S02.E07: Dig

[Raja]

[Dowel Jones]

Smurf thinks she has just stepped on the boys to show them who's really boss, but I don't think so.  There's still a lot of resentment there.

Why is it that, in tvworld, homeowners are so willing to let people into their houses without ID?  The real utility companies push this all the time; you would think they would be more cautious. 

Don't show her where the safety is, J.   Because, you know, nothing bad ever happens when a neophyte teenager gets a hold of a gun.

So they made $200,000 from the church robbery?  Out of a gross of $300,000, that's pretty good.  I wonder if Smurf will really pay it back to Pope.

[sugarbaker design]

4 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

I wonder if Smurf will really pay it back to Pope.

I thought it was Baz who fronted her the $200K.

Did not see Javi's hasty exit coming, thought it would last through the season.

[Raja]

It was Baz, but Pope has to pay off the baby brothers for the house job. Baz really is working on a smaller level than Smurf, sell "the house" if you have to when she just put out $550,000 to deal with Javi. He knows that their cover is as rental property managers, there is plenty to make good losses before the brothers get the house. Back in the church job thread we were talking about who in churches give cash these days and now it was in large enough bills for the ransom to fit into a small duffel bag unless Baz got the ladies to launder the cash off screen or I forgot.

[sugarbaker design]

23 minutes ago, Raja said:

Baz really is working on a smaller level than Smurf, sell "the house" if you have to when she just put out $550,000 to deal with Javi. 

I thought that was a slight dig that Smurf didn't need the big house anymore, now that her boys (save for Jay) have all deserted her.  For all Baz's bluster, he will never be the criminal mastermind that Smurf is.

[Chaos Theory]

The thing that occurred to me was that Baz was more concerned about Javi then either J or Smurf.    J was standing there beat ass up and Baz was more interested in Javi's hurt feelings and how Smurf did him dirty.  I dont think Baz would have particularly cared if Javi had killed J.  

[rhys]

Man, I didn't see Javi's death coming. Caught me off guard, show. Well done. Did the other boys forget the second boot in the basement? Also, would a skeleton burn in gasoline or was that a barrel of flammable acid?

[arachne]

I found it a bit ominous the way Smurf assured Baz that he was "family". If it comes down to him or Pope, who's gonna take the fall for Catherine's murder? 

[NorthstarATL]

Much as I enjoyed looking at Javi, he was dead to me after last episode, but I did NOT see him going out the way he did. In fact, even though I still blame Smurf for putting J and Nikki in jeopardy last ep (she managed to think of them this time around!), she was actually fairly competent here. I was thinking that her specifics about which house to dig in would wind up being wrong  with her memory problems from the first episode coming back to bite her, but, surprisingly everything went OK.

16 minutes ago, arachne said:

I found it a bit ominous the way Smurf assured Baz that he was "family". If it comes down to him or Pope, who's gonna take the fall for Catherine's murder? 

In that case, Smurf is going to look out for Smurf. There's "family", and then there's "me". No contest.

[Chaos Theory]

18 minutes ago, arachne said:

I found it a bit ominous the way Smurf assured Baz that he was "family". If it comes down to him or Pope, who's gonna take the fall for Catherine's murder? 

Javi reinforced it as well by telling him that Smurf would walk over her own kids to save herself from drowning and Baz isn't her kid.    Baz is a pretty good #2 guy but he isn't a mastermind.   He tried to make everyone happy but Smurf easily out manipulated him.  Smurf has always been the mastermind of the group.  The question is has she been skimming from their jobs or just been managing her money better?  

[Joimiaroxeu]

How did they know the homeowner or one of the neighbors didn't have a security cameras? All of them could be identified. When the homeowner contacts the utility company for restitution on the damage to their house then the cops will likely get involved.

And just like that, Smurf is back in charge because she's got them all implicated in the Javi mess. There's really nothing tying her to his death except their word against hers. If she goes down she can take them all down with her.

[sugarbaker design]

12 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

And just like that, Smurf is back in charge because she's got them all implicated in the Javi mess.

She's not back in charge.  The boys are still on their own.  If anything this experience has widened the gap between the boys and Smurf.

14 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

There's really nothing tying her to his death except their word against hers.

They would only implicate each other.  It's a stalemate.  Javi's crew wanted justice in the form of recompense, Javi wanted revenge.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

She's not back in charge.  The boys are still on their own.

