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Firefly Lane Review – Love is a Battlefield (1×04)
Firefly Lane Season 1 Episode 4 kicks off with Kate and Marah heading to what seems like Tully’s funeral. But while the mood is somber, there’s also an aura of serenity.
Unfortunately, the whole scene is short-lived, and the rest of the episode keeps the two-year flash-forward a mystery. So, it could be Tully’s funeral, it could be someone else’s.
In college flashbacks, we see Tully’s experience with her teacher, Professor Wiley. Yes, the Chad Wiley she was making out with at the end of Firefly Lane Season 1 Episode 3. Who expected him to be the journalism professor that guided her in the on-air sphere? Not me!
Initially, I thought maybe Wiley had been Tully’s more serious and promising relationship, but now, it’s clear that it continued down the same path of dysfunctional and problematic. At least, that’s what it looks to be now.
Wiley, who gave off the impression that he didn’t like her in class, does try to stop their hook-up, but we know that they eventually give into temptation.
In high school flashbacks, Tully and Kate decide to skip school and get high together. That’s when Tully informs Kate that she might be pregnant since she hasn’t gotten her period since Pat raped her. The thought is horrifying, and you hope that it isn’t the case, so when she eventually gets her period, it truly is a moment of relief and joy. I’m also impressed with the show for showing a bloody piece of toilet paper and owning it. It’s about time we normalize things like periods!
The storyline parallels what’s unfolding in the present-day as Tully wakes up the morning after she passed out from drinking too much following her fight with Max.
Kate is worried about her, but Tully shrugs it off as nothing before Kate’s mother suggests the hot flashes and memory loss may be menopause settling it. Tully is terrified by the possibility since she’s only 43 and it means that her chances of having children — even though it seems like she’s never entertained the idea of having any — are gone.
However, the episode takes another unexpected turn when Tully reveals two lines on a pregnancy test, which means she’s pregnant with Max’s baby. Yes, at 43.
The idea of having a child past the age of 40 is frowned upon mostly because society has deemed it unacceptable. There’s a stigma against older parents, particularly, older moms. And while there are risks that come with having children once you are older, a woman’s life doesn’t end at 40! Some women, like Tully, spend their 20s and 30s dedicated to a career and don’t even entertain the idea until they are older because they aren’t ready in their “prime.” And there’s plenty of advantages including financial stability, ready (and willing) to settle down, and a wealth of knowledge that you’ve acquired through the years.
So, while it’s entirely possible that Tully will choose to have an abortion (her prerogative) or will lose the baby, the simple fact that the series introduced this storyline is awesome and is reducing the stigma of waiting until later in life to have kids!
What do you think she’ll do?
The recital at the Ryan household is kind of a hot mess mainly because Johnny and Kate can’t figure out their relationship and poor Marah is caught right in the middle. You can say whatever you want, but children will always be affected by a divorce no matter how painless the parents try to make it.
The problem with Johnny and Kate is that there’s still a lot of love and chemistry between them. I mean, if Marah hadn’t come home from school, it would have been wild in that bedroom.
But that also doesn’t mean that they should give it another chance. I was all for giving it another go-around until their explosive fight during the recital.
It’s still unclear what led to their decision to divorce. It seems like Johnny was jealous as Kate flirted with Travis, and while emotional cheating is still cheating, it shouldn’t rock a solid relationship like Johnny and Kate’s.
The bigger issue to me was Johnny telling Kate he wanted to be with her while also making it clear he wasn’t going to reconsider leaving for Iraq. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.
My biggest gripe with this is that Johnny thinks he’s entitled to finding himself while Kate isn’t. As she pointed out, there are things she has wanted to do but couldn’t because she prioritized their family.
In all the flashbacks, we see her striving to be a groundbreaking news producer, but when we meet her at the beginning of the series, she’s given all of that up to be a stay at home mom.
Johnny didn’t even seem to acknowledge any of that because he was so focused on his own wants and needs. And while I get his side because it’s important not to lose yourself in your marriage and as a parent, but he wasn’t taking Kate’s wants or needs into consideration at all.
He was basically choosing to leave to do something he wanted while she continued to be a parent and put Marah’s needs above her own.
Kate has been disappointed, let down, and overlooked her whole life. She makes that perfectly clear during the flashback scenes in college when they go attend a dinner for her parent’s 25th anniversary.
We know she’s been in Tully’s shadow for most of her life, and she watches as her own family takes more of an interest in her best friend than they do in her.
