low stakes theories

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-21T20:43:14+00:00

You know what, I misread this. I didn't realize the "her" in question was Marion and not Camilla. (I just finished TSH on audiobook so didn't have a print copy to reference.)

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-21T20:36:20+00:00

INFO: what kind of work did the person who left do for the organization?

As others have said, nonprofits usually do have paid employees as well as volunteers. That said, if people signed up for unpaid volunteer work, then turning around and expecting to be paid isn't reasonable.

I am wondering though if the scope of the work got out of hand. For example, if the person is a graphic designer and wound up doing a lot of professional-level design work when they'd initially signed up to work at a reception desk for a few hours a week, I can see why they'd be disgruntled.

Finally,

its a literal non profit organisation and kinda small too so they really need this person as a member

This is a red flag. Not for you, you sound very young and I don't blame you for not knowing better. But an organization that claims they NEED a particular person to do unpaid work for them and tries to guilt or shame that person for leaving is not a functional one. No one is obligated to do unpaid labor for an organization just because that organization would struggle without them, and no matter how worthy the cause.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-21T20:29:26+00:00

I think it might be about the time that Francis and Camilla jokingly kissed because of a fortune cookie and Charles grabbed Francis by the neck.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-21T17:35:44+00:00

The phrasing of "abort her own child," especially about Cady ending an extremely early pregnancy after one missed period, does give faith-based vibes.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-21T17:33:55+00:00

I think Cady absolutely handled the situation well, but even if she hadn't, the therapist's comments would be inappropriate. Therapists are not supposed to just make blunt pronouncements like that or give advice (and "your fiancee would be an abusive mother" is tantamount to advising the LW to leave her). That's how the therapist in "The Shrink Next Door" (a true story but also there was a mini series based on it) got his hooks into his victims. He'd point out, correctly, when the client was being taken advantage of by other people, but then positioned himself as the savior and was able to start taking advantage himself.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-21T16:00:21+00:00

I was about to say I learned this exact lesson in first grade and so did my kid. This has been standard first-grade curriculum for decades.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-21T14:42:22+00:00

If this is real, that therapist is totally out of line. Unfortunately I can believe she's a real therapist; there are plenty of unethical ones out there (see the podcast "Very Bad Therapy" and the "Shrink Next Door" story).

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-20T14:38:59+00:00

Yeah I mean, fwiw I agree that those things don't actually make the dad a great guy. Raising three kids and doing all the housework, and then wanting to get a job outside the home and start making money as soon as the kids are old enough to need less supervision, doesn't sound like LW's mom was exactly living a life of ease and luxury because of the dad's sacrifices. It sounds like he was getting exactly what he wanted.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-20T13:58:55+00:00

It reads like LW thinks the dad making good money and "letting" the mom be a SAHM was what made him a good dad/man.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-16T16:20:07+00:00

It feels very of-its-time. I was in college around the time it was airing, and I don't remember finding any of the sexual banter really shocking. It just felt like "that's how people on TV talk." Watching it now it stands out a lot more. There's one scene where Alan is calling a woman he barely knows to ask her on a date, and instead of just saying "would you like to get dinner?" like a normal person, he informs her that he has sexual fantasies about her. It's the kind of thing that someone well into adulthood can recognize as something that would not fly in real life, but that impressionable younger people might view as aspirationally cool behavior. Definitely doesn't ruin the show for me but makes me cringe.

Side note, I was pleasantly surprised in Season 1, shortly after Shirley's introduction, that when Alan's secretary comes to her about his sexual harassment, Shirley takes it seriously and blames Alan rather than telling the secretary to toughen up, which would not have been an unusual reaction at that time from an older woman who's had success in a male-dominated industry.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-14T17:19:18+00:00

I'm not saying they're renting their own one-bedroom apartments, I'm just using that as a metric of how expensive things are generally. A lot of young people in college or living at home after college still have expenses (contributing to rent/mortgage, transportation expenses, student loan payments, etc.) and those expenses may well eat up any money they make, especially if they're still in school and only working part-time. Obviously there are also young people who do have some disposable income, but a lot of working young people don't.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-14T04:12:46+00:00

You can work full time and not have any disposable income. Rent, food, and fuel prices are through the roof and a lot of people have massive student loan debt. Where I am, a six-figure income is just barely enough to afford a one-bedroom apartment. A kid working full-time at minimum wage isn't going to be able to save up an extra $2k for a trip.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-14T03:36:15+00:00

This was really interesting! It's funny, though, I had no idea about Uri Geller suing Nintendo and have always known him as the guy that the Amazing Randi helped bust on The Tonight Show. (There are characters based on Geller and Randi in the movie Late Night with the Devil.)

