S02.E09: The Miseducation of Luke Chambers

[peachmangosteen]

Quote

Luke examines all his relationships and worries that the pressures of being a “Chambers man” have changed him.

Airs July 24th.

[jsm1125]

I think Luke’s actor did some good work here.

I swear, Isbaella and Megan are losing brain cells with each passing episode. They’re leaving their victim, who is still alive and doesn’t seem to be gravely injured, alone to potentially escape and point out that Isabella shot him?

[AstridM]

I don’t think Luke was murdered. I think someone helped him try to run away and he ended up drowning. 

[SoMuchTV]

So, in a world where scholarships are rescinded for teenage sex, “joining the Coast Guard” is the same as being accepted at the Coast Guard Academy (which is highly competitive and where presumably you graduate as an officer)?  And exactly how does dad need to “foot the bill” at a military academy?  Unless the Coast Guard is very different from the other military branches, I would assume getting accepted to the academy would involve letters of recommendation from a lot of people including your congressman?  But no parent involvement?  

[Glade]

I feel confused as to the order in which many of these scenes occurred; was the winter party where the sex tape was played after Luke already got accepted into the Coast Guard Academy (which according to google, has no costs for tuition/room/board...so all Luke's father could withhold is pocket money, or I guess he could cancel his trust fund or something but the writing on this show about college costs is so shallow and brain-dead it's not even funny)?  Was that scene meant to imply that he had given up on the Coast Guard? Honestly that is a very tame sex tape, there's no actual nudity in it but are we to believe that Luke played it in order to piss off his father?

When its the middle of the night and you've just tied up, drugged, interrogated, blackmailed and your best friend shot your already very drunk boyfriend is of course the best time to reveal your pregnancy.  I do think that Brent's overt actions make him much worse than Luke.  I'm glad this cliche teen murder mystery will finally end next week.

Edited July 25, 2023 by Glade

[marny]

So the bullet grazed Luke’s ear and yet the police described him as having been “shot” after they found his body in the water? Unless he gets shot again, that’s a bunch of nonsense. It’s highly unlikely that a medical examiner would determine that his ear wound was from a bullet rather than from a fish (or other marine animal) who chomped on it after he drowned. No bullet, no bullet hole, no gun powder, blood washed away, and I’m sure that bandaid would have come off pretty quickly in the water. The writers on this show did literally no research and gave no actual thought into how anything works. 

[Cranberry]

In season one, the multi-timeline structure mattered. It showed us things we missed or misinterpreted the first time we saw them. It clarified people's behavior. This season, it's just a gimmick, and the writers rushing through multiple months this episode really drove that home. I don't feel like I've learned anything new about anyone's motivation. I feel like I know Isabella even less, actually, because she really amped up her possessive behavior when there was only a hint of it before. I understand Luke slightly better, but we already knew what his relationship with his dad and brother were like and what his dad expected of him in the future. It just feels like this simple story is being stretched out and jumbled for no real reason.

At this point I don't like anybody and I don't care what happens to any of them. 

[JAYJAY1979]

29 minutes ago, Cranberry said:

In season one, the multi-timeline structure mattered. It showed us things we missed or misinterpreted the first time we saw them. It clarified people's behavior. This season, it's just a gimmick, and the writers rushing through multiple months this episode really drove that home. I don't feel like I've learned anything new about anyone's motivation. I feel like I know Isabella even less, actually, because she really amped up her possessive behavior when there was only a hint of it before. I understand Luke slightly better, but we already knew what his relationship with his dad and brother were like and what his dad expected of him in the future. It just feels like this simple story is being stretched out and jumbled for no real reason.

At this point I don't like anybody and I don't care what happens to any of them. 

I'm wondering if the reason we're seeing Megan and Isabella in these states is because this was from Luke's POV (i.e. Isabella being more possessive than we've seen, etc).

