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alf_pogs posted:I think Nala got resolution - after two (perceived) successful curses, she apologised to Asher and steadfastly refused to curse Dougie when he asked. shes done with curses and I'm not sure what else there needs to be to her story, really I need to see her watching TikTok’s and learning multiplication. What if she’s bad at her 9s table?
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Jan 14, 2024 00:56
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fawning deference posted:Quick example: do you think Fernando or Abshir or the little girl got any resolution whatsoever? Isn't Asher + Whitney + the show not giving the local residents an actual resolution kind of a running theme of the show?
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Jan 14, 2024 00:57
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hughesta posted:I don't really see how they dropped it at all. The land and its residents literally ejected one of the gentrifiers. I guess we'll just disagree. This is another one of those reaches to me, where you can "interpret" anything to mean that something was resolved. Nowhere in this episode did I get the feeling that Asher's situation was representative of the residents of the town doing it to him. We have all been talking in this thread about how it seems to clearly be about Asher's role in Whit's life / fear of not being needed / fatherhood etc. (because these are things are explicitly stated) and there was a decision not to show anything explicit about the aftermath of the show's effect on Espaniola, why we never saw Fernando again, why Abshir wound up being a total non-factor, etc.
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Jan 14, 2024 01:01
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deep dish peat moss posted:Isn't Asher + Whitney + the show not giving the local residents an actual resolution kind of a running theme of the show? Not really, it's generally just been about how the show is a self-serving vehicle for Whitney while Espaniola residents are getting taken advantage of. That was a huge part of the show. Also, not giving the viewers resolution because the characters in the show don't give resolution to the residents of Espaniola would still be an insufficient explanation. You watch a show, things build, you would like some satisfying ends to be made.
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Jan 14, 2024 01:03
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Enemabag Jones posted:I always find sudden time skips jarring and the heavy emphasis on parenting They did it better here because we didn't get too much breathing room to ponder how these extremely abnormal people kept up a semblance of normalcy for 9 months. Whereas in Barry they had been living in the magical realism desert for 8 years which just seems impossible.
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Jan 14, 2024 01:04
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I have no idea what firetrucks look like in the US, so maybe they all look like this, but I maintain that this is a very funny shot.
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Jan 14, 2024 01:57
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fawning deference posted:Quick example: do you think Fernando or Abshir or the little girl got any resolution whatsoever? I'm not sure what more resolution they are going to have. Fernando is still going to struggle in poverty, I never saw it as on oh poo poo foil to the project, the project was essentially wrapping up by then. A handful of angry dudes with guns aren't going to stop gentrification. Abshir and his family were given the curse of home ownership. If Whitney followed through and gives them the house and pays the property tax rent for however long, then essentially the family treads water pretty much as they had been before. And the fallout from residents is... Their town continues the process it was already undergoing. Whitney and Asher were always just obnoxious rich people coming in with an eyesore house. I don't think it's a middling show either seems like they were necessarily ignoring the writing on the wall but their obviously stupid lovely hollow show sucked and outside of the tense bubble of asher-whitney-dougie and production, nobody has a vested reason to pretend all this obvious empty nonsense is anything but. The fallout of the show is that it drained the community and everyone involved for bad reasons, leaving the people living there worse off with a garbage show Hollywood can do its economic magic to mitigate the relative failure of one of their cheap junk products. The sheer aggressive, manipulative, exploitative, ignorance of Whitney even when directly having it spelled out for her made Cara "quit art" in a big artsy way. The people of Espaniola are cursed by capitalism and the unfair distribution of wealth. The Green Queen didn't matter one way or the other, she was just one of many leeches there to extract value from the poor one way and every other. I don't think the show was ever or could ever come up with a solution or satisfying resolution for the town, it was about the cursing of the people's and place and countless others like it. Even if they stormed the house and burned Whitney and Asher at the stake, the problems remain.
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Jan 14, 2024 02:01
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Open Source Idiom posted:I have no idea what firetrucks look like in the US, so maybe they all look like this, but I maintain that this is a very funny shot. Not sure which truck thing is supposed to be funny but that symbol on the grille is from the New Mexico state flag.
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Jan 14, 2024 02:45
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Henchman of Santa posted:Not sure which truck thing is supposed to be funny but that symbol on the grille is from the New Mexico state flag. All I see is a stylised "LOL". Like I said, I've no idea if a lot of trucks look like that and it's possibly unpurposeful, but it was my main takeaway from that shot and it made me laugh really really hard.
