S04.E06: Blow-Up

[Affogato]

11 minutes ago, KerleyQ said:

They had the serial number of the shoulder replacement traced to find out whose it was, and it came back with his name. Unless the Westies and BS's managed to hack that system to create a fake patient, he wasn't a made up person, and that shoulder replacement was his. It could have no longer been in his body, since people do get replacements replaced at some point. But it was originally his. 

I missed that they got the information this episode. I din’t know how I missed that. But it could be his dead stuntman brother’s shoulder replacement as well  

[cardigirl]

While I find it appalling that someone would need to have replacement joints replaced (such an ordeal the first time around), apparently they do have a lifespan that may be shorter than the recipient's.

How long do artificial joints last?

They found encouraging results: Nearly 60% of hip replacements lasted 25 years, 70% lasted 20 years, and almost 90% lasted 15 years. Total knee replacements lasted even longer: 82% lasted 25 years, 90% lasted 20 years, and 93% lasted 15 years.

I guess the artificial joints found in the ashes may be there because they were tossed in there, and not because someone's body was cremated there, I am curious as to why the show took such trouble to show us the front of the box of Sazz's remains. It says Authorized by DB, and for the life of me, I can't think who DB is. Someone less technologically challenged than I am may be able to create a screen grab of the box, but it was so pointedly put in front of the camera, that I think it might be a clue.

What do you think?

[Chit Chat]

13 minutes ago, cardigirl said:

It says Authorized by DB, and for the life of me, I can't think who DB is.

I can't get the picture to upload, but the info is this (it's shown at the 10:40 mark in the show):  

Name of Deceased:  S. Pataki

Cremation #: EV-629

Cremation Authorized by:  DB

Birth & Death date left empty, as well as date & time of cremation.

Edited October 2 by Chit Chat

[paigow]

Dudenoff [as portrayed by Griffin Dunne] was undeniably a real person. Likely, mass dropping of his class following The Desecration of Alice led to his early retirement as a film professor. Whoever is perpetrating the bodega fraud has no motive for murdering anyone. Sazz had no motive for exposing a Rent Control scam.

[bosawks]

Trying to make a quick getaway in a Peugeot will never not be funny.

[shapeshifter]

Is the title of the episode supposed to reference the famous movie of the same name, "Blow Up," in some clue-revealing way?

 

2 hours ago, Affogato said:

Dudenoff may be made up

2 hours ago, KerleyQ said:

They had the serial number of the shoulder replacement traced to find out whose it was, and it came back with his name. Unless the Westies and BS's managed to hack that system to create a fake patient, he wasn't a made up person, and that shoulder replacement was his. It could have no longer been in his body, since people do get replacements replaced at some point. But it was originally his. 

Yes, yes, and, then again, yes. 
Plus, I don't think we'd have seen a flashback of Dudenoff if he was not a real person (ETA, like @paigow said above).

Speaking of Dudenoff, the HITG! actor who plays him, Griffin Dunne, has an IMDb page picture that looks like it could be a relative of Rudy Thurber, Christmas All The Time Guy, played by Kumail Nanjiani.
Could he have been cast for that reason? Like, maybe Dudenoff is Rudy/Christmas Guy's father?
That might explain the legalities of the rent situation. 
Maybe all the Westy apartments were at one time a single property?

Dudenoff                 Christmas guy

 

However, in the scenes in this episode, Griffin Dunne did not look like he does in this picture. So may not.
Or maybe he was cast for that reason, but that plot point was abandoned.

Edited October 2 by shapeshifter

[Quilt Fairy]

I can get past (sort of) the idea that Detective Williams was pissed enough to give our guys Sazz's cremains, even though they are evidence.  What I can't get past is that a forensic examiner didn't figure out what the trio figured out in less than 30 seconds:  that there were 2 left shoulder joints and therefore most likely 2 bodies. It's such an egregious oversight that I wonder if it means anything.

I did not think I would like this episode, but I admit that I did, very much, probably starting around the time that Mabel told Howard to shut off the camera and he just put it down, upside-down but continued filming.

Hulu is saying that this is an 8 episode season, that there are only 2 episodes left. Is that true?  Say it isn't so!

