Creep ("Lonely Hearts" S1 EP 8)

Still the Place with Laura Layton, Courtney thorn Smith.

And Daphne's Aniga and iHeartRadio podcast. Hi guys, Hi Hi.

Laura was afraid her glasses were going to reflect the light on zoom, and I remembered that we had a director who had been a child star who used to tell us chin down, chin down, ladies, and you would do this thing as you go, see what this looks like, see what this looks like. And then Daphney remembered her name Nancy, because you said she was a child star. She had blonde hair, she was full of energy.

And I'll tell you what she said to me. She said, Daphne, look just below the camera, like if this is the lens, look right here and stare off and give me that stare at the end. That's what I learned from Mickey Rooney. So at the end of a scene when you wish they would say cut, but they don't say cut. So you're like, yes, oh, I don't know what to do. Just look right.

There and think of Mickey Rooney.

But here it's a perfect They get all flushed. Do you remember that at one point she was going through a divorce and she would keep us there for like eighteen hours. Do you remember that? It's like, where are the hours along? So that she's getting a divorce, I was like, oh, never wasted. A director is going through a divorce because they never want to go home.

Oh my god, So think of who else kept us there long?

Now? He exactly keep shooting over and over. Want people with a happy home life because then they want to get through the day and get home. Yes, like true, Well that was Phil Rosenthal was famous for on Everybody Loves Raymond. But he had a happy home life. So they had really good hours because he wanted to get home to his happy home life. So all the writers got to have happy home lives. That's so cool, isn't that sweet? And just what you think he'd.

Be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great. That's a good telltale though.

All right, so we have we have another recap this week. It is episode eight in season one.

It's episode right, and can I ask you guys something? So I was watching this and I was thinking, I feel like I'm able to watch it. It's just like Jenny and Tory said, like, I'm becoming more of a fan. I'm getting more separation and I'm like, oh, I know everyone had a crush on the guys, Like I'm suddenly seeing them not as the guys I worked with, but like Objeculately or Andrew who I dated, are my friends. Like I'm going, oh, my goodness, there's one and we

Well, it's funny, Courtney, because now I'm watching scenes with you and Andrew knowing that something already happened off camera.

So I'm very much of that in this Like in this.

Episode, I'm like, they're really close together on that. Yeah, we were to meet it together at this point. Yeah really, Oh my god. So you're like, can we shoot it again? Can we shoot the scene again?

Please?

We can see it all over the screen.

It's so funny. Yeah, it's great.

Yeah, So this one is season season one, episode eight. Lonely Hearts is the title, and.

This one I remembered so clearly. Really, I remember filming it so clearly. I remember the storyline, not my storyline, but Amy and Matt Roth's storyline. Yeah, I remember it so clearly. For whatever reason, m.

I feel like the story, this story was pretty like relevant and like poignant and stood out. It doesn't surprise me that that you remember it, actually, because I think it was a big story to tell. Yeah that that woman in peril thing, and yeah, well not that you don't remember your own your own bit in it, but I'm just so caught up in your personal life by the car exactly.

But I think, Laura, you know what you said relevant. I was a little surprised that this storyline, which we'll obviously find out, is as relevant. It's like age old, it's still relevant.

It's constant.

Yeah, it's totally bad.

I was thinking that too, and we'll get into it. It's basically about stalking and I watch Some might say too much dateline, which is valid, but still you're like, the cops don't have enough power to do anything when women are being terrorized, women are still expected to just and she's very clear from the beginning. She's very clear from the beginning, and he just doesn't hear her. There's too much to give away. It's so good, all right, let's get started.

So it begins with Sandy and Ronda shopping in a boutique. They're trying on hats, they're having good time. Random dude walks by looks in the.

Windows around, which is every guy's version of what women do. It's either either having a pillow fight or dancing in a store, trying while trying.

They're having fun, but it turns out they're being watched. So the guy walking by, he looks in the window, and he stops and he wants to watch some more, and then he starts interacting with Sandy through the window. Then he comes inside and they introduced themselves and he says, wow, you know you must be an actress or a model. You've just got all the all the right you know,

Angelini's so and he's super handsome and seems super sweet, but did you guys notice and they were filming it like something was weird, like there wasn an action must not have actually been a front window because there is no window when he was filming, and it looked like they weren't really dealing with each other.

Did you notice that?

And they clarified it for one side of it, maybe like the window.

I walked in past camera, but you never saw a window.

I couldn't get past all the denim. Did you notice all.

The denim jnim on danim.

I did d Denham and denim overalls, and yet the extra denim.

Den Oh my god, there was so much denim in the nineties.

Oh and the cowboy boots walking down the stream was the very opening with the denim and the cowboy boots walking down Melrose, which, yeah, then you know it is sort of foreshadowing because we see that look.

At the extras literally after that scene kind of wraps it up.

Then all these extras walk probably with all these denis on a jean jackets.

And I just bought a denim dress yesterday, so I'm right in with nineteen ninety four. I might in we.

Have a denim dress too, So I think we're all yeah, I think it's just confirmation that the nineties fashion is now.

It's back.

It is either that or we're terribly out of touch.

We're stuck in the past.

Yeah the arm I think we're I have the same.

Airdo, so I might very well be stuck in the past.

All right, we're okay, Okay. So then, uh, at the restaurant, Paul and Sandy are on this date at Angeline's and Sandy's you know, sort of trying to get to know him. Finds out that he was boring. He's boring, and she says yeah, and she says, uh, you know the way we met. No, that's weird. She sort of acknowledges it right off the bat. So as they're getting into the date.

Both from a small town, like that's all that's all he needs, right, like to have.

