Murray Bartlett Steals Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Season 1 Episode 3 — and the Cliffhanger Is Brutal

Critic’s Rating: 4.75 / 5.0

4.75

Does anyone else feel duped by Paula after Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Season 1 Episode 3?

Despite the chaos driving her actions, I’ve been rooting for her to unravel the mystery of why Trevor died and where he really fit into the scam operation she’s fallen prey to.

But after the bombshell revelation that Trevor wasn’t the first dead body she’s been in proximity to, and that there’s a whole incident in Portland, it’s getting harder to root for her.

There’s every reason to believe there’s context behind what happened in Portland, but right now she needs to be more forthcoming with information.

For example, she failed to mention to Sofia that she had left the hockey stick on Trevor’s roof. Granted, she was being chased by a killer, but that kind of detail could have helped avoid the detective turning on her.

The noose around Paula is tightening because of her inability to tell Sofia everything during their big workplace sit-down on Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Season 1 Episode 2.

The only real shock is how Sofia delivered her findings to Paula. I expected Sofia to show up at Paula’s work and cause a scene, with Paula being taken out in cuffs.

Instead, the phone call worked as an effective cliffhanger. It gave Paula the findings while also dropping a bombshell to carry viewers into the next episode of Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed.

I genuinely don’t know how Paula talks her way out of this one, because on paper, she’s lied to authorities and may or may not have been involved in a crime several years ago.

Judging by her reaction, the Portland incident is old, buried enough that she never expected it to resurface.

The only way for Sofia to trust Paula now is for her to come clean, because too much of Paula’s behavior is becoming impossible to explain away.

Paula Needs to Make Better Decisions on Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed

She can’t seem to stay away from chaos, which is why I can see this ending with her either arrested or, at the very least, completely cornered by the investigation.

As a detective, Sofia is likely aware there’s no smoke without fire, and Paula has been leaving a trail of it across New York City over the span of three episodes.

Watching her is like watching a car crash in slow motion because her decisions don’t feel rooted in reality.

From an entertainment standpoint, I loved her sending the dollar to the scammer. It was a perfect middle finger moment, basically saying she doesn’t care what anyone says or does.

But at the end of the day, Paula has a daughter who is now firmly being pulled into this chaos.

She has a lot to lose, and the fact that she didn’t immediately hand over all the phone call information to Sofia is another major red flag.

Don’t get me wrong, I did feel for Paula during her coffee date with Karl and Mallory.

Karl and Mallory are essentially trying to present the move to Boise as a done deal without saying it outright. They don’t want to force it, but they are clearly trying to make it harder for Paula to bring Hazel back to New York.

Paula was outnumbered in that conversation, and while they’re offering a paid, furnished home, it raises the question of how long that support would actually last.

Paula is divorced from Karl, but this move would financially bind her to him again, which would add an entirely new layer of judgment to her decisions in that household.

There’s too much for Paula to lose here, especially when there’s no guarantee the support will continue once Hazel starts settling into life in Boise.

For Karl and Mallory, the move may genuinely be the best thing for them, but they need to consider whether it’s best for Hazel too.

The sad part is that Mallory actually seems willing to include Paula in the decision, and I think if Paula could put the past aside, the two could form a real bond.

That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mallory already suspects Paula attacked her. The motive has been carefully seeded throughout Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Season 1.

Which brings me to Dennis. He’s absolutely terrifying.

Murray Bartlett is genuinely phenomenal in this role, and it may be his best yet. Yes, even better than Armond on The White Lotus.

There’s real ambiguity around Dennis because we’ve seen him as Trevor’s lover, Trevor’s killer, and a threatening presence stalking Paula.

His plan to buy duplicate versions of Hazel’s gym shoes, plant trackers in them, and send them to local schools was genius in a deeply disturbing way.

His reaction when Sofia informed him of Trevor’s death was pure cinema. There’s no way this detective sees him as a suspect, and if Dennis plays this right, he could easily shift suspicion onto Paula.

Dennis Made a Big Mistake

His belief that Mallory was Paula was especially intense. I expected that, since he killed Trevor, he would kill her without hesitation.

Instead, he got close to murdering her but left her alive with a bag over her head and a cable tie around her neck.

If he truly wanted her dead, he would have finished it. Instead, it felt like panic, like he realized too late what he was about to do.

That reinforces my theory that he killed Trevor because Trevor scammed someone close to him. There’s no other motivation that fully explains it.

And the issue with Trevor is that he was just one piece in a larger scam network. Ash didn’t come across as especially threatening when she was revealed as the voice behind the messages to Paula.

That suggests Dennis is not tied to that operation. But he still wants Paula dead because he believes she can identify him.

As for Mallory, she’s not going to recover easily from this. If anything, it pushes her further toward leaving New York.

There was a reason the show emphasized Boise’s low crime rate — it’s going to come back into play when Karl and Mallory try again to convince Paula.

This all hinges on whether Karl knew about Paula’s connection to another dead body, because that could become the real breaking point for her legally.

Paula will likely rethink her approach after her confrontation with Karl, as this is a major escalation.

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Season 1 Episode 3 was an exhilarating half-hour of TV. The series has found its footing quickly and isn’t letting up.

I’m buckled in for this ride, and I hope it doesn’t slow down.

What are your thoughts on Paula’s decisions, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Fanatics? Do you think she’s giving the law a good case to put her away?

What do you think of Murray Bartlett as Dennis?

Are you shocked that Dennis didn’t go through with killing Mallory?

Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.
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