At least this episode was a nice switch with things from Luke's perspective...though if I were this episode...the confusing flashbacks to random times in the past would have been Luke's life flashing before his eyes as he dies..and we could have had the last scene be Luke dying while a figure is looking on as he takes his last breath 

[Black Knight]

5 hours ago, jsm1125 said:

I swear, Isbaella and Megan are losing brain cells with each passing episode. They’re leaving their victim, who is still alive and doesn’t seem to be gravely injured, alone to potentially escape and point out that Isabella shot him?

Isabella did address that before she left the cabin. She blackmailed him with the threat of showing everyone the tape they'd made of Luke if he said anything. Luke agreed to stay silent.

I was expecting one final reveal, that Luke kissed Isabella expressly for the purpose of then throwing her under the bus to Megan in an attempt to ruin their friendship. From what we saw of Luke and Isabella's relationship in this episode in the time leading up to the plunge, it doesn't make sense that he'd hit on her for real. He knew she was all about Megan and trying to push him out.

3 hours ago, marny said:

So the bullet grazed Luke’s ear and yet the police described him as having been “shot” after they found his body in the water? Unless he gets shot again, that’s a bunch of nonsense.

I don't think it was ever described that way. The police chief recapped the coroner's report for us in the second episode, which was that Luke's cause of death was drowning, and that his ear had an abrasion suggestive of a gunshot wound. But that the bullet did not penetrate and it was just a surface nick.

An episode focused mostly on the Chambers guys. Blech. So as this season limps to a close - thank goodness there's only one episode left - I guess it's down to Brent, Jeff, or Luke's dad who went to meet him on the dock. Or someone we've never met. I feel like we're being set up for a "shocking reveal" that Luke actually faked his death, and that the final scene of the season will be him on a boat somewhere. There's that pesky issue of the body, but I'm sure these crappy writers can come up with a supremely ridiculous explanation full of holes.

[KaveDweller]

7 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

So, in a world where scholarships are rescinded for teenage sex, “joining the Coast Guard” is the same as being accepted at the Coast Guard Academy (which is highly competitive and where presumably you graduate as an officer)?  And exactly how does dad need to “foot the bill” at a military academy?  Unless the Coast Guard is very different from the other military branches, I would assume getting accepted to the academy would involve letters of recommendation from a lot of people including your congressman?  But no parent involvement?  

Also, you don't need to go to the Coast Guard Academy to join the Coast Guard. I assume once you are 18 you can just enlist, just like any other military branch. And once someone enlists, their rich daddy won't have any ability to stop that from happening. I'm also not sure Luke's dad is right that you can't provide for your family that way. My grandfather was in the coast guard, and while it was a different time, he provided very well for his family. 

But someone should tell Luke that being in the Coast Guard is likely not just having fun going out in boats all day.

Luke, I know you have just been drugged and semi-tortured, but when your girlfriend tells you she is pregnant, the right response is never to say "I'll call my dad. He'll know what to do." You are the dad in this scenario Luke!

I am curious what else happens at the cabin. We saw Megan scrubbing up what looked like a lot of blood earlier in the season, but Luke was barely bleeding when he left.

[paulvdb]

1 hour ago, KaveDweller said:

I'm also not sure Luke's dad is right that you can't provide for your family that way.

I don't think Luke's dad said that. He did say that in the Coast Guard Luke wouldn't be able to live the luxurious lifestyle he was used to thanks to his father's wealth.

[RachelKM]

Luke was a douche and this episode did a thorough job showing that. But Jeff's comment about him being worse than Brent was not earned and made Jeff seem more like a petulant little ass himself. 

Brent is a borderline psychopath and their dad is a just a collection of asshole traits.

Isabella and Megan are just annoying at this point. As someone above said, they get dumber by the scene. I mean, sure, they're teenagers. But they seem to just manufacture ways to needlessly complicate their lives at every turn.

Ugh. Can they all die? No one deserves to get out of this alive.

 

[SoMuchTV]

9 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Also, you don't need to go to the Coast Guard Academy to join the Coast Guard. I assume once you are 18 you can just enlist, just like any other military branch.