Even her career path isn’t something her mother takes seriously, although she admires Tully’s work ethic in the same field.
Being exposed to that constantly takes a toll on you.
Kate’s also not someone that likes being lied to, but it seems as though she was surrounded by liars.
In the high-school flashbacks, she learns that her mother may have been cheating on her father, which is what changed her opinion of her mother and marriage in general. She also learns that Tully has been lying to her about her mother having cancer. It really would have been better if Tully just told her the truth.
Also, I can’t help but wonder how Tully and Cloud afford the house (and all the drugs) since the latter never seems to go to work. I mean, she’s passed out on the couch on a random weekday at 2:30 pm! Did they come from a wealthy family?
And Kate doesn’t even know it yet, but her brother is lying to her about his sexual orientation, which will be a huge blow once she eventually finds out the truth and then realizes Tully knew all along.
In the college flashbacks, we see Sean is struggling with keeping his orientation a secret and feels like everyone is moving on while he’s stuck in the same place.
A now-grown Robbie comes to visit while he’s in town, and while Sean attempts to pick up right where they left off, Robbie informs him that he’s married and expecting a child with a woman named Hannah.
It crushes Sean. His story intrigues me because, from past episodes, we know that he was dating an older man, but in the present-day, Sean shows up to the recital with a woman, who is very clearly his cover so that his family doesn’t think there’s something wrong with him.
It’s heartbreaking to know that he had to suppress that part of himself for his whole life. Do you think Sean will ever come out to the family?
What did you think of the episode?
Berlin is the Money Heist spinoff we never knew we needed… but we’re so glad it’s almost here.
Since Berlin (Pedro González Alonso) was hands-down the most captivating (and problematic) character in the Spanish heist drama, fans always wanted to get to know more of him, especially after he sacrificed himself in the season 1 finale for his team, largely due to his terminal illness, redeeming himself in the process.
Quickly rising the ranks as a fan-favorite, the writers kept Berlin’s spirit alive in the following seasons via flashbacks, noting that he always had a hand in the planning of the heists, even if he wasn’t around to see them through. And it became more and more clear that there was an unsatiable thirst from audiences to explore additional parts of the character’s origin story; thus, a prequel to Money Heist focusing solely on Berlin’s prior escapades only made sense.
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As seen in the later season of Money Heist, or La Casa de Papel, Berlin garnered even more intrigue when his son, Rafael (Patrick Criado) joined the heist. The former Electronics Engineer from MIT is Berlin’s prodigal son, whose only request was not to end up a thief like his father, also drew attention after entering a relationship with his father’s wife, Tatiana. It’s a lot to unpack, clearly, but it’s also proof that there was nothing boring or mediocre about Berlin’s life in the slightest, at any point.
So, again, it warrants a spinoff that digs even deeper into this complex, charismatic, and morally questionable character we’ve all come to love.
When he joined the Professor’s group in the series, he was already one of the most seasoned robbers of the bunch, having a plethora of experience mapping out and executing heists of ranging scales.
With Berlin: Money Heist, we’re not only going to get to see one of those previous heists in action, but we’re also going to get a sense of the man he was before attempting the biggest heist in history, which made him the beloved criminal we’ve come to know.
Capitalizing on the love already established for the series—one of Netflix’s most popular shows of all time—the prequel finds Berlin, in all his glory as Andrés de Fonollosa, the mastermind behind a heist targeting the biggest auction house in Paris to steal €44 million.
The series trails the planning of a new heist as he recruits his crew: “Michelle Jenner (Isabel) plays Keila, an eminence in electronic engineering; Tristán Ulloa (Fariña) goes into the skin of Damián, a philanthropic professor and Berlin’s confidant; Begoña Vargas (Welcome to Eden) plays Cameron, a kamikaze who always lives on the edge; Julio Peña Fernández (Through My Window) brings to life Roi, Berlin’s faithful squire; and Joel Sánchez plays Bruce, the relentless man of action in the gang.”
While it’s mostly an all-new cast, we’ll see a few familiar faces with Alicia Sierra (Najwa Nimri) and Raquel Murillo (Itziar Ituno) appearing at some point, though it’s unclear what their connection is to the storyline. Is it possible that their paths have always crossed and Berlin was always on their radar way prior to the action at the Royal Mint?
We may not be getting the version of Berlin from the original series, but don’t fret, as the teaser trailer evidenced, he’s still as ruthless, dapper, and flirtatious as ever, meaning that they really did this character–and prequel—justice. The fact that it hails from the original showrunner, Alex Pina, is also a sign that it won’t let the fandom down.
