S02.E08: The Dump

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Who is the Turd Burglar, and why did they do it? Are Peter and Sam still chasing the truth, or has it been right under their nose the whole time?

 

[Corgi-ears]

That final voiceover was so sociologically astute, but also so empathetic and so compassionate -- when it could have been so cynical -- that I found myself holding my breath, and possibly back a tear.

[Samsnee]

Great follow up season. I think the MVP this season was the actor who played DeMarcus. 

[crimsongrl]

This season was disgusting & hilarious, and then it had the nerve to end on a poignant note! Good stuff.

[absnow54]

6 hours ago, Samsnee said:

Great follow up season. I think the MVP this season was the actor who played DeMarcus. 

I was really impressed by him in the last episode. 

This season wasn’t as fun as the first one, but still pretty entertaining. 

[QQQQ]

Damn it, my money was on 

Spoiler

Grandma as the mastermind. Gotta love Susan Ruttan!

Edited September 16, 2018 by QQQQ

[methodwriter85]

It started off kind of slow, but I really enjoyed that they actually let this be different from season 1, rather than trying to recreate the same thing. I also appreciate that we got an answer instead of just ending on an uncertain note, which most of these true crime shows do. I also liked that it ended on a pretty hopeful note, letting you know that these people are going to be fine. Well, probably not Greyson, but yeah.

I also loved that DeMarcus chose Villanova. Stong symbolism, and pretty far away from home and who he was in high school. And hey, they're the 2018 champions! Great choice, buddy!

I kind of want to continue these boys to college, but if we're being realistic, I don't think they'd go to the same schools (Peter seems like a prestigious smaller liberal arts school guy while Peter seems like he'd enjoy a big public uni) and there really isn't the same kind of stifling "everybody knows everybody" environment high schools have in college. If this is the series finale, what a great note to end up on!

Edited September 17, 2018 by methodwriter85

[Miles]

I still think grandma would have been a more fun choice as the turdburgler.

 

This season was good, not as great as the last, but the recreation of the party is hard to top.

I have a few problems though. A few things seem far fetched. A problem last season also didn't have.

The turdburgler needed intimate knowledge of a lot of things to pull off these crimes. Now, he did stalk the whole school on social media, but it still seems a bit far fetched that he could gleen all that information needed. But I guess fair enough. It's possible. The real problem is the brown out. Yes Maltitol works as a laxitive, but it's primary function is, as was described in the show, as a sweetener. If you were to dump enough of it into lemonade (that is already very sweet), that the whole school would shit itself, from drinking one glass, it would be way too sweet to drink.* Everybody would have spat out their first sip, it would have been so gross.

It might seem nitpicky, but if you want to emulate a true crime show, the crime has to be possible in the real world. It's the most important part. And I still don't see the reason for using Maltitol. They could have used your run of the mill tasteless laxetives. Sure they would have had to cut one misdirect, but that was it.

Also seems a bit far fetched that the two guys blackmailed for their dick pics and the girl blackmailed for her tit picks would go along with this. The turd-crime is so much worse than the pictures and they know the black mailer will just have more on them afterwards. Especially the teacher was confusing. As far es he knew he sexted with a consenting adult woman. And an adult man should know better than to go along with that blackmail. I can see it with the teenagers, but not with him.

 

*As per wikipedia: "Like other sugar alcohols (with the possible exception of erythritol), maltitol has a laxative effect,[6] typically causing diarrhoea at a daily consumption above about 90 g.[7] Doses of about 40 g may cause mild borborygmus and flatulence."

[Pindrop]

Just watched it all, and my thoughts below: -

This season was as fun as the last. As with the last season the manner in which events unfold stretches credibility, and relied on excessive coincidence and cooperation from people who simply would not be so cooperative. As with last season, there were also moments of hammy acting. 

The characters and the subtlety of the hardships suffered and privileges each of them enjoyed were nuanced and well-written (where they could have easily been dumb and reductive), and this elevated the show above the premise.   

I had two issues with this season (apart from the unlikeliness of the central crime noted by @Miles above), the first is that the culprits were the obvious, and only feasible, suspects from the early episodes, and the wild-goose chases and red herrings were so clearly flagged as such that they never provided a convincing alternative. The second issue was that the final reveal felt as if it were lifted straight from Black Mirror: Shut Up and Dance, only Black Mirror did it with much more poignancy, wit, pathos and in a far shorter running time. The voice over at the end also felt entirely unnecessary and tacked-on, and even undercut some of the nuance and subtlety in the earlier episodes.  

Edited September 17, 2018 by Pindrop

[Miles]

6 hours ago, Pindrop said:

This season was as fun as the last. As with the last season the manner in which events unfold stretches credibility, and relied on excessive coincidence and cooperation from people who simply would not be so cooperative.

