The word I kept coming back to while watching this episode was rupture. There are ruptures of all kinds happening here - between partners, friends, those that are supposed to help and those in need. Karl is beginning to realize that that Mal is not what she seems, and looks at her like he doesn't recognize her at all. Rudy realizes that Geri's ambitions outweigh her morals, and she might not be a friend to him after all. Meanwhile, Paula snaps at Detective Gonzalez, angered at her inability to keep her safe, leaving her unendingly vulnerable - at risk of murder, arrest and more. The pressure is mounting for our characters as these realizations and ruptures begin to unfurl.
Amidst all of this rupture there is a surprising moment of tenderness between Karl and Paula. Paula's stint in jail is short-lived as Karl bails her out. He says that Hazel will need to stay with him and Mal full-time, and Paula quickly agrees. Their eyes soften, and they begin to see each other again for the first time in a long time. I appreciated that they showed this moment between the two, as they have been pretty consistently at odds with one another. It provided us viewers a release, a moment of respite amidst the constant pain.
Rudy continued to grow on me this episode. I found him calling out Geri for her cruel hit piece on Paula to be extra satisfying. That iPad smash was cathartic. He's not blameless in treating Paula poorly, so perhaps he's a bit of a hypocrite? However, at least he has the moral wherewithal to realize that writing a piece about someone so vulnerable and with so much to lose, just to get ahead, is reprehensible.
It's too bad that as I've begun to warm up to Rudy, he might not be with us much longer. It was frustrating that he would put the battery back in the phone and as a viewer I assumed that he should know better. However, at the same time, how was he to know? I really hope he makes it out of this alive, for his sake and Paula's. With three murders connected to her, and at least two break and enters under her belt, I don't know if she can make it through another murder.
Despite this, I do feel that the plot armour around Paula has made the stakes feel less intense as the episodes go on. She is constantly faced with life or death situations as well as dangerous twists and turns but manages to make it out every time, without much explanation other than being savvy? We also move on so quickly from these incidents that we barely have time to process them. I find this show calls for the need to suspend disbelief more than I would like - how is it that Paula is in one moment a "fucking regular person" as she refers to herself, but in the next she is skilled and resourceful at fighting with spy-like instincts? I know she's our main character and the plot has to move forward, but the more she gets out of situations with unexplained skill and tact, my concerns for her safety and my investment in the stakes of her well-being lessen.
Despite that, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed always leaves you with a great cliffhanger to keep you coming back for more. And one person who does not have plot armour is Rudy. Let's hope he makes it out of this season alive.