S03.E02: Don't Be Ridiculous

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

In her official capacity as fraud investigator for the Department of Sudden Departure (D.S.D.), Nora travels to St. Louis to investigate a possible scam that involves convincing the family members of The Departed there’s a way to see their loved ones again.

[Maire]

Australia? This really is going to end up like Lost isn't it? Lindeloff!!!!!

Edited April 24, 2017 by Maire

[Primetimer]

If your name is Kevin, you have a 50/50 shot.

View the full article

[stagmania]

Wow, what an episode. Poor, poor Nora. And Kevin. It was brutal to see them sitting on the bed together, both so obviously damaged and not okay, trying to convince themselves they're happy.

I don't know why it never occurred to me that Christine came back for Lily. It's the most logical explanation, especially once Tommy was back in the fold and able to facilitate a reunion. And I was so happy to see Erika seemingly doing so well. 

I was very impressed with the guy from Perfect Strangers. Just a great scene with him, and what a good sport to go along with the mythology of the show and play a darkest timeline version of himself.

Looks like the Australia adventure begins next week. I wonder how far the Book of Kevin has already spread. Is it just Sr spreading the good word, or is there a second copy floating around? 

[patty1h]

Nora slammed her arm in a car door to cover up that she got a new tattoo to cover her kids names?  Did I hear that right?

[jcin617]

42 minutes ago, patty1h said:

Nora slammed her arm in a car door to cover up that she got a new tattoo to cover her kids names?  Did I hear that right?

Yup, you heard it right.

 I can't tell you the last time I heard the theme song to Perfect Strangers, and I certainly never thought I would hear it again on a show like this!

Edited April 24, 2017 by jcin617

[humbleopinion]

Last time you heard it was when Kevin visited his Dad in the psychiatric hospital in Season 1.

Dad was watching Perfect Strangers.

Edited April 24, 2017 by humbleopinion
added stuff

[Cardie]

I was glad to see that Lily isn't dead and kudos to those who speculated Christine would come back for her--I didn't think that was who Christine was. The poor, now renamed child isn't missing Nora, or even remembering her, but she does seem to be pretty unhappy. Tom was really stone cold to Nora about her attempt to reconnect. Of course, every device she encountered was also telling Nora not to make that side trip. And Nora herself is the mistress of stone cold, as with the autopsy photo of the pillar man.

LOL at the Perfect Strangers theme song coming up over the credits. I wonder what it will be next week.

Did we already know that Matt and Nora's parents died in a house fire they escaped? Nora Cursed indeed. Although, I have never been able to see Carrie Coon and Christopher Eccleston as playing siblings.

The Australia stuff looks like its going to be much more cryptic and mystical than the already bonkers American plotlines. Having Lindsay Duncan around will be a plus, even if her group is giving me GR heebie-jeebies.

[acid burn]

2 minutes ago, humbleopinion said:

Last time you heard it was when Kevin visited his Dad in the psychiatric hospital in Season 1.

 

Oh, wow. Good catch! 

My husband had never watched Perfect Strangers, and I have this weird photographic memory of song lyrics, so when I started singing along with the theme song, I had him convinced I was clairvoyant for about five minutes. 

[humbleopinion]

The title of the episode is Balki's signature phrase...Don't be ridiculous...

Not politically correct anymore, but it was considered funny because Balki said his catch phrase with his ambiguous foreign accent.  Har har.

Freddie from Mad Men is Nora's boss.

Didn't Nora and Erika look like they were ascending... when jumping up on the trampoline in slow mo?

Edited April 24, 2017 by humbleopinion
Clarification

[ottoDbusdriver]

So, these 4 women just murdered a cop named Kevin .... possibly based on the ramblings of Kevin's dad.

I don't get Nora breaking her arm to cover up the fact that she got a tattoo -- all it did was delay the reveal to Kevin that she had inked over her children's names.

Tha Lonely Donkey Kong & Specialist Contagious were the credited writers -- WTF is that about ?

