Perry Mason on HBO

Cafe Society
,
121

[quote=“Maserschmidt, post:108, topic:911306”]
It looks like the baby switch theory is off the table, but if Alice’s mom was somehow able to dig up the body without anybody noticing the grave was disturbed, I’m certainly not liking that explanation. I’m just wondering if the body was taken out before burial to avoid any kind of toxicology testing.
[/quote]

Possible: Alice’s mother Birdy had conversation with Baggerly Sr. (Robert Patrick’s mogul character) in which BS bemoaned his new-found son’s entanglement with a low-class wife who may have let another man father her baby. And Birdy thought ‘two (ahem) birds with one stone’:

  1. a plot to rid BS of the questionable wife and her questionable baby, with BS showing gratitude to the Church with a massive donation, and
  2. a simultaneous plot to enhance Sister Alice’s reputation for being an instrument of God. This would mean that Birdy, unseen by viewers, would have had to subtly suggest to Alice the “resurrection of Charlie” idea. From what we saw, Alice came up with it herself after her seizure, but it could have been planted by Birdy. Birdy would have proceeded to line up another baby to be found after the graveside event. She’d also have to be confident she could sell the rather unstable mother, Emily, on the idea that the new baby was actually Charlie. ‘He has been with Our Lord all this time, and that changes a person, you know’ or the like.

This plan would have been enhanced by what Maserschmidt suggested (burying an empty casket).

Making this development more likely: Lily Taylor is something of an actor’s actor. The filmmakers would have wanted to hire someone who’d give a powerhouse performance, if it does turn out that Birdy orchestrated the kidnapping for the reasons speculated.

122

So, overdose, not withdrawal. That’s plausible:

" fatal morphine poisoning in the breastfed neonate of a mother prescribed codeine"
Safety of codeine during breastfeeding: fatal morphine poisoning in the breastfed neonate of a mother prescribed codeine - PubMed

… although not convincing, because Heroin is metabolized differently. The normal presentation for breast fed babies is withdrawal, not overdose, and withdrawal symptoms include

  • crying
  • diarrhoea
  • vomiting

Crying was mentioned. Untreated diarrhoea and vomiting can cause death (by fluid loss), perhaps suffocation by choking on vomit? That should be immediately noted on autopsy – it’s such an obvious way to die that it’s normally differentiated from “cot death” which always had the suggestion (as here) of “smothered by someone who couldn’t handle the crying”

123

My interpretation of the events is that the kidnappers hadn’t prepared for feeding a baby – it was crying because it was hungry. So instead of buying formula and a bottle, they brought in a lactating prostitute.

124

By the way, when Perry was told that the prostitute had something special “up top”, was the implication that she catered to men who had a fetish for breastfeeding? (Or am I just weird enough to think that?)

125

Not weird – that’s exactly it. When Perry went to the whorehouse, he flipped through a menu of specialty fetishes, and picked the one depicting that.

126

So less of a problem for her adult customers to get a dose of heroin with the breastmilk.

127

Not all judges back then wore a robe? A wet nurse is a woman who can breastfeed babies so it happens normally without hiring a hooker.

128

There’s apparently not much research into this topic (hopefully because it’s rare), but this site says

Can I take heroin while I am breastfeeding?
No. While there are very few studies on heroin and breastfeeding, heroin easily passes into the breastmilk. Babies that are exposed to heroin could have difficulty breathing, apnea (stop breathing), and cyanosis (not enough oxygen in the blood causing the baby’s skin to turn bluish).

129

Hence plausible.

But although there is little research, heroin withdrawal in breast fed babies is well known, and overdose is only ‘plausible’.

130

The opening seconds of the episode, with a young Alice walking through the meadow, made me wonder if I was looking at an old episode of Westworld.

Who were the people who rolled the smokebomb into the courtroom? I noticed the white robes, but what did they say?

Nice touch to include Bonus Marchers: Bonus Army - Wikipedia

Pretty nasty stabbing Ennis gives to the church treasurer. Yikes.

Loved the scene with Perry and Paul Drake in the car before they enter the Chinese brothel, and their conversation about “how I operate.” I predict - and it’s only a prediction - that Pete will get whacked by Ennis, and Drake will quit the LAPD in disgust and come to work fulltime for Perry.

Sister Alice said she was offered $5,000 to endorse Old Gold cigarettes. That’d be over $94,000 today - a nice sum, but not a king’s ransom.

I think I noticed two continuity errors: Paul’s suit coat, having had two big stains earlier, is unstained when he talks to Emily Dodson just before she leaves the courthouse with the church officials, and the interior of the baby’s coffin initially looks completely spotless when it’s first opened, but then appears stained (and not, as the scene unfolds, because someone kicked dirt into it or something).

You can see Perry standing near Ennis, who’s in the witness box, for a nanosecond in the preview for the season finale.

I don’t think we need spoilers in this thread, and yes, I had the same thought as to the guy who drove up to help Birdy and Alice. Bleccccch. The look in Birdy’s eyes as she realizes what she (thinks she) has to do was haunting.

131

How old was Alice supposed to be in that scene?

132

The young actress is Ella Kennedy Davis. I couldn’t find her age anywhere online. Your guess is as good as mine.

133

I would think around 14 or 15.

134

My assumption was they were members of a fraternity doing some kind of hazing prank. They looked like college students.

135

“ What gets screwed in the Bible gets screwed again!“

I have no idea what that meant, but yeah, looked like college kids.

136

They were. One of them yelled, “Go Bruins”. They were UCLA frat boys.

137

Ah, thanks. I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

138

Huh. Okay ending I suppose. I did like the joke about how nobody confesses on the stand.

139

Great finale. Not pat and obvious, like the old Perry Mason, but much more fitting in this soiled, biased world that probably much more closely resembles the real LA of the era than the Raymond Burr version. Looking forward to future seasons. This is the kind of show that HBO could milk for a decade or more, and I hope they do.

140

That amused me a lot. But this version of the show seemed far more noir. Although maybe the lesson that Perry learns is that Burger was wrong and starts putting people on the stand and getting them to confess in future seasons.