#extended scenes

Rocks

Before Eleanor tries to get Michael to "chill out".

Eleanor: *annoyed* Okay. So now we have two piles. *nods* Seemingly fine, where we have placed... three... of the rocks... and "further examination needed", where we've placed the other seventy-five.

Michael: *tapping the hourglass* Only ninety minutes in and we've eliminated three rocks. We're making progress. *putting his glasses back on* Although, I have to say, I'm a little suspicious of the second one right there. *points* Could we-- could we just move that back into the further examination needed?

It glows in the dark

After Jason does his impressions of Frank Caliendo's impressions.

Chidi: Jianyu, I need you to take this oil painting of Frank Caliendo and put it in a very dark room where no one will ever see it.

Jason: Perfect! It glows in the dark. Watch! *switches off the light and reveals the painting*

*Chidi covers his mouth*

Stand right there

Michael and Eleanor walk to the stage for his reveal of the "problem".

Eleanor: *glumly* Do you need anything else from me?

Michael: No, no. I just want you to stand right there.

There's also an extra exchange with Chidi when she tells him that Michael knows about her:

Minor:

After Michael talks about the Friends apartment, he follows it up with, "And why would they be jumping around in a fountain if they also had umbrellas? I mean, was the fountain full because it had been raining? Or, were they... were they testing the durability of their umbrellas?"

In the housesitting flashback, Eleanor asks her friend how much her house costs. "600k?" The friend replies that it's considered impolite to ask. Eleanor then says that she was being polite by asking -- she'd already Zillowed it and knew the price. Later, when she's promising that she won't let her friend down, she says, "I will faithfully protect this six hundred and eighty thousand dollar house."

When Eleanor and Michael are eating froyo and Eleanor realises that Michael's "butt is on the line", she leans in and asks him whether he actually has a butt. He stares at her, offended, and says, "Well, I thought I did. Ouch." She then gets flustered, apologises, tries to reassure him that it's a great butt, before proclaiming that "this is weird".

When Michael thanks Eleanor before she leaves his office, he says that she's "a pal and a confidante". Eleanor asks him if, after watching Friends, he also watched Golden Girls. He confirms this: "They love cheesecake and one of them loves intercourse."

The next day, when Eleanor comes into Michael's office suggesting more fun activities, she goes, "Also, you think you didn't do any work? Wait till you see how much work the Real Housewives don't do!" and whips out a Real Housewives DVD, right before Michael dismisses it all and says that not working "worked".

When Michael and Eleanor are at the site of the sinkhole, Michael brings up the opening night party, and how it won't help narrow their list down because everyone was there. Eleanor says, "Right. Everyone was there. Everyone drank the appropriate amount of alcohol. So that seems like a dead end." And then Michael brings up the sinkhole and the limited guest list.

Thoughts

Having a pair of absolutely perfect soulmates recommend the spa to Tahani? Low-hanging fruit, but effective nonetheless.

Michael was torturing himself with the rocks. Him pointing out that they're 90 minutes in was him begging Eleanor to get them to stop.

Does Jason think the glowing aspect of the painting makes it fancier? Probably.

Obviously Michael put Eleanor there off to the side, in front of and distanced from everyone else, to make her feel as bad as possible. But her face... 😩 That was pure devastation. Not just disappointment and fear at having been caught, like an earlier Eleanor would have had, but guilt and sadness, because of how betrayed she assumed Michael must feel. And her conversation with Chidi, where she doesn't lash out, or attempt to blame him, but instead selflessly assures him that he helped as much as possible? That, there, is growth.

I have no idea what the Friends fountain thing references; I've never seen the show, and have no interest in rectifying that. Sorry Michael 🥺

The thing about a lot of Eleanor's flashbacks (apart from the work ones, maybe) is they show her trying to be a decent person, or at least displaying a conscience, but being swayed by the people around her (season 1: hell is other people) -- either directly (like when her friend encourages the dress bitch shirts after she questions whether it's too far), or indirectly, when we see how her behaviour is shaped by her upbringing. Here, it's the latter; Eleanor genuinely thinks she's being nice by asking what the house is worth and thus allowing the friend to feel like she has agency in disclosing it. Eleanor was always going to check the price; she needed a quantified measure of just how much better than her this woman was. How much luckier.

You just know that Michael would have had the time of his life watching Real Housewives with Eleanor.