Actions and consequences were the name of the game this episode. As Beth digs herself in deeper, Ruby is pushed to spy and Annie, well Annies. Let's discuss.
Prison, reservation for two.
Ruby is at a crossroads. She can either betray Beth and by extension Annie or have herself and Stan fitted for prison blues. Her attempt to softball Turner with the girls discussing fun names for their lady business doesn't fly and she needs to produce the goods and quick or Harry and Sara are off to grandmother's house and Stan and Ruby are dining on prison food separately. This dilemma is heartbreaking because as I have said in the past, Ruby had the most pure reason for these crimes....saving her child. Beth has continually pushed the envelope and Ruby and Annie go along with it. Of course it is uncomfortable to watch Ruby spy on her two best friends, but what choice does she have? Stan is now being investigated by IA for the pen cap and Turner is dishing out ultimatums. It is no surprise she stole the calendar she found while Jane was missing, the question is what will she do? Whatever Ruby decides, I don't think any rational person would fault her for saving her and her husband's bacon. They have two children to raise, but the question is will Turner actually make good on his promises? That remains the biggest wild card.
Oh Annie!
This week Annie has to once again deal with Sadie's cold shoulder. Now we are only seeing one side of Sadie's wrath, but isn't Gregg as much to blame here? I know Zach Gilford is otherwise engaged with his series regular gig on
LA's Finest but it would have been nice to see if Sadie was putting dear ole' dad through the wringer as well. One thing I don't think was cool was Sadie lying to hang with Nancy. Annie knows she did wrong and through it all has always appreciated and respected what Nancy means to Sadie, but we are talking about a teenager and rational thinking isn't always in play, especially when your mom has royally pissed you off. I think Annie and Sadie can work their way back to each other and it looks like they just might by episode's end. The other chestnut regarding Annie is that she has a new boss named Noah and well he is the anti-Leslie. He listens and doesn't seem to want to domineer her or degrade her. One ounce of niceness from Noah leads them straight to getting busy in the stock room. Now am I the only one thinking Noah was planted by the cops? My only trepidation on that theory is him sleeping with her straight away. That is usually a last resort thing in the fictional undercover world, but I guess we will see. But Annie's hijinks pale in comparison to the biggest problem this episode.
Mommy Loves You
Which leads us to Beth. Now Beth seems to delude herself into thinking she can run her crime empire like she runs her life, with a colorful calendar and strict scheduling. All that comes crashing down when she makes the unbelievable decision to take her children to drop off a drug car after Dean refuses to do the nightly routine he's exhausted from. What was Beth thinking here? I think the answer is that she wasn't. She is so used to being type A that she didn't realize the ramifications of what that one decision could mean. Rio is putting on the heat, but I do agree with him, she is choosing this so she can't schedule it like she does a birthday party or carpool, crime is a 24/7 commitment and if she can't roll with that than she won't get paid. When her youngest Jane leaves her Dubby (Her baby blanket) in the drop car, Beth thinks that simply asking for it back will do. Anyone else screaming at the TV when she did this or was it just me? Not only did this decision scare me, but she still didn't retrieve Jane's Dubby and was robbed in the process. Lesson learned I guess.
Dean also continued to straddle the line between douchebagery and actually making sense as much as I don't like to admit it. Dean contemplating hiring a hitman to take out Rio is just ridiculous, I get that Rio has upended what he considered a comfortable life, but his trainer is right, he will most likely end up in prison for it. Where I actually agreed with Dean is what Beth is doing is going to bring the worlds together and that could have deadly consequences for their children. So mark it down, I actually think Dean made sense over Beth for once. Beth is really good at compartmentalizing but when Jane goes missing, Rio gives her a cold dose of reality, she chose this at this point, this is her life and she cannot continue to pretend that is not the case. Both of these men represent very different things to Beth, but what they were telling her is essentially the same in that she is not handling this as well as she thinks and there could be consequences. Thankfully little Jane was just hiding (seriously Dean, you didn't check your closets?) and Beth dodged a bullet, this time. We will see if her naivety continues to take over or if this whole series of events was a wake up call. Stay tuned.
Odds and Ends:
* Rio got Jane her Dobby back. Once again this makes me think that he is way more invested in Beth than she is in him. The facade he carries is just armor.
* Ruby, girl, turn your phone to silent while taking secret photos.
* Beth leaving a paper trail of her illegal activity like she was actually planning a book club was bush league. Hopefully she shores up her book keeping practices.
* Ruby's talk with Jane was very sweet.
* Although Dean is exhausted and annoyed. The time he is spending with his children is important, maybe that is a blessing in disguise in all this.
* The lady in the craft store droning on about her cat was a bit hilarious.
So what did you think? Is Beth's life barely holding on? Do you think Noah is a cop? What is Ruby going to do next? Let me know!
