I really liked the “previously on.” It brought together so many of the key points we had discussed in our season 1 recap and a lot of the things from my notes that we just didn’t have enough time to discuss.
(First off, I’ve got to say that I am not a fan of Jane’s new hairstyle. I actually Googled to see if it was a wig. I didn’t want to go too far down a rabbit hole, mostly because I want to provide my own take here, but I did skim over most of one article. Apparently her bangs were the talk of Twitter, with many being of a similar mind to me. I can see why Jane would want to do something drastically different after the events of last season, but dying her hair black AND adding those dreadful “baby bangs” was a bit much for me. When her hair was in a ponytail it wasn’t as odd looking, but I really disliked the look on her when she wore it down. It was just very distracting for me to look at.)
Bonnie on the beach, remembering when they took the kids to play after Perry’s death. Renata on the beach, remembering the fight that led to Perry’s fall. Madeline in bed, remembering the passion she shared with Joseph, which quickly shifts to Perry and Jane in the bar the night of Jane’s rape, and current-time Jane looking out over the ocean, also remembering Ziggy’s anger. Celeste looking down at the ocean, remembering her police interview, then her and Perry at her ultrasound when she got pregnant with the twins, flashes of many memories, suddenly culminating with her mother-in-law, Mary-Louise waking her from the nightmare. As Celeste rushes to get the boys going for school, Mary-Louise asks her what the nightmare was about. Celeste tries to blow her off, but M-L persists, telling her, “You said ‘rape.’”
Jane and Ziggy getting ready for the first day of school, dancing around and having fun.
M-L takes Celeste, Max and Josh to the school. The boys are screaming and yelling at one another in the backseat. Celeste tries to get them to behave, but it just takes one harsh, “Quiet” from their grandmother to get them to settle. She gives them a mini-lecture on being “fine young men,” saying that their mother works hard for them, “that’s why the sun shines on her so.”
Madeline in the car with Ed and Chloe, discussing all the ins and outs of being a parent in this town and how they are all judged, especially the moms.
The women show up and all hug one another, other than Bonnie, who Celeste kisses on the temple, but Bonnie remains very reserved. The weird school assembly. We see more of Bonnie seeming like she’s not really “there.” After the assembly, Madeline approaches the principal, Warren, and introduces herself to the woman next to him, then states that it was a “beautiful service.” He responds “…I like to think of it more as an assembly. A *service* is for when someone dies, like at a school fundraiser.” OUCH! They’re interrupted by cupcake lady, who Madeline tells she’ll take one for each thigh and that she likes to just shove them down there. “Maybe you can give one to Warren, so he can shove it.”
Madeline approaches Nathan and Bonnie. Bonnie makes quick small talk, but walks away after one exchange, saying she needs to go find Skye. Madeline reminds Nathan about the meeting with the college counselor for Abigail and he quickly makes his exit. Renata talks to Amabella’s new teacher, telling him that A has an IQ of 152, genius level, so she expects special attention, and that she was bullied last year.
Madeline mentions to Celeste and Jane that there’s something not right with Bonnie, and drives like a crazy person with Celeste in the car. They stop for a seaside coffee, Madeline sees Mary-Louise, who shows herself to be an increasingly odd bird. She comments on Madeline’s short stature, saying that she finds “little people to be untrustworthy.” She carries on further, saying she wants to know what happened to her son. Madeline states, “He lost his balance and fell.” M-L says, “Yes that seems to be the company line.”
Ed runs into Tori (the wife of Joseph, the guy who had an affair with Madeline) at the grocery store and mentions that she’s had her breasts done, and that it pisses Joseph off. Celeste meets with her therapist, mentioning the nightmares and that perhaps they’re coming up due to the start of the school year. Celeste says that she turned into a monster in her dream. Therapist asks her if she sees herself as a monster. Celeste says it’s her fault Perry died, because if she hadn’t chosen to tell him that night, none of it would have happened. Her therapist says, “Even in death his message lives on… That you’re to blame, that you’re always to blame.”
Bonnie running, remembering. Shutting Nathan out. Jane at her apparent new job at the aquarium, talking to a group of kids about an octopus’s method of killing its mate after the act is finished. A kid astutely asks, “Why is it, the prettier something is, the more dangerous? Like with snakes and spiders.” Jane’s co-worker steps in with an answer. Nathan approaches Ed and asks him to talk to Bonnie for him, that he’s always been better at talking to women. Bizarre conversation. The conversation ends badly as is usual with these two.
Renata in the car, pulling up to her house. Madeline, showing a house, but on the phone with what seems like Celeste, talking about how oddly Bonnie is behaving and then saying, “I’m beating myself up for telling Jane that I liked her bangs.” Lol I’m not the only one, it seems. Lol Back to Renata at her power-mom photo shoot. Gordon on the stairs, questioning what’s going on before retreating to a train room and a LOT of whiskey. I found this, with Gordon, to be a little odd. Last season he also had a powerful job. They had sex in his office when she came there to tlak with him about Amabella’s bullying… But suddenly he’s this train-collecting whiskey-swigger???