Okay, maybe not in charge but she's got heavy leverage. I think we'll be watching her worm her way back in.

[Chaos Theory]

Just now, Joimiaroxeu said:

Okay, maybe not in charge but she's got heavy leverage. I think we'll be watching her worm her way back in.

That was always going to be the plot of the season though.  

I am not sure if she is As in as you think though.  The house plan isn't really that stupid just not as well thought out as it should be.  Security of most houses isn't hard to get around.  People are netoriously bad at giving physical descriptions of people.  Their main problem is DNA and that is only if the woman can actually get cops to her house which probably won't happen.  If anything it will be put down to a simple robbery and cops have bigger fish to fry. 

[Dowel Jones]

2 hours ago, rhys said:

Also, would a skeleton burn in gasoline or was that a barrel of flammable acid?

I would assume it's some kind of non-petroleum product, anyway, because any fuel would  put up a smoke column, which would attract attention from people on that road nearby.  A cop or fire crew coming out to investigate would then notice the gas company van (probably already reported as stolen) and start taking names.  They weren't very smart, there.  But that seems to be an ongoing thing in this show; their stupidity is always glossed over by their luck

[iMonrey]

Yeah . . . I'm starting to question how realistic some of these heists and con jobs are. We've been told since the very beginning that the cops know who the Codys are and have been after them for years. Look at how aggressively they pursued J last season. Wouldn't their names automatically come up during any robbery investigation? Wouldn't the cops show witnesses their pictures and ask if they recognize any of them? It should have been pretty easy to figure out who pulled the Church job - multiple people saw Pope there, and the receptionist would recognize Craig and Deran as the heating and cooling techs. The same applies to showing up at this house and pretending to be with the gas company - enough people saw them to describe them to the police, and someone on the police force would recognize the descriptions. Too many eyewitnesses.

I'm also not sure why Baz accused Smurf of "skimming" off their jobs. Baz and the other boys are the ones who do all the stealing. Don't they know how much money they're stealing? If they just hand it over to Smurf and allow her to dole it out in the form of salary or bonuses, there's no real way for him to know what her savings are from her cut of those jobs versus "skimming" what she's supposed to be paying them. 

I really liked how she pulled a fast one on Javi by paying off his own men to turn on him, but it's going to bite her in the ass playing Baz like that. That didn't seem like a particularly smart move considering Baz is the one remaining "son" who seems to be trying to maintain something of a relationship with her. Deran and Craig won't even take her calls. It's almost kind of sad the way she tried to slip back into "mommy" mode, asking if anyone wanted scrambled eggs.

[lazylou]

The boys really should send someone out to pour new concrete.  Not that they will.

A gas leak, especially when the residents begin to smell gas, is pretty scary. Who would question the timely arrival of a repair crew?  The owners may blame the utility company for awhile ... Hard to figure why someone would want to dig a hole in the basement.  Happily, the basement was unfinished!

How did Smurf manage to contact the guy who killed Javi?  Of course she would have recognized him from the house video, but how does she contact him?   Clearly she has promised him the extra 50k.

Baz must have left Lena alone during all that time when he was picking up Nicki and then meeting with the family.  No doubt he would do that, but ... even Pope did not leave her alone in the house at night, though I fear had she awakened in the car she would have joined her mother...

Baz will figure that Smurf killed Catherine for being in contact with the cops.  He is going to know she was in contact with them because of Patrick's interest in her disappearance.  

Interesting Javi expressed sympathy to Baz for Julia's death.

[sugarbaker design]

5 minutes ago, lazylou said:

Baz will figure that Smurf killed Catherine for being in contact with the cops.  He is going to know she was in contact with them because of Patrick's interest in her disappearance.

I imagine that will the be this season's cliffhanger.

6 minutes ago, lazylou said:

Interesting Javi expressed sympathy to Baz for Julia's death.

Yet he had no qualms beating the shit out of her son.

[patty1h]

I'm impressed by the way the brothers set up their jobs, handling miscellaneous equipment like it's second nature.  In the military base job, the church job, the brewery, etc.  they are on point on their disguises/tools.  I kinda wish we'd get a look into the past to see how they learned what they know - did they intern at various places to learn how to cut through a cement floor, drive big rigs, cut safes out of solid concrete.  They may have many faults but no one can say they are amateurs at pulling capers.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Interesting Javi expressed sympathy to Baz for Julia's death.

