About that tiara/crown: I found it quite strange that that wee little girl managed to toss it all the way up into that big-ass tree. There is probably nothing to it, no deeper meaning or anything like that - I just found it strange.
In any case, I interpreted it mostly in terms of growing up / growing apart, not so much in sexual terms but more in terms of becoming ruder, crueler and more brutal, including (in this case) to your siblings. But for the life of me I can’t remember what Marty was droning on about, exactly, while that scene played out on the screen?
Yes. Presuming Hart is about Woody’s age, cellphones had been a “thing” for less than a decade, but late-period baby-boomers like Hart (and myself) didn’t get our first phones until later.
I don’t think he was planning anything, he was just incapable of thinking with his big brain once all of the blood drained south (so to speak). When Marty handed Beth that cash in '95, he really believed that he was being a good guy and helping out this unfortunate girl who is only 5-7 years older than his own daughter.
That he then has sex with her becomes that much more ironic because the episode is book-ended by scenes of him beating the crap out of guys who violated his womenfolk.
He didn’t seem incensed to me, more just Rust being cruel to bad people much like when he told that guy in jail that yeah, you showing him pictures of your girl got your girl killed. But wow this was so much more chilling and powerful. I particularly liked her response with the feeble, broken “What…?” Just so brutal.
This is silly in the extreme. Asking a woman at a bar if she’s waiting for someone means that you think men own women? Please.
After this episode I’m even more on board with the theory that Maggie (and her daddy) are part of the conspiracy/cult/whatever.
It’s a Rope-a-dope. The audience is being spoon-fed the idea that she goes and fucks Rust to end her marriage once and for all by causing the one rift between her and Marty he can’t never, ever overcome, but in truth she’s feeling Rust out about his investigation and gets to isolate him from his lone ally as a bonus.
Note that she didn’t go to Rust after she found these phone pics, no she went to him after he had the meeting with Reverend Scumguzzle.
She is the Femme fatale of this tale. Book with confidence.
Then why would 2012-Maggie compliment Rust? She talked about how he was honest - or did she say he had “integrity”? In either case, she seemed to have a positive view of his character. I wouldn’t be surprised if her father was involved though. Speaking of which, I suddenly recall how Marty and his father-in-law had a few words about how things change and how things stay the same - every generation bickers about change, but that bickering is itself constant. I think this may fit thematically with Rust’s philosophic-scientific theory of time being a flat circle. We’re constantly turning around it, but not getting anywhere.
I think this episode gives a terrific example of the difference between having a moment of weakness (Rust with Maggie) and simply having a weak character (Marty and the young woman). Rust had recently quit his job, had been drinking, and had possibly not been intimate with a woman in a long time. Suddenly, this attractive woman shows up and throws herself at him. Marty, on the other hand, goes out for tampons and manages to cheat on his wife again.
Granted, the two situations have similarities - both men are offered sex and, due to weakness, accept it, even though they know it’s not right. But Marty doesn’t seem to even care that it’s not right, whereas Rust, immediately afterwards, comes to his senses and tells Maggie to get the fuck out.
For whatever reason, the scene with Rust and Maggie reminded me of Satan tempting Jesus as he suffers on the cross. He’s in pain, tempted, and has a moment of doubt. So, maybe she is involved somehow.
I think the idea is that if Maggie is involved in some criminal conspiracy and she knows Rust is the lone wolf trying to bring them down, she would have incentive to discredit Rust as much as possible. Not vouch for his character.
Everything with Rust is screwed down so tight, I reckoned that was fury for him. I had pictured him coldly shooting the guy who injected a baby with meth as well. Not because he’s not angry, but because he just stuffs it down and channels it out very deliberately.
Sorry, to clarify, I think that’s what Pizzolatto was trying to convey in this particular scene, as a thread of one of the big themes of this episode. Not that this is the subtext of every such interaction in fiction, or in real life.
Ha! That sums it up perfectly, doesn’t it?
