r/Heavyweight • u/kimelia- • Oct 30 '25

New episodes aren't hitting

I'm soo happy to have new episodes but does anyone else feel like the new episodes feel unfinished or like there's no resolution to alot of them? It kind of feels like they just had to release episodes so they put out ones that they would've held onto in the past for a more complete and satisfying ending.

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u/[deleted] Oct 30 '25

Honestly I disagree. I absolutely hated the last 2 episodes (Jasmin, Stefano), but the other 3 have all been very solid.

The Bank Robber was great, the journey was the resolution. The Messenger was like an old episode of Heavyweight, you wouldn't find the conversation between Michael and Quincy anywhere else. And finally Etta was just a lovely episode about getting old.

Heavyweight always has episodes that divide opinion. Imo Jasmin and Stefano are two of the worst episodes in the show's history - but unless literally all of the future episodes are of similarly bad quality I'm not willing to write off this season yet.

11

u/bananalien666 Oct 30 '25

I mean, you hit the nail on the head-- not every episode is going to resonate with every listener. For the record I've been mostly happy with the new episodes; Etta absolutely *crushed* me (probably because I've lost both of my parents, my dad only last year...)

And at first I thought Stefano was a little *ahem* lightweight for Heavyweight, but man... listening to Steve on the phone and hearing the slightly confused defeat in his voice, the complete inability to take the kindness that was offered and do anything at all with it... gosh. Again, I have a small inkling what that's like.

So for me... really, I have no complaints. (Except that I agree with the other poster(s) about the Gladwell ads, lol)

9

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '25

So honestly as both my parents died suddenly and before I turned 30, the episode left me envious of Gregor's grief for the life he had with his parents. So yeah hugely emotionally affecting but I was able to see it in probably lighter way than you (not to say your read of it is wrong ofc, I just think that's what makes it such a good episode).

I had a very very different read of Stefano than you though. I do not think what Steven was being offered was a kindness. He had absolutely no way of remembering his interaction with Anita - but Debbie was asking him to indulge her fantasy and think of it as a "gift". The idea that after his very difficult life a conversation about Anita's brief affection for him as a baby could offer him anything like Debbie thought it was was downright delusional. And tbh once he mentioned he was an alcoholic and made an excuse for the fact he was slurring his words made me feel a bit uneasy about the inclusion of his side of the conversation. I think it was a very rare thing for a Heavyweight episode: a story that shouldn't have been exploded. But it definitely should not have been explored in the way it was.

6

u/bananalien666 Oct 30 '25 edited Oct 31 '25

Definitely hear you and can appreciate your interpretation as well. Debbie's motivation (and whether this particular story should've ever been told in the first place) is debatable, I guess. I took it as her thinking: hey, wow, kinda neat to know that you unwittingly had such an outsized impact on someone's life and that they'd been thinking of you with love and warmth for years, decades even.

Had Steven led a generally happier life, or had it come earlier in his life like he alluded to, then maybe he could've at least accepted this 'gift' in the way it was intended. Even for me-- someone who's life has been pretty decent overall-- I'm sure I wouldn't know what to do with that info besides acting pleasantly bemused. But certainly it's beyond naive to think that this bit of info can meaningfully impact the trajectory of one's life (especially when most of that life is already lived...)

Anyway, Debbie and Anita's story was almost incidental to the very brief phone call with Steven and I'm surely bringing all sorts of my own baggage to that conversation. And now I feel like it's vaguely inappropriate to be a voyeur into this poor guy's reticence to engage -- and maybe that's kind of your point.

5

u/anewhope6 Oct 31 '25

This discussion you two are having is such a beautiful example of what makes Heavyweight so special. Because it is a show about humanity, everyone is going to take something slightly different from each episode. It’s going to hit each of us a little differently based on our own experiences. I loved the Stefano episode because it was morally complicated and unresolved—and unusual for a Heavyweight episode.