I didn’t get giggly from the episode. It seemed pretty grim for people falling in love, actually.

That’s the problem with only having one writer.

You mean not using protection? I doubt Ray brought condoms to the stakeout of the sex party, and they didn’t exactly have time to go shopping. I can buy that Ani didn’t worry much about getting pregnant when she expects they are unlikely to live much longer.

Not a lot of people, which probably helps the bar work as a front for a human smuggling operation. They finally explained why it was always almost empty but still in business.

Oh, I’m not saying anything about the character was executed well. I’m just starting to wonder if he is supposed to only seem comfortable in his own skin when he’s handling violent and risky situations.

Me too. I didn’t find Frank cringeworthy this time. Violence seems to work for him. Maybe that’s the point?

I thought so too. It was heavily foreshadowed and seemed believable for both characters. The choice of ominous music and cutting from Ani and Ray to Paul’s situation was interesting, though. It really reinforced the idea that noting is going to end well for these characters.

Ani fucking Ray was heavily foreshadowed actually. It is cliche but not coming out of nowhere. Ani has an established pattern of sleeping with inappropriate men from work. That’s what got her the sexual harassment complaint. And while Ray says he’s a bad man, he seems kind to women and was concerned that Ani was sober…

Rich, powerful scum protecting each other.

I think that’s typical for invasive species. I also know that places where they have culled cats in the past have had trouble with invasive rats multiplying without enough predation. Culls of rodents to protect sea birds have been successful on isolated islands, but it requires a lot of effort and using poison to kill…

Maybe, but we don’t need more characters. And it is not like True Detective doesn’t deal with cults as a continuing theme. I appreciated that we have a cult survivor in the main cast rather than just seeing women who are dead or one-note victims. The show still has a lot of issues with how it deals with the female…

I would not be surprised at all if the son knows about the rape. He’s not a little kid anymore. My problem with Ray’s interactions with his son is that the son does have interests, but they aren’t traditionally macho and Ray tends to shut them down. Ray’s reaction to watching Friends doesn’t seem like the first time…

She said he was thin and white and tall, I think.

I was hoping someone else noticed it was a bird’s beak pairing knife! It was from the pig.

Ray thinks he’s being a good father but his son seems frightened and uncomfortable around him. Ray is unpredictable and violent when drunk. He might be trying to show his son how to stand up for himself, but he is really just making the kid uncomfortable and frightened. Ray’s heart is in the right place but there is…

We only see her from Ray’s point of view, and she agreed very quickly not the tell her son. I’m not sure if she ever wanted to tell her son, but she was willing to play that card to get Ray out of her life. It would really help if we saw more of her when she wasn’t interacting with Ray.

The choreography was very well done. They showed that Ani didn’t want to use the knife, but did so to save herself as a last resort on instinct. She was obviously aiming to leave without killing anyone.

I liked how they shot the orgy because it was an underwhelming, heteronormative, sad and exploitative party. In other words, it was what you would expect from the men attending it and not framed as fascinating ritual. It didn’t glamorize the men present the way that the cult in the first season was glamorized for most…

It is very believable. It didn’t necessarily have to be Ani herself who was assaulted, but allowing sexual predators to abuse young women is incredibly common in cults.

Because cult trauma is very often sexual. The type of people who prey on others through cults are very often rapists. This happens in conservative religious cults and in the new age type of cult that Ani grew up in very frequently. It would probably be unrealistic if Ani or someone she knew hadn’t been sexually…