Edited October 2 by Quilt Fairy

[Night Cheese]

Could Galifinakis be involved? He mentioned in a previous episode that he wanted to do more serious roles and playing Oliver wasn't what he wanted. The BSs are creating a film within the film with hidden cameras throughout the apartments. Maybe he knows what's going on and is using this as a way to debut a more serious side of himself. The fact that the bullet bounced off of his fat but didn't seriously injure him might be a way to show more dramatic range without actually being in any danger. He's also mentioned and featured more than the other two movie actors. Detective Williams is especially hung up on him for some reason and always mentions him.

I was also thinking about him being cast as Oliver. ZG is pretty well known for being Greek. In Season 2(?) we had Oliver's son take a DNA test and he ended up half Greek (presumably Teddy's biological child) and then Oliver lied and said he was actually Greek to cover up the fact that the DNA test proved he wasn't his son's bio father. Could there be some connection there? Or just a coincidence that ZG is Greek and there was a previous storyline about being Greek?

[cardigirl]

19 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Hulu is saying that this is an 8 episode season, that there are only 2 episodes left. Is that true?  Say it isn't so!

It should be 10 episodes, like the other seasons. I don't see where it says on Hulu that it will be 8. My Hulu shows that 6 episodes are available, but doesn't say anywhere that there will be 8. 

Only 8 titles have been released for the episodes. They have not released the names of episode 9 or 10.

Edited October 2 by cardigirl

[tennisgurl]

First of all, the yellow sweater Mabel was wearing is a classic Fabulous Mable Sweater, I fully expect to see Eva Longoria wearing it by the end of the season. 

I have really enjoying seeing how the episodes tie into the movie that they're named after, this episode very much felt like they were playing with themes of Blowup, especially the voyeurism and surrealism. The Brothers Sisters very much feel like they would dress as mimes and play tennis.

I feel pretty confident that the Brothers Sisters are really weird but aren't involved in the murder(s) but I do think that the trio need to think more about their film classes with Dudenoff, it feels like a pretty big coincidence that two of the Westies also took his class. 

I think my favorite low key joke was Charles and Oliver misunderstanding the meaning of "spilling the tea" and then trying to use it in bizarre ways. 

[shapeshifter]

Is there any chance that Oliver or Charles crossed paths with Dudenoff or any of the Westies in their acting careers?

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I think my favorite low key joke was Charles and Oliver misunderstanding the meaning of "spilling the tea" and then trying to use it in bizarre ways. 

Loved that, too, esp when Oliver suddenly says, "Spill the tea on 'em!" and Charles says, "Bingo!" Even though that's exactly what Charles said the very first time.

I also liked when Charles was telling Howard to film the supposed rifle box, saying, "Zoom! Zoom!" then "Enhance!" and Howard says, "Huh?"

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Is the title of the episode supposed to reference the famous movie of the same name, "Blow Up," in some clue-revealing way?

I'm not so sure. So far it seems like either the titles are connected to the episodes by a basic meaning (like "Once Upon a Time in the West" meant the trio went to Hollywood) or there's a general connection to the plot of the movie (like "Gates of Heaven" and grief).

I haven't seen the movie "Blow Up," but I remember long ago reading some critic's remark about the various characters disrobing for sex and that no one ever wore underwear.

Re the box with Sazz's cremains in it, I guess I didn't wonder too much about it. When Williams placed it directly in front of the camera, I only thought about the episode's gimmick of every scene being filmed by cameras within the show, and maybe putting the box front and center was just to emphasize this. Maybe not.

"DB" may be revealed later, but I can't think why this person would be important. Maybe it's an in-joke or a nod to someone's relation or friend who's in the 'death' business.

[Chit Chat]

38 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

"DB" may be revealed later, but I can't think why this person would be important. Maybe it's an in-joke or a nod to someone's relation or friend who's in the 'death' business.

On the box it says that it's a temporary box for remains, and it says 'Cremation authorized by:  DB."   It's interesting because Sazz was supposedly cremated at the Arconia, so I'm not sure why there would be a person's initials "authorizing" it.   I'd like to know that her cremation was verified. 

Usually, it's family who authorizes a deceased person's cremation (or the deceased person's pre-death instructions), then you get the official documents with said remains stating the who, what, when & where of the cremation.  In my parent's case, I got certificates stating those things and the official info needed for transporting their ashes from one state to another.  I guess we can handwave the proper way of doing that for this show though!!  😃

[Quilt Fairy]

3 hours ago, cardigirl said:

It should be 10 episodes, like the other seasons. I don't see where it says on Hulu that it will be 8. My Hulu shows that 6 episodes are available, but doesn't say anywhere that there will be 8. 

