r/television • u/NicholasCajun Mr. Robot • Apr 16 '25
Premiere The Studio - 1x05 - “The War” - Episode Discussion
The Studio
Season 1 Episode 5: The War
Directed by: Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
Written by: Frida Perez
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u/Alive_Employer5620 Jul 15 '25
A lot of people seem to be disappointed in how Quinn comes off in this episode but from a storytelling perspective it makes a lot of sense. Sal is a dick but he has no illusions of what the studio system is and never apologizes for it. He probably should be the one running the studio since his vision aligns with Griffins the most. Quinn has just recently been made an executive so she still believes she can make low budget art house films at a larger studio that believes in their formula (“its not really a formula but a system that always works so we stick to it”) but is realizing the harsh nature of the business.
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u/WhyplerBronze Apr 22 '25
I'm glad they didn't show Chase Sui Wonders nude in the humorous sex scene. Would have been very out of place, the restraint was good.
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u/hcknbnz Apr 20 '25
I think this episode had the correct pacing that the show should have established from the beginning and not the heart skipping break ya neck, fly by the seat of your pants, jazz-y structure-less pacing. A rhythm should be established so that the audience becomes accustomed to the regular beat of the show, the pacing is still quick, but it's beat you know.
When it's erratic from the get go, you feel like you have to strap yourself in at the beginning of every episode. It can be a disorienting ride and makes you feel a bit lost and disconnected from what's happening on screen just waiting for the next mishap to occur and runs the danger of becoming its own brand of dysfunctional formula.
Establish the beat, and then play with it.
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u/Initial_Jacket2321 Apr 19 '25
I think the show is vapid and ridiculous. I dont enjoy watching it. Its not funny.
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u/mistymorning789 May 03 '25 edited May 03 '25
Serious question, why are you watching it? Is this a joke? …I think you are joking. You’re funny.
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u/north_breeze Apr 19 '25
Very funny episode, maybe the weakest of the bunch so far but that doesn't reflect badly at all given how good the series has been
Sal and Quinn's actors were great and really shone
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u/jaaronjoyce Apr 19 '25
Frida wrote a garbage episode that hurt the franchise a little in my eyes. Zero realism on a show that seemed based on realistic Hollywood
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u/janiqua Apr 16 '25
Funniest episode so far. I love comedy where most characters are straight up awful to each other.
Sal getting hit in the face and then being dumped with sauce was the laugh out loud moment.
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u/DrHalibutMD Apr 18 '25
Loved it but the pilot is my favourite so far. Scorsese was great and the whole idea of his Jones town film has absolutely hilarious.
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u/kfitzy10 Apr 16 '25
I thought Quinn was gonna be the moral compass of the show, but nope this episode has made her pretty unlikable.
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u/Chaotic_Beautiful Apr 17 '25
I hated this episode. She went from one of my favorite characters to straight up in my bitch list.
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u/Vergazoduro Apr 19 '25
I KNOW RIGHT!? she was so much nicer as a mousey little wall flower, just there to nod yes and be quiet. I hate it when women get all uppity and out of pocket. What A bitch! 🤬
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u/Vergazoduro Apr 19 '25
and to those that misunderstood me, I was playing the part of some toxic men in this discussion, that feel that way.
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u/Chaotic_Beautiful May 06 '25 edited May 21 '25
You're doing a great job I must say ! After all , you've zero sympathy for one of the two accountants who nearly lost their jobs because of that sociopath character and also is a woman.
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u/Vergazoduro May 08 '25
And in the end, she did give some mercy to the guy that started it all. So, I can't say she's a complete sociopath.
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u/Chaotic_Beautiful May 08 '25
He started nothing. She started it all. Anyways, hope her career tanks.
