S04.E09: How To Build...

[AnimeMania]

David, Kristen, and Ben investigate a company using AI to fake communication with the dead after Father Ignatius receives text messages from the deceased Monsignor Korecki. At DF, Sheryl and the other women convince The Manager to take action against Leland.

The team looks into bizarre text messages; Sheryl tries to beat Leland.

Premiere Date: July 18, 2024       Paramount+   

[NeenerNeener]

Am I just noticing now that the intro music sounds like the intro music for The Good Fight? 

[TakomaSnark]

2 hours ago, NeenerNeener said:

Am I just noticing now that the intro music sounds like the intro music for The Good Fight? 

Both the music and imagery - and the escalation of both - are very much in the vein of The Good Fight.

[StarBrand]

Wow, two eps in a row that haven't had a minute of the Bouchard children. Odd, considering what happned two weeks ago...

Ah, Sheryl, you did have one up on Leyland for a second there. Too bad you underestimated how batshit crazy he is.

Kristen can protest all she wants she didn't like DavidBot's sexting, I don't believe a word of it, although I'm sure she's prefer the read David doing so. Watching her reaction to the whole IT team playing back the conversation made me both wince and laugh....

Edited July 18 by StarBrand
good spelling is awesome

[Madding crowd]

The ending seemed like a series finale-hope there are more episodes. I thought the evil chatbot storyline was interesting and creepy. I wish I could still find Leland and his group scary but it’s been played for jokes too many times now. 

[RedInk]

So who was The Manager, anyway? He died pretty easily…didn’t expect that. Middle management I guess?

[Chaos Theory]

Every lady needs a knife proof dress that Sheryl has.

Every time you think Leland is out he finds his way back in stronger than before. 

[Snazzy Daisy]

Noooooooooo! Am going to miss that flabby, saggy, grouchy guy. RIP The Manager.

Leland makes a daring power move by eating The Manager’s heart during the launch. Sheryl, where are you? The memory of him eating the Therapist Goat comes flooding back. 😣

Am not sure which one is more intriguing - Sheryl’s Kevlar dress or Ben’s baked-potato pyjama. Tinfoil hat prevents migraines - that’s a positive representation of tinfoil hat on TV. It’s rare. 😆

Jesus! Pillow! Michael Bay!

When the LastConnection team plays the voice-recording of Chatbot David, Kristen’s panic reaction is hilarious. 😂

The experiences with Chatbot Julia and Chatbot David seem to be tailor-made for David and Kristen. But I cannot decode what happens with Chatbot Liyana Shakir and why it leads Ben to a dodgy Dr. Doggett in Upper East Side.

One obvious thing - when Leland is making a case to The Manager, he uses the words “a whore of Babylon” to describe Kristen. So does Chatbot David. So, this Chatbot mess has Leland written all over it. He’s behind this.

The scariest, most disturbing thing in this episode is clicking YES to give an app a permission to read all data in your laptop. 😱

 

PS: What about the painting teased in last episode’s cliffhanger? Has it been forgotten?

 

[Anela]

I noticed the connection between what was said by the bot, and Leland, too. 

It did feel like a series finale. The group sitting there, drinking canned margaritas, as the world burns. I know we have something like five episodes left. I hate that we're over halfway through, and I'm still hoping there won't be a big cliffhanger, even though they want to be picked up again. 

I liked the glass ceiling cracking. I didn't like them pushing the feelings between Kristen and David, via the bot. She's married, and he chose to speak to his dead wife. But what happened with the bot, definitely has Leland written all over it, so I guess that's fitting. 

[phalange]

When they started playing Kristen’s conversation with TextBot David for the whole room to hear, I got so much secondhand embarrassment. At least she had time to warn him first. And David is seeing demon Kristen again. Is this the first time she’s appeared this season? I can’t remember.

Ben sleeping like a baked potato in tin foil is hilarious, but the chatbot version of his mother sending him to see some random doctor was weird.

Damn, Sheryl almost got rid of Leland. I didn’t expect him to kill the Manager of all people but he is that crazy. I wonder if the rest of the company will actually obey him. And I’m curious if we’ll actually see that painting from the last episode.

