S03.E04: Part 27

[Mindthinkr]

Eric is in jail and we have two funerals and a reason for the Rayburn family to throw a party. 

[knaankos]

Ok can someone help me out. I don't think I understood a THING anout this episode. 

Are john and his wife separated? So Meg just ran away to the ocean? To where? People just accept that she's on a wayward journey? What was the big deal about Eric going to the funeral? I mean 3 people were there who cares? Why did Kevin go on a bender just cause John raised his voice to him? Is he that big of a baby? Why a random 5 month gap? And is John ever going to realize that brooding at every waking moment of the day maybe isn't the most innocent looking thing in the world? Why didn't Meg speak into the phone? Was it even Meg?

Edited May 28, 2017 by knaankos

[Mindthinkr]

Yes, John and his wife are separated now. Meg was distraught and indeed took the sunfish out (rather strange for someone who claimed not to like boats). They don't want Eric to go to his mother's funeral because 1) Cops do not like a cop killer  2) the Rayburn men don't want to face him as they know he didn't shoot Marco

No idea why there was a 5 month gap. Must have been a writers decision to move the story along. Kevin drank because he's facing demons and guilt about what happened at Marco's place. John (his family) has been one of his triggers for drinking. The stress of it all got to him and it didn't help when his mother handed him a glass and told him that one drink wouldn't hurt him (she doesn't understand that with alcoholism one drink can lead to the many). I'm sure that John yelling got under Kevin's skin. 

About the phone call. Nobody knows who it was as the caller didn't identify himself/herself. I saw that Sally was opening her second BOTTLE of wine during it and it worried me how loose lipped she might have become over the phone to nobody knows who. I don't think that it was Meg but that's just my gut talking and I have no evidence either way. 

I hope that I was able to help. Hopefully some other posters will come along and give you their perceptions as we can all see the same thing differently at times. 

[Anela]

I like John, but I don't want to see anyone else go to jail for their crimes. Even if that person was already a criminal. 

The series started with John living a good life, with his family, and now Kevin is saying that his life is the best it's ever been. I know he got into trouble because he was helping his brother, but he then murdered Marco. 

[Mama No Life]

John was worried that Roy was planning to kill Eric at the funeral.  Since he knows Eric is innocent, this is not what he wants to happen, even if it is his doing to have him charged.  Just one step too far over the line maybe?

This episode had a very Godfather (or Godfather II, I can't remember) feel with the funeral and christening going on at the same time and Eric's death looming. 

My fear is that it was Ozzy calling, not Meg.  I really hate that character.  I've forgotten the identity of the girl in Miami who always helps him. Was that Danny's girlfriend?

And while I miss Ben Mendlewhatever his name is, I don't miss the Nolan storyline.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Mama No Life

[Racj82]

19 hours ago, knaankos said:

Ok can someone help me out. I don't think I understood a THING anout this episode. 

Are john and his wife separated? So Meg just ran away to the ocean? To where? People just accept that she's on a wayward journey? What was the big deal about Eric going to the funeral? I mean 3 people were there who cares? Why did Kevin go on a bender just cause John raised his voice to him? Is he that big of a baby? Why a random 5 month gap? And is John ever going to realize that brooding at every waking moment of the day maybe isn't the most innocent looking thing in the world? Why didn't Meg speak into the phone? Was it even Meg?

A lot of this was already answered but most of it is answered if you keep watching. All of these things didn't exist just within this episode. They carry on.

[Mama No Life]

9 hours ago, Mama No Life said:

John was worried that Roy was planning to kill Eric at the funeral.  Since he knows Eric is innocent, this is not what he wants to happen, even if it is his doing to have him charged.  Just one step too far over the line maybe?

This episode had a very Godfather (or Godfather II, I can't remember) feel with the funeral and christening going on at the same time and Eric's death looming. 

My fear is that it was Ozzy calling, not Meg.  I really hate that character.  I've forgotten the identity of the girl in Miami who always helps him. Was that Danny's girlfriend?

And while I miss Ben Mendlewhatever his name is, I don't miss the Nolan storyline.

How did I quote myself?  Sigh.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Mama No Life

[peggy06]

If Meg took the Sunfish out and it isn't back, isn't the obvious reason that she drowned? Five months have gone by; they really think she just went away? She didn't like boats and presumably wasn't that good of a sailor.  