Yes, that's what I was trying to say!  It's like the difference between getting accepted to West Point, and going down the street to the local Army recruiting office!

[RedInk]

If this show were written better, it could have been the jumping off point instead of the penultimate episode. This was maybe the best hour of this regrettable series for me because things actually moved along a bit and I felt sorry for a character (Luke, weirdly). So after an entire season of nothing happening, we’re headed for a finale that’s going to reveal a murder/murderer, decide the fate of two people I couldn’t care less about, establish a motivation for the crime, and solve a vague mystery about another barely-mentioned and possibly connected death. How they gonna do that?

And like others have mentioned, the Coast Guard Academy is as hard to get into as an Ivy League school -  very prestigious. Dad is reacting as though Luke were just enlisting. These paths are not similar!

Edited July 26, 2023 by RedInk

[TattleTeeny]

I am probably wrong, but I am wondering if the sheriff is who showed up at the dock, and then helped Luke to disappear so that he could enlist in the Coast Guard -- though maybe that's dumb, because he could conceivably just do that regardless. But then I guess that would mean some kind of body switch and new identity. 

Also, isn't there still some kind of mystery around Isabella's pre-Megan life? 

[peachmangosteen]

10 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I am curious what else happens at the cabin. We saw Megan scrubbing up what looked like a lot of blood earlier in the season, but Luke was barely bleeding when he left.

Ever since it was revealed Megan was pregnant, I've been assuming the scene in the first ep of her cleaning up blood was from a miscarriage or possibly an abortion.

17 minutes ago, RedInk said:

... and solve a vague mystery about another barely-mentioned and possibly connected death. 

I was like wait there was another death but then @TattleTeeny's post reminded me about Isabella's old friend. I could easily see them not going back to that though.

I could not follow this episode at all. To be fair, I barely pay attention because this season is so bad, but still.

I thought the Luke actor and Megan actor were much better in this episode than they've been before. And that's pretty much the only positive thing to say lol.

[RedInk]

7 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I thought the Luke actor and Megan actor were much better in this episode than they've been before. And that's pretty much the only positive thing to say lol.

Yes! Decent acting in combination with a conflict that made sense for the first time in this miserable installment. I guess “I’m drugged, and I’ve been shot at while tied to a bed” is probably easier for an actor to sink his teeth into than “If anyone finds out it’s me in a sex tape that 20 people saw, I’ll never go to college.”

[Attatude]

I  have a slim amount of hope that the finale will be full of the brilliant writing we expected after season 1 and will wrap it all up with twists and turns we never saw coming.  More likely it will be a lame ending that forgets to deal with something important.  They tried too hard to match the success of their first season by using gimmicks, but they created thoroughly unappealing characters. I mean Luke as the one the leads are fighting over? I read an article interviewing a writer who said they were very careful not to use any of the same elements they did in the first season.  Maybe they were too careful because this season didn’t work.  Given everything that has happened if Luke is still alive he’s not making it into the Coast Guard and Megan won’t get to her college.  I’m still trying to figure out where the girls got “truth serum.”

If they wanted a unique conclusion, the person on the dock is Debbie.  

[jsm1125]

I’m going to throw a wild theory out there and speculate that Parker is the one who meets Luke on the dock. She was suspiciously absent this episode, and likely saw firsthand just how toxic Brent (her ex) and Steve are. Maybe she’s helping him escape?
 

[Chaos Theory]

I honestly am starting to think the sherif killed Luke and all this his awful police work and trying to pin it on Megan is because he is desperate to solve the murder he committed because he has been in the pocket of Luke’s family for so long and Luke was about to just burn everyone down including him.      At this point it is the only thing that makes any sense at all.  Luke called his sherif buddy friend to confess everything and the guy freaked and “accidentally” killed Luke. 

[jackjill]

I was thinking it's either Luke's dad or the sheriff who is at the dock based on the fact the person has khaki pants on.

Who knows though. They better have an amazing wrap up for this. It's been dragging and there are so many things that are unanswered. 