“It’s a trip through the golden age of the character, when he robbed around Europe crazy in love,” Pina previously told TUDUM, adding, “That’s the most surprising, the comedy. You’re going to make people laugh a lot.”
Berlin in his prime, in love, and flexing his comedic bone? As the beloved criminal says in the trailer, “it’s all the things worth living for.”
The full synopsis for the series reads:
“There are only two things that are sure to turn a bad day into a great one: love, and a payday worth millions. They’re what keep Berlin going through his golden years, a time when he still has no inkling of his illness and hasn’t gotten trapped like a rat in the Spanish Mint. This is where he starts preparing one of his most extraordinary heists: making jewels worth 44 million disappear like some sort of magic trick. To do it, he’ll enlist the help of one of the three gangs he’s ever stolen with.”
Watch the Berlin trailer below:
Berlin arrives a few days prior to New Year’s Eve on Dec. 29, 2023, which means you’ll have plenty of time to binge watch while counting down to 2024.
To prepare, you can stream Money Heist on Netflix and read our coverage here.
Virgin River Season 5 concluded with a tiny time jump four months into the future, bringing the timeline into the Christmas holiday season.
Disclaimer — this post includes spoilers from the episode — proceed with caution.
On Virgin River Season 5 Episode 10, as Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack (Martin Henderson) decorated their cabin in anticipation of Joey’s arrival with the kids for their first-ever Virgin River Christmas, Mel received quite a shocking piece of information.
Her sister informed her that she found a stack of love letters between Mel’s mother and a mystery man in Virgin River that she believed could be Mel’s real father.
And this obviously lends itself to the question—who is the secret admirer?
There aren’t that many elderly men in Virgin River aside from Doc (Tim Matheson), and it would be next-level if he had another secret child in addition to Ryan, Denny’s late father. Though wouldn’t it be funny if Mel thought she just escaped to this random small town only to learn that it wasn’t random at all and she’d been working with her dad this whole time?
Aside from Doc, there’s really only Nick (Keith MacKechnie), Bert (Trevor Lerner), and Charlie (Patrick Keating), that we are familiar with, anyway.
Naturally, there are probably plenty of residents that audiences have never met (and they have to keep us on our toes and think of new directions for the storyline), and it’s possible her dad isn’t even alive anymore.
It would be extremely fitting if it was Lilly’s late husband, Buck, making Mel sisters with Ava, and Tara. Considering her strong bond with that family, her sisterly relationship with Ava, her love baby Chloe, and how drawn she is to that farm, this would be such a sweet twist. Mel always had a soft spot for Lilly as well, so this would be a unique way to keep her memory alive.
Mel’s father will be the major storyline addressed in the two bonus holiday episodes dropping in November, as the trailer revealed Mel starting the search for her biological dad before informing Jack shortly after that they found him, with Preacher noting that he’s “still in Virgin River.”
The way he says it makes it seem like he’s still alive, which limits the possibilities even more. Who do you think it is?
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Either way, Mel actually has roots in this small town that’s always felt like home.
Will There Be a Season 6 of ‘Virgin River’? And If So, When?
Riverdale’s seventh and final season is now available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.!
Merely a week after the long-running CW series aired its final episode ever, the streaming giant has added the series in its entirety.
All the episodes are available for fans all over the world to binge-watch on September 1, and going into a long weekend, that gives you plenty of time to catch up on all the shenanigans happening in the Town with Pep.
Credit: Netflix
Many fans weren’t interested in the weekly release model as it wasn’t ideal having to wait for new episodes to drop every week, but having them available all at once on Netflix allows you to catch up with ease.
And if you’ve never seen Riverdale and are curious about all the nutty twists and turns that eventually get all of our characters to—spoiler—the 1950s, well, all seven seasons are on the streamer for your viewing pleasure.
You can rewatch those previous seasons and relive the series in all its glory (including anything you may have missed/forgotten about), or you can just tune in for the final season—it’s up to you!
As mentioned before, the final season hit the reset button of sorts as Archie (KJ Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart), Jughead (Cole Sprouse), and Veronica (Camilla Mendes), along with many of their loved ones and friends, went back in time to 1955 and found themselves reliving their high school days all over again.
Of course, as you rewatch any and all episodes, you can read all our reviews of the series that we’ve covered since its inception in 2017!
Enjoy your Labor Day travels to Riverdale—just remember that before it was redubbed the “Town With Pep” it was known as “Murder Town of the World.” You’ve been warned.
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