207 - The Lying King *Spoilers*

[therichesadmin]

The Lying King - Spoilers

Written by: Alexander Cary
Directed by: Peter O'Fallon

First aired on FX on April 29, 2008
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At the beginning of the episode, Dale mysteriously vanishes. His truck is still parked in front of the Riches house.

At Jim’s funeral, Nina finally speaks out against the queer friends of Jim's. She tells them how much she despises them and the lie she has been living for 25 years. The scene starts to escalate when Dahlia pulls Nina out and takes her to her secret apartment, which Dahlia rented to support her fake identity. She keeps calling her Parole Officer who still does not take her calls.

Nina is upset about Dahlia's constant lies. When she asks about the P.I., Dahlia lies again upsetting Nina who just leaves.

At the funeral, Wayne gets yet another emergency message from Hugh, who constantly needs Wayne’s attention, thus further straining Wayne’s relationship to his family. There has been an accident at the construction site to Bayou Hills. A worker is pinned below a heavy pipe after a chain broke. The contractors seem to be convinced that it has been sabotage and that the chain could not brake by itself.

Wayne quickly brings in another contractor. He also gets a call from the Irish contractor (O’Rayleigh). O’Rayleigh is Quinn’s (and Dale’s) man who desperately wants the contractor job. Now it should be apparent to everyone who is responsible for the sabotage act.

During one of Hugh’s public appearances, the Russian investor reinforces his pressure on Wayne, to betray Hugh, increasing their stakes in the deal. Wayne is quick on his feet asking for a favor in return. Wayne uses the Russians to drive out the Irish and clear the construction site for the new contractor. He also tightens security to prevent further incidents.

DiDi and her boyfriend break into another house and have a drink together. They start fooling around and enjoying themselves on the bed, watching private sex tapes and making fun of the people in the tapes. One thing leads to another and they have sex.

At a fight in the traveller camp, Quinn stages himself as a wise and forgiving leader, using Cael to show his alleged alliance with the Malloy clan. He hopes to unite the traveller fractions behind himself. Cael who is desperately looking for friends does not object to being used by Quinn.

Dahlia is still at her fake apartment. She tries to reach out to her Parole Officer who refuses to return her calls. She tries to reach Cael and DiDi and cannot get through to anyone. She then buys drugs, but comes to her senses just in time. Instead of taking the drugs, she visits her Parole Officer, trying to set things straight. He uses her situation to make inappropriate advances towards her. Dahlia runs away.

Later Cael calls her to let her know he is ok and that he is staying with “friends.”

Sam and his girlfriend;s story develops a little further, as the two start exploring his cross dressing desires together.

Wayne sees Dale returning after having disappeared for a long time. Dale seems to be hurt, when he is trying to jumpstart his truck. Wayne does not bother with Dale but suddenly gets a call from Quinn. Quinn is trying to get in on the action at Bayou Hills. Wayne naturally refuses but Quinn has a surprise for Wayne, "I have your son."

[Steve]

I wonder why Dale was hurt and why the P.I. was suspiciously missing from this episode. I believe Orbert may have been on to something in the thread about the last Episode (Dead Calm Thread) asking if the P.I. was what he claimed to be.

[susan]

I think Dale was roughed up by the traveler/contractors. Remember just 7 shorts weeks ago when we thought Dale was the biggest threat? It took two seasons but I'm glad they didn't kill Dale off.

I was so glad to see Dahlia not shoot up. I'm hoping that was rock bottom for her. I'm sure it helped when Cail called her. I was also glad to see that she was hoping that it was Wayne who was calling. Is she ready to turn a corner? (I'm not too fond of the parole officer thread)

Poor Wayne. This is so way over his head but he's learning isn't he. The last two episodes have shown that he isn't always a cuddly teddy bear (and now DiDi knows it too). It was fun watching those Russian thugs oust the travelers but you know it just digs a deeper whole. He is really struggling to justify this whole thing now. This is good because money just isn't worth your family and friends, even Hugh.

Nina needs to jerk a knot in both Dahlia and Wayne's necks. Maybe her comments will help.

With the end of this episode they have just got to renew this show. They can't just leave it like this. I'm disappointed that they had to try to pack so much into 7 weeks. It made for some disjointed viewing at times. So, here is to renewal and a full 13 episodes next year. I can hardly wait.

[unholyghost2003]

[annwieland]

I thought Cael threw his phone in the river, and then called his mother on Quinn's phone. So how did Quinn get WayneDoug's cell number? Maybe I wasn't paying attention!

[unholyghost2003]

Yup, Cael did call Dahlia's phone with Quinn's phone. The only non-error reason for Quinn calling Wayne's phone after Cael made the call to Dahlia that I can think of is that Dale gave Quinn Wayne's number, Quinn didn't need Cael to get the numbers. Quinn waited until that point to use the number he had for Wayne because until that point Quinn wasn't certain that Cael wouldn't cut and run. After Cael, helped Quinn break-up the fight, toasted Traveler unity with him, and took Quinn's advice about his family, Quinn could feel pretty confidant that Cael isn't going to take off and Quinn has his emotional hooks firmly in Cael. Quinn wouldn't make a threatening call to Wayne about "having [Wayne's] son" while Cael was awake because then Cael would be certain that he is just a pawn to Quinn and might run.