Megan's look changing so drastically from January to summer  -- why? The change in looks made so much sense last season, but what about this season? Why is she going all hacker goth.

[AllyB]

On 7/25/2023 at 9:34 PM, Glade said:

Honestly that is a very tame sex tape, there's no actual nudity in it but are we to believe that Luke played it in order to piss off his father?

I mean it was either that, of he too is under the impression that having a sex tape gets your college offer withdrawn and he was hoping to get rejected from Branson???????

[peachmangosteen]

4 hours ago, jsm1125 said:

I’m going to throw a wild theory out there and speculate that Parker is the one who meets Luke on the dock. She was suspiciously absent this episode, and likely saw firsthand just how toxic Brent (her ex) and Steve are. Maybe she’s helping him escape?

I've been expecting Parker to play more of a role so I could see this. It would be a very out-of-nowhere twist though.

6 minutes ago, AllyB said:

I mean it was either that, of he too is under the impression that having a sex tape gets your college offer withdrawn and he was hoping to get rejected from Branson???????

That's what I was thinking lol.

6 hours ago, Attatude said:

I  have a slim amount of hope that the finale will be full of the brilliant writing we expected after season 1 and will wrap it all up with twists and turns we never saw coming. ...  I read an article interviewing a writer who said they were very careful not to use any of the same elements they did in the first season.  Maybe they were too careful because this season didn’t work.  

I believe only 1 writer from last season was even involved in this season. And it really shows.

I do think it'll end up being that Luke and whoever he called fake his death. At this point, it'd be more of a twist to me if someone actually killed him.

[AstridM]

33 minutes ago, AllyB said:

I mean it was either that, of he too is under the impression that having a sex tape gets your college offer withdrawn and he was hoping to get rejected from Branson???????

It looked to me like he grabbed the wrong video tape. He meant to grab one of Brent’s and not the tape of him and Megan. 

[KaveDweller]

5 hours ago, jackjill said:

Megan's look changing so drastically from January to summer  -- why? The change in looks made so much sense last season, but what about this season? Why is she going all hacker goth.

I am starting to wonder if it is all for show. Megan and Isabella's falling out, Megan's goth look, etc. They are really still friends but are pretending to hate each other so no one suspects them of offing Luke. And Megan changed her look so it would look like making a change after a break up?

I don't know, but if them hating each other was an act at least that would be a good twist.

[Whimsy]

On 7/25/2023 at 3:35 PM, SoMuchTV said:

So, in a world where scholarships are rescinded for teenage sex, “joining the Coast Guard” is the same as being accepted at the Coast Guard Academy (which is highly competitive and where presumably you graduate as an officer)?  And exactly how does dad need to “foot the bill” at a military academy?  Unless the Coast Guard is very different from the other military branches, I would assume getting accepted to the academy would involve letters of recommendation from a lot of people including your congressman?  But no parent involvement?  

 

21 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Also, you don't need to go to the Coast Guard Academy to join the Coast Guard. I assume once you are 18 you can just enlist, just like any other military branch. And once someone enlists, their rich daddy won't have any ability to stop that from happening. I'm also not sure Luke's dad is right that you can't provide for your family that way. My grandfather was in the coast guard, and while it was a different time, he provided very well for his family. 

But someone should tell Luke that being in the Coast Guard is likely not just having fun going out in boats all day.

Luke, I know you have just been drugged and semi-tortured, but when your girlfriend tells you she is pregnant, the right response is never to say "I'll call my dad. He'll know what to do." You are the dad in this scenario Luke!

I am curious what else happens at the cabin. We saw Megan scrubbing up what looked like a lot of blood earlier in the season, but Luke was barely bleeding when he left.

Coast Guard vet here.  I enlisted, so I didn’t go to the academy (other than a visit to the campus), but yes- “joining” the Coast Guard and going to the academy are two different things. The reason it’s “free” is because you then go right into the CG as an Ensign and serve at least 4 years (from what I can recall from over 25 years ago).

