Greetings Nighthawks, Sniggles, Timberwolves, PIEP Agents, Nerdy Prudes, and all assorted Hatchetfielders,
Lord Bliklotep, the Watcher With A Thousand Eyes, has sent me to bestow on you several big announcements! First, I am thrilled to announce the results of our very first non-Hatchetfield palate cleanser! As you can see, the winner (with a frankly runaway number of votes) was SPIES ARE FOREVER!!!! So get your brown rocket shoes ready because it will be time to save the world again before you know it. Thanks to everyone who voted, and better luck next time for those of you who didn’t get your pick.
Second, with its release on YouTube, we have decided to permanently add WORKIN' BOYS to our watch party rotation. As NMT3 will in some ways be closer to the style of Workin’ Boys than the zoom-call style of NMT2, we here at Blinky’s believe that continued interest in WB will be an important factor in whether or not NMT3 gets made. With all that in mind, we are so thrilled to announce the dates for our next round of re-watch parties.
Please note that with the Cinderella’s Castle kickstarter campaign over, we are returning to our usual time slots on Saturdays.
The Case of the Greater Gatsby Episode 24: "CLOSING TIME"
Well gang, we have laughed. We have gasped, we have cheered, we have sleuthed and made guesses both fabulously on-point and woefully ill-informed. We have spent way too much time thinking about Citizen Jasper Fox. And now we are here, at the end of all things.*
(*”All things,” in this case, simply being this podcast)
Full thoughts under the cut. Spoilers abound!
So Leery was our murderer after all! It turns out he was Sheilah’s troublesome stalker vaguely alluded to in the tapes, and he killed Fitzgerald in a fit of rage after poor ole’ Scott refused to leave his, erm, “lover.” But he was not our anonymous writer of threatening letters; that honor, as predicted, belongs to dear ole’ Mel. (Side note: Mel’s “oh, that was so smart of me” made me guffaw. Mel may be evil, but God I love a Lesli Margherita line delivery). I was also right about Mel intentionally sabotaging The Grapes of Wrath at every turn, but I hadn’t quite figured out her full connection to the murder—that she paid Mo Beats to cover up the crime in order to protect her number one star. So, shout out to Mel for being even more corrupt than I guessed! Though I must admit that I kinda’ feel her on the whole anti-adaption thing. While I have absolutely no issue with Hollywood’s lifelong addiction to adapting anything they can get their mitts on, sometimes it feels like we lean too far into one particular thing, such as Marvel comics. I am also tired of sequels that the original work simply didn’t ask for, and as an aspiring screenwriter I know all too well how depressingly hard it is to get anyone to listen to an idea that doesn’t boast the sacred letters “I.P.” (intellectual property. It’s an adaption term). Still, I don’t see myself writing death threats to Robert Downey Jr. anytime soon.
I do have a confession, though. I got so caught up in the joy of solving mysteries that I forgot that Greater Gatsby, despite Dash, the bunny suits, and general abiding silliness, is technically a noir. I did not for a second predict that Fig and Ford would be forced to let the murderer slip through their fingers with nary a helpless peep. But at least the epilogue offered some glimmer of hope as it nicely expanded on the fates of so many of the characters we’ve come to love, hate, or suspect. Mel may have escaped justice, but Bixby is back in his bar and former cop Mo Beats is now out in the LAPD cold. Though judging by his ominous goodbye, our favorite detective duo have yet to see the last of him…
But I suppose the real question is, have we seen the last of our favorite detective duo? While this certainly wouldn’t be the first time Shipwrecked has set up for a non-existent season two (Headless season 2, how I dream of you at night…), you cannot deny that there is, in fact, a good amount of set-up. Barnaby’s potential freedom is on the line. Mo Beats is perfectly placed to return as a dangerous rival PI or something worse. And Claudette’s life might be hanging in the balance…
Who do we think this mysterious voice is? First instinct suggests someone related to Mo Beats and his vows of revenge, but that’s a little too easy and straightforward, especially so soon after his threats. Judging by what the Fig and Ford cases are usually about, I’d say our intruder is more likely related to Ford’s and Claudette’s starry past. Could this be someone at the center of whatever final storm led them to quit Hollywood for good? Could he be related to Ford’s “big secret” (yeah, Shipwrecked, that’s right. I HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN)? A Hollywood connection could even lead Fig and Ford back to Mel and Leery, giving them a second chance to get things right (ssh, don’t tell me it’s a noir, thematically rooted in the unconquerable force of corruption and power. Let me live with my delusions). But whatever secrets lay behind Claudette’s attacker and his shadowy motivations, I very much hope we get to spend a whole season unravelling them one by one.