I have no idea who it was on the phone. It was a rare moment of real emotion. I have my issues with Sally, but Sissy Spacek sold the heck out of that, as a mother missing and worried about her child.

The drinking in this show is really off the charts. Now it seems like Diana is drinking and isn't keeping it as secret as she thinks. Sally is drinking a LOT of wine. Yeah, I get they have sorrows and/or guilt to drown. Still. It's overdone as a plot device.

Also somewhat heavy-handed IMO was Gilbert repeating the baptismal promises - "I do reject Satan" - while he's been built up as the Big Bad of the series.

There's so much emphasis on that baby, and how Kevin adores him, that I'm worried. If anything happens to that baby, I'm out. In fact I'm getting to the point where I might quit the show preemptively so this kind of thing can't be sprung on me.

[bilgistic]

9 hours ago, peggy06 said:

The drinking in this show is really off the charts.

This made me laugh inappropriately.

Does John ever sleep? And if he does, is it ever in pajamas? He never changes his blue shirt and tan chinos. He makes me tired is what I'm saying.

[Mindthinkr]

5 hours ago, bilgistic said:

This made me laugh inappropriately.

Does John ever sleep? And if he does, is it ever in pajamas? He never changes his blue shirt and tan chinos. He makes me tired is what I'm saying.

He's also starting to look smelly!! 

[Mama No Life]

Esp with the smoking.  Blech.

[Bec]

You'd think the Rayburns would be calling the coastguard on Meg if she took a sailboat out to sea and has since been gone for 5 months. They don't seem that worried, so maybe she brought the boat back then left.

I totally don't remember that woman who let Ozzy stay at her place. I mean, I remember her from the last episode, but was she in any previous seasons?

I hate that life is great for fucking Kevin.

So the sheriff's race is over, the other guy won, and John seems to be hating life right now. I'd say it would be a relief to him if he could confess to his crimes. The pressure is probably slowly killing him. But the major thing stopping him is this pathological need to stick around in order to make everything alright for his stupid family no matter how awful they are being. I still sympathize with him more than anyone else though.

Chelsea O'Bannon is pretty sympathetic, too, but she's not as much of a major character. I did like her little sarcastic smile when the priest assumed her mother was kind and a good mother.

I get that it's wrong, but I wouldn't have cared if Eric O'Bannon got killed. He's a waste of space, anyway. But then again, so is Kevin. I like that John still has enough of a conscience to prevent Eric from getting killed by Roy, but it'll probably prove to be a mistake later on when Kevin inevitably fucks up at the trial.

Yes, it was all very "Godfather" with the christening and everything. I'm sure it was totally intended, they said "godfather" enough times. Interesting twist to have no one get killed during the christening, though.

The water symbolism is strong with this show. I'm increasingly getting the feeling everybody is going to end up drowning in the end. One way or another. One by one they're all going to drown.

[pfk505]

8 hours ago, Bec said:

I get that it's wrong, but I wouldn't have cared if Eric O'Bannon got killed. He's a waste of space, anyway. But then again, so is Kevin. I like that John still has enough of a conscience to prevent Eric from getting killed by Roy, but it'll probably prove to be a mistake later on when Kevin inevitably fucks up at the trial.

I don't know, I feel really bad for O'Bannon. The guy is completely innocent of the crime for which he's been charged (a cop murder no less) and he's guilty of nothing other than being Danny's friend and confronting John with what he did (murder his friend). Sure he's a two bit criminal and wasn't nice enough to his dying mother but he doesn't deserve life in prison, executing by the state or preemptive murder.

I want to see every Rayburn utterly ruined by the end of this thing, but I doubt that will happen given the writers' previous exploits. I do feel sympathy for John (and Kyle Chandler is a god-tier actor) but he should still pay for his crimes. Kevin doubly so.

[Bec]

For me it's not a matter of who deserves what. It's more "do I care enough about this character to see his story play out for longer? Or do I find him irritating and want him off my screen post-haste?"

Danny, Eric, Ozzy, and Kevin all fall on the side of "irritating".

For all his faults, John doesn't annoy me. So I'm content to see him keep on keeping on.

[pfk505]

From a story perspective I agree 100%.

