S04.E01: Episode 1

[paulvdb]

Quote

Maeve butts heads with a prickly professor. Oceans apart, will her connection with Otis sizzle or fizzle? An attempted nude leads to a hairy situation.

 

[Danny Franks]

Hoo boy, this was pretty bad.

The long distance misunderstandings were right out of 'how to write miscommunications 101' and entirely predictable.

The new school feels like something a crusty old conservative would write to make fun of progressives schools - no grades, students decide what's taught, slides and yoga studios and almost everyone is LGBTQIA and completely out and confident with it.

They got rid of Lily and Ola and Olivia and Anwar but kept boring ass Cal, for some reason.

I'm really not a fan of 'competent, professional, successful woman completely goes to shit because she's had a baby' plotlines, but this one was something else. It was insulting to Jean's character to have her be so utterly inept and trying to force Otis to be a co-parent.

Plus points - well at least they're still writing funny lines for Aimee.

[possibilities]

I binged the season and I think it gets better.

[HurricaneVal]

Aimee, Adam, Eric, Viv, and Maeve are my favorite characters, but like Maeve and Aimee's friendship the best.  I'm hopeful the season gets better.

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm 100% for gender neutral bathrooms, but I think I probably would strangle the whole school. You can't have *everyone* be nice. I liked Eric laughing about people being not so nice at the old school.

The show is worth it for Eric yelling at Otis and Aimes being Aimes. Eric's fascination with the pictures was a scream.

Also it's great seeing the Fifteenth Doctor before a regeneration. I never watched a Doctor knowing they were going to be a Doctor.

On 9/21/2023 at 1:46 PM, Danny Franks said:

The new school feels like something a crusty old conservative would write to make fun of progressives schools - no grades, students decide what's taught, slides and yoga studios and almost everyone is LGBTQIA and completely out and confident with it.

The show really has been a hyper-reality though. I also think they were trying to contrast with Maeve's school. The whole writing class was kind of ridiculous because if you're throwing my phone out the window; you're going right after it. Of course, you should have your phone on silent. However, it's your responsibility as the instructor to communicate class rules clearly. 

On 9/21/2023 at 1:46 PM, Danny Franks said:

The long distance misunderstandings were right out of 'how to write miscommunications 101' and entirely predictable.

I never like miscommunication plots either. Especially with characters that are reasonably sensible. Otis did call her later to explain the situation, and Maeve seemed quite forgiving. But it was unnecessary drama for these people. 

I will say, I'm glad I'm not that age today. I don't think I could deal with sexting or nudes, or I'd be dumb enough to send to the wrong person.

On 9/21/2023 at 1:46 PM, Danny Franks said:

It was insulting to Jean's character to have her be so utterly inept and trying to force Otis to be a co-parent.

To be fair, she's not in the best frame of mind either because she doesn't know who the dad is. Otis didn't strike me that he minded helping out to a point (going to the store isn't that big a deal). I think the show was a little much with her though. Jean is well off enough that she should have afforded childcare or even hired a nanny, no? Otis asking 'who would look after Joy'

O was way condescending to Otis. No, she doesn't have to do anything because she was there first, but I think Otis' appeal is that he's just one of his patients, whereas O was acting like she was better than him (which he proved with Cal). 

I don't think Otis accusing O of stealing his idea was a smart move. I would have said "I've been doing this for 

[possibilities]

I thought Otis was stupid and obnoxious to go accusing O of stealing his idea, but I also thought the notion that there could only be one of them "doing therapy" was stupid. People will gravitate to who they prefer, as in other areas of life. No reason to start a war over it. This plt showed both O and Otis are pathetically insecure and neither of them handled themselves well.

I don't buy "everybody's nice". It's going toprove itself tobe the same petty and mean garbage practiced elsewhere, but in a different style. The veneer is to make it seem nice but I dn't believe it will hold up. It will be passive-aggressive and covert instead of overt aggressive, if it follows what I've seen in other (real world) situations that claim to  be "too woke for mean behavior" but which are still populated by petty, insecure people who are basically just cowards about how they really feel and are judging everybody harshly as a way of life.

[Anela]

I feel like the school was too perfect. Like a safe haven that isn’t real. I also feel like they would have known things in advance, about a new school. They’d want to know what they were getting into.  
 

I thought a bunch of people were missing.  

