S01.E10: The New Narrative

[candall]

Quote

Megan and Kyle must deal with a secret that has emerged from Megan's past; Terence and DeAnn work together to deal with a possible threat to the Institute.  Season Finale.

Just watching now . . . halfway through . . .

Kudos, show.  This goofy little piece of puff'n stuff has me so tense, I'm chewing my fingernails.  The imprisonment scenario, with all the Institute bots, is excruciating.  And, I want to smack that Institute woman every time she says "You and me are going to _____________."

You were doing pretty well with your escape, Megan.  Why did you feel it was necessary to hop out of the van in the middle of nowheresville? 

 

And has there ever been an isolated farmhouse haven that wasn't owned by a snitch?

[pinkelephant3]

I love Megan's last sentence ... I knew she wasn't  brainwashed...wonder how Kyle will fit into that narrative 

[candall]

6 minutes ago, pinkelephant3 said:

I love Megan's last sentence ... I knew she wasn't  brainwashed...wonder how Kyle will fit into that narrative 

Well, while they have her foil her own escape by sprinting through the fields instead of waiting for a stoplight at a busy intersection, and they have her say dumb things like "I can come back if you're busy" to her molester stepbrother, who's half in the bag at the wild party he's HOSTING, I don't know if Megan is exactly up to the task of burning down the highly organized and nefarious IHM.  But I'll definitely be back to to watch her try!  :  )

See you in 2018.

[Guest]

Why did she hop out of the van while they were still in the middle of nowhere?

The pale skin, white outfit, and fog combo really gave the impression of a ghost movie.

So Kyle was in on it. His creepiness is coming out more now.

Institute-Megan seems very Stepford wife. 

Im sad this is the end of the season!

[Artsda]

I kind of preferred step-ford Megan than regular Megan. 

Regular Megan was pretty stupid. Does she still forget she has the contract? Running out of the van in the middle of nowhere, drawing attention to her escape?

They know she's a murderer, does she really want to get on their bad side by burning it all down?

[misstwpherecool]

Megan's escape was a version of stupid things people do in a horror movie. She should've closed the doors on the van after she got out and just hid in the tree line somewhere. 

I was kind of hoping the killing of her step brother would turn out to be an accident or not true all. She still could claim ptsd or diminished capacity I think it is.

Lexa Doig had the real transformation to the female dog really in charge.

Ironic that this week in Tennessee the police shut down a Scientology facility after a man said he was held hostage there.

https://jonathanturley.org/2017/05/05/tennessee-police-shutdown-scientology-facilities-after-reportedly-finding-people-held-against-their-will/

One last thing on 'burn it all down'. Could Megan have been assigned to test her friend the way she was tested by the facility instructor who posed as a reporter.

[spiderpig]

I've really enjoyed the last couple of episodes when they stopped treading water and actually moved the plot where we hoped it would go.

Agree about the incredibly dumb moves by Megan during her escape.  Duh!

[treeofdreams]

Was it another stupid move for Megan to tell her friend, who has a (presumably high paying) position with the Institute and is dating one of the higher up members, what she planned to do?  Will she be Megan's inside source, or betray her?

What impact will Megan's confession of murder have on her trying to "burn it all down", which the Institute can use against her?

Will Megan enlist her other friend's help, the one who kept warning her about the Institute?

And how will Megan go about burning it all down?

So much to speculate on, so long to wait until the next season!

[NorthstarATL]

I'm not necessarily defending the Institute's methods, but am I a terrible person if I don't take Megyn's side in this? She let someone else be imprisoned for something she did, lied about it, and falsely entered into a contract. They ran an intervention on her, cleaned up her mess, and thought they had helped her deal with a trauma. I think she should be thankful that she's not in prison.

[misstwpherecool]

10 minutes ago, NorthstarATL said:

I'm not necessarily defending the Institute's methods, but am I a terrible person if I don't take Megyn's side in this? She let someone else be imprisoned for something she did, lied about it, and falsely entered into a contract. They ran an intervention on her, cleaned up her mess, and thought they had helped her deal with a trauma. I think she should be thankful that she's not in prison.

I think she finally feels guilt that now that the black mailer/ wrong guy turned up dead. Also kidnapped against his will.  This is one reason I'm having trouble figuring out who to root for.

Being Hong Kong out of country she could make a full confession and I doubt they would reopen a closed case someone served timed for-unless he was able to prove his innocence. Was he out of prison for parole or new evidence?

[fireice13]

I'm glad they finally took this somewhere. I'm not happy that we have to wait for Season 2 to see where it will lead.

I don't think IHM could use the murder against her. Someone else was convicted so obviously they didn't have a lot of evidence to go on in the first place and Megan's "confession" to IHM would never hold up in court. She was drugged and held against her will when she said it wasn't self-defense. 

She was pretty stupid with the escape plan. First of all if you see that you're still in the middle of nowhere, you close the door and continue hiding in the van until it stops again; or you get out, close the doors and run into the tree line that is right next to you, instead of down the road where you will be seen and heard. It would've taken them longer to start looking and she could have followed the road keeping cover from the tree line. 