Hate the new S3 opening.  Much like portions of Lost, it makes me feel we will be time-traveling to the 70s at some point.  We've already seen a flashforward at the end of last episode.  Just saying.

[Maire]

Alan Sepinwall's review explained the weird writer names. They put their own names through a "Wu Tang Can name generator" and that's what came out!

[Domestic Assassin]

38 minutes ago, Cardie said:

Did we already know that Matt and Nora's parents died in a house fire they escaped?

I'm pretty sure that came up in the Matt episode in season one. 

[WaltersHair]

Well, I was right about Nora giving the baby back, just wrong about who. I thought about editing my post to include the biological mother last week, but thought I'd wait to see it played out.

Nora is such a cold person, even when she's emotional. It just makes me feel bad for Kevin (thank you writers for killing Patti so I never have to hear her say KEY EVEN again.)

I have a little more than a passing knowledge of the radiation Mr. Mark was talking about and Nora was right. A mobile particle accelerator is a very, very bad thing.

I binged watched Season 2 and some of 1 to get back up to speed. So far, this is shaping up to be my favorite season.

AND YES. The opening song was terrible.

[Pallas]

1 hour ago, stagmania said:

Wow, what an episode. Poor, poor Nora. And Kevin. It was brutal to see them sitting on the bed together, both so obviously damaged and not okay, trying to convince themselves they're happy.

I felt like their kid, eavesdropping. The intimacy, the deceit. When Nora came into the room and saw Kevin self-asphyxiating..."A blow upon a bruise." A mirror to the earlier scene where Kevin comes into their bedroom to find Nora packed: the pained, loving pretense between them was so enormous, it seemed they were speaking to each other from within a bell jar being drained of air.

Their mantra of "It's okay" is losing its binding power. Two moments of mad levity: (1) "You're home."  (2) Nora's laughter at Kevin's suggestion that they have a baby. 

I suppose that setting up Down Under Chief Kevin as worse than Dean was so blatant that it was also bleakly funny. Let's have him mow down a 'roo, intimidate his deputy and sneer at his love for his dog, then condescend to some women before we dunk him like a witch. Chief Kevin Garvey, Sr. may be going incognito.

29 minutes ago, Cardie said:

kudos to those who speculated Christine would come back for her--I didn't think that was who Christine was.

Helena Dax and ClanStarling, and yes, well put: I also didn't think that was who Christine was.

Speaking of Tommy, I wonder if he discovered what Meg's plan was for the town, reported it to Kevin, and feels partly responsible for Meg's and Evie's deaths. Does he know that Wayne absorbed some of Nora's grief, and granted Kevin's wish -- that Kevin was with Wayne when he died?

Mark Linn Baker was terrific. And no wonder Nora/Sarah might tell one of the faithful that she doesn't know a Kevin. 

[Armchair Critic]

Nora's hair looks like my mother's old hairdo when I was a kid and she went to the beauty shop once a week to have it set.

[ottoDbusdriver]

54 minutes ago, WaltersHair said:

A mobile particle accelerator is a very, very bad thing.

Seems to have worked out ok for the Ghostbusters. They even strapped them to their backs. :)

[acid burn]

1 hour ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

I don't get Nora breaking her arm to cover up the fact that she got a tattoo -- all it did was delay the reveal to Kevin that she had inked over her children's names.

I thought she was trying to hide the Wu Tang tattoo more than the fact she covered up the old tattoo.

26 minutes ago, Armchair Critic said:

Nora's hair looks like my mother's old hairdo when I was a kid and she went to the beauty shop once a week to have it set.

Ha! My husband and I were discussing her hair, too--I'm assuming it's cut like that for Fargo, but who knows?

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, PreviouslyTV said:

 

Quote

. . . of course, not everybody has the resources to follow up on thin, irrational possibilities like this . . .

