S03.E07: Killer Instincts

[Jaundiced Eye]

It just occurred to me, and I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere, but with regard to Greg's desire to "watch" Saxon and Chloe -- isn't Greg at least bisexual? Remember the "rich gay" from last season who had a thing with him decades ago? And Greg telling that same person (presumably) on the phone that he loved him? Maybe Greg wants to do more than just "watch" Saxon. Just a thought.

[heatherchandler]

10 hours ago, chaifan said:

At this point, I'm glad it's almost over.  I'm in the streaming version of the fallacy of sunken costs at this point.  I'm bored to tears, tired of the dramatic music during/after which nothing happens, and I don't care at all about any of these people.  I felt like I was done with TWL after last season, but I guess I was bored enough to start watching again.  ugh.  It's been drudgery.  OK, wait, the Thai scenery has been gorgeous, especially Bangkok.  I loved Sritala's house.

 

Same.  I just want something to happen.  I know Mike white is a great storyteller, so where’s the story here??

[Jaundiced Eye]

4 minutes ago, Jaundiced Eye said:

It just occurred to me, and I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere, but with regard to Greg's desire to "watch" Saxon and Chloe -- isn't Greg at least bisexual? Remember the "rich gay" from last season who had a thing with him decades ago? And Greg telling that same person (presumably) on the phone that he loved him? Maybe Greg wants to do more than just "watch" Saxon. Just a thought.

And didn't Chloe tell Chelsea earlier this season that Greg rarely touches her anymore? Maybe he really isn't into women at all.

[overtherainbow]

This season has felt a bit draggy, and I think (so far - sitting on my hands for the finale) the weakest of the three. It's still a high budget soap opera that's entertaining to watch, but lacks the rewatch value and tension of the last season. 

This was a pretty funny episode between Valentin begging Laurie for money through CashApp or PayPal, then Laurie hanging out of his window while getting smacked by the girlfriend then Victoria praying for Piper to be miserable in the Buddhist temple. 

Laurie is lucky she got out of there relatively unscathed.

Piper only wanted to stay at the temple because it would be an escape from her family and would get to be “her” thing, now that Lochlan wants to stay too, the novelty wore off. Victoria was right, she wasn’t cut out for it.

I love how Victoria said the quiet part out loud at the party to one of the women. 

The Greg/Belinda storyline is the most boring to me. Just taking the money would be the smartest thing to do. But considering he is worth half a bill, she could probably negotiate to $500K. $100,000 doesn't seem like a lot to open a fullservice spa. 

Rick is not a killer but I don't understand why he wouldn't at least give Chelsea some warning before roughing up Patravadi's husband who owns the hotel they're staying at. 

Now that the gun is missing, Tim is totally going to blend up the Chekhov's fruit, there have been way too many blender scenes in this show. 

10 hours ago, bilgistic said:

This might be a controversial take, but Mook is one of the worst people on this show. She's just as shallow as the guests.

Not controversial at all, I think it's very much intentional considering she is surrounded by rich guests day in and day out and it's not shocking would want him to have a little more ambition. Poor Gaitok though, he is so into her. He is just too much of a nice guy for her. 

We'll see if Gaitok ends up being the shooter to "prove" his capabilities to her. 

[Conotocarious]

I know everyone loves Chelsea but I am so sick of her smugness about her relationship with Rick and how they’re soulmates and spiritually connected and blah blah blah. He treats her with contempt, ignores her phone calls and she is just being strung along with her extremely basic “I can change him!”trope. Yet here she is lecturing Saxon like she’s on some elevated plane. Get over it, Rick sucks as a boyfriend and he’s definitely not anyone’s “soulmate”.

[SlovakPrincess]

For once, I enjoyed Gaitok's part of the story: stating his personal convictions (and possibly realizing Mook is not aligned with him) ... and recognizing the robber.  Yay, one of the stories actually progressed!

They're wasting Jason Isaacs at this point - the only way this will pay off for me  is if he snaps out of it and resolves to face his crimes head-on, finally getting annoyed that his shallow, selfish family barely cares when he's drugged out and catatonic for days.  

The siblings and their bizarre internal dynamics aren't interesting to me.  Although Piper clearly not wanting Lachlan to join her at the monastery was funny.  

I so enjoy Parker Posey, and Victoria weirdly becoming more assertive as she tries to (in her mind) protect her kids from the "cult" and the "boat people" -- and as Timothy depletes her pill supply, of course -- but I don't know if they're actually building to something satisfying with that.

Laurie getting scammed by the Russian dude immediately after sex -- and then having to flee from his (wife? girlfriend?) into the night was hilarious.  I also appreciate what Leslie Bibb is doing with Kate ... she seems "nice," but she feeds off of and drives a lot of the trio's drama, making sure she's always the unscathed confidante in the middle.

The whole Rick plot was sort of satisfying?  Although Rick is naive to think that old guy doesn't still have means for revenge.  Sam Rockwell making up movie titles ("The Enforcer, The Executioner ... The Notary") was hilarious.

I love Belinda, but this whole plot has been frustrating for me.  She should have never approached Greg / Gary in the first place, just quietly called Interpol or something after she'd left Thailand.    