[thuganomics85]

Was not expecting a time jump.  I wonder if this was always planned, or if they are speeding it up since this is going to be the last season (when they apparently had an outline for five seasons.)  Anyway, in five months, a lot has change.  John actually lost the race to Aguirre, and now has a new, flirty partner.  He and Diana are separated for some reason and Diana has turned to drinking so hard, that their daughter is the one pretty much taking care of her.  No one has seen Meg ever since she sailed away.  Meanwhile, Kevin is living the good life with the wife, baby, and the successful job.  Of course, since it is Gilbert that is running the show, I have a feeling that his perfect life isn't going to last very long (especially since he felt off the wagon.)

Thought for sure the cops were on Gilbert's payroll and O'Bannon was dying, so it being John that paid them off to prevent him from going to the funeral, as a nice twist.  But I wonder if Gilbert will try again.

No one seems to know where Ozzy is, so he's sure to make a grand return, I imagine.

[Armchair Critic]

WTF Kevin putting beer on the baby's forehead and then his own like christening, was he that drunk after 1 beer? I am worried Kevin is going to get drunk and accidentally hurt or kill that baby. I watch this show with a knot in my stomach.

[BlackberryJam]

10 hours ago, pfk505 said:

I don't know, I feel really bad for O'Bannon. The guy is completely innocent of the crime for which he's been charged (a cop murder no less) and he's guilty of nothing other than being Danny's friend and confronting John with what he did (murder his friend). Sure he's a two bit criminal and wasn't nice enough to his dying mother but he doesn't deserve life in prison, executing by the state or preemptive murder.

I want to see every Rayburn utterly ruined by the end of this thing, but I doubt that will happen given the writers' previous exploits. I do feel sympathy for John (and Kyle Chandler is a god-tier actor) but he should still pay for his crimes. Kevin doubly so.

When we first met O'Bannon, he was supplying cans of gas to smugglers of immigrants so the smugglers could torch a boat full of live human beings if their families didn't pay extra money once they arrived in Florida.

Eric O'Bannon deserved prison time for being complicit in the immolation of a boat full of people. In episode 1, John is called away from the party to investigate the found body of that immigrant girl. Yeah, that story got dropped along the way, but Eric gets no sympathy. And Danny, at one point, was helping him deliver those cans of gas.

[pfk505]

1 hour ago, BlackberryJam said:

When we first met O'Bannon, he was supplying cans of gas to smugglers of immigrants so the smugglers could torch a boat full of live human beings if their families didn't pay extra money once they arrived in Florida.

Eric O'Bannon deserved prison time for being complicit in the immolation of a boat full of people. In episode 1, John is called away from the party to investigate the found body of that immigrant girl. Yeah, that story got dropped along the way, but Eric gets no sympathy. And Danny, at one point, was helping him deliver those cans of gas.

Yeah, my memory is short, and you're right.

He's a hapless follower / lackey but deserves to pay for his crimes. The only problem is those crimes don't include bludgeoning a police officer to death.

[Armchair Critic]

I thought John's wife was the one letting him go, so I don't get why they showed her chasing after him and him not being interested. That actress must be pretty thin, she looked so small in the jean skirt.

[laurakaye]

On 5/29/2017 at 10:48 AM, bilgistic said:

Does John ever sleep? And if he does, is it ever in pajamas? He never changes his blue shirt and tan chinos. He makes me tired is what I'm saying.

And yet...still smokin' hawt, in my opinion.

I used to really wonder about why Kevin was such a screw-up.  I mostly just went with it, but this episode?  When his mother offered him a drink and then locked him out of her house?  I'm sold now.  That, plus the story Kevin told Belle about how he learned to ride a bike by himself because his parents couldn't be bothered to teach him, tells me everything I need to know.  Kevin is either invisible or a pain in everyone's asses.

[pfk505]

34 minutes ago, laurakaye said:

I used to really wonder about why Kevin was such a screw-up.  I mostly just went with it, but this episode?  When his mother offered him a drink and then locked him out of her house?  I'm sold now.  That, plus the story Kevin told Belle about how he learned to ride a bike by himself because his parents couldn't be bothered to teach him, tells me everything I need to know.  Kevin is either invisible or a pain in everyone's asses.

And the name of the show is really on-the-nose.. One thing its impossible to lose sight of is the fact that the Rayburn parents have a huge amount of responsibility in the eventual unraveling of their family. They are shitty people. If Pa Rayburn hadn't beat Danny to within an inch of his life, and Ma Rayburn hadn't put her thumbs in her ears while coaching the rest of the kids through the cover up process, we might be looking at a totally different scenario for them going forward. A child dying is a horrible tragedy but they compounded it by several orders of magnitude.

