In The Dark - General Discussion

[dubbel zout]

4 hours ago, Samwise979 said:

Does the gang know Nia was Darnell's sister? 

I think Murphy did. Darnell told her earlier for some reason that now escapes me. (I think it had to do with not throwing in with Josiah to bring Nia down? Something to do with work.)

[CrystalBlue]

Now that both of Chloe's parents are dead and she has no siblings, that doesn't mean Chloe still can't be on the show.  Doesn't she have an aunt somewhere?  The aunt could ostensibly move to Chicago to keep her niece in her special private school, after she pays up the tuition bill, of course.  Chloe will still want to be friends with Murphy.  I hope Chloe is back in S3!

[Enigma X]

I just read this whole thread. I am watching on Netflix  and on season 2. 90% of these characters are unlikable, especially Murphy. 

[shapeshifter]

14 minutes ago, Enigma X said:

I just read this whole thread. I am watching on Netflix  and on season 2. 90% of these characters are unlikable, especially Murphy. 

Yeah. I slogged through all the episodes, and you’re not wrong. 
I just watched the fluffy, 8-episode miniseries “Bridgerton,” also on Netflix, which is, IMO, more worthwhile, and with its abundance of eye candy (both actors and costumes), could easily help you forget about finishing “In the Dark.” 
Or, if you want something higher brow, there’s “The Queen’s Gambit.”

But “In the Dark” does not get better. 

[Enigma X]

I started Bridgerton but after an epiode and a half I was out.  Great eye candy, but me and Shondaland don't mix. Queen's Gambit was good but not great. I know that I am a hard person to please.

[possibilities]

Definitely not a show to watch if you're looking for people to like. 

[tennisgurl]

On 1/4/2021 at 1:36 AM, possibilities said:

Definitely not a show to watch if you're looking for people to like. 

The most likable character has no lines, lots of fur, and a big puppy eyes...

[CrystalBlue]

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

The most likable character has no lines, lots of fur, and a big puppy eyes...

Yes, Pretzel is the best character and the reason I'll watch S03.

[shapeshifter]

Show needs more Pretzel!!

[roctavia]

Just finished this show, glad to see there is a S3 coming. It definitely took a little while to get into... but the 2nd half of the first season and the 2nd season were a lot easier to keep watching. I would agree that most of the human characters are jerks, but they kind of grew on me. 

The Dean twist in the first season was surprising, but I did like that the killer wasn't completely predictable and also that Murphy wasn't crazy when she thought she found Tyson's body and then he was gone.... I was very pissed that Dean was able to just get away with everything, so I'm glad in the end he didn't, though I really feel for Chloe. She's awesome and deserved to have a good dorky dad like they made it seem in the first season. I hope if she isn't in the next season, we at least get an update on where she ended up... but I also would be happy to see more of her. I liked the bond between her and Murphy and that she was willing to trust Murphy. 

I'm concerned for Josh next season, I don't think they will go their, since I don't want our crew to all be killers, but I was worried he was gonna get a bonk on the head or something to stop him from turning them in. Hopefully the gang can just go on the run or something...

I do think he was good for murphy, but yeah, she's not so great for anybody.... Max is a disaster, Murphy was right when she dumped him, that they bring out the worst in each other... 

I'll be tuning in next season, but I wouldn't mind if we got away from the drug running stuff... Josiah doesn't want to be mixed up with their shit, he can see how well that worked out for Nia.

[rocketinu]

Chloe should go with Murphy's parents. She would be a breeze after Murphy and would keep her in the show.

I'll be watching season 3. Mostly flawed characters. I enjoyed it.

[christie]

Just watched the end of season one. I knew it. I knew Dean was shady.

[christie]

I keep reading posts that Murphy's parents should adopt Chloe; Chloe has a grandmother (I can't remember if we've seen her but Dean has definitely said to Chloe that her grandmother was gonna come and look after her whilst he was at work.

[possibilities]

I think it was mostly because people think that it would be easier to keep Chloe on the show if she had a tie to Murphy's parents. But it's true that a grandmother is a more likely person to take guardianship, unless the grandma has other problems.

[PinkRibbons]

Show returns Wednesday, June 23:

 

[shapeshifter]

13 minutes ago, PinkRibbons said:

Show returns Wednesday, June 23:

 

Oy. Do I really want this much dark (pun?) drama after the last year and a half? 
Not sure.