View the full article

Thank you, Elizabeth Ball, for noting this fact that tends to bug me when it's so often ignored on TV and IRL. And in the episode they did have Nora ask for funding for the trip. BTW, am I right that as soon as her boss was done talking to her on the phone that he told the other guy that she bought the story, meaning they were in on it? Are they planning on offing Nora because she's become too difficult or something?

And also thanks for noting this:

Quote

Erika appears to be doing fine, and she's a sight for Nora's sore eyes, as Regina King always is for all of us.

 

1 hour ago, humbleopinion said:

. . . Didn't Nora and Erika look like they were ascending... when jumping up on the trampoline in slow mo?

Excellent point! I guess that's also why it's therapeutic for them? Kind of like Kevin asphyxiating himself until he doesn't want to die, I'm guessing Erika bounces until she is sure she wants to stay on Earth. Or maybe I'm reading it wrong.

 

1 hour ago, Pallas said:

. . . Nora's laughter at Kevin's suggestion that they have a baby. . . . 

Just like elderly Biblical Sarah laughing when she was told she was having a baby.

 

35 minutes ago, Armchair Critic said:

Nora's hair looks like my mother's old hairdo when I was a kid and she went to the beauty shop once a week to have it set.

Really? Except for the color, her hair is doing just what mine does while it's growing in from chemotherapy. I can't imagine paying someone to make it look that way.

 

For reasons too deep for a frickin' message board, I really related to Kevin and Nora's difficulties; I hope the resolution is at least a little bit inspirational.

I really appreciated Nora manually lifting the parking lot gate when it wouldn't take her card. And I'm glad she got away with it.

Edited April 24, 2017 by shapeshifter

[Cardie]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

I hope the resolution is at least a little bit inspirational.

I keep hoping the Suddenly Departed come back. There wouldn't have to be any explanation of how it happened or where they'd been. Of course, since this show is all about dealing with loss, non-loss would be a cop-out. Nevertheless, a cop-out I could get behind.

[jcin617]

8 hours ago, humbleopinion said:

Last time you heard it was when Kevin visited his Dad in the psychiatric hospital in Season 1.

Dad was watching Perfect Strangers.

You're right!   Wow, I had forgotten that.   Having Perfect Strangers such a part of the show's mythos is wild.

8 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Hate the new S3 opening.  Much like portions of Lost, it makes me feel we will be time-traveling to the 70s at some point.  We've already seen a flashforward at the end of last episode.  Just saying.

The opening is visually the same as S2, they just used the theme for Perfect Strangers instead (I presume just for this episode).

[Mindthinkr]

What was up with Nora and all of the machines not recognizing her touch? First (that I recall) the airline kiosk, the Ford rental car's navigational system and then when she tried to enter her parking ticket? Is this like the Sixth Sense in that she's there but not really there? Nah, too much intrapersonal interaction but with Lindenhof I never know! 

[stagmania]

9 hours ago, patty1h said:

Nora slammed her arm in a car door to cover up that she got a new tattoo to cover her kids names?  Did I hear that right?

I think there was also an element of self-punishment involved. She was feeling stupid and weak and ashamed.

8 hours ago, Cardie said:

Tom was really stone cold to Nora about her attempt to reconnect. 

He's very protective of Christine, so I'm not too surprised he was harsh about it. He also doesn't seem that invested in Nora and Kevin's relationship, unlike Jill. He wasn't part of their whole journey to become a family.

8 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Hate the new S3 opening.  Much like portions of Lost, it makes me feel we will be time-traveling to the 70s at some point.  We've already seen a flashforward at the end of last episode.  Just saying.

Pretty sure that was a one time song replacement to go along with the Perfect Strangers theme of the episode.

7 hours ago, Pallas said:

And no wonder Nora/Sarah might tell one of the faithful that she doesn't know a Kevin. 

It makes you wonder if he has to go into hiding to get away from all these worshippers, which I guess adds a level of ambiguity to Sarah's answer in that future time. Maybe she really is separated from Kevin, or maybe she's protecting him. Matt and crew are doing him no favors.