So let’s be optimistic and say not goodbye, but rather “see you later.” Until our next long December, Bixby’s Brigadeers. Remember to eat your cookies, and don’t let the smoke get in your eyes…
The Case of The Greater Gatsby Episode 23: Criminal
Ohhhhh boy! Here we are at the second to last episode, mere minutes left in our winding tale, and the answers are a-comin’ at the same speed that the plots are a-twistin’.
Hold onto your hats! Spoilers below the cut.
First off, it has to be said: As someone with a decade-plus-long hatred for the term “lover,” Shipwrecked were so real for that whole running bit. I’ve never related to our detectives more.
Now onto slightly more substantial matters: I really was right about Sheilah and Mel’s affair! Huzzah! And, frankly, good for them. Get it, girls! My whole original theory extending the affair into the murder motive doesn’t really seem to hold much water, though. Sheilah claims that she and Mel were together all night, and frankly I believe her. Something about how how she still couldn’t help but doubt Mel’s innocence just makes her story feel all the more real and reliable. But it does beg the question—who was Mel talking to on the phone that night? Leery, perhaps? Or what about her sister, the one with connections to the mob, connections Leery’s family happens to share? Did Mel’s angry phone call have had any actual impact on the events leading up to Fitzgerald’s murder?
Meanwhile, Mo has managed to get his grubby little mitts on Scotty’s tapes. While I don’t think he’s going to make any huge breaks in the case with them, I’m interested to see how he proceeds. They’d certainly be useful in what looks like his attempt to frame Barnaby on Vivian’s behalf. Speaking of Mo and Viv and whatever little devil’s bargain they’ve got going on, I once again have to wonder: what role exactly, if any, did they play in the murder? Why was Mo covering it up at the start of this whole thing? Was he doing it as a favor to his future business partner, and Leery’s brother, Luigi? He may have been covering up the murder so that Leery could go free. But if that’s the case, what did Mel have to do with it? Is their business relationship a red herring that has nothing to do with the rest of Mo’s plots? Regardless, how is Mo planning to balance his murder cover-up with whatever campaign he and Vivian seemingly are waging to put Barnaby behind bars? I suppose if his main motivation is to make sure that Leery doesn’t go down for murder, arresting Barnaby would do the trick just as well as refusing to admit that a murder even occurred….
I do enjoy that we’ve gone from Fig and Ford being hired to prove Barnaby murdered Fitzgerald, to them inevitably having to scramble to prove his innocence in the finale.
Though that assumes that Barnaby is, in fact, innocent. Cause here’s the main question: Is Leery actually guilty? The episode’s big reveal unmasks Leery as our murderer, but I’m not sure I’m fully onboard yet. The case against him certainly feels compelling, but we have a whole episode of reveals and twists to go and so far all the evidence remains quite circumstantial. I did suspect Leery awhile ago, purely on the basis that he didn’t have much of a role in the show and I couldn’t figure out why they even included him, much less cast someone as iconic as Carlos Alazraqui in the role. I largely set that theory aside due to lack of motive, and I’m still running up against that wall now. Obviously he wasn’t a fan of Scott’s treatment of Zelda, though perhaps that rant to her was more about other hidden issues, but that hardly seems like a motive for murder. He loves to sing about his broken heart—did Fitzgerald have some role in that? Has Leery secretly been in love with Zelda or Sheilah from a distance? That doesn’t feel likely. Or is Fig right, and he’s also the letter writer and his reason to kill is no more complicated than a secret hatred of adaptions? Maybe his mob-ties taught him to respond to such problems with a certain… violent je ne sais quoi. Or maybe he thought Fitzgerald had uncovered something about his criminal brother and murdered him to prevent the secret from leaking into the Greater Gatsby script? We know that Leery’s part of the Brigade, so perhaps Fitzgerald discovered some secret through that connection. I dunno; any of these theories is possible but so far none of them are really clicking with me yet. Thoughts?