Only 8 titles have been released for the episodes. They have not released the names of episode 9 or 10.

I am only going by the fact that when you get to the screen that lists all the seasons (and I HATE Hulu's user interface) it shows the first 3 seasons as having 10 episodes but this 4th season as having 8 episodes.  Then it lists the 8 episodes including the 2 that have not yet aired.  If they are listing future episodes, why not all of them, even with a non-descript title like "Episode 9"?  

I sincerely hope I am over-thinking this.  This show always picks up steam in the second half of the season, and it's finally getting good.  I don't want it to end yet. 

[AnimeMania]

4 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I am only going by the fact that when you get to the screen that lists all the seasons (and I HATE Hulu's user interface) it shows the first 3 seasons as having 10 episodes but this 4th season as having 8 episodes.  Then it lists the 8 episodes including the 2 that have not yet aired.  If they are listing future episodes, why not all of them, even with a non-descript title like "Episode 9"?  

I sincerely hope I am over-thinking this.  This show always picks up steam in the second half of the season, and it's finally getting good.  I don't want it to end yet. 

I notice that when Hulu lists the new episodes after an episode airs, they usually list them one episode at a time or one month's worth of episodes at a time. I am pretty sure the show has 10 episodes and they don't want to give away any spoilers to their most popular series.

Like:

Spoiler

The house in the picture for episode 7, I believe it belongs to Charles' sister.

[peeayebee]

25 minutes ago, Chit Chat said:

On the box it says that it's a temporary box for remains, and it says 'Cremation authorized by:  DB."   It's interesting because Sazz was supposedly cremated at the Arconia, so I'm not sure why there would be a person's initials "authorizing" it.   I'd like to know that her cremation was verified. 

DOH! I didn't think about the fact that Sazz was already cremated. Also, refresh my memory: Charles collected all of Sazz's ashes from the incinerator, right? Did he then give the ashes to the police or FBI? In that case, I can see the ashes being returned to him in a temporary box. DB? David Berkowitz? Da Bears? 

[roseha]

Okay since it has come up, I checked IMDB, and - hoping they have the correct information - not only does Season 4 have 10 episodes, but Season 5 does as well!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11691774/episodes/?season=4

I agree, good news as the plot is getting more complex with what seems to be all the connections among the various characters.

[Chit Chat]

51 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

Also, refresh my memory: Charles collected all of Sazz's ashes from the incinerator, right? Did he then give the ashes to the police or FBI? In that case, I can see the ashes being returned to him in a temporary box.

From the size of the box the ashes were in, they didn't collect very much!  It was small and appeared to be lightweight.  That's not the norm for a full-size body.  

Det. Williams was sweet when she gave the ashes to Charles.  She wanted him to have them rather than having them sit on a shelf in the evidence room.  Aww!

[Quilt Fairy]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

Also, refresh my memory: Charles collected all of Sazz's ashes from the incinerator, right? Did he then give the ashes to the police or FBI?

No, Charles only had the ashes that stuck to his hands and clothes from pawing through the incinerator until he found the shoulder joint.  Those are what he later shook off and put in a mason jar, which it sounds like he still has.  At the start of Ep 2 we saw the police/FBI collecting the rest of what was in the incinerator.

[chitowngirl]

Wikipedia has 10 episodes listed, the last one will air October 29. The titles and descriptions are not there yet, but the Writer’s credits are.

[peeayebee]

28 minutes ago, Chit Chat said:

From the size of the box the ashes were in, they didn't collect very much!  It was small and appeared to be lightweight.  That's not the norm for a full-size body.  

The box for my husband's ashes wasn't all that big. It certainly wasn't as big as the box that Sazz's ashes were in, which of course was big enough to hold the metal shoulder pieces.

[Yeah No]

11 hours ago, paigow said:

Dudenoff [as portrayed by Griffin Dunne] was undeniably a real person. Likely, mass dropping of his class following The Desecration of Alice led to his early retirement as a film professor. Whoever is perpetrating the bodega fraud has no motive for murdering anyone. Sazz had no motive for exposing a Rent Control scam.