Madeline, Nathan, and Abigail at the meeting with the college counselor. Weird when Nathan shuts her down, calling her “honey.” Once again, Abigail talks about how she doesn’t want to go to college. She said this last season and Madeline refused to accept it. Madeline claims this isn’t about her, but it really is, it’s about her having control. I don’t know why Madeline is acting like this is some kind of surprise. She shoves Nathan.
Celeste remembering having her face pushed into the couch cushion by Perry, then sex with him. Madeline shows up at her real estate office to find Mary-Louise sitting there with a coworker. SHe points out that Madeline is wearing heels. Madeline tells M-L that she doesn’t appreciate the way she had spoken to her at the cafe. M-L brings up a roommate that she had in college who betrayed her and that Madeline reminds M-L of that person. Madeline turn M-L back over to her coworker.
Jane dances on the beach with her headphones in. Her coworker from the aquarium shows up to surf and asks her if she’s on the Spectrum. He also points out that weird-dancing on the beach is probably not in her best interest with the way people talk in that town.
Meeting of the Monterey 5 minus Bonnie in Madeline’s car. Madeline shows up at Nathan and Bonnie’s, confronts Bonnie about not having shown up and asks her if she’s ok. Bonnie asks her if she even cares. Bonnie tells Madeline that she’s angry with herself for not having told the truth in the first place, that she lied because they all fell in line behind Madeline after she lied. Bonnie feels that had she told the truth in the first place, she would have gotten off with nothing anyway, but now she can’t say anything and she can’t even talk to her husband about it. Nathan interrupts and Madeline goes in to talk to Abigail. Again. About college. Sigh…. Keep beating that dead horse, Madeline. Ugh…
Jane and Celeste having wine together. Celeste asks Jane why she isn’t cashing the checks. Jane calls it “rape money.” Celeste points out that Ziggy is entitled to it as part of Perry’s estate. Jane asks why Celeste doesn’t hate her for having slept with her husband. Celeste has more memories as she arrives home. Dancing with Perry, Perry playing with the boys, etc. The boys ask about KFC as they start dinner, M-L gets a dig in about not being able to have fast food EVERY night and that they have banned some fast foods in places in San Francisco. She asks the boys if they remember visiting the Golden Gate Bridge, Josh says that it’s red, Max says something about dad saying he was going to swim to Alcatraz. Josh states that “sharks would’ve eat him, stupid.” Max says, “no they wouldn’t, idiot.” Josh sticks his fork in Max’s arm. Celeste tells them the behavior is unacceptable. Josh says that he misses his dad. M-L’s chat about them being angry and her being angry and that all these other dads are still out there living when her awesome son isn’t and that it isn’t fair. Then she gives her primal scream and scare the shit out of the boys. She seems very offended that Celeste doesn’t feel angry…
Jane remembering the footprints on the beach. Drawing a picture of Perry being smothered by octopus arms. Bonnie standing outside a police station. We finally get to see a clip of Madeline’s police interview with sound. Last season, some bits of the interviews were shown, but we heard none of what the Monterey 5 actually *said* to the police. We see the women in a police lineup with Perry the one who needs to identify his killer. Celeste wakes from her nightmare screaming “I’ll kill you!” At which point, M-L walks in the room to comfort her, then asks “Who are we planning to kill?”
So we’re seeing a lot of aftermath of the events of last season.
Bonnie is struggling to deal with the consequences not only of what she’s done, but having covered it up.
Madeline is still trying to gain control over everything in her life. She wants to have passion, so she’s throwing herself into her real estate work.
Jane has made huge changes, which she’s showing outwardly with that “hairstyle,” but also in her complete change of careers, from being a bookkeeper to working at the aquarium.
Renata seems to have largely carried on as before, though I think Gordon is having some sort of crisis. I think you’re right in that it seems as if Ed probably knows about Madeline’s affair.
Nathan is spiraling, as his wife has changed drastically and he has no idea why or what to do to try and fix it.
We don’t see much with any of the kids except Max and Josh, and they are having a rough time dealing with their dad’s death, understandably. Their violent behavior toward one another is probably going to lead to something later in the season, I would guess.
Mary-Louise is definitely an interesting addition to the cast of characters. She’s already stirring things up so much and causing issues for Celeste and Madeline. Looking forward to seeing what particular brand of crazy she’s bringing, as I don’t think she’s playing with a full deck. It seems very likely that she’s a large contributing factor to what made Perry the man he became. In the scene in the car when she yelled at the boys, it seemed similar to Kathy Bates’ character in the adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery.
I think she firmed that up for me with the screaming scene at the dinner table. I can’t tell if she was truly being honest with Madeline about her past and why she feels that way she feels about her, but I kind of hope that we get to see some flashbacks to when Perry was young and she was raising him and how he became the person he was. Also, I would love to know what you think about the change in directors this season. I’m clueless as to the technical details of filming but I always find your takes very interesting and I feel like I notice different things going forward as a result.