S01.E01: Pilot

[Snazzy Daisy]

Quote

Four members of a suburban garden club find their lives intertwined by scandal, mischief and a shared secret — a murder no one wants to talk about.  As dark truths surface, they struggle to remain as perfect as the flowers blooming in their garden.

Air Date: Feb 23, 2025

 

[JenLily]

I am exceptionally devoted to Melissa Fumero after B99 so I tuned in. I liked it. It looks like it could be some lighthearted fun. It's terrible but I kind of hope the dead person is the kid, that rotten little thing, but I doubt the show would go that dark. I'll keep watching.

[Chaos Theory]

This looks like it’s going to be silly fun.   I like the main four enough that I feel bad for the issues they are having in their lives that are definitely going to spin out of control.   And yay a dead body.   That is being dug up because of course it is.

[Chaos Theory]

My personal theory is that up until now it’s always been evil rich white people vs poor working class natives.   This season I think that natives are getting more of a dark edit and the robbery is going to be deeply connected to Mook.  She is either the cause or the effect of the robberies.

Edited Monday at 04:24 PM by Chaos Theory

[babyrambo]

This was more light hearted than I expected—based on the promos I thought it would be similar in tone to How To Get Away with Murder—but not bad.

The over-reliance on flashbacks is already tired and the writing is heavy handed and unoriginal, which makes the show feel slightly dated and campy, but the characters have potential and most of the main actresses are strong. 

Also seconding the hope that the dead person is the kid. He was insufferable and I’m already sick of him. 

[ASpring1900]

9 hours ago, JenLily said:

I am exceptionally devoted to Melissa Fumero after B99 so I tuned in.

Me too, but because of One Life to Live. I don't think I know any of the other actors on the show.

Overall, it was a good pilot, and I'll keep watching.

[Ms Lark]

I liked it. Love Melissa Fumero, mostly from B99. With everything heavy going on in the world, a little lightness is needed. Looking forward to where this is going. Loved when all the women gave the skeevy real estate agent his bracelets back. Cheers!

[Snazzy Daisy]

This show is not for me. Am out! 😣

[KaveDweller]

I thought it was a lot of fun, which you don't normally see with a murder mystery show.

It was kind of hard to track all the different characters though. Lots of people associated with all of the main 4.

[bad things are bad]

Not a fan of the time jumps. I'll watch episode 2 and see if I'm in

[blackwing]

I enjoyed it, although I have to admit I had trouble keeping track of all of the characters and don't know any of their names.  There are the four main characters who appear to have murdered someone - actress, realtor, teacher, and divorced dad.  I was also a little confused with the flashbacks and flashforwards.  When did the murder take place?  6 months ago, or Present Day?  I think 6 months from now it's winter and the garden club is about to dig up the garden for a koi pond.

When did the dog die and why is the teacher so convinced that the jerk student killed her?  Other than him pointing to her Lost Dog sign and saying something about karma?

I'm assuming the body will be someone the main four was an issue with.  So it could be the adoptive mom of the actress's kid, the skeevy realtor, the student or his mom, or the new husband of the divorced guy's ex.  Eager to see how this plays out.  The "someone dies in the first episode and we won't find out until the last episode but will get small reveals little by little along the way" trope does seem a bit familiar (White Lotus, How to Get Away With Murder, others???) but I really enjoy it. 

I recognise Amy Santiago from Brooklyn 99 and Michaela Pratt from How to Get Away With Murder.  Don't know any of the others.  

[AnimeMania]

55 minutes ago, blackwing said:

don't know any of their names.  There are the four main characters who appear to have murdered someone - actress, realtor, teacher, and divorced dad. 

Melissa Fumero plays Birdie - actress author, who said some stuff and got "cancelled", recently divorced from very rich husband

Aja Naomi King plays Catherine - realtor

AnnaSophia Robb plays Alice - ex-teacher, the rich student just implied that her dog dying was karma for giving him a bad grade, then he made her lose her teacher job

Ben Rappaport plays Brett - divorced dad

Although switching back and forth in time is annoying, the way they integrate the time setting cues into the scenes, makes them difficult to spot/realize and they should stop that and make them very obvious. 

[blackwing]

10 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

Melissa Fumero plays Birdie - actress author, who said some stuff and got "cancelled", recently divorced from very rich husband

Aja Naomi King plays Catherine - realtor

AnnaSophia Robb plays Alice - ex-teacher, the rich student just implied that her dog dying was karma for giving him a bad grade, then he made her lose her teacher job

Ben Rappaport plays Brett - divorced dad

Although switching back and forth in time is annoying, the way they integrate the time setting cues into the scenes, makes them difficult to spot/realize and they should stop that and make them very obvious. 

Thanks, so there is no proof that the student killed the dog, he was just saying it was karma?  I think in one of the present day or 6 months later scenes, someone told her they found the dog and it had been shot?

I agree about the way the show integrates the timeline indicators into the scenes.  At first I thought it was kind of cool, but then I realised that if I look away for even an instant, I missed it, which led to confusion and rewinding.

