my thoughts on the first half of rivals season 2: episode 6 was the best episode (obligatory "so far") with one glaring exception: killing off monica. genuinely the laziest and most misogynistic choice in my opinion. the only way i will forgive the writers is if — in tribute to jilly cooper and her spectacular plot twists — she's not actually dead and faked her own death to escape tony.*
points against this theory: the conversation she had with lizzie, the speech she gave tony, and the impact of her (fake) death on her children, especially her daughters.
points in favor of this theory: her death was foreshadowed throughout the episode (i.e., lazy writing!? from the phenomenally written show?!), they chose not to show her body in the car, caitlin wasn't crying when declan and rupert found her, and rupert delivered the news to tony.
*this post feels very tin-foil-hat, but the decision to kill her genuinely shocked me, especially because this is by far the most severe departure from the books. anyway. i guess we'll see what happens... in october november (don't get me started on this season's release schedule lol).