Edited March 31 by SlovakPrincess

[txhorns79]

8 hours ago, Cheezwiz said:

It was driving me crazy trying to figure out who was playing Sri-Tala's husband. I KNEW I recognized him, but couldn't name him. At first I thought it might be one of the Carradine brothers, but no, it was Scott Glenn.

I knew him from The Leftovers.  He played Justin Theroux's father.  I don't recall off hand if he and Carrie c**** shared scenes.

 

1 hour ago, luna1122again said:

I do fear for him, still, tho as Scott Glenn knows where he's staying, and it can't be as easy as Okay, Rick's happy now and can finally love Chelsea the way he wants to and happily ever after. 

I was surprised Rick went off to spend the night partying.  These people know where he is staying, and his girlfriend is still there!  My first thought would be a call to her to make sure everything is packed up, a flight is booked and that we are leaving Thailand ASAP.   

[Conotocarious]

4 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

I was surprised Rick went off to spend the night partying.  These people know where he is staying, and his girlfriend is still there!  My first thought would be a call to her to make sure everything is packed up, a flight is booked and that we are leaving Thailand ASAP.   

This would require Rick to care about Chelsea. From what I’ve seen he doesn’t beyond the superficial. 

[T Summer]

I tried to watch this mess 4 times and fell asleep in the middle of it.

 

I'd heard or read somewhere that Lochlan and Saxon were going to have  a confrontation or conversation (presumably about drugged up threesome night) in this episode?

Did this happen ever?  Thanks in advance! 😊

[slowpoked]

21 minutes ago, Conotocarious said:

This would require Rick to care about Chelsea. From what I’ve seen he doesn’t beyond the superficial. 

I don’t know if it’s just a dream sequence or not, but the finale’s preview showed what looks like to me

 

Spoiler

An engagement, now that Rick is finally free of his demons

For a penultimate episode, a lot happened without really happening, if that makes sense:

* Gaitok realizes who the robbers are

* Laurie gets extorted, and confirms the Russians are all about money

*Greg confirms to Belinda who he is, but I’m glad Belinda didn’t fall into his spiel of “just didn’t want to deal with lawyers and shit but he’s innocent.” Glad she used the word murder. But yes, that offer is insulting. My silence would be way worth 100K, if you really want to live in peace for the rest of your life.

*Rick gets the monkey off his back, so to speak

*Saxon isn’t really that desperate for sex.

* I thought the Greg reveal to Chloe would have been his Italian boyfriend, not being an audience to his parents having sex, if that’s even true.

This season started great, but seems to be going out with a whimper. I hope whoever dies is the greatest payoff.

 

 

Edited March 31 by slowpoked

[slowpoked]

15 minutes ago, T Summer said:

I tried to watch this mess 4 times and fell asleep in the middle of it.

 

I'd heard or read somewhere that Lochlan and Saxon were going to have  a confrontation or conversation (presumably about drugged up threesome night) in this episode?

Did this happen ever?  Thanks in advance! 😊

No confrontation happened, since Lochlan is still at the monastery with Piper.

[luna1122again]

Scott Glenn was also just on Bad Monkey, playing Vince Vaughn's dad, and had scenes with Michelle Monaghan. He looked much less frail on that show. 

[Mindthinkr]

What if: 

Mook is actually the mastermind behind the robbery(s) and her being (or distracting Gaitok) the one who sees who the marks are. 

[CarpeFelis]

11 hours ago, Blakeston said:

And you're not going to find it in Shritala, who was happily watching those movies with Sam Rockwell's character, when she should have called in her security guards a long time ago. 

Sritala keeps getting non-answers to her questions about the supposed movie because these two guys didn’t agree on their stories beforehand. Frank is obviously BSing and making things up on the spot, claims to have watched her movies but can’t name any, and then Rick calls him his actual name when he’s claimed to be Steve. All I could think was that she’s either incredibly dumb or so vain that she’s enjoying the idea of starring in a movie again too much to notice they’re lying. And her husband didn’t seem to notice either!

I think Gaitok is going to try to play the big hero to impress Mook, take the gun to confront the Russians over the robbery, and all hell will break loose. (As to Mook: if she so badly wants an ambitious guy, it would make more sense for her to throw herself at some rich guest than to tepidly date someone she isn’t really very interested in.)

Greg has to know that offering Belinda $100k is basically an admission of guilt—he doesn’t seem the type to think anyone would fall for “I had nothing to do with it, I just want to preserve my peace”. I think if she takes it he’ll kill her and take back the money. (And she would have been smarter to act shocked that Tanya is dead, like she hadn’t heard—which she really hadn’t until she looked up Greg online.)

As soon as Laurie and Alexei finished having sex, my husband said “He’s going to ask her for money.” Lucky for her his girlfriend showed up before she ran out of excuses for saying no! After she got away and was walking down a dark street alone I thought she’d get mugged or something, but no, a cab conveniently shows up.

Piper either doesn’t want any of her family along at the monastery or was already starting to get disillusioned about what it would be like to stay there. I think it would be funny if Lochlan decides to stay and she doesn’t.