I’m also not sure that he’s the one behind the letters. Why would Leery hate adaptions? He seems to have one foot out the acting door anyways, wanting to focus on his music career instead, and Grapes of Wrath has proved that anything can be turned into a musical. Or is he leaving acting for music specifically because of a secret hatred for the direction the industry is going? Maybe he misses the days when original screenplays ruled the roost, assuming that such time ever existed. Or perhaps he murdered Fitzgerald for some other reason, and the letter campaign is just one long, extremely elaborate distraction and cover-up. I will say that the awkward writing style used in the letters does match up with his attempts at songwriting. We’ve known that Leery is a bad writer for quite some time.
Okay, so tomorrow is the release of the LAST EVER EPISODE OF GREATER GATSBY (cry with me, folks!), and while I’ve been keeping up with my listening I have fallen a bit behind with these analysis posts, largely because these last few episodes have been so jammed packed with answers that up until last week there wasn’t much theorizing to do. So while this post is about episodes 20-22, I’m writing it after having already listened to episode 23 multiple times. I’ll do my best not to spoil anything from episode 23 in the thoughts below, but there will probably be a lot less pondering and guesswork than usual.
Anyways, spoilers for episodes 20, 21, and 22 under the cut!
Okay, first things first—are Shipwrecked really going to get away with not letting us in on Ford’s secret? I couldn’t quite tell what Fig was saying when Ford cut her off, so I pulled up the transcript and it looks like she says “I can’t believe you managed to them all in—“ Which, for the life of me, sounds like absolute nonsense. I’ve spent hours trying to come up with what she could be about to say, and I’ve drawn a blank. Any ideas?
Speaking of Ford, our boy definitely needs therapy. While I understand the place his anger is coming from, probably a lot better than Ford himself does, he does need to remember that technically Fig was hired to shadow Willy as a bodyguard and was technically there on set in her capacity as a P..I. as well. I predicted from the start that Fig’s side job would clash quite badly with Ford’s trauma, and frankly I’m surprised it’s taken this long to get there. But here we are and I am sad. :(
But hopes springs anew! Mel has officially shuttered The Grapes of Wrath! This seems like another tick in my “Mel is intentionally sabotaging the movie” column. If anything, the only real evidence contradicting that theory is that it took so long for her to shut it down in the first place. Perhaps Beanslot is particularly keen on Steinbeck? Regardless, Mel is still my personal favorite suspect for writing the letters, or at least for being the person behind them (I don’t quite believe she composed any of the messages herself). I know Fig and Ford believe the threatening author and the murderer are one and the same, but we have no real evidence for that, beyond the word of the letter writer. Plenty of people could have figured out he was likely murdered, and decided to use that increase the power of their anonymous threats. Mel, for instance, could have learned from Mo Beats. And now that I know who the murderer seems to be (more on that in my next post), I’m not sure what their motive for writing the threatening letters would even be.
Moving on from all these questions, let’s talk a bit about answers. TD stole The Greater Gatsby during the night of Mel’s party to bribe his way into Bixby’s Brigade. He gave the script to Willy on the suggestion of Roger, who was keen on his movie-star wife getting arrested and joining him in prison. Guys, I love Roger. I know he’s kinda’ terrible but I just can’t help it; I guess it’s that classic Gabe Greenspan magic. And he and Willy are, in a very odd and slightly worrying way, kinda’ perfect for each other. The swelling music cue that plays every time Willy decides his dubious criminal action is actually The Most Romantic Thing ever(TM) makes me laugh. Every. Single. Time. It helps that Roger is such a silly goose that it’s impossible to imagine any of his harebrained schemes actually resulting in harm coming to his lovely wife. That’s just not the narrative vibe, I guess. Also, I was right about Dash keeping an eye on Wilhelmina on Roger’s orders! Yay me!
