32 Thoughts About Blood & Oil: “The Ripple Effect” — Oct. 4, 2015
After last week’s pilot episode, I couldn’t think of a compelling reason to watch Blood & Oil again and yet, here I am with more stream-of-consciousness musings. Chalk it up to masochism or morbid curiosity. Let’s go!
- When did this oil explosion happen? I don’t remember it at all. Is it possible that I wandered off before the end of the previous episode? Maybe I went to refill my goblet before the Quantico pilot.
- Watch Quantico! It’s a crazy fun show.
- It doesn’t matter that I possibly didn’t see the entire episode last week. If the North Dakota mountains are snowcapped, Blood & Oil isn’t paying attention to details either.
- This explosion is Wick Briggs’ doing. Hap’s rebellious and resentful son just inadvertently caused an accident that nearly killed his father. If Wick is supposed to be the bad boy, the writers can’t make him this incompetent. Wick needs to be J.R. Ewing OS X. Okay, nobody can be J.R. Ewing, that is setting the bar too high. That doesn’t mean Wick has to be Fredo.
- It’s nuts to make a show about oil tycoons; it will always be compared to Dallas, and it will never live up.
- Did you see the bed linens during Wick and Jules’ tryst? They are tragic. If ugly sheets distract viewers during a sex scene something is amiss.
- The LeFevers are still talking about that baby poor Cody is never going to have because plot-device pilot-pregnancies are predictable.
- Drinking game! Take a sip every time Cody says “baby.”
- Baby.
- How long have the LeFevers been in town? They were broke and jobless after their dream of entering the laundromat business went sideways, and they wound up living in Hooverville. They made an improbable million-dollar deal with Hap, the oil baron, and rented a modest apartment so as not to squander their fortune, but now she is standing in front of her “dream house” and he is considering a $500k gamble. Cody will want the Palace of Versailles next week because “baby.”
- BTW, the LeFevers survived a flipped vehicle in the first episode. When did Cody get pregnant? A scene in a doctor’s office would be useful here so we know the baby is okay. Well, okayish because that baby is not going to happen.
- The LeFevers are engaged in a shouting match about the dream house because Cody just handed over a down-payment without consulting her husband, and Billy is making stupid business decisions without talking to his wife. Mind you, this is in one day.
- Blood & Oil might be punking the audience.
- Maybe the writers want to burn through a season’s worth of plot before the show winds up in Hulu purgatory with I Wanna Marry Harry and Utopia.
- Wick is going to have sex with Cody after she loses that baby within the next five minutes.
- Okay, that didn’t happen, but it will.
- And then Billy will find out and he’ll have revenge sex with Jules. Or Wick’s sister. Or Wick’s stepmom, Darla Briggs.
- Does Cody still have a job at the pharmacy? What is she doing all day now when she isn’t impulsively buying houses and talking about this baby?
- You know what this show needs? It needs a star who is willing to gleefully embrace the script and ham it up. They all look so glum. If a show is this ridiculous, at least one of the stars has to commit.
- This show needs Taraji P. Henson.
- Oh, some extra is getting blamed for the oil explosion I wasn’t paying attention to.
- The extra is dead. Whodunnit?!
- Now we know whodunnit because some other guy just confessed, so mystery over.
- Sigh.
- Wick brought Jules home and introduced her as his girlfriend, but apparently she has been with his dad. Hap is visiting her now. Confrontation!
- What is Hap wearing? Is that an ascot?
- Has anyone in North Dakota ever worn an ascot?
- Has anyone in North Dakota worn an ascot in the North Dakota snowcapped mountains?
- Does Hap have a monocle and top hat like Mr. Peanut?
- Hap and Jules are arguing, so he is going to grab her and kiss her forcefully.
- He just grabbed her and kissed her forcefully.
- Baby.
Fantastic observations as usual! Hilarious. I recorded the show not sure if I was going to watch it. I did and read your comments afterwards. What struck me first when I was watching was that there must be an official book of episodic television clichés, and that they have read it and challenged themselves to hit every one of them in the 13 episodes the show might last.
Thank you for commenting — and for the compliment! Maybe it’s supposed to be a drinking game. Baby.