S01.E07: Episode 7

[AnimeMania]

1994. The friends go for a glamorous but disastrous dinner together. Dexter's keen to show off his lavish new lifestyle, but Emma isn't impressed.

Premiere Date: February 8, 2024    Netflix   

[30 Helens]

OK, I’ll start. I’ve been watching for two nights, and just finished e7. I think binging is the right way to do this one, any more spread out and I’d be bored. Things move a bit slow, even though each episode jumps ahead in time, but that’s really the charm of the show. You’re not getting a densely plotted story, you’re just getting brief glimpses of these two characters at different points in their life. 

How much I like or dislike the characters depends on the episode. I started out thinking Emma was annoying and Dexter was charming. Now Emma’s a sweetheart and Dexter’s a jackass. I assume my perceptions will shift some more as time goes on.

I like the friendship angle, but I’ve never seen any real romantic chemistry between the leads. I get why Emma was into Dex at first: she was insecure and he was the kind of popular boy who seemed out of her reach. So she was flattered and dazzled by his attention. But I never understood why he was initially interested in her. Like I said, she was annoying. (Who stops a makeout session to ask you for your five-year plan??)

At this point in the series, I don’t know why Emma continues to bother with Dex. His arrogance has made him unattractive, and he’s too self-centered to be a friend. She feels bad that he’s had a bad year, but he was a dick to his dying mother, too. Maybe he’s just a diversion from her terrible husband. (Talk about annoying.) I’m just hoping that by the end of all this, Emma will wise up and realize she’s too good for both of them.

[shelley1234]

At this point, I think it is clear that Emma is way too good for Dex.  

I think it is also clear that his use and abuse of drugs and behavior is trauma behavior from losing his mother.   I think Emma knows this and that's why she hangs on as long as she does.  

This episode was so uncomfortable to watch.  And that is purposeful.  You see their friendship and connection dying right there on the screen.   And neither wants it, nor can stop it from happening.  

I also thought to myself like two or three times before she finally does leave the restaurant that I would have noped so hard out of there.  The way he ignored her, cut her off mid-sentence, grossly treated staff and the constant leaving the table.  Dex would have come back to a empty table if he was having dinner with me.   

[zengirl1215]

21 hours ago, shelley1234 said:

 I also thought to myself like two or three times before she finally does leave the restaurant that I would have noped so hard out of there.  The way he ignored her, cut her off mid-sentence, grossly treated staff and the constant leaving the table.  Dex would have come back to a empty table if he was having dinner with me.   

This!!! His level of douchness was off the charts here. But their argument in the alley was needed for them to finally say unspoken things they kept inside. It was well played by both because in that scene I felt for both of them, not choosing sides on who was more right or wrong. 

[shelley1234]

8 hours ago, zengirl1215 said:

This!!! His level of douchness was off the charts here. But their argument in the alley was needed for them to finally say unspoken things they kept inside. It was well played by both because in that scene I felt for both of them, not choosing sides on who was more right or wrong. 

Agree.   That fight was needed to bring a lot of unspoken things to the surface.  

I've watched a couple YouTube clips of Leo and Ambika promoting the series and Ambika has said this episode and the fight was what she was most nervous about filming because it was going to be hard to get through and was so important for both of their characters.  

[Jodithgrace]

I had to avert my eyes during the last episode because I can’t stand performers melting down, being a performer myself. I just cringe, and I knew it was coming having read the book. 
But it’s been a while since I read the book and was hoping that by this episode he would be over his douche stage, but I guess not. This dinner was excruciating. Yes, Emma is judgmental, but I think that’s why Dexter needs her. He is surrounded by sycophants and needs her to tell him the truth. But she needs him, too, and right now he’s not in any condition to  help her.
 

[Kirsty]

Emma's boyfriends have been very unappealing so far. The theatre director guy, and now Ian. Can we all agree that Ian is about as funny as a case of gastroenteritis? The way he keeps putting on voices and making puns makes me want to die of the cringe.

That said, in the previous episode when he showed up with tea and sandwiches for her, I could see why she was with him. Ian is sweet, he adores her, and he treats her very well.

I loved seeing Dexter with the haircut and clothes of a member of Take That. I was a teenager in the nineties, so I hadn't even realised that his short back/long fringe haircut was a period-specific style! That's just the way young men looked back then! 😄 It's so strange to see it in a period piece.

I liked their fight and I thought it was a long time coming. From his perspective he was finally standing up for himself. I'm successful, I'm not stupid, I'm making my dreams come true, who are you to look down on me etc. From her perspective, she had put up with his behaviour because of his mother's death but she was finally calling time on his bullshit. And she also told him that her life and her career are nothing to be ashamed of.

Edited February 27 by Kirsty