Surprise, surprise! A Dani appearance 20 minutes until it's over. Something I really love about this show a la Y&R back in the day. You never know when a cast member will appear later in the episode. Love that.

20 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

I’m not sure how the law works but I don’t think you can call it self defense anymore once you’re beating the aggressor within an inch of their life lol

Haha true... but I guess in that situation, if two strangers were threatening me with a gun and then starts beating on my grandpa, I don't know how quick I'd be to stop fighting until I felt completely safe. It was the guy with the gun who died though right? I already need to go back and rewatch the scene haha.

I like it when Vanessa is in charge of Joey.
I hated that he threatened her and she kissed him anyhow.

Edited July 16, 2025Jul 16 by janea4old

I was not expecting angry Joey.

 

I'm happy to see Anita back and there for Vernon.

 

So...Martin's telling EVERYTHING. Now...where's the twist?

I'm not convinced that there needs to be a twist.  To me, the story stands on its own.

So the end of the episode is Vernon telling Anita that Martin is drowning.  But actually I think that Martin is finally taking charge of his life.

I'm curious to see how much of this is revealed to Jacob and how he'll react -- and if he learns of his father's involvement.

15 minutes ago, janea4old said:

I like it when Vanessa is in charge of Joey.
I hated that he threatened her and she kissed him anyhow.

She needs to drop Doug and get with Joey, she will be a great mob wife lol 

1 minute ago, janea4old said:

I'm not convinced that there needs to be a twist.  To me, the story stands on its own.
 

I don't disagree, but when the actor himself says no one has guessed what happened... I think we all expected a twist at that point (or at least me haha). I mean, several people guessed a hate crime and political coverup. But with that said, I thought the flashback and story itself was good, but not sure months-long-build up good.  I'm excited to see the aftermath though. I really want this to test Martin and Smitty as a couple with ultimate reconciliation.

Although at this point, so many couples are broken up/in trouble LOL. Nicole/Ted, Dani/Bill, Ashley/Derek, Vanessa/Doug...

Oh...Pamela is out of town? And hmmmm at this Dani/Bill conversation given that Dani has been nosy about Vernon keeping something from her about Martin. 

 

Yay Vernon told Anita!!

 

Oops. Smitty kicked Martin out of the house. So now he has to work to getting back together with him. So perhaps we will get to see them work their way back to each other. 

 

Good episode.

8 minutes ago, janea4old said:

I'm not convinced that there needs to be a twist.  To me, the story stands on its own.

Oh, I agree. It should. But I just thought the dialogue during the Bill/Martin/Vernon scenes was very pointed about the timing of Bill getting the picture from Martin might hint that Kenny ain't dead or something. Hopefully, I'm wrong. 

I'm having a difficult time understanding why Vernon's first instinct was a cover up. Vernon is a well respected civil rights leader with good standing in his community. Martin is a congressman with a similar reputation as far as we are concerned. They are a wealthy and well connected family as well as being in with the police,  they have the "best" lawyer as a family memeber.

Of course race plays a role in their apprehension, but they have clout, money, and status on their side. Their story was credible. Why would they pull over the side of a random road to beat some guys, one of which was armed. So why would two reputable men be involved in an intentional murder with two men they have no connection with. Furthermore, Vernon called Marcel and Elon...they could have easily doctored a report that favored the Duprees. That would have been more realistic than two officers just risking their careers and freedom to hide a crime of this magnitude. Bill is the best, but he couldn't argue Vernon and Martin out of this? 

And what's Joey's role? To intimidate the police and Kenny? To transfer funds for Vernon so it's not tied to the Duprees?  

Edited July 16, 2025Jul 16 by GLATWT88

5 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

I really want this to test Martin and Smitty as a couple with ultimate reconciliation.

Same.

I liked today, it was awesome. I enjoyed the flashback and wish for more outside scenes. I think it's revolutionary the way they're handling Martin and Bradley's relationship and placement on the canvas, so please celebrate that. Both actors gave it their all. Watching Brandon Claybon in that car, smiling, cracking jokes, and being carefree, is what I hope to see more of from him in the future.

 

 

1 hour ago, Antoyne said:

And the gay man isn’t just some token comedic character. He’s an actual lead with a whole family. I love it.

I agree. And he is the clear LEAD!

I'll be honest... the show was just fine without Anita so either the writers get to work on making her character more interesting.. or maybe it's best to write her out and let Vernon lead the family instead.

The idea is probably that even a prominent Black man would not have been believed even in a situation of self-defense. And on top of that it is a soap so the characters have to make an already bad situation ten times worse.

10 minutes ago, janea4old said:

I'm not convinced that there needs to be a twist.  To me, the story stands on its own.

A hate crime story and a murder in self-defense definitely doesn't need a twist. 

However, the way they played it out, there should have been another element of surprise to it. Otherwise, we should have a) seen the crime play out on our screens from the start and riden this story out from the beginning or b) had an early reveal of Martin beating someone to death and later on get a reveal that it was an act of self defense. 

But to have us watch Martin have his That's So Raven visions but getting to see nothing on our end, made it seem more sinister. It went on for too long with characters repeating conversations as to not spill the secret too soon. Which ultimately led to a letdown, because most of us already assumed this was it. 

It seems like the writers want to make the Duprees flawed, but not too flawed. I would have been here for Martin being a bit of a hypocrite and forcing Smitty into this heteronormative relationship for his political gain, but ultimately feeling stifled by it and having a little fling on the side. This fling turns ugly when he begins to blackmail Martin for money and things take an ugly turn where maybe Martin would have to defend himself in a similar way. But this just fell flat for me. 

Just now, Soaplovers said:

I'll be honest... the show was just fine without Anita so either the writers get to work on making her character more interesting.. or maybe it's best to write her out and let Vernon lead the family instead.

Thank you!