In common, he's finding out where she's from. Whatever. So anyway, before we finish that date, we cut to Allison who's returning home to the apartment. She's very angry and she's kind of a mess, and she enters the apartment. She slammed the door, angry about her car.

That's I have a single uh and splash basically of Greece on race.

It doesn't really get a dressed, so just.

Highlight my cheek. You requested that, didn't you cart here?

Please?

You must have said just have something, and Lorna went, all right, here you go and give me. I was wife of Greece.

I was distracted by this smear of Greece.

It was a stripe.

It was a drawing, yeah.

But it was so pronounced. I was expecting him to like wipe it off with some a nice little, you know, dish towel or something, to at.

Least say, what happened to you? Acknowledge it? For the loan of God, somebody acknowledge it.

Yeah, it was an elephant in the room. The stripe on her face was the elephant. That nobody's gonna talk about it. But she does say that she if she had a gun, she would shoot her car because she's so angry about the unreliability of her car. And she said, such a horrible day. So Billy suggests that it's maybe time to go car shopping and he could help her.

Really. Yeah.

We go back to the restaurant where Paul is telling Sandy about his job at the nursery. He's a plant guy. She's clearly very bored, but he, you know, he wants her to know. It's you know, did you know it's not what you plant. No, it's not what you plant, it's where you plant. It's like profound.

Coming, boring. Yeah.

So they're sharing this very boring and awkward date and Sandy says, no, thank you to dessert. It's time. She would like to just go home, but he insists on following her, accompanying her home, which she tries.

And of course those of us at home are going, yeah, those are going red flag, red flag.

Red flag. Yeah they don't. They have separate cars. He didn't need to do that, and he insists.

This is why boundaries are important early and strong, like sometimes I don't work, no thank you. Then he wouldn't know where she lived.

And she's, you know, she's in this position of being like, I just was trying not to be rude or trying to you know, trying to be nice or like, and you've found herself allowing that, you know, like just this bad judgment moment and then he's following her home and then when they get there.

But you guys, he would have followed her anyway, Okay, so he asked permission. It's kind of like because he knows who he is, he knows he's going to obsess, it's what he does. And he says, oh, I'll follow you, and it's so awkward. Who the hell does that? I'm going to follow you in your car to where you live. But because she says that, one thing of like, oh, okay, you know, if she had said no for your comment about having a boundary, I think he would have followed

I don't know, though, I think this sooner you pay attention to red flags, the better, Like if she had then paid attention, if he'd followed her, she could have stopped it earlier. But as women, as we know, we're so raised to be polite and not hurt their feelings that we often abandon ourselves to avoid hurting a man's feelings correct and then we end up getting trouble, which is what happened. You know, she knew she was trying to be nice, and then every little bit of nice gave him more.

Yeah, and she's twenty one years old or something like, you know, all these things that are just like difficult to navigate and for a young girl. And so she finds herself in this position. So now he's walking into the courtyard into her apartment, you know, commenting on how nice the apartment building is, which one's yours. Wants to know actually where her apartment is.

She tries to be vague and just say it's upstairs, not specifically which one it is, and then he says he wants to go out with her again.

She says, no, I'm not. The timing's really not right for me. My life is complicated. But thank you for dinner. But she's she's pretty clear like yeah, this isn't going to be a thing. She's polite, but she's trying to

Now, this is when when she was that was my moment, and I was like grant because it was so grant that moment. It was so adorable when he put the hat down right.

Yeah, he's sitting pull side with a baseball hat on, and he he's witnessed this moment. He's taking a little bit of like glee from it to see that, you know, she's blowing off this guy or whatever. Yeah, And it's just his tone and he's so casual, like he's so comfortable in his posture and the way he's sitting. And that was why I assumed that was the moment Courtney was talking about, But apparently it's the one d Africa.

Oh there's another one coming, I know that's one scene. It was just he was so relaxed. A lot of Grant came through in that scene. He wasn't very yeah, I mean later he's super tough Jake, but this scene had a lot of Grant and it was just adorable.

Yeah. So that scene ends with Ronda appearing at the top of the stairs too, saying, you know, if you're waiting for the perfect guy, you might be waiting forever. You know, tell me, tell me something at least was was he a good kiss her? And Ron is like, no, no way, you know, I've kissed walls with more passion, so clearly it was not a lot of walls.

Are you yeah?

Bizarre but okay, it's weird.

That's when Grant pulls his hat down or.

Guy yeaeah ouch, but he is getting a kick out of it, like carrying out Sandy Weston for sure. So h Then we're at the car dealership where Billy is trying to help Allison with the car sale and car exchange and the used car is going to be her down payment bill. It's like, I got this. Here's here's the trick. You gotta play hard to get. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. But uh, then as Allison does not understand, be cool.

And comment on that dealership, is that nineties or what all those flags? A pink used car lot? The guy it was so nineties? And does it stand out at me now because it's all this time later or was that? I mean, I know it was beefed up back then, right.

I just noticed the prices of the doms, you know, like only ninety eight or you know whatever, and they and yeah, like just the prices where oh my goodness.

Carlos change that much. Though there's one on Lincoln still that I think looks like that.

Magenta with all those jobs.

Maybe think it was.

The Taco joint or or like the little like windy guys that like, yeah, didn't do that.

I just love it.

It's those kind of experts. It's those kind of moments, the visual in the show that it just makes me long for it and miss it those days the DNA. Not that I want to wear a lot, but just those kind of visual we.

Can get you a dress and we can all be matchy, maybe by accident, like we'll just show up and we'll all have so anyway, so, uh, Alison is not able to play it cool. She sees a red convertible. She's like, oh, that's the and I want no, I think this was time.