The other bout of answers comes from the Punchwhistle triplets and their grand reunion in Fig and Ford’s office. As expected, “George Astrum” is both Eugene Punchwhistle and the Hinge Highwayman. Except for my brief foray into “Barnaby is Eugene!” madness (look, not all of my crazy theories can be right), George has been my top candidate for Eugene since his introduction in Scott’s tapes. Meanwhile, it turns out that Lex had not been kidnapped or swept up in some epic trail of clues, but had simply gone to ground as part of the search for her missing brother. While I missed the delightful Esther Fallick, the moment where they asked Lex if she was aware she’d been recast was maybe my favorite line of the episode. Love a good bit of meta humor. Lex also gives more evidence that the writer of the threatening letters has plenty of access to the set. While this does point a finger towards the supposed killer unmasked in the next episode, it could also point to any number of other characters. I’ll probably come out of this looking very silly, but, as I said, I’m still not convinced that our killer and adaption-hater are in fact one and the same…
A Couple of Other Thoughts:
-If Ford hadn’t been acting so ridiculous about Fig’s onset work, she probably would have taken him more seriously when he said not to hand Mel the script. As it is, I supposed we should just be thankful that Mel did, in fact, destroy it.
-Mel and Ford, for all that he hates her, seem to have the same opinion on the bookclub. I don’t think that’s particularly important, other than as an indicator that Ford’s perspective is a bit out of whack, but it’s funny regardless.
-God, to be a fly on the wall next time Mel sees TD. I want a three hour Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf-esque character study about THAT.
THE CASE OF THE GREATER GATSBY EPISODE NINETEEN: SCREENWRITER'S BLUES
Wow. What a last minute stunner in this episode, huh?
Full stunned reaction under the cut.
After nineteen episodes, we finally locate the eponymous Greater Gatsby… in Wilhelmina’s book club book? Who’d a thunk? The fact that the script showed up in there implies that whoever had the script had access to the Grapes set. And if the person who stole the script is the same as the murderer—a HUGE “if”—that clears both Vivian and Barnaby of the murder. It could also potentially clear Mo Beats, though Mel does let him onto the production lot.
But let’s put aside the “who” in favor of the “why.” Fig says that whoever gave Willy the script likely wanted to frame Wilhelmina, but I’m not sure I buy that theory. Anyone who’s ever met Willy would know that there’s absolutely no way she was involved with any of this. I think the real question is whether or not the person who gave the script to Willy actually wanted to pass it off to Fig. Giving a highly suspicious item to Fig’s air-head best friend would be a good way to make sure it ends up in her hands without risking direct contact. And everyone on the lot apparently knew about Wilhelmina’s bookclub, so it wouldn’t take a huge leap for someone to realize that Fig would be presentthe next time Wilhelmina pulled out The Beautiful and Damned. But if someone is trying to give the script to Fig, why? Is the script thief/keeper a different person than the murderer, and hoping to bring the true bad guy to justice? Or is it the murderer trying to send her down the wrong path? Was there more symbolism than the obvious behind putting the script inside The Beautiful and Damned?
And then there’s the question of timing Does the discovery of the script mean that Fig and Ford are getting close, so close that either the bad guys are panicking or a mysterious benefactor is willing to slip them a final clue? If so, how would the anonymous script-dealer know? The most recent suspects to interact with Fig and Ford are the Nightingales, who likely didn’t have access to the Grapes set, the Farnsworths, who I really can’t see having anything to do with anything, and the Hammermeisters. The Hammermeisters, or at least Mel, probably have the best sense that Ford is making progress, but either of them secretly holding the script simply doesn’t make any sense. And we can’t overlook TD’s reaction to Willy and Fig’s discovery—he certainly reacts the most out of everyone else in the room, so either he was overacting to compensate a lack of genuine surprise (unlikely), or he was truly shocked by this latest development. Is he just excited to tell Mel that the script has been found? Or is he afraid of what the script will reveal?
On the Ford sign of things, he gets to match wits with two very different sparring partners: Mo and Vivian. We don’t get too much from Vivian, but Mo has an interesting reaction to Ford’s various guesses about his relationship with Mel. He understandably laughs off Ford’s attempts at silly distractions, but then gets genuinely angry when Ford calls him Mel’s puppet. While this could be due to injured pride, may Ford also be right on the money? I mean, that’s more or less what I’ve been assuming this whole time.