[Valny]

OOh I forgot it was coming back this month, thanks for the reminder PinkRibbons!  What time is it on for us East Coasters?

[The Wild Sow]

It's ba-a-ack!  And I'm all in again!

LOLing at the Hardy Boys.  I'm just surprised that Josh didn't whiz on the button (and would that wash off the other DNA, or just mix with it?)

[possibilities]

It's tough, because I actually really like both Gene and Josh, and the structure of the show is trying to make us root against them. 

Also, I wonder why they went out of the way to say Chloe is with her uncle. They could have left her with her grandmother, who we already knew existed.

I don't want Our Pals to get caught because of Pretzel being recognized.

[dubbel zout]

9 hours ago, possibilities said:

It's tough, because I actually really like both Gene and Josh, and the structure of the show is trying to make us root against them. 

I like Gene more than Josh, but it is a bummer we're supposed to think of them as the enemy.

I'm really tired of Murphy bulldozing everyone into doing her bidding whether it's smart or not. There's no way Gene would have known where to look in the woods if Murphy hadn't forced Max to take her there to look for her stupid button.

Were we supposed to recognize the woman at the very end who was giving them new IDs?

[shapeshifter]

Well, that was much better than I expected. 

So if they're on the lam, no need to hire puppy extras? Too bad. 

 

12 hours ago, The Wild Sow said:

  I'm just surprised that Josh didn't whiz on the button (and would that wash off the other DNA, or just mix with it?)

Now that you mention it, I wish that had happened. 

 

1 hour ago, dubbel zout said:

Were we supposed to recognize the woman at the very end who was giving them new IDs?

FWIW, IMDb indicates this is her first appearance on the show: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1393956/?ref_=tt_cl_t_15
Having watched Breaking Bad, I wanted her to be running a vacuum repair shop as a cover.

 

1 hour ago, dubbel zout said:

I like Gene more than Josh, but it is a bummer we're supposed to think of them as the enemy.

Meh. Gene and Josh are Murphy's "enemies" at the moment, but who hasn't been? I just hope Gene's new friend (the Security Guard who was let go as a detective for knowing too much) doesn't end up as dog food or something. 😟

[possibilities]

Josh could have kept his job or sued for discrimination if he proved he could do his job with reasonable accommodations. His refusal to disclose, and get training, and use assistive tech is kind of his own fault here.

 

Moreover, he was doing a pretty effective job, so they don't have the right to terminate him just for having a disability. It's kind of surprising that this show doesn't know about that, since they've made an effort to get a lot of blind stuff right (though it's also not their first failure in that regard, either).

I had a legally blind acquaintance who worked as an actuary for Prudential, and she could see less than Josh seems to. There are lots of ways to do what Josh needed to do, and as a federal employee, he surely has a union, access to lawyers, and a boss who knows the basics of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

 

 

[shapeshifter]

36 minutes ago, possibilities said:

Josh could have kept his job or sued for discrimination if he proved he could do his job with reasonable accommodations. His refusal to disclose, and get training, and use assistive tech is kind of his own fault here.

Moreover, he was doing a pretty effective job, so they don't have the right to terminate him just for having a disability. It's kind of surprising that this show doesn't know about that, since they've made an effort to get a lot of blind stuff right (though it's also not their first failure in that regard, either).

I had a legally blind acquaintance who worked as an actuary for Prudential, and she could see less than Josh seems to. There are lots of ways to do what Josh needed to do, and as a federal employee, he surely has a union, access to lawyers, and a boss who knows the basics of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

All excellent points, hopefully they have plans to revisit this, both because of the ADA issues, and because it would be a natural way to make the plot interesting. I can easily imagine Murphy claiming she made the call to prove that the fibbies were discriminating against Josh, heh.

[possibilities]

1 minute ago, shapeshifter said:

 I can easily imagine Murphy claiming she made the call to prove that the fibbies were discriminating against Josh, heh.

That would be hilarious. 

She does tend to play every angle.

I kept thinking she was going to claim she fled and left him alone in her apt because she was afraid of him, he was accusing her of murder! What would he do next!?!? She's faked damseldom before.

[shapeshifter]

1 minute ago, possibilities said:

5 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

 I can easily imagine Murphy claiming she made the call to prove that the fibbies were discriminating against Josh, heh.

That would be hilarious. 

She does tend to play every angle.