I'm not sure about playing along to burn it all down. Why not just say on the red carpet in front of multiple cameras that you were drugged and held against your will be the people next to you and you're terrified of what they'll to do to you. That'll get the public, especially ones suspicious of IHM on your side and possibly get an investigation going. I get what they're doing is for plot, but I don't see how it makes sense because you risk being seen as an accomplice in the end.

[HunterHunted]

18 hours ago, Artsda said:

I kind of preferred step-ford Megan than regular Megan. 

Regular Megan was pretty stupid. Does she still forget she has the contract? Running out of the van in the middle of nowhere, drawing attention to her escape?

They know she's a murderer, does she really want to get on their bad side by burning it all down?

I don't know that you can consent to kidnapping. You can consent to certain assaults: surgery, tattoos, boxing. If the possible outcomes of the consented assault are explained without sufficient detail, the consent is determined to be invalid. So even though Megan signed the contract, it's doubtful that it specified that the Institute could kidnap and drug her. How could her friend and her agent/manager have missed that clause? I'm sure it said something general like making Megan has to take an advanced Institute course at a retreat. I think whatever is in the contract as it relates to this other facility is not enforceable and against public policy.

If Megan's shitty lawyer friend wasn't so busy working for Terrence and the Institute, she would have told Megan that huge parts of the contract were unenforceable. Additionally, she could have told Megan that killing her brother started as self-defense because her brother was trying to rape her again. This reactivated her trauma and PTSD. The killing was the result her years of abuse suffered at the hands of her brother. There is a pretty obvious defense argument. I don't think Megan ever talked to the police about her brother's death. The police in Hong Kong arrived at the conclusion that the blackmailer killed her brother. She has no duty to confess.

[hoodooznoodooz]

Things I learned watching "The Arrangement":

Life is a living thing. 

Your narrative is your narrative.

Cancer sucks. 

 

Does anyone else feel like a high school student wrote this script?

[spiderpig]

12 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

The police in Hong Kong arrived at the conclusion that the blackmailer killed her brother. She has no duty to confess.

This is one plot device that had me going "huh?"*  What led the HKPD to conclude that blackmailer was the killer when Megan clocked the victim at least 3 times with a bottle that had to be covered with her fingerprints.  Plus hair and textile evidence.  Gil Grissom would be very displeased.

*a lot of them do, but this one had us pause the DVR.  Of course, we were watching while savoring our own bottle of Three Buck Chuck.

[treeofdreams]

I'm guessing that Shaun will betray Megan to the Institute.  She is not just working for them, she is a believer.  She has taken the programs and thinks they are wonderful.  (And it would make a better story if she did.)

As for the murder, I wonder if the Institute can hold that over Megan.  If they knew about a murder and they did not report it to the police, doesn't that make them accessory after the fact or something?  And they killed the blackmailer, so they shouldn't want too much attention on the whole matter.

All most intriguing to speculate about...

[MaggieG]

That was an interesting episode, I kinda can't wait for season 2. I wonder if she's going to try and get Kyle on her side as well, he can help her "burn it all down."

Also, Autumn Reeser wasn't sporting the pregnancy belly so her character must have had her baby.

[misstwpherecool]

On 5/9/2017 at 6:18 AM, spiderpig said:

This is one plot device that had me going "huh?"*  What led the HKPD to conclude that blackmailer was the killer when Megan clocked the victim at least 3 times with a bottle that had to be covered with her fingerprints.  Plus hair and textile evidence.  Gil Grissom would be very displeased.

*a lot of them do, but this one had us pause the DVR.  Of course, we were watching while savoring our own bottle of Three Buck Chuck.

Pesky details. So the blackmailer was set free or completed his sentence? In the prior epi the blackmailer said something about the noise he kept hearing-the struggle or something was off with Megan?

When they were looking at her brain scan during Megan's trip back they said she was accessing memories really deep according the activity. Was that for the scene or something else going in Megan's brain.

[spiderpig]

9 hours ago, misstwpherecool said:

When they were looking at her brain scan during Megan's trip back they said she was accessing memories really deep according the activity. Was that for the scene or something else going in Megan's brain.

Did the tests confirm that Megan has a functioning brain?

[misstwpherecool]

13 hours ago, spiderpig said:

Did the tests confirm that Megan has a functioning brain?

LOL, Closeted killer voluntarily decides to lead a high profile life associated with a cult. What possibly could go wrong.

[Jillybean]

On 5/10/2017 at 11:10 AM, MaggieG said:

That was an interesting episode, I kinda can't wait for season 2. I wonder if she's going to try and get Kyle on her side as well, he can help her "burn it all down."

I'd only be interested in S2 if Megan is planning to take Kyle down along with the Institute.

[treeofdreams]

Speculation is that the Institute has a blackmail-worthy hold over Kyle.  So it would be interesting if she tried to get him on her side.  But considering how complicit he was in her kidnapping, I would rather think she would want to take him down as well.  I know I would.