Who here so far has any real motive for murdering anyone? They all have more reason to want to cover up a death than to commit a murder. And more reasons to want Dudenoff in particular alive than dead.

And who would want to expose a rent control scam either? No one that we can say so far.

The closest thing to a motive for murder that I can come up with right now is Sazz's doctor being upset with her for ditching her for Jan (presuming Sazz was having a relationship with the doctor).

That's why I speculated in another post that maybe Dudenoff had some kind of falling out with someone over something and ended up murdered by them. Like maybe he wanted to give an apartment to someone they didn't want to get it, or they wanted it to go to someone and Dudenoff didn't want to give it to them. And maybe this person would rather be in control over who gets the apartments because of that. I don't know why but I think Richard Kind's character would be the most likely. He was the one that offered an apartment to Mabel after all. Did he have some kind of arrangement with Dudenoff to be able to assign his apartments to people? I don't remember him saying that. So I'm wondering about him now.

I'm thinking maybe Dudenoff wanted an apartment to go to Sazz but someone else wanted it to go to someone different and there's the disagreement. So that person (or persons) would have a motive to want to kill off Dudenoff and potentially Sazz too in order to get control over the apartments and who they went to. And then they would fake that Dudenoff was still alive to continue to keep the apartment scam going. Sazz may have been onto their plan to kill Dudenoff and knew she would be a target so when she survived the bullet she disappeared. Either that or she really was murdered.

[shapeshifter]

This👆could work depending upon when Dudenoff died/was killed.

And I’m circling back to my theory of:

Quote

Hammy gets caught up in the trigger string, swinging the rifle around to Charles' apartment, and:
BLAM!
😵

 

Edited October 3 by shapeshifter

[Blakeston]

I'm kind of amazed that the name "Dudenoff" is apparently a character's real name, and not misdirection or a pseudonym. (Barring any further twists, of course.)

I liked the theory that M. Dudenoff was a woman, and the writers chose a name with "dude" in it to throw us off.

[Affogato]

I actually think Jan murdered Sazz, as is her wont, and is hanging around to finish off Charles (in the building).  
 

or alternatively that the actual murder hasn’t happened yet. 
 

But I think Jan. 
 

what a mess. 

Edited October 3 by Affogato

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Blakeston said:

I'm kind of amazed that the name "Dudenoff" is apparently a character's real name, and not misdirection or a pseudonym. (Barring any further twists, of course.)

I liked the theory that M. Dudenoff was a woman, and the writers chose a name with "dude" in it to throw us off.

In this episode, BS Trina's alibi to Charles for the time of the murder is:

• [TRINA BROTHERS] We came to visit a friend. And that friend was Milton Dudenoff.

But, who knows with the BSs?
"Milton" could be an alter ego for one of the BSs.

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

And I’m circling back to my theory of:

Quote

Hammy gets caught up in the trigger string, swinging the rifle around to Charles' apartment, and:
BLAM!
😵

Well you were right last season so I won't count it out! 🐖🥓😉

1 hour ago, Blakeston said:

I'm kind of amazed that the name "Dudenoff" is apparently a character's real name, and not misdirection or a pseudonym. (Barring any further twists, of course.)

I liked the theory that M. Dudenoff was a woman, and the writers chose a name with "dude" in it to throw us off.

Yeah I liked that theory too but then when Dudenoff the male teacher was shown I put that on hold but then realized that perhaps Dudenoff the teacher had a relative with the same last name that lived at the Arconia and that's who Dudenoff is. I also wondered if Sazz or someone we know was or is Dudenoff's relative.

19 minutes ago, Affogato said:

I actually think Jan murdered Sazz, as is her wont, and is hanging around to finish off Charles (in the building).  
 

or alternatively that the actual murder hasn’t happened yet. 
 

But I think Jan. 
 

what a mess. 

Do we know that Jan was on the loose when the murder happened? I don't remember anyone talking about that and I might have missed that on the show. Otherwise wouldn't our trio be considering her as a suspect and putting pressure on the police to find her (or perhaps looking for her themselves)?

I suggested very early on that I didn't necessarily believe that any murder has happened yet in the building and that these ashes and arm implants were all a part of an elaborate ruse. I still wonder if that's the case. The murder may happen at the end when someone gets desperate to protect their secret, but that may happen in front of people and the murderer will be seen in the act. 