That was a weird, throw-away line, wasn't it? It seems to suggest Javi knew something interesting about Baz's relationship with Julia that the show has only hinted at. 

Quote

 I kinda wish we'd get a look into the past to see how they learned what they know - did they intern at various places to learn how to cut through a cement floor, drive big rigs, cut safes out of solid concrete. 

That's another thing that made that whole scenario kind of ridiculous - it would have taken all day long to take up the concrete floor like that. They made it seems like it just took them a half hour or so. 

[Chaos Theory]

43 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

 

That's another thing that made that whole scenario kind of ridiculous - it would have taken all day long to take up the concrete floor like that. They made it seems like it just took them a half hour or so. 

Actually I thought the opposite.  There were crowds gathering.  It was taking too long.  People were starting to ask questions.  They needed to speed things up.  Neatness didn't count.  They weren't planning on coming back.  

A certain amount of suspension of disbelief is needed for this show.  Unless you want the cops stationed outside the Cody's house.  Which I think J did a good job of getting rid of with his stunt with the teacher.  It got rid of all of obstacles in one act.  The cops right now need actual proof before they accuse the Cody's.  Plus robbing a church isn't their style which is true.  It's not something Smurf would do.  They don't know Smurf isn't in charge at the moment.  

If they learn about Pope what do they actually have?  A guy with a criminal record going to a church that has been robbed.  Maybe they can bring him in for questioning.  But remember he has an Alibi.

Edited July 19, 2017 by Chaos Theory

[walnutqueen]

21 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

That's another thing that made that whole scenario kind of ridiculous - it would have taken all day long to take up the concrete floor like that. They made it seems like it just took them a half hour or so. 

What made it ridiculous is the dearth of basement homes anywhere in San Diego County, most especially in the type of subdivision pictured.  We don't need no stinkin' basements!  ;-)

As an aside, our local gas & electric company is San Diego Gas & Electric, or SDG&E as it is known to the public - and Slow Down & Go Easy by it's employees.

[Raja]

I need to re-watch to pick up on the nuances. We're the joking or serious about subcontracting, with I think it was Fat Fred to repair the basement? 

[iMonrey]

Quote

What made it ridiculous is the dearth of basement homes anywhere in San Diego County, most especially in the type of subdivision pictured.  We don't need no stinkin' basements!  ;-)

I thought of that too. And regardless of whether a home has a slab foundation or a basement, a gas line would not usually (if ever) be buried underneath the foundation. 

[lazylou]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

I thought of that too. And regardless of whether a home has a slab foundation or a basement, a gas line would not usually (if ever) be buried underneath the foundation. 

So true.  This is definitely fiction,

[MaggieG]

"We're not leaving without a Goddamn foot."

Only Animal Kingdom

[walnutqueen]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I thought of that too. And regardless of whether a home has a slab foundation or a basement, a gas line would not usually (if ever) be buried underneath the foundation. 

This Old Dump has a slab/concrete foundation, and a gas-fed defunct "firepit" out back that most definitely runs under the foundation, and probably also feeds the defunct gas-fed swimming pool heater even further out back.  Even the gas line to my furnace, water heater and kitchen stove has to be buried under the concrete driveway and foundation.  Fortunately, they built shit to last in the 60s, because I haven't had any problems (she said, just before Casa de Deplorable was blown to smithereens by some gas leak!).  SDG&E will come to your home for free every year to check your furnace and any other gas appliance for leaks & general safety.

 

2 minutes ago, MaggieG said:

"We're not leaving without a Goddamn foot."

Only Animal Kingdom

And Six Feet Under.  ;-)

[topanga]

9 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

The thing that occurred to me was that Baz was more concerned about Javi then either J or Smurf.    J was standing there beat ass up and Baz was more interested in Javi's hurt feelings and how Smurf did him dirty.  I dont think Baz would have particularly cared if Javi had killed J.  

Why was Deran being such an asshole to J? That surprised me. He expected J to come out gun a-blazing to face off against four armed men? What would that achieve, besides making J dead? In actuality, J was trying to get his gun from his backpack before the guys jumped him. 

