This was a terrible episode and I am just happy you muster the strength to write something about it, Christina. You have been amusing as always on this recap.
Great review. One thing I can’t grasp is during the final conversation between Alex and Mitch, whose side are we meant to be on? Are we supposed to feel that Mitch still doesn’t get it, despite his whining about how much he’s changed, and that Alex has no choice but to cut him loose? Or are we supposed to take him at his word that he wasn’t trying to target black women, and that Alex is a monster for not defending him? Because the moment is framed too sympathetically towards both of them.
My wife (who isn’t super into the show and usually couldn’t care less about deconstructing it) and I were just having a whole TALK about this episode. It’s just profoundly bad writing. Like five different versions of a breakup no one cares about. The emotional thrust of the episode could have happened in 15 minutes of screen time (to be generous). Plus SO many missed opportunities for plot advancement with Alex in Italy at the start of the pandemic. Do they think we have such pandemic fatigue the it’s fine for early 2020 to be a plot device? In a show that is ostensibly about journalists?? Damn I hate the writing on this show. But I still want to watch this dumb show. I guess they win (and you. Your recaps are honestly what keep me going.)
“The problem was (and is) that the show is more interested in framing that power grab as a yas queen girlboss moment than what it really is—a demonstration of the lengths rich white women will go to maintain their status, no matter what the ramifications are for the people around them.” — Are you kidding about being framed as a yas queen girlboss? Maybe at the moment it was, but the series continues to tell you otherwise. The show knows she’s a selfish, rich white woman. It goes to great lengths to show you that. Alex is in her car trying to convince herself she is a good person. The show doesn’t inherently condemn her for her selfish, rich white woman-ness, but it shouldn’t need to. Who exactly needs to be told that that isn’t good? You’re welcome not to have sympathy for the character—the show isn’t insisting you do. But as much as maybe very few people would have sympathy for a character like Alex, the emotions of that person are very real to them. If that’s not a character study you’re interested in watching, that’s fine, but if that’s the case, you’re watching the wrong show.
This was a terrible episode and I am just happy you muster the strength to write something about it, Christina. You have been amusing as always on this recap.
Great review. One thing I can’t grasp is during the final conversation between Alex and Mitch, whose side are we meant to be on? Are we supposed to feel that Mitch still doesn’t get it, despite his whining about how much he’s changed, and that Alex has no choice but to cut him loose? Or are we supposed to take him at his word that he wasn’t trying to target black women, and that Alex is a monster for not defending him? Because the moment is framed too sympathetically towards both of them.
My wife (who isn’t super into the show and usually couldn’t care less about deconstructing it) and I were just having a whole TALK about this episode. It’s just profoundly bad writing. Like five different versions of a breakup no one cares about. The emotional thrust of the episode could have happened in 15 minutes of screen time (to be generous). Plus SO many missed opportunities for plot advancement with Alex in Italy at the start of the pandemic. Do they think we have such pandemic fatigue the it’s fine for early 2020 to be a plot device? In a show that is ostensibly about journalists?? Damn I hate the writing on this show. But I still want to watch this dumb show. I guess they win (and you. Your recaps are honestly what keep me going.)
“The problem was (and is) that the show is more interested in framing that power grab as a yas queen girlboss moment than what it really is—a demonstration of the lengths rich white women will go to maintain their status, no matter what the ramifications are for the people around them.” — Are you kidding about being framed as a yas queen girlboss? Maybe at the moment it was, but the series continues to tell you otherwise. The show knows she’s a selfish, rich white woman. It goes to great lengths to show you that. Alex is in her car trying to convince herself she is a good person. The show doesn’t inherently condemn her for her selfish, rich white woman-ness, but it shouldn’t need to. Who exactly needs to be told that that isn’t good? You’re welcome not to have sympathy for the character—the show isn’t insisting you do. But as much as maybe very few people would have sympathy for a character like Alex, the emotions of that person are very real to them. If that’s not a character study you’re interested in watching, that’s fine, but if that’s the case, you’re watching the wrong show.