S01.E03: From Terrible Me

[formerlyfreedom]

Letty and Javier are in a race against time to tie up all the loose ends of the violent crime Javier committed, each blaming the other for the trouble they’re in. Letty's parole officer, Christian, lays down the law: if Letty doesn't show up to her next check-in, he will send her back to prison.

[fauntleroy]

How did that guy Bruce (?) know the car was a Tesla?

[TC3200]

Who knows.  Yet another plothole,  haha.  And Lettie's mother's house is way too expensive to be believable.  But the flawed characters are likable and interesting,  so zill haf another drink and keep wasthing.

[magdalene]

The thing I learned from this episode is that I am never going to to drive a Tesla across country. 

You learn a lot during road trips and stressful situations about people. I especially like learning small little things like Letty's vision problem and Javier trying to help her by giving her his glasses.

When the guy picked her up to drive her to the tow truck she dealt with him in such a amazingly cold-blooded  manner.

[fauntleroy]

Was there some weird editing at the end? I guess they torched the Tesla somewhere where they could stand around in the open talking about it while it burned. But police will still be able to tell what kind of car it was even if it's burned. Then they had time to get from torch site, to get another car, then a bus back for her?

[pasdetrois]

This episode lost me. I can take only so much of people in a car, endlessly talking. And Letty stalking around the tow company, jabbering on her phone and no one coming out to help her, made no sense. It was night time and she's a pretty young woman who garners attention - did no one notice? And the thing with her drawing a gun on the guy who gave her a ride just annoyed me. 

I know we're supposed to believe in Letty's and Javier's fatal attraction to each other, as a way of keeping a storyline going, but I'm having a hard time with it. Letty's scenes with other characters, or on her own, are more compelling.

[TaraS1]

5 hours ago, magdalene said:

The thing I learned from this episode is that I am never going to to drive a Tesla across country. 

Exactly lol.  The business with the charging stations and being shown the dwindling number of miles was such a great bit of added tension.  And I have to praise Michelle Dockery again for doing stuff I just didn't think she was capable of doing.  Her reaction in the car when Javier told her to shut up and then the little breakdown that followed was such great work.

1 hour ago, fauntleroy said:

Was there some weird editing at the end? I guess they torched the Tesla somewhere where they could stand around in the open talking about it while it burned. But police will still be able to tell what kind of car it was even if it's burned. Then they had time to get from torch site, to get another car, then a bus back for her?

I wondered the same thing!  I even went back and watched that part again to make sure I hadn't missed anything.  And I had the same feeling in the scene where they first get to the gas station and Javier can't get the charger to work.  They kept cutting back to Letty in the bathroom (who lays on a gas station bathroom floor, even if it's plywood?!?), so when they showed him back in the car like nothing was wrong, it just seemed odd.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Heh, hope Tesla didn't pay for that product placement because in certain parts of the country driving a car like that for significant distances just won't work.

It seems like Javier isn't as good at the hit man business as it seemed in the first two episodes. You'd think he would've planned for the possibility of not being able to charge the car. Perhaps he could've had a back up vehicle stashed somewhere, especially since he knew they had a limited time window of how long they could drive it before the police realized it had been stolen.

Quote

I know we're supposed to believe in Letty's and Javier's fatal attraction to each other, as a way of keeping a storyline going, but I'm having a hard time with it.

Me too.

[Hanahope]

4 hours ago, fauntleroy said:

Was there some weird editing at the end? I guess they torched the Tesla somewhere where they could stand around in the open talking about it while it burned. But police will still be able to tell what kind of car it was even if it's burned. Then they had time to get from torch site, to get another car, then a bus back for her?

It looked to me like they were torching the Tesla in a junk yard.  Yes, the cops could still find the Tesla, probably, maybe.  but the torching is to erase all of Javier's and Letty's dna from the vehicle.

I also got the impression that Javier wasn't driving on major roads, he was sticking to smaller roads to try and avoid people, cops, etc.  That caused the problems with internet connectivity, the lack of available charging stations, etc.  I think if you own a Tesla and plan your trip in advance, aren't afraid of being seen by people and/or cops, you're probably fine with finding adequate charging stations.

I'm not convinced Javier intended to kill the wife, though it may be possible.  He also may have had a different plan originally on how to transport the bodies, but Letty  complicated things.  If he only had the one body to dispose, he would have just used his own car, leaving the wife to belief the husband had disappeared.  But when he had to eliminate the wife too, he knew he had to eliminate them completely, including their car.

I liked that Christian covered for her, and turned tables a bit on his boss.

