S04.E02: How To Train A Dog

[AnimeMania]

Kristen, David, and Ben look into a possible werewolf attack that isn’t what it seems. Andy grapples with his mysterious trauma, while Ben uses science to solve his Jinn problem.

Premiere Date: May 30, 2024       Paramount+     

[Snazzy Daisy]

Kristen is still unbothered by the demonic baby drama. Still very much in denial huh.

In their line of work, the trio needs a better flashlight, not just relying on their iPhone. 

The Robo-dog plot is surprisingly interesting - it starts with a supernatural vibe but then it turns into science with The 60 twist. The cliché part is Harley getting sued by the big tech for tinkering with their software. All he wants is to extend the battery life. Am surprised Kristen hasn’t put two and two together on why the Robo-dog who’s fixing on people of Catholic faith has targeted Lynn more than once. The girls giving Robo-dog a very girly tail is adorable. 😂

A boardroom meeting led by a group of misogynistic demons - what a parallel to Catholic church. Sheryl deserves more than a crushing ceiling after what she’s done to her family. 

The needle mark between Andy’s toes looks painful. He should’ve noticed it during shower or when he cuts his nails. Leland and Sheryl are about to get busted on this. The girls will tell Kristen about finding him in a terrible state and that silly Feliz Navidad phone call. Alternatively, the girls could end up saving their dad. We know they can be cunning, just like their mom.

Another person questioning David about his demon-repellent mosquito net. 😆

David’s storyline has expanded from faith to substance-induced visions to CIA’s remote viewing. Does David really have a remote vision ability? An intriguing development. He also has a new handler now - Father Dominic Kabiru.

Life after particle-beam has brought a Djinn into Ben’s life and he hasn’t been able to explain that away. Ahh Ben, visiting Dr. Kurt Boggs won’t be a good idea since he is “transitioning” himself. Remember his frantic visit to Sister Andrea? Aasif Mandvi really nails that “lost” expression in the closing scene. 👏🏻

 

[Madding crowd]

Knowing this is the last season, I thought this was kind of a filler episode. Sheryl getting the literal ‘glass ceiling’ just seemed kind of silly-I like the evil group better when they are more creepy. I hope Kristen finds out what is going on with Andy soon it is dragging on too long.

[Chaos Theory]

I felt surprising bad for Sheryl.  She may be an evil grandma but even she Didnt deserves to work for a misogynistic demon who puts her under a literal glass ceiling.    Then again poor demon boss.  Pissing off Sheryl might not be the smartest option.  I mean one thing has been true about her character from the start: you piss her off you pay for it.

I am also liking where the show is taking the Andy plot.  Instead of doing the obvious unwilling spy for half a season the show nips it in the bud pretty quickly with a Kristen thinking he is a drug addict and the daughters intercepting a phone call.

The robo-dog story was fun but what I really liked was the scenes with Ben and the daughters.  Those are always fun.     Ben is having a strange time of it.

 

 

 

Edited May 31 by Chaos Theory

[Anela]

I know they could use more numbers, but I don't understand why the girls didn't block the number. I'm glad they know something is going on with Andy, and that it's sparked by a phone call. Unless it was "unknown".

I'm surprised Kristen didn't wonder why the dog specifically went for Lynn. 

Sheryl and the glass ceiling: I'd only root for Sheryl, if she did take them down. But she's working for the devil, and misogynists who are trying to hurt people, and ruin anything good in the world, so I don't know if she would be much better in charge. She has no problem with the antichrist being her grandchild, which I guess she thinks would bring a lot of perks. No concern about anything else. 

Love Ben the Magnificent, and the girls. Also that their dad said their talking so much, wasn't a bad thing. After last week, I wonder if he was under that mind control, when he told them that they talked too much. 

Edited May 31 by Anela

[Athena5217]

I love it when Leeland’s plots are foiled by the daughters. He should have thought about that before deciding to become a parent. 

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, Athena5217 said:

I love it when Leeland’s plots are foiled by the daughters. He should have thought about that before deciding to become a parent. 

They are very savvy girls :D. 

Quote

The robo-dog story was fun but what I really liked was the scenes with Ben and the daughters.  Those are always fun.     Ben is having a strange time of it.