2 minutes ago, Mindthinkr said:

What was up with Nora and all of the machines not recognizing her touch? First (that I recall) the airline kiosk, the Ford rental car's navigational system and then when she tried to enter her parking ticket? Is this like the Sixth Sense in that she's there but not really there? Nah, too much intrapersonal interaction but with Lindenhof I never know! 

Seemed like the universe trying to tell her not to do the foolish things she was doing.

[Juliegirlj]

Norah is acting somewhat aloof, and how appropriate that she was wearing a white robe and smoking ALA GUilty Remnant! 

Loved the scenes with Norah and Erica! Erica may be the only person Norah can really be honest with. 

Tommy giving Norah a taste of painful honesty was great. 

Catching Kevin mid asphyxiation was painful to watch. As was Kevin's face when Norah hysterically laughed at his suggestion of a baby ( callback season 2 finale with the man on the radio program). 

I am freaked out by the previews for coming episodes!! 

[Mei]

Wasn't the leader of the Australian women's posse also the ever-faithful Millerite in the opening scene last week? If so, it could be an interesting corollary of sorts, because in a sense, she couldn't die either...

[revbfc]

Mark Linn-Baker killed it this episode.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Juliegirlj said:

Norah is acting somewhat aloof, and how appropriate that she was wearing a white robe and smoking ALA GUilty Remnant! 

Loved the scenes with Norah and Erica! Erica may be the only person Norah can really be honest with. 

Tommy giving Norah a taste of painful honesty was great. 

Catching Kevin mid asphyxiation was painful to watch. As was Kevin's face when Norah hysterically laughed at his suggestion of a baby ( callback season 2 finale with the man on the radio program). 

I am freaked out by the previews for coming episodes!! 

Great notes on connections that I missed!

 

The New York Times review/recap of the episode has some good bits, like:

Quote

When Nora arrives at the St. Louis hotel, Mark immediately tosses her phone in the toilet as a security precaution. “It’s just hardware,” he says. “Everything that matters is out there in the cloud, right?” Well, that’s this show’s big question, isn’t it?

And a comment on the review that some of the posters from last week will like:

Quote

When the "wrong" Kevin got drowned, I wondered if the reason the "old" Nora denies knowing the real Kevin is to protect him in the post -Apocalypse.
Unless they are going on full new testament and she is the "New" Peter who denied knowing Jesus

[RimaTheBirdGirl]

Matt is now routinely lying, in ways that may foment violent chaos in Jarden, on October 14.

 

1. Matt lied to Nora this episode, in denying involvement in Pillar Man's post-death dealings.  
2. Matt lied to the community & the world, in supporting the falsehood that Pillar Man departed.
3. He lied to Kevin in last week's premiere, when he denied being the author of the yellow flyers, advertising his church.  (A touch of self-aggrandizement there.)
4. I bet Matt knowingly told a falsehood to Nora, as a child, about their burnt-alive parents feeling no pain.

 

That first, childhood lie puts the rest in context.  As Matt explains, he lies for the greater good, to bring solace, and ease pain.  But as the Millerite-saga opening of this season illustrates, lying doesn't always do that.  Even from men of faith. 

 And it leads to the unfortunate deaths of police chiefs in Australia.

Edited April 24, 2017 by RimaTheBirdGirl

[Helena Dax]

Nora's mean streak is a thing of beauty. 

When I saw those four women, my first thought was that they were the Four Horses of the Apocalypse. It seems they're not -if they're looking for the new Messiah, I guess that puts them in the role of apostles-, but I still haven't ruled out the Four Horses theory. It's too much coincidence. 

What the show's doing with Perfect Strangers is wonderfully crazy and I love every moment of it. Of course, I can't wait to see if those scientists are telling the truth. Tbh, I doubt it. It doesn't seem that science is going to give the answer to any of the weird things happening in the show. Which... okay, I guess. Because in the end, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". 