This is I'm going to see you guys talk amongst yourselves. I'm going to look up when miatas came out.

Oh I think oh I came out. I think I think that's right. It's probably a but anyway, Allison is not playing it cool. She loves it. She jumps in the front seat and she makes it very clear that this is the one she wants, and Billy's like, not the way to handle.

Billy's trying to cut control of the situation, and.

Yeah, that's right when they came out.

Nice red Miata.

So then Billy and Allison are outside the car sales office and the guy says, you know, your car is only worth three hundred bucks for a time, and Allison is super that's Betsy. That's Betsy. He's insulting.

Is Alison's car named Betsy worth more than that? Yeah, So Billy says, it's all right, we can walk away. Trust me, he'll he'll chase it hard, he'll yeah, he'll play hard to get, he'll fault. And the salesman has no interesting and doing that, he moves on to another customer. So Billy says, all right, Allison, you're gonna have to sell Betsy yourself, but then we'll have real bargaining power.

So then or in the daytime, there's a pool party. There's Matt and Jake, Michael and Jane. They're in the pool. Ronda is at the grill. Sandy's just getting back from the grocery store and discovers that Paul is there. He's invited himself to join the pool party, and he's sitting in a lounge chair.

He's got a bouquet of roses and that's a little off putting, and she.

Leaves to go put his flowers in the water. Ronda suggests, you know, maybe you should give this guy a chance, and Sandy is like, no, that's not her I gave him. I have my opinion, and I gave him my thoughts and no. So she follows him outside and she says, you know what, Paul, I have a lot to do. I'm not able to do this right now. And he says, we'll walk me to my car. So outside she down and she says, I was just trying to be nice, you know. He says, doesn't seem like your life is

But no, no, no, she's saying. I think before she said I was trying to be nice, she said, I was very clear. She says that on the courtyard too, I think, and then he's like, yeah, the whole point of the scene is that he is not hearing no here what she says.

And then she goes so far as to say, hey, I told you that my life was complicated because I was trying to be nice. I mean, I want to just come out and say I want to go out with you, you know. And so he says, all right, I can take a hint. And he says, I mean like I'm not I get it. I'm not good enough for you. It's like how he decides to try to be He.

Plays it well though, because he seems like a really sweet guy, just needy. So you're kind of like, this is weird, but it doesn't feel scary at this point, right. He's he's annoying, but it doesn't feel quite scary.

He's just annoying. And to be clear, like Matt Roth, who's the actor, he's fantastic.

It's this huge storyline, always fantastic.

Yeah, he's fantastic in everything. He has a huge career. I think we've all worked with him and other shows, you know, in other times of our lives. Whatever. He's great, and he's got this huge part this episode. It's just the character is so darn insidious and creepy.

It does look like that.

It's not mad, it's it's the character.

Yeah, he does. Look how that looked like he just came out from the Midwest with like maybe Hay still in the hair and very nice and I'm gonna mad at that's what I'm saying.

He seems so sweet that you're like weird, but it's hard to be mean to him because he seems so sweet.

There's an aw shucks about him.

Yeah exactly, Yeah, really well played mm hm.

The next morning, Sandy wakes up to the clock radio informing her about how hot it's going to be in La There's san Anna wins and Ronda is in the living room packing up stuff cassette tapes by the way or at aerobic seminar. She minds Sandy that she's going to be out of town at an aerobic seminar in Houston, Sandy opens the front door to discover that the swimming pool has been filled with lilies, which happened to be a flower.

Now lilies are those lotuses like the lily pads right? Because they're floating. I thought that looked really I mean a stalk are aside, obsession, like inappropriateness aside.

I thought it's really cool all things.

I was like, that pool looks great, how can we go through that? Were you surprised that Michael wasn't more angry.

He was skimming the pool and we've seen him skimming the pool before and like doing yard work, and he's angry, but this one didn't anger him.

He's like, oh, a thousand flowers didn't seem to upset him.

Yeah, right, yeah, but and he does say and they're from Paul because he left a note, so it confirms that he's, yeah, starting to super stock. So back with Alison trying to sell her car. She meets an old lady who is very discerning and does not want.

To Yeah, but can we say the star of this scene is my jacket, which looks like I've escaped from a vaudeville show. Why am I wearing a huge striped jacket?

It was like you had a skirt suit on or something like.

It was very shoulder pads. Did I attack and clown? What happened?

Neutral? And then the stripe jacket.

And I thought in the show, when they're trying to make a young man look stronger, like they put him in this jacket, not.

A those were the jackets we wore. We did wear shoulder pads and like big boxy giant blazers, right, I.

Mean, I mean I came back from D and D.

I don't think that's specific to Allison in this moment. I think that was a sign of the times.

That was ridiculous. I imagine the costume. I don't think it was Denise said. I imagine the costomer saying it's a short scene, suck it up, and.

It's a short scene, and it's all the rage everyone's wearing them. Because I don't think on that one, I think that was Allison's business look for the day. But the old lady who's like examining the car is very in the know about all the guys must be wrong with Betsy and she's not. She's not.

She reminded me of Aunt b Mayberry around. She says for me, honey, no wait yea rush den Iowa all that turns around.

I was like, sorry, honey, that reference is not for our younger listeners.

Berry RFD. Look, we just we just did a really good impression. Daphne has really good impressions. So then Sandy is near the mailboxes and she's talking to Jake explaining how like this guy is just not getting it. I was, I was straight to the point and and uh, she's just he's just not getting it and and uh, they have this weird kind of conversation about their own history is in this scene like nowhere. Yeah, it's sort of like he throws it in about like, wait, remember when

Also, he may not be her most objective listener, like maybe.

