[markb]

Here's this week's spoiler thread!

Official episode description:

After making a devil's bargain with William, Ruby steps into the charmed shoes of a white woman, but her transformation only fortifies her resentment of the racial divide. A betrayal by Montrose unleashes Atticus' pent up rage, leaving Leti deeply disturbed and sending Montrose into the comforting arms of his secret lover.

 

[Rob Helmerichs]

The "surprise ending" was pretty thoroughly foreshadowed...once Ruby made her transformation, it seemed pretty obvious that William would be making his own.

 

[trainman]

I think they need to work on their magic technique until they can get a metamorphosis that doesn't end with the skin falling off in squishy, bloody clumps.

 

[Rob Helmerichs]

I think they need to work on their magic technique until they can get a metamorphosis that doesn't end with the skin falling off in squishy, bloody clumps.

Still, as a beta it has a lot of promise!

 

[kdmorse]

I'm a bit confused by the notion that Ruby's metamorphosis meant she could do whatever she wanted without repercussions, and yes she was able to (insert 'well *that* happened' here), but since she turned into the same white woman every time, wouldn't she only be able to get away with it - once?

(I also didn't see the twist at the end coming until it was happening - but I loved Ruby's straightforward reaction, because it's pretty much the same thing I was thinking in my head)

 

[jamesbobo]

Who did (not good with names) call on the phone at the very end?

 

[mr.unnatural]

I think they need to work on their magic technique until they can get a metamorphosis that doesn't end with the skin falling off in squishy, bloody clumps.

I still don't understand what William was doing with the big knife during Ruby's first transformation. They blurred the image to make it quite ambiguous and it looked like he was just butchering Ruby. I think the special effects guys just wanted to have some fun with a little gore fest. The shedding of the skin was a bit excessive and over the top, but at least it wasn't one of those cheesy CGI transformations that so many filmmakers use. I would think that after one of those sessions the person would be ravenous and want to eat everything in sight to replenish themselves.

 

[Steveknj]

Who did (not good with names) call on the phone at the very end?

My son and I speculate that it's Tic's Korean girlfriend.

If I wasn't so curious about the mystery and that there were some really good episodes, I would have quit after this one. It was disgusting, gross, totally over the top with gore and sex. That's the kind of thing that generally turns me off of the modern horror genre. It's not scary in the least, just gross. I still think the racial inequality story is much better than the horror story.

 

[Dawghows]

I agree with Steveknj's speculation about who's on the phone. Just a couple minutes earlier he told Leti that his relationship with the girlfriend ended under strange circumstances, so I think it's her. Or at least someone connected to those strange circumstances.

This was indeed an extra-gory episode, but that doesn't bother me. Nor does the sex. The whole show is so over-the-top that all of it somehow seems fitting. Honestly, I'm not even sure what "the mystery" is, to use Steve's phrase, but everything about this whole show is so insanely wackadoo I can't wait to see what's next.

 

[jamesbobo]

Thanks for the answer. I'm going to have to look up cast members because, since I'm not good with names, I don't know who Tic is.
I just looked it up. Tic is Atticus.

 

[Dawghows]

Thanks for the answer. I'm going to have to look up cast members because, since I'm not good with names, I don't know who Tic is.

Tic is the main male lead. The young black man who was on the phone call you're asking about.

 

[Rob Helmerichs]

Tic is the main male lead. The young black man who was on the phone call you're asking about.

The one that everybody on the show calls "Tic."

 

[Steveknj]

I agree with Steveknj's speculation about who's on the phone. Just a couple minutes earlier he told Leti that his relationship with the girlfriend ended under strange circumstances, so I think it's her. Or at least someone connected to those strange circumstances.

This was indeed an extra-gory episode, but that doesn't bother me. Nor does the sex. The whole show is so over-the-top that all of it somehow seems fitting. Honestly, I'm not even sure what "the mystery" is, to use Steve's phrase, but everything about this whole show is so insanely wackadoo I can't wait to see what's next.