I liked David, Kristen, and Ben all hanging out the end. Funny they mentioned tornadoes and hurricanes considering the US has been experiencing both the last couple weeks. Unintentional good timing, show. 

[Annber03]

53 minutes ago, phalange said:

When they started playing Kristen’s conversation with TextBot David for the whole room to hear, I got so much secondhand embarrassment. At least she had time to warn him first. 

I loved her trying to be like, "So, uh, hey, you might hear some odd things on there..." XD. I especially like how she made a point of telling him that this happened without her prompting - true that she didn't initiate that sexy conversation, but if that chatbot was picking up clues as to what to talk about based off what she had on her computer, wel... She has looked up David before, and there's stuff she's had to look up for her job that's connected to him, so...

I also liked her trying to urge the guys to keep fast forwarding the conversation :p. At least David was totally chill about it, so yay for that. 

But god, yeah, what a creepy app. Francis getting that message from the Monsignor was legit heartbreaking, especially his reaction to it, and then they twisted the knife even more with the callbacks to Julia. I really like how they brought back that part of David's past, and how he dealt with his feelings about being able to "talk" to her again. The eerie parallels between her comments about her death and what Leland had taunted him with...eesh. 

Quote

Ben sleeping like a baked potato in tin foil is hilarious, but the chatbot version of his mother sending him to see some random doctor was weird.

It was, and I really like how we got to see the deep tension Ben clearly has about his childhood and his mom and his relationship with her in general. I know they've touched on his past a bit in that regard, but yeah, there's clearly still a lot he's yet to fully unpack and work through about that part of his life. 

The tinfoil hat helping his migraines is both intriguing and just further adds to my worry for him. Guy is gong THROUGH some stuff right now. 

Quote

I liked David, Kristen, and Ben all hanging out the end. Funny they mentioned tornadoes and hurricanes considering the US has been experiencing both the last couple weeks. Unintentional good timing, show. 

I was gonna say, yeah, that's..eerie. Especially considerin the northeastern U.S., New York specifically, actually had some tornadic storms just a couple days ago. 

But yes, it's been really nice to see these moments when they get to just hang out together and take a break from the craziness of their work and laugh about some of the absurd things they've seen and been through. I'm glad they're still finding ways to connect even with all their perosnal issues going on.

So Leland killed the Manager. Oh, boy. This is gonna be interesting. 

[millennium]

Is it me, or is this season significantly better than the three previous?

[Castiels Cat]

13 hours ago, RedInk said:

So who was The Manager, anyway? He died pretty easily…didn’t expect that. Middle management I guess?

That is the second one he has killed.

[Castiels Cat]

8 hours ago, Snazzy Daisy said:

Noooooooooo! Am going to miss that flabby, saggy, grouchy guy. RIP The Manager.

Leland makes a daring power move by eating The Manager’s heart during the launch. Sheryl, where are you? The memory of him eating the Therapist Goat comes flooding back. 😣

Am not sure which one is more intriguing - Sheryl’s Kevlar dress or Ben’s baked-potato pyjama. Tinfoil hat prevents migraines - that’s a positive representation of tinfoil hat on TV. It’s rare. 😆

Jesus! Pillow! Michael Bay!

When the LastConnection team plays the voice-recording of Chatbot David, Kristen’s panic reaction is hilarious. 😂

The experiences with Chatbot Julia and Chatbot David seem to be tailor-made for David and Kristen. But I cannot decode what happens with Chatbot Liyana Shakir and why it leads Ben to a dodgy Dr. Doggett in Upper East Side.

One obvious thing - when Leland is making a case to The Manager, he uses the words “a whore of Babylon” to describe Kristen. So does Chatbot David. So, this Chatbot mess has Leland written all over it. He’s behind this.

The scariest, most disturbing thing in this episode is clicking YES to give an app a permission to read all data in your laptop. 😱

 

PS: What about the painting teased in last episode’s cliffhanger? Has it been forgotten?

 

The scary doctor seemingly cured Ben.

Agree about giving permission.

Agree it was demon company subsidiarelt . Didn't we just see grief demons. 

