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S01.E06: Once More, With Feeling

AnimeMania

By AnimeMania
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l star

l star

That’s not how I expected that to go, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Everything they’ve shown has said she’s not ready. And he never told her the truth! This screams bad idea. 

I feel like she’s rushing to reclaim her old life.  She wants to be okay so much that she’s just ignoring everything she can. Bringing her daughter back, the juvenile mother/daughter nights, grabbing onto someone who loves her- it’s all too much, and it’s not real. Katie lived with Michael for a reason. Not because Amy was a bad mom like they’ve hinted at before, but because he had the job and hours to be there like she needed. Jenga and brownies may have been Katie’s thing when Amy last remembers her, but she’s too old for that to be a regular thing now. She barely knows Jake. The fact that he’s been good to her through this is not enough. She’s setting herself up for it to all blow up in her face, and the people who can stop it are STILL keeping things from her. Why didn’t Michael explain why Katie moved out the first time? Why didn’t they say anything about how her expectations clashed with the reality of Amy’s job? Why not suggest she start with living there half time like they started with? I don’t blame Katie for not getting into it, but Michael should have. Jake still didn’t tell her! Her kissing him must feel like a fantasy because it is. It’s all too much. 

So Michael picks fights when he’s unhappy. He was an ass in both scenes, and Nora at least didn’t even do anything. Giving up Katie’s room for the new baby is a bad idea though. All three adults should recognize that. It gives her no options. They need to clean out Danny’s room. Even Amy seemed to recognize that it was time. 

I felt for Gina. She deserved Amy’s anger, but she’s also in a tough spot. She’s right- she can’t be her doctor and her friend. And she can’t be Michael’s friend to the detriment of Amy. She has to choose. Now she needs to step up and tell her the hard truths again. 

I laughed watching Richard take credit for the save. I bet he’s built his career on being attached to the right people at the right time. I’ve gotten nothing from him that suggests he’s anything more than average on his own. 

She’s taking her boards in a week? And we’ve heard nothing about it? That’s a big thing to skip, and I’m not happy about it. 

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mythreesons

mythreesons

When Gina was talking to the neurotic patient, she mentioned she'd married a wonderful man.  The patient said something and she said, "My wife and I live downtown."  In the first episode, wasn't something said about Gina and her wife divorcing and she married another woman?  Has she been married three times, or did I miss something?

wonderwoman

wonderwoman

well, this was a frustrating episode. had to watch with the subtitles to know what the neurotic guy was eating — then look up konjac noodles, because i’d never heard of them. 

and they never specified the college student’s condition that required her to monitor her temperature. did a little digging — think it’s congenital insensitivity to pain, since it sounded as though she had been born with it.  

Spartan Girl

Spartan Girl

(edited)
13 hours ago, l star said:

Katie lived with Michael for a reason. Not because Amy was a bad mom like they’ve hinted at before, but because he had the job and hours to be there like she needed.

I might have empathized with Past Amy had it not been for her little "apparently, you can't be left alone" snipe. And the fact that she tried to defend herself with how working helped her "cope" did not put her in a good light when 1) she acted like spending time with Katie was an imposition and 2) she was the one that left her and Michael in the first place. Add the fact that she couldn't be bothered with anybody's grief but her own, and no wonder Katie was done with it.

The reveal that Michael's new marriage is on shaky ground made me roll my eyes. It's such a transparent, hackneyed way to set up the big love triangle. 

Edited by Spartan Girl
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Sweet-n-Snarky

Sweet-n-Snarky

I didn't have an issue with Katie moving in with Amy. I understood the motivation behind it, and I'm actually interested in their second chance. I didn't feel like that was too rushed.

I think the Jake thing is. I know people really love Jake and seem to be excited about them. I enjoy Jake as a character on his own, but I'm still not convinced with their romantic relationship. 

But I cannot get past that they have this great, secret love affair for five months, and they're trying to present it as if it's meant to be for them.

Reuniting them now isn't a good sign IMO because it sets it up for disaster by the end of the season. But in Amy's long list of priorities as she adapts to her life now, pursuing something romantically with a man she was only dating for five months doesn't seem like a real priority.

And I say that as I also advocated for her to know the full truth about their relationship. She's under too much scrutiny with Richard, and for Amy losing the last eight years, I actually am starting to get frustrated with the emphasis on the love triangle and not enough on anything else.