And/or: She claims she made the call to out him for his own good, as a friend who cares deeply about him (🙄) but she of course assumed the Feds would get him appropriate accommodations, not fire him! 🙃

[CrystalBlue]

Who takes care of Pretzel when Murphy's out running around or with her friends?  I thought Pretzel should have been with the gang on the button hunting expedition but he wasn't.  Did I miss something?

[tennisgurl]

First of all, not enough Pretzel, the best character in the show. Second, everyone on this show is really bad at being criminals, not returning to the scene of the crime is cover up rule number one!

Can the feds actually fire Josh for going blind? As other people above have mentioned, that seems like discrimination, they couldn't just give him a desk job where he could still do his work even without sight? Its hard to root against Gene and Josh, who are honestly a lot more likable than the gang, especially Murphy, but they are being set up as the seasons antagonists. For now at least. 

[possibilities]

4 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

Who takes care of Pretzel when Murphy's out running around or with her friends?  I thought Pretzel should have been with the gang on the button hunting expedition but he wasn't.  Did I miss something?

Guide dogs aren't supposed to get left behind like that, and it's one of the things the show gets wrong a lot.  I don't like seeing Pretzel in dangerous situations, either, though, so it's kind of a bind they've put themselves in. 

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Can the feds actually fire Josh for going blind?

Only if they want to get sued. Josh doesn't even need a desk job, he has navigated in public just fine and been pretty effective, so unless they reveal that his boss is corrupt, maybe part of the conspiracy the Police Chief is part of, it's quite shocking that they had him fired like that.

I mean, all the guy needs is a CCTV (computer that enlarges printed documents) or a big magnifying glass, and he's pretty much okay at this point. I understand whatever is happening to him is progressive, but where he is right now, he can still manage. And he might still be able to do his job in the future, totally blind, with a screen reader and some other adaptations.

But he's been hiding his vision loss as though the ADA never existed. I had been taking it as being a sign of him still being in denial and not really dealing with his situation, but now it seems he was actually either unaware of his legal rights, or aware that his boss was going to ignore them, and he just really didn't want to risk being discriminated against and having to fight over it, which is understandable, but depressing and also anachronistic and something The CW should not leave hanging without addressing it.

[Kiki777]

Yay Pretzel is back! .... with a bunch of unlikeable humans.

Except Gene and Josh - I love this new partnership and could watch an entire spinoff of these two.

I’m terrible with faces - the woman who was in the bedroom with the chief, is that the same security guard who he fired??

[dubbel zout]

3 hours ago, Kiki777 said:

the woman who was in the bedroom with the chief, is that the same security guard who he fired??

No. That was his wife, a different woman.

[nilyank]

6 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

No. That was his wife, a different woman.

Is that the actress that plays Willow's mom on General Hospital?

[dubbel zout]

Yes! That's Inga Cadranel.

[Court]

I don't care for Josh but I love Gene. I found myself rooting for him. 

[shapeshifter]

9 hours ago, Court said:

I don't care for Josh but I love Gene. I found myself rooting for him. 

It's an interesting dichotomy that Gene's speech patterns sound like he's "from the hood" while at the same time he's the only morally uncompromised character on the show. 
--Not that IRL that doesn't happen, but on TV, if it does happen, it's usually the main character, and it usually comes off as unbelievable. 
Gene is also the straight arrow in a police department with its share of crooked cops. 
Gene and Pretzel are the only reason I'm watching this season, and Pretzel seems to have lost screen time
--not that Pretzel ever had many lines. 😉 🦮

[Valny]

On 6/24/2021 at 9:15 AM, dubbel zout said:

 

I'm really tired of Murphy bulldozing everyone into doing her bidding whether it's smart or not. There's no way Gene would have known where to look in the woods if Murphy hadn't forced Max to take her there to look for her stupid button.

 

It's getting into ridiculous territory now. (of course other situations you had to suspend your belief) But it's here for entertainment purposes so I go with it. But the button thing? *eyeroll*   BTW- I adopted a puppy back in February and named it Pretzel! She is so cute..

Edited June 27, 2021 by Valny

[dubbel zout]

"I'm losing my eyesight." "I don't care." Hee.

How does Murphy inspire all this loyalty? She's the one who got everyone into the situation they're in and she's whining about how it's being dealt with.  I don't mind an unlikeable lead, but Murphy has absolutely no redeeming qualities except for Pretzel.

[possibilities]

I thought they were going to swap out partners, and have Felix stay with Murphy. I'm glad they didn't, because it's just another tv trope, but I also thought Jess and Max were going to hook up, and again-- thank you for not following the usual TV pattern.

