If they don’t get renewed, what a horrible way to end a series that I honestly did enjoy.

[meep.meep]

Whose fantasy was it that Ruby wasn't dead?

This has some great performances, but it's all over map.  Good for the pickleballers for getting things done.

[QQQQ]

Was this really the finale?! Can someone explain it to me like I'm 10 5? I think I missed something.

[RedInk]

On 6/15/2023 at 3:19 PM, QQQQ said:

Was this really the finale?! Can someone explain it to me like I'm 10 5? I think I missed something.

I wish I could! 
I liked that the leads committed to going full-on awful because their attempts to justify the podcast was just too gross for me. But boo to ending on such a cliffhanger and with so many weird plot points. I don’t understand how they bought the Malibu house, how any of this was monetized, how Ruby’s husband showed up (was it his property?), and if the sister was in on any of this with Matt. I didn’t even really understand what Ruby was doing - she went from concerned to scheming for money to scheming for (something else?) to calling the cops. It did feel like there were a lot of cut scenes. 

[nora1992]

Since my Peacock access is about to be dropped (thanks Xfinity!), the non-ending of this show makes me realize that that is no great loss.  I want those hours of my life back.

[peachmangosteen]

On 6/15/2023 at 1:31 PM, meep.meep said:

Whose fantasy was it that Ruby wasn't dead?

I didn't get that either. My sister theorized it was Ava's in an attempt to convince herself Ruby would have done the same to her so she wouldn't feel bad about dumping Ruby's body.

The first half of this was really fun and engaging but it got a little lost in the second half. I still mostly enjoyed it though and I hope it gets a season 2.

[Mountainair]

Yes. The ending sucked. And I don’t like things where dogs die but at least it was done off screen. I haven’t seen Kaley in anything since Big Bang Theory and enjoyed her performance here even if it is typecast. I may check out The Flight Attendant because this definitely left me wanting more. 
 

I liked the two male leads and know I’ve seen them in other things so I’ll have to go look that up. It was funny seeing Ruby’s husband played by the guy that got his foot ran over by the tractor in Mad Men! He’s aged a bit or they aged him up for this. 
 

A bit too many gratuitous sex scenes for my liking especially since I binged this yesterday and today in the hospital.I mostly FFW through those.  My 10 year old had heart surgery and he was in la la land and it was the perfect distraction for me. 

[Anela]

25 minutes ago, Mountainair said:

Yes. The ending sucked. And I don’t like things where dogs die but at least it was done off screen. I haven’t seen Kaley in anything since Big Bang Theory and enjoyed her performance here even if it is typecast. I may check out The Flight Attendant because this definitely left me wanting more. 
 

I liked the two male leads and know I’ve seen them in other things so I’ll have to go look that up. It was funny seeing Ruby’s husband played by the guy that got his foot ran over by the tractor in Mad Men! He’s aged a bit or they aged him up for this. 
 

A bit too many gratuitous sex scenes for my liking especially since I binged this yesterday and today in the hospital.I mostly FFW through those.  My 10 year old had heart surgery and he was in la la land and it was the perfect distraction for me. 

Aw. <3

Back in 2009, I knew someone who was watching things on his phone. I didn't get a smart phone until 2014 ($$), and didn't know why anyone would want to watch something on such a small screen... until my mum was in the hospital in 2016. Heart surgery, and more. I downloaded netflix to my phone, and a kid there joked about everyone in the waiting room, on their phones "and watching netflix" when I'd started watching something. :) 

[AllyB]

That was a really crappy way to end things. Tv seasons can end on a cliffhanger but they still have to complete some sort of arc or else they just feel unfinished. The ending here felt no different to the ending of any other episode. There was no season climax, nothing was built up to, nobody made a momentous decision. Nothing. The characters are still just carried along by the unintended consequences of their episode 1 choice, just as they were in every other episode. The end of episode 7 would even have worked better as ending as that was the death of a recurring character. This just feels like I put a book down halfway through and lost it. 

Edited June 26, 2023 by AllyB

[KittyQ]

On 6/15/2023 at 10:31 AM, meep.meep said:

Whose fantasy was it that Ruby wasn't dead?

This has some great performances, but it's all over map.  Good for the pickleballers for getting things done.

I think this was Ava's fantasy. Just seconds before she said it, I ask to my husband, "Hey, what happened to the dart? Continuity error?" (Sadly, we've become used to pausing to make comments while a show is still on - bad manners, but it is just the two of us.)

Anyway, I thought this was Ava's fantasy to deal with Ruby's death and her feelings of culpability in it. So in the fantasy, she and Nate end up in the hole instead.

