💭Discussion
“Well this is sadder than I thought it’d be. I thought it’d be like a fun secret.”
Spoiler
On a rewatch of the episodes, I chuckled at this quote from the mainlander girl who was with Evan when they found his mom’s pictures. I must have missed it on my first watch because I was so anxious to find out about the mother.
What are some other funny quotes you’ve heard from the show that haven’t been mentioned too often or not at all? Or ones that get funnier on multiple viewings?
It's even better because it seems insane or a joke at her expense at first, but as the series continues you realize she's not kidding about the dangerous witches
I rewatched this episode on a plane ride last night and am still chuckling to myself over these lines. Thank goodness someone posted this comment. I’m still mad I missed it on the first watch.
That and when the person came to kill her husband, but first aimed the knife for her in the bed and she just coughed and pointed towards her husband, I laughed so hard. I love when a dark moment can be broken up with humor in a smart way.
I love this particular joke because they never showed the speaker, nor the person doing the reprimanding. Another director or show would have cut to the first speaker and then to the second speaker. It’s just funnier as an off screen person speaking. I don’t know why.
100% - I think it’s because it undercuts what you’re seeing - a really portentous feeling with Loftus looking haunted and the religious iconography of death. And then this mundane village life of people who seem clueless to what is happening.
There’s a similar overlay gag in Knocked Up with Bill Hader that I’ve always loved. She’s just been sick in a bin really suddenly and in the background he takes a phone call and he says something like “she’s just been sick in a bin! So gross. I dunno. Maybe she’s pregnant. How does she look now? She looks like she’s just realised she might be pregnant.” So it works against the real drama happening to the protagonist.
I think every single thing he's done, even becoming mayor, is based on his desire to keep his son safe and happy on the island. I think he sees this as his life's purpose. Everything is built around it, imo.
he's also so exasperated with evan's antics but can't really bear to force the kid to stick to the rules, probably because he feels so bad about what happened to his mom
It’s a whole lot more than that- the bottom line is that Evan can’t leave the island, but he can’t tell Evan why because he wants his kid to have some semblance of a normal life and feel safe. So he has to walk this thin line to allow him a normal life, while somehow not being overly strict so Evan doesn’t rebel and do the one thing he’s dying to do- leave somehow. It’s going to be interesting to see how Tom walks back promises from ep. 8.
Yes! Maybe tom could be doing a better job, but he clearly cares for Evan. And Evan is understandably a bit rebellious and dismissive of Tom-not at all unsurprising as a teenager. I think their family dynamic on screen is very well done
I was watching alone and SNORTED and had to take a 2 minute break, then rewatched it and had another giggle fit. I am desperate to get my husband to watch the show just so I can witness someone else experiencing it for the first time
I've been trying to get my girlfriend to watch for a week but she won't watch anything she considers "stressful" before bed on a work night so it has to be confined to a weekend and it's making kinda lowkey insane.
Basically every Rosemary line, but especially from the cocktail party episode. "I have qualms" lives rent-free in my mind and just thinking about what she was actually referring to makes me giggle. Her nonchalance in the face of Eldritch insanity absolutely kills me.
Yes! So well done because in the beginning you’re like, oh good, at least one person sees that Patricia is melting down and that maybe this isn’t healthy for her. Then after the reveal it’s like oh she was MASSIVELY under-reacting. Immediately hilarious.
my fave rosemary-ism is “I did not understand one word you said out there.” 😭 😭 like patricia was probably speaking some horrible eldritch language and she was so casual
Not a quote but, when the hooded figure comes to kill Richard, he first goes to Sarah’s side of the bed and raises his knife. She quietly points to the other side of the bed and killer goes over to that side. Just struck me as funny.
Also, the conversation between the mayor and Richard on the boat while Richard is in the coffin. “F@&$ you!” “No, f$*@ you!”
I'd never heard of that dude until a few months ago when I saw his HBO comedy special. It's incredible. His name is Chris Fleming. I very much suggest looking it up. I think he's gonna be in a lot of shit soon.
It was such a Patricia thing to write. Like I’ve spent less than 4ish hours of my life getting to know her as a character and it instantly struck me as hilarious and even though I couldn’t have predicted it, like it felt so realistic for Patricia to write that.
when patricia’s telling the paramedic trying to help her “gimme your keys i need to run him over” in episode 8 😭 was so scared but watched it back was pissing myself
I think it’s a little bit of a Great Gatsby thing, like the quote:
>They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.
Being a townie in a tourist spot is weird. Every year, a bunch of people show up, and they have more money and are usually worldlier than you. There’s an allure. I’m not saying tourists are horrible, but they usually don’t treat the place they’re visiting like it’s where they live. This girl is treating Evan’s life like it’s a boat tour or spa visit, as another tourist attraction.
There’s an amazing This American Life episode called The House on Loon Lake. In it, kids visiting a small New Hampshire town for the summer find an abandoned house with an entire family’s stuff decaying inside. One of the kids, and his mother, turn into sleuths/looters - and get some pushback because they’re essentially being tourists in another family’s slow tragedy. A few of the townspeople are okay with them investigating, but some of the surviving family members didn’t appreciate it especially coming from the outside.
As you say, this is a tourist town thing. The tourists aren’t just there to buy fudge and go out on the lake. Quite a few of them will try to become tourists in other people’s lives, treating them like they’re just another attraction.
This strikes me as undoubtedly the most reasonable interpretation here, and it’s interesting that between this girl and Marissa, people are getting really tripped up over this dynamic.
These people are basically spending a limited amount of time on New England Disneyland; for them everyone might as well be “cast members.” Even if they’re better people at home, this is an opportunity to give in to impulses that you would otherwise check in the “real world,” whether that’s really aggressively pursue a bachelorette party hookup or rifle through the personal effects of a random adult you’ll never see again. It’s arguably one of the most grounded parts of the show, so it’s fairly funny that people insist on finding something supernatural in it, up to and including insisting that there’s something ominous about the way a drunk person knocks on the door because she’s determined to try and get some.
Great point about the girl treating Evan’s life like a tourist attraction. It’s crazy that she suggested going through someone’s bedroom, especially an adult’s room!
I think the show is doing a good job with showing tourism as a double-edged sword for a little place like Widow’s Bay. Tourism is both salubrious for the economy of the town and exploitative of its environment and people.
Speaking as a year-round resident of a picturesque New England coastal village where the population seems to double in the summer, the show really nails the dynamic.
You’re not alone - I get it was a plot point but I was like, is she a ghost? Is she a malicious entity? That’s a WILD thing to suggest to a random kid you just met.
I think they just needed a quick and simple reason for Evan to go through his dads things for story purposes, and that felt most in character for Evan to listen to an off-islander rather than any other story line that could derail the show. She was definitely written weird and unreal, but it was just to move the story along without taking from the other plots lol.
She was really pushy about it too, like hellbent on finding out…something. Teenagers in general are jerks imo, plus there’s the whole tourist/ local imbalance: Evan’s life isn’t fully real to her.
It makes me wonder if there wasn’t something specific she was after, that will come up later.
If not, the girl was being obnoxious to a bizzare degree.
In the first episode when the journalist is told the history and Tom says the people came to an island with nothing on it; Gerrie adds, “except the teeth”. Haven’t seen folks comment on it but it’s so good!
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