Edited March 31 by CarpeFelis

[rlc]

11 hours ago, yesferatu said:

I would like to add to your list the wisdom of Laurie not only going to the fights alone but also going to bed with one of the shady Russians.

Has she never watched a single episode of Dateline???

[SlovakPrincess]

16 minutes ago, Conotocarious said:

This would require Rick to care about Chelsea. From what I’ve seen he doesn’t beyond the superficial. 

I feel like the show wants to say something about why young women like Chelsea and Chloe would enter into these kinds of relationships (beyond just, y'know, the money, since there are plenty of young rich jerks they could meet) ... Chelsea apparently thinks she's going to save Rick, but I think she's probably wasting her time.  Whereas, as long as Chloe can have her party life on the side, she's fine -- I don't think she even wants a true loving partnership.

54 minutes ago, overtherainbow said:

Piper only wanted to stay at the temple because it would be an escape from her family and would get to be “her” thing, now that Lochlan wants to stay too, the novelty wore off. Victoria was right, she wasn’t cut out for it.

Agreed.  This was the personality she was trying to create for herself.  None of the siblings has any actual sense of self, so this was going to her self-defining thing.  Saxon's only way to define himself is as successful young playboy (an identity quickly deteriorating as he senses his career going down the drain and none of the jaded ladies at WL are impressed by him).  And Lachlan cannot exist from one minute to the next without being a side-kick to one of his siblings.  

Understanding these disturbing dynamics does not really make it interesting to watch, week after week, though.

[chaifan]

6 minutes ago, CarpeFelis said:

Piper either doesn’t want any of her family along at the monastery or was already starting to get disillusioned about what it would be like to stay there.

I think it's both.  I think from the silent dinner scene we got that she's bored and was hoping for some human interaction other than her family.  From the scene with Lachlan, I don't think there's any doubt she's there to escape her family and Lachlan wanting to stick around was 100% not in her plan.  I think Piper thinks she's interested in Buddhism, thinks it would be cool to be interested in Buddhism, but probably doesn't have what it takes to commit to it.

Going back to the robbery - does any viewer actually have doubts that Val was deliberately distracting Gaitok at the gate to allow his buddies in to rob the place?  I thought that was crystal clear while it was happening, and that the show meant it to be crystal clear.  We'd never seen those two really interact before, and all of a sudden Val was treating Gaitok as his best buddy, inviting him to the fights, flattering him, etc.  

Gary's bit about wanting to watch...  my impression was that this was just a BS story Gary made up not because he wanted to watch Saxon and Chloe have sex, but because he wanted to see Saxon squirm.  He's fucking with him, and making sure Saxon stays away from Chloe.  And it worked.  

[AstridM]

Can we stop equating “rich”with “ambitious?”

[DrSpaceman73]

12 hours ago, Snazzy Daisy said:

The face! 😂

As usual, she’s using sarcasm to mock or convey contempt.

I'm this case though she is right. 

The funniest line of the year though 

Maybe Jesus will save her from buddha!

33 minutes ago, Mindthinkr said:

What if: 

Mook is actually the mastermind behind the robbery(s) and her being (or distracting Gaitok) the one who sees who the marks are. 

Id had that thought in the first few episodes.  That she is involved. 

Would make sense she knows gaitok and how easy it would be. 

1 hour ago, Conotocarious said:

I know everyone loves Chelsea but I am so sick of her smugness about her relationship with Rick and how they’re soulmates and spiritually connected and blah blah blah. He treats her with contempt, ignores her phone calls and she is just being strung along with her extremely basic “I can change him!”trope. Yet here she is lecturing Saxon like she’s on some elevated plane. Get over it, Rick sucks as a boyfriend and he’s definitely not anyone’s “soulmate”.

Oh definitely all true

She's a hypocrites not admitting she's gold digging like all others. 

At least Saxon knows his career money and success is tied to his dad. 

[CarpeFelis]

I thought it was funny when Saxon said he had no hobbies. What, pumping iron and pounding protein shakes isn’t a hobby? (Okay, we never see him in the weight room but you don’t have that body without working for it.) I suppose bullying his siblings and hitting on every attractive woman he sees don’t count.

33 minutes ago, AstridM said:

Can we stop equating “rich”with “ambitious?”

True, a lot of these rich people just have generational wealth. But would Mook know the difference? I think she just doesn’t want to be poor and pushing Gaitok to be more ambitious is one way to try to get there.

Edited March 31 by CarpeFelis

[cardigirl]

2 hours ago, overtherainbow said:

This was a pretty funny episode between Valentin begging Laurie for money through CashApp or PayPal, then Laurie hanging out of his window while getting smacked by the girlfriend then Victoria praying for Piper to be miserable in the Buddhist temple. 

 

She was with one of the other guys, not Valentin.

[RunningMarket]

I really disliked Mook when she told Gaitok she thought he was more ambitious and then sat there pouting. While he's possibly the worst security guard ever, he's a good guy. I liked his pointing out that Buddha was anti-violence. 