Poor Lena. Again. When Baz dropped her off at the neighbor's house, she seemed so resigned and accepting of her fate. And then when Baz said they would spend time together later, she goes, 'Why?' Poor kid. She's going to be devastated when she finds out about her mom, but she's positively miserable now. 

[sugarbaker design]

13 hours ago, topanga said:

Poor Lena. Again. When Baz dropped her off at the neighbor's house, she seemed so resigned and accepting of her fate. And then when Baz said they would spend time together later, she goes, 'Why?' Poor kid. She's going to be devastated when she finds out about her mom, but she's positively miserable now. 

This is absolutely painful to watch.  I'd like to start a Free Lena From The Codys campaign.

[Whimsy]

23 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

How did they know the homeowner or one of the neighbors didn't have a security cameras? All of them could be identified. When the homeowner contacts the utility company for restitution on the damage to their house then the cops will likely get involved.

And just like that, Smurf is back in charge because she's got them all implicated in the Javi mess. There's really nothing tying her to his death except their word against hers. If she goes down she can take them all down with her.

 

22 hours ago, lazylou said:

The boys really should send someone out to pour new concrete.  Not that they will.

A gas leak, especially when the residents begin to smell gas, is pretty scary. Who would question the timely arrival of a repair crew?  The owners may blame the utility company for awhile ... Hard to figure why someone would want to dig a hole in the basement.  Happily, the basement was unfinished!

How did Smurf manage to contact the guy who killed Javi?  Of course she would have recognized him from the house video, but how does she contact him?   Clearly she has promised him the extra 50k.

Baz must have left Lena alone during all that time when he was picking up Nicki and then meeting with the family.  No doubt he would do that, but ... even Pope did not leave her alone in the house at night, though I fear had she awakened in the car she would have joined her mother...

Baz will figure that Smurf killed Catherine for being in contact with the cops.  He is going to know she was in contact with them because of Patrick's interest in her disappearance.  

Interesting Javi expressed sympathy to Baz for Julia's death.

 

20 hours ago, Raja said:

I need to re-watch to pick up on the nuances. We're the joking or serious about subcontracting, with I think it was Fat Fred to repair the basement? 

I thought that he was serious about that.  It'd be smart to do so because then the homeowner wouldn't contact the police.  Otherwise, she would call the utility company and find out quickly that they weren't legit and then the police would start sniffing around.

I think Baz is starting to piece together that Smurf is responsible for Catherine's death.  I don't know if he suspects Pope yet. 

Poor Lena.  That can't be said enough.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Why was Deran being such an asshole to J? That surprised me. He expected J to come out gun a-blazing to face off against four armed men? What would that achieve, besides making J dead? In actuality, J was trying to get his gun from his backpack before the guys jumped him. 

I think it was more about his animosity towards Smurf than J. He didn't want to risk life in prison for some shit Smurf did 20 years ago, and tried to rationalize why J almost getting killed still wasn't enough to get involved. Hand-waving what happened to J as his own fault made it easier to dismiss the entire situation as "not my problem."

Now, what Smurf (and/or J) should have pointed out to Deran, Craig, Baz and Pope was that if Javi and his gang were willing to come after J and Nikki, then they'd probably eventually come for them as well. Nobody was safe as long as Javi was out for Cody blood.

Quote

Poor Lena. Again. When Baz dropped her off at the neighbor's house, she seemed so resigned and accepting of her fate. And then when Baz said they would spend time together later, she goes, 'Why?' Poor kid. She's going to be devastated when she finds out about her mom, but she's positively miserable now. 

Yeah - without question, Lena is the saddest kid on TV right now. 

[topanga]

59 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Yeah - without question, Lena is the saddest kid on TV right now.

I'm really impressed by the performance of the 8-year old actress, Aamya Deva Keroles. I know she doesn't do much, but her scenes are always touching. Ans she never hams it up or acts too cutesy for the cameras. 

[sugarbaker design]

13 minutes ago, topanga said:

I'm really impressed by the performance of the 8-year old actress, Aamya Deva Keroles. I know she doesn't do much, but her scenes are always touching. Ans she never hams it up or acts too cutesy for the cameras. 

Totally agree, she's a gem.

[SingleMaltBlonde]

On 7/19/2017 at 10:33 AM, arachne said:

I found it a bit ominous the way Smurf assured Baz that he was "family". If it comes down to him or Pope, who's gonna take the fall for Catherine's murder? 