It is a mess. But I think that just like what's happening to our trio, someone is trying to throw us off!

[peeayebee]

When Charles first said the thing about "Spill the tea," like him I was trying to remember the phrase. Then I decided it wasn't the right phrase at all, that he was trying to think of "Spill the beans." Then I googled and found that "Spill the tea" IS an expression, but it means to share gossip. So I think he really was trying to remember the beans expression.

[EtheltoTillie]

On 10/1/2024 at 1:19 PM, Night Cheese said:

That was my thought when Detective Williams said he's been cashing his SS checks at a bodega. I know bodega culture/life is real in NY, but I'd imagine a professor would use a bank at least to cash his checks. I think someone is intercepting his checks and cashing them to make authorities think he's still alive. 

Not be be too picky, but no one gets SS checks anymore.  You have to have direct deposit.  It's been that way for years.  If you have no bank account, they give you special debit cards. 

[paigow]

32 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Not be be too picky, but no one gets SS checks anymore.

 Maybe Dudenoff - the insidious criminal mastermind- bribed someone to violate SOP...

[KerleyQ]

2 hours ago, Blakeston said:

I'm kind of amazed that the name "Dudenoff" is apparently a character's real name, and not misdirection or a pseudonym. (Barring any further twists, of course.)

I liked the theory that M. Dudenoff was a woman, and the writers chose a name with "dude" in it to throw us off.

I admit, early on in the season, I thought it was going to turn out that Sazz was Dudenoff, and it was an alias she was using in the building to hang around there and keep an eye on Charles for some reason. Obviously, that's not the case now. 

[Night Cheese]

37 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Not be be too picky, but no one gets SS checks anymore

Yeah I assumed that, but hand-waved that detail because, yknow, TV/plot logic (or lack thereof).

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Do we know that Jan was on the loose when the murder happened? I don't remember anyone talking about that and I might have missed that on the show.

I don't recall any definitive time for when Jan escaped.
Anyone catch it?

 

 

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Not be be too picky, but no one gets SS checks anymore.  You have to have direct deposit.  It's been that way for years.  If you have no bank account, they give you special debit cards. 

Or maybe this is a clue that the SS check cashing story is bogus?

Edited October 3 by shapeshifter

[Affogato]

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Well you were right last season so I won't count it out! 🐖🥓😉

Yeah I liked that theory too but then when Dudenoff the male teacher was shown I put that on hold but then realized that perhaps Dudenoff the teacher had a relative with the same last name that lived at the Arconia and that's who Dudenoff is. I also wondered if Sazz or someone we know was or is Dudenoff's relative.

Do we know that Jan was on the loose when the murder happened? I don't remember anyone talking about that and I might have missed that on the show. Otherwise wouldn't our trio be considering her as a suspect and putting pressure on the police to find her (or perhaps looking for her themselves)?

I suggested very early on that I didn't necessarily believe that any murder has happened yet in the building and that these ashes and arm implants were all a part of an elaborate ruse. I still wonder if that's the case. The murder may happen at the end when someone gets desperate to protect their secret, but that may happen in front of people and the murderer will be seen in the act. 

It is a mess. But I think that just like what's happening to our trio, someone is trying to throw us off!

I don’t think we have a real time frame. Dudenoff may have been dead three years and always had the same code on his door.  He probably played oh hell with the Westies. (I can dig it, I haven’t played in years, but it can be a fun game.) the westies have reason to cover up his death because of rent control, which apparently extends to all four units. If they therefore incinerated him they would not necessarily have been able to distinguish between poison by Jan and natural causes. So either way.   As to when Jan escaped, how long were they in LA? Not too long . If Jan were able to cover her tracks by leaving a trail of bassoon reeds in one or two directions she might buy herself time to get back to  the Arconia. She may get help from Sazz who then learns she still has a grudge against Charles? 
 

i think the movie stuff is narrative chaos  i think it is possible hammy set off the rifle  but hitting Sazz would be a huge coincidence. Hitting anyone would be a huge coincidence.

why was there a loaded gun in Paradise? 

