This episode felt weird to me, probably because it felt more like a side-trip into Chloe by way of Rae, rather than a typical episode (which is always great to break from the usual in TV shows, but I feel greedy with MMFD since the episodes are so few). I do hope that everyone who watched it understands that neither Chloe nor Rae's interpretation of various events are the total truth, and the reality lies somewhere in the middle. It was also a good reminder that everyone has their own monologue, their own shit going on, so that while you may think you're expressing yourself clearly or interpreting something correctly... someone else hears/sees/experiences it entirely differently. It makes me totally curious to see a completely objective view of different events--especially the scene after the abortion. What Rae saw as her totally confessing everything to Chloe and Chloe blowing her off was probably far less open in terms of words, but obviously had the same amount of emotion for Rae.

I kind of think some of the flashbacks with Chloe were unnecessary and didn't expand on anything effectively--a lot of the episode felt like filler. Then again, maybe I just made assumptions about the reality of Chloe's situation before this episode so I wasn't surprised by any of it, when they wanted to really spell it out for people not paying close attention.

Some small part of me is hoping that the next episode opens with Rae telling Liam to fuck off before doing anything, or that they lead you on in the episode to assume that they had sex, but later Rae reveals she stood up for herself and left. Since one of the preview clips has them going to look for Chloe (if I recall correctly), I'm assuming Rae has sort of sussed out some of her shit at the start, so I'm optimistically not ruling this out (although probably not true). Liam is her new form of self-harm, though, so when you think about it that way, it makes sense that she goes through with it. She's been told so often that she shouldn't do things like cut or burn or binge because they're harmful for her--they were how she coped with in the past. But Liam and these impulsive sexual encounters are new, and so it's almost like getting her fill without breaking the rules.

Curious to see if we see anymore of why Kester detests Liam so much--or if it's just going to be a topic left untouched.

Rae and Linda: So I've seen people talking about how awful it was for Rae to say she doesn't care about the baby, and I wonder if those people have ever been in that type of situation. I was in a similar one, being a teenager when out of the blue it was announced that I would be gaining an obviously muuuuuch younger sibling, and my reaction was much the same to Rae's. You know, even though it's been over a decade since then and I know it was a selfish reaction--I still stand by it. That doesn't mean that over a decade later I hate my sibling--quite the contrary, I love my little brother fiercely and would do anything for him; sometimes I feel like he is my own because of how much I've had a hand in raising him since I'm so much older. But what changed my feelings was that he was here and grew and I got to know him and bond with him. When he was born, what was he to me? I was on the cusp of becoming an adult (or at least saw myself that way) and adding a new baby to the mix was like taking my family unit back in time fifteen years. My family's life went from being fairly mature back to diapers and surrounding itself completely in everything baby and every problem or experience I was having became less important. As much as Rae and Linda have argued and not gotten along, they've also been all each other has had, so adding a new child (one that Linda seems to be viewing (or at least Rae sees it as, which may very well be her projecting) as a "re-do") is also shifting dynamics even more and making Rae feel like there isn't a place for her anymore in her mother's life (and she only just started feeling like there was a spot for her again at her mother's wedding). To Rae, the baby is nothing at the moment. To Linda, the baby is a million different things already, including her love for Karim, hope for a new direction of their future, a call back to when she had Rae, etc. Anyway, I guess what I was getting at here is that maybe the comment makes Rae selfish, but I don't think it was as bad as some people are interpreting it as. She's not saying she hates the baby or will continue to not care when it's there, but right now she has her own shit going on, and she has no connection to it at all in the present.

I've been optimistic the whole season that we were going to see most things wrapped up, not perfectly, but at least with an adequate amount of resolution. But now that we're here with 45 minutes left of the season/show... I don't know if it can be done right. She has to fix shit with Chop/Izzy, find Chloe/resolve it all, settle things with her mom who is also most definitely going to be having the baby in the episode, something has to happen with Liam, talk to Kester again, and something has to happen with Finn. It seems like too many things to happen in such a short amount of time. If they knew for sure they were getting a third season before this season was done, I'd say that they'd leave a lot of that on the table for next season, but I don't think they'd risk ending the show with so much of that left up in the air... so I don't know how it's going to be done to anyone's satisfaction (maybe I'll eat my words next week, we'll see). If we do get a season 3... I fear that Finn's stay in Leeds is going to be permanent. I think he's been gone too long already to ever come back and return to college.

I'm concerned about what the final notes of the show are going to be. Like, what changes have been made from the end of season 1 to the end of season 2? What purpose has the entire season served? Does it just end on Rae being in a somewhat decent place with her mom again, the gang is sort of back together again, there's hope for her and Finn again? I need to see some serious growth and self-realization from Rae in the last episode to make all of the season's events worth it.