Ironically, we haven't gotten to see Amy mourn now when she's basically just realized that her son has been dead for eight years and she forgot. We've breezed past that easily and she's pretty happy go lucky.

I do find Michael interesting here because it feels like he had to postpone his grief for all those years to keep it together for Katie and overcompensate for Amy and now it's hitting him and he's crashing out.

I find Michael to be an interesting character because of things like that, and it's surprising me that I've seen such negative responses to him online. I don't get how anyone can extend so much grace to Amy but not be able to do the same for Michael. Is it just the love triangle element? 

I feel like all the characters beyond Amy are underdeveloped. Michael is marginally better because of how he's connected to Amy but not by much. He and Jake's entire personalities are just being in love with Amy, and the love triangle isn't working for me because viewers get to ascribe all of these things onto the characters that we aren't actually seeing.

Jake is a conventionally attractive younger guy, so I'm seeing the hard-core shipping, but we don't know anything about him other than he's Jewish, a single dad, and loves Amy. And I appreciate her having an advocate, but I also find it grating that he's so dismissive of how she hurt people and excuses everything she does because she's brilliant.

Michael gets accused of being terrible but we haven't seen anything that really supports that even in their flashbacks. What is interesting to me is that his grief story has been what is typically shown in women, yet somehow, putting it on a man invites harsh criticism of him and no grace. 

But he's also another character who doesn't get much depth beyond loving Amy. His wife is so one dimensional too. All we know about her is that she married a grieving man and moved into this house he shared with his ex wife and then harbors a lot of resentment over that. I'd like to sympathize with her more, but it's that thing where she placed herself into a situation that seemed clear as day and then has moments of disparaging Amy that makes me think that's a common occurrence and an issue in their marriage. Then why marry a man who wasn't emotionally available and ready? He also said that he thought she couldn't get pregnant and she dismissed that which gave me the impression that she maybe led him to believe that and then thought he'd get happy about having his own family with her. 

Michael needed therapy not marriage. I wonder what Nora's expectations were in all of this if she saw that and ignored it. There's something that runs me the wrong way about that, but we might not even seen anything more about it.

I think their marriage would always be an issue even without Amy. But it does suck that it's further fodder for the love triangle.

It's hitting me that we're past the midway point of the series and we still need stronger character development for all the other characters. Sonya's entire personality so far has just been hating Amy. Miller is villainous but there's no forward movement. Gina is so criminally underused even as Amy's friend.

Amy's transition has been too smooth and they're spending too much time on the love triangle component now and not enough on other elements. 

2 hours ago, wonderwoman said:

well, this was a frustrating episode. had to watch with the subtitles to know what the neurotic guy was eating — then look up konjac noodles, because i’d never heard of them. 

and they never specified the college student’s condition that required her to monitor her temperature. did a little digging — think it’s congenital insensitivity to pain, since it sounded as though she had been born with it.  

They did say it early into the episode and quickly that she had CIP. They just didn't elaborate on it further. It was a blink and you miss thing. 

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wonderwoman

wonderwoman

53 minutes ago, Sweet-n-Snarky said:

They did say it early into the episode and quickly that she had CIP. They just didn't elaborate on it further. It was a blink and you miss thing. 

thanks. when i looked it up, it was described as, “an incredibly rare condition,” so it’s not as though most viewers would have had a clue.  they could have at least referenced it’s full name.

it’s like those drug commercials that just give the initials. guess they figure if you have the condition, you’ll know. 

  • Like 1
buckboard

buckboard

They often do parallel stories on this show and Michael'sl brings to mine the father of the sick young woman.  Both men had to raise a daughter alone.  The African American man all the girl's life because of her illness; Michael because his wife spent more time at work than at home.  Both men were having a hard time recongizing that their daughters were growing up and they didn't have to hover over them anymore.

Amy's  long hours kept her away from home because of issues in their marriage over their son's death which lead to their divorce and because she felt more in control at the hospital than in their angry home.  And didn't Michael have long hours before he became an administrator, and was not often home as well?  Did the two parents with doctors salaries and hours ever hire a person for child care?