I'm sure as we get more about Roy and the land acquisition thing we'll learn that the Rayburns were never above-board or respectable in the first place.

Edited May 31, 2017 by pfk505

[Lemons]

14 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

When we first met O'Bannon, he was supplying cans of gas to smugglers of immigrants so the smugglers could torch a boat full of live human beings if their families didn't pay extra money once they arrived in Florida.

Eric O'Bannon deserved prison time for being complicit in the immolation of a boat full of people. In episode 1, John is called away from the party to investigate the found body of that immigrant girl. Yeah, that story got dropped along the way, but Eric gets no sympathy. And Danny, at one point, was helping him deliver those cans of gas.

They didn't know what the gas was for, they were just instructed to put gas in a certain place and someone would collect it. 

I think Kevin is more of a psychopath than Danny ever was. Danny had more of a conscience.  He was just so bitter and angry about what his family did to him that he did some horrible things back to them. Kevin, on the other hand, covered up Danny's murder,  killed Marco , framed Eric for the murder, and didn't see anything wrong with setting Eric up to be killed at his mother's funeral. He's just happily going on with his great life without a care in the world. 

[laurakaye]

16 hours ago, Lemons said:

I think Kevin is more of a psychopath than Danny ever was. Danny had more of a conscience.  He was just so bitter and angry about what his family did to him that he did some horrible things back to them. Kevin, on the other hand, covered up Danny's murder,  killed Marco , framed Eric for the murder, and didn't see anything wrong with setting Eric up to be killed at his mother's funeral. He's just happily going on with his great life without a care in the world. 

I feel like he's that way because whenever anything goes wrong he just hits the bottle, has a breakdown, and calls John to fix everything.

Plus, I wonder if Kevin thinks that if everything does fall apart, he can go back to John killing Danny as the catalyst for Kevin's own murder of Marco.  In other words, in Kevin's brain, what he did was bad but what John did was worse, and John's actions set the horrible chain of events into motion.  So while John is his savior, Kevin would have no problem throwing him under the bus in a heartbeat to save himself.

[BlackberryJam]

21 hours ago, Lemons said:

They didn't know what the gas was for, they were just instructed to put gas in a certain place and someone would collect it. 

I think Kevin is more of a psychopath than Danny ever was. Danny had more of a conscience.  He was just so bitter and angry about what his family did to him that he did some horrible things back to them. Kevin, on the other hand, covered up Danny's murder,  killed Marco , framed Eric for the murder, and didn't see anything wrong with setting Eric up to be killed at his mother's funeral. He's just happily going on with his great life without a care in the world. 

They aren't stupid. Petty criminals like Eric and Danny would know exactly why the smugglers wanted the gas. Especially as a boat full of burned people showed up the first time. And then it was the second when Danny helped Eric. I'm not arguing that John was right or that Eric should pay for John's crimes, but Eric O'Bannon was a very, very bad guy. He just whined a lot and said it wasn't his fault.

[Clanstarling]

On 5/27/2017 at 11:45 PM, knaankos said:

 Is he that big of a baby?

Yes, yes he is.

On 5/28/2017 at 6:48 PM, Mama No Life said:

This episode had a very Godfather (or Godfather II, I can't remember) feel with the funeral and christening going on at the same time and Eric's death looming.

It was definitely an homage to the christening scene in The Godfather (I think it was the first one, but I'm not sure).

On 5/28/2017 at 10:20 PM, peggy06 said:

If Meg took the Sunfish out and it isn't back, isn't the obvious reason that she drowned? Five months have gone by; they really think she just went away? She didn't like boats and presumably wasn't that good of a sailor. 

Given that people seem to accept that Meg is just "away," I think she probably did come back after going for the sail. My take on her boat thing was that she didn't like them because she related them to her sister's death (and their family going to shit after that), and going out for her personal farewell to Marco seemed in line with that. But the Rayburns learned to sail and such as small children, so I imagine she has skills.

15 hours ago, laurakaye said:

Plus, I wonder if Kevin thinks that if everything does fall apart, he can go back to John killing Danny as the catalyst for Kevin's own murder of Marco.  In other words, in Kevin's brain, what he did was bad but what John did was worse, and John's actions set the horrible chain of events into motion.  So while John is his savior, Kevin would have no problem throwing him under the bus in a heartbeat to save himself.

That's his basic problem, he doesn't think. He reacts in a kneejerk fashion expecting to get rescued, which, to be fair, has been the case his entire life.