[Orbert]

Good point. I too wondered how in the heck Quinn could call Wayne, when Cael had only called Dahlia and (presumably) not Wayne, but it does make sense that Dale would've given Quinn any and all information he has on Wayne, which obviously would include phone numbers.

I knew I would feel this way, but it still sucks. At the end of a season of any show, I always want more. Selfish, I know, but hopefully understandable. But this season, it's particularly bad because we only got seven shows, and they went by very quickly. Less than two months, and that's all we get for a year. So not only do I have this stupid feeling of wanting more, I actually feel ripped off. We should have gotten more!

Anyway...


Now get this: As rushed and plot-packed as things were, I actually found things to be a little light this episode, and for the first time in two seasons, just a bit bored. Didi and the security kid are breaking into houses again, raiding someone's liquor, watching their TV... boring. They finally had sex and all I could think was "Yeah, we knew that was coming." Well, that and "Man, Didi looks nice." That black dress, when she was standing at the mailbox... Okay, enough superficiality.

Sam and his little friend. Interesting, a bit unexpected, but overall a bit blah too. Nina is mad at Dahlia 'cause Dahlia won't stop lying. Surprise. A lot of it felt like connecting the dots, since we pretty much knew where things had to end.

Even Dahlia and the parole officer was semi-blah. It unfolded in a strange way, yes, but someone had spoiled the "big surprise" so I guess it didn't have the shock value it should have. Plus, it didn't exactly make sense. This is why he won't return her calls? Um, okay.

And Dale wasn't exactly a surprise either. He's been missing for three days, obviously as a result of whatever/whoever it was at the end of the last episode. He shows up finally, all beaten up. Check. Then Quinn finally makes his phone call, and that's our cliffhanger. Again, because we pretty much knew it would come to this, there was no shock value.

So oddly enough, the episode which should have pulled out all the stops and blown me away, didn't. It seemed mostly rather pedestrian.

But to end things on a lighter note: Go, Grandma! That was funny.

[annwieland]

Thanks, unholyghost2003 - makes sense to me - at least I'm not crazy!!!

[unholyghost2003]

[Emilie]

Well, I am sad to see this season end. I can't believe it's already over. I am a bit worried since we haven't heard anything about another season. I believe last year when season 1 was over, we already knew that we would get another season.

Anywhoo...Last night's episode was as intense for me as the rest of the season. I agree with you, Orbert, that many things did turn out as was to be expected and yet some didn't. As the stories shift back and forth, so do my expectations and opinions.

I didn't care much for DiDi's story, but I knew she would "rebel" somehow after finding out about Pete and I can understand her need to. I think the story with Sam and the girl is really cute, and it's a shame that it feels so out of place at the moment and somehow tacked on. No doubt this one is due to the writers' strike.

I was amazed how Wayne turned around and finally seems to have things under control again. Enough went wrong last night, and yet you could almost feel the fun he was having with it all. Very clever to take advantage of the Russians to get rid of the travellers.

But I was most impressed by Dahlia's and Nina's stories last night. And especially the performances. Best scenes ever I have seen from Margo Martindale. And Minnie Driver simply blew me away. Very raw and emotional at times and very convincing. Now that's good TV in my books.

And finally, I'd also like to join in: Here is to renewal and a full 13 episodes next year. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

[Orbert]

[unholyghost2003]

Oh sure! make me go digging for my source, I DO have one but since I am not obsessed at ALL with this show I will have to go digging to figure out where I got that bit ... I'll link it in this post when I find it again!

O.K. here it is, an interview with Eddie and Minnie

http://www.movieweb.com/tv/news/96/27296.php

Eddie says "Well, obviously, it's seven episodes because of the strike. I think the writers were obviously aware of this beforehand, and so we built a sort of cliffhanger halfway through the season."

[Steve]

I don't really think that everything was as predictable as Orbert put it. I hadn't expected Dale to be such a wimp for once. I thought he would be able to tough it out, but seeing him run with his tail between his legs is somewhat surprising.

I am amazed how quickly Wayne has become an expert in buffer life. He knows what it takes to win an election, I am just not sure that Hugh will not screw it up somehow. In this season Hugh has completely lost his mind. He seems to be doing everything he can to screw himself. He used to be pretty cool, but maybe its time for me to look for a new avatar.

I am surprised that Sam hardly got any time on the air this season. I think they could have developed the character a lot more and given him more time.

The Parole Officer is creepy. I was expecting his move when we was in the car with Dahlia a while back but not in this awkward situation.

And finally: I believe the renewal will not depend on the story plot. FX is a business like any other. If it makes business sense to renew, meaning if enough ads are projected to be sold on it and if the revenue is better then with other shows .... well, I guess you get my point. If the executives see enough money in it they will renew.

[absolutjan]

WOW

[unholyghost2003]