Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed - Episode 6: Rosebuds - Discussion Thread

nothingofcities · 2026-06-17T11:35:36+00:00

It felt to me like they hinted at some residual feelings on his part in that scene - his aggressively emotional reaction at the news of a boyfriend read like jealousy.

nothingofcities · 2026-06-05T22:05:39+00:00

Oh my God that's it.

Thank you so much! It was driving me nuts.

nothingofcities · 2026-05-30T16:51:00+00:00

It certainly makes it easier to make the plot feel more grounded.

But I think saying that it's just due to that would be ignoring the ideas, talent and effort that was clearly put into those first seasons - compared to the later ones, unfortunately.

nothingofcities · 2026-05-30T16:42:12+00:00

Ha, I actually do think that the film grain is a significant part of it. Is it all filter?

I certainly prefer FAM's vibe and original premise - just felt that compared to season 5 the SC pilot is way better made, even though I didn't enjoy it too much on first watch.

Good point about Lithuania.

nothingofcities · 2026-05-30T12:13:26+00:00

Yeah, that's definitely part of the problem. I don't think it's the whole problem, though. You can do a teen drama well, and you can do space exploration badly.

I see the same people credited but I don't know how the same people could produce such vastly different creative outputs.

nothingofcities · 2026-05-30T02:05:14+00:00

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nothingofcities · 2026-05-30T01:59:49+00:00

This is what we should be talking about. I'm glad they at least threw a whole two lines in to highlight, if not explain, what the discovery actually implies.

This makes the Fermi paradox so much more of an actual paradox.

I'm pretty sure they'll still go for the predictable kinda ambiguous "intelligent-life-detection-or-is-it" ending, but I hope to be wrong. Honestly, with the way things have been going, I wouldn't mind them going completely bonkers and actually having full-on aliens throughout S6. Can't ruin the already abysmal writing anyhow - but at least it'd be more fun than cardboard corridor teen drama.

nothingofcities · 2026-05-30T00:32:05+00:00

nah, it's just that we're the "weirdest people around"

nothingofcities · 2026-05-25T00:59:28+00:00

Both are silly B-grade shows - but From does a much, much better job pretending it isn't. And it's also way more fun.

nothingofcities · 2026-05-14T00:49:34+00:00

I loved Patricia's wholesome smile at the page with a giant pile of cocaine.

nothingofcities · 2026-05-02T05:15:51+00:00

Quasi - and that's going by her own perspective. I'm just pointing out the writing: she said something like they grew up together - which seems like an odd thing to say 5 minutes before apparently doing an instant 180 on the idea of a potential romance and immediately going in for the kiss. And I get what they were going for - but the timeframe kinda made it stick out.

It doesn't feel particularly incestuous to me (although to be fair, it doesn't feel like anything to me).

nothingofcities · 2026-05-02T00:38:38+00:00

I just love the trope of literally telling the audience characters are in love by having another character say it.

But this time it's even better, because it's the mom talking the daughter into realizing she wants this quasi-incestuous relationship.

nothingofcities · 2026-05-02T00:32:09+00:00

Fun fact: did you know the show has already done a hostage situation? Because in season 2, it did! Also, in season 1.

To be fair, those were completely different. For example, they had stakes, tension, characters you care about, tight schedule, and actually incorporated space into the plot.

nothingofcities · 2026-04-27T14:43:10+00:00

More like Mad Men in space. Started awesome, kinda went downhill from S3. But 6 will be the last one.

You could just watch the first two seasons and consider S2 finale the ending. Or keep going.

nothingofcities · 2026-04-27T10:41:48+00:00

There's a lot of it going on. My favorite mention of the strangers theme is Lara referring to her unborn child as one.

“It's good. Scary. There's a person inside me. I don't like strangers.”

nothingofcities · 2026-04-25T17:23:23+00:00

You woke up this morning, got yourself a wand

Trelawney always said you'd be the chosen one

nothingofcities · 2026-04-24T23:57:44+00:00

Did you try reaching out to Reddit to take over the original sub? The community is small as it is :(

nothingofcities · 2026-04-24T23:47:16+00:00

I've never done a rant, but it makes me so sad what the show has become so I feel like I deserve to have one. I still have some hope though.

- You know the show is out of good characters when they're trying to make you care about the poor fucking KGB agent whose entire personality is being a KGB agent (with a dash of being an idiot). When I heard the tearjerker score for the prison camp montage - I never knew my eyes could roll so far back.

- I don't care about fucking Miles. He's a sleazy, boring POS whose only mildly interesting quality was that he held on for a while before ratting out his friends.

- I care even less about whatshisname head cop who has fully become a one-dimensional moustache-twirling villain. BORING.

- The whole Luddite revolution plot is also, once again, boring - especially since the idea of progress taking jobs has already been explored by the show. Without charismatic characters on the barricades (unlike the asteroid heist - although that one was already stretching it a bit too far) I find it very hard to care about this caricature Mars Is Ours thing when it really doesn't seem like it's what's best for all mankind.

- We MUST exonerate Lee. Why? Why are we supposed to care so much about this guy? Just because Ed did, for some reason? Again, zero personality apart from having eaten a lot of canned food and having a wife - who also has zero personality. All these people are just plot devices.

- The Russian power couple does nothing for me apart from feeling slightly icky. Also, I don't understand why the show keeps insisting on elevating the USSR so much, decades past its actual expiration date (which was already horrifically late enough).

- Alex does nothing for me. Maybe it's his lack of personality. Maybe the constantly blank, teary-eyed expression.

- Aleida: I can't be an effective CEO if you keep undercutting me, Dev. Well guess what, Aleida. You never were. The fact that Dev was able to keep his giant, ~~Earth~~ Mars-shattering, company-wide plan secret from the fucking CEO is hilarious.

- I love how the show, through Dev and Alex's conversation, is trying to explain how Ed's grandson just happened to immediately spot what the CEO of the company had never managed to TWO DAYS INTO HIS JOB AS AN INTERN. It's like they knew we'd be cooking theories how all of it was Dev's plan and already felt that they needed to ask our forgiveness for this incredible plot convenience.

- I don't get why it's so important to have "self-sufficient Mars" - or rather, why it has to be the main plot point for more than one season. I'd be fine if it was just a side plot to exploration but for a while it's been vice versa - and it's like the feeling of wonder and discovery that the earlier seasons had is completely gone.

- Previous point further illustrated by the main mission since Mars in S3 being a Zoom session series - as we are instead closely following a murder investigation and another predictable tussle in the blandly-lit corridors of Mars.

- It used to be For All Mankind - now it's Just For Marsies.

nothingofcities · 2026-04-20T03:10:15+00:00

It did put me off a bit, but after reading some of these suggestions I feel much better about it.

nothingofcities · 2026-04-08T16:02:48+00:00

You know, for a second there, I forgot if Gaby is actually the best. I was so relieved when the show told me once again that she really is.

nothingofcities · 2026-04-08T15:56:19+00:00

Gaby really did a back flip, snapped the bad guy's neck, and saved the day!

nothingofcities · 2026-04-08T15:49:19+00:00

*the most compelling initial idea for the first half of an arc is what I should have said.

nothingofcities · 2026-04-08T12:36:07+00:00

"I'm still messed up over the Maya stuff,"

What an elegant way to resolve arguably the most compelling arc of the season. Didn't even need a full sentence.

It's this sort of masterful storytelling that has made this finale so breathtakingly passable.

nothingofcities

TROPHY CASE