Yeah, if you His feelings seemed to be very caught up in this and he wasn't really hearing what she was trying to say, which is like this dude, isn't getting the point, and I feel creeped out.

Yeah, he's like, what does this have to do with us dating years go? And she's like, I'm not. You can't quite hear her.

Can I just give a plug to therapy right here? I was told a long time ago by a friend who did a lot of therapy herself, because I was making the mistake of telling I think a guy that I liked the problem and she said, you have to know when to go to your girlfriends and when you go to the guy you want to be. You know, you have to know what to tell to whom like that's not you don't tell them that your girlfriend that.

Not consider the sex. He's not her best person.

Yeah, no, he's not her best person.

Here so we find Alison and Billy Shooters. Allison is now wearing a vest. I will there's a vest real vest theme. This is my week of vests, and I think under my big stripe jacket I had a vest. See.

I think it's I think it's a sign of the times because vests are all over the place on all the characters, so it's not just Alison, but yes, it is noticeable once again, Alison wearing a vest and they're shooters. They're playing a pool game and and uh he. Billy wants to talk to Alison about the idea of her

We named our cars growing up. Our little convertible bug was Rosy and our big station wagon was Goldie. Do you want your car's name?

Growing up, we named our dogs, but not our cars.

Now well see we named our cars and not our dogs, which is really weird. We were like, hey poodle mix, Hey German Shepherd.

They were a category, they were a make and model.

There.

I love it.

I think, is this Laura and Court, you think this is where he's bringing up the theme of growing up and being a child and leaving home because the car kind of represents, you know, leaving home. She came out in that car and this hole where this This is a theme throughout with these two. You know, it's a different place. They end in a different place kind of.

Also, things grew up differently. Yeah, Also they grew up with me like Billy. I feel like Alison really had to do everything on her own and Billy didn't. I think this is a theme between them all the time too, Like she had to save money to earn this car and buy this car and he seemed to be given more. So that's and isn't he between them?

Isn't he? Also sort of like trying to say, like you have more of an attachment to objects than you do to people, Like you don't open up and trust me as a person, but you yet you name your inanimate objects like you're more. You have this atta atachment to a car and you give it a name, Like he's sort of questioning that instead of like, Hey, what about me people? Person? You know, like it just me and this attachment.

I wish she'd been there to explain that to me at the time.

It really would listen.

That would have really helped me.

I don't know. I sort of thought we're going to.

Shoot the next one hundred and forty episodes because no real insight into Alison.

I don't know that's a good point. I'm trying to decipher. Really, I'm an audience member.

I think you're right. I think he's saying, you're more attached to your car than you are to me.

Yeah, kind of like that.

That's very sweet.

But he is encouraging her by the convertible, like it's time to move on. Let Betsy go buy the convertible. Go back by the convertible. So then we cut to Sandy who's working at Shooters and she also was wearing a vest and she has a choker on a necklace. When Paul walks up and he's with Matt and Rhonda and there they've been hanging out and Sandy's like, why get away from my friends? Like, no, those are my friends.

I will say it was nice to see Doug. I was like, oh, Doug.

He's yeah, he's a small appearance in this, in this Yeah, he doesn't have enough to do in this one, not a lot, but Sandy's frustrated and she tells Paul like, there's nothing between us. It's over, please, don't you know. And Jake walks in, grabs two beers and right off the tray.

And was coming here, little man.

I tried to have a conversation with Paul. And Paul. This is where Paul tells Jake, oh, Sandy flirted with him. She'll come around eventually, and you know, sort of tells his person story and Sandy assumes Jake was trying to get rid of Paul. But instead of him going yeah, that you know that dude's weird or whatever, he says, Sandy, you flirted with Paul, like, he makes it like an accusation and accuses and believes the guy.

Believes the guy. The guy can just say anything something.

Behind closed doors and on you know, voicemail or whatever, and then says one thing, Oh, you know, she was flirting with me, and he had really er.

I mean, I feel like it's two things. It's not only that you know, he's inclined to believe the guy, or that he just chooses not to believe her, but that also he's sort of making it about him again. Like you flirted with him, Like he's letting his jealousy be like what bothers them part of what bothers them? And first of all, it's not even true. She was just on a date. That's not you know whatever. She tried to have a date, decided it wasn't for her

So I think poor Grant is in charge of having the viewpoint of she asked for it, which would not remotely be what Grant would say, you mean unfortunately, well ja, yeah, but I mean Grant the actor has to be jay to play that you ask for it, which he wouldn't. I think he was probably fighting it the whole way. But you know, we had to say what was written as written. But that is what people say, right, what did you do?

And I think but it and it's a it's a classic story, like that's still is a thing. I think women are what's relevant? Yeah, what were you wearing? Or what did you do? You know, like there's always very.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Unfortunately yuck.

So then Sandia's leaving Shooters after her shift. She needs to walk out in the dark, neighborhood by herself. She says goodbye to her co workers and walks away by herself, walking down empty streets, and it's a little creepy. She's looking over her shoulder. She is understandably nervous, and she's looking over her shoulder, and sure enough, we see footsteps, we hear them, we see them with those jeans in the boots, and they hurry as she hurries, they hurry.

My got it, you know, Yeah, that was scary.

Sandy comes home and she realizes when the apartment is empty, Oh, of course, and I'm home alone because that's right. Ronda's in Houston for this thing. And Sandy presses the answering machine to listen to her messages, and Paul has left a bunch of messages starting at two am, and they continue and they get more desperate, get more stocky, and talking about how she shouldn't be out this late. So it's terrifying, and Sandy starts crying as she's listening to.

These horrible or baby's chilling.

