The third season of Loot is simply unavoidable in its decline without Nicholas' presence. His farewell episode may have been one of the best half-hours the show has ever produced, but it has left a gaping hole in the comedy's very core, shaped by the absence of Joel Kim Booster. In Episode 6, "What's Up with Us," the show attempts to settle back into its usual formula, but only ends up delivering even more downbeat news.
The bad news revolves around Molly and Arthur as they approach their six-month anniversary. In Nicholas's absence, Arthur has planned a romantic getaway to celebrate, taking Molly on a birding trip to San Benito in the hopes of spotting the elusive red-hooded shrike. Every aspect of the trip is tailored to Arthur's interests, but it immediately becomes clear that he has gone to great lengths to make it special, including paying for a balcony room in a hotel in the middle of nowhere out of his own struggling pocket.
Predictably, Molly doesn't get it. She doesn't see the excitement in spotting a bird, jotting down the date and time, and moving on. She doesn't understand the fungus in the air that requires short, shallow breaths, which she interprets as panting like a dog. She doesn't appreciate the humble accommodation, which nonetheless looks very nice to me, but that paying for it himself has allowed Arthur to retain some sense of sovereignty, which is rapidly eroding in the face of Molly's bottomless coffers providing him a life of luxury that he gets no real say in.
Molly immediately clashes with Paula, the head of the Southern California Alliance of Birders (SCAB), creating some decent comedy but only highlighting the issues she and Arthur are having. To be fair, Paula is objectively in the wrong here, badgering Molly for no reason and rejecting all her efforts to fit in with the group. Arthur makes the obvious mistake of taking Paula's side in an argument that almost turns physical, making things extremely frosty between him and Molly.
However, I must say I found myself disliking Molly in this episode of Loot Season 3 more than I expected. Later, she reveals that she has purchased a ridiculously extravagant tour bus with a live-in DJ for her and Arthur to spend the night in. When Arthur points out that it's totally at odds with the kind of experience he was trying to provide, she accuses him of being insecure that his girlfriend makes more money than him. It's a totally irrational way to behave. Initially, it seems like this disagreement will be smoothed over, interrupted by the arrival of the red-hooded shrike and Molly making a note of it in her journal as a symbolic gesture that she's taking Arthur's passion seriously. But then the bird is fatally sucked into the vents of the tour bus, leaving nothing resolved. Molly and Arthur head home separately, he in his car with an unopened bottle of chilled champagne still in the trunk, and Molly in her tour bus, with DJ Liam playing the saddest songs possible.
Elsewhere, Sofia discovers that Howard is dating Destiny and immediately feels a pang of worry that she's about to shatter his heart. Despite Howard's insistence that their relationship is serious, Sofia knows better. In an attempt to ease her concerns, he invites her to brunch. However, when Destiny doesn't show up, Sofia fears the worst. It turns out she's in the hospital with a broken wrist, which initially seems to vindicate Howard – or so he thinks.
As it happens, Destiny broke her wrist while playing whack-a-mole with the boyfriend she claimed to have broken up with. Apparently, he didn't take her ghosting for an answer and is now waiting in the hospital lobby, still under the mistaken belief that they're an item. Destiny asks Sofia to break up with him on her behalf so she can be with Howard, but both Sofia and the audience can see that she isn't taking the relationship with Howard nearly as seriously as he is.
Sofia does as instructed either way, but when she returns, she finds herself brought to tears as she sees Howard and Destiny cuddled up on her hospital bed. It's open to interpretation whether her tears are out of happiness or a foreboding sense of Howard's broken-hearted future inevitably coming to pass.