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l star

l star

(edited)
12 hours ago, mythreesons said:

When Gina was talking to the neurotic patient, she mentioned she'd married a wonderful man.  The patient said something and she said, "My wife and I live downtown."  In the first episode, wasn't something said about Gina and her wife divorcing and she married another woman?  Has she been married three times, or did I miss something?

My understanding is she’s been married three times. Once to a man, twice to women. I’m not sure if she’s bi or just came out late. 

8 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I might have empathized with Past Amy had it not been for her little "apparently, you can't be left alone" snipe. And the fact that she tried to defend herself with how working helped her "cope" did not put her in a good light when 1) she acted like spending time with Katie was an imposition and 2) she was the one that left her and Michael in the first place. Add the fact that she couldn't be bothered with anybody's grief but her own, and no wonder Katie was done with it.

The reveal that Michael's new marriage is on shaky ground made me roll my eyes. It's such a transparent, hackneyed way to set up the big love triangle. 

I think the snipe was more frustration directed at an absent Michael but she definitely should have kept it away from Katie. It looked like Katie heard too much of all of it. Neither Michael or Amy came off well. The only thing I really disagree with is saying she left Michael AND Katie. They said they had equal time with her at the beginning. Since Amy didn’t want to be married anymore, that’s the best solution. 

I don’t think Michael’s marriage is supposed to be on shaky ground. Things aren’t perfect, but it’s about him. He presented himself as this perfect victim in the beginning to Amy blaming him and deserting him. When really he’s an ass when he doesn’t get his way. He’s not a perfect husband. He’s still carrying feelings and resentment for his ex. I think it’s more about showing his issues right now. She’s just extra. Whoever said he needed therapy rather than a wife was dead on. 

Maybe I’m wrong though. They’ve shown Nora has no love for Amy. Katie all but said she left the pregnancy book out for Amy to see on purpose. And there was the snide comment about her in the last ep. Maybe we’re supposed to hate her and their marriage. 

7 hours ago, Sweet-n-Snarky said:

I didn't have an issue with Katie moving in with Amy. I understood the motivation behind it, and I'm actually interested in their second chance. I didn't feel like that was too rushed.

I think the Jake thing is. I know people really love Jake and seem to be excited about them. I enjoy Jake as a character on his own, but I'm still not convinced with their romantic relationship. 

But I cannot get past that they have this great, secret love affair for five months, and they're trying to present it as if it's meant to be for them.

Reuniting them now isn't a good sign IMO because it sets it up for disaster by the end of the season. But in Amy's long list of priorities as she adapts to her life now, pursuing something romantically with a man she was only dating for five months doesn't seem like a real priority.

And I say that as I also advocated for her to know the full truth about their relationship. She's under too much scrutiny with Richard, and for Amy losing the last eight years, I actually am starting to get frustrated with the emphasis on the love triangle and not enough on anything else.

Ironically, we haven't gotten to see Amy mourn now when she's basically just realized that her son has been dead for eight years and she forgot. We've breezed past that easily and she's pretty happy go lucky.

I do find Michael interesting here because it feels like he had to postpone his grief for all those years to keep it together for Katie and overcompensate for Amy and now it's hitting him and he's crashing out.

I find Michael to be an interesting character because of things like that, and it's surprising me that I've seen such negative responses to him online. I don't get how anyone can extend so much grace to Amy but not be able to do the same for Michael. Is it just the love triangle element? 

I feel like all the characters beyond Amy are underdeveloped. Michael is marginally better because of how he's connected to Amy but not by much. He and Jake's entire personalities are just being in love with Amy, and the love triangle isn't working for me because viewers get to ascribe all of these things onto the characters that we aren't actually seeing.

Jake is a conventionally attractive younger guy, so I'm seeing the hard-core shipping, but we don't know anything about him other than he's Jewish, a single dad, and loves Amy. And I appreciate her having an advocate, but I also find it grating that he's so dismissive of how she hurt people and excuses everything she does because she's brilliant.

Michael gets accused of being terrible but we haven't seen anything that really supports that even in their flashbacks. What is interesting to me is that his grief story has been what is typically shown in women, yet somehow, putting it on a man invites harsh criticism of him and no grace. 

