Just finished the season and damn. Stand by what I said about Anna’s story last season being one of the most emotionally honest and effective depictions of divorce trauma on an adolescent. This whole season just broke my heart and that ending...I had to walk away. My wife asked if I was okay and then said “this is your favorite show, isn’t it?” It honestly might be.
Uh what’s the deal with the.... breastfeeding scene at the beginning of episode 6? Am I missing something here?...
That definitely shocked my wife and I. I took it as a very strange, sudden turn into surrealism with the subtext perhaps being a note on their codependency and the desire for nourishment. Maya wants to be supported and Anna, terrified of being left alone, wants to be needed. It was definitely the one scene that really caught me by surprise this season.
I was looking at my phone for a sec and when I looked up it was that scene. I had to go back twice with my girlfriend cuz we were sure we missed something. really bizarre. there were a few scenes like that that gave me that "tv is broken" feeling.
I appreciate the risks they took this (half?) season. Not conventional by any means but still so good. This is one of the rare shows that somehow gets me to crack up and tear up in each episode. They REALLY fucking nailed the tone and how middle schoolers talk. A lot of these really took me back. Overall I’d say my favorites are the witch episode, sleepover, and the play. Maura is the fucking WORST, fools
yeah I get the subtext but it was so jarring that there was no real “transition” in and out of the surrealism. It was as if someone edited it incorrectly because it was presented in a very matter of fact way. Which doesn’t make sense for a show like this that doesn’t really do that
I completely agree actually. It was the one moment that had me feeling like something was really off.
Im glad others were just as thrown off by it. I def understood the message and meaning of the co-dependency (once the initial shock of the scene wore off) but it was just presented and placed in the strangest way. Season was great though.
Finished last night -- so great. Really has evolved past "haha nostalgia funny" into some deep dark areas. Gabe is gay, right???
So after I finished I think I was leaning in the direction that he asked Maya out to try to keep up with Sam because he felt like he was losing a friend, and specifically chose Maya because he knew it’d make Sam jealous. Then when push came to shove, quickly realized he wasn’t ready to hook up yet, and was simultaneously hurting his best friend. After sitting with it, I think he’s only recently discovered that he may be closeted, asked Maya out as compensation for a lack “progress” with girls, and specifically chose Maya so that Sam would think highly of him. I also might be reading into this way too much, but the lack of clarity around it may symbolize the confusion a lot of kids (especially in that time period) would probably feel when coming to the realization that their sexuality isn’t aligning with what they’re told is “normal”. Gabe’s having trouble figuring out what’s going on just as much as we are.