And how about Vivian’s song? “Adapt Or Die,” the perfect sultry tune for a show deeply preoccupied with Hollywood’s adaption preoccupation (same, Persauds, same). It gives further insight into Vivian’s relationship with Barnaby, and a melodious look into her potential character motivation. But how and why is she adapting to survive? By framing Barnaby for murder to get around the pre-nup? Or does Mo perhaps have something on her? Did F. Scott’s death ruin some plan of Vivian’s for the future? On a less speculative note, Mary Kate Wiles genuinely has one of my favorite voices EVER, and I’m so so so happy every time she sings in this show. She always knocks it out of the fucking park. More numbers for Vivian, please! Please!! PLEASE!!!
And Fitzgerald was apparently strangled by two different items. What does this mean? Was the first item not doing the job, so the killer had to switch? Was he strangled unsuccessfully by one person, and then successfully by a second person mere minutes later? Did two people strangle him at the same time? Or was he strangled with an item that would look like two separate things (a necklace with two different types of chains latched together, for example)? I’ve been trying to think of a plot relevant item that would fit that description, but so far I’ve come up empty…
Stray thoughts:
-TD’s thoughts on grief—his passive aggressive way of telling Rex to shut the hell up, made me laugh and filled in a lot about how he and Mel became an item in the first place. He’s capable of just as much bitchery as she is, it turns out
-Once again, Dash shows up at the same place as Wilhelmina. I might be wildly off base, but with every passing episode I’m becoming more and more convinced that he’s doing something involving her.
THE CASE OF THE GREATER GATSBY EPISODE 17 MOMENTUM AND EPISODE 18 SMOOTH
What a lucky girl am I. Citizen Jasper Fox one week, then Mel’s Christmas party (narrated by Cliff and Willie of all people!) the next. The Persauds truly are spoiling me. And so many details to mull over!
Full mulling under the cut. It’s long, there are theories, blah blah blah. You know the drill.
So, uh, guys, DID I ACTUALLY GUESS IT?? Is my wild-and-crazy Sheilah/Mel theory from a couple of posts back actually on the money??? We haven’t gotten full confirmation from the story yet, just suspicion from our characters, and since it’s my theory I’m going to refuse to truly believe until there’s no room for doubt. But Fig and Ford have happily jumped aboard the good ship Meilah, and I’m soooo here to see how that plays out.
On the other hand, the other part of that theory, that TD is Fitzgerald’s mysterious midnight murderer, doesn’t hold up as well. Wilhelmina and Cliff vouch for the fact that he was at the party between Fitzy’s exit and 1am. This doesn’t necessarily mean anything—Scott was too drunk to record the exact time of his own murder, and while we can infer that it was before 1am (as he probably started recording the moment he arrived home), we don’t know for sure. But even if TD didn’t head to Fitzgerald’s in the dead of night, we still have to account for his hour-long disappearance earlier in the evening. Sheilah notably mentions that she cannot find her keys at around the same time that TD goes missing. As staff able to take people’s coats, TD was perfectly situated to lift her keys without being noticed. He likely spent that missing hour breaking into Scott’s and Sheilah’s house, right? He could have been trying to acquire a copy of Greater Gatsby for Mel, accomplish something related to his quest to join the Brigade, or even follow some order from Mel related to Sheilah’s and Fitzy’s latest spat. After all, we know from an off-hand comment from Cliff that the pair had recently had a fight dramatic enough to become full-blown Hollywood gossip.
But Fitzgerald’s murder is not the only mystery to solve. Do we think this Horace Beanslot, with his apparent disdain for original stories, has anything to do with the mysterious death threats plaguing adaptions? Think about it: Horace strikes down Mel’s passion project idea, over-ruling her enthusiasm for genuine storytelling and art (who knew?) because adaptions are a financially safer bet. Barely a week later, Wilhelmina receives the first in a series of threatening letters targeting those involved with making said Hollywood adaptions. What if the letters are an intentional plan cooked up by Mel and/or TD to make adaptions toxic to Hollywood, encouraging Beanslot to allow Mel’s original passion projects instead? That would explain why so many of the letters were dropped off around the Grapes set without anyone noticing—it would be easy for TD or hired help to deliver all manner of things without attracting any attention. A quest to destroy Hollywood’s adaption habit could also explain why Mel seems to be almost actively sabotaging The Grapes of Wrath at every turn.