Also, had to laugh that somehow pickleball players have become a power base at the country club, to the point where they can complain about a crack in the court and management jumps to fix it while the tennis pro's concerns are ignored. (Just watching CBS Mornings and there's actually a story today about how popular pickleball is and how it is resulting in some injuries for players.)

To make a bit more of this than it perhaps deserves - in this series at least, pickleball has become strangely popular and players (in aggregate) get more and more status, in the same way that podcasts (especially true crime podcasts) became big business (CrimeCon! Is this a real thing?) leading to the premise of this series. Overall, the show is highlighting how unusual things can capture the imagination and attention of people and become important far beyond their actual "value". 

On 6/18/2023 at 9:27 PM, RedInk said:

I don’t understand how they bought the Malibu house, how any of this was monetized, how Ruby’s husband showed up (was it his property?), and if the sister was in on any of this with Matt.

I thought they glossed over the issue of monetization because of the need for anonymity. I think "regular" podcasts probably get money from ads that goes into their real life bank accounts, but if you need to remain anonymous, then there would need to be secrecy about where the money goes. I would imagine there's some use of cryptocurrency, and how does that work with companies like Spotify? While this is something I wondered about, I think this kind of detail would be (deadly) dull to watch play out. Still, it would have been good to throw in a line or two about how they get paid. Plus - more opportunities for Matt to screw them!

I don't think the sister is in on it with Matt, although she wants to keep their "relationship" secret from Ava and Nate. I doubt she has the same suspicions about Matt that Ava had.

No idea how Ruby's husband showed up at the end, just like I couldn't see exactly how Matt knew where to dump Ruby's body. Unless Nate mentioned his plan to rent(?) the Malibu place for the summer to both Matt and Simon (still think of him as Ken, though 🙂), them showing up seemed pretty random. 

I agree that the end with Simon showing up seemed a little flat. I think they wanted to indicate that they have gotten themselves over their heads and just burying Ruby isn't going to make everything ok.

BTW, as soon as I saw that  hole in the tennis / pickleball court, I figured someone was going to end up in it. That set up is too obvious, especially if you've seen similar things on Columbo or Law and Order. :-) 

[Yeah No]

I agree that the ending of this season was an awkward cliffhanger and not something that could stand alone if there isn't another season.  The show in general doesn't know what it wants to be.  I've seen it billed as a "dramedy" but comedy with a subject like this would only come off well if it was an obvious satire (which it isn't) or a farce.  Unfortunately if they're going for comedy it's not coming off well.  I think we're supposed to suspend disbelief a lot but we are not sure when we are supposed to do that and when not to.  The whole thing is a mess.

I find it interesting that no one has theorized about what's really going on here.  I personally don't 100% buy that Matt is really the ripper.  I think he may be an opportunist that knows who the ripper is and is stalking them and knows things about them and the murders that no one else knows.  And because he's basically a narcissist looking for attention he would love to take credit for the murders and make people think HE is the ripper, and he's using the podcast to finally feel like he's somebody special that people want to know.  And Ava and her husband have totally bought into his charade.

My other suspicion which just started in the previous episode is that Ruby's husband, the dog killer, is really the ripper or at the very least the person that killed Ruby.  Then when he suddenly shows up at the beach house asking why there's blood on the floor I REALLY thought that.  Or else why would he suddenly just show up there and notice that?  Am I the only person asking these questions?  I think he killed his wife because he got tired of her behavior.  He's the one with the most motive for killing her.  Matt just used the opportunity to take credit for the murder as one of his and the ripper's.  How Matt knew that Ruby's husband was going to kill her is still a mystery but I haven't ruled out that he and Ruby's husband have some kind of strange relationship or he is bugging their house or something.

[peachmangosteen]

I personally do see it as farce. It's completely ridiculous!

I kept waiting for a reveal that Matt wasn't actually the ripper. I do still think that's a possibility.

Although, it's seeming unlikely at this point that we'll get another season. Which is a bummer because even though this went a bit off the rails I did enjoy it.

[Yeah No]

On 7/19/2023 at 9:28 AM, peachmangosteen said:

I personally do see it as farce. It's completely ridiculous!

I kept waiting for a reveal that Matt wasn't actually the ripper. I do still think that's a possibility.

Although, it's seeming unlikely at this point that we'll get another season. Which is a bummer because even though this went a bit off the rails I did enjoy it.

Hah, I think it's completely ridiculous but not because it's a farce, but because it's so poorly done.  

So you agree with me that Matt is not likely the ripper, that's interesting!

At this point I'd just want another season if for no other reason but to find out if we're right!