The Blue Lady is throwing Pope under the bus...not because she prefers Baz but because he's "crazy" and easy to demonize.

[lazylou]

17 hours ago, SingleMaltBlonde said:

The Blue Lady is throwing Pope under the bus...not because she prefers Baz but because he's "crazy" and easy to demonize.

I wonder.  She can control Pope...and this season he appears well-medicated, calm, and sensible.  

I was surprised at how quickly the Javi sub-plot came to an end.  I had expected it to last all season.  Clearly, Javi has to die...in addition to blackmail, he had a revenge motive..but I thought he had a couple more episodes to live.  We do see though how she engineers murders.  We saw her with Pope; she apparently contacted Javi's buddy; though she claimed that Manny had killed Lou,  Pope questions her innocence in all this.  He knows too well how she uses people. I wonder how the cops could have connected her to the gun that was buried with the body...

How interesting that even in this situation, Smurf claimed not to have the money for the pay-off and made Baz come up with the $200K.  We know she has a safe full of cash and watches (remember last season...she only destroyed a few of the wtaches from the jewelry store debacle...)  Baz was squirrelling money away last season, too...while Catherine was working as a barmaid to make ends meet...  Pope is better able to control Deran and Craig than Baz, and he even seems better able to talk to J.  I think Baz better be careful.  

[topanga]

2 hours ago, lazylou said:

Pope is better able to control Deran and Craig than Baz, and he even seems better able to talk to J.  I think Baz better be careful.  

How funny that Pope has largely become the voice of reason and the moral center for the family (except for the murder, of course). Last season he was the loose cannon that everyone in the family feared. 

[tennisgurl]

I totally thought that Javi was going to be a threat for the whole season, I did NOT expect to see him get taken out so quickly. Smurf solved their problems in the short term, but I think this is just going to drive a further wedge between her boys and herself. Baz seemed like he really liked Javi, or at least had some positive feelings towards him, and he's going to be pissed off for awhile over this. Of course, Baz might be one of the leader of the guys, but he still isn't as smart as Smurf. Smurf isn't wrong when she says the guys can only see the short term. This might be because, all things considered, none of them seem to be all that interested in crime anymore, other than Baz. Deran has his bar he wants to run (and before that was an aspiring athlete), Craig just wants money to fund his drug habit, J is just doing this because he has no one else and is desperate for a family, and Pope is just unstable and looking for something to put his energy into. He could have easily funneled that energy into his new church or any other job. His murder tendencies would certainly cause problems, but in a different family, that could have been dealt with. They will keep up what they've always done because its all they do, but its probably not something they really care about.

On ‎7‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 0:31 PM, topanga said:

I'm really impressed by the performance of the 8-year old actress, Aamya Deva Keroles. I know she doesn't do much, but her scenes are always touching. Ans she never hams it up or acts too cutesy for the cameras. 

Same here. The poor thing just radiates sadness on screen, without overdoing it. She's very natural on camera. Its pretty sad that the person who seems to actually care the most about her is Pope, the guy who murdered her mother.

The killing of Javi makes me think this season might end with Smurf throwing Baz to the wolves over the murder of Cath. By doing so, Smurf would get rid of the closest thing the boys have to a planner (as I said before, none of the rest are interested or capable enough to plan these big jobs) which means they would have to go back to her if they want to keep their crime income up, and she would have control again. And, while Smurf told Baz how he was family, Pope is MORE family. When she has to choose between her sons, even if Pope is the wild card one, theres a good chance she will choose her bio son, whos easier to hold onto. Like Javi, when its convenient, Baz might become like family, instead of family.

Edited July 25, 2017 by tennisgurl

[phrynefisher]

Kind of late to this episode, but Deran talking with Craig about Pope having the shotgun was awesome. He really sounded like a scared kid looking for reassurance from his older brother that things were going to be OK. 

[Dowel Jones]

On 7/19/2017 at 11:13 AM, iMonrey said:

That's another thing that made that whole scenario kind of ridiculous - it would have taken all day long to take up the concrete floor like that.

Not to mention the fact that a report of a gas leak would also attract the Fire Department and the cops; the neighbors would have been wondering where they were and someone would have called to find out. 

Personally, my thought was that one of the producers had to do some remodeling in his/her own home and said "Hey, I have a great idea.  Let's get the show to pay for it...."