evidence wall<\/a> in her apartment, cataloging everything she learns about each of Trevor\u2019s marks. She clarifies something that we kind of already knew \u2014 Trevor and Dennis were working together to scam some of his clients \u2014 but what we didn\u2019t know is that Dennis would direct Trevor to target specific, vulnerable individuals via DM and then proceed to blackmail them. Once Trevor had the incriminating video, Dennis would show up and demand things. He never wanted money, only gigantic favors.<\/p>\nThe favors asked are a mishmash of weird. One food scientist gave up a patent for a special kind of yeast that he had been working on for years. Years, my dude? Just take the L with the kinky video. Seriously. After he leaked the recipe to Dennis, another company \u2014 Northeastern Food Group \u2014 released the yeast, and now his company is going under. Other targets were asked for mining rights, to rally a union to support a candidate in an election, and for a permit to build a factory over wetlands. It\u2019s all nefarious business dealings, but what company needs all of these things? It\u2019s like the purple row in Connections; it all hangs together, but only if you have very niche knowledge.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s curious that all these people are talking so readily to Paula, especially because she\u2019s showing up and shoving their most intimate and, sometimes, shameful moments in their faces. (Trevor commands one dude to \u201cEat that banana, you chubby monkey.\u201d) Perhaps it\u2019s because she identifies as being similarly harmed by Trevor, and they\u2019re all just dying to share their story with someone who understands, but she gets oodles of information out of four people in what seems like a very short period of time. Meanwhile, a clock starts ticking as Paula\u2019s lawyer, Doug, tells her that Mallory and Karl have asked to push the custody hearing up, and the judge agrees because \u201cthere will always be extenuating circumstances.\u201d A murder rap, judge?! That\u2019s not work schedules or illness; it\u2019s a murder charge. Did Mallory slip the judge a rare Magic: The Gathering card as a bribe, too? I wouldn\u2019t put it past her.<\/p>\n
Speaking of Mallory, my least favorite evil stepmother, how on earth does everyone at the school know about Paula\u2019s arrest mere days after it happened? The only people who would have known about the arrest directly would have been Mallory and Karl, and I\u2019m not sure elementary-school parents are regularly reading the police blotter. The only answer to this is that Mallory leaked the info to all those PTA bitches, and there\u2019s going to be a special place for her in hell when she inevitably ends up there.<\/p>\n
When Paula nervously heads to Hazel\u2019s art show to support her little girl, gourmet cupcakes in hand, Karl and Mallory head her off, telling her that all the parents know, but Hazel doesn\u2019t. If Paula goes in there, Hazel will figure out what\u2019s been going on with her mom. This is a lame argument. If I were Paula, I would have avoided the art show out of fear that the other bougie parents would tar and feather me, but she\u2019s brave to have shown up, and she\u2019s even braver to take a beat and sob in her car while she binge eats the cupcakes she brought. Sweet Steve pops into her car and AirDrops all of the pictures from the art show to her, including Hazel\u2019s portrait of Mallory.<\/p>\n
Paula is sad, but she soldiers on, and, as a reward for her fortitude, the universe delivers her Rudy and Geri. The two friends make up in short order once Rudy tells Geri that he was attacked with his bong. On the way to Paula\u2019s, Geri mentions her article, and Rudy kindly steers her away from writing it, telling her that she thinks she\u2019s capable of so much more. Then they hug for a very long time! I\u2019m officially shipping them, you guys. I like Rury better than Gedy for a couple name, but I\u2019m fine with either. To be honest, I\u2019d watch an entire show about these two without hesitation. Apple, are you listening?<\/p>\n
Somehow, Rudy emerges as the hero of this episode as he\u2019s instrumental in cracking the Case of Joyce Tercek due to his simmering masculinity issues. His motivation is kind of problematic, and how he threatens Joyce is kind of problematic, but let\u2019s set that aside because he ends up getting a lot of Very Important Information. Joyce, when confronted in a pool where she is conspicuously alone and swimming laps, initially stonewalls Paula, Geri, and Rudy until Rudy has had enough of her shit \u2014 and the world\u2019s shit \u2014 and jumps into the pool, shoes and all. He screams, \u201cI\u2019m six-five and I\u2019m fucking jacked! Tell us, or I\u2019m going to do something bad. I will be the end of you!\u201d Terrified, Joyce spills the beans on what she knows: Dennis visited her so she would admit a boy named Blake Vanderwalle (again, I must remark upon what a wonderfully douchey name this is) to Yale.<\/p>\n
Now, after a bit of research on Paula\u2019s part, it looks like Dennis\u2019s most recent work with the shady, white-collar organization was to get the kid of his boss\u2019s boss \u2014 or maybe even boss\u2019s boss\u2019s boss? \u2014 into an Ivy League college without merit. This coincidence is quite a boon for Paula. Dennis could have been blackmailing someone for another yeast recipe or some sort of land-rights issue, but he was just on a personal errand for a bigwig named Cecilia Vanderwalle. Never poop where you eat, Cecilia; it\u2019s how you get fact-checking moms coming after you on the golf course.<\/p>\n
Instead of going to the cops with this information, Paula decides to scope out the situation for herself. Alone. Without even notifying Paula and Rudy of where she\u2019s going or what she\u2019s doing. Does Paula have a death wish? Or is she just hyperindependent? At any rate, she finds out that there\u2019s a golf tournament for the Souter Group at the Bedford Hills Golf Club that very day at 3 p.m. Coincidentally, Baxter also has a line on the car that Jennifer stole, and it\u2019s headed over the Throgs Neck Bridge, a.k.a. in the direction of Bedford Hills. So it comes to pass that Baxter pulls into the golf-course parking lot only moments after Paula sneaks into the woods, and Jennifer follows with her giant gun.<\/p>\n
The atmosphere and tension in this scene are A-plus. The strings on the score flutter and increase in pitch as the three lone trackers enter the woods one by one. Jennifer, the hunter, trains her scope on Paula, her prey, as she obliviously makes her way over a fence. But Baxter isn\u2019t far behind. He pulls his pistol on Jennifer and shouts, \u201cDrop the weapon! Now, or I will fucking shoot you!\u201d The camera cuts up to the trees, a gunshot goes off, and a flock of birds dramatically takes flight. With one episode left before the season finale, it\u2019s highly unlikely that Paula Sanders is dead, but both Baxter and Jennifer are expendable at this point in time. It\u2019s arguable that both of these characters have done Paula dirty throughout the season, so I\u2019m not sure I really care if either of them got shot. That might be cold, but I really only care about the survival of Rudy, Hazel, Paula, and Geri, in that order. Everyone else is expendable.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Did that gunshot sound like it might have come from a gun with a silencer? I\u2019m no gun expert, but I have watched a ton of TV, and I feel like that gunshot was quieter than usual. Jennifer\u2019s giant gun had a silencer on it. But TV plays by its own set of rules, so I could definitely be wrong.<\/p>\n
\u2022 I kind of love Steve for Paula. When she says, \u201cSee you soon. Maybe like ten to 20, but wait for me?\u201d and he smiles, I knew he was the one for her. They have the same dark sense of humor, and humor is so important in a relationship.<\/p>\n
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