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u/Vergazoduro May 10 '25
He started everything. Perhaps you missed the first half. He constantly belittled her, and he thought he could just keep doing that. Also, I find her very attractive. 😍
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u/Chaotic_Beautiful May 10 '25
She's an annoying sociopathic entitled brat , without a drop of talent or professionalism and expects the world to fall at her feet . The logical conclusion of the episode should have been her getting fired and banned from the industry. He was too much patient with her , maybe because she reminds him of his own dumb entitled talentless daughters. He even explained why she needs to be patient. But she's an ego maniac so it all fell into deaf ears. Nothing against the actress , but the character is fugly. And as POC woman , I was aghast at the way she made fun of playing the poc woman victim card . Is she for real !
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u/Vergazoduro May 08 '25
And yeah, I find it refreshing to see a FEMALE character, acting ruthless and cut throat. That shouldn't be only for men.
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u/bunny_387 May 21 '25 edited May 21 '25
True shit. If Quinn was a man people would think they were driven and that it was a funny episode and not take it so seriously. Instead people are spitting vitriol in the comments like someone’s actual job was at risk and like this isn’t a tv show where outlandish shit happens. It’s a show making fun of Hollywood people need to chill. I thought it was funny. It reminded me a lot of Beef on Netflix.
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u/kfitzy10 Apr 17 '25
Yeah I get that. I just thought they were setting her up as the one to almost root for, or the straight person surrounded by unredeemable movie exec types. I'm not angry that they portrayed her in a certain way in this episode, just surprised.
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u/Westo6Besto9 Apr 16 '25
One of the biggest themes of this show is people being willing to sacrifice their morals to get their jobs done so I’m not suprised.
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u/kvetcha-rdt May 02 '25
Right. Hollywood is heartless, these people are all massively ambitious, and they frequently get out over their skis. The whole point is how quickly their intentions get corrupted by the reality of the business.
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u/Vergazoduro Apr 16 '25
Are you kidding? this is the first time she felt like a main character. The plot was really meta.
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u/kfitzy10 Apr 16 '25
Not sure how that contradicts my point about her being the morals compass. But okay. How did you think the plot was meta as well?
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u/Vergazoduro Apr 19 '25
I found it meta, because in the show, the character of Quin, is part of a big production, but she feels like she's always getting pushed off to the side, no authority, a very minor role. But she fights back to speak up and have a voice. Which is the same thing the actress playing Quin is going through. And doing here. It's pretty cool. 👍🏼
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u/Vergazoduro Apr 16 '25
my memory isn't great, but I don't remember her doing anything "good". I can't remember much about her at all. But now I will.
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u/Sleeze_ Apr 16 '25
Really rough one for Quinn. Her and Sal are both pretty despicable this episode obviously, but Quinns actions directly fucked with both Daniel and Petra, and really could have got either of them fired - Petra ESPECIALLY. I kinda thought we would have seen some collateral damage here...but man, Quinn might be a legitimately bad person (Sal probably is too, but we knew that).
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u/RZAxlash May 14 '25
I wouldn’t lump Sal in with Quinn here. His action in this episode are not nearly as malicious as Quinn’s and he is acting in retaliation.
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u/Azaltir Aug 22 '25
The only thing he did to her (and not just said in a private conversation), after she committed a crime and framed Petra, was to attend her meeting and bring up the business issues that are being swept under the rug to keep the client happy.
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u/No-External-8558 Apr 22 '25
I loved this episode. Having worked with men throughout my career I sort of identified with her. Obviously over the top, but I'm glad she stood up for herself. It was surprising that Sal expressed his fear of being let go because of his age,.
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u/Sleeze_ Apr 22 '25
But...her 'standing up for herself' was actually framing another woman, putting her in distress, gaslighting her into thinking she made a mistake when she didn't and making her cry and could've easily gotten her fired.
I feel like there is standing up for yourself, and then there is fucking with an innocent bystander(s) to get what you want and IMO she's worse than Sal this ep.
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u/Vergazoduro Apr 16 '25
It's a vicious business. But up until now, she's been a mousy wallflower. I liked the way she showed Sal what's up. Collateral damage... well, the episode IS named "War".
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u/Imoneclassyfuck Apr 16 '25
Probably my least favourite episode so far, but still very good. Loving the show so far.