 

 

[Frost]

I know red herrings have been part of the show from the start, but I'm thoroughly confused even by episode 6.  We're over halfway through and new body parts are still showing up.  There doesn't seem to be a sniff of an actual motive for any murder.  I watch this show for the characters and the "style" but I would like a little actual plot.

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

I don't recall any definitive time for when Jan escaped.
Anyone catch it?

I think Jan escaped a little bit before she showed up at Charles' apartment. She was still wearing the the guard's clothes that had brain matter on it. Jan escaped because she was worried since she hadn't heard from Sazz in a while.

[Affogato]

50 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

I think Jan escaped a little bit before she showed up at Charles' apartment. She was still wearing the the guard's clothes that had brain matter on it. Jan escaped because she was worried since she hadn't heard from Sazz in a while.

Thanks. Ok. It is possible Sazz was ghosting Jan, too. Relationship getting difficult.
 

 We have maybe movie people setting up a chaotic possibly fake murder but gun loaded because chaotic, left tinsel, piglet sets off gun, Sazz probably killed. 
 

charles should be more freaked out by Jan and tell detective where she is hiding. 
 

i honestly think we don’t have a clear winner at this point. 

[cardigirl]

1 hour ago, Affogato said:

charles should be more freaked out by Jan and tell detective where she is hiding. 

Does Charles know where Jan is?  I thought she said she was headed to Florida when she left his apartment in the second episode. Other than that, I don't think he has a clue as to where she is.

[Affogato]

7 minutes ago, cardigirl said:

Does Charles know where Jan is?  I thought she said she was headed to Florida when she left his apartment in the second episode. Other than that, I don't think he has a clue as to where she is.

In the ‘vents.’ Hidden walkways that give access to apartments. And she poisoned him with deadly intent. He did not personally chain her to a bus seat with a ticket to Florida taped to her forehead. I’d be freaked out. 

[Yeah No]

The pig as "murderer" idea is a fun idea but if it accidentally set off a gun it wouldn't be a murder and this is murders in the building, not accidental deaths in the building.

13 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Not be be too picky, but no one gets SS checks anymore.  You have to have direct deposit.  It's been that way for years.  If you have no bank account, they give you special debit cards. 

According to the SSA 29,113 people in New York State still get paper Social Security checks, which is about 1% of all SS recipients. Pretty much all of them are people that started getting them years ago and somehow never switched over to a debit card or direct deposit. People that signed up for SS after 2011 or so were not given a check option, and a lot of people that were getting checks starting before that switched to the other methods.

Now, admittedly, the probability that Dudenoff was one of those 29,113 people is pretty remote and I think it's just an inaccuracy of the show.

[shapeshifter]

14 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

The pig as "murderer" idea is a fun idea but if it accidentally set off a gun it wouldn't be a murder and this is murders in the building, not accidental deaths in the building.

According to the SSA 29,113 people in New York State still get paper Social Security checks, which is about 1% of all SS recipients. Pretty much all of them are people that started getting them years ago and somehow never switched over to a debit card or direct deposit. People that signed up for SS after 2011 or so were not given a check option, and a lot of people that were getting checks starting before that switched to the other methods.

Now, admittedly, the probability that Dudenoff was one of those 29,113 people is pretty remote and I think it's just an inaccuracy of the show.

Thanks for looking that up, @Yeah No.

Someone turning 65 by 2011 would now be at least 78. Griffin Dunne, who plays Dudenoff, is only 69, but I think the flashbacks we saw of him as an acting teacher were supposed to have been from at least 10 years ago.

So it’s possible he would have been getting SS checks in the mail.

[EtheltoTillie]

Yeah, but even my mother, who died in 2009 at the age of 92, had had direct deposit for years. They were really pushing it on everyone by saying it would eventually be mandatory. Besides, even my mom and her cohort were used to the idea of direct deposit. They had used it for their pay. The people who did not get direct deposit were the unbanked, who are the people who now get the debit cards. There is no way Dudenoff would be in that group. 

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

The people who did not get direct deposit were the unbanked…
There is no way Dudenoff would be in that group. 

IDK. Dudenoff seems like the type to have his share of eccentricities. 
And if the Rent Control Scam goes back to the 1990s…?
But if it's part of a plot point, that should come up in the remaining episodes' dialog. 
It just seems odd that a show as tightly written as this one would put an outmoded means of getting SS into the script.
But it could be.
I guess we'll know for sure in a month or so.