I LOVED the scene with Ben and the daughters :D. The "Ben the Magnificent" catchphrase coming back, Ben sounding very much like a father trying to stop his kids from interrupting his work, the fistbumps...so good :). I love it when Ben gets to bond with Kristen's daughters like that. I'm glad they're still keeping that a thing. 

But god, yeah, poor Ben... That ending, with him going to see Kristen's therapist, and his answer of "I don't know". I'm worried about him :(. Tell the others what's bothering you, Ben! They could try and help!

The robo-dog was CREEPY. Just as this show has shown one big reason I will never get an Alexa device, it's also showing why I have no desire to get any kind of robot contraptions like this. I like how they resolved that case, too, with it turning out to have a logical, yet still creepy, explanation. The bit where Kristen realized with horror that there was another robo-dog in her home because Ben was looking at the one he had was chilling. 

I also liked how they brought back that woman that the team knew to help with the case. Her whole "You'll be hearing from our lawyers" thing to that guy was great. 

And I loved the whole opening scene in the cemetery, both because, a) creepy, and b) I just loved the team hanging out together and shooting the breeze while they waited for something weird to happen. 

4 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

I felt surprising bad for Sheryl.  She may be an evil grandma but even she Didnt deserves to work for a misogynistic demon who puts her under a literal glass ceiling.    Then again poor demon boss.  Pissing off Sheryl might not be the smartest option.  I mean one thing has been true about her character from the start: you piss her off you pay for it.

Yeah, that tiny office was...dang. I agree that pissing Sheryl off is probably not going to be a good idea. I mean, she freaking chopped off a guy's finger, and the boss' response is, "Yeah,, we'll give her a tiny office." He'll be lucky if she doesn't try and cut off certain parts of his body in turn. 

I also liked this exchange between her and Leland:

"What, are we in the Middle Ages?"

"Yes, we are!" 

Quote

I am also liking where the show is taking the Andy plot.  Instead of doing the obvious unwilling spy for half a season the show nips it in the bud pretty quickly with a Kristen thinking he is a drug addict and the daughters intercepting a phone call.

Speaking of people I feel bad for and am worried about... I odn't know what part of that bathroom scene disturbed me more, him cowering in the bathtub and mumbling as he was, or his daughters seeing him like that :(. 

David's storyline is very mysterious and unsettling. But I'm thinking whatever he's being prepared for will tie into this whole "38 days" thing somehow? I liked the nods to Grace this episode, I hope we get to see her again at some point before the show ends.

Good episode, this one. Intriguing and fun and unsettling in equal measure. 

[phalange]

Interesting twists with the robo-dog storyline. And since it came after Lynn, at this point Kristen has to figure out where Lynn has really been sneaking off to. 

Ben tried to use science to understand why he’s seeing the djinn even though it didn’t ultimately help. Too bad he went to see the one psychiatrist who has more problems than he does. 

Andy is really not doing well. I like that Leland’s attempts to mind control him again were ruined by the girls hanging up on him. 

Interested to see more about David’s new mission from the “friends of the Vatican.”

Can’t feel bad for Sheryl considering she’s literally working for demons and trying to ruin her daughter’s life. Oh, a company that steals a woman’s egg to conceive the antichrist is misogynistic. You don’t say? 

[snoopypez]

I absolutely can't stand Sheryl when it comes to her family, but I can't help but be on her side in subplots like this, where she does something great against evil. If only she'd actually lean into joining the Correct Side and taking down the bad guys from the inside! 

Also the girls and Ben, and the girls and Andy were both super sweet scenes!! They were so supportive to both men, and WOW I hope they tell their mother about what happened with their dad. Them apologizing for being too loud and Andy saying that's never a problem was so lovely. (and the song!! a consent song!!)

(I'm also sooo glad it seems like that won't be dragged out too much, since people are already noticing Weirdness. Though I live in fear of a bad ending for poor Andy. :( sorry, I just think they're all such a good family, and I'm still not here for Kristen/David romantically. He and Ben being part of that good family, yes!)

I'm annoyed at how cute the show made the robot dog 🤪

Edited May 31 by snoopypez

[kwnyc]

Bad puppy! I know Ben is a skeptic, but if the voice is really in his head, he could ask it what it wants, assuming it was a subconscious thing. 

As I recall, djinn's are not always bad. 

