Phooey!

I'm now done with episode 14 of season 5. Things are uneven, with some funny lines and inspired moments, like Gob bulldozing the Fakeblock wall and the cousins comparing themselves to a "self-aware Lindsay" and a "minimally woke Michael" but there's also tiresome claptrap about lawyers and groan-worthy puns. I'm told there are numerous references to true crime shows like Making of a Murderer which I've never watched. I like crime as in detective mystery stories; I don't like serial killer obsessions and gore.

The beach house revelations about the Bluths are crazy and twisted, as expected, though annoying for how it upsets continuity. Even during the present 2015 time, the show can't be consistent, talking about Gob's two-week deadline to build a wall prototype, then a "month" when they want Fakeblock to make a profit, then Buster's trial in "3 weeks." Can't you even keep it straight for 1 episode? And what was the point of the Guilty Guys spending money eliminating suspects if they were just going to plea "guilty"? If they're so good at getting sentences, then why didn't they at least try to talk the 1st degree murder down to a lesser degree? Why the hell do we know more about the history and personality of those TV lawyers than we've ever got out of Lottie Dottie DA? All we get is Barry repeatedly calling her a "killer" who rarely loses, her singsong name, and Dustin Radler being her ex. No endless quirks to her like we had with Maggie Lizer or Jan Eagleman. If you really want us to be intimidated by a formidable opponent, you gotta flesh her out at least like a Wayne Jarvis.

Anyway, I'm also trying to find new mysteries to read now that I've run out Daisy Dalrymple books. I tried Maisie Dobbs, a psychologist and investigator in 1920s England, but the first book is so terrible. I thought we'd get interesting cases with her being a private eye, but no, the book emphasizes the "psychologist" part too much, and spends a dozen or so tedious chapters detailing her childhood and education, sponsored by a wealthy family, featuring a godawful condescending male teacher who speaks in riddles and effectively made Maisie Dobbs a special philanthropy project and experiment. I hate it! And the only two mysteries in the book are about a woman lying to her husband about her trips to a grave, and a pretty transparent cult/scam preying on wounded soldiers from WWI. And I have to question Maisie's or the narrator's morals when they seem so happy about lying and faking illness in the horses to save them from being conscripted for the war. Sure, nobody wants to lose their horses to the war; but why should you be special, and not make a sacrifice just like everyone else? Just because you're rich? And Maisie's talk with her wounded ex-love Simon was manipulative claptrap. You know what, Maisie, I DON'T forgive you for abandoning him and forgetting about him for years, only to suddenly grow a conscience after your case.

Honestly, the Daisy Dalyrmple books like Anthem for Doomed Youth, Daisy's fiancé Michael who was a conscientious objector, as well as a variety of wounded characters in several books, had far more affecting genuine emotion and moral complexity about the war than anything in Maisie Dobbs. Boo to a terrible writer and a terrible character! Even Unmentionables covered the war better, and I didn't like it that much.