Edited November 23, 2016 by Hanahope

[TaraS1]

21 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

I'm not convinced Javier intended to kill the wife, though it may be possible.  He also may have had a different plan originally on how to transport the bodies, but Letty  complicated things.  If he only had the one body to dispose, he would have just used his own car, leaving the wife to belief the husband had disappeared.  But when he had to eliminate the wife too, he knew he had to eliminate them completely, including their car.

I liked that Christian covered for her, and turned tables a bit on his boss.

Yeah, he said to Letty that the wife was her fault.  So I guess that added some different logistics to his plans.

"Are you talking in a black voice?" lol!

[magdalene]

2 hours ago, pasdetrois said:

I know we're supposed to believe in Letty's and Javier's fatal attraction to each other, as a way of keeping a storyline going, but I'm having a hard time with it. Letty's scenes with other characters, or on her own, are more compelling.

It's the opposite for me, I find the show most compelling and tension filled when Letty is in scenes with Javier.

I find their scenes not only well-acted and full of genuine chemistry but also quite funny at times.  Like when Letty was listening to her motivational crap and Javier was asking whether the speaker was a friend of hers.

Edited November 23, 2016 by magdalene

[SunnyBeBe]

I find Letty's character so appealing, but, it does bother me when I see such odd behavior from supposedly smart people who are in very risky situations.  Letty is scrappy and quite street smart, so, it throws me when I see careless behavior that even a novice would avoid.

The Tesla is a unique car, so don't act out to draw even more attention to yourself like at the fast food drive-thru.  And don't they have video cameras at the charging station locations? They acted completed oblivious to this. Also, why were they hit from behind while sitting in the car?  Were they parked in the road? That's bizarre and why would they pull right off the road.  A police officer would likely stop to ask if you were stranded.  Just poor writing, imo, whether they were in the road or just off of it. 

Also, at night and in the rain, Letty seems to lose it.  She freaks out and runs off.  She's done this before.  This a time to use your wits, not act like a child.  It frustrates me. 

So, was that guy her PO called who hadn't seen her in 5 years the father to her son? So, she does have his phone number. 

Can someone explain how that couple was on tv as missing so soon?  Javier said that checkout time at the hotel was 11:00, so, would anyone have really missed them for a few hours?  But, their photo was on the news before dark that day.?  Odd.  What am I missing?

At the end, how was the car burning, yet, it's pouring down rain?  

I really have to suspend most of my logical thinking when watching this.   Writers should know by now that viewers expect them to take care of details.  It's probably quite easy for the police to trace the Texler's trek from the hotel to Charlotte, with lots of eyewitness reports of the driver and passenger.  

[Hanahope]

3 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Also, why were they hit from behind while sitting in the car?  Were they parked in the road? That's bizarre and why would they pull right off the road.  A police officer would likely stop to ask if you were stranded.  Just poor writing, imo, whether they were in the road or just off of it. 

They were at a stop light when they were hit from behind.  They later pulled to the right of the road to stop when the police car began to flash its lights.  They thought he was pulling them over, but instead the cop car went buy them on the way to where it was called.  Cops do put on their lights so other cars will pull over so they can get to where they need to go faster.

 

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At the end, how was the car burning, yet, it's pouring down rain?  

I thought it looked liked it had stopped raining when the car was burning.

 

Quote

Can someone explain how that couple was on tv as missing so soon?  Javier said that checkout time at the hotel was 11:00, so, would anyone have really missed them for a few hours?  But, their photo was on the news before dark that day.?  Odd.  What am I missing?

There could be more.  My guess is that when check out time came, they didn't check out.  The hotel sent someone up to knock on the door, got no answer.  They opened the door, the couple's stuff hadn't been packed.  attempts were made to call them. they didn't answer their phone.  the hotel looked for their car, not there.  There was also a friend that was with the couple that probably raised a stink, where are my friends, why can't i reach them on their phone.  I agree that one day seems a little early to report a missing person to the cops, doesn't it usually require at least 24 hours?

[slf]

This episode went a long way to helping me see how this show could be about Letty and Javier's relationship. I struggled with that for the first two episodes. But they have great chemistry, a really textured rapport, and they've each been good for the other in small ways. (I can't believe I just said that given what's transpired, lol.)

Letty's math skills seems to improve with weed. And good catch regarding Letty's squint, @BingeyKohan . I noticed Dockery doing that in the first two episodes, I just thought it was her. That's the sort of character-building I like to see and many shows neglect.

"He looks like you." "Don't be a dick."

