Vice Principals (HBO) (1 Viewer)

[joshEH]

Best line of the episode was Dr. Brown describing her husband's infidelity to Gamby: "My sons saw the whole thing. Their daddy pullin' out of some nasty ho, dick lookin' all big and wet, like a damn French-dip sandwich."

I love Janice Swift, who is repeatedly verbally-abused by Gamby, but doesn't seem to let it get her down. Her embarrassed giggle, during the "Who Am I?" game when the guy with "GYNECOLOGIST" on his forehead asked, "Do people want to see me?", was absolutely delightful.

That said, I think the stuff with Snodgrass and the stalker-file has to blow up on Gamby very, very soon. After, "How many zebras did you fuck to get that on??", Miss Abbott likely ain't gonna be playing ball with Gamby for much longer, here.

 

[Stan]

Best line of the episode was Dr. Brown describing her husband's infidelity to Gamby: "My sons saw the whole thing. Their daddy pullin' out of some nasty ho, dick lookin' all big and wet, like a damn French-dip sandwich.".

Did they seriously use that dialogue? I must have stepped out of the room and missed it. That's hilarious !!!

 

[John Lee_275604]

Did they seriously use that dialogue? I must have stepped out of the room and missed it. That's hilarious !!!

Yeah, when Gamby was relating to Dr. Brown about missing his daughter.

Dr. Brown was convinced her husband was worthless. Gamby was coming from the POV of a father is still a father, even if the parents don't get along.

About 2/3 into the episode [estimated].

 

[joshEH]

"Nordstrom Rack?"
"No, regular Nordstrom!!"

Is Nordstrom Rack like Filene's Basement, an S&M dungeon that also offers up to 70% off on all the best clothing brands?

 

[Stan]

We don't have Filene's in our part of the country, but I've seen them when traveling. Not picking on anybody, and definitely not PC, but from what I've heard, they have mostly a tacky, trailer-trash type of clientele.

Hey, I've been around long enough I can say things like that now

 

[John Lee_275604]

Is Nordstrom Rack like Filene's Basement, an S&M dungeon that also offers up to 70% off on all the best clothing brands?

It's the name of the 'official' Nordstrom's outlet store, such as you would find at the outlet mall [not sure how pervasive those are nationwide]. Basically their overstock goes there for reduced price sale, much like Big Lots gets overstock wholesale and sells it reduced price in a retail store.

Out in suburban, often touristy, areas such as a lake near a metropolitan area where land is cheap, they'll build a strip mall. Only instead of regular retail stores they'll have outlets for overstock. Besides Nordstrom Rack, there's often 'Off Fifth' an outlet for Saks Fifth Ave, Nike Factory Store, Adidas Express, Rebook Outlet, Polo Outlet. Eddie Bauer Outlet. Besides clothes they'll also have things like Oneida, 'As Seen on TV' [featuring stuff sold on infomercial, a la Ron Popeil], Bed Bath and Beyond, Cuisinart Refurbished, Corningware, etc.

They've kind of waned with Ebay, Amazon Stores, Overstock.com and other online clearinghouses who can perform the same function nation or worldwide without the B&M presence and overhead.

 

[Stan]

Out in suburban, often touristy, areas such as a lake near a metropolitan area where land is cheap, they'll build a strip mall. Only instead of regular retail stores they'll have outlets for overstock.

Exact description of what we've got just over the border in Idaho. Must be a rule for carbon copy outlet malls to build by

It closed years ago, but little by little a few of the spaces are re-opening, although still basically a ghost town. 3-4 stores in a mall that used to have 40+ shops.

Actually a pretty decent place, great prices and good merchandise, not sure why it faded away.

 

[joshEH]

Very cool, thanks -- they have "regular" Nordstrom up where I live (Chicago), but not the Nordstrom Rack-chain.

Also, someone in another forum just posted an interesting list of observations which seem to point to Gamby possibly being an ex-Marine:

1. When they were trashing the house, how Gamby heard helicopters in his head and went into a rage.
2. He later had a USMC coffee cup on his desk, and a military helmet on another desk in his office.
3. His confidence when firing the guns during the field trip when everyone else flinched.
4. He got annoyed when the new principal didn't show up on time to honor the flag-raising in the morning.
5. His ability to punctuate his sentences with just the right amount of curse words to make his point without coming off "vulgar."

Either this, or else Gamby wanted to be a Marine, but didn't make it. Thereby furthering the sadness that has been his life. But he still has all the stuff 'cuz he wants people to think he's badass.

 

[Stan]

So... Was it the principal who did the deed? Revenge is always wonderful. She'll be back.

