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Can the real Mark Skweikis please stand up? Okay, obviously, he can’t. RIP, good sir, but you get the joke.
For those of us who find Frederick Stanton and his dynamic with Anna compelling, Anna Pigeon Season 1 Episode 7 was a fun and interesting watch.
But boy does our girl land in some sticky, messy situations! But would we have it any other way?
The undercurrent of this series that works as a great throughline is that Anna is just deeply flawed and troubled, and she’s been spending the past few years simply trying to get by.
She doesn’t do it perfectly; she’s not easy to figure out or work around at times, but she’s sympathetic because her baseline is as simple as trying to make it through another day.
Sometimes, that’s all we have in us.
And maybe that’s why this case, where they spent the majority of the hour trying to figure out Monroe King’s identity, felt a bit more meaningful and one of Anna’s more deceptively layered cases.
The initial gimmick was fun — them leaning into the intergalactic, alien angle of everything. It was a great way to dig into Stanton a bit more, learn that he’s a total UFO nerd, and we had really amusing elements like glowing naked men with three testicles running around.
You know, just your standard day in Glacier Park.
It offered a bit of a reprieve from Anna processing the trauma of her experiences.
Although I still wish we got some follow-up on all of that. You don’t just drop that Jeremiah/Bethany bombshell on us and then move on! Mama needs more fallout!
But closing in on who Monroe King really was tied in nicely with the state Anna has been in for a while, where she, too, is still trying to figure out who she is since her husband’s death.
Some part of her could relate to Monroe’s ignorance, and even the bliss of not knowing — how he could stay suspended in time, liking who he is now versus who he was before.
She could relate to Mira still holding onto Mark, even though she had moved on and remarried.
Monroe spoke to the part of Anna that is very much self-aware.
She knows so much about how she continues to function as a person: she drinks too much, she’s a natural avoidant, she pushes people away, and she runs. My goodness, does she run.
Monroe was such a genuinely fun character, and I loved the actor’s performance throughout.
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He was so full of surprises, whether it was the constantly naked thing, the unexpected connection he forged with Jeff (the two of them getting drunk and beating drums and dancing was such an unexpectedly hilarious sequence), his randomly speaking Italian, or that ability to pull off pink sweatpants with animal prints and cowboy boots.
For a bit, Monroe didn’t know he was, but his ability to pull other things out of others and be a fascinating instigator in the hour exploring characters we do know and love a little deeper was great.
Then we got to the truth: he was a gambler who drank too much and constantly disappointed his daughter, who wasn’t the greatest or most effective businessman.
Monroe wasn’t a bad man, just a flawed one, and the realization that he attempted to take his life because he knew he was a screw-up and then failed at that — oh, Monroe.
Anna Pigeon is good at reminding us that everyone has a story, they’re all going through things, and yet being flawed, messy, and a little broken doesn’t make you any less important.
Monroe’s end is a bit up in the air, with it seeming like maybe his suicide attempt was an impulsive choice he won’t revisit.
Maybe he’s on a path toward giving up drinking, actually winning over his daughter and grandson again, and that his bout of being a fun, decent person as an amnesiac is something he can actually work toward being now.
And Anna, via his portion of the case, got to reflect a bit on her own flaws and how she tries, which is always nice.
She also got to give Mira the peace that she deserved, which ties nicely with the ongoing mystery around her own husband’s death.
Trying to figure out who Monroe was helped Anna and Stanton solve a cold case, and while both victim and perpetrator were dead (Markmurdered by an inmate, and the inmate attacked by wolves), it was nice to give Mira at least the closure she never thought she’d get but appreciated anyway.
The case also forced Anna and Stanton to confront some things, including their relationship.
It’s been clear since early on that Stanton has feelings for Anna. And the more they show them together, the more Ronnie Rowe’s statements about Stanton seeing some of himself in Anna make sense.
This hour was a great way to explore how they mirror each other in many ways.
Their closing moments put that into perspective, as they both spoke about their lives: her moving from park to park, him moving from motel to motel on cases, both avoiding parts of their lives they can’t quite make peace with.
We learned that Stanton was maybe in a bad way, too; he used to drink too much as well, and maybe other things, and that part of him being this bit of a rock for Anna now is maybe him seeing where he was at one point in his life, too.
And the two headed on diverging paths, both self-aware enough about who they are, where they stand, and their greatest strengths and flaws, but also still headed down their own unique, tried-and-true paths despite that — visually, I loved that moment for them.
Stanton and Anna are very much kindred spirits. What’s interesting is that Stanton sees that outright, whereas Anna doesn’t even think about how true that was.