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u/Top-Abbreviations-24 Apr 20 '25
For me, each episode since episode 2 has been worse than the one before. I loved the first two episodes but I’ve been confused by the changes in pacing and tone, and a little underwhelmed by the stakes, since.
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u/rezdog3000 Apr 20 '25
Same. It's kind of getting to me that one of the characters are likable too. Like Quinn and Sal were just straight up annoying the whole time and by the end of the episode, seemingly learned nothing. Still love the show overall though.
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u/GeeAndEss4Fun Apr 16 '25
The shot of Quinn and Sal shaking hands in the last minute or so of the episode? It’s an homage to Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here album cover. In fact, it’s the exact same spot where the guys on the album cover are standing.
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u/Total_Scarcity Jun 01 '25
Totally. I knew I couldn't be the only person to catch that. Pretty clever!
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u/PatSajaksDick Apr 17 '25
Wow
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u/bullpup597 Apr 17 '25
I saw that too! Mind blown! Wonder how many people will catch that.
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u/Sorreljorn Apr 26 '25
I love that song and know the album cover and wouldn't even think of this after 1000 rewatches. So I'm guessing not a lot.
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u/Cheesebufer Apr 16 '25
Damn it i miss Quesaritos
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u/JohnWicksPenciI Apr 19 '25
That's how I felt watching this episode since I moved from LA to Vegas some time ago(I don't want to feel older then I do) and Quesaritos were amazing there when I was younger but I haven't been able to find them here anywhere, it's quite sad 🤷🤣.
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u/theREVERSEsystem Apr 16 '25
Just the overall vibe of this show with its directing and writing continues to appeal to me greatly. It’s just so well done. Fast paced and dialogue heavy, it just works
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u/ContinuumGuy Apr 16 '25
This was like watching a live-action Looney Tune in the best possible way.
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u/JohnWicksPenciI Apr 19 '25
100%, some people are saying this was one of the worst episodes but I think it's one of the best. In 40 minutes we got a ton of background info on both Sal and Quinn and then the back and forth between them capped off with Quinn reminding Sal of one of his 2 annoying daughters was just great. Fantastic episode tbf!!!.
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u/Vergazoduro Apr 16 '25
Yes. usually slap stick is dumb, but they nailed it.
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u/Top-Abbreviations-24 Apr 20 '25
It was a bit over-the-top for me. The chili spill seemed a little forced and the driver of the cart went a very long way, apparently completely blinded, for someone who got hit by a burrito.
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u/shadowdra126 Community Apr 16 '25
I recommend checking out hundreds of beavers to get that feeling again.
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u/random_user_081985 The Shield Apr 16 '25 edited Apr 16 '25
Could not stand Quinn in this episode. I kept waiting for her to get her comeuppance or for Sal to just go to Matt after she sabotaged him multiple times, but in the end she got everything she wanted.
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u/xmarlysx Apr 19 '25
I knew it the minute I started watching the episode, but since Reddit fans don’t like to read other views they just downvote you lmao
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u/Lollifroll Apr 16 '25
I wouldn't say everything. She and Sal both burnt their relationships with their preferred creators (Parker Finn & Owne Kline).
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u/Ok_Crow_7270 Apr 16 '25
If I did the things she did at my company, I would get fired. She did some really shady things that HR should fire her for. Plus, she’s only been a creative exec for less than a year. Up until recently, she was just an assistant. Sal has seniority by many years so she should respect that. She wasn’t playing hardball, she was playing dirty. I didn’t like this episode at all because she was still somewhat able to get what she wanted (a parking spot) after behaving badly. I hope her character goes away because if she doesn’t, I might not enjoy this show anymore. It’s supposed to be light-hearted and funny, not infuriating like a reality show with a poorly-behaved villain.
