1. What was your favourite scene of the episode? Tell us why!
I’M THAT BITCH
but fave comedic scene is annie talking to nancy sitting on the floor of her quinoa-filled pantry
2. Was there any scene that missed the mark for you? And if so, how?
please dont hate me or kick me out of the fandom buuuuuut
it’s not that it misses the mark for me at all — it’s just that the final stop-sign scene between beth and rio isn’t anywhere near my list of favorite brio scenes, and i think it’s on a lot of other people’s lists?
DON’T KICK ME OUT
3. At the start of this episode, the girls discuss Rio’s assignment and they talk about it as a gang initiation - blood in, blood out. Do you think this is what Rio actually intended in giving them the job? Or do you think it was still more of a punishment for his arrest?
absolutely not. rio was punishing them and i think figured that they would fail. the fact that rio seems to believe that beth really did kill boomer later both delights him and causes them to pull beth in closer—but significantly, season 2 is when he stops bringing around his boys and keeps a harsher division between the girls and the rest of the gang. it’s a bit of a funny situation that way in that by not absorbing them into the gang (and therefore under his control or protection) it’s more like they’re business associates, which by default gives beth more power as her own independent boss from him. i actually think if rio gave beth some loyalty he’d get a whole hell of a lot of it in return, and it’s a major mistake on his part to treat them differently from the get-go because he is somewhat dismissive of them as long-term assets to his team and thinks of them instead as temporary and disposable.
4. Greg tries to corner Annie about their affair in front of his pregnant wife! It’s mortifying, haha, but also raises the question of what do you think Greg’s thoughts were at this point. Why do you think he was still trying to get pregnant with Nancy while entertaining dreams of leaving her for Annie? And what do you think his plan was for the relationships overall?
i think greg’s pretty clearly a coward because he’s scrambling to pin annie down at the only moment that seems available to him because annie’s avoiding him so hard. he’s also a coward because he’s absolutely planning to stay with nancy if he can’t have annie. i think that’s why he doesn’t put a stop to the pregnancy plans—he’s super passive and only reacts to other people’s decisions. he never makes his own.
5. We really see how betrayed Stan feels by Ruby in this episode in their marriage counselling scene, and the effect that has on Ruby. Why do you think Stan feels this so deeply, and do you think that things would’ve been different if she’d told him upfront about everything as it happened?
i think stan and ruby have really, genuinely never lied to or betrayed each other before. i think they’ve fought and they’ve disagreed, but we saw a lot in season 1 how gullible stan was to the craziest lies on ruby’s part—he never second-guessed her because she’d never given him a reason to. i think it really shook him up that she could be so two-faced. i think it probably makes him cast more doubt on other aspects of their relationship because he didn’t even know. he didn’t even have an inkling. i think that trust wouldn’t be broken in the same way if she’d been upfront, but i also think stan would’ve put a stop to her involvement and that’s why she didn’t tell him -- in her mind, it was something she had to do (and something she’d do again) and she couldn’t let him stop her so she just simply didn’t tell him.
6. Another Annie crime heist comes to fruition in this episode as the girls steal a car to scrap for parts! What do you think of this particular idea? Do you think they should’ve gotten away with it as easily as they did?
i’m gonna be honest and say i’ve never really thought about how easily they got away with this particular crime, haha, but i actually think it would’ve been quiet easy to get away with if greg hadn’t seen annie snooping through women’s purses. the fact that one of greg’s guests went outside to find out that her tesla had been stolen and her keys were missing is???? like???? the pool of people that had access to said keys was large, but not that large, y’know??
i think the only reason they get away with it, honestly, is because the car shows up at the valet. the employees probably felt the brunt of the responsibility for the stolen honda, tbh.
7. Nancy gets a lot of great scenes in this episode, and in particular it seems to mark an overall turning point in her relationship with Annie twice over – the first when it becomes clear that she wants a relationship with Annie, and secondly the betrayal of realising Annie’s been sleeping with Greg. Why do you think Nancy sought out a friendship with Annie? And what do you think of Annie’s varying responses to the other woman?
nancy’s pretty lonely and has a hard time making friends, clearly, because her baby shower is filled with fake friends and acquaintances. and in a strange way, i think nancy does sort of consider annie family or relates to her on some level because of their shared connection to greg and ben. it seems pretty clear that nancy and greg have some communication issues (amongst other things) and i think she really does care about her marriage and she sought annie out because she was there and nancy was already feeling vulnerable and annie was probably the one person in the world that might have some unique insights or answers to that particular problem because she’d been in a relationship with and had a baby with greg too.
8. “I don’t think I’ve ever looked at Dean the way you looked at Stan.” Discuss!
i think beth loved dean, but i don’t think she was ever in love with dean, but i don’t think she particularly realized that distinction until after their marriage had already been irreparably destroyed. i think she was happy with him once, and he made her feel safe and secure and loved at one time, but he was never her best friend, never her soulmate, and i also think beth’s never been able to be vulnerable with dean in the way that she’s able to be vulnerable with annie and ruby and i dare i say it by the end of the episode—even rio.
9. “I’m that bitch” Discuss!
amazing. flawless. 100000/10.
10. We’ve seen Beth try to bullshit Rio a lot across the three seasons of the show, but arguably the scene at the pool is one of her most brazen lies. Do you think Rio believed Beth at any point in her story? What do you think was running through both their heads in the moment of it?
i think he knew she didn’t do it before she even opened her mouth, and then he was just delighted to watch her embarrass herself. i think he was somewhat utterly fascinated at how committed she was in spinning the lie, and i think the disparity between that brazen lie and her utter vulnerable truth at the end of the episode is something that affects him pretty significantly.
i also think the only reason she pulled off the murder lie in 2.04 is because she really did believe boomer was dead and really had gone through the experience of getting rid of the body—it was a lie by omission, and i think beth is much better at pulling those off.
11. Why do you think Beth aggressively stole / tore down the stop sign?
she needed to feel like she could fix something since everything in else in her life was spinning desperately out of her control. it’s also an interesting juxtaposition of her putting up a STOP sign that maintains peace and control and safety at the exact moment that she agrees to take a bigger step into crime that ensures she’ll never quite have those things in the same way again.
12. That final scene with Beth and Rio is another massive turning point in the season overall, and likely one of their most emotionally honest. What are your thoughts on it overall? And what do you make of it in the context of the broader series?
i think things would’ve been really, really different if beth hadn’t been so honest with him in that moment. honestly, i half-think if she’d tried pulling any other stunt, rio probably would’ve gone through with killing her.
13. On a scale of one to ten, how mad are you that we never got the scene where Rio taught Beth how to use a gun?
don’t talk to me, i can’t think about it or i’ll spontaneously combust.