"You're Christian, right? Not in the Jesus way, like your name is Christian?"

Edited November 23, 2016 by slf

[magdalene]

I am liking Christian very much,  he is bent too in his own way and besides her feelings for her son  he and Javier are the only positive influences in her life.  Yes, I do think Javier is a positive influence on her.  The show clearly wants us to think that and I do think it even without the show hitting us with a clue by four.  That he tries to curb her various harmful addictions is a biggie, but there are also little things that show that he means her well.  But for the plot contrivance of him being a hit man  he comes across otherwise  as pretty straight-laced and - middle class?  He doesn't even have a prison record.

Edited November 23, 2016 by magdalene

[Syndicate]

Are they airing back-to-back episodes of this show every week? If so, that's kind of odd. That being said, I'm not sure I know where this show ultimately leads to. It's entertaining enough, but at the same time, a lot of gratuitous things seem to be happening. What's the endgame, I wonder?

[Dowel Jones]

On 11/23/2016 at 9:01 AM, SunnyBeBe said:

At the end, how was the car burning, yet, it's pouring down rain?

As a fireman, I went to many a strip-and-burn in a winter rain.  They light off the interior stuff, like seats, carpets, etc. with flammable liquid and it burns quite readily, at least for awhile.  It behooves the arsonist to not stick around though, as flame attracts attention.

Is Ludicrous Mode an actual Tesla setting, or was that just a shout-out to Spaceballs?

Edited November 25, 2016 by Dowel Jones
Oh yeah, one other thing...

[SunnyBeBe]

22 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

As a fireman, I went to many a strip-and-burn in a winter rain.  They light off the interior stuff, like seats, carpets, etc. with flammable liquid and it burns quite readily, at least for awhile.  It behooves the arsonist to not stick around though, as flame attracts attention.

Is Ludicrous Mode an actual Tesla setting, or was that just a shout-out to Spaceballs?

Apparently it's real.  See paragraph 3 in this article

 

https://www.tesla.com/blog/new-tesla-model-s-now-quickest-production-car-world

Edited November 25, 2016 by SunnyBeBe

[maraleia]

So help me peeps. Why am I having such a hard time focusing on the details of this show? I really do like Michelle Dockery and the range she's displaying in this role. 
I can't tell if my devastation over this election is clouding my ability to get into any new show or if it's something else entirely here.

[helenamonster]

It was really ambitious for them to do an episode like this so early in the show's run, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I agree with whoever mentioned the tension that trying to find a charging station added; I like when shows utilize new technology in a way that's realistic instead of contrived or out-of-touch.

Whoever called it in the last episode thread about Letty's eyesight, good catch!

I really like Christian. The actor does a lot with a role that's not as glamorous relative to the other ones.

There's something weirdly likable and endearing about Javier. I suppose in his line of work he doesn't build many meaningful relationships and therefore doesn't seem to really know how to communicate with people. The way he asked Letty if her motivational speaker audio was a friend of hers was so naive and innocent compared to what he does for a living, and I really like that contrast. It's less "hitman with a heart of gold," which we've all seen a million times, and more "hitman with realistically limited social skills that make him more relatable and approachable."

[kat165]

At the tow station after Letty finished speaking with Christian she sat down (on something), lit a cigerette and then took a pull from a bottle of some kind of booze, where did the bottle come from? It seemed to me to appear out of nowhere. Or had it been stashed in her purse along with the gun?

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Duct tape can do anything - except keep a car trunk completely shut in the manner shown.  when he broke the seal to get at the power cord?  All new taping would have been required.

Now that the weak parole boss has an in to hold power over Christian, he is never going to let it go.    A young weasel like that dude has an innate fear of older, wizened and experienced workers.  It's one of the reasons so many older folks get replaced - the young bucks' inadequacies are triggered.   On an interpersonal level, they know they will likely never earn any real respect from the seasoned folks.   Letty is so screwed.  Well, IRL, she would be.

Again, the biggest issue I am having is how brazenly open Javier has allowed his work process to be.  It's just ridiculous.  

If the show is heading into a direction where mama Letty is going to give her any break or consideration or assistance, it will be a deal breaker for me.   The pure anger and fury and disappointment she has for Letty would not go away without years of good behavior.  I am not a happy camper that we've been given a hint of Mama softening towards her.

I find Christian to be pathetic.  He's a good/useful character to have on a TV show, though.  