I was probably Sandy at this time in nineteen ninety two. I was working at restaurants, Like I was exactly this right, like coming home late at night from working in a restaurant or a bar and stuff, and like, I feel like there's so much about the scenario that I was like, oh God, I recognize that, you know, coming home to an empty apartment or whatever, like it's dark or it's late, or at a roommate. We had one apartment where we came home from work, but we had a peeping tom

Like flasher dude, like a real act of like aggression but like just so creeping, gross flasher totally you know, expose himself whatever.

At whatever. It was two in the morning or something which is just the most creepy, awful feeling, you know, and it just feels it's just such a violation and just an assault. So anyway, I completely related to this thing of Sandy going, you know, I love I got to walk to my car after work and that vulnerability.

And your apartment mates helped you. Yeah, were you guys taken by how our friend that Melra's placed like had all the wrong answers for Sandy. I mean, she's done this all by herself. Nobody believes her.

They say, Alwa's fine, he's charming, he's like constant. I think that's what is so smart about the way they wrote it, which is he charms everybody and he seems so sweet impress everybody around, or someone starts to say he's creepy, like, oh, you're overreacting, which, by the way, you know, I like Laura, when you're telling that story, you said it was an assault, because that happened to me. Different variations of that, and it'd be like, oh, but

Welcomed it on. She brought it on herself exactly.

Yeah. Well, and it does, and that whole idea continues, and we haven't gotten those scenes yet where the but you're right that the other characters are like, well you know they that they don't, so it does. It just builds from here. It's not even this isn't like she's reacting exactly, Yeah, but you're right, he's he's ingratiated himself enough that they are sort of justified and thinking, oh, he seems fine.

You know, you know, when that happens, it makes you wonder, am I crazy?

Or maybe he is?

Or why am I being like this? No one else sees it? I must be they must be right, and.

Yes, am I making a big deal out of nothing exactly?

Or am I reading this wrong? It just makes you question everything.

So that's what she does. So she takes these messages, and she you know, she wakes up Jake and Michael and Jane and they're listening to these phone messages together, right. I think they're at Jane and Michael's apartment listening to these phone messages. And and you know, Michael admits, all right,

And you know, does that mean you said it yourself wrong gender?

Because I think he said in the previous moment where she was trying to she was trying to tell him in the courtyard, yeah, like like I'm not interested in this guy, and he he had like not really been sympathetic about it. He's like, yeah, if you're looking for sympathy, you've chosen the wrong gender. He sort of said.

About it and can't be sympathetic.

Oh so then he it's sort of repeated again. I thought it was a weird moment too, though, Yeah, weird. I know why it's weird.

Yeah, and then they try to circle back to it and said, well, you set it yourself wrong gender.

So he's like, I'm he's refusing to be sympathetic then, which is very bizarre.

Yeah.

Anyway, so she has to go back to bed, she's trying to sleep she can't. She's just laying there, wide awake, and the phone continues to rings like super vulnerable feeling. The morning, Jake is cleaning his motorcycle in the courtyard. Billy's talking to him about Allison and wanting to bed a new car, and Billy compares Jake and Sandy's relationship to car buying, where Jake says it's too early for this and partly so no, this is no, We're not

And uh.

Sandy walks in Billy leaves. Sandy tells Jake that Paul called again last night and that she's gone to the police and that they can't do anything. So Jake now says, well, why didn't you ask me to go to the police with you? I believe you. I believe you now finally, and yeah, and I'll I've had experience with the police. I've got lots of experience with the police. They not had a handle lists And I'll take you to I want to. I'm gonna take you to work today and

So he's somehow turned a corner and he's decided to believe her, And I think it was Billy's comment really turned the time.

Yeah, car buying, he is a wise Allison called him something, oh wise old whatever, she called him, son of salesmen, Yeah, a little guru. Okay. So Allison trying to sell the car to another young customer, very sweet, sort of young innocent person who's asking about gas mileage, and Alison's really struggling to try to like how do I frame this? But I really want to sell Betsy, but I also don't want to, like, you know, sell this young girl a world clunker and I know.

And the casting was so perfect because she did look like a younger version of Allison. Yeah right, literally could have been looking into her own past. It was so sweet.

And Billy's Billy innocent in the background, like rooting for Alison to like bring it home, and Alison just can't bring herself to like.

Lie, I was so relieved. I was worried that I was going to do something horrible, but.

No, thatll are of this car.

Never Allison would never do something horrible and dishonest, So she's very honest with the girl. The girls like thanks for being honest, and she rides away on her bike.

Was wearing like a McDonald's yeah outfit or something like she works at fast food.

Yeah, Betsy may not have been better than the bike, apparently, so, so Jake is now walking Sandy to her door after work that night. He peeks inside and takes a look around and gives Sandy your keys, and they are inspecting the apartment. They find that there has been a window left open the apartment. So that's terrifying. Somebody's been in the apartment. Jake goes to search the apartment and in the bedroom, Sandy finds that flower petals have been sprinkled all over her bedroom.

All over.

Definitely, so he's broken in. He's done this creepy thing. And the phone is ringing, the answer machine is picking up, and Paul leaves a message. I mean, there's just evidence upon evidence upon evidence upon evidence. He's leaving a message for Sandy, and Jake picks up, and Paul panics and hangs up. Jake says, tell me where he works. You stay here, lock the doors, don't talk to nobody. So he leaves to go look for.

The nursery and in this moment, even though I'm a very evolved woman and blah blah blah, and like, oh yeah he's gonna go beat somebody.

Yuh yeah, I protected is Yeah, I mean it is the whole part of me.

It was all excited.