[Peper81]

On ‎5‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 10:14 PM, pinkelephant3 said:

I love Megan's last sentence ... I knew she wasn't  brainwashed...wonder how Kyle will fit into that narrative 

Me too.  I kept waiting for some indication that she wasn't really brainwashed by IHM.  For a moment there, I thought she might actually be brainwashed so it was a relief to see that she hadn't fallen for it but had decided to bring it crashing down.  I'm also happy to see that Shaun seems to be on Megan's side.  I hope that stays the case.

That said, I really hope Megan isn't still wanting to save her relationship with Kyle.  I'm hoping part of her plan to bring down IHM will include bringing Kyle to his knees.  Her kidnapping had his fingerprints all over it and he left her there to be victimized by this organization.  He's as dirty as they are at this point.

[dely]

Good episode. I had a beef too with her jumping out of the van in the middle of who knows where but I told myself she was getting panicky about  being  discovered. Still .. bad decision. I was not surprised that the sweet  little old lady who seemed to be alone and vulnerable - still in the middle of who knows where - and yet let a complete stranger into her home, turned out to be eevul.

Can't wait to see the pretty pretty fire.

I'm hoping someone can help me out with  song info; after "I'm going to burn it down", and heading into the credits, does anyone know the song playing? It was a female singer and the only lines I got before my recording cut off were "We're on fire. These ?..? they  burn with power" (really unsure about that second  line.) I've tried a few sites like tunefind and one named the artist as Ruelle but she doesn't  seem to have a song that quite matches. Help?

[waving feather]

Even though Megan is the protagonist and I felt bad that she was kidnapped and psychologically tortured, I don't feel too sorry for her within this show. She knew Kyle was in some kind of a cult before she signed the contract. She knew she had a past that people can use against her and control her. She knew all this but did it anyway for fame and fortune. So meh at her outrage. She has two choices: go to the police to report about IHM and at the same time confess to killing her step-brother OR not be in jail and be a good little girl for Kyle and IHM (at the same time make money and be an "actress"). She can't have it all.

Surprisingly, my favorite characters are actually the cult couple. And Megan's lawyer friend. Probably because these 3 characters are the only ones in the show who don't bitch and whine about their circumstances in life of their own doing.

Edited June 4, 2017 by waving feather

[Dowel Jones]

Well, I just finished all 10 eps over a few days, so I'm late.

notKatie is morphing into notLeah for next season, I see.  I kind of expected that, but I hope that telling Shaun is part of her plan, rather than her relying on the supposed friendship.

Regarding the murder. would China really care about an incident between two Americans that happened on Chinese soil, unless it impacted foreign relations between the two countries?  Besides which, China, or at least mainland China, has no extradition treaty with the US.  Now, from the US perspective, who would prosecute the case?  Evidence is so slim that a conviction is virtually impossible.  The main damage is to her  rapidly declining "career", and her ability to star in a movie past the obligatory boyfriend pairing.  Of course, if it were me, I would rather push a broom somewhere rather than try a dig my way out of that entire toxic environment.

The main effect these "pretty people in peril" type shows have on me is to make me wonder whose estate was rented out for some of the exterior shots. 

[HunterHunted]

On 6/23/2017 at 3:47 PM, Dowel Jones said:

Well, I just finished all 10 eps over a few days, so I'm late.

notKatie is morphing into notLeah for next season, I see.  I kind of expected that, but I hope that telling Shaun is part of her plan, rather than her relying on the supposed friendship.

Regarding the murder. would China really care about an incident between two Americans that happened on Chinese soil, unless it impacted foreign relations between the two countries?  Besides which, China, or at least mainland China, has no extradition treaty with the US.  Now, from the US perspective, who would prosecute the case?  Evidence is so slim that a conviction is virtually impossible.  The main damage is to her  rapidly declining "career", and her ability to star in a movie past the obligatory boyfriend pairing.  Of course, if it were me, I would rather push a broom somewhere rather than try a dig my way out of that entire toxic environment.

The main effect these "pretty people in peril" type shows have on me is to make me wonder whose estate was rented out for some of the exterior shots. 

No one unless there is some weird state or federal law that gives either a state or the federal government jurisdiction over foreign murders of American citizens by American citizens. There might be. A civil suit is a much better option, but the blackmailer opted for blackmailing, the criminal's version of a civil suit, and wound up dead. Megan's family has a vested interest in not suing her and destroying their family unit. Meaning that legally not much could happen to her, but it'll kill her career. However, it might not kill it stone dead. If she plays up the misogynist and rape culture aspects of her abuse she might get a book and a regular podcast out of it. If the book includes some info about the Institute, it'll get optioned by Netflix or Amazon ala Orange is the New Black. Maybe she isn't acting, but she'll be a producer and able to tell stories that she wants to tell.

The Institute seems to be savvier than Scientology. Scientology's billion year contracts are largely unenforceable. They make kids sign them. They have this pledge to servitude for a billion years. They have provision that you have to repay the church for all materials and instruction if you leave. It's just dumb. They have a dumb NDA in there that doesn't allow for providing information the police or a court unless the church says you can. It includes a volunteer section which exempts the church from having to pay you no matter how much you work. There are so many laws that contradict nearly every provision in those contracts. They are not legal.

The Institute seems to have much more narrowly focused and drafted contracts.