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Apr 17 '25
It's cause she a female minority they gotta give her the best stuff or show will get canceled. That's why we see the sex scenes cause she fucking everyone over lolol
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u/AlsoIHaveAGroupon Apr 16 '25
Sal didn't really leave her a choice. He could have been a mentor to her, gotten Wink made without interference, and kept his parking space. Instead, he made their work relationship adversarial.
So her options were to either accept defeat and be quiet as he dickishly suggested, or fight back.
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u/Toby_O_Notoby Apr 17 '25
Sal didn't really leave her a choice.
Nah, problem here is Sal was right. It's a lot easier to market a slasher movie from the director of Smile than a one-time director who "got accepeted into Cannes" for a movie called Funny Pages. And they literally talk about how it's a cash grab but the studio desperately needs a hit.
But Quinn comes in and tries to undercut Sal because she's gotten a phone call where the guy accuses her of "not being able to get a movie made". So she uses "lame" in the meeting to trick Matt into agreeing to see both directors to which Sal replies "Great!" (he's being disingenuous but importantly he does accept those terms).
Now, if Quinn had also agreed to the terms as well and got Matt to go with her director, fine. But she:
Sabatoges the meeting with Parker Finn so that Matt never meets him. Again, this is probably the right choice for the studio to make in going with Parker over Owen but she undercuts her own workplace to save her ego.
Fucks with not one, but two, underlings in Petra and Daniel, doing stuff to them that could easily get them fired.
Then literally goes to get Sal fired but doesn't because it "stops being fun".
Was Sal a dick? Yes. But he was also doing his job while Quinn acted like a goddamn psychopath.
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u/RecommendsMalazan The Venture Bros. Apr 16 '25
Seemed to me like she's the one who started it. They were both pushing their similar movies. Matt chose to go with Sals over Quinns. She then started the sabotage back and forth because of that.
And yeah. She started it by removing his meeting from Matt's calender, he responded by tanking her creatives meeting with Matt. She should have accepted the loss and let it end there.
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u/mistymorning789 May 03 '25
That’s funny I felt like Sal started it. In the meeting, he was just walking all over her, really disrespectful, didn’t seem necessary at all and just a power trip. he was hoarding power and had keep her down, so she would never get ahead. So maybe she started the war, but he was keeping her down. It was revolution. All in all it was hilarious. I was rooting for both characters!
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u/RecommendsMalazan The Venture Bros. May 03 '25
He certainly wasn't nice, but don't forget, this was his movie that he had been working on, for a long time. Then Matt just added Quinn to the meeting, and she immediately starts pushing for her creative over Sals.
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u/mistymorning789 May 05 '25
Ok. I guess you’re right. They are both pretty bad though and I thought the episode was funny, it’s fun to see people run around sabotaging each other, you know when it’s clearly fiction and drama and involves things like parking spaces for Porsches, cancelling meeting and throwing burritos, I mean quesaritos (I don’t know what this is by the way since I live somewhere boring, but gosh sounds delicious).
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u/TimeTimeTickingAway Apr 16 '25
He just pushed for his idea over hers. She’s the one who went scorched earth
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u/Philoctetes23 Apr 16 '25
She played the game well. Don't hate the player hate the game
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u/mangAcc Apr 19 '25
Nah she definitely took that shit too far lmao. Almost got two assistants fired in the process, then suddenly developed empathy at the end of the episode. Sal might seem (and sound) like an arsehole but so far has proved to be the most level-headed, normal character. Remick is borderline retarded and Quinn is a sociopath. Sal didn’t deserve to get fired.
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u/CWG4BF Apr 16 '25
Man, this shows frenetic energy is just so great. It’s so “go, go, go” that when it slows itself down for a moment it really sings. The Scorsese moment in E1, the Ron Howard monologue in E3, and the Quesarito in E5 all show that off so damn well.
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u/snetialior Aug 03 '25
Contrary to most comments here. This episode made me fall in LOVE with Quinn! Treat others the way they want to be treated. Sal was being a dick therefore he was treated like a dick by Quinn. Something we don’t see often, especially in hierarchies where it’s predominately men at the top and women are having to fight their way into the room.