Yeah, it's a it's a relief though that he's like believing her, he's and he's like gonna do something about it that she doesn't feel like she's been able to do, you know, Like there's there's that inherent feeling of like, I am my impulse is not to go beat him up. I don't have that. Her impulse was to go to the police. What good might that do? You know? But like Jake's like, I got this, take it into his own hands. So he hops the fence at the nursery.

And Jake punches him out falls to the ground, and Jake threatens to kill him if he comes near Sandy again. So that we're all like yes, and again my more evolve side is saying no, but my my miner cave woman is all a flutter. Yes, very attractive. Why is your all the sides saying no, myvolve because like, no, we should handle this in another way. But I'm just saying that there's that core cave woman side of me that's like he beats somebody up for her.

Well, just a feeling of being having some sort of like, you know, if he could, if there's a way to threaten this guy back, like he's you know, he's threatening to Sandy and she feels like she has no power. But this physical threat may actually speak to him. We can only hope.

Yes, Well, it's very Melrose. You know, he's the guy. He's a tough guy.

It's Jake.

He's wears the T shirts and the leather thing, and that's the only way he knows how to do it.

It's very makeouts and punch outs.

Mel. Yeah, we gotta have them both.

That's our show.

So then he he goes back to the apartment, tell Sandy that Paul won't bother her anymore, and oh, by the way, you should stay at my place for the night, just to be safe. And so they're laying there. I think they're on the cap Are they on a cop? I can't bed tell me about it. But in their clothes, in their clothes.

Okay, So it took another like crazy fast turn.

It became about them again.

It happened.

Yeah, then they always they're talking and they're being nostalgic and like sort of reminiscing about like what did happen with us? Oh? Do you remember the first night we were together? And is it that we're too much alike? So it did. It turned into a whole thing about and.

I would love to hear like from our audience who remembers that and he's watching along with us, Like did the audience at that point? Were they rooting for Jake and Sandy? Because I feel like, and I don't know if it's just I knew all the players involved, but I just keep thinking, why do we keep bringing this up? Right? But I don't think the audience was rooting for them at all?

Yeah, it's interesting. I'm an audience member. I wasn't there, so like, I feel like I'm an audience member, and you're right, I'm not sure that I'm rooting for them.

Well, but you know, right, well you don't know Amy because you came on after.

It, right, I mean I know them as obviously, right, right, right, but like as the characters, like, am I rooting for those characters to be together? I can't tell. But it's also like they're sort of dropping the the backstory. They're dropping it to us as they go, right, we're litning more bits of the backstory. So this this episode is I think we find out more, and this is how they're revealing it is by having them reminisced together about it.

Well?

I knew there was dynamic, right, but it was kind of vague. And so I feel like this is the episode where the writers are trying to give the audience more information by having me it's that you brought it.

Up, Courtney, because I was thinking the same thing. And I keep thinking, I don't know if you feel this, Laura, because we weren't there. But I keep thinking these kids in the that there was more, there was more that we missed. But I realized I've watched every EPISO putting out with you guys, right, it's not more in the past, it's before the show started. It's backstory right, and yet

Or maybe the writers were checking it out, like when the writer remember when Grant and Allison made out and they immediately said never mind, Like maybe that was the plan that Andrew and I had such good chemistry that they were like, oh, we got it. Like they just have to think it's so funny.

I sort of so weird. I think, I like, my, may my. What I see is that it seemed like they intended to have that. The Jacon Sandy be I made balloons, you guys, I didn't even mean to do it. This this is two fingers. You get balloons on a zoom people, I didn't even ask for them. You got balloons. Yeah, but remember all we're getting sidetracked again. But now remember too.

And that was so cute when you're like, I want to join the board and you're like, nothing, so cute.

It off.

We have to change Courtney' zoom settings.

It's just computer, so mine's totally off. I'm bommed.

I keep I forget to turn it off and then here I'm talking to you guys. The next thing I know, I've sent balloons.

That's so funny. Thank you.

So you were saying, no balloons for them?

Are balloons for them?

Laura? Balloons?

I don't know, like, is there like a so so emoji? Can I do like a like a emoji? Because I feel like, yeah, I feel like the intention was to have Jake and Sandy's characters be like, oh, that's the obvious, like bad boy and like you know, actress girl, like that would be the match. And I think I think that the Billy and Allison relationship, I mean that's a no brainer for sure. All see that like we want that.

It's you know what's coming.

Or even before, even before Courtney and Andrew knew it, I think the writers were probably writing that like that's the way they want you to.

I don't know, I think you could.

I think the magical chemistry maybe.

They were trying it out. I don't know. We don't know. I don't know, because when your chemistry went boom, I'm sure they went with it, like you say, they always do that. I mean you see people come on with like you're like Laura, when you came on. You said you were only on for a couple episodes in Boom. It worked what you did, so you stayed. So I

So well, apparently that's their backstory and they did that first, and we just don't get to see it. We just get to talk about it and reminisce about it.

But that energy is still there.

I don't know. And this night, after she's been stalked, they're going to reminisce about their first nights together. So okay, So the Jake tails Sanity go to sleep and they lay their stanner and get the ceiling. So the next day, Allison is back at her car. She's at her trunk looking through papers. Billy runs by and Alison's feeling a little nostalgic again and she's like, I remember when I first got Betsy, and I've had such fond memories in this car, like when I was.

A designated driver all the time because I never drank, although I did lose my virginity in the becksat. I just slid that right, oh by the way, Yeah, yeah, so but she's don't sit in the back. Lord knows what's there now, just like.

Like going in there, because we're looking through the hatchback into this little, tiny, beat up, rusted out car.

And my answer is, yeah, my boyfriend didn't have a.

Car, I know.