And then, ever so inevitably, there is the Dash of it all. What the flippity-flappity-frick was he doing at that party? Fitzgerald had yet to be murdered, Wilhelmina had yet to receive the first letter… all of the cases Fig and Ford are investigating technically hadn’t started. So was Dash there on a matter unrelated to what he’s working on now? Or is he part of something that began much earlier than we know? I mentioned last time that Dash only really appears when Willie is around, and this pattern held true once again. Maybe Roger hired him to keep an eye on Wilhelmina while he was away in the slammer? Alternatively, is/was Dash somehow working for Penny? I don’t think this is particularly likely, their alleged Christmastime hook-up feels more like a cheeky nod to Joey and Lauren’s real life marriage, but it seemed worth asking.
As for the interviews, I’m afraid they were a little more informative to Ford than they were to me. It appears we are fast approaching the part of most detective stories in which said detective has figured out the case and chosen to keep their loyal audience (me) in the dark. We’ll just have to see if I can catch up before everything is brought to light. I didn’t get much from Mel and TD, and the Farnsworth Farnsworth aside simply feels like a silly audio-drama bit, but Vivian and Barnaby were as fascinating as always. Much like Ford himself, I was particularly interested to hear that the cops had already questioned Barnaby about his tie clip. Assuming Ford or Claudette didn’t slip up, there’s only a couple of ways the cops could have grabbed that info: Sheilah could have tipped them off, or the cops could have placed it there themselves. We know that Vivian and Mo are very deep in cahoots—what if she gave him the tie clip to place at the scene, and Mo was the mysterious trespasser spotted by Citizen Jasper Fox? We’ve known from the beginning that Vivian is intent on placing the blame for Fitzgerald’s murder at Barnaby’s door, whether he’s guilty or not. Perhaps, due to their pre-nup, locking him up is her attempt to get him out of her life without losing access to his wealth. But if she’s working with Mo, why hire Fig and Ford? And what does our least favorite cop get out of this? Is it tit-for-tat for some help stealing the bar from Bixby? Who knows, maybe Vivian’s having an affair with Mo as well.
Also, speaking of tie clips, Vivian gave F. Scott one on the night of his murder. Coincidence?
Other Stray Thoughts:
-Why was Leery’s Christmas so sad? Are the Persuad’s just poking fun at country music tropes, or did he really just lose a love? And does that have anything to do with anything?
-Well, Barnaby’s middle name is “Ellis,” not “Eugene.” But you can’t win them all.
-We know Mel has mob ties through her sister’s high school boyfriend Lucky Luciano. Does this play into any knowledge she has of Luigi?
-Our little Ford’s ice-cold heart is slowly but surely melting and it’s a lovely bit of character development. Just in time for real-life Christmas.
-I love Cliff and his friendship with Willie. He’s constantly lowering his expectations and she’s constantly limboing right under them nonetheless.
-I desperately want to see this tap-dance adaption of The Grapes of Wrath. Like, what do you mean it will feature actual wrathful-looking grapes??
That’s all I have for these episode! Six more to go!
The Case of the Greater Gatsby Episode 15 "Say You'll Be There" and Episode 16 "Torn"
And… we’re back! It’s a been a bit, between the hiatus, my decision to re-listen to the entire podcast before checking out new episodes, and then me simply not feeling like comedy podcast discussion in the immediate wake of the 2024 American election. But here we are, and I’m ready to talk some Greater Gatsby. And by some, I of course mean “way too much.”
Full theorizing under the cut!
