Summary
Loot Season 3 continues to be woefully below par. “Slide” isn’t as aggressively bad as its predecessor, but the point is becoming lost.
Season 3 of Loot continues to be an exercise in making a once-great show as cripplingly uninteresting as possible. I shouldn’t be this surprised after a run of such rubbish outings, including last week’s painfully bad low point, but the show’s consistent lack of self-awareness is continuously puzzling. Case in point: Episode 9, “Slide”, expects us to care about an A-plot involving Molly navigating her new relationship with Mr. Maro Gold, and a B-plot in which Nicholas and Howard try to cheer Arthur up after his breakup with Molly.
On the one hand, it’d probably be refreshing to get the guys back together for what I think, if memory serves, would be the first time in the season. But lest we forget, Nicholas was a big part of pushing Molly into pursuing Maro in the first place, and has shown no interest in Arthur’s well-being at any other time. So, that’s a bit rich and undermines the entire arc for me.
I also really don’t like how most of said arc revolves around Arthur blaming himself for the breakup, trying to pinpoint the exact point in his history where he became, in his words, a “dumpable loser”, even though it’s clearly Molly who was in the wrong here. Sure, Arthur selling their relationship as both of them learning to live with never really being happy doesn’t sound too glamorous, but at least it’s a realistic idea.
What I do like is that ultimately Arthur is learning to be at ease with himself, even if it costs him his relationship, which I genuinely think is the best possible outcome. I just wish Loot wasn’t so reticent to really critique Molly’s behaviour. The lack of surety about where she stands is odd, and while it seems obvious to me that Maro is supposed to highlight her bad decisions, I honestly can’t be sure the show itself feels that way.
It’s the same with Nicholas, too. There’s a moment here in “Slide” where he seems to agree that Molly made the wrong decision, but this is coming after barely being willing to show up to support Arthur earlier in this episode and, as mentioned, pushing Molly towards Maro in the previous one. I’m not sure a sudden about-turn necessarily constitutes growth. It feels much more contrived than that.
Of course, Molly’s plot in Loot Season 3, Episode 9, is also designed to reinforce that Molly made the wrong decision. But three seasons in, we shouldn’t need this kind of ridiculous caricature to make her realise that. We should be way past this stage. I honestly think the fact that Molly still isn’t quite there yet in terms of discovering very basic and essential things about herself grossly undermines her as a character.
Nobody’s surprised that Molly can’t connect with Maro or his buddies, with whom she evidently has nothing in common. It’s clear she took the easier, more pliable option because it was less traumatic than having to meaningfully work through her issues with Arthur. But those issues were themselves predicated on a bizarre lack of growth. A few times, Loot has returned to the idea that Molly wasn’t always rich and thus isn’t swayed by the lifestyle afforded her by her billions – which was expressed very effectively in Nicholas’s great “farewell” episode – but then it consistently has her be a clueless rich airhead. The show needs to make up its mind.
Will it? I suspect it probably will eventually, but in the meantime, Molly has a nemesis to contend with in the form of John’s new missus, Luciana, who hasn’t been seen since Episode 4. Luciana adds something interesting, since she isn’t just going after Molly, but the Wells Foundation itself. And she seems to have something of a case. Hopefully, this will allow all of the characters, including Molly and Arthur, to come together in a more meaningful way. But I remain sceptical that this season can stick the landing or turn things around.
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