20 hours ago, paulvdb said:

I don't think Luke's dad said that. He did say that in the Coast Guard Luke wouldn't be able to live the luxurious lifestyle he was used to thanks to his father's wealth.

well, officers do make decent money, so his dad was right in that Like wouldn’t have AS MUCH money, but he’d still be very comfortable and be able to support his family. As an enlisted couple, my husband and I were doing ok, too.

[CarpeFelis]

Since Luke and Jeff didn’t seem very friendly anymore I wonder if it was Jeff he paged since he said “I didn’t think you’d show up”. Another person that could warrant that comment would be Ned. I don’t think it’s the sheriff because what real motive would he have to kill Luke?

I like the theories that Luke had someone help him run away, though it sounds like the body that was found was his. But if he succeeded in running away, then whose body would it be?

I wasn’t real surprised that it was Luke who instigated showing the sex tape at the Christmas party. I don’t think he was expecting to have his Branson acceptance rescinded. I think he was just pissed at Steve and his “reputation is everything” shtick and in the moment it was a convenient way to humiliate him by causing a scene.

And speaking of the fictional Branson… yet another thing the writers get wrong about the PNW setting (besides the obvious use of Canadian settings in prior episodes, like the Sea to Sky Highway just north of Vancouver and a town with a speed limit sign with “km” poorly blurred out). The University of Washington is the prestige school here and its business school is rated highly.

Agree with the comment that Isabella seemed more possessive of Megan in this episode because it was seen from Luke’s POV.

[calliope1975]

3 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I am starting to wonder if it is all for show. Megan and Isabella's falling out, Megan's goth look, etc. They are really still friends but are pretending to hate each other so no one suspects them of offing Luke. And Megan changed her look so it would look like making a change after a break up?

I don't know, but if them hating each other was an act at least that would be a good twist.

I've thought that since the first episode. There was an scene of them saying they were ride or die and then there was one where they hated each other and my first thought was it was all a plan. 

But then again, these 2 don't seem to be the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. 

What is the point of the entire pregnancy plot? Just a way to get unexplained but possibly murder blood on the floor? 

 

 

[peachmangosteen]

I feel like it wouldn't make too much sense for them to be faking because they've had conversations alone where Megan seems like she hates Isabella and I don't know why they'd have to fake it then.  The reason could be just to keep us in the dark, I suppose. The writing is really bad so it's a possibility lol.

[Black Knight]

I guess the writers could claim that because Debbie is often puttering around the place, the girls decided to keep up the illusion of their estrangement even when alone, just in case. It's silly, but so much of the writing has been silly that we obviously can't use that to rule out any possibility. I do suspect the season is going to end with at least two of the three of Luke/Megan/Isabella "in on it together."

[ccphilly]

This was the only episode all of season 2 that held my attention.  I guess season 1 was lightning in a bottle...

[peachmangosteen]

I think if the same writers/showrunners had been involved in season 2 then it could have lived up to season 1. I wonder why they all ended up leaving?

[Black Knight]

Yeah, it is weird. S1 was such a viral sensation - you'd think the network would have done whatever it took to keep the creative team intact.

Instead nearly everybody leaves, the new team feels they have to stick to the three-timelines concept but doesn't understand how to actually execute it in a way that makes it more than just a gimmick, and also does not understand how to create engaging lead or secondary characters. S1 not only had interesting leads, it gave real depth to many of the secondary characters.

I've said it before, the premise for S2 had real promise (maybe the original creative team spit-balled it before they left...). It's just been executed so badly on a writing level.

[RachelKM]

7 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I think if the same writers/showrunners had been involved in season 2 then it could have lived up to season 1. 

I'm less than confident of that.  The tacked on scene at the end of the finale, not to mention the reason given for it, seriously undermined my confidence in the original showrunner's understanding of why the show worked or, for that matter, how people work.

[peachmangosteen]

8 hours ago, RachelKM said:

I'm less than confident of that.  The tacked on scene at the end of the finale, not to mention the reason given for it, seriously undermined my confidence in the original showrunner's understanding of why the show worked or, for that matter, how people work.

