S05.E01: Luckiest Guy in NY

[peachmangosteen]

Quote

Joe Goldberg returns to New York to enjoy his happy relationship, but his perfect life is jeopardized by ghosts from the past and dark desires.

Wow, no one even started the threads for the last season episodes. Yikes lol.

This episode was dreadfully boring but I'm hoping it'll pick up.

[skotnikov]

I like Anna Camp since True Blood but she's a miscast in it, she looks and acts in  a trashy way, which in reality is almost impossible for people of certain class, and it is also hard to believe that one of the richest and powerful women in NY has a black half-brother, who is also gay. I know it's all fiction, but fiction must be plausible too. This one is just too OTT.   

[Anela]

I like the brother, and I want Reagan to bring Joe down. Kate is fine with him killing people, to protect her reputation, which is not something a good person does. I skipped the opening, with the scenes from previous seasons, and I'd forgotten that she covered up a murder for him. I really, really want them both to fail. 

Joe really swooped in and took his son from two healthy, stable fathers. Of course he did. 

[Anela]

I've just been reminded of the likable husband, who paid to go to space, and is permanently circulating the earth. 

[Spartan Girl]

2 hours ago, Anela said:

Joe really swooped in and took his son from two healthy, stable fathers. Of course he did. 

Figures the one good thing he ever did wouldn’t last.

[Chaos Theory]

I thought the opening episode did what it was supposed to do.  It introduced all the main characters and how they all related to Kate and therefore Joe.   It also showed that Kate is alot more like Joe then she appears.  She pretends to be good but when things don't go her way she is perfectly willing to let Joe be Joe.  

As for the brother the show needs a truly likeable character that will slowly realize who Kate and Joe are and either be horrified by it enough to take action by either breaking bad or breaking good. 

[bettername2come]

Janine! I almost didn't recognize her without the eyepatch. I wonder if she's real. Probably or her working at the bookstore is gonna get awkward real fast. Her voice for Bronte is so different from Janine. When she mentioned something about this not ending with him making a book out of her skin, I immediately thought "huh, how has Joe not combined his three favorite things - books, women, murder - yet."

Kate's family definitely gives off House of Usher vibes.

Joe reading to Henry was really sweet. Though his poor adoptive dads.

[Paloma]

5 hours ago, bettername2come said:

Janine! I almost didn't recognize her without the eyepatch.

Who is Janine?

[bettername2come]

22 minutes ago, Paloma said:

Who is Janine?

Madeline Brewer who plays Bronte also plays Janine on The Handmaid's Tale and the new season just came out a couple of weeks ago. Yay for actors getting lots of work on disturbing streaming shows!

 

Edited April 26 by bettername2come

[Paloma]

57 minutes ago, bettername2come said:

Madeline Brewer who plays Bronte also plays Janine on The Handmaid's Tale and the new season just came out a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks--I've been avoiding watching that show because it's too close to near-future reality. I did read the book and that was scary enough several years ago.

[Giuseppe]

Did Kate mention her sisters and brother last season at all? I can't remember and don't have any desire to rewatch.

[Paloma]

2 hours ago, Giuseppe said:

Did Kate mention her sisters and brother last season at all? I can't remember and don't have any desire to rewatch.

I don't remember but suspect they were conveniently invented this season. Besides, she had more important things to think about last season than her siblings.

[DearEvette]

I thought the first three seasons were very good with season 3 being a high point for me.  Season 4 felt like a slog and I peaced out early on.  So I don't know Kate or what really happened in London. 

I wasn't sure if I was going to watch this season, but I had to for no other reason than to see Joe (hopefully) finally get his.

This wasn't a bad first episode it established what it needed to.  I honestly don't like any of the rich family except the brother.  Kate is barely a step up from Love, with her co-signing Joe murdering people because it benefits her. 

On 4/24/2025 at 5:54 PM, Anela said:

Joe really swooped in and took his son from two healthy, stable fathers. Of course he did. 

Sounds like the wife's  money browbeat the 'in the best interest of the child' into the dust.  So much for her 'doing good' era.  Let's take a kids from the only home he's know with two loving dads and give him to his serial killing father and environmentally evil step-mom.

