During a spa visit, Sarah and Ali discuss their recently unearthed desires. Sarah scoffs at Ali’s thoughts on her newfound lesbianism – “I’ve realised I just can’t ever have real emotional intimacy with somebody who hasn’t suffered under patriarchy” – and Ali scoffs at Sarah’s fantasies about school disciplinarian Mr Irons. Being a glutton for punishment, Sarah attends the life-coaching sessions that she won in the school gala raffle. Despite being held by a buffoonishly thoughtless woman, the session has a comic currency that begins to dissipate as the coach tells Sarah she has erected a wall between them (which is true) and that she’s determined to knock it down. Ali, meanwhile – still in pursuit of a place on Leslie Mackinaw’s course, and potentially her affections – attends a hunter’s moon ritual hosted by the poet, which appears to be a kind of women-only (or womyn-only, as Syd has it) idyll.
Colton reveals that his adoptive parents – Blossie and Pastor Gene – are driving over to meet Josh and Raquel following his decision to stay with them permanently. Josh forces Raquel to wear a family heirloom ring – but his attempts at keeping up conservative appearances go to waste when Maura turns up at the house in search of old childhood photos (Davina has had hers rendered female by an artist and Maura wants to do the same). When Colton leaves the room, Gene accuses Josh of abandoning his baby; the latter protests that he had no idea Colton existed, something corroborated by Maura, who informs the pastor that the Pfeffermans made a “sizable contribution” to the pastor’s church when he adopted Colton. That’s news to Josh, and his capable father-figure act rapidly loses its footing once and for all. Colton asks whether he should stay or go, and eventually opts to depart with his adoptive family.
Also on the move is Maura, who returns home to tell Shelly that Josh finally knows the truth about Colton, as well as that their living arrangements are no longer working for her. Driving away, Maura becomes infuriated as she waits for the gates to be opened, before finally being released from the claustrophobia of life with Shelly.
Talking points
Patriarchy (again). Ali’s thoughts on the disconnect between men and women might make Sarah laugh (and there is a case to be made that everyone has suffered under patriarchy), but it foreshadows the seam of subverted masculinity that runs through this episode. The hunter’s moon ritual (which chimes with Josh and Gene’s blokey conversation about hunting) sees the women commandeering typically masculine ideals, such as force, power and the need for violence (and earlier in the episode, Ali parades about wearing “a dick”). It’s hard not to think of typically patriarchal power structures in Maura’s behaviour, too, firstly in the sense that she used money to paper over the controversy of Josh’s child, and also somewhat in the way she leaves Shelly – who interprets the act as her husband abandoning her for a second time.
The ring. The faux engagement ring Josh gives Raquel is likely the same one that features in the episode two flashback. It also seems to be the ring discussed in season one, when Ali says that Rose’s sister (potentially Gershon) gave it to someone when she was in the “line” for Treblinka. Shelly says that Maura tried to propose to her with it, and later Josh uses it to propose to his pregnant Glitterish girlfriend. In both cases, it is rejected.