It was funny to see the two of them camping, and to hear her admit she doesn’t actually worry when it comes to him. He’s something solid and comfortable in her life — so much so that she doesn’t even think about how he’s become such a staple.
And he’s probably one of the few she doesn’t actively push away often — which is why the shift in their dynamic stood out. Because the second Anna gets real intimacy — physical, sure, but actual feelings laid on the table — she bolts, shuts down, avoids, and sidesteps.
Her dynamic with Stanton during the hour was interesting because it worked for her because they didn’t necessarily talk about feelings. She got to happily ignore or just not take the time to examine what could motivate him to drop everything for her at a moment’s notice.
I mean, he spent however long crashing at the park in the aftermath of her attacks, not because he didn’t have anything better to do, but because he wanted to be around for her — something that Jeff was pointing out in a roundabout way.
But spending so much time together on that case, following harrowing moments of nearly losing her, must’ve prompted him to be more open about his feelings, and Anna never really knows what to do with those.
Even their love scene was interesting (we didn’t get an actual kiss at any point). It’s like Anna simultaneously craves connection and feeds off people caring about her, but it also scares her, too — she can’t commit to it.
I suppose that genuine fear of losing people whom she gets close to is valid enough given how she lost her husband.
She has two great guys with Stanton and Jesse. I love them both and how they ground her.
But I’m mostly in the Team Anna Heals camp because until she can actually heal, make some peace with her loss and guilt, and believe she’s worthy of love, fresh starts, good things, community, and the full gamut, romance is too hard for her to navigate.
I love that Jesse and Stanton love the wounded bird that is Anna Pigeon.
However, I do think that, as great as they are at understanding where she is, they don’t always know how to meet her where she is right now — and asking or expecting anything more from her than she’s capable of giving is tough.
Zoey’s advice to Jesse was spot on. I actually chuckled when she told him that. He makes himself a bit too available and needy, but I guess I can’t fault a guy for being upfront about his feelings rather than playing games.
But for Anna, it’s a bit too much and overwhelming. Does Guapo follow that advice, though? Of course not.
He doubles down, showing up at Anna’s place, totally unaware that she went around in the sheets with Stanton, and he asks her to move in with him. Bless his wee heart, that one.
Jesse is a great enough guy that he may be a bit hurt about Anna hooking up with Stanton, but it won’t make him love her any less or change his desire to move forward.
I almost don’t want her to tell him because he’s such a puppy dog, and I don’t want to see his feelings get hurt.
We know she genuinely does care about Jesse even though she’s scared of how serious it could be.
What they have is enough for her to shut down Stanton. And because Stanton and Jesse are both good to her, that means it isn’t just about how Jesse has been a really nice guy to her, and she doesn’t want to disrupt that.
No, there are feelings there; Anna doesn’t know how to handle them or what to do with them, which is why I found myself making a classic I Love Lucy cringe grimace when sweet Jesse professed his feelings and a proposal of sorts.
Did he push too hard, too fast? Oh, boy.
Over to you, Anna Pigeon Fanatics. Are you Team Anna/Jesse, Team Anna/Stanton, or Team Anna Healing?
Let’s discuss the hour below!
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Anna Pigeon Season 1 Episode 7 Review: Anna Juggles Two Hotties, a Naked Alien & a Cold Case
Anna and Stanton grow closer as they investigate a missing persons case and a cold case on Anna Pigeon Season 1 Episode 7.
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Jeremiah Has His Thumb on the Neck of Everyone — Kim Coates on Crafting Anna Pigeon’s Power Player
Kim Coates is having a blast playing Jeremiah Paulson on Anna Pigeon, and he teases what to expect next.
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“Get Ready; There’s Going to Be Sparks Everywhere” — Kim Coates Teases Anna Pigeon, Frenemies & Jeremiah’s Epic Return
We caught up with Anna Pigeons charming antagonist, Kim Coates himself, to discuss what’s coming up with Jeremiah’s epic return!
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Fury, Fight, Feels: Furious, Anna Pigeon & More Put Their Characters Through Hell — And We Couldn’t Look Away
Anna Pigeon, Furious, Ted Lasso, and All American all know there’s brilliance behind putting characters through hell. Our Characters of the Week.
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Anna Pigeon Season 1 Episode 5 Put Our Girl Through Hell — And I Loved Every Minute
Anna Pigeon Season 1 Episode 5 mysteriously puts Anna in danger while exploring her past in a thrilling hour.
The post Anna Pigeon Season 1 Episode 7 Review: Anna Juggles Two Hotties, a Naked Alien & a Cold Case appeared first on TV Fanatic.