I knew from the moment Valentin stalled Gaitok at the gate that the Russians were involved in the robbery. Let's see how that plays out next week. Would Laurie know about the robbery, or will she just think "Why does this guy need me to Venmo him cash - he can just sell at that jewelry?" 

I'm sure Chloe either made up that story to play with Saxon, or more likely, she and Greg are in on something together. It was funny to watch him squirm, and Chelsea, always the optimist, nodding her head like, "Sure, sounds like a good idea!"

The writing was awkward between Piper and Lochlan. Her attitude turned very suddenly with fear when he suggested he stay with her. I don't know if the show wants us to think it's more sinister, or she's just pissed it's no longer "her thing".

At this point, I'm rooting for Tim to take out Victoria - gun, poisoned fruit or just making her poor. I realize she's a fan favourite, but I am tired to her schtick. 

[magdalene]

This episode was rather blah. I don't think this show has utilized Walton Goggins impressive acting talents at all well. Jason Isaacs has become rather one note himself. I blame the writer not the actors.

If you had told me I would be having more sympathy for Saxon than most other characters towards the end I would have laughed at you.

[Makai]

9 hours ago, Harvey said:

Piper doesn’t actually want to be Buddhist. She just wants to get away from her family- and a year at a Buddhist retreat is the way to do it in her mind(or maybe the back of her mind). I think in the next ep when Timothy proclaims he agrees with the monks and wants to stay too she will completely lose all interest.

I think this is partially true but I do think she does want to be a Buddhist. Or more accurately that she’s herself as so such more enlightened than her family. That pseudo-enlightenment that you see in so many people that want to have depth. I thought she was upset to see Lachlan actually connecting to Buddhist teachings while she is struggling.  

5 hours ago, Harvey said:

 

There is a really compelling theory:

1. Kate will have some sort of emotional blowup and an argument with Jaclyn

2. Feeling alone, she phones home

3. Important: when she talked to Victoria, she mentioned that when she talks with their common friend again, she will mention that Victoria said hi.

4. This will happen, she will call her friend, and that friend will reveal to Kate that Tim is currently embroiled in a scandal.

5. Kate will somehow let Victoria know about this, either on purpose or inadvertently, assuming she already knows.

6. This is how Victoria finds out Tim is in trouble.

I think so too and we’ve actually already seen Kate talking to someone at home when she sees Val with Jaclyn. I thinking that particular ball is already rolling. 

2 hours ago, overtherainbow said:

Not controversial at all, I think it's very much intentional considering she is surrounded by rich guests day in and day out and it's not shocking would want him to have a little more ambition. Poor Gaitok though, he is so into her. He is just too much of a nice guy for her. 

We'll see if Gaitok ends up being the shooter to "prove" his capabilities to her. 

Yeah. I think the show intends for Mook to be seen in that way. She wasn’t really interested in Gaitok until the possibility of him becoming a bodyguard came up. 

[Pi237]

I actually enjoyed this episode. Between Victoria’s one liners “it’s a cult” Frank’s bumbling movie director act, “Well, what haven’t I directed?!” “….she’s a former prostitute…’. (Sam Rockwell elevates everything he’s in) And Laurie having to hop out a window while being slapped by a jealous girlfriend,  I laughed a lot. 

I agree with whoever said they’re wasting Jason Isaac’s tho. He’s such a great actor and they’ve got him constantly staring off stoned, drooling on himself episode after episode.

Bored by Belinda’s storyline, for real. She’s just not convincing as to how a real person would act in this situation. Her character was better written in the first season.

Chelsea-you don’t fall in love with a man because you think you can heal him. That’s teenager stuff.  Maybe she shoots Rick? 🤣

I definitely think Rick pushed his dad over in the chair. Otherwise the show would’ve had him shoot him. 

Gaitok is going to do something stupid to impress Mook, isn’t he?  He’s gonna have to learn the hard way that she’s not worth it. 

By the way, all that build up to Fabian’s performance and that was it? 

[slowpoked]

14 minutes ago, RunningMarket said:

At this point, I'm rooting for Tim to take out Victoria - gun, poisoned fruit or just making her poor. I realize she's a fan favourite, but I am tired to her schtick. 
 

 

Me too. I know she gets the snazzy one-liners but I really didn’t like how Parker played her character. Or more accurately, how Mike White wrote her character. Tim seems like a big shot in the finance world, and the family seems entrenched in the Duke-UNC rivalry, meaning they have significant money and run in significant social circles. But she plays her as a hillbilly pill popper. I mean, c’mon, I would think they’re not living in some dirt road in the outskirts of some dinky NC small town. Too bad because Parker could have really done so much more with this character.

[EtheltoTillie]

53 minutes ago, RunningMarket said:

I'm sure Chloe either made up that story to play with Saxon, or more likely, she and Greg are in on something together. It was funny to watch him squirm, and Chelsea, always the optimist, nodding her head like, "Sure, sounds like a good idea!"

 

Chelsea's reaction was nuts!  Last week Greg said to Chloe that he wanted her to do something for him and it sounded like he wanted a payback.  Who knows?

I thought when Gaitok saw Laurie at the fights he was going to rescue her from those predators.  Hmm.  Anyone else? 

