IT'S SO HARD. I keep forgetting about the placement of the norman-related revelation business at the end of the season and trying to reference it right now. it's so hard!
the river is definitely in my top three. it just has everybody (minus ben and lodz) being so perfectly awesome. and I can even kind of forgive ben a lot of his asshattery since it gave us ruthie being gloriously unashamed and strong and listening to no man.
the scene with ben and gabe in the lake is so wonderful because it is such a demonstration of CONSEQUENCE. ben didn't just fix his mistake, he killed every single fish in that pond.
rita sue is amazing. I love how she is never the stereotype of the woman who has sex for a living, she's always just rita sue. sometimes she wants to do her husband. BECAUSE SHE LOVES HIM. I just love rita sue and stumpy.
and libby and sofie snuggling breaks my heart because they look like such little children when they do it. just innocent and open and unbroken. and YOUNG. I mean, it's one thing to know that they are young, and it's another thing to see them giggling and talking about their hair. THEY'RE BABIES.
I tend to go right for the middle aged ladies, so iris was in my radar before this. but oh man, this episode. the revelations about her are AMAZING. this episode really feels like the way iris speaks when she is on her own and doesn't have justin to do the speaking for her. from the beginning when she met tommy dolan, she was talking about "our ministry" and "what we are going to do" completely unthinkingly, until tommy brought up the money and she remembered to defer to justin. and from the very beginning of the episode she was unsettled, really visibly grasping onto justin's things to steady herself.
and oh man, does amy madigan ever rock the FUCK out of that drunk scene. I mean, just the delivery of the line, "now I'm going to tell you a story." it's amazing, because iris has always been this super amazing manipulator of people her entire life. but she's also not used to her alcohol, certainly not like tommy, and she forgets tiny little details like that she shouldn't be mentioning that the children were from russia and then speaking in russian in front of him. and her manipulation of tommy is WONDERFUL, especially the part where she said that she couldn't listen to his radio show because she was in prayer. oh, IRIS.
and I can totally fanwank the poor russian delivery, no problem. I just remember reading an episode reaction a few years ago from someone who understood russian who said that listening to amy madigan's pronunciation was like shoving a ball of tinfoil into her ears. so that's stuck with me.
(oh man, I bet that you have tried. I have faith in the crowe house posse.)
redacted spoilery comment about clancy's role in season 2. russian: it's difficult!
and oh yes, the foreshadowing is AMAZING. I love how you've phrased it, so I won't repeat it. I will say that I agree with everything. and I also thought that it was really telling that even though bite sized iris did knock him out with the rock, it was only when it was really necessary. even when she thought he was an assassin, she didn't just go around knocking him out, it was only when he was endangering them. (and trying to turn her against her brother against her would totally count as horribly dangerous in iris's mind.) ugh, iris is so fucking fascinating.
ugh, and now I want to talk about how justin reacts to her in the future eposides. I think I'll save it. but it is super interesting and meaty and I love to sink my teeth into it.
true story: sometimes when I'm sad and need to cheer up, I imagine justin and iris hugging and how much enjoyment they get out of that.
and yes, the ending. gorgeously shot, too. upon rewatch, I get a little bit frustrated when it feels like they reveal the AND THE CROWES ARE THE LITTLE RUSSIAN SIBLINGS for the fifth time in a row.
but nothing can improve justin's phone call and iris's reaction to it. ♥
the river is definitely in my top three. it just has everybody (minus ben and lodz) being so perfectly awesome. and I can even kind of forgive ben a lot of his asshattery since it gave us ruthie being gloriously unashamed and strong and listening to no man.
the scene with ben and gabe in the lake is so wonderful because it is such a demonstration of CONSEQUENCE. ben didn't just fix his mistake, he killed every single fish in that pond.
rita sue is amazing. I love how she is never the stereotype of the woman who has sex for a living, she's always just rita sue. sometimes she wants to do her husband. BECAUSE SHE LOVES HIM. I just love rita sue and stumpy.
and libby and sofie snuggling breaks my heart because they look like such little children when they do it. just innocent and open and unbroken. and YOUNG. I mean, it's one thing to know that they are young, and it's another thing to see them giggling and talking about their hair. THEY'RE BABIES.
I tend to go right for the middle aged ladies, so iris was in my radar before this. but oh man, this episode. the revelations about her are AMAZING. this episode really feels like the way iris speaks when she is on her own and doesn't have justin to do the speaking for her. from the beginning when she met tommy dolan, she was talking about "our ministry" and "what we are going to do" completely unthinkingly, until tommy brought up the money and she remembered to defer to justin. and from the very beginning of the episode she was unsettled, really visibly grasping onto justin's things to steady herself.
and oh man, does amy madigan ever rock the FUCK out of that drunk scene. I mean, just the delivery of the line, "now I'm going to tell you a story." it's amazing, because iris has always been this super amazing manipulator of people her entire life. but she's also not used to her alcohol, certainly not like tommy, and she forgets tiny little details like that she shouldn't be mentioning that the children were from russia and then speaking in russian in front of him. and her manipulation of tommy is WONDERFUL, especially the part where she said that she couldn't listen to his radio show because she was in prayer. oh, IRIS.
and I can totally fanwank the poor russian delivery, no problem. I just remember reading an episode reaction a few years ago from someone who understood russian who said that listening to amy madigan's pronunciation was like shoving a ball of tinfoil into her ears. so that's stuck with me.
(oh man, I bet that you have tried. I have faith in the crowe house posse.)
redacted spoilery comment about clancy's role in season 2. russian: it's difficult!
and oh yes, the foreshadowing is AMAZING. I love how you've phrased it, so I won't repeat it. I will say that I agree with everything. and I also thought that it was really telling that even though bite sized iris did knock him out with the rock, it was only when it was really necessary. even when she thought he was an assassin, she didn't just go around knocking him out, it was only when he was endangering them. (and trying to turn her against her brother against her would totally count as horribly dangerous in iris's mind.) ugh, iris is so fucking fascinating.
ugh, and now I want to talk about how justin reacts to her in the future eposides. I think I'll save it. but it is super interesting and meaty and I love to sink my teeth into it.
true story: sometimes when I'm sad and need to cheer up, I imagine justin and iris hugging and how much enjoyment they get out of that.
and yes, the ending. gorgeously shot, too. upon rewatch, I get a little bit frustrated when it feels like they reveal the AND THE CROWES ARE THE LITTLE RUSSIAN SIBLINGS for the fifth time in a row.
but nothing can improve justin's phone call and iris's reaction to it.
♥
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