I'm hoping they introduced the glass ceiling to show Sheryl destroying it.

The government has in fact done a fair amount of work on remote viewing. I read a book about it by a guy who was in a program with the US army.

This program has not given a f*** for a while now. But this season, their last, they are going to go big before they go home. And I'm here for it.

 

[Anela]

3 hours ago, kwnyc said:

Bad puppy! I know Ben is a skeptic, but if the voice is really in his head, he could ask it what it wants, assuming it was a subconscious thing. 

As I recall, djinn's are not always bad. 

I'm hoping they introduced the glass ceiling to show Sheryl destroying it.

The government has in fact done a fair amount of work on remote viewing. I read a book about it by a guy who was in a program with the US army.

This program has not given a f*** for a while now. But this season, their last, they are going to go big before they go home. And I'm here for it.

 

There see to be a guy who showed up on Art Bell’s show.  He talked about remote viewing.  It’s been so long, I can’t remember his name. I don’t know if they were credible.

[ferjy]

The chattering girls are back! Kristin is always so cool and collected around them, easily ignoring the constant jabbering, but I laugh every time Ben is around them, the look of agony on his face when they start.  “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no…!” 🤣

 

[Mari]

I hope the David subplot ties in quickly, because I find the "Do this.  Do this.  We can't tell you anything.  Do this.  It's for the best," organization obnoxiously condescending and uninteresting.  The only good thing I can say about it is that it's not David/Kristin romantic relationship centric.  David deserves a storyline that isn't about him having doubts and being infatuated with his married coworker.

The glass ceiling was kind of terrible and fun, only because Sheryl deserves some agony for how very little she actually cares about anyone not Sheryl, and because there's no way she's not going to do her best to get revenge.  Waiting for that and watching how she gets around this problem should be fascinating.

 

[tennisgurl]

I would feel bad for Sheryl but she is literally working for the actual devil, she cant be that surprised that the people she's working with aren't the best kind of people/demons. I am happy to see her take down Leland though, anything to wipe that smug smile off his stupid face. 

I cant decide if I prefer when the bad guys are mysterious and creepy or if I prefer when they're just utterly ridiculous, literally doing Zoom meetings and putting Sheryl under an actual glass ceiling. 

The robot dog was scary but also super cute, it reminded me a lot of my little robot Poo-Chi dog toy I had when I was a kid. I like that they went with a more scientific explanation instead of a supernatural one, its still weird but its a weird that we can actually explain. Its nice when they mix them up, giving us some supernatural, some mundane, and some that are ambiguous. Also, the little tail the girls made for robot dog was too cute.

Ben, David, and Kristen really need to all sit down to compare notes and chat, they're all being weird and are all going through this crazy stuff alone when they could be going through crazy stuff and being weird together. 

Poor Andy, I hope he makes it out of this alright. The girls were so sweet with him, I love when the L's beat Leland.

[Zaffy]

I really can't stand of the Vatican guys and their frustrating  "you do not need to know anything just do what we tell you to do" . They need David more than ever but they keep not letting him know what is really going on. It is so tiring.. they are so annoying and boring at the same time. Argh!

I also don't get why the girls didn't tell their mom what happened with Andy.

Btw, why they still go to this shrink?

I miss.. George... George come back!

[christie]

5 hours ago, Zaffy said:

I really can't stand of the Vatican guys and their frustrating  "you do not need to know anything just do what we tell you to do" . They need David more than ever but they keep not letting him know what is really going on. It is so tiring.. they are so annoying and boring at the same time. Argh!

I also don't get why the girls didn't tell their mom what happened with Andy.

Btw, why they still go to this shrink?

I miss.. George... George come back!

I agree about the Vatican guys but Chukwudi Iwuji plays one of them and I can't hate on Chukwudi Iwuji. I also wonder about the therapist and why the girls didn't tell their mum about Andy.

I miss George too and keep on expecting him to show up around the house. Come back George!

[Jordan61]

On 7/1/2024 at 5:53 AM, Zaffy said:

I also don't get why the girls didn't tell their mom what happened with Andy.

This frustrated the heck out of me! He's obviously very much not okay, they need to tell their mom.

On the flip side, I was pretty pissed when the doctor told Kristen about the needle marks between Andy's toes without saying anything to her ACTUAL PATIENT first.