[AdultLindsayWeir]

10 hours ago, Armchair Critic said:

Nora's hair looks like my mother's old hairdo when I was a kid and she went to the beauty shop once a week to have it set.

Lol.  I was thinking "She has the Jane Hathaway pixie cut". 

[islandgal140]

When the Perfect Strangers theme song was playing over the beginning credits I was wondering if there was some sort of mix up. Then I was racking my brain trying to figure out where I knew the song from. Then I started singing along. It was for real I strange progression of events on my end. 

Small tidbit - I actually wiki-ed Mark Linn-Baker. Fun facts:

1. He is actually from St. Louis, Missouri; and

2. Yes, he does have 2 degrees from Yale. You go boy!

This was an interesting episode. Interesting meaning good. You never know what the hell you are gonna get with this show but Nora with a Wu Tang Clan tat is kinda my everything right now. I did love the sequence of her and Regina's character (forgot her name) bouncing on the trampoline to a Wu Tang song.  Side note - Regina's got a great bod! Carrie's ain't too shabby either.

I didn't even realize that little girl was actually Lily until Kevin's son (forgot his name too) pulled Nora over. 

Aussie accents are some of my least favorite and the didgeridoo is up there in my least favorite instruments with the bagpipes, organ and harpsichord. Given all that I am still very intrigued by the Aussie side of the story.

[meep.meep]

2 hours ago, Mei said:

Wasn't the leader of the Australian women's posse also the ever-faithful Millerite in the opening scene last week? If so, it could be an interesting corollary of sorts, because in a sense, she couldn't die either...

No.  The Australian was played by Lindsay Duncan.

It was strange to watch Carrie Coon be rejected by technology, after watching her character in Fargo have the same problem.  Let's hope she doesn't get typecast!

I started thinking about how so many people on this show are filled with rage.  Nora, Kevin, John, and Laurie, definitely are.

[Schlinkaboo]

The Austrailian news update/weather report was geniis

[Mei]

58 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

The Australian was played by Lindsay Duncan

Thanks! I went back and now see the difference in age, etc--though both are natural beauties with very similar features, imho.

Also saw that, according to IMDB, Lindsay Duncan played in a miniseries called "Perfect Strangers" in 2001.

[WaltersHair]

Quote

It was strange to watch Carrie Coon be rejected by technology, after watching her character in Fargo have the same problem.

I was thinking the same thing. I used to think she was playing Nora as a somewhat cold character, but she's doing the same thing with her Fargo character. It's like there's a wall between her and the audience that I can't see past. Time will tell.

Next week they should play the opening to Brett Butler's old series, Grace Under Fire. I loved that show. Watched Perfect Strangers as a kid, but that opening went right over my head. My 80's card needs to be revoked.

[Cardie]

2 hours ago, Helena Dax said:

Of course, I can't wait to see if those scientists are telling the truth. Tbh, I doubt it. It doesn't seem that science is going to give the answer to any of the weird things happening in the show

The fact that they are charging $20,000 for a person to go through their machine strongly suggests a particularly heartless form of con game.

[whiporee]

On thing about the end. I had thought it was a future scene, but since someone mentioned the weathercaster, I think he said it had been seven years since October 14 and the Sudden Departure, so it would be concurrent with the rest of the episode. Unless something else happens on this Oct. 14, which would make it more biblical and memorable than the first. 

[Gwen-Stacys]

15 hours ago, Cardie said:

Tom was really stone cold to Nora about her attempt to reconnect. Of course, every device she encountered was also telling Nora not to make that side trip. And Nora herself is the mistress of stone cold, as with the autopsy photo of the pillar man.

It was cold, but also the truth. And fairly level headed given that she'd just tried insinuate him in her grief over losing Lily. He didn't leave her for Nora, he left her for his dad because he was the chief of police and probably knew what to do.