I still wish they'd avoid using the Hip-Hop music for a 1950s based show. It really takes me out of the scene.

 

[astrohip]

I still don't understand what William was doing with the big knife during Ruby's first transformation. They blurred the image to make it quite ambiguous and it looked like he was just butchering Ruby. I think the special effects guys just wanted to have some fun with a little gore fest. The shedding of the skin was a bit excessive and over the top, but at least it wasn't one of those cheesy CGI transformations that so many filmmakers use. I would think that after one of those sessions the person would be ravenous and want to eat everything in sight to replenish themselves.

I think he was just speeding along Ruby's shedding of her skin. They made it seem like it was an attack of some sort at first, but then you realized he was just cutting her open.

I still wish they'd avoid using the Hip-Hop music for a 1950s based show. It really takes me out of the scene.

At this point, I'm pretty sure they do it just to annoy you .

 

[madscientist]

As soon as Christina appeared in this episode I immediately guesed she would turn out to be William. Now my question is: was she always William, even in the first two episodes? I don't see how that would be possible since clearly her father would have to know. I can't remember whether we ever saw the two of them together back then. So, then did William die in the collapse of the mansion (which is what I thought) and Christina just took over? And/or, was her story to Ruby about the police captain shooting William true and that's how he died, or was that just a lie to get Ruby to finish the job? And what the heck was that entire scene hiding that totem in the office about, it had zero payoff. I guess we'll find out later.

I didn't mind the sex (never do! ) and was OK with the gore. I don't like slasher shows either but this wasn't a gore filled slasher: I wouldn't even say that the plot was really a horror plot (OK, a little bit). I liked this episode much better than the last one for example.

Agree with astrohip: apparently the first time you go through the transformation things are "tougher" and you need a little help. As William told Ruby, it gets easier.

 

[kdmorse]

Agree with astrohip: apparently the first time you go through the transformation things are "tougher" and you need a little help. As William told Ruby, it gets easier.

Yah, even if there's no 'technical' difference, the first time she had no idea what was happening, and was just... trapped in a sack? - so William had to help cut her out. By the end, she knew exactly what she was doing, how to efficiently break free, get her head and arms out, and peel the rest away like a disintegrating wet-suit.

 

[cheesesteak]

It was gory but I have my trusty fast forward button to get me through things I would rather not see.

Maybe I had the fast forward button pressed for too long but it didn't seem like the main plot moved much with this episode.

 

[Dawghows]

The music doesn't bother me at all. If they were listening to the radio and there was modern music playing it might seem weird, but as theme music I don't really see the disconnect. Lots of shows do that. For expample, we recently started watching Peaky Blinders, and most of the theme music in that is modern, too. To me it's about fitting the mood of the scene, not the time period of the story. Not to mention the fact that shows/movies use old music in modern stories all the time.

 

[Tony_T]

It was gory but I have my trusty fast forward button to get me through things I would rather not see.

Maybe I had the fast forward button pressed for too long but it didn't seem like the main plot moved much with this episode.

Ff'd a lot this ep

 

[Steveknj]

The music doesn't bother me at all. If they were listening to the radio and there was modern music playing it might seem weird, but as theme music I don't really see the disconnect. Lots of shows do that. For expample, we recently started watching Peaky Blinders, and most of the theme music in that is modern, too. To me it's about fitting the mood of the scene, not the time period of the story. Not to mention the fact that shows/movies use old music in modern stories all the time.

I guess we perceived it differently. For background instrumental soundtrack, it doesn't bother me as much. But it takes me out of a show when they play something modern and on the screen it's clearly a different era. It's just weird to me. Especially when there's PLENTY of music from that era that could be used much more effectively. I find it one of two things, laziness by the writers to actually find something that fits from that era, or, they just wanting to use a song they liked in the soundtrack.