[Yeah No]

5 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Yeah, but even my mother, who died in 2009 at the age of 92, had had direct deposit for years. They were really pushing it on everyone by saying it would eventually be mandatory. Besides, even my mom and her cohort were used to the idea of direct deposit. They had used it for their pay. The people who did not get direct deposit were the unbanked, who are the people who now get the debit cards. There is no way Dudenoff would be in that group. 

Yup that's why I think it's just an inaccuracy of the show. My father had direct deposit for many years. I remember he wasn't happy about the change at first but after what happened with that birthday gift check he sent me that was intercepted and cashed he knew he had to give in to it.

I am wondering if the fact that they could not reach Dudenoff (because he was overseas or dead maybe?) it never happened. I have to wonder what the circumstances are in those cases that still receive the paper checks. Is it possible that Dudenoff didn't have a bank account in the U.S.?

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Someone turning 65 by 2011 would now be at least 78. Griffin Dunne, who plays Dudenoff, is only 69, but I think the flashbacks we saw of him as an acting teacher were supposed to have been from at least 10 years ago.

So it’s possible he would have been getting SS checks in the mail.

And thank you for making that connection! 

It also makes me wonder just how old Dudenoff would be right now. He may have actually died of natural causes years ago and whoever had his ashes also had his arm implant.

[peeayebee]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Someone turning 65 by 2011 would now be at least 78. Griffin Dunne, who plays Dudenoff, is only 69, but I think the flashbacks we saw of him as an acting teacher were supposed to have been from at least 10 years ago.

The timestamp on the video of Dudenoff's class was 2011.

I'm not making too much of the comment that someone is cashing Dudenoff's SS checks. If it's possible for the SSA to send a check, then I accept that they were issuing Dudenoff checks.

[EtheltoTillie]

Yeah, we have to handwave the SS check for now.  We'll see how it ends up.  As I have posted before, I have no idea what is going on with any of these murders.  Too many characters and clues. 

[Yeah No]

7 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

The timestamp on the video of Dudenoff's class was 2011.

I'm not making too much of the comment that someone is cashing Dudenoff's SS checks. If it's possible for the SSA to send a check, then I accept that they were issuing Dudenoff checks.

It does make me wonder why the police wouldn't look into the check situation with the SSA since it is so rare to still get paper checks. If it is that rare they should be wondering why that's happening. But of course stuff like that is probably missed all the time.

It's probably nothing but it is interesting that the last video we see of Dudenoff was in 2011 and that's when the SSA started to transition away from paper checks.

[Affogato]

2 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

It does make me wonder why the police wouldn't look into the check situation with the SSA since it is so rare to still get paper checks. If it is that rare they should be wondering why that's happening. But of course stuff like that is probably missed all the time.

It's probably nothing but it is interesting that the last video we see of Dudenoff was in 2011 and that's when the SSA started to transition away from paper checks.

Yes. It seemed almost as if he was retiring then, giving the SBs his cameras. 

[Yeah No]

Some more thoughts:

Maybe Dudenoff had two identities, one for the U.S. and one overseas. So if he died or was murdered overseas the U.S. might never know he died and he would continue to get SS payments. And theoretically he could have been cremated overseas in the other name and someone who knew that could have had those cremains in their possession. That person may not be on the side of the cheap apartment dwellers, though, and the fact that the arm implant showed up in the evidence is to "out" them by confirming Dudenoff's death. We don't even know when that implant was placed there. It could have been done after the trio first discovered the cremains in the furnace. Of course the other alternative is if he was murdered or just died naturally in the US there is motive to want to hide it so they would hide the body by cremating it in the Arconia incinerator so they could continue to rent cheap apartments and cash his checks (as we have been thinking all along). 

I'm just surprised the police didn't already trace where those checks were being mailed. If they were going to the Arconia the finger tends to point at the Westies for the check fraud.

[EtheltoTillie]

Every so often you hear of one of these cases where someone is collecting Social Security after the recipient dies.  For that to happen, there would have to be no outward notice of a death.  No body, no funeral home, etc.  It has to be a case where the dead person is hidden by the wrongdoer.  If a person dies otherwise when known to doctors, funeral homes, etc., Social Security is notified immediately by these individuals and they stop sending money.

Edited October 4 by EtheltoTillie