BTG: July 2025 Discussion Thread

6 minutes ago, GLATWT88 said:

Considering it was self defense it might be viewed differently under the law. Now hiding it and paying people off might not be looked at so kindly. However, there are people in politics who have done much worse and they have no issues. 

True but Martin is a Black man and historically to my knowledge Black people have been treated a lot more harshly by the law in comparison to white people so I can definitely see why Vernon and Bill would be very concerned. But yeah I think the coverup seems to be a lot worse than whatever happened to Martin that night. I still don't think his political career is going to be left unscathed; I actually won't be surprised if Martin ends up resigning at some point in disgrace and shame. Not to mention his marriage is toast with Smitty already planning on leaving him. 

I hold Vernon responsible for much of this!  He was micromanaging the entire situation starting two years ago, constantly telling Martin the equivalent of "There, there, don't worry your poor little mind about it".  It infantilizes Martin, instead of encouraging Martin to face it.

Vernon (and Anita!) suppressed the whole thing.  I know they were "worried about appearances", public perception, political ramifications, etc. And maybe even (justifiably) worried that there might be very real unwarranted criminal charges against Martin due to the societal perception of Black men.

But Vernon and Anita seriously damaged Martin's psyche by trying to make him "forget" it happened.  They should have gotten Martin counseling.  Oh but they thought they could "take care of it" themselves and leave Martin out of his own process.  That's patronizing and disrespectful of Martin. 

With all the money Vernon used to pay off Kenny/Bill/Marcel, etc. -- that money could have been used to hire a discreet psychologist.

Edited July 15Jul 15 by janea4old

47 minutes ago, GLATWT88 said:

Wouldn't Naomi have Hayley's number in her phone? If she were to put that number in than Hayley's name would come up. 

Maybe a third sister ? 

Vernon had been telling Martin for two years that Martin that he couldn't tell Smitty.  Obviously, Martin should have told Smitty himself anyhow, of course. But still.   The Dupree family dynamic is that you do what Vernon and Anita say, and you keep up appearances, and you don't admit any weaknesses.  It's pretty twisted.  Martin did as he was told.  I'm glad he's finally breaking free.

Yes of course Martin should have given Smitty, Samantha, and Tyrell before the press conference! Egads!  But I think Martin was afraid he'd lose his nerve if he waited another second, so he called the press conference.  Not great, but I understand it.

Vernon had been telling Martin for two years that Martin that he couldn't tell Smitty.  Obviously, Martin should have told Smitty himself anyhow, of course. But still.   The Dupree family dynamic is that you do what Vernon and Anita say, and you keep up appearances, and you don't admit any weaknesses.  It's pretty twisted.  Martin did as he was told.  I'm glad he's finally breaking free.

Yes of course Martin should have given Smitty, Samantha, and Tyrell a heads up before the press conference! Egads!  But I think Martin was afraid he's lose his nerve if he waited another second, so he called the press conference.  Not great but I understand it.

Edited July 15Jul 15 by janea4old

Did I miss a scene in some earlier episode setting up a Smitty/Kenny meeting? That seemed to come out of nowhere (to me). How did Smitty know what Kenny looks like or how to find him in the park? 

Edited July 15Jul 15 by janea4old

35 minutes ago, janea4old said:

Did I miss a scene in some earlier episode setting up a Smitty/Kenny meeting? That seemed to come out of nowhere (to me). How did Smitty know what Kenny looks like or how to find him in the park? 

Good point. The entire mystery has become so convoluted, that thought didn't even come to me.  How did Smitty even know the man in the park was Kenny???

All they had to do was put in one line of dialogue or one second of visual, showing Smitty using his reporter skills to find Kenny's picture on Tyrell's phone, and then Smitty dashing off to the park to find him.  

I assumed Smitty got the information from one of his "contacts".

11 minutes ago, janea4old said:

All they had to do was put in one line of dialogue or one second of visual, showing Smitty using his reporter skills to find Kenny's picture on Tyrell's phone, and then Smitty dashing off to the park to find him.  

 

1 hour ago, GLATWT88 said:

I am going to be honest, but respectfully, this whole secret seems to be building up to be a let down. I will take some blame for it, because when it was stated that a showrunner said no one has been able to guess the secret so far on social media, I made it out to be something more complex and layered. 