[SunnyBeBe]

On 11/25/2016 at 7:28 PM, maraleia said:

So help me peeps. Why am I having such a hard time focusing on the details of this show? I really do like Michelle Dockery and the range she's displaying in this role. 
I can't tell if my devastation over this election is clouding my ability to get into any new show or if it's something else entirely here.

I feel where you are coming from.  I've been out of sorts lately too, however, I think that I pick up on some details that bother me, yet, miss some things that I shouldn't miss. lol Still, this site provides answers to some of my questions.  And, I am intrigued enough with the show to keep watching.  Letty is such an amazing character.  When they have her being Letty, she's fine, but when they pervert her behavior to be inconsistent with her character, it drives me crazy. 

 I do sense that I may take issue with some of the way things are addressed on the show that others don't have issues with.  I've been told that I'm overly analytical before, so, ........I guess I am.  For example, there is a popular dishwasher detergent tv commercial where the woman warns husband to rinse off Alfredo sauce from the pan, but the pan he puts in the dishwasher has RED sauce.  Alfredo is white, marinara is red.   WHY didn't anyone catch this.  They actually have two commercial and both show a red pan with warnings to rinse the Alfredo sauce.  ???? I don't think must people are bothered by  such things. lol 

Edited November 28, 2016 by SunnyBeBe

[JennyMominFL]

On 11/26/2016 at 2:23 AM, kat165 said:

At the tow station after Letty finished speaking with Christian she sat down (on something), lit a cigerette and then took a pull from a bottle of some kind of booze, where did the bottle come from? It seemed to me to appear out of nowhere. Or had it been stashed in her purse along with the gun?

I saw her throw a liquor bottle in the backpack when she was shopping at WalMart

[slf]

On 11/27/2016 at 7:38 PM, Lonesome Rhodes said:

If the show is heading into a direction where mama Letty is going to give her any break or consideration or assistance, it will be a deal breaker for me.   The pure anger and fury and disappointment she has for Letty would not go away without years of good behavior.  I am not a happy camper that we've been given a hint of Mama softening towards her.

I could see it going that way, maybe, but Letty's mom, Estelle, briefly softening toward her doesn't necessarily indicate she's willing to assist her. Estelle blew hot and cold all episode. I recognize that behavior, unfortunately. My mother was like that when I was younger; she once threw a huge remote control directly into my face when I was maybe 9, but she would also not hesitate to beat the hell out of anyone who would so much as think about laying a finger on me. But she's completely different with my sisters' kids, much like Estelle is completely different with Jacob. I remember Letty trying not to cry after snapping at Javier to never to tell her to shut up, "you sound like my mother"; I get the feeling Estelle's been this way Letty's whole life and is the source of quite a few of Letty's problems.

[BingeyKohan]

Still digging this show but they let SO MANY people see them in connection with that Tesla. Doesn't Letty watch The Americans?! Why'd she bother putting on that wig just for the benefit of the lady who rear-ended them, her kids, and the drive-through cashier? 

[DoubleUTeeEff]

So the glasses Javier gave Letty were the murder victim's glasses, right?

I liked the road trip/two characters stuck together aspect of this episode but I don't get why Javier insisted that Letty go all the way to Charleston with him. It seems like it would be better for business if fewer people knew what he did with the bodies.  

[helenamonster]

25 minutes ago, DoubleUTeeEff said:

I liked the road trip/two characters stuck together aspect of this episode but I don't get why Javier insisted that Letty go all the way to Charleston with him. It seems like it would be better for business if fewer people knew what he did with the bodies.  

I think he didn't want to let her go until he was sure the bodies and car were disposed of and there was no evidence of his involvement. I don't think Letty would have gone to the cops, but Javier couldn't be sure, and with charging stations for the Tesla being so scarce, there was a good chance that she could have alerted the cops and they could have found him before he got to the funeral home.

[Milburn Stone]

On 11/23/2016 at 9:48 AM, Hanahope said:

I'm not convinced Javier intended to kill the wife, though it may be possible.  He also may have had a different plan originally on how to transport the bodies, but Letty  complicated things.  

 

I think the original plan was simple, and required no killing of the wife and no disposing of any bodies. The injection was supposed to make it look like the guy died of a heart attack on the golf course. Javier calls 911 or the hotel, an ambulance rushes to the scene, finds him dead of an apparent heart attack, everyone lives happily ever after.

Of course, Javier sticking around to give his eyewitness testimony to the heart attack doesn't seem like the kind of thing Javier would like to stick around doing, and Javier immediately vamoosing before the paramedics arrive would arouse suspicion, so...you got me.

Edited June 9, 2018 by Milburn Stone