I actually thought last season handled it better than this one. They had stretches where people wouldn't talk to them and where the school fought back hard against their doc, but then they got famous and that opened doors, both with other students and the school.

This season everybody was just like "yeah sure, we'll talk to you two kids", even the cops.

An explaination might be that people jumped on the chance to be in this doc because the two guys got Netflix-famous with last seasons doc, but we should have been shown that fact, if that was the intention.

Edited September 17, 2018 by Miles

[Pindrop]

6 minutes ago, Miles said:

I actually thought last season handled it better than this one. They had stretches were people wouldn't talk to them and where the school fought back hard against their doc, but then they got famous and that opened doors, both with other students and the school.

This season everybody was just like "yeah sure, we'll talk to you two kids", even the cops.

An explaination might be because they got Netflix-famous with last seasons doc, but we should have been shown that fact, if that was the intention.

Yeah, they kinda hand-waved that with the Netflix montage at the start of the first episode.

In terms of my comment, I meant both the various blackmailed students agreeing to cooperate with the turdburglar, and the various students/staff/police cooperating with the film-makers. 

Both seasons rely upon people revealing things they simply would not reveal, whether through human-nature, or because their job would strictly prohibit them from doing so. A policeman would not reveal the details of an ongoing investigation. A school secretary would not reveal the details of a student's calendar... etc, etc ...  

Edited September 17, 2018 by Pindrop

[laurakaye]

DeMarcus and Kevin were the stand-outs this season.  As for the culprit?  Totally thought it was going to be Squeak.  :)

Another season where my inner 12-year old snort-laughs at the awful puns, but then grown-up me is moved by the soliloquy at the end...this time, there were words to the effect of "this generation is the first to have to live its life twice - once in real time, and another, filtered, for public consumption" (or something like that...I slaughtered it but the sentiment hit me right in the feels).

I'm going to need Peter and Sam to take a gap year and head on over to Great Britain for a visit to Eton or another all-boys school.  The hazing and rituals there are just bizarre.

[HunterHunted]

On 9/17/2018 at 11:21 AM, Miles said:

An explaination might be that people jumped on the chance to be in this doc because the two guys got Netflix-famous with last seasons doc, but we should have been shown that fact, if that was the intention.

I am always astonished by the things people are willing to do just to be on TV, in a movie, or generally be famous. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills was the sixth installment in the franchise, but the first to feature legitimately wealthy women. I remember talking to friends and family after that premiere because we were all puzzled by the cast. Why would they want to be on it? Some of these women had legit money. Adrienne Maloof and her family have more than a billion dollars. And now Real Housewives of New York features Tinsley Mortimer, who grew up a one-percenter, married a .01%er, and ruined her marriage because she wanted to be famous. People are weird.

I think the show alluded to how their "Netflix deal" made things easier for them.

[methodwriter85]

On 9/18/2018 at 1:45 PM, HunterHunted said:

I am always astonished by the things people are willing to do just to be on TV, in a movie, or generally be famous.

I mean, the people who appeared on Cops back in the 90's could have all chosen to blur their faces, but a lot of them didn't.

I kind of wish we could've seen more of what happened to Dylan and the crew from season 1, but I also get that they really wanted this season to be its own thing.

Also, Kevin looks like a brunette Lucas Grabeel. And the actor's 26, so like Lucas, he's also playing teenagers way past his teens.

[Slovenly Muse]

Really enjoyed the final message and poignancy of this season. It had different goals than Season 1, and it did what it intended to do very well. While Season 1 was all about the True Crime Documentary process, and how the scrutiny can open doors (and also destroy lives by inviting wild speculation), this season was much more focused on the teenage high school experience. And MAN did it do a good job exploring that. But, in contrast, the True Crime Documentary aspects seemed so tacked on. Like all the obvious red herrings about the texting "glitch," who had access to the faculty lounge, Sir Fuxalot, Wexler's conspiracy, etc. It was never really very compelling. Plus, as others have mentioned, the access Sam and Peter seemed to have was unusual, because even though it makes perfect sense that people would want to cooperate to be on TV, we never got the sense from their interviews that they were eager to help because of the potential for celebrity. And the documentary aspect was so neglected that, while I would like to believe it was an intentional statement about the way crime documentarians can sometimes do more harm than good, I found it really unfortunate that Sam and Peter didn't acknowledge or take any responsibility for the fact that they 100% caused The Dump because they alerted the perp that he'd been identified before going to the police. All said, though, I really enjoyed this season as a whole, if not every individual episode, and I especially loved the way it wrapped up.

[Racj82]

On 9/17/2018 at 6:13 AM, Pindrop said:

Just watched it all, and my thoughts below: -

This season was as fun as the last. As with the last season the manner in which events unfold stretches credibility, and relied on excessive coincidence and cooperation from people who simply would not be so cooperative. As with last season, there were also moments of hammy acting. 