But he's also another character who doesn't get much depth beyond loving Amy. His wife is so one dimensional too. All we know about her is that she married a grieving man and moved into this house he shared with his ex wife and then harbors a lot of resentment over that. I'd like to sympathize with her more, but it's that thing where she placed herself into a situation that seemed clear as day and then has moments of disparaging Amy that makes me think that's a common occurrence and an issue in their marriage. Then why marry a man who wasn't emotionally available and ready? He also said that he thought she couldn't get pregnant and she dismissed that which gave me the impression that she maybe led him to believe that and then thought he'd get happy about having his own family with her. 

Michael needed therapy not marriage. I wonder what Nora's expectations were in all of this if she saw that and ignored it. There's something that runs me the wrong way about that, but we might not even seen anything more about it.

I think their marriage would always be an issue even without Amy. But it does suck that it's further fodder for the love triangle.

It's hitting me that we're past the midway point of the series and we still need stronger character development for all the other characters. Sonya's entire personality so far has just been hating Amy. Miller is villainous but there's no forward movement. Gina is so criminally underused even as Amy's friend.

Amy's transition has been too smooth and they're spending too much time on the love triangle component now and not enough on other elements. 

They did say it early into the episode and quickly that she had CIP. They just didn't elaborate on it further. It was a blink and you miss thing. 

I would have been more in favor of Katie moving in if it wasn’t for the Jenga and brownies scene and they weren’t getting rid of her room. The first tells me Amy has no real grasp on Katie as a 17 year old. She’s still in the past. Which isn’t surprising but is a problem when she’s supposed to now be the primary parent raising a teenager while working long hours that make her barely around. She doesn’t even know what rules Michael had for her. The second is putting all the responsibility on Amy which I don’t think she’s prepared for. 

I have an issue too with how they’re fast walking Amy’s grief and recovery. So I’m going with the idea that they aren’t. They haven’t focused on her dealing with Danny’s death because she hasn’t. Same for her divorce. She’s blowing past it and focusing all her energy on Katie and her new relationship with no thought or preparation for the realities. Katie was unhappy living with her before and started their new arrangement with a lie. Michael is still taking out the divorce on her. If anyone finds out about Jake, she’s in major trouble. She’s setting herself for a major fall. 

I agree the other characters are under developed but it’s ep six. I think they’ve actually revealed quite a bit about Michael considering he’s not the lead. I wish Gina got some of his time. 

Edited by l star
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rlc

rlc

15 hours ago, possibilities said:

I had no idea teen agers don't play games and like brownies. I'm not being snarky. When I was a teen, my mother and I played Scrabble and ate ice cream together.

What would a more appropriate mother-daughter time be? 

My teen loves games and brownies. Maybe not every night, but every once in a while. Katie is thrilled to have the mother of her memories back, not the one from her reality the last few years and wants to do all the things she missed.

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KaveDweller

KaveDweller

On 2/12/2025 at 8:29 AM, mythreesons said:

When Gina was talking to the neurotic patient, she mentioned she'd married a wonderful man.  The patient said something and she said, "My wife and I live downtown."  In the first episode, wasn't something said about Gina and her wife divorcing and she married another woman?  Has she been married three times, or did I miss something?

I thought in the first episode Gina told Amy she'd gotten divorced and remarried, and then when she showed the pictures, Amy was surprised to see it was a woman. So I took that to mean, Gina had only been divorced once and only realized she was gay/bi in the last 8 years.

But it was not really specifically said.

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possibilities

possibilities

I thought Gina had been a married to a woman and they split up and she's now with another woman. I could be wrong, but the way I remember it, Amy was not suprrised Gina had a wife; she was surprised that her previous wife was not still her wife.

I took the story this week about the man she was with to be when she was very young. She made it clear that it was never right, despite him being a good guy, so I don't think it means she's bi. I think it means she's a lesbian and always was, but was in the closet til she had the guts to end that relationship.

She talked to the patient about how she had to find the courage to face what she really is, and stop telling herself an inaccurate story about it. That tracks with the patient being afraid to let go of his story that he's sick, and start dealing with whatever his underlying issues are, just like how Gina was afraid to come out and be opely lesbian, but eventually she couldn't live with the lie anymore.

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l star

l star

3 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I thought in the first episode Gina told Amy she'd gotten divorced and remarried, and then when she showed the pictures, Amy was surprised to see it was a woman. So I took that to mean, Gina had only been divorced once and only realized she was gay/bi in the last 8 years.