I felt since last season that Kristen was Leland's real target all along. He says he wants ger to raise the AC now. I think he wants her fir a SH too. He's been gooming her since Ep  1  This show has been about him clawing his way to her.

[Affogato]

9 hours ago, Snazzy Daisy said:

But I cannot decode what happens with Chatbot Liyana Shakir and why it leads Ben to a dodgy Dr. Doggett in Upper East Side.

One obvious thing - when Leland is making a case to The Manager, he uses the words “a whore of Babylon” to describe Kristen. So does Chatbot David. So, this Chatbot mess has Leland written all over it. He’s behind this.

The scariest, most disturbing thing in this episode is clicking YES to give an app a permission to read all data in your laptop. 😱

 

PS: What about the painting teased in last episode’s cliffhanger? Has it been forgotten?

 

Tha app permission is absolutely scary. I assume simply deleting the app won’t work, either. 
 

I thought the father had seen Doggett and the kids, Ben and his sister, hadn’t known about it. A piece of the puzzle that is that this is a family djinn problem?
 

‘whore of Babylon” could be used independently by both, but in the context of the story I agree it is likely Leland.  It aligns with DM’s mission. And abolishing the ethics department fits. 
 

Does Kristen not know any dead people? It would have to be someone who left a digital paper trail, but still, someone? It seems bizarre she would go for still living people. 

i suppose the painting skipped an episode.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 19 by Affogato

[ferjy]

Ha, Sister Andrea, when Kristin queried whether Leland could be behind the texts… “Yes!” Didn’t even take a breath. 😄And it looks like she was right!

I guess Kristin’s canned margaritas aren’t strong enough, Ben was adding tequila to the cans. There were quite a few empty cans on the table. That lot can hold their liquor!

 

[WAnglais1]

Leland always manages to come back, no matter what is thrown at him. His proclamation of "MY will be done!" was pretty chilling. Might he be Satan on Earth (literally)?

NPR has several stories on Chinese companies creating avatars of the dead. One man has his deceased mother and talks to her when he is stressed. This really isn't good for the grief process. It runs you $30 for the basic avatar. I'm so out of the demo on this. 

It's an ethical minefield. Not like people don't live online already. Here's one of the stories. You'll need to search for it. I can't seem to post a link.

Chinese companies offer to 'resurrect' dead loved ones. It raises questions : NPR

[Affogato]

26 minutes ago, WAnglais1 said:

Leland always manages to come back, no matter what is thrown at him. His proclamation of "MY will be done!" was pretty chilling. Might he be Satan on Earth (literally)?

NPR has several stories on Chinese companies creating avatars of the dead. One man has his deceased mother and talks to her when he is stressed. This really isn't good for the grief process. It runs you $30 for the basic avatar. I'm so out of the demo on this. 

It's an ethical minefield. Not like people don't live online already. Here's one of the stories. You'll need to search for it. I can't seem to post a link.

Chinese companies offer to 'resurrect' dead loved ones. It raises questions : NPR

Apparently LRon Hubbard referred to himself as the antiChrist, but Scientology removed this from their canon after he died.  So in the last episode we may jump forward and discover the boy is a pulp writer.  If Leland is actually Satan I am guessing he doesn’t know it at this point, but it is possible. 
 

it sounds like the chatbot they were using is ages beyond what exists and you would need a lot if digital information to create a convincing avatar. Ben’s mother seems reasonable. Access to bills would give the doctor’s name bd the rest are text reminders to her kids to go to church. 

[RedInk]

10 hours ago, Castiels Cat said:

That is the second one he has killed.

The therapist! Thank you! You’re right, and I’d totally forgotten. (Still, based on everyone’s response to him, I thought this manager would be a little more powerful than any other basic mortal being.)

[Castiels Cat]

I think Leland is just sacrilegious. That said he corrupted Kristen Sheryl and Boggs and endless energy into Corrupting Lexi and corrupting Kristen again and using her to corrupt David. That is co-opting the Devil's playback.

The AntiChrist is literally the son of the Devil so his indignation might have been quite real  Sheryl running away in terror may have been the sanest thing she has ever done.

That is a twist.

.so then... David... he is not just a Priest.