And he's like, your answer, didn't have a basement.

There's so much more to a hotel nearby. There's a lot of questions that should come up here, but it's really the point is supposed to be that Allison is like, I'm not going to sell Betsy too many great memories, not to the old lady.

Well then and then and then that very on pointline, but actually, sweet, why is it that every time you think you're grown up, something comes along to show you how much farther you have to go, which kind of defined the heart of these first episodes. Right before all hell breaks loose and it gets crazy, crazy fun, It's like we were just these kids going from early twenties into adulthood, right, So that was really sweet. Yeah, and I was like, that's what the show's about.

Yeah.

But back in back in Jake's apartment, he's walking out of the bedroom fully dressed, and Sandy having a very domestic moment, but just in like a long man's shirt, you know, very like morning after Look, she's cooking breakfast and she's cooking it only for him because she's going to be dieting, but she made him this really nice

Meaning a little bit.

Deep and out of the blue. But at that moment, the police knock at the door and ask Jake to step outside.

Okay, now, I thought I wrote this down and I didn't, so I'm looking it up again. The the African American policeman. Did you recognize him?

No?

Okay, I'm I'm looking it up right now. He I can't believe I looked it up. And I thought I wrote it down. Apparently I didn't. He's been in everything, yeah, like every he's like, I know, did you recognize him?

I did, but I didn't. I couldn't. I didn't place him. And in fact, I made an assumption, was like, oh my god, he was a policeman character for years in Melrose because I recognize him, and I was like, oh, I have I have storylines with him coming up in season two, three, four and five or something. I made that assumption, but I didn't actually double check that. I wonder if that's accurate.

Yes, I found it all cast and crew. Yeah, he's been in everything, And when I looked it up, I was like, oh, that's who he is. His name, darn it, Nigel Gibbs. Oh yeah, Nigel Gibbs. And he was in like if you look at his IMDb, it goes on forever. And I was like, oh, that and that and that. He's one of those wonderful character actors who shows up in everything in says Los Angeles Veep Bones Risolian Isles

Well and I do. I am hoping and I'm assuming we're going to see him later, like he shows, he's recurring, like he's in La cop up for you know, these years on Nulra's place. And he'll be back because guess what, Sydney encountered the police. Lots of times when I feel like I feel like Joe thrown.

In the clinker a couple of times.

Clinker.

We'll see the clink the clinker. All right, let's keep going.

They've got questions mm hmmm, and Paul has now lodged a complaint. So Jake explains that the police that Paul had been harassing Sandy and then they're pretty sure he'd broken into her apartment. And this that Jane and Sandy are watching Jake have this conversation police in the courtyard, and that's finally Michael apologizes to Sandy, saying, you know, I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I guess it was a thing. Now she's worried that Jake's going to be

Are to them cans right, none of them count to like terrorizing her, terrorizing her, that's what he did.

But yeah, flowers, like I asked, I asked a friend of mine, she's a she's a DA attorney, and she's like, I said, like what recourse? What power do women have like in this sort of thing, Like would you go, well,

The suspect or a perpetrator or whatever has to somehow have been informed that the person feels in danger or threatened and feel scared like did and with that knowledge, and that's like the proof that in order to press charges or find somebody guilty of stalking or whatever, that the part of that equation is having a jury believe that the stalker knew that his behavior was scaring the person.

But it's more just like what are the what are the things that a woman can do to protect herself, or like, what are the things that are first of all, they you know, we didn't have the phones in the nineties, so we didn't have that ability, that tool. But also just like knowing that that informing somebody that they're frightening you and that it feels threatening, that that is such an important piece of the equation.

Which isn'tsane, okay, is that anybody's natural instinct is to go to the threat and say you're you're scaring me. Yeah, I feel the recourse for you to stop is for me to admit that that that overpowering me is working. Like that's ridiculous.

Yeah, I mean it's it's Yeah.

Anyway, again, you wouldn't wish this on anybody, and exactly for any people.

That's what Sandy said. She says, I don't know what to do, but I have to do something.

Yeah.

So anyway, we go find that Allison is back at the car dealerships, getting next to her red convertible and yay.

So close.

She tells Billy that she's not gonna name any more cars, that she's trying to take steps in that direction, and she tells Billy, do not look for hidden meanings in what I'm saying, do not look for a deeper thing.

I will say they did a good job in this episode too, the writer's having this very intense storyline and the super light, no steak storyline, right, they do that all the time.

They do.

Yeah, they do a good job. This one really felt extreme to me, like from the stalking to the will she sell her.

Card name Betsy?

Will she not?

Like?

It was so low stakes, which was fun, like low steaks fun. You said, they usually do it well, like should I get an abortion.

And tell my husband? Or should I go bungee jupping? You know that was a perfect a job. Yeah, something serious and something's light for.

Balance, Like, yeah, they do a good job of that.

Yeah.

Yeah, this was very extreme and they do that on purpose, don't.

They They do Yeah. So, uh so at the end of the scene, the salesman comes back with not enough money to offer for Betsy and so I'm sorry the used car so that it doesn't reflect the price Alison agreed on and she's frustrated, but she's not going to sign the papers for that, and you know what, I guess I'm just not ready. We're not going to sell the car. Not happening, So.

Isn't it on a tow truck being towed away?

Yet started to take it away? And she's like, get it off the truck.

I'm my baby, I'm.

Just not ready. So then we find out what Sandy's decided to do is show up to the nursery and confront Paul herself. So he's standing there talking to the owner in a conversation, uh with the woman owner, and and she walks right in the conversation. Sandy tells Paul to drop the charges against Jake. Paul tells Sandy, but I love.