I don't disagree. I was thinking about how they also talked a lot about how Jeanette was just misunderstood and then they did that, which undermined everything they said about her really.

But I did understand their thinking that the audience might have wanted to see a twist. I feel for writers having to deal with that kind of thing. 

I'd love to have some bts gossip over this season. The original team bailing and then this season being pushed back make it seem like there may have been some issues.

I also read on reddit that the actress playing Parker is listed as a series regular while Jeff and Brent aren't, which is odd since the latter 2 have had more screentime. Perhaps she is playing a big role in the finale but with the other issues bts of this season, I wonder if maybe they just ended up cutting stuff involving her or something.

[Black Knight]

9 hours ago, RachelKM said:

The tacked on scene at the end of the finale, not to mention the reason given for it, seriously undermined my confidence in the original showrunner's understanding of why the show worked or, for that matter, how people work.

They came up with that all the way back when they were shooting the fourth episode of the first season. So if anything, it was actually a relatively early idea, as opposed to being late or tacked on. It's a normal part of the writing process for television.

As for Jeanette being misunderstood, I don't really agree with that, but it was certainly Jeanette's opinion, and I think that helped them in the writing of her. If they'd simply considered her the villain, it would likely have bled through in the writing and ruined one of the most interesting elements of S1, the mystery of Jeanette. (Actors also often defend rather terrible characters they play, because they can't really get inside the character's head if they're judging from outside.) 

I'd really like to have seen the S1 creative team have a go at the Isabella/Megan/Luke trio.

[peachmangosteen]

4 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

I'd really like to have seen the S1 creative team have a go at the Isabella/Megan/Luke trio.

Me too, but I also would like them recast lol.

[TattleTeeny]

On 7/26/2023 at 8:13 PM, KaveDweller said:

I am starting to wonder if it is all for show. Megan and Isabella's falling out, Megan's goth look, etc. They are really still friends but are pretending to hate each other so no one suspects them of offing Luke. And Megan changed her look so it would look like making a change after a break up?

I don't know, but if them hating each other was an act at least that would be a good twist.

But haven’t they been the only ones in a scene? They wouldn’t need to pretend to hate each other if they were alone.

[peachmangosteen]

19 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

But haven’t they been the only ones in a scene? They wouldn’t need to pretend to hate each other if they were alone.

@Black Knightbrought up that it could have been because Debbie could possibly overhear. It’s very stupid but this season has been stupid so it’s definitely still a possibility lol.

[Cranberry]

Or Megan's little sister who the writers forget about half the time -- she could overhear, too.

I agree, it would be stupid... but nothing would surprise me at this point. Maybe the little sister killed Luke, haha.

[peachmangosteen]

She was in like 2 scenes and pretty much never even acknowledged by Megan. Actually though her being the killer would maybe be a fun twist lol.

[Glade]

9 hours ago, Black Knight said:

They came up with that all the way back when they were shooting the fourth episode of the first season.

And the problem is, they came up with that simply because they wanted a shocking, jaw-dropping twist for the last scene of the final episode; not a natural development of Jeanette's character over the following six episodes, but a gimmicky, tacked-on ending simply for shock value.  The finale would have been so much better without it, the scene negated the emotional growth we'd seen from the character in favor of a pointless wink to the audience. 

[LuvMyShows]

 

On 7/25/2023 at 11:02 PM, KaveDweller said:

I'm also not sure Luke's dad is right that you can't provide for your family that way.

On 7/26/2023 at 12:18 AM, paulvdb said:

I don't think Luke's dad said that. He did say that in the Coast Guard Luke wouldn't be able to live the luxurious lifestyle he was used to thanks to his father's wealth.

I checked and the dad said all of it.  He said, "Do you want to have a wife? Do you want to have a family? Do you want to provide for them? Do you want to give them all the advantages that you've had?"  Then he talked about all the things Luke takes for granted, like "the house, the car, the boat, the vacations. You're not gonna have that life on a military salary."