[aghst]

Greg tells Belinda that he didn't kill Tanya, that they didn't consummate the marriage.

But he offers  to buy her off for $100k for her silence.  It's not that much money considering what Greg got from Tanya and it wouldn't be enough for her to set up her business.  In any event, the bribe offer just confirms the suspicions that Belinda had.

Tim goes back looking for the gun after Saxon tells him that his job working for Tim is everything to him.  So just as Tim imagined shooting Victoria to spare her being poor, now Tim thinks about shooting Saxon, to spare him the loss of his job.

Do you need killer instinct to work as security at a posh Thai resort -- or any post resort anywhere in the world?  Unless lives are at stake, would these resorts want their security staff to shoot to kill, to stop robberies for instance?  You'd think it would bring all kinds of legal issues, though maybe it would be different under Thai laws compared to US laws -- there would be huge lawsuits too, against resorts since they have deep pockets, or people assume they have a lot of money.

Even if he wasn't a Buddhist, Gaitok is right, he's just a rent a cop and he's not going to kill people for this job.  Nor does he want to be on the resort owners' security detail, to kill or take a bullet for some rich people.

But Mook won't have that, she wants him to make more money so it's "natural" for people to fight.  Maybe she should get with the bald body guard with the head tattoos.

Gaitok may confront Valentin or get him fired and arrested at least.  But first, Laurie is going to get her piece, after she falls out with Jaclyn and Kate.  Of course he's going to ask her for money with some sob story, even though his back room is full of expensive jewelry -- no pawn shops on that island?

Meanwhile, what did Rick expect, to pummel or kill some frail old guy?  Killing him isn't going to bring back his father or make him happier for his ruined childhood.  He's glad he confronted the guy but instead of feeling zen, he and Frank are going to party before Frank returns to the monastery, or so he says.

Some people are getting spiritual enlightenment in Thailand.  Now Lochy wants to stay at the monastery with Piper, which of course cools her interest in staying.

 

[AntFTW]

5 hours ago, gibasi said:

I thought that she was thinking it was her thing and she didn't want to share it with Lochlan. I also wonder if she was having second thoughts on staying. Now if Lachlan stays she might feel she has to stay too since she got him involved.

I was conflicted. At one point, I thought she wasn’t liking the experience that much and she was starting to change her mind about staying. If that’s the case, Lochlan staying puts more pressure on her to stay.

Secondly, I also thought maybe she does want to stay but doesn’t want to share the experience with Lochlan. She wants to be away from her family.

I couldn’t tell which way she was leaning.

[iMonrey]

5 hours ago, Wicked said:

I hope there is more to Rick's story, it kind of fell flat for me.  I don't get how he is at peace now when all he did was push over an old man without confirming who he is or what he did.

I mean, really, that's it? We had all this buildup to Rick confronting this guy and then that's all that happened. Maybe Rick got closure but we sure as hell didn't. (Well, I didn't anyway.) 

14 hours ago, Sailorgirl26 said:

loved watching Rick and Steve/Frank in the club because I feel like that was just Walton and Sam being real life buds hanging out--like the direction was literally just, "go hang out and be your normal selves and we'll film it."

I feel like that's exactly what it was. 

[tennisgurl]

I love that half this season is just people reacting to other peoples batshit insane stories. This time it was Saxon's turn to be the person listening to something utterly insane, in this case it was Chloe's crazy story about Gary being into watching his parents fuck and how he's super into the idea of watching men fuck his girlfriend because it reminds him of his mother. I have no idea if that's all made up as a flex or a trap because Greg's pissed about Chloe banging Saxon, but either way Chloe is so weird. How is it that Saxon of all people seemed like one of the most normal people at this party? At least he's honest about who he is, even if he isn't thrilled about it. 

As much as Chloe wants to find enlightenment, she is falling for the classic girlfriend blunder of thinking that she can "fix" the tragically sad man who treats her badly and is an absolute mess. That's not going to be the fairytale she wants it to be. 

Piper was so not thrilled about Lochlan wanting to join her at the monastery, this is all way more about wanting to escape/rebel against her family more than wanting to be a Buddhist. She wants to be the special one who is about spiritual enlightenment and that doesn't work if half of her family is also trying to give up materialism and find enlightenment, she isn't special anymore and she's still stuck with her family. Wait until she finds out that Saxon of all people is having an existential crisis about his shallow existence. She wants Buddhism to be "her thing". 

In the words of the Steve Miller Band, Belinda needs to take the money and run. 

Laurie's story could have gone so badly so quickly, but I think now she's going to "win" the vacation, she gets the best crazy story and it turns out she's not only hot and successful enough to get to have sex with the hot guy, she gets to be the one who gets targeted for a scheme. I think that between this and the shooting, the girls will become closer than ever and promise to "do this again next year" and end up repeating the same thing. 

I cracked up so hard at the Russian guy giving Laurie the many ways he can pay her, this has probably always been the plan.

Literally anyone can be the shooter or the victim. We have Valentin and his friends robbery, we have Timothy's family practically begging him to murder them, Gaitok wanting to be a hero, Greg getting up to whatever he's getting up to, an angry monkey grabs Chekov's gun, it could be anything. 