You, but I love that she finally is saying this with a witness there, missus Sullivan was it her name? Who owns the.

Place, Sullivan's Nursery.

Yeah, let's do this later, he says, And she's like, no, I'm doing it right now. Did you know that your employee has done this this? And that he's obsessive, he's a stalker, you know.

Finally she's standing up for herself with a witness, witness, and she's not backing down.

Yeah. I love that about her.

Yeah, which is why it's so great that it didn't stop with the yummy caveman moment of Jake punching him out, Like, it's so great that then she gets to go in power and stand up for herself.

Yeah, in the light of day, without any fights. I'm just telling you, and kept calling him on it. I loved it.

Yeah, it was great, really well done, and he he agrees to leave her alone, he says, and so Sandy walks away, and then as she's walking away at her back, he says, very quietly, I'm sorry. We don't even know if she even hears it, but like she does, he does apologize. Like, I don't know, as an audience member, if I don't necessarily feel like, oh that door is closed, I still feel pretty creeped.

Out by But that's a good point. Yeah.

Anyway, at least Sandy's you know, he's he's on he's on record, he's on alert. The police know about it, the boss knows about it, Jake knows about it. I feel like, you know, Sandy's got some help now. But anyway, so ragget shooter, Sandy's working. Jake shows up to tell Sandy that the charges against him were now dropped. Yay, but he does say, you know, this was stupid of.

You to go after Paul alone, and not as stupid as me to break an entering in the middle of the night and go puny face yeah, I could be in the middle of the day, the place was open. You walk in and you tell him you just won't have it anymore and you call him out in front of witnesses. That was dumb, but.

I love it.

There's a place for both maybe.

Yeah. And at the end of that, he offers to walk her home again, not because he has to, but because he wants to.

Oh that's sweet.

Yeah, So then closure on Billy and Allison's story, Billy is awake in the middle of the night on the couch. He's watching a horror movie while eating ice cream, looks completely like a little kid, and Allison shows up in her pajamas, saying, what are you doing? And he says, well, this is something I've been doing since I was a kid when I can't sleep, and Alison remarks on how they both haven't really grown up and move over, makes space for me. She scooches them.

Over right next to him.

Were super cute and snugly, and they are watching the movie and she takes his ice.

Cream with Eminem's and takes his ice cream in the intimacy of sharing a spoon. Boom, Hello, very cute, Mary adorable And that's how the episode ends, watched He's looking at he's looking at her, going, watched the movie, watch the movie, very cute.

I love that ending.

So that was episode eight.

I didn't see any kisscounts.

Nobody kissed in this thing, right, not really about it.

No, there was like creepy Paul kiss on the cheek. There was no good kissing.

Not really a real kiss.

Yeah.

It was like even worse than a wall apparently, so.

It was a walk. Yeah, all right.

We're continuing to love reading everybody's comments on our socials and getting questions. We had a couple of fan questions.

Yeah, we had.

Oh you know what. One of the fan questions we had recently was wondering how the three of us became friends behind the scenes, because it was noted that on the show, like Joe and Sydney rarely crossed paths, like not very often, and then Alice and Sidney barely ever, and when they were, they weren't usually the most friendly interactions. But so the fans are wondering how we became actual friends behind the scenes.

Well after yeah, after.

We were a friendly we were all friendly then, yeah, but it was after, right, was it? After the reunion? After the twenty fifth that we started having lunch on a regular basis.

Well, I think so, yes, But I also think like during the show, like the shooting of the show, like what the fans don't see they only see like the characters on camera, like how how the characters interact, But like we have all this time and trailers and sitting around on the set, that it's like people are just being normal. There's not like you know that it's not Sidney sitting around on the set and Joe sitting around the set and Alison, it's Courtney and Daphne. I think

It was a nice foundation. And I think we were all at the time when does human beings at that time in life make friends adult friends? And I feel like spending all that time, you know, we were working a lot, and like the fan points out, if we didn't have a lot of scenes with each other, there

You know, we all were at my baby shower.

I think I know I was at your baby shower. Yeah, And trying to think of who else I may have stayed in touch with, But there were these touchstones. I think because the foundation of being in your late twenties and thirties, early thirties, thirty I think I turned thirty on the show. It was just there, I think, you know what I mean. And then we started to.

Have those reunions and we really did enjoy time now. But we're so lucky. We didn't have any bad apples, Like there wasn't there was no drama, there wasn't infighting. We were busy, but we genuinely liked each other. Like I remember seeing you guys in the makeup trailer and sometimes if you didn't have scenes, you go hang out in the makeup trailer with each other. I hang out in wardrobe. Like we genuinely liked each other. We were just busy, and then we'd have I remember we had

And right, you had said something really sweet after we had had Josie on our episode. You said something really sweet, Courtney. You're like, we were so lucky, like we just liked each other, like we as a cast, we were all so lucky to have the group that we had and how we all felt well and.

So lucky that you know, we've had Grant and Josie and Andrew on so far, and I can't wait to have everybody on, Like our co stars are excited to come to hang out for an right, it's not is it good for my career? Is it whatever? It's like, let's just get together and hang out. It's an excuse to get together. So I do think that's rare, and

Nobody's we all held it together.

We all held it together. True.

Yeah, So if you're looking for dirt, we're gonna have to dig deeper because it's actually.

Well dig, well, dig if you need the dirt. But we got what we got, which is like we like each other, it's.

In the clinker.

It's in the clinker.

We were all in the clinker.

All right.

On that note, so, I think we have a we have another recap to look forward to, and I always look forward to seeing your faces. And one of these days we might all be in the same city and we can get back in person. But until then, always fun to see on zoom anyway, Yeah, guys, zoom, all right, good bye,