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Jan 14, 2024 02:50
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I'm guessing it's Ladder 1 but lol
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Jan 14, 2024 02:53
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I should have seen the hints from Nathan's demo reel. It was in front of our faces the entire time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8IQH4pvzTM RestingB1tchFace fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Jan 14, 2024 |
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Jan 14, 2024 03:08
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I'm getting flashbacks to the end of the sopranos when people wanted to know what happened to the russian.
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Jan 14, 2024 03:42
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RestingB1tchFace posted:I should have seen the hints from Nathan's demo reel. It was in front of our faces the entire time. lol
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Jan 14, 2024 04:42
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The loose ends resolve themselves in the way they would realistically, quietly and in a way that in no way affects the Main Characters. There's no big blowup or confrontation, because there almost never is. When you have all the power, you just lose touch with a person, their problem isn't yours anymore, and you never have to think about them again. The events of the last episode makes the entire Española venture something that Whit won't be able to ignore or make someone else's problem. There's no way to not make this her life now. I'm talking out my rear end but it's the interpretation I'm going with.
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Jan 14, 2024 04:58
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Enemabag Jones posted:The loose ends resolve themselves in the way they would realistically, quietly and in a way that in no way affects the Main Characters. There's no big blowup or confrontation, because there almost never is. When you have all the power, you just lose touch with a person, their problem isn't yours anymore, and you never have to think about them again. There's nothing that needed to be resolved, I'm not sure what people want from this show's ending lol. TV usually is at its best when it's playing with ambiguity and the viewer's perception of events. The resolution to Abshir is precisely that the situation isn't as clear cut as was initially presented and you have to deal with the uncomfortable fact of that maybe he's someone who genuinely really needs help or maybe he's just taking advantage of naive generosity. Whitney's whole story arc is failing to understand that there's no clear cut answer for a lot of these problems and half the audience at the end of the show is pissed there isn't a clear cut answer presented for them, the irony is hilarious.
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Jan 14, 2024 05:29
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 I would love to see a behind the scenes technically of some of this stuff
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Jan 14, 2024 07:14
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Enemabag Jones posted:The loose ends resolve themselves in the way they would realistically, quietly and in a way that in no way affects the Main Characters. There's no big blowup or confrontation, because there almost never is. When you have all the power, you just lose touch with a person, their problem isn't yours anymore, and you never have to think about them again. I was going to say this too, except I don't think Whitney's future is that clear. Everything was resolved realistically, not in a way that was satisfying for the audience, to the point where you could turn it off right before the ceiling business and have the finale that was necessary. Everything after wat some big metaphor for uh... something I haven't been able to process yet, or maybe ever.
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Jan 14, 2024 07:20
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a few of these reactions have me totally convinced now that the girls deliberately weren't home in the finale because they wanted the viewer to experience the same disappointment that Whitney and Asher feel when they show up to the house. every scene with the girls felt uncomfortable and invasive, and yet, just like Asher, I wanted to go back to find out if there were any answers while hoping that we'd see things were getting better for them but then Abshir doesn't let them in and it's also like he isn't letting the camera inside and just wants the viewer to go away too. the scene is shot with a long, grainy telephoto lens that kinda looks like someone is filming through a back window, and the voyeuristic feeling is amplified when the other dude's big head just blocks the whole frame for a few seconds and then, just like Whit and Ash, right away I'm trying to figure out: who was that guy? what is he doing there? is there something sketchy going on? gently caress off, it's none of your business! I think the show wants you to feel these kinds of things, and wants you to think like, I've invested a lot of time into this, I should get to know what happens to the girls, what's even the point of these people if there's no gratifying pay off for me? -- and maybe you're supposed to come away from it feeling a bit grimy
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Jan 14, 2024 07:34
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Episodes 8, 9, and 10 all had me feeling completely nauseous for their entire duration for completely different reasons.
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Jan 14, 2024 08:54
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LifeLynx posted:Everything after wat some big metaphor for uh... something I haven't been able to process yet, or maybe ever. The Finer Arts > TV IV > The Curse: something I haven't been able to process yet, or maybe ever
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Jan 14, 2024 09:08
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It’s funny that giving Abshir the house is like the one good charitable thing Asher and Whitney do and it’s not part of their show and has nothing to do with passive homes.