I was surprised that Murphy's mom decided to lie to the cops. I thought for sure she'd panic and buy what they were selling. I wonder if she's doing it because she's a certified compulsive enabler, or if she has some other motivation, like distrust of the fuzz ,or genuine belief that her daughter is innocent. It seems unlikely to be the latter, she knows Murphy is a fuck up, but I guess you never know.

Josh still doesn't know what his legal rights are, but I liked that his new boss was all: "so the fuck what, dude?" about his vision loss.

Gene faking Josh out about whether he got the phone number cracked me up. Snooping on her phone is an illegal search, though, isn't it? Not that TV ever cares about that stuff, but I thought Gene was trying to be by the book now.

Also, the cop who didn't catch on to Murphy using the speech software was kind of dopey. Plus, a public phone? I thought those were extinct. 

I figure there's no way they get away with this. The cops should have circulated photos of the suspects, so dopey cop would have recognized Murphy, plus when you cross a border as a wanted person, I'd think fake ID wouldn't work because of the photos being in circulation. But whatever. It's being more fun to watch than I expected.

They didn't even try to disguise themselves. All the spy novels say you dye your hair, at least. Heh. 

I don't like that Jess is so unhappy and is staying with Murphy out of martyrdom. I don't know what the answer is, but blind people do live independently, so Murphy needs to learn how to do that and Jess needs to be honest about it. But the show doesn't want that, so it won't happen. 

[ratgirlagogo]

On 6/24/2021 at 12:40 PM, possibilities said:

It's kind of surprising that this show doesn't know about that, since they've made an effort to get a lot of blind stuff right (though it's also not their first failure in that regard, either).

This is the show that is based around a facility that provides guide dogs, and has never shown ANYBODY doing any kind of training of a dog.  It would rather be a show about annoying naive incompetent boneheads who for no reason anyone who isn't a CW writer can figure out are continually being pressured by big time career criminals to not just join the operation, but have responsibility for crucial tasks.

I'm not sure I even care how it all turns out at this point.

 

[shapeshifter]

Identical twin Chekhovian Teddy bears. 

Most awkward 3-way ever. And I bet that it's also the most realistic 3-way portrayed on screen too. 

 

6 hours ago, possibilities said:

I don't like that Jess is so unhappy and is staying with Murphy out of martyrdom.

I thought they "hung a lantern on it" with Jess sitting there for a beat thinking about Max's advice and trying it on for size but then hugging Murphy and saying "Max is a dick." Jess may be an enabler who makes terrible choices, but she's an enabler who makes terrible choices with a heart, heh. 

OTOH, Max may be the only not dysfunctional character on the show (not counting Pretzel). 

 

6 hours ago, possibilities said:

I was surprised that Murphy's mom decided to lie to the cops. I thought for sure she'd panic and buy what they were selling. I wonder if she's doing it because she's a certified compulsive enabler, or if she has some other motivation, like distrust of the fuzz ,or genuine belief that her daughter is innocent. It seems unlikely to be the latter, she knows Murphy is a fuck up, but I guess you never know.

I think it's all of the above, and, also once you have joined the police against your child, it's a bell that cannot be un-rung --which I'm guessing Murphy's mom figured out over a decade ago during some shop lifting escapade. 

 

It seemed like a terrible idea for them to sit together at the airport. If I were the director, I would have had them spaced apart a bit.

 

 

[possibilities]

They didn't show them training guide dogs because they weren't really a guide dog organization, they were a drug front. But yes, the show really didn't do anything for the dog aspect of the show.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

They didn't show them training guide dogs because they weren't really a guide dog organization, they were a drug front. But yes, the show really didn't do anything for the dog aspect of the show.

Worst drug front ever.
Worst guide dog training center ever.

[Valny]

Ooops, wow I forgot the show was on this week! Got to go catch it on Demand.  was the second ep better than the first?

[tennisgurl]

Max might be the smartest person on the show, cutting ties with Murphy is going to remove so much unneeded stress from his life. She is so selfish and toxic and she spreads that toxicity to everyone around her. Like when Jess was getting upset in the store about the fact that she is throwing her whole life away partially because of Murphy's terrible ideas, while all Murphy can do is whine about how Max doesn't like her anymore. Its sad how being a codependent enabler has led Jess so far into this mess, and now it looks like its about to get worse. The only reason to be around Murphy is to get to hang out with Pretzel, the shows real star. 