Let’s start with Dash and his latest mysterious and inexplicable appearance, albeit this time in a more passable disguise. As interesting as his abrupt showing at the Los Angeles Shady Palms Penitentiary is (I see what you did with that name, Persauds, and I love it), I’m more compelled by his equally abrupt departure. Fig and Ford spend an inordinate amount of time getting Dash out of their way, so it’s noticeable when he actually leaves of his own accord. So why did he skulk off? It seems most likely that he was off to report about Fig’s post-mortem request, especially since Claudette later mentions how closed-off Hypatia has become. But can we say that for sure? It’s worth noting that the only other person present for every single one of Dash’s appearances (as far as I recall, and not counting the Christmas special) is not Fig or Ford but Wilhelmina. She was at the movie lot, Fig and Ford’s office when Mel, TD, and Dash all appear, at Bixby’s for the disastrous information heist, and now at the Penitentiary. I’ve been thinking that Dash had something to do with the dispersal of the threatening letters, but what if it’s the opposite? What if, after the arrival of the first letter, Roger hired Dash to keep an eye on his beloved wife? Honestly, Roger feels like one of the few characters in this story who would actually hire Dash for anything. This certainly doesn’t explain why Dash left when he did, but it makes a sort of sense otherwise. I should also note that all of Dash’s appearances except for the information heist could also be tied back to TD, but that one exception is too big for me to think anything’s there.
But also, ROGER IS BACK! I love Gabe, I love Roger, I’ve been awaiting his grand entrance for literally over a year, and it didn’t disappoint! Roger successfully producing movies and more importantly merch from prison is a brilliant joke. While we didn’t get confirmation that Roger is the other producer Fitz was considering selling Greater Gatsby (I’m a little annoyed at Ford for not asking about that, to be honest), he does seem like he’s building up to something big, keeping his name on the map and developing the personal infrastructure to do something on the scale of Greater Gatsby upon his release. But what TD have to do with it? Is Roger working with the Hammermeisters on plans to make or hide Greater Gatsby once the script is found? After all, TD’s inclusion in the prison scenes has to be important…
Speaking of important, we FINALLY got around to revisiting arguably the single most important character in this story: Citizen Jasper Fox. We get an explanation for his incorrect account of the night of the murder—he was “bullied” into lying by Mo Beats—but I’m honestly not satisfied that that’s all there is to him. Shipwrecked, don’t think I’ve forgotten that he spent a good portion of his first ever scene railing against all the sequels and adaptions in Hollywood. He’s the first person in the show to openly espouse the opinions apparently held by our mysterious letter threatener, and I do hold that against him. Also, the question remains—why exactly is Mo Beats covering up so much evidence? Is he obscuring the crime to protect the guilty, or to stop other investigators from solving it before he does and depriving him of a nice, shiny promotion?
It’s too bad that Ford can’t hand himself a similar promotion, because the tie pin in Sheilah’s curtains is a fascinating find. While I suppose the pin could simply read “Ben,” I think we can all agree that it’s more likely the initials “B.E.N.” and that those initials most likely belong to Barnaby Nightingale. And this probably means Barnaby was Citizen Jasper Fox’s mysterious intruder, and also that he’s probably after the tapes. He’s one of the few people to know that they exist. But was he looking to cover up the murder, delete evidence of his threat to Fitzy, protect Vivian and his marriage, or do something else altogether? Alternatively, if Barnaby is the killer (a big “if”), his tie pin could have become caught in the curtains during a physical fight with Fitzgerald. However, we do know that Sheilah cleaned the house in preparation for Zelda’s arrival, and it seems unlikely that someone of her observational power wouldn’t spot the pin.
Now for the real wacky theorizing I know everyone expects from these posts. Assuming the tie does belong to Barnaby, the B and the N initials are obvious and known, but what about the E? My current wild-bonkers-and-almost-definitely-not-true conspiracy theory is that the “E” stands for Eugene, and Barnaby himself is the missing Punchwhistle triplet. He does makes a joke earlier in the show about how the real Barnaby Nightingale was a deceased soldier who’s identity he stole, so what if he wasn’t completely kidding? What if Barnaby Nightingale is a fiction, whether completely made up or stolen different original man, that Eugene created for himself, adopting “E” as a new middle initial as tribute to his former life? After all, one of the few things we know about Eugene is that he always knew what to do, and Barnaby is somehow always able to come out of top. The last time we saw Lex, she and Rex were left passed out and unattended with Ford’s case notes. What if Lex woke up, and perused Ford’s notes to find the lead that Rex mentioned after her disappearance? And what if that thing she found was about Barnaby? If the lead to Eugene’s identity is hidden in Ford’s notes, there’s only so many people that could be. Also, if Fitzgerald found out about Barnaby’s real identity in the pursuit for Greater Gatsby gossip, that could give him yet another notice for murder….