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Jan 14, 2024 12:22
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Loved the finale, have some thoughts about the overall progression of the show but I liked it so much I just don't think I would change anything - it has such a strong authorial intent that I think it's pointless for me to throw any sort of nit-picky criticism at it. I never once got the feeling that this is any more or less than what they wanted to put on the screen, and I'm happy that Showtime footed the bill for that. I had to take a while to process everything, but I think it all fits together too. Asher just ended up alienating or pissing off everyone he came across and the twist being that he was literally rejected by the planet was kind of brilliant - the show focuses on Doug's curse, but really it could've been practically anyone else he came across, like Bill, and it all just ended up culminating in the ultimate karmic payoff. Unlike Whitney, he was unable to hide his true self to people, so he received all the punishment even though she was arguably an even worse person than him. Perfect metaphor for Nathan's persona across all his shows, really. Hakkesshu fucked around with this message at 14:34 on Jan 14, 2024 |
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Jan 14, 2024 12:30
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A barely ok vanity project by Fielder and Safdie. Tools call genius any slop given to them.
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Jan 14, 2024 12:35
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Monglo posted:A barely ok vanity project by Fielder and Safdie. Tools call genius any slop given to them. This post is genius
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Jan 14, 2024 12:44
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Hakkesshu posted:I never once got the feeling that this is any more or less than what they wanted to put on the screen, and I'm happy that Showtime footed the bill for that. yeah! weirdly enough this is the second time that's happened with them, or at least i've felt that strongly about it, after Twin Peaks The Return Ep 8. someone there is lookin out for hollywood's favourite weirdos
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Jan 14, 2024 13:33
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alf_pogs posted:yeah! weirdly enough this is the second time that's happened with them, or at least i've felt that strongly about it, after Twin Peaks The Return Ep 8. someone there is lookin out for hollywood's favourite weirdos Showtime almost dropped Twin Peaks, so I dunno if that's true. I reckon half the reason this stayed at Paramount/Showtime when a handful of other shows didn't (e.g. A Murder At The End Of The World) is because Emma Stone was attached.
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Jan 14, 2024 13:52
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Monglo posted:A barely ok vanity project by Fielder and Safdie. Tools call genius any slop given to them. woah edgy
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Jan 14, 2024 15:15
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100% whitneypilled asher was a menace that needed to be flung, did you see him physically and verbally abuse his contractor?  that asher didn’t flinch whatsoever when freckle responded in kind surprised me; contrast to whitney’s ‘kidding around’ with the cameraman earlier in the series. that imbalanced power dynamic style of ‘joke’ that hinges on the subordinate party playing along for their ongoing employment’s sake is one of my least favourite attempts at humour in real life and I’m glad it was part of this show’s milieu of cringe. speaking of which, I also greatly dislike when a driver that’s been drinking pretends to be too impaired to drive/takes their attention off the road as a joke, so that dougie + asher driving to nala’s scene was similarly unpleasant
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Jan 14, 2024 15:30
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The Dave posted:It’s funny that giving Abshir the house is like the one good charitable thing Asher and Whitney do and it’s not part of their show and has nothing to do with passive homes. It's not really a charitable act though. If Abshir didn't ask for them to cover property taxes, he would be without a home in no time. If they didn't pay the property taxes, they just gave him a huge rent increase, plus myriad other ways the house will cost him. Giving someone a house they can't afford isn't a gift, it's a curse. Subprime loan crisis had some of that vibe.
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Jan 14, 2024 17:48
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Enemabag Jones posted:
I see it going the other way. Without Asher to constantly stoke the fires of her bullshit engines I see things kinda falling apart for her, as much as anyone with a golden safetynet and crane rigged harness can fall. Her show is not getting picked up for more seasons even with the baby and losing Asher. Asher would be lucky to even get a local news segment about the incident. Whitney will continue leeching off her parents but the added element of having a kid will inevitably shift her terrifying narcissist lasers towards motherhood.
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Jan 14, 2024 18:03
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Khanstant posted:It's not really a charitable act though. If Abshir didn't ask for them to cover property taxes, he would be without a home in no time. If they didn't pay the property taxes, they just gave him a huge rent increase, plus myriad other ways the house will cost him. Giving someone a house they can't afford isn't a gift, it's a curse. Subprime loan crisis had some of that vibe. I mean they basically gave Abshir close to $300,000. If he can’t pay property taxes he can just…sell the house and have a lot of money. I don’t think there’s a downside to literally being given a house.