I just tried to add more, but the ads are affecting my ability to type on my iPad. I lost my post.  

[Bastet]

On 9/21/2023 at 12:46 PM, Danny Franks said:

The new school feels like something a crusty old conservative would write to make fun of progressives schools - no grades, students decide what's taught, slides and yoga studios and almost everyone is LGBTQIA and completely out and confident with it.

My reaction exactly.  The school is ridiculous.  It's not as if their old one was the height of realism, certainly, but this is outlandish.

On 9/24/2023 at 8:23 PM, possibilities said:

I thought Otis was stupid and obnoxious to go accusing O of stealing his idea, but I also thought the notion that there could only be one of them "doing therapy" was stupid. People will gravitate to who they prefer, as in other areas of life. No reason to start a war over it. This plt showed both O and Otis are pathetically insecure and neither of them handled themselves well.

I thought Otis was being a right royal shit about it; he knows nothing about her skills, yet is 100% convinced based on nothing that he's better and that she stole his idea.

I am still so bored by Otis and Maeve as a couple; they were so much more interesting as friends.

Aimee for the win as always.

I can't believe the show had me feeling sorry for Mr. Groff and Ruby of all people, both eating alone in the bathroom. 

[Roseanna]

On 9/24/2023 at 9:38 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

To be fair, she's not in the best frame of mind either because she doesn't know who the dad is.

ACtually she knows: because the father isn't the man she dated and whose daughter Otis dated, it has to be the other quy she had sex once but she is afraid to contact him. 

[DoctorAtomic]

She's had sex with a lot of guys though. Obviously, you can get the timeframe, but that doesn't mean there was only one guy then. 

[Red Fields]

I just can't get past the fact that the actress is too old to have just had a surprise (!) baby without medical intervention.

[Bastet]

50 minutes ago, Red Fields said:

I just can't get past the fact that the actress is too old to have just had a surprise (!) baby without medical intervention.

It is so stupid, but TV keeps doing it -- even if we age the actors down quite a few years (since middle aged and older women still all too often only get cast if they can play younger) so they're not menopausal/post-menopausal, their characters are still at an age where they'd have a very hard time getting pregnant if they actively tried using all available means, yet they keep falling accidentally pregnant. 

QUIT IT.  Women do not stop being interesting once they can no longer procreate, and if an unplanned pregnancy - with which she inexplicably proceeds - is the only storyline someone can come up with for an unexpected life twist, that person needs to pursue a different line of work than writing.

[caitmcg]

55 minutes ago, Bastet said:

It is so stupid, but TV keeps doing it -- even if we age the actors down quite a few years (since middle aged and older women still all too often only get cast if they can play younger) so they're not menopausal/post-menopausal, their characters are still at an age where they'd have a very hard time getting pregnant if they actively tried using all available means, yet they keep falling accidentally pregnant. 

QUIT IT.  Women do not stop being interesting once they can no longer procreate, and if an unplanned pregnancy - with which she inexplicably proceeds - is the only storyline someone can come up with for an unexpected life twist, that person needs to pursue a different line of work than writing.

On the first point, it's unusual for sure, but certainly possible IRL. A good friend of mine had an unplanned, unassisted pregnancy at 44. She did comment that missing a couple of cycles at that age, her first thought was perimenopause and not pregnancy. 

On the second point, I concur.

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, caitmcg said:

On the first point, it's unusual for sure, but certainly possible IRL. A good friend of mine had an unplanned, unassisted pregnancy at 44.

So did a good friend of mine at 42 and a colleague at 43. 

The point is percentages -- Jean's "oops" pregnancy is statistically unlikely, and there's nothing about her circumstances that bumps it up, so she's another example of a TV trope that doesn't reflect reality so that far more women wind up knocked up than happens in reality.

[possibilities]

I thought Jean was well into  her 50s, but either way, it's still an annoying and unimaginative trope.

[Red Fields]

Gillian Anderson is 55! And she looks it. That is not to say she looks bad, not at all. If Jean is supposed to be the same age, she would have given birth to Otis at 38 which is already on the older side. To have a surprise pregnancy and a healthy baby 17 years later is too far fetched. The chance of getting pregnant in your 50s without medical intervention is basically zero.

I agree with Bastet, if they wanted Jean's romance to break up and have her be a mess, they should've come up with a more believable way.