[KaveDweller]

6 hours ago, blackwing said:

I enjoyed it, although I have to admit I had trouble keeping track of all of the characters and don't know any of their names.  There are the four main characters who appear to have murdered someone - actress, realtor, teacher, and divorced dad.  I was also a little confused with the flashbacks and flashforwards.  When did the murder take place?  6 months ago, or Present Day?  I think 6 months from now it's winter and the garden club is about to dig up the garden for a koi pond.

When did the dog die and why is the teacher so convinced that the jerk student killed her?  Other than him pointing to her Lost Dog sign and saying something about karma?

The scenes where they were burying a body said 6 months later. I think the other scenes are the "present" and we will be leading up to the murder, similar to How to Get Away With Murder.

The dog died in the present, and I think it certainly sounded like rich student implied he killed it.

Not sure how a school can really justify firing a teacher for failing a kid who blatantly plagiarized. I can see the school letting the kid pass, but don't schools have honor codes and policy that cheating is an automatic fail?

[blackwing]

1 hour ago, KaveDweller said:

The scenes where they were burying a body said 6 months later. I think the other scenes are the "present" and we will be leading up to the murder, similar to How to Get Away With Murder.

The dog died in the present, and I think it certainly sounded like rich student implied he killed it.

Not sure how a school can really justify firing a teacher for failing a kid who blatantly plagiarized. I can see the school letting the kid pass, but don't schools have honor codes and policy that cheating is an automatic fail?

I could have sworn there were some scenes that said “6 months ago” as well.  
 

I don’t think she got fired for giving the kid a D (and then changing it to an F).  I think she got fired because she tracked the mom down to a hair salon and then got into an embarrassing argument with lots of yelling.  The entitled mom surely called up the school and demanded her firing, probably threatening to use her power and money and influence, and the weak principal capitulated  

I am surprised though that the principal wouldn’t support her.  Or at least give her a warning.  This family was bullying and threatening her, and the son was implying that he killed her dog.  I would think she should be consulting a lawyer or the teacher’s union, she should have a case for wrongful dismissal. 

Edited Thursday at 02:23 AM by blackwing

[Anela]

I liked it. I have no guesses as to who the dead body is yet. 

[heatherchandler]

On 2/24/2025 at 9:07 PM, KaveDweller said:

 

It was kind of hard to track all the different characters though. Lots of people associated with all of the main 4.

I don’t know why but I cannot keep anyone straight.  Was that the teacher with the husband with rich parents?  Who is the realtor man who was cheating married to?

Why would the women give the bracelets back??  Keep it!

[AnimeMania]

11 minutes ago, heatherchandler said:

Was that the teacher with the husband with rich parents?  Who is the realtor man who was cheating married to?

For teacher: Yes

Realtor man: They did not show his wife, just his father-in-law who owns the Realty Agency that fired him. 

[possibilities]

Thanks for the post that attached names to characters. If I want to remember, I will have to study it before the next episode.

I thought the realtor's husband was awful, but I thought it was notable that she said her kids were what keep her going, and I don't think they even introduced us to her kids.

I also thought it was interesting that they made Birdie a bit more layered than just the rich snob who got cancelled. She was immediately friendly when she found out about the guy who was giving them all bracelets, and she seemed to want to be friends with the others once they defrosted toward her. Also, she seemed to me to be honestly wanting to help that kid with a scholarship, instead of only doing it for the public relations value. I was ready to hate her but they kind of manipulated me into a more wait and see.

I don't actually find most of the characters likable or sympathetic. I am least annoyed by the teacher who got fired, but she's still a little too whiny to be fun, on a show that seems to want to be fun. Showing up at the salon and making a scene was stupid, not a form of glorious resistance! It just makes her seem juvenile, not righteous.

A campy show about ridiculous people requires something other than whiny idiocy. You can write your characters being defeated by evil and make it funny, or you can write a campy show about everybody being absurd, but you can't write a show that elicits sympathy if even the people you are supposed to sympathize with are annoying.

Edited Thursday at 07:04 PM by possibilities

[blackwing]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

I also thought it was interesting that they made Birdie a bit more layered than just the rich snob who got cancelled. She was immediately friendly when she found out about the guy who was giving them all bracelets, and she seemed to want to be friends with the others once they defrosted toward her. Also, she seemed to me to be honestly wanting to help that kid with a scholarship, instead of only doing it for the public relations value. I was ready to hate her but they kind of manipulated me into a more wait and see.

She wants to help the kid with a scholarship because that boy is actually her son.  She got pregnant at 16 and gave the baby up for adoption.  The adoptive mom is aware of her and told her to back off.

[peachmangosteen]

19 hours ago, blackwing said:

I could have sworn there were some scenes that said “6 months ago” as well.  

If I'm remembering correctly, they started the show with them burying a body and then flashed to '6 months earlier.' After that initial scene, the '6 month earlier' scenes became 'present day.' I think they should have stuck with '6 months earlier' or 'present day' because using both made it needlessly confusing.

[AheadofStraight]

On 2/24/2025 at 11:24 AM, Chaos Theory said:

My personal theory is that up until now it’s always been evil rich white people vs poor working class natives.   This season I think that natives are getting more of a dark edit and the robbery is going to be deeply connected to Mook.  She is either the cause or the effect of the robberies.

Did you mean to put this in the White Lotus forum? 🤔