I want to start my comments on this past week with the positives. First of all, I really like the direction and lighting on this show, and I particularly liked the camera angle they used during Ted and Heather’s conversation. It made for a beautiful shot. I see there’s also more movement each episode with character interactions and sets.
One thing that drove me absolutely mad about Friday’s episode, though, was the sheer number of text messages being exchanged. There’s a constant stream of texts, DMs, or messages popping up on people’s phones, and to me they’re incredibly anticlimactic and completely avoidable 99% of the time. Take Randy texting his boss to say that Vanessa had shown up and he couldn’t talk to Deanna. Was that really necessary? I think these constant messages actually drain the drama out of scenes. They’re simply not well suited to an audiovisual medium, especially when the same information could be conveyed much more effectively through action or dialogue.
As for the Bill and Hayley storyline, I honestly don’t even know where to begin. First of all, Leslie suddenly showing up at Bill’s house is a huge stretch for me. Leslie ‘persuading’ the housekeeper just to get into his house feels incredibly contrived, and I didn’t buy it. And what did she even go there for? To have yet another version of the exact same conversation she’s been having with Hayley for over a year. Not only does the conversation accomplish absolutely nothing and go nowhere, but I also have to wonder what Leslie could possibly gain from aligning herself with an outcast like Hayley. There is literally nothing in it for her. This obsession with Hayley feels completely unmotivated.
As for Bill, I think it’s a storytelling mistake to end multiple episodes on essentially the same cliffhanger. I’m talking, of course, about Bill collapsing unconscious on the floor. Over the months, they’ve dressed it up with sound effects and more creative camera work, but ultimately it’s still the exact same cliffhanger being recycled over and over again… and every single time, it leads to nothing. To me, that’s a fundamental storytelling mistake, on top of being obviously repetitive and boring.
As for Naomi suffering no consequences after eating Bill’s sandwich, I actually don’t have a problem with that. We’ve already seen that this mysterious poison Hayley is using doesn’t have an immediate effect and, more importantly, that it takes repeated doses for it to build up in someone’s system.
Moving on to Heather. She’s a classic example of Beyond the Gates’ overly layered and unnecessarily convoluted writing. We were specifically told that Heather doesn’t use the Armstrong last name. We were also told that Heather knew nothing about Joey’s online cooking persona and that when they were younger he wouldn’t cook because of his father (he was Italian, then macho!). And now suddenly she’s introducing herself to everyone as Heather Armstrong, and when she saw Joey’s poppy scones, her reaction was, “Oh, your famous poppy scones.”
At this point, all that extra layering doesn’t add depth, it just creates continuity problems. Another example of this overly layered writing is Heather not telling her brother that she’s the Impaler when we all know she’s the Impaler. It makes no sense. What additional shock is this supposed to create down the line when Joey finds out that Heather doesn’t just work for the Impaler—she is the Impaler? What does that extra layer actually add?
Heather’s behavior within the gated community doesn’t make much sense either. She’s introducing herself to everyone and inserting herself into everyone’s lives, when the only thing that would make sense in her position would be to keep a low profile and manipulate people from behind the scenes. Instead, she’s making herself increasingly visible. It makes no sense.
That said, I don’t like seeing Joey manhandle a woman, even if she is his sister. It’s not a good look, and I don’t understand why the show thinks that’s okay.
Speaking of Joey, judging by next week’s previews, they’re clearly about to unveil the new casino set. It’s burgundy, by the way, which makes me wonder how Joey is going to wear his iconic burgundy leather jacket now that he’ll practically blend into the background. 🤣
Joey, who already had two sets associated with him, is now getting yet another revamped set, has had a sister brought onto the canvas, and will probably end up uncovering all of Hayley’s schemes and saving Bill’s life while he’s at it. Pretty unusual treatment for a character who supposedly has such a limited shelf life lmao
ETA: I forgot to mention that I almost feel sorry for the actor playing Jacob. Not that I think he’s particularly good (if anything, I’d put him only a notch above the actor playing Tomas.) But the writing makes Jacob look like a terrible detective: now he’s finally discovered a connection between the two Red Market cases that ChatGPT could have figured out in half a second.
What bothers me even more is the dialogue surrounding Lia’s death. On top of what I see as the writers’ careless use of the S word, some of the characters almost seemed to rationalize her decision. The dialogue basically amounted to, “Well, given what she was going through, you can understand why she did it,” at times almost validating the decision rather than simply acknowledging her distress. I found that incredibly careless, especially with such a sensitive subject.
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