On 7/26/2023 at 5:13 PM, AllyB said:

I mean it was either that, of he too is under the impression that having a sex tape gets your college offer withdrawn and he was hoping to get rejected from Branson???????

But if he got rejected from Branson for that, it would seem that the Coast Guard Academy would be even more likely to reject him too, given that their Honor Code is something that they probably take seriously even for someone who isn't there yet, in terms of whether they would want that kind of person in their community.

On 7/26/2023 at 11:06 PM, CarpeFelis said:

Since Luke and Jeff didn’t seem very friendly anymore I wonder if it was Jeff he paged since he said “I didn’t think you’d show up”.

I've been saying from the start that I think it's Jeff, and the ending of this episode has made me think it even more...although why would he have paged Jeff?  Maybe he wanted Jeff to video something that he was going to say?

On 7/25/2023 at 6:24 PM, Cranberry said:

 I feel like I know Isabella even less, actually, because she really amped up her possessive behavior when there was only a hint of it before.

On 7/25/2023 at 6:56 PM, JAYJAY1979 said:

I'm wondering if the reason we're seeing Megan and Isabella in these states is because this was from Luke's POV (i.e. Isabella being more possessive than we've seen, etc).

On 7/26/2023 at 11:06 PM, CarpeFelis said:

Agree with the comment that Isabella seemed more possessive of Megan in this episode because it was seen from Luke’s POV.

I'm confused by mention of "Luke's POV".  This season hasn't given us any indication that anything is being shown from anyone's particular POV, right?  I wish it were, because then there would be an explanation for Isabella's maniacally amped up possessive behavior.

[Irlandesa]

On 7/27/2023 at 4:17 PM, peachmangosteen said:

I think if the same writers/showrunners had been involved in season 2 then it could have lived up to season 1.

 

23 hours ago, RachelKM said:

I'm less than confident of that.  The tacked on scene at the end of the finale, not to mention the reason given for it, seriously undermined my confidence in the original showrunner's understanding of why the show worked or, for that matter, how people work.

The twist was unpopular, but I still think the argument that they understood the format better than this season's crew holds up.  The overall journey was far more enjoyable.  There was the mystery about who was telling the truth, which drove the season, but each timeline had a definite purpose. It was layered.  It had a compelling villain (the principal.)  There was self-discovery.  

This season they're trying to basically tell one murder mystery* and not very well.

*Although I thought they'd reveal it was a suicide all along. 

 

[marny]

10 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

 

But if he got rejected from Branson for that, it would seem that the Coast Guard Academy would be even more likely to reject him too, given that their Honor Code is something that they probably take seriously even for someone who isn't there yet, in terms of whether they would want that kind of person in their community.

Boys aren’t be held to the same standard when it comes to that stuff— and they definitely weren’t in the 90s. She’s a slut, he’s a hero blah blah. I think he just wanted to embarrass his dad. 

Edited July 29, 2023 by marny

[peachmangosteen]

8 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Although I thought they'd reveal it was a suicide all along. 

In this ep, when Luke was stumbling through the woods remembering all the things people said to him, I thought for sure he was going to kill himself.

[LuvMyShows]

11 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

In this ep, when Luke was stumbling through the woods remembering all the things people said to him, I thought for sure he was going to kill himself.

I still think that's what's going to happen, and that he called Jeff to come make a video of his last words.  But maybe Jeff ends up killing him first?

[tennisgurl]

This season has been so lame, I am really struggling to care about what is actually going to happen. The characters aren't interesting or all that sympathetic and the mystery is a generic teen murder mystery with the three timelines as a gimmick. The guy playing Luke did a good job here and does add some layers to things he has previously done, but for an episode that's supposed to be about him, we still don't really learn much we already don't know. We know that he feels like a disappointment to his awful dad and brother, who are just jumbled lists of asshole traits, and that makes him want to act more like an alpha asshole, that he does not want to do what his dad wants and he acts out to humiliate him, its all still so surface level. 

Its amazing how much the first season of this show was so addictive and fascinating, while this season is so utterly dull.