I loved this episode, but I love every Nora centered episode.  Also, more Nora and Erika scenes, please. It's always magic

[stagmania]

If anyone's interested in some more context about this season, Damon Lindelof did an interview with The Watch podcast. He specifically gave some info about that Nora scene from the end of the premiere.

Spoiler

He confirmed that it's at some point in the future, and that it's meant in part to convey that Nora and Kevin are not headed for a happy ending. They are a "doomed romance", and he wanted to give a signal of that to the audience to recalibrate expectations after last season ended on the happier family reunion note.

[scrb]

8 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

What was up with Nora and all of the machines not recognizing her touch? First (that I recall) the airline kiosk, the Ford rental car's navigational system and then when she tried to enter her parking ticket? Is this like the Sixth Sense in that she's there but not really there? Nah, too much intrapersonal interaction but with Lindenhof I never know! 

Not only that, her iPhone was tossed in the toilet, replaced with an old flip phone -- who has those any more.

Then she went to a store with a touchscreen kiosk to print out the picture.  I'm not clear on what that picture is suppose to be other than it's the guy who fell off the pillar.  But she didn't have any problems because the store clerk printed it out for her.

Technology in general doesn't have the impact that it has in our world.  For instance, Jarden is a small town but given all the activity and humanity in there, there would be tons of surveillance cameras recording that square and they would have caught him falling off that pillar.

[WaltersHair]

If anyone's interested in some more context about this season, Damon Lindelof did an interview with The Watch podcast. He specifically gave some info about that Nora scene from the end of the premiere.

Spoiler

That is one quick way to keep anyone from hanging in there and watching furthur. That's the only happy ending I can think of that's acceptable in this world. At least, for me in any case. I'm starting to understand the Lost anger, though I only watch some of season 1.

[Mindthinkr]

6 hours ago, Cardie said:

The fact that they are charging $20,000 for a person to go through their machine strongly suggests a particularly heartless form of con game.

I think that figure was because of where they calculated her on their sliding scale. There might have been people who paid more and people who played less. Guess the con was to estimate exactly how deep they could empty their marks pockets. 

Edited April 25, 2017 by Mindthinkr
Autocorrect was wrong

[scrb]

   3 HOURS AGO,  CARDIE SAID: 

The fact that they are charging $20,000 for a person to go through their machine strongly suggests a particularly heartless form of con game.

 

Not only that, they're committing murder right?  What happens when they bombard people with that mobile particle accelerator?

They burn up, leave no traces?

Edited April 24, 2017 by scrb

[Cardie]

1 hour ago, scrb said:

They burn up, leave no traces?

Or they go where the Departed went, which is their claim. If there are no traces, there is always doubt. (I don't for a second believe that they aren't incinerating people, but that would be the wiggle room that allows them to keep fooling people.)

My own favorite Departure theory--sort of borrowed from The 4400--is that they were all whisked into the future, where they will suddenly reappear as the rest of the world travels more normally through time to catch up with them years or decades later.

[Armchair Critic]

8 hours ago, AdultLindsayWeir said:

 I was thinking "She has the Jane Hathaway pixie cut". 

YES! You got what I meant.

Carrie Coon looked so much younger in Gone Girl, I guess it shows styling really make a difference.

18 hours ago, acid burn said:

My husband and I were discussing her hair, too--I'm assuming it's cut like that for Fargo, but who knows?

Maybe. I'm watching that too.

[ottoDbusdriver]

9 hours ago, Helena Dax said:

When I saw those four women, my first thought was that they were the Four Horses of the Apocalypse. It seems they're not -if they're looking for the new Messiah, I guess that puts them in the role of apostles-, but I still haven't ruled out the Four Horses theory. It's too much coincidence. 

I think your were going for the Four Horsemen (or Horsewomen) of the Apocalypse , but I got what you were going for.

5 hours ago, whiporee said:

On thing about the end. I had thought it was a future scene, but since someone mentioned the weathercaster, I think he said it had been seven years since October 14 and the Sudden Departure, so it would be concurrent with the rest of the episode. Unless something else happens on this Oct. 14, which would make it more biblical and memorable than the first. 

