Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think one part of the reason that Bradley didn't turn her brother in or release the footage is that she knew it would reflect poorly on her and could impact her reputation, and thus her career.

I also think she wanted to protect him and had enormous guilt about her mom's death and leaving her family behind with her success, but it doesn't have to be either/or. When she saw him at the Capitol, I absolutely think part of her thinking was realizing that she could be in some way implicated and wanting the problem to go away.

I also think that asking for evening news as she delivered the J6 footage to Stella was a calculated move to protect herself, knowing that the network might cut ties with a morning co-anchor who did something unethical or had a brother who was a felon, but would do more to protect their evening anchor. She wanted the leverage, both to protect her brother AND to protect herself.

This show is about ambition and what people are willing to do in service to it.

Yeah - maybe that's right about her not wanting to be implicated. I hadn't thought of that!

I'm not sure the show is about ambition? I'm not sure what it's about at all actually. It's just very soapy. I enjoy it, but it's not like Succession where it was clear that every character would slit a guy's throat for a little power.

Anonymous wrote:I think one part of the reason that Bradley didn't turn her brother in or release the footage is that she knew it would reflect poorly on her and could impact her reputation, and thus her career.

I also think she wanted to protect him and had enormous guilt about her mom's death and leaving her family behind with her success, but it doesn't have to be either/or. When she saw him at the Capitol, I absolutely think part of her thinking was realizing that she could be in some way implicated and wanting the problem to go away.

I also think that asking for evening news as she delivered the J6 footage to Stella was a calculated move to protect herself, knowing that the network might cut ties with a morning co-anchor who did something unethical or had a brother who was a felon, but would do more to protect their evening anchor. She wanted the leverage, both to protect her brother AND to protect herself.

This show is about ambition and what people are willing to do in service to it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found this last episode irritating -- I think it was a clumsy way to reveal key details of what happened between seasons, to explain Bradley's relationships with Laura and Cory, and also what's going on with Mia. I think it would have worked better if they'd sprinkled the flashbacks through multiple episodes, especially since Mia's storyline was really separate while Bradley's, Stella's, and Cory's were interrelated, so it made Mia's scenes feel really tacked on.

I still don't really get exactly what happened with Mia and her boyfriend. There was virtually no prelude to him going out drinking and it is never explained why he did it, even though I feel like it would have been relatively easy to show him getting increasingly annoyed with isolation while Mia was really committed. Instead it felt extremely abrupt and then he goes to Afghanistan. I think they could have spent an entire episode on Mia and this guy, and on Mia dealing with the pandemic and with BLM and how that impacts her relationship and her work, but instead they shoehorned it into an episode that really belongs to Bradley. Lame.

Regarding Bradley, I continue to not love Reese in this role and find so many of her characters choices just utterly baffling. She has previously been shown to be the kind of person who does the "right" thing even when it's really annoying for other characters, so seeing her turn on a dime to protect her brother was so inconsistent. The implication is she's doing it for her niece, but that felt so inauthentic. I also just think the whole way her storyline unfolded, with her mom dying offscreen while she and Laura are playing celebrity in Montana, and then lots of shots of Cory NOT calling her or reaching out, then suddenly she's in DC but even the timeline of that was weird because she's suddenly in the Capitol with no build up, and then she's in a hotel room with her brother, and then she's in the office. There was just no sense of place in those scenes and it felt really disjointed and not driven by character or relationships at all, just the show deciding "Ok how do we shoehorn in J6, well let's send Bradley there." It just felt like they were moving pieces around on a chessboard and not like a story unfolding.

I had been liking the season up until this episode so I'm hoping now that they've got that exposition out of the way, we can get back to some actual character and story development with these people.

I didn't love this ep either - mostly because I have less than zero interest in revisiting what it felt like living in the COVID years.

That said - I think Bradley is feeling enormous guilt over leaving her family behind, and her mother's death, and she is trying to protect her brother. Like, she can't do much to fix things, but she can at least not air video of her brother actively assaulting a Capitol police officer. I'm not sure why Cory helped her, except I guess he still sorta loves her and COVID made people do weird things.

Mia and her boyfriend - I think we're seeing that everyone's at their best and lovey dovey at the beginning of lockdown. Then people sorta lose their minds in different ways. Her boyfriend let off steam by going to bars and getting drunk - and Mia flipped (reasonably? unreasonably? I don't know). Then he felt abandoned/guilty, and got an assignment to go to Afghanistan - and just took it. People were not at their best, and had started sabotaging themselves and their relationships.

Anonymous wrote:I found this last episode irritating -- I think it was a clumsy way to reveal key details of what happened between seasons, to explain Bradley's relationships with Laura and Cory, and also what's going on with Mia. I think it would have worked better if they'd sprinkled the flashbacks through multiple episodes, especially since Mia's storyline was really separate while Bradley's, Stella's, and Cory's were interrelated, so it made Mia's scenes feel really tacked on.

I still don't really get exactly what happened with Mia and her boyfriend. There was virtually no prelude to him going out drinking and it is never explained why he did it, even though I feel like it would have been relatively easy to show him getting increasingly annoyed with isolation while Mia was really committed. Instead it felt extremely abrupt and then he goes to Afghanistan. I think they could have spent an entire episode on Mia and this guy, and on Mia dealing with the pandemic and with BLM and how that impacts her relationship and her work, but instead they shoehorned it into an episode that really belongs to Bradley. Lame.