On the other side of things, new character Juniper gave us and Fig a surprising amount to think about with her twin revelations: that she used to date a PI and that Sheilah is running a new gossip radio show with a lot to say about Fig. Does Sheilah still believe that Fig is trying to get back into the newspaper biz, and is running an advance smear campaign to head off any potential competition? Or is she simply getting revenge after what Fig did to her toilet? As for Juniper’s PI Boyfriend, is that possibly Ford’s deep dark secret that must be protected at all costs? That, despite his aversion to Hollywood, he dated an up-and-coming starlet? It doesn’t seem all that likely, considering how willing he is to admit his attraction to Vivian (though to be fair, being attracted to an actress and actually dating one are two very different things). On the other hand, there is a similar sultry vibe to Mary Kate’s and Krystina’s voice performances. And that revelation would be a very cute and silly answer that doesn’t tarnish our image of Ford as a character.
Other thoughts and observations:
-I really don’t see Whitley as the murderer, a work feud over Great Gatsby is a little too blunt and obvious a motive, but it’ll be interesting to learn just what his spat with Fitzgerald was about (Whitley’s lack of care for the source material, perhaps? If Grapes of Wrath is anything to go by) and how it fits into the larger mystery.
-The maroon fabric on the tapes is interesting. A couple of episodes back, Donald mentioned how Vivian sometimes wears red—is that what the fabric comes from? If so, it could mean nothing—we know Vivian used to play around with the tape recorder before Fitzy’s murder. Though both Nightingale’s leaving clothing bits behind as evidence seems a little too convenient… could someone be setting them up?
Alright, onto the next two episodes! Apparently this next one contains answers about the Christmas Party???? EXCITED!!
The Solve It Squad as Servants of the Lords in Black
AKA an AU I think about a lot but will probably never write.
Gwen: Blinky. This one's obvious and easy. Gwen's career is all about fame and perception, and she loves to be noticed--her underlying character motivation often boils down to "get as many eyes on me as possible." And she's constantly positioning the others in front of cameras, doing her best to lay them bare to the world, even when they're at their very worst.
Esther: Nibbly. I briefly considered putting Scrags here, but ultimately decided that his relationship with food is far too complex. Esther, on the other hand, doesn't really have that problem. Despite their anarcho leanings and consistent disdain for capitalism, deep-down Esther is all about consumption, and often the pointedly mindless kind. The non-stop intake of substances, the way their brain devours information when they're sober... hell, they even work as a sample person at Costco of all places (no offense to Costco).
Keith: Tinky. Another bastard-and-bastard duo. While T'noy Karaxis is all about the false promise of nostalgia and the dangerous allure of living in the past, connecting him to all of the Squad but Esther, Keith takes it to a whole new level. This man is in his 30s, and he lives in the car he drove in high school, maintains an imaginary relationship with his girlfriend from freshman year, designs and sells merchandise of his high school glory days, and at one point even puts on the clothes he wore when he was probably fifteen. But really seals the deal is his Tinky-esque willingness to trap others in the past with him, going so far as to manipulate and deceive in order to return to a time where he felt he mattered. And what's more Tinky than that?
Scrags: Wiggly. Representing Capitalism, Wiggly is all about the holes that the ravages of time leave in people's souls, and the mad, exploitative rush to find something that fills them. And who feels the wounds of the past more deeply and painfully than Scrags? Unlike Esther, Scrags is forced by diabetes to find something other than straight-up non-stop consumption to deal with his losses, and unlike Keith he operates under the delusion that he's not still living in the past. But he's nonetheless constantly searching for an out. So instead he loses himself in his job, working as basically a cop of all things, and what's more capitalist than that?
BONUS--
Cluebert: Pokey. "Cluebert, you’re the tie that binds us all as ONE." He was their unifier, the thing that kept them working as one unit. Also, let's be real, a talking dog is some Pokey-ass shit.
Hey have you listened to the newest Greater Gatsby episode yet? I loved your thoughts and theories from the first half they're so cool
Hello! I'm actually going back and doing a re-listen since it's been a couple of months, but I am planning on finishing that in the next day or two and I will then of course be listening to the new episodes and sharing my likely large number of thoughts! Thanks for asking!
Hi,
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