Edited March 31 by tennisgurl
Mixed up Russian guys

[iMonrey]

3 hours ago, T Summer said:

I'd heard or read somewhere that Lochlan and Saxon were going to have  a confrontation or conversation (presumably about drugged up threesome night) in this episode?

Did this happen ever?  Thanks in advance!

Nope.

[RunningMarket]

3 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I love that half this season is just people reacting to other peoples batshit insane stories. This time it was Saxon's turn to be the person listening to something utterly insane, in this case it was Chloe's crazy story about Gary being into watching his parents fuck and how he's super into the idea of watching men fuck his girlfriend because it reminds him of his mother. I have no idea if that's all made up as a flex or a trap because Greg's pissed about Chloe banging Saxon, but either way Chloe is so weird. How is it that Saxon of all people seemed like one of the most normal people at this party? At least he's honest about who he is, even if he isn't thrilled about it. 

As much as Chloe wants to find enlightenment, she is falling for the classic girlfriend blunder of thinking that she can "fix" the tragically sad man who treats her badly and is an absolute mess. That's not going to be the fairytale she wants it to be. 

Piper was so not thrilled about Lochlan wanted to join her at the monastery, this is all way more about wanting to escape/rebel against her family more than wanting to be a Buddhist. She wants to be the special one who is about spiritual enlightenment and that doesn't work if half of her family is also trying to give up materialism and find enlightenment, she isn't special anymore and she's still stuck with her family. Wait until she finds out that Saxon of all people is having an existential crisis about his shallow existence. She wants Buddhism to be "her thing". 

In the words of the Steve Miller band, Belinda needs to take the money and run. 

Laurie's story could have gone so badly so quickly, but I think now she's going to "win" the vacation, she gets the best crazy story and it turns out she's not only hot and successful enough to get to have sex with the hot guy, she gets to be the one who gets targeted for a scheme. I think that between this and the shooting, the girls will become closer than ever and promise to "do this again next year" and end up repeating the same thing. 

I cracked up so hard at Valentin giving Laurie the many ways he can pay her, this has probably always been the plan.

Literally anyone can be the shooter or the victim. We have Valentin and his friends robbery, we have Timothy's family practically begging him to murder them, Gaitok wanting to be a hero, Greg getting up to whatever he's getting up to, an angry monkey grabs Chekov's gun, it could be anything. 

Laurie slept with one of the other Russians, not Valentin.

[yesferatu]

I hated Mook from day one but even so I gasped at what a demon she is. You're not ambitious unless you're willing to kill? Gaitok is a fool. 
 

I think Saxon and Chelsea would be a way better match than Chelsea and Rick and I would totally watch that spinoff show. I didn't think he was really making a pass at her while they were sitting on her bed. 
 

Florian is my favorite this season I absolutely adore the actor.

Belinda has been driving me nuts since the beginning with her extremely unwise glaring at Greg with am unmistakably I know you killed your wife look. She should take the money but way more than he's offering.  Where was Pornchai this episode? Those of you who say Greg would kill Belinda and take her money back, how do you think he could do that? It's not like he would hand her this huge bag of cash, kill her  then snatch it back?

i have no idea what the deal with Greg and Chloe's proposal to Saxon was really all about but I was really tired of Chelsea acting like she thinks she's this evolved being while consistently encouraging pretty vile things out of her own vacuousness and boredom.

I found the scene at the resort owner's home was all pretty ridiculous and implausible.

It seems to me that Lochlan cheapened Piper's whole special exotic life plan by making it as easy as tagging along to the mall.

A petty grievance. It looks to me like Mike White has no idea what Lorazepam is or what the most likely outcomes are when a chronic user suddenly stops (Victoria) or when all day dosing is mixed with alcohol (Tim).

[SG429]

54 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Piper was so not thrilled about Lochlan wanting to join her at the monastery, this is all way more about wanting to escape/rebel against her family more than wanting to be a Buddhist. She wants to be the special one who is about spiritual enlightenment and that doesn't work if half of her family is also trying to give up materialism and find enlightenment

I agree, but I'm not sure it's about being the special one as much as distancing herself from the family, establishing and exploring her independence. That just doesn't work if it includes her little brother tagging along.

[carrps]

Ah, Saxon, stay as shallow as ever! I wanna be a Buddhist (no, I just wanna get in your pants). Dad, why are you such a mess (and why are you destroying my career?). Never change (and, reader, he won't).

It was pretty obvious from the very beginning who the robbers were. Duh, obviously Valentin was their inside source. I'm surprised it took Gaitok so long, but then how long has it taken him to realize what a materialistic little schemer Mook is?

I feel for Belinda, but she played it badly from the beginning. She should have ignored Greg/Gary as much as she possibly could and claim she didn't remember him although she did remember Tanya, of course. Sympathetic noises etc.

I just want Timothy to sh*t or get off the pot. Either come clean or kill yourself or kill everybody and then kill yourself. This moping around is boring.

Piper wanted to be the special little Buddhist snowflake in the family, but now Dad and Lochlan and even Saxon are showing inclinations toward Buddhism, it's no longer her special thing. I think whoever upthread said Lochlan will stay and Piper will leave is right (or should be).