I feel like the dog training place was always basically running just so that Murphy's parents wanted make sure her lazy self had a job, so I guess that's why we never saw much guide dog training. Or because the show just doesn't know how guide dogs work, between this and Josh getting instantly fired without a fight for losing his sight, its bizarre how a show about a blind person seems to know so little about being blind. 

[Paloma]

1 hour ago, Valny said:

was the second ep better than the first?

Not in my opinion--it just keeps stretching the bounds of credibility to the point where I said "that's ridiculous" every other scene. But YMMV.

[Whimsy]

28 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Max might be the smartest person on the show, cutting ties with Murphy is going to remove so much unneeded stress from his life. She is so selfish and toxic and she spreads that toxicity to everyone around her. Like when Jess was getting upset in the store about the fact that she is throwing her whole life away partially because of Murphy's terrible ideas, while all Murphy can do is whine about how Max doesn't like her anymore. Its sad how being a codependent enabler has led Jess so far into this mess, and now it looks like its about to get worse. The only reason to be around Murphy is to get to hang out with Pretzel, the shows real star. 

I feel like the dog training place was always basically running just so that Murphy's parents wanted make sure her lazy self had a job, so I guess that's why we never saw much guide dog training. Or because the show just doesn't know how guide dogs work, between this and Josh getting instantly fired without a fight for losing his sight, its bizarre how a show about a blind person seems to know so little about being blind. 

I’ll preface this by saying I recognize this show is ridiculous, but I know a couple of people that train the dogs for organizations, so maybe others are training them and then dropping them off when they’re ready?  Idk, that center never made sense to me. 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Valny said:

Ooops, wow I forgot the show was on this week! Got to go catch it on Demand.  was the second ep better than the first?

A little more Pretzel.

 

3 minutes ago, Whimsy said:

I’ll preface this by saying I recognize this show is ridiculous, but I know a couple of people that train the dogs for organizations, so maybe others are training them and then dropping them off when they’re ready?  Idk, that center never made sense to me. 

They did at least have those couple of lines last week about an expected new batch of puppies when they were pretending to the fibbies/cops that they were running a real guide dog place. 

[dubbel zout]

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

we never saw much guide dog training

It's most likely a budget thing. People and dogs cost money, even if they're in the background.

I think the charity was legit while Murphy's parents controlled it.

[possibilities]

3 hours ago, Whimsy said:

I’ll preface this by saying I recognize this show is ridiculous, but I know a couple of people that train the dogs for organizations, so maybe others are training them and then dropping them off when they’re ready?  Idk, that center never made sense to me. 

I think that is how it works. You don't send a dog to a kennel to learn in a group. You partner them with a trainer, who trains them at home and then with the person they will be living with. At least, that's how I've known it to happen. Maybe there are places that do it another way, but it's entirely credible and even normal not to. Though they'd have more volunteers and foot traffic and such, if they are going to have a whole facility.

Early on, we did see Murphy and Felix going to large audiences and doing public education. They just stopped when they got involved in the drug mess, because they didn't want anyone around to become an accidental witness.

DItto for the "dog grooming" business and Jess's vet services... they shut it all down when they got caught up with Nia.

[PinkRibbons]

I've always felt that Murphy was a little too much of a question mark, because we never really been told how she got to where she is. By the time the show starts she's been fully blind for at least a decade, which hasn't stopped other blind people from living full lives. I always wondered if her parents set her up to fail by overly sheltering her.

So actually the scene with her Mom not wanting her to go to jail actually made more sense with my headcanon, because aside from the "your child will be safer in jail" thing never sounding right, her mom is probably thinking that her blind child is not going to be safer in jail with her disability. Murphy panicked without Jess because she's so used to having someone take care of her. I really wonder if she's just a victim of being too sheltered in regards to her disability.

But also they've definitely nerfed her since the pilot - remember how much she avoided using Pretzel? I loved that scene where she got thrown out of a guy's apartment without her cane and only then was everything absolutely terrifying. She used to be more independent and skillful. I mean, wasn't that the whole reason Jess lo-jacked her phone?

[possibilities]

That's true. She used to pick up strangers in bars, and she was investigating the murder on her own, taking cabs (or uber, I guess?). She improvised a lot and thought quickly. I think her sudden helplessness is a retcon, as is her weepiness over Max hating her.