S01.E04: Manifest Destinee

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Stricken with a bird disease, Krystal goes on an odyssey. A collection of vintage motivational tapes just might change Cody’s destiny. Ernie tries recruiting.

Original air date 2019.09.08

[Armchair Critic]

I didn't want to see Ernie fail but I hate to see him be morally compromised taking advantage of those people signing them up.

Cody is one messed up dude. Seems he likes to be dominated, I have to admit I enjoyed seeing Krystal slap him. But eeeeew at the last scene, and it's not like she is dewy fresh either after being up all night and sweating it out going door to door.

[Dance4Life]

21 hours ago, Armchair Critic said:

I didn't want to see Ernie fail but I hate to see him be morally compromised taking advantage of those people signing them up.

Cody is one messed up dude. Seems he likes to be dominated, I have to admit I enjoyed seeing Krystal slap him. But eeeeew at the last scene, and it's not like she is dewy fresh either after being up all night and sweating it out going door to door.

Hahahahahahahahaha!  

I am really enjoying this show!

I wonder what is the catch.......?

Anyone else enjoying this show? 

[4Sibes Redux]

7 minutes ago, Dance4Life said:

Anyone else enjoying this show? 

Oh yeah, definitely. It made me remember a handful of weird days in my life in the late 90s when a “friend” tried to recruit me for Amway. I have a better understanding of why he may have suddenly ghosted me when I failed to join. 

[Armchair Critic]

So GB's head of security just dropped Krystal off at her house? He is the one who burned that guy's boat, I was scared he was going to do something to her.

[Dance4Life]

4 minutes ago, 4Sibes Redux said:

Oh yeah, definitely. It made me remember a handful of weird days in my life in the late 90s when a “friend” tried to recruit me for Amway. I have a better understanding of why he may have suddenly ghosted me when I failed to join. 

I love shows set in the 70s-90s. 

Hahahahhaha! I had a neighbor invite me to dinner a few years ago.

She invited a college kid that looked just like Cody......to eat with us.  In the middle of dinner he busted out a ‘Knives Presentation.’

He made us eat with some of the knives to show us the good quality.  Just kept going....on and on. Very pushy. 

When I asked how much were the knives so that I could finally say ...no, thank you....and, get him to stop.

He simply handed me a Price Sheet.  $300 crappy knives!

I am waiting for a scene like this. 

[tennisgurl]

Its good to see Ernie doing well, but I hate that he is dragging even more people into this clusterfuck. I did kind of love that the people in his church were like "yeah, hard pass" but in a very polite way. He should listen to them and get out while he still can!

The flashes between Ernie praying and Cody writing to the great and powerful FAM head honcho was pretty on the nose, but also sold the greater point about these kind of schemes really well. It really is part get rich quick scheme, and part cult, selling a community, a system that will guarantee them a dream future as long as they follow the rules, and answers in an often sad and confusing world. Cody really is all FAM all the time, he seems to have nothing else, and is replacing his father in jail with this idealized mythical FAM boss. 

That last scene with Cody and Krystal was just...whoa. 

[Melina22]

10 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Its good to see Ernie doing well, but I hate that he is dragging even more people into this clusterfuck. I did kind of love that the people in his church were like "yeah, hard pass" but in a very polite way. He should listen to them and get out while he still can!

These scenes made me so uncomfortable I actually stopped watching for a bit. Second hand embarrassment for everyone! 

The whole part with Krystal, sick, with the barefoot man and the weird tape man were just... weird. Not sure what we were supposed to get from it, although it sure showed she refused to stop doing what she needed to do no matter what. She's a powerhouse. 

To quote Armchair Critic, the last scene was just ewww. That's all I have to say. 

[Razzberry]

This was a strange one - seemed like it was going off the rails, or I may have missed something.  I don't remember how Krystal ended up at that guy's place with all the tapes who kept calling her Travis, or if she was having some kind of fever dream brought on by a bird disease or gas line leakage?  WTF did I watch. 

I do remember the ending with her and Cody, unfortunately I can't unsee that.  Loved how excited he got about the canned message with "Cody Bonar" inserted.  Does anyone else think Travis isn't really dead?  I keep hoping he comes back somehow, he  was pretty funny.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Razzberry

[Empress1]

I liked seeing Elvin from The Cosby Show working (he was the pastor at the church), particularly after people tried to shame him for working full-time at Trader Joe's not long ago. He pops up in things every now and then.