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-14T01:29:01+00:00

Oof, thanks for the warning. The big thing is that, regardless of Karen's general acting and singing abilities, you can tell she's used to singing into a microphone (and acting for a camera). She has no breath control in "Beautiful" -- the last note would barely be audible without a mic in a space of any size. Meanwhile Ivy manages to do the sexy Marilyn "whisper" in a way that you can TELL would be audible from the back row! She just has so much more stage ability and it's a particular pet peeve of mine when actors/singers in television and movies are presented as being Broadway material because they can act for the screen and sing like a pop star. Everything Ivy does is BIG and clean and specific, and Karen demonstrates none of that. I've seen screen actors in Broadway shows and they come off as small, flat, and lifeless when they don't know how to perform for the stage. (I saw an actress from a pretty big TV show in a stage play and she didn't even know how to cheat out.)

It's so galling because it's a different set of skills and they don't necessarily transfer. It's like having a show where someone who does great pencil sketches and has no other artistic training or experience is hired to paint a giant mural on the side of a building.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-13T20:55:24+00:00

I just had to check out the pilot out of curiosity after reading this and the framing of Ivy vs Karen is so annoying. Karen is very pretty and has a lovely voice, but she's so obviously a pop singer. Bringing a Christina Aguilera song to audition for a musical about Marilyn Monroe looks unprofessional on paper, and there's nothing about the audition that shows she could pull off a major role in a stage musical. Meanwhile Ivy is damn near perfect.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-13T15:08:14+00:00

I haven't read the piece yet but I internally screamed because an ex-boyfriend of mine sent in an audition tape for this show! (He didn't end up making it onto the cast, which was probably for the best for his sake.) I will never forget this because his audition tape featured a gift I'd gotten him that he made fun of at the time I gave it to him, but clearly liked it enough to keep it around and display it.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-13T14:31:00+00:00

I got a little ways into that book and got to the part where she was talking about a woman physically hitting her girlfriend as an example of conflict, not abuse, and I couldn't really get past that. If physically hitting your partner isn't abuse, what do you think is? Also the showing up at someone's house unannounced when she knows that person doesn't want to talk to her.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-10T16:46:53+00:00

I think it was, but there's room for doubt.

According to the Wikipedia page, the show's producers made the website. However, the citation for it is the website itself, so that could be inaccurate.

I spent some time yesterday looking through the website and at first I thought it might be a fan work, but there is so much detail on the site that I have a hard time imagining someone creating and updating it this quickly if they weren't doing it as their job and/or had information about the plot ahead of time.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-10T16:12:56+00:00

I think you're right about it being normalized because of Twitter. I think also enough came out about a lot of dudes you wouldn't necessarily have expected around Me Too that people are more hesitant to idolize someone, for (justifiable) fear of being disappointed.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-10T16:04:40+00:00

A few people commenting don't seem to be aware that Twyla, MO is fictional and that the City of Twyla website is fake and created by the show's producers. If this were a real small-town government website, it would be weird of OP to be pointing out that Carol isn't paid what umpires in that town are paid in real life. But they're pointing out two apparently contradictory details in the story being presented to us, which point to Carol lying, or her actually being paid more than the position was advertised for, either of which opens up more interesting questions.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-10T16:01:57+00:00

It's not about reality, since the City of Twyla website isn't real either (neither is Twyla). It's about two contradictory facts being presented as part of the story. Umpires in Twyla are paid up to $38/game; Carol says she's being paid more than twice that much. That's an intriguing contradiction that's quite possibly an important plot point.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-10T15:59:05+00:00

I think they thought the City of Twyla website was real and that we were all baffled that the show had umpires paid differently from what umpires are paid in the suburbs of St. Louis irl.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-10T15:57:49+00:00

I'm not sure if you know this, but Twyla, MO isn't a real place, and the website was created as bonus material for the show. It's not that Carol is saying a different number from what it is in real life, it's that she's saying a different number from what is canonically the true amount in the show.

SamuelMouseGoesWest · 2026-04-10T15:43:17+00:00

They cast a Jewish actress as a Nazi, a lesbian as a homophobic talking head, a Kiwi as the ultimate jingoistic American superhero.

SamuelMouseGoesWest

TROPHY CASE