Personally, I don’t anticipate any Shyamalan-esque twists in the denouement, such as Rust, Marty, or Maggie being in on the murders. I feel like they’re foreshadowing what will happen, and leaving room for some revelations, but I can’t see a total pulling of the rug out from under us from a guy who has specifically said he objects to showrunners “abusing the audience.” It seems like there’s plenty of room in the plot and characterization for Maggie’s dad to be bent, but Maggie herself seems like an artificial “what a twist!” reach. Sometimes they show us stuff that is straight-up character development, or just mood enhancement - not everything is a Very Significant Clue.
Watch the show “The First 48” - you see this type of thing all the time. You regularly see detectives sit with suspects for hours and it’s rare that any of them bother to ask for their lawyer. When they do, the interrogation is instantly over.
And most of them don’t have A lawyer so don’t have somebody that they can call. They can ask for a public defender or something, but many are in a financial situation where calling a lawyer seems like something that they can’t or don’t want to manage at that moment. Just a thought I had, I could be way off on that view.
I hope this isn’t going where it’s hinting it’s going. If the killer(s) turn out to be a coven of wealthy, well connected, silk- suited fundie caracatures, I’m going to be really disappointed. Nothing else about the show is such an obvious cliche, though, so I still expect to be surprised.
I think carrying the tampons into the bar was done to show that Marty didn’t go in there looking to hook up with someone. He was honestly just stressed and looking for a place where he could sit down and figure out his phone over a beer. Marty’s problem isn’t that he goes out consciously trying to pick up women - it’s that he’s weak and lets the little head do the talking.
They made that point even more clear when they showed the conversation where he was actually trying to break it off with the girl, but gave in when she promised him more exciting sex. He just can’t control his urges. That’s also seen in his violent temper.
Rust did the same thing with Maggie, although he has more strength of character so Maggie had to catch him drunk and at his lowest and then work fast to get him to have sex with her before he could think through the reasons and ramifications.
Too late. Marty’s Dad and the Reverend are both caricatures already. I was worried that this was where they were going to go from very early on, and it still looks like that’s where we’re headed - powerful, slick religious figures (and probably conservatives - made clear by Marty’s Dad inexplicably trashing Clinton for no apparent reason) engaged in heinous abuse of children.
When they first said “Reverend Tuttle” the first thing I thought of was MASH, where ‘Captain Tuttle’ was a person invented by Hawkeye, and whose salary was given to an orphanage. I wonder if that’s a bit of an in joke?
FWIW, I’ve interviewed many, many suspects from drug dealers to murderers. Most times they don’t ask for a lawyer and it has nothing to do with the cost. Part of the Miranda warning says, explicitly, if they can’t afford a lawyer one will be provided at no cost. My guess is that they think that if they ask for a lawyer that I’ll think they they have something to hide. That’s the last thing they want. “Who? Me? I have nothing to hide. Why do I want lawyer? Ask away.” Thank you very much.
Sometimes they really do feel guilty and just want to get it off their chest. I just takes a little coaxing.
It is a bit “ripped from the headlines”, isn’t it? We’ve heard a lot in recent years about the powerful, slick religious figures, working for a largely conservative organization, who got away with heinous abuse of children for decades.
I’ll grant that the RCC didn’t murder children, but they did enslave them at times. Magdalene Asylum.
I’ll have to watch that episode again, because I missed Clinton’s name being specifically mentioned. But there are reasons why it may have been brought up that have nothing to do with making a caricature of a conservative. First, it helps reinforce the time frame, and how that part of the story is taking place in the mid-90’s. Second, Clinton is possibly best known for his sexual scandal. Given the themes of the show, referencing someone known for not being able to keep it in his pants seems reasonable.
I could be mistaken, but I think Marty going into the bar was showing him falling off the wagon. He looked at the bar from across the parking lot and seemed like he was thinking about going in and then he did after the visit to the store.
Yeah, for sure. He looked at the bar, started to turn away, sighed, then went there anyway. Again, that reinforces the notion that Marty’s problem isn’t malice, but weakness. He just can’t help himself when his base instincts kick in. He sees himself as a good person making mistakes because he can’t control himself. That internal conflict between his perception of who he wants to be and who he actually is causes a lot of guilt and rage.