That scene at the end was gross. I find Cody both lecherous and pathetic. Neither of those things is sexy! I don't think we were meant to find the scene sexy, though.

[Bulldog]

21 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Its good to see Ernie doing well, but I hate that he is dragging even more people into this clusterfuck.

Ernie seems like such a good guy.  I think he honestly believes he is helping the people that he recruited.  I just can't see him intentionally roping people into something he thought was underhanded. One reason I can't fully get on board the pro-Krystal train is that while she seems to like and care for Ernie and his family, she had no qualms whatsoever about pressuring Ernie to join FAM even when she, herself, thinks it is a scam.  And kudos to the show for the scenes with Ernie and his pastor.  So many shows like to portray churchgoers as freaks or judgmental self-righteous hypocrites.  It was nice to see people of faith shown genuinely trying to help others.   

2 hours ago, Razzberry said:

Does anyone else think Travis isn't really dead?  I keep hoping he comes back somehow, he  was pretty funny.

It would be an interesting twist, but I think death by alligator (with a witness!) would be fairly hard to fake.  

[AuntiePam]

44 minutes ago, Empress1 said:

That scene at the end was gross. I find Cody both lecherous and pathetic. Neither of those things is sexy! I don't think we were meant to find the scene sexy, though.

Nope, not sexy.  I took it as a power play by Krystal, showing Cody who's really in charge. 

Travis's future customers -- my gosh, what kind of place was that?  Semi-trailers -- were people living in them?  At least it gave Krystal an idea of how hard Travis had been working.  But it should also open her eyes -- FAM is a dead end for 99% of the participants.

She's an interesting character but it's hard to be sympathetic.  She has choices.

Also, leaving Destinee with Cody, who knew nothing about caring for a child that age -- especially when Destinee had been sick?  I guess Cody knew that Ernie and his wife were right next door, but did she really have to leave right then?  It couldn't wait a day or two?

[Bulldog]

I'm embarrassed to admit that it took until this episode for me to figure out that Julie Benz was not Cody's wife.  I actually think being married to Dexter Morgan would be preferable to being married to one of these FAM loons.  At least Dexter had a legit job, I mean J O B.

Now, I'm trying to imagine a Debra Morgan reaction to a FAM recruitment pitch.  

[Beezella]

I nearly died of horror laughter when Cody mimed the alligator eating Travis with a chomp chomp of his hands.

I think what Krystal did at the end of the episode would be considered sexual assault. Imagine Cody doing that to her. Definitely a power play. Fam corrupts everyone I think.

Travis certainly left her in desperate circumstances, in debt, no life insurance, repos. I can see why she would be tempted to get what she could out of the "system."

That strong-arm guy sure has a creepy face and manner.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Beezella

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I like that Rhonda is still around. I like her friendship with Krystal. It's also nice to see have positive female interaction since some of those Fam women (like Julie Benz) are just bitchy and mean.

I know it's Florida, but who the hell walks around barefoot while wearing a suit?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Promo:

Clip - Ernie's pitch

Music to die for

Edited September 15, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Dance4Life]

This episode was good! 

I think the show is doing a great job explaining what all this MLM (is this the term?) is truly about!  

Krystal is stuck in it because:

-her husband actually bought all the supplies.

-Cody paid her to stay. So, she can pay her bills for a little while longer.

-she has an interest in starting her Splash-exercise business. 

So.....Cody is a Rothschild.....?  Interesting!  🤣

[peach]

On 9/8/2019 at 10:28 PM, Dance4Life said:

I love shows set in the 70s-90s. 

Hahahahhaha! I had a neighbor invite me to dinner a few years ago.

She invited a college kid that looked just like Cody......to eat with us.  In the middle of dinner he busted out a ‘Knives Presentation.’

OMG, this happened to our family too. I forgot all about it til now.  😆

[peach]

On 9/8/2019 at 9:57 PM, Dance4Life said:

Hahahahahahahahaha!  

I am really enjoying this show!

I wonder what is the catch.......?

Anyone else enjoying this show? 

I know I'm a month behind these comments, but I am enjoying this show too.  My dad sold Amway during this time period, when I was in high school, and one if the biggest fights we ever had was when he tried to force me to use Amway makeup.  I did not! Lol

I also love the vintage clothes they have Krystal wearing.