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Jan 14, 2024 18:25
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My read on Whitney in the finale is that she finds the version of herself that she wants to be, the one that Asher insists he sees in her, to be utterly impenetrable. Sometimes she looks so sad when Asher's describing "Whitney" because the thought processes he's ascribing to her are just so fundamentally alien. Other times she looks loving miserable and resentful. She's not just trapped by Asher, she's trapped inside this version of herself that she resents the very existence of. In some ways the best thing to happen to her, given her utter inability to make a positive change, is to just walk away from it all and accept herself and her actual impulses rather than than playing up some sort of domestic goddess role model. But she's a mum now so she'll probably never let that happen. CURSED. Khanstant posted:It's not really a charitable act though. If Abshir didn't ask for them to cover property taxes, he would be without a home in no time. If they didn't pay the property taxes, they just gave him a huge rent increase, plus myriad other ways the house will cost him. Giving someone a house they can't afford isn't a gift, it's a curse. Subprime loan crisis had some of that vibe. Yeah, I've seen a tonne of people talking about Abshir's concern over property taxes indicating a lack of gratefulness, but honestly that would be my first concern and I wouldn't be celebrating either -- certainly not with those strange television psychos -- until I knew whether I was being gifted a forever home or a timebomb.
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Jan 14, 2024 18:25
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Khanstant posted:It's not really a charitable act though. If Abshir didn't ask for them to cover property taxes, he would be without a home in no time. If they didn't pay the property taxes, they just gave him a huge rent increase, plus myriad other ways the house will cost him. Giving someone a house they can't afford isn't a gift, it's a curse. Subprime loan crisis had some of that vibe. It's an asset worth over $100k with no mortgage on it. That's a big gift no matter how you slice it. Property taxes can be sizable, but there's no way that the annual tax bill is going to be more than whatever the cost of a year's rent would be anywhere else. Now if the family is so poor that they can only afford to squat or be entirely homeless, then yeah, it's going to be a big problem. This is never brought up though, and I think the point of the scene was in everyones reactions instead of the realities of home ownership.
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Jan 14, 2024 18:30
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Isn't Abshir literally a squatter in the home they had bought and planned to tear down? Regardless though if I was him and had a cousin lawyer I'd be immediately selling that place the next day lol.
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Jan 14, 2024 18:33
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I don't think it's ever really stated but he could easily be a squatter. But like just refuse the gift. Or say you need to think about it. Or ask about the logistics but say thank you. If somebody gives you a house that you have been living in for several years you should accept it.
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Jan 14, 2024 18:35
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gurragadon posted:I don't think it's ever really stated but he could easily be a squatter. But like just refuse the gift. Or say you need to think about it. Or ask about the logistics but say thank you. If somebody gives you a house that you have been living in for several years you should accept it. I mean I thought it was pretty explicit. It's Asher's house, they're staying there without his knowledge until he breaks the lock and comes in. I think ultimately Abshir just wanted to take advantage of the gravy train as long as he could, and he feels zero gratitude for it because he has no respect for Asher and Whitney
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Jan 14, 2024 18:40
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Less Fat Luke posted:Isn't Abshir literally a squatter in the home they had bought and planned to tear down? Regardless though if I was him and had a cousin lawyer I'd be immediately selling that place the next day lol. iirc he said he was paying rent but then the landlord ghosted him and they were just staying there until the city auctioned off the property. When asher comes in he says something about working out something new before asher lets them live there rent free. So he can presumably pay something, or maybe he'd fall behind on paying and just disappear somewhere else. None of that is really the point of the show though.
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Jan 14, 2024 18:41
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Khanstant posted:Asher would be lucky to even get a local news segment about the incident. Nah it'd be as big as the submarine saga from last year at least a week and a half. a guy fell into loving space on camera. the ufo thread in cspam would never be the same.
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Jan 14, 2024 19:14
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quote:If you enjoy the cringe comedy stylings of master manipulator and Canadian business school graduate Nathan Fielder, know that you’re not alone. In fact, you’re in company with everyone’s favorite richest man on Earth. Elon Musk also apparently feels a deep connection to Fielder’s off-kilter humor, and is sure that he could/should/would be friends with the funny man. Thinking about this story, and then thinking about Whitney's relationship with Cara. Then thinking about Elon Musk cornering Nathan at a party and demanding he explain the ending to him, asking if he was supposed to eat the turkey. e: Elon and Whit both being tremendous nepo babies Another Bill fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Jan 14, 2024 |
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Jan 14, 2024 19:47
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srypher posted:I mean they basically gave Abshir close to $300,000. If he can’t pay property taxes he can just…sell the house and have a lot of money. I don’t think there’s a downside to literally being given a house. He could also rent it out himself, which should cover the property tax plus enough to rent an apartment. Or just pay the property tax... New Mexico has the lowest property taxes of any state at 0.73%; taking the average of Asher's valuation at $290,000 that would be $2,117.
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Jan 14, 2024 20:04
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