One correction -- the Australian weather forecaster was talking about the 7th anniversary of the Departure on Oct. 15, because the Departure occurred in the morning of Oct. 14th in Mapleton, and with all the time zone differences parts of the world, like Australia, were already into the next day.

[acid burn]

1 hour ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

When I saw those four women, my first thought was that they were the Four Horses of the Apocalypse.

I actually had that Four Horsemen thought when Nora made such a big deal about Kevin's (as it turns out, white) horse in E1. Pestilence is the horseman who rides a white horse, but in some mythology, a white horse is associated with Christ (which kind of seems like where they're going with Kevin). Anyway, I digress. But yeah, similar thoughts.

Edited April 25, 2017 by acid burn

[maystone]

I doubt that this is significant, but another point of comparison between Kevins who are the chief of police is that our Kevin ran into a deer with his car and then killed it with his sidearm; Aussie Kevin ran into a kangaroo and put it down.

I thought of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, too, when I first saw the women. And when Grace started to recite from the Book of Kevin, I at first thought she was talking about that time in S1 when Kevin was taking a break from his morning run, sitting on a curb and smoking a cigarette when a car with four women stopped in front of him; they waved and asked if he was ready. He had no idea what they were talking about, so he didn't answer; they laughed and drove on. Didn't Grace say something like "The four waved?" Because I was thrown when she went on to say that He put the stone to his chest and jumped in the water - which is what happened when he bumped into Evie and her friends. Maybe the Book of Kevin has conflated the various stories about Kevin in the same way that the Gospels conflate the stories about Jesus?

I love how well Nora is written. Damn, what a complex character, and Carrie Coon is phenomenal in bringing her to life. I think she slammed her arm in the door so the cast would cover the tat until she could deal with it. In that case it's even sadder that she couldn't tell Kevin anything about the first tattoo or the second or her need to cover it up. They really are lost, those two. I felt so terrible for Kevin when Nora burst out in hysterical laughter when he said he wanted them to have a baby (that was cruel, Nora), but what the hell was Kevin thinking to ask Nora to risk bearing and loving another child when she's already lost three (that was cruel, Kevin)?

Mark Linn-Baker was fantastic. I'd seen him in other dramatic roles, so I knew he had it in him, and I hope this leads to other roles for him. (Little known fact: Back in the 70s in CT, Mark Linn-Baker played Snoopy in a local production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." My best friend had been cast as Patty. When "My Favorite Year" came out, she dug out the photos, and there he was. Everyone had to start somewhere :)) I have to admit that all of the Perfect Strangers references went right over my head. I'm glad it was explained here because that opening music just made my jaw drop. I was thinking "Really? This is how the show is going to go out with this ridiculous theme music?" Ha!

[acid burn]

1 hour ago, maystone said:

I have to admit that all of the Perfect Strangers references went right over my head. I'm glad it was explained here because that opening music just made my jaw drop. I was thinking "Really? This is how the show is going to go out with this ridiculous theme music?"

I actually wish they'd called the ep itself Perfect Strangers because it seems that's like what everyone on the show is at this point. I was especially aware of it when Nora and Kevin were sitting on the bed trying to pretend like they were happy and everything was normal after she caught him trying to asphyxiate himself and she'd just agreed to spend $20K to possibly self immolate.

[Joimiaroxeu]

And again this show is reminding me of the film, The Rapture. The movie incuded a scene of the Four Horsemen descending from the clouds and that scene is a visually stunning moment. The effect was probably helped by CGI technology not being as good then as it is now.

Quote

 

The fact that they are charging $20,000 for a person to go through their machine strongly suggests a particularly heartless form of con game.

 

As heartless as convincing people to give all their stuff away because they're about to be called to heaven. Not only do they remain here on earth, now they're in abject poverty having to see other people with their former stuff.

..