Victoria? I don't know if anything can pry her out of her drug/alcohol infused bubble, but who knows?

I want Rick and Chelsea to go happily off into the sunset. 

Chloe can get kicked out of the villa on her bony ass, and I won't care. She'll find another old rich bald guy to hook up with soon enough.

1 hour ago, RunningMarket said:

Laurie slept with one of the other Russians, not Valentin.

Alexei.

 

[AstridM]

3 hours ago, RunningMarket said:

At this point, I'm rooting for Tim to take out Victoria - gun, poisoned fruit or just making her poor. I realize she's a fan favourite, but I am tired to her schtick

IKR? Maybe SHE could use some “ambition,” huh?

 

[AstridM]

2 hours ago, aghst said:

But Mook won't have that, she wants him to make more money so it's "natural" for people to fight.  Maybe she should get with the bald body guard with the head tattoos.

Sociopathic. If it’s so “natural,” why doesn’t she apply to be a bodyguard? There are female secret service officers, after all. Fuck her. 

[Conotocarious]

I sincerely doubt Lachlan is going to stay at the monastery and he certainly didn’t get anything out of it except his usual MO of attaching to a sibling and deciding to make their way of life his, because he has no idea who he is by himself.

[AstridM]

54 minutes ago, SG429 said:

I agree, but I'm not sure it's about being the special one as much as distancing herself from the family, establishing and exploring her independence. That just doesn't work if it includes her little brother tagging along.

IDK, if she truly wanted to do that she could do as I did and simply get a job, save some $$ and move across the country, far away from her family and start her own separate, independent life. It can and is done by young people all of the time 🤷‍♀️. Have some ambition, Piper! 😆

12 minutes ago, Conotocarious said:

I sincerely doubt Lachlan is going to stay at the monastery and he certainly didn’t get anything out of it except his usual MO of attaching to a sibling and deciding to make their way of life his, because he has no idea who he is by himself.

He’s an empty shell of a human being .

Edited March 31 by AstridM

[AntFTW]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

love that half this season is just people reacting to other peoples batshit insane stories. This time it was Saxon's turn to be the person listening to something utterly insane, in this case it was Chloe's crazy story about Gary being into watching his parents fuck and how he's super into the idea of watching men fuck his girlfriend because it reminds him of his mother. I have no idea if that's all made up as a flex or a trap because Greg's pissed about Chloe banging Saxon, but either way Chloe is so weird. How is it that Saxon of all people seemed like one of the most normal people at this party? At least he's honest about who he is, even if he isn't thrilled about it. 

Chelsea's reaction to watching this conversation was hilarious! She was definitely having one of these moments.

5 hours ago, overtherainbow said:

This was a pretty funny episode between Valentin begging Laurie for money through CashApp or PayPal

He would have had better luck being her prostitute for the night, just telling her to leave the money on the dresser after sex.

[Blakeston]

I think there are four reasons why Piper was bothered by Lochlyn’s idea, all of which played a significant role:

1. She wants to get away from her family.

2. She feels like Lochlyn is horning in on her “special thing.”

3. She can tell that he’s just doing it on a whim (which may be uncomfortable because deep down she hasn’t put enough thought into it either, and she knows it), and

4) She could sense something creepy about Lochlyn’s desire to stay with her.

I don’t know if Lochlyn is outright sexually attracted to her or not, but there’s something that goes beyond pure sibling affection. I think Lochlyn is there to show us that a certain incestuousness arises from Victoria’s “everyone is beneath our family” mindset.

 

 

 

 

[RunningMarket]

Lochlan did mention his "dark thoughts" (or something to that effect) and he wanted to get away from them.

Piper didn't seem too phased by that (although she then quickly left after he said he wanted to stay), so she either already knows something, or she glossed over it, maybe thinking he's being dramatic.

[peeayebee]

So I was wrong. I thought the gift shop robbers were the bodyguards. BTW, does Laurie know what was stolen from the shop?

 

8 hours ago, gibasi said:

I thought that she was thinking it was her thing and she didn't want to share it with Lochlan. I also wonder if she was having second thoughts on staying. 

I also think she wanted this to be her thing. Maybe she always felt detached from her family as she found their attitudes deplorable, so she wanted to break away. Lachlan doesn't seem like either Tim or Victoria. He's more of a still-developing boy, and I don't think Piper has anything against him. She always seemed to like him. So yeah, I think it's more of "This is MY thing. Find your own."

7 hours ago, luna1122again said:

I didn't really understand Rick's almost instantaneous sense of peace either. I do get that, once seeing that the man he's feared and hated and wanted revenge against for all these years was just an old scared man shifted his whole paradigm, in that instant, but that he made such quick peace with it all still felt confusing. I was happy to see him look so content, tho.

I understand how Rick behaved at the house. He had had a stronger man in mind, the one he felt had killed his father. But here he was faced with this frail old man. So he couldn't kill him. He could only manage to ridiculously push him over. (which is bad enough for a man in his condition)

I was curious about how the man, Jim, kept staring at him right from the moment he saw Rick. Did he recognize him? Like others, I'm wondering if he's actually Rick's father. He knew the name of Rick's mother, so this seems likely.