Regarding Bradley, I continue to not love Reese in this role and find so many of her characters choices just utterly baffling. She has previously been shown to be the kind of person who does the "right" thing even when it's really annoying for other characters, so seeing her turn on a dime to protect her brother was so inconsistent. The implication is she's doing it for her niece, but that felt so inauthentic. I also just think the whole way her storyline unfolded, with her mom dying offscreen while she and Laura are playing celebrity in Montana, and then lots of shots of Cory NOT calling her or reaching out, then suddenly she's in DC but even the timeline of that was weird because she's suddenly in the Capitol with no build up, and then she's in a hotel room with her brother, and then she's in the office. There was just no sense of place in those scenes and it felt really disjointed and not driven by character or relationships at all, just the show deciding "Ok how do we shoehorn in J6, well let's send Bradley there." It just felt like they were moving pieces around on a chessboard and not like a story unfolding.

I had been liking the season up until this episode so I'm hoping now that they've got that exposition out of the way, we can get back to some actual character and story development with these people.

Anonymous wrote:I found this last episode irritating -- I think it was a clumsy way to reveal key details of what happened between seasons, to explain Bradley's relationships with Laura and Cory, and also what's going on with Mia. I think it would have worked better if they'd sprinkled the flashbacks through multiple episodes, especially since Mia's storyline was really separate while Bradley's, Stella's, and Cory's were interrelated, so it made Mia's scenes feel really tacked on.

I still don't really get exactly what happened with Mia and her boyfriend. There was virtually no prelude to him going out drinking and it is never explained why he did it, even though I feel like it would have been relatively easy to show him getting increasingly annoyed with isolation while Mia was really committed. Instead it felt extremely abrupt and then he goes to Afghanistan. I think they could have spent an entire episode on Mia and this guy, and on Mia dealing with the pandemic and with BLM and how that impacts her relationship and her work, but instead they shoehorned it into an episode that really belongs to Bradley. Lame.

Regarding Bradley, I continue to not love Reese in this role and find so many of her characters choices just utterly baffling. She has previously been shown to be the kind of person who does the "right" thing even when it's really annoying for other characters, so seeing her turn on a dime to protect her brother was so inconsistent. The implication is she's doing it for her niece, but that felt so inauthentic. I also just think the whole way her storyline unfolded, with her mom dying offscreen while she and Laura are playing celebrity in Montana, and then lots of shots of Cory NOT calling her or reaching out, then suddenly she's in DC but even the timeline of that was weird because she's suddenly in the Capitol with no build up, and then she's in a hotel room with her brother, and then she's in the office. There was just no sense of place in those scenes and it felt really disjointed and not driven by character or relationships at all, just the show deciding "Ok how do we shoehorn in J6, well let's send Bradley there." It just felt like they were moving pieces around on a chessboard and not like a story unfolding.

I had been liking the season up until this episode so I'm hoping now that they've got that exposition out of the way, we can get back to some actual character and story development with these people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, now we know why Bradley owes Cory for several enormous things. Sorry, it's bogus to protect a family member who engaged in that particular criminality. No integrity.

Yep. I have zero sympathy for Bradley and can’t believe the cover up.

Wait, what? You would turn in your brother if situation were reversed?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe there isn’t any mention of the restaurant scene and Stella’s predicament. IMO that was pretty major.

Uh the waitress got a tip if $20k. Anyone would have done it. If the guys had asked for her to sleep with them she would have.

I would totally lick up water from a table for $20k! I think Stella was more upset than the waitress. It was a pretty disturbing scene.

DP. It really was disturbing. It was somewhat "comforting" to see how upset Stella was by it too. At least she knew how disgusting it was. She should have gone back later and given the waitress a heartfelt apology - and another huge tip.

I still don’t know why Stella’s character is in this series. So far has really added anything or had much screen time. Just finished the Coney Island episode. Maybe her character will get better.

We get it, you've posted several times you don't like Stella. Can we move on from this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, now we know why Bradley owes Cory for several enormous things. Sorry, it's bogus to protect a family member who engaged in that particular criminality. No integrity.

Yep. I have zero sympathy for Bradley and can’t believe the cover up.

Wait, what? You would turn in your brother if situation were reversed?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, now we know why Bradley owes Cory for several enormous things. Sorry, it's bogus to protect a family member who engaged in that particular criminality. No integrity.

Yep. I have zero sympathy for Bradley and can’t believe the cover up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe there isn’t any mention of the restaurant scene and Stella’s predicament. IMO that was pretty major.

Uh the waitress got a tip if $20k. Anyone would have done it. If the guys had asked for her to sleep with them she would have.

I would totally lick up water from a table for $20k! I think Stella was more upset than the waitress. It was a pretty disturbing scene.

DP. It really was disturbing. It was somewhat "comforting" to see how upset Stella was by it too. At least she knew how disgusting it was. She should have gone back later and given the waitress a heartfelt apology - and another huge tip.

I still don’t know why Stella’s character is in this series. So far has really added anything or had much screen time. Just finished the Coney Island episode. Maybe her character will get better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe there isn’t any mention of the restaurant scene and Stella’s predicament. IMO that was pretty major.

Uh the waitress got a tip if $20k. Anyone would have done it. If the guys had asked for her to sleep with them she would have.

I would totally lick up water from a table for $20k! I think Stella was more upset than the waitress. It was a pretty disturbing scene.

DP. It really was disturbing. It was somewhat "comforting" to see how upset Stella was by it too. At least she knew how disgusting it was. She should have gone back later and given the waitress a heartfelt apology - and another huge tip.