IMO, he seems the most cold blooded Rayburn of them all. He put murdering Marco pretty firmly behind him, and actually thought his life was the best that it's ever been, even though he's a murderer. I think he might take after Sally, though so far as we know, she's not a murderer.

[tennisgurl]

I cant stand watching Kevin skipping around having his perfect happy life after what he did. He beat his sisters ex fiancé to death, and now he seems just peachy keen. No guilt or angst at all, his life is awesome. I know all the Rayburn kids are a mess, but at least the rest of them seem to feel guilty about the shit they do, especially John. I almost think he would be happier just admitting that he killed Danny and accepting the consequences. The secrets seem to be driving him to a totally, slow burning break down.

I don't care much about Eric, but I'm still glad John kept him from being murdered. At least John is making an attempt at being a decent person, unlike Kevin who is just fine with being BFFs with a clear bad guy and knowing damn well that he was going to kill Eric.

I figured that Meg came back from the ocean at some point, and than ran off. If she had been on the water this whole time, I think even these guys would have called the coast guard or something.

[SnarkAttack]

On 5/31/2017 at 5:18 PM, laurakaye said:

And yet...still smokin' hawt, in my opinion.

I used to really wonder about why Kevin was such a screw-up.  I mostly just went with it, but this episode?  When his mother offered him a drink and then locked him out of her house?  I'm sold now.  That, plus the story Kevin told Belle about how he learned to ride a bike by himself because his parents couldn't be bothered to teach him, tells me everything I need to know.  Kevin is either invisible or a pain in everyone's asses.

Agree, always smokin' hawt.  Yum.

[SnarkAttack]

On 5/31/2017 at 0:18 PM, Armchair Critic said:

I thought John's wife was the one letting him go, so I don't get why they showed her chasing after him and him not being interested. That actress must be pretty thin, she looked so small in the jean skirt.

But her face throws me, she's one of those people that have full faces but are thin.  Like Toni Braxton.

[BlackberryJam]

11 hours ago, SnarkAttack said:

But her face throws me, she's one of those people that have full faces but are thin.  Like Toni Braxton.

She was on Real World: London back in the day and I just can't see her as anything but a Real Worlder. 

[pawsodoom]

1 hour ago, BlackberryJam said:

She was on Real World: London back in the day and I just can't see her as anything but a Real Worlder. 

That's the first thing I think about when I see her. I feel bad because she's had a decent career post-RW. 

[millennium]

The most obscene thing in this episode was Kevin saying, "Why can't we have a party?  When was the last time we had a party?"

He's a grotesque character.   Selfish, ignorant, stupid, infantile, a drunk, a murderer, a traitor, a liar, a coward, a mama's boy.

I prefer to think Meg sailed into the Bermuda Triangle. 

[FnkyChkn34]

On 5/29/2017 at 10:48 AM, bilgistic said:

He never changes his blue shirt and tan chinos.

Yes, I commented the same thing to a friend!  I thought maybe it was a plot device - like groundhog's day.  It's the same day over and over so he's always wearing the same thing for the audience to get confused?  But that didn't seem to be the case.  Just a lazy wardrobe department...

[MaryPatShelby]

On 5/29/2017 at 0:20 AM, peggy06 said:

I have no idea who it was on the phone. It was a rare moment of real emotion. I have my issues with Sally, but Sissy Spacek sold the heck out of that, as a mother missing and worried about her child.

 

Except that character-wise, she never seemed to care about Meg when she was around (or any of her kids, for that matter) unless they were doing something to either prop up or detract from the Rayburn name.  Then she was all involved.

The only reason that I'm glad Kevin is having a decent life is that we get to see Norbert Leo Butz un-sweaty and un-filthy for a change!  

Edited September 10, 2017 by MaryPatShelby

[Mindthinkr]

40 minutes ago, MaryPatShelby said:

Except that character-wise, she never seemed to care about Meg when she was around (or any of her kids, for that matter) unless they were doing something to either prop up or detract from the Rayburn name.  Then she was all involved.

The only reason that I'm glad Kevin is having a decent life is that we get to see Norbert Leo Butz un-sweaty and un-filthy for a change!  

Meg was Sally's fixer of problems. She took over that role when her father died. It might be because she had the law degree but to Sally the combo of John and Meg was the answer to all of her problems.

Yes, agreed about LNB. He looked less smelly this season!