I was shaking my head at how ill-prepared Frank was in regards to the whole ruse. It was funny, but also kind of unbelievable. Did they not think Sritala would ask about the movie or about what else he has directed? Oh, and when they were watching the old movie, she told him the title of it, in Thai, and Frank said something like, "Yes, that's it!" How would he recognize the name when he said he couldn't remember any of the titles of the movies he had watched. And it was in Thai!

I was sorry to see Frank decide to drink, and then everything else that came afterwards.

 

4 hours ago, Pi237 said:

By the way, all that build up to Fabian’s performance and that was it? 

I know, right? I expected him to have a bad reaction when Laurie immediately started talking to Kate and Jaclyn. Maybe the thing with Fabian's performance was kind of a joke, in that the show built it up, Fabian built it up, and then... we see nothing much.

If it's not a monkey who grabs a gun and shoots, then I think it's going to be someone like Gaitok or Chelsea, who are nonviolent, soulful people. 

I'm looking forward to the finale.

[Cosmocrush]

1 hour ago, AstridM said:

IKR? Maybe SHE could use some “ambition,” huh?

 

Her ambition was to "marry well" as my mom would say.  She did that.  Or she thought she did.  I almost feel bad for Tim, finding out his wife would rather be dead than not rich.  

[slowpoked]

FWIW, I think Kate has the best line of the night:

Quote

”The source of your disappointment changes, but the constant is, you’re always disappointed.”

That was what made Laurie finally say “fuck it, I’m going all out tonight”. It wasn’t Jaclyn attacking her as “life’s victim.”

 

 

[yesferatu]

1 hour ago, Blakeston said:

 

I don’t know if Lochlyn is outright sexually attracted to her or not, but there’s something that goes beyond pure sibling affection. I think Lochlyn is there to show us that a certain incestuousness arises from Victoria’s “everyone is beneath our family” mindset.

 

 

 

 

I think this is a very interesting insight. I have definitely observed this in families like the Ratliffs.

[RedHawk]

5 hours ago, Pi237 said:

I actually enjoyed this episode. Between Victoria’s one liners “it’s a cult” Frank’s bumbling movie director act, “Well, what haven’t I directed?!” “….she’s a former prostitute…’. (Sam Rockwell elevates everything he’s in) And Laurie having to hop out a window while being slapped by a jealous girlfriend,  I laughed a lot. 

I agree with whoever said they’re wasting Jason Isaac’s tho. He’s such a great actor and they’ve got him constantly staring off stoned, drooling on himself episode after episode.

Bored by Belinda’s storyline, for real. She’s just not convincing as to how a real person would act in this situation. Her character was better written in the first season.

Chelsea-you don’t fall in love with a man because you think you can heal him. That’s teenager stuff.  Maybe she shoots Rick? 🤣

I definitely think Rick pushed his dad over in the chair. Otherwise the show would’ve had him shoot him. 

Gaitok is going to do something stupid to impress Mook, isn’t he?  He’s gonna have to learn the hard way that she’s not worth it. 

By the way, all that build up to Fabian’s performance and that was it? 

It was a funny episode!

I wish Jason Isaacs had a bit more going on as well. I enjoy how he is portraying Tim but it’s getting tiresome. Though I guess something happens next episode!

I agree about Belinda‘s character. I liked her in season one, but she’s become  too one note and bumbling comedic with this Gary/Greg storyline. Ultimately the thing was to get her to the place where he offered her a payoff for her silence so now that’s happened, and Zion knows about it.

Rick pushing Jim’s chair over worked for me. He didn’t feel the conviction and the anger to pull the trigger, just frustration. I think that he still wasn’t getting what he came for. So toppling this old man in his chair felt like enough. Rick could see he was frail, not some powerful man who had “ruined” Rick’s life. And I think Rick’s drug-addict mother made all, or most of, the story up anyway.

Now that Rick is free of his deep suffering (maybe?) my bet is that Chelsea is going to wind up with Saxon, another sad, empty wealthy guy she thinks she can fix. And this time one who is more age-appropriate, LOL! 

Edited March 31 by RedHawk
More thoughts

[Snapdragon]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

 

 

I know, right? I expected him to have a bad reaction when Laurie immediately started talking to Kate and Jaclyn. Maybe the thing with Fabian's performance was kind of a joke, in that the show built it up, Fabian built it up, and then... we see nothing much.

 

Fabian is my guess for the shooter (if it's not a monkey, which I hope it's not as that would be beyond ridiculous.  One, that a monkey could actually operate a gun and two, that if it did fire a gun, it would then fire multiple rounds, instead of running in fright after the first one).  He's probably pissed that no one is appreciating his performances.  I mean, the man's been practicing so much!

Also, in my head, the reason Jaclyn was confused when Laurie brought up her past behavior is that she has an identical twin that she switches places with every other year and it was the other twin that did all that.  ;)

[chitowngirl]

47 minutes ago, RedHawk said:

Though I guess something happens next episode!

I hope so…it’s the last episode! 😃