The characters and the subtlety of the hardships suffered and privileges each of them enjoyed were nuanced and well-written (where they could have easily been dumb and reductive), and this elevated the show above the premise.   

I had two issues with this season (apart from the unlikeliness of the central crime noted by @Miles above), the first is that the culprits were the obvious, and only feasible, suspects from the early episodes, and the wild-goose chases and red herrings were so clearly flagged as such that they never provided a convincing alternative. The second issue was that the final reveal felt as if it were lifted straight from Black Mirror: Shut Up and Dance, only Black Mirror did it with much more poignancy, wit, pathos and in a far shorter running time. The voice over at the end also felt entirely unnecessary and tacked-on, and even undercut some of the nuance and subtlety in the earlier episodes.  

So in ended the way a lot of self important docuseries do!

I loved it because it was real. It was real to world we live in now and it's definitely something the boys would have learned through all the craziness. 

[Fukui San]

I love how disciplined the creators of this series are with their formula. Use the dumbest possible crimes as a way to explore surprisingly complex school ecosystems in a deadpan manner. And having a realistic sense of current social media and how it's used. Of course the two boys are now basically Batman with time to plan, and the school basically said "Oh, you're those kids who nearly brought down a school with your documentary last year? Come on in!" but I'll file that under "willing suspension of disbelief".

It's bizarre that this is probably one of the better pop culture advertisements for journalism in recent years. This and The Post, probably.

[truthaboutluv]

As soon as they began breaking down how each person was blackmailed by Grayson into doing a specific Turd Burglar crime, I knew the final big twist would be Kevin's being responsible for The Brownout. While Tanner might have had his other reasons for ratting out Kevin, Kevin totally gave himself away by bumping into the old teacher's drink and replacing it with something else. That was the dead giveaway. I also laughed at Sam getting his vindication by getting Kevin to admit that as he, Sam, suspected, Kevin deliberately shit on himself to take suspicion off him. 

I was glad that all the kids got second chances, especially DeMarcus. Yeah he was ridiculous and kind of toolish at times but it would have sucked to see his future be completely ruined because of the incident. And I liked that he seemed to use the community service he was given, to do something good. It was nice to see Kevin be friends again with Chloe and Tanner. Though I have to say, I don't see Peter and Sam keeping in touch with him. Well maybe Peter but definitely not Sam, who clearly thought Kevin was annoying. 

It's funny. I started watching this show months ago and turned it off after 15 minutes because I thought the whole dicks thing was so ridiculous. Not to mention their saying the word dicks like 20 times in the first ten minutes. I literally went, "yeah we get it". But I kept seeing so much praise for the show, especially with the second season released and decided to give it another chance. I binged both seasons in like two days. Definitely a show my first instincts were dead wrong about. This is definitely one of the best and smartly written shows. Of course, as with all Netflix show, now this sucks because I have nothing until Season 3 comes out.

Edited October 2, 2018 by truthaboutluv

[topanga]

I enjoyed it. I found DeMarcus the most entertaining, but the entire season was good.

Season One had more laugh out loud moments, but I wasn’t as in love with Dylan as some people seem to be. 

[Mnaelil]

So... American Vandal is a parody of a crime show, and in the end, people are commenting to know whether or not the whole thing was realistic. I'd say that's a win for Netflix.

I enjoyed this season, it was more serious than the last one but they managed to keep the absurdity of the situation. Yeah, there were some mistakes and far fetched things in the plot, but for a parody I think it's well written and the whole thing globally works. I don't expect the same level of consistency between a real crime show and something built up to be a parody.

[methodwriter85]

One thing I really thought was cool was how not very long ago, Jenna would have been being blackmailed over being a lesbian. Hell, Veronica Mars did that plot about 15 years ago and it's cool to see how much has changed, even at Catholic school. (Although they're supposed to be in a pretty liberal state in any event.)

On 10/2/2018 at 1:32 PM, topanga said:

Season One had more laugh out loud moments, but I wasn’t as in love with Dylan as some people seem to be. 

My deep and abiding obsession/lust for frat boys has given me a soft spot for Jimmy Tatro/Dylan.

[iMonrey]

Not as good as the first season but I still enjoyed it. If anything it maybe suffered a bit from a budget increase, because there were too many easily recognizable actors in this one, and the crime spree was of a greater magnitude (and less believable). I also think Kevin wasn't as sympathetic as Dylan. Poor Dylan was just obviously not very bright so even if he was a jerk you sort of felt sorry for him anyway, whereas Kevin was just weird and fishy. I had a hunch he was going to turn out to be responsible in some way all along. 

That said, I was just as easily sucked into this story as I was the first one. It's amazing how the show manages to grab you and draw you in even when you know it's all fictional.