But it was not really specifically said.

I thought Amy said it was her wedding to the wife she remembered, and Gina corrected her that they’d gotten divorced. It was another wedding. I think if she was supposed to be coming out to Amy, Amy would have mentioned it. That’s kind of a big reveal from a friend. So I think she’s been married three times. 

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statsgirl

statsgirl

One of the things that I like about this show is that it has such complex characters. Many different opinions of the characters, it's interesting to read why.

To me, both Michael and Amy were stuck when their son died. Amy is actually the luckier as the accident is now forcing her to move on. She sees that Michael has remarried and is expecting a baby and that in the past she hurt Katie badly enough that Katie moved out and rejected her. Now she`s seeing what she became and making an effort to move on to be someone better.

Michael however is trapped. He is still living in the same house, a `mausoleum` Nora calls it, keeping Danny`s room as a shrine and barely redecorating the rest.  Nora wanted to move to another house but Michael couldn't. He's angry at Amy, he's angry at Nora, he's angry that Katie wants to move out, and he's angry at himself. He needs therapy even more than Amy does.

Nora has been barely drawn but I can see her as someone who fell in love with Michael and didn't realize how stuck he was in the past until it was too late. She thought that she couldn't have a baby (told Michael that they thought it couldn't happen) but now that she is pregnant, she wants to be happy and enjoy it. She's frustrated that Michael can't.

As a side question, why do two busy doctors (Michael and presumably Amy) need a dining table that seats 12 and why do Michael and Nora eat there instead of the breakfast bar in the kitchen? It feels dysfunctional.

I get the impression that Michael unable to move on and his over-protection of Katie is hurting her too. Her eagerness to move back in with Amy and give up her room for the new baby suggests that she's not happy in that house either. Maybe she thinks that if she moves out, Michael and Nora will be able to move on with their lives.

I like that Amy figured out about Jake by using her smarts rather than being told.

It will be interesting to see who moves on where.

Hypochondriac patient: "What's taking so long? What is this, Canada?" Cute joke but let's not promote misinformation.

On 2/12/2025 at 1:02 AM, l star said:

I laughed watching Richard take credit for the save. I bet he’s built his career on being attached to the right people at the right time. I’ve gotten nothing from him that suggests he’s anything more than average on his own.

 A good description of Richard.

On 2/12/2025 at 10:20 AM, wonderwoman said:

and they never specified the college student’s condition that required her to monitor her temperature. did a little digging — think it’s congenital insensitivity to pain, since it sounded as though she had been born with it.  

They did say that it was CIP, but not the words themselves. After Jake called her a unicorn patient (someone with a disease you know about but rarely is seen).

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possibilities

possibilities

I think Michael blames himself for the son's death, and while Amy was blaming him, he was able to displace some of his stuck feelings onto her. But now that she's forgiven him, he has no battles to fight other than his internal one.

I think he's also grieving the loss of the marriage, now that Amy has returned to being lovable and warm to him.

 

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l star

l star

18 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I think Michael blames himself for the son's death, and while Amy was blaming him, he was able to displace some of his stuck feelings onto her. But now that she's forgiven him, he has no battles to fight other than his internal one.

I think he's also grieving the loss of the marriage, now that Amy has returned to being lovable and warm to him.

I agree. I would even go so far as to say he never really got over Amy or that time in his life. He just moved on. He basically moved a new wife into his old life after Amy left. The house is basically the same as when Amy had it (including the bed which is weird). Danny’s room is the same. He’s refused to find room for the new baby. He put all his attention on Katie at home, and it seems Amy at work going from what they’ve said about him backing her at the expense of his own reputation. He’s still holding onto his old life and rejecting being pushed into a new one. I don’t think the answer is going back to Amy, but I think now that she’s back, he would if he could. He needs to grieve, and he needs to deal if he’s going to make a future with Nora. 

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Court

Court

On 2/12/2025 at 11:08 PM, possibilities said:

I had no idea teen agers don't play games and like brownies. I'm not being snarky. When I was a teen, my mother and I played Scrabble and ate ice cream together.

What would a more appropriate mother-daughter time be? 

They do. My 17 year old loves game night. Teenagers have more of a child side than you'd expect. At least in my experience with my teen and his friends. It surprises me sometimes. They still do stupid teenage crap too.

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