On 4/26/2025 at 9:58 AM, bettername2come said:

Kate's family definitely gives off House of Usher vibes.

Right?  I immediately thought of that show watching this episode.

On 4/24/2025 at 5:46 PM, skotnikov said:

and it is also hard to believe that one of the richest and powerful women in NY has a black half-brother, who is also gay. I know it's all fiction, but fiction must be plausible too. This one is just too OTT.  

I am not sure how a white, rich CEO of a big company having a black half sibling is implausible?  Is it that he is gay and part of the company?  Since the show made pains to show that she is a bit of a media darling and is doing good works that are taking money out of the pockets of her board and giving back to the community, his presence is probably seen as a progressive boon for them.  Also, they established that he is illegitimate and had always been way in the background, living an anonymous life away from the rest of the family, until  Kate gave him the job as her chief of staff.  Sounds like the rest of the family only tolerates him because of her.  And if she were to be ousted he would be relegated back to his regular life with his husband.

But IRL there are white CEOs with half-black kids.  The Bronfman family (owners of Seagrams) one of the heirs and former CEO, Edgar was married to a black woman and has two children with her.  Arne Naess Jr a shipping and oil magnate has had multiple wives and children, one of his wives was Diana Ross who had two sons with him.  Peter Norton the owner of Norton Utilties -- his ex and current wife are both black.  And he has a couple of kids.  That is just to a name a few.

[skotnikov]

12 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I thought the first three seasons were very good with season 3 being a high point for me.  Season 4 felt like a slog and I peaced out early on.  So I don't know Kate or what really happened in London. 

I wasn't sure if I was going to watch this season, but I had to for no other reason than to see Joe (hopefully) finally get his.

This wasn't a bad first episode it established what it needed to.  I honestly don't like any of the rich family except the brother.  Kate is barely a step up from Love, with her co-signing Joe murdering people because it benefits her. 

Sounds like the wife's  money browbeat the 'in the best interest of the child' into the dust.  So much for her 'doing good' era.  Let's take a kids from the only home he's know with two loving dads and give him to his serial killing father and environmentally evil step-mom.

Right?  I immediately thought of that show watching this episode.

I am not sure how a white, rich CEO of a big company having a black half sibling is implausible?  Is it that he is gay and part of the company?  Since the show made pains to show that she is a bit of a media darling and is doing good works that are taking money out of the pockets of her board and giving back to the community, his presence is probably seen as a progressive boon for them.  Also, they established that he is illegitimate and had always been way in the background, living an anonymous life away from the rest of the family, until  Kate gave him the job as her chief of staff.  Sounds like the rest of the family only tolerates him because of her.  And if she were to be ousted he would be relegated back to his regular life with his husband.

But IRL there are white CEOs with half-black kids.  The Bronfman family (owners of Seagrams) one of the heirs and former CEO, Edgar was married to a black woman and has two children with her.  Arne Naess Jr a shipping and oil magnate has had multiple wives and children, one of his wives was Diana Ross who had two sons with him.  Peter Norton the owner of Norton Utilties -- his ex and current wife are both black.  And he has a couple of kids.  That is just to a name a few.

It's not that there are no black CEOs or Afro-American millionaires / billionaires or black / mixed race kids in financial and political elites. It's just in this exact context it doesn't work and is too soapy. 

[Black Knight]

On 4/28/2025 at 3:59 AM, skotnikov said:

It's not that there are no black CEOs or Afro-American millionaires / billionaires or black / mixed race kids in financial and political elites. It's just in this exact context it doesn't work and is too soapy. 

Tell that to Maria Shriver.

Rich men like Kate's dad getting busy with "the help" has forever and always been a thing, and sex being what it is, pregnancies result sometimes. It's why these guys' wills end up getting written really really carefully to ensure only their "legitimate" children will inherit anything.

[skotnikov]

16 hours ago, Black Knight said:

Tell that to Maria Shriver.

Rich men like Kate's dad getting busy with "the help" has forever and always been a thing, and sex being what it is, pregnancies result sometimes. It's why these guys' wills end up getting written really really carefully to ensure only their "legitimate" children will inherit anything.

You obviously did't read what I wrote. For me the constellation with the black brother doesn't work within the narrative of the 5th season. It feels like an obligatory diversity hire.