I assumed early on that the secret was an accident or self-defense that led to someone's death. I think most of us figured that out. While we don't know Kenny's motive yet - racism and social status seem to be triggers. Unless Kenny's motive is some big shocker or there is another element we don't know - than I think we pretty much know all the major details of this secret. Now that Kenny is potentially dead, what else can we possible learn about this secret from that end? 

Also, does Joey have any stake on this secret coming out or not? Vernon said that they can get Joey out of this plan if necessary. So does he care or not?

So Bill was hired as the fixer after Martin acted in self defense. The cops were paid off by someone to keep this quiet. But why would Joey have paid Malone? 

So we will have a press conference for Martin to tell us what we already know. I really hope this is more layered than this. Otherwise, this is lame.

Also, why cut the Kenny and Smitty interaction short. I was hoping that Kenny might have spilled something more to Smitty that would have added another layer to this secret, but then he told his kids he doesn't know anything. 

I am hoping I am very wrong, but this would be dumb if this build up and all these men involved gave us this. 

The only thing that would make this interesting is if Martin was going to whereever he was going to meet up with a hook up and/or a male escort from Joey's business... and Kenny was either the escort that attacked Martin for being gay and Martin defended himself.

The only way that this would look bad on Martin was if he's trying to portray himself as a gay male that is about family values... and didn't want it to get out that he actually was hooking up behind the scenes.  

However... that would be just another affair story when the show already has those in droves with Dani/Bill, Ted/Nicole, and Vanessa/Doug.

 

they really are dragging out the reveal — hoping for the end of the week. what i’m really looking forward to is how the aftermath of the reveal will play out: martin and his parents, vernon and anita — so many emotional layers to mine. what concerns me is that will skip over all of that and shift the focus to other characters — leslie, in particular. 

24 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

The only thing that would make this interesting is if Martin was going to whereever he was going to meet up with a hook up and/or a male escort from Joey's business... and Kenny was either the escort that attacked Martin for being gay and Martin defended himself.

I agree.  It seems we have all more or less figured out Martin's secret, and nothing about it is particularly scandalous.  And perhaps the audience is headed for a let down. But if there are more details -- especially details that do not paint Martin in a positive light, then we might be surprised and possibly even revolted.  And that would be a good thing...

The big mess will be when Nicole learns that everyone has kept this hidden from her for two years.  She will be wrecked and furious.

3 hours ago, GLATWT88 said:

I was just going to comment that Vanessa and Dani make better friends than Dani and Pam. And I'm curious how Pam would play against Nicole, because I am sure it would read better than whatever Pam and Dani are giving now. 

I’m so glad the show remembered their friendship. They make infinitely more sense than Dani and Pam.

3 hours ago, Cheap21 said:

 

Her hair was so cute in week 1. I dont know why they insist on putting these ugly straight wigs on her that dont work on her

I can’t stand her hair these days. Literally only liked it the first week.

3 hours ago, Cheap21 said:

These frigging kids read like an after school special. I hate the writing for them

 

Thank you Marcel!

Thank you Marceeeeel!

50 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

The only thing that would make this interesting is if Martin was going to whereever he was going to meet up with a hook up and/or a male escort from Joey's business... and Kenny was either the escort that attacked Martin for being gay and Martin defended himself.

The only way that this would look bad on Martin was if he's trying to portray himself as a gay male that is about family values... and didn't want it to get out that he actually was hooking up behind the scenes.  

However... that would be just another affair story when the show already has those in droves with Dani/Bill, Ted/Nicole, and Vanessa/Doug.

 

When I found out Joey was involved, I assumed that it may have been something to do with sex work. One of Joey's escorts gone bad and Joey himself wanted to keep it under wraps. If not, it seems messy getting Joey involved when he doesn't need to be. 

2 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

I’m so glad the show remembered their friendship. They make infinitely more sense than Dani and Pam.

I enjoyed it and I'm not the biggest Vanessa fan. 

Considering that Ted knows Martin's secret, it is such a missed opportunity to not have him supporting his son through this. We heard about Bill and Ted having these excellent adventures as the outsiders of the Duprees in their marriage - what have been amazing to have them team up and show us this dynamic while supporting Martin. Would give both Bill and Ted some humanity and layers. 

2 hours ago, janea4old said:

Did I miss a scene in some earlier episode setting up a Smitty/Kenny meeting? That seemed to come out of nowhere (to me). How did Smitty know what Kenny looks like or how to find him in the park? 

Another missed beat, amongst many. Famous for this show so far.