Picking Nits
Preserved dead child's room; drowned champion swimmer; Beth's departure; Adam Baldwin's build; discarded French toast; Beth's psychology; swim team focus; swim coaching; swim season length; packed swim meet
In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:45:18Read transcript
- The gimmick of the family keeping the dead child's room intact should be retired.
- A spouse questioned how a champion swimmer with so many trophies drowned; the reply is that they may have been out there for hours.
- Beth's seizure-like moment while packing is called bad acting, and it is unclear where she was going at dawn in 1980 with a suitcase; perhaps to Ward's in Houston.
- Asked about ever just leaving, the answer is no. — Mallory Rubin
- Adam Baldwin does not have a swimmer's body, while Hutton is believable as a swimmer.
- Beth throwing Conrad's French toast in the disposal upset a spouse, since it heats up perfectly.
- Beth's psychology is probed: an uptight mother, a cheery photo-taking father, and an attachment to Buck in the flashback that seems inappropriately flirtatious, which one host finds hard to accept as a storytelling choice.
- One host sees Beth as a monster, while Judith Guest described her as an unfinished character whose feelings go unexpressed except in the outburst at Ward.
- Why swim team was so central to the family, and how swim coaches coach beyond yelling to go faster, is asked.
- The swim season seems year-round, and the stands being packed for a swim meet is attributed to 1980 having nothing else to do.