Love shows like this that don't just follow the usual predictable pattern so many sitcoms do. This really pushes the edge

 

[joshEH]

Come and get it, fellas.

 

[TravisR]

With this and The Deuce, HBO is looking good in the fall.

 

[Stan]

Come and get it, fellas.

So glad it's coming back. Very unique, totally off the wall comedy. Don't see them much, everything is so "formulaic", sticking to standard network rules.

 

[Stan]

Another one is "Nightcap" on the POP network. It is just way out there, far beyond normal.

Had one setup with this small disabled woman in a wheelchair. Foul mouthed bitch that you would never expect. It was hilarious.

 

[joshEH]

 

[joshEH]

Wow.

- "That's not my car." I fucking died, my God.

- "Belinda Brown -- black of skin, silver of tongue!"

- "...You know what's good with ganja? Popcorn."

- "How DARE you...put ink of me onto your back of eating shit and holding his hand that way."

- "It's the most annoying, confusing gangbang I've ever been in in my life, and trust me...I have been in a few."

- Goggins reading the daily school lunch-menu on the Jumbotron ("Salisbury steak, au gratin potatoes and vegetable medley...sounds delicious, doesn't it??").

- They almost killed me at Russell leading the school in singing "Tears in Heaven" to Gamby.

Wow, what a great episode. Tons of laughs, a great return to all the characters, and I think that new lesbian vice-principal has a lot of potential. I still think Lee is the man who at least hired someone to shoot Gamby, though, since he's the closest thing we have to a sociopath on the show, and he has everything to gain.

The shooter is definitely Ray. So far he's just been a peripheral character, and he's been acting WAY too cool with his wife's ex-husband. He certainly has motive, but it's not nearly as apparent as the other suspects, who I feel are too obvious. He sees Neal starting to get his shit together and repairing his relationships with his ex-wife and daughter, and he feels threatened.

It's really the way he treats Gamby that makes alarms go off for me. I'm not speaking for anyone but myself, but in my experience, even if you can act friendly and cool with your partner's ex, you still can hold a certain degree of resentment towards them. You guys think he might've given Gamby that kickass swordcane on purpose, so maybe later Gamby will get screwed with the metal detector? (Plus all the tiger-foreshadowing in the dream. Lee Russell is the person most associated with the tiger.)

I'm so glad this show is back. In one week, we'll have both this and Curb Your Enthusiasm running on Sunday nights. That will be an hour of solid comedy gold every week for several weeks after that.

 

[TravisR]

I loved that Gamby's Taxi Driver gun trick worked in the opposite way of how you would want it to.

The shooter is definitely Ray. So far he's just been a peripheral character, and he's been acting WAY too cool with his wife's ex-husband.

That makes sense but I hope you're wrong because I love the idea that Ray is just a genuinely nice man who takes all of Gamby's abuse and doesn't let it bother him.

 

[joshEH]

That makes sense but I hope you're wrong because I love the idea that Ray is just a genuinely nice man who takes all of Gamby's abuse and doesn't let it bother him.

Yeah, it'd be funny if the shooter actually does turn out to be just a random stereo-thief. They'll spend half a season tracking down the shooter, but the cops will have been right all along, LOL.

Crackpot theory: Could Dayshawn have been the shooter? The fact that he found Gamby after the shooting puts him at the scene. He has the height Scott mentions. The gag about him being friendly with Principal Brown because they're both black may have been a clue about motive for hiding in plain sight. And he was at least partly aware of the plot Gamby orchestrated to take down a successful building principal, too.

"I don't need your artificial painkillers...I have my ducks."

Also, I completely lost it this morning thinking about, "Ain't nobody got cystic fibrosis."

 

[TravisR]

Crackpot theory: Could Dayshawn have been the shooter?

I really hope it's not Dayshawn. It seems like the show has cleared Principal Brown and Russell but I have may suspicions that it's Russell.

 

[joshEH]

Something I absolutely love about this creative team is their attention to economic, hilarious storytelling. Snodgrass smiling appreciatively after Gamby breaks that kid's stereo is so good. And I'm very impressed that I have no goddamn clue who the assailant is. It could reasonably be most of the cast. But it's still probably Ray (and/or Lee Russell).

That AV Club review is worth a read. The guy just stews himself into a wild, impotent tizzy of Milllennial SJW liberal wiener-ness. It's amazing the number of Twitter-buzzwords he has to pass something through before he can decide whether he actually liked it or not. He's genuinely baffled by the McBride/Hill approach. "Um, wait, you guys...these characters aren't nice?!?"

 

[joshEH]