“Defending Jacob” Apple TV+ Original Series starring Chris Evans
I just bought myself a new Apple TV and they gave me Apple TV+ free for one year. It’s surprisingly good! It’s about a kid who gets murdered on his way to school, and Evans is on the case to find the murderer, only his son (Jaeden Martell) becomes the main suspect. It’s set in a Boston Suburb. Michelle Dockery plays his wife.
It’s actually quite good. It’s probably the best acting I’ve seen from Evans.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 98 | September 20, 2020 1:44 AM
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I'm watching this, I like it but I don't like the mother.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | May 2, 2020 4:57 PM
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A character played by someone named Jaeden deserves the chair.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | May 2, 2020 5:01 PM
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I didn’t care for her in episode 1 but she was good in 2 and 3. R1
by Anonymous | reply 3 | May 2, 2020 5:19 PM
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The show really kicks in gear in the 3rd episode.
I want to slam the kid's head into a wall. He was just as insufferable in KNIVES OUT.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | May 2, 2020 5:26 PM
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I can’t believe that any child of Captain America would ever commit a random murder. I also can’t believe that any child of Lady Mary would ever stop at one.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | May 2, 2020 5:29 PM
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R4 he was better in the IT Movies
by Anonymous | reply 6 | May 2, 2020 5:37 PM
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They look too young and pretty to have a 13-year-old son.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | May 2, 2020 5:42 PM
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Both Evans and Dockery are 38 years old.
So they very well could have a 14 year old son.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | May 2, 2020 5:45 PM
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They obviously could have a child that age, but it’s more of a class thing. His character is a lawyer and I think hers studied art history, and those types don’t tend to start families until they’re closer to thirty, at the earliest.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | May 2, 2020 5:53 PM
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True, R10, and if I remember correctly they do mention how she got pregnant while he was in law school, as if the show felt the need to address it.
The show doesn’t do much for Dockery at the start, but the fourth episode is a really great showcase for her, especially the diner scene,
by Anonymous | reply 11 | May 2, 2020 6:16 PM
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R11 I just finished episode 3 and she is fantastic as she slowly derails.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | May 2, 2020 6:22 PM
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Chris Evans needs to stay blond.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | May 2, 2020 6:33 PM
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I like him with darker hair. Either way, he's super handsome, especially with a beard.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | May 2, 2020 6:36 PM
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He’s naturally brunette and looks better with it.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | May 2, 2020 6:39 PM
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I think the beard is a little much and his coloring a bit too severe in this. Gifted was a better example of a similar look for him.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | May 2, 2020 6:42 PM
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He’s playing a father whose 14 year old son is on trial for a murder. He isn’t gonna look a 10. They have makeup on him during the court room scenes to look exhausted and distraught.
He looks great still!!!!
by Anonymous | reply 17 | May 2, 2020 6:43 PM
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I agree with the comment above about the actors being too young to play well off parents. Yes, people have children young but this trend of casting 30 something's as upper middle class parents of teens has become absurd.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | May 2, 2020 6:44 PM
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You’ve never met a 38 year old with money? Weird.
I’ve met 28 year olds that are upper middle class.
by Anonymous | reply 19 | May 2, 2020 6:45 PM
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R19 Of course I have but the type of couples with college degrees and careers generally have children in their 30s. The ones born to wealth will sometimes have kids earlier but not the ones who had to establish themselves first. My point is not that they couldn't possibly be his parents but that casting of actors of Evans and Dockerys' age is statistically over represented. Having both Dockery and Evans be working class would have been more realistic.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | May 2, 2020 6:54 PM
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I actually find it is usually people who can’t afford to have kids that have kids. And usually young.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | May 2, 2020 6:55 PM
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Different people have kids at different ages, there is no set age for anything.
The mother acknowledged that she got pregnant while Andy was in Law School, so he wasn't planned.
Dockery is phenomenal in episodes 3 and 4.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | May 2, 2020 7:12 PM
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Caught up. It is very good. I am sad it is only like 8 episodes total. Evans and Dockery are doing great! Martell not so much.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | May 2, 2020 11:52 PM
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I’m conflicted about Martell. He’s supposed to be exasperating to some extent, but I can’t decide whether I’m responding to the character or his performance.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | May 3, 2020 1:37 AM
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Probably his performance r24. He’s pretty limited.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | May 3, 2020 2:11 AM
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I cant wait for the new episode tomorrow
by Anonymous | reply 27 | May 7, 2020 1:03 PM
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Even though I fancy Jaeden, I still can't get over one of the most exhausting actresses ever, Michelle Dockery. She just ruins everything she is in.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | May 7, 2020 2:31 PM
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You fancy a 15 year old????
by Anonymous | reply 29 | May 7, 2020 3:09 PM
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Evans nude or barefoot in it ?
by Anonymous | reply 30 | May 7, 2020 3:33 PM
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No nudity. There is no need for nudity in a show about a 14 year old being murdered in broad daylight and another 14 year old being the main suspect 🙄🙄🙄
by Anonymous | reply 31 | May 7, 2020 3:34 PM
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Upper middle-class parents of teenagers often look old enough to be the kids' grandparents. They don't start having kids until their late 30s these days.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | May 7, 2020 4:21 PM
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Again, not everyone is the same. Jesus.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | May 7, 2020 4:33 PM
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They’re not upper middle class. They have a relatively small house in rich town. He works for the county; she works for a non-profit.
Having said that, I’m not sure where his Audi fits in. He’s obviously not from a wealthy family. We don’t know much about her family.
by Anonymous | reply 35 | May 7, 2020 4:49 PM
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There is always a need for nudity when Chris Evans is involved
by Anonymous | reply 36 | May 7, 2020 5:42 PM
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R10, it’s based on a book, so you could find out the answer if you wanted.
I don’t know the actual answer, but I’m leaning toward no at this point. The two other kids probably factor in, since their roles seem larger than they should be, if they’re irrelevant to the plot.
by Anonymous | reply 38 | May 7, 2020 8:36 PM
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Episode 5 was pretty good. It went by very fast.
JK Simmons as the dad is perfect.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | May 8, 2020 8:09 PM
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What is the framing mystery? Why us Andy testifying at a grand jury AFTER the trial? It must be another case involving the same facts.
Speculation only. No spoilers from novel.
by Anonymous | reply 40 | May 9, 2020 5:57 AM
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[quote]You fancy a 15 year old????
He's 17 now, legal in the UK. DUH! But the series is shit boring anyway.
by Anonymous | reply 41 | May 9, 2020 1:00 PM
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Moving too slowly. Better as a binge.
by Anonymous | reply 42 | May 9, 2020 5:52 PM
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[quote]JK Simmons as the dad is perfect.
I loved it. It was as if he slid right back into his "Oz" character Vern Schillinger. Bastard through and through.
by Anonymous | reply 43 | May 9, 2020 6:00 PM
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R40 telling you would be giving it away
R37
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 44 | May 9, 2020 6:47 PM
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R44 that is once, in 2001? For his first movie role.
He hasn’t done nudity since. He uses an ass double.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | May 9, 2020 7:27 PM
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Still not never. And I busted many nuts to it long before he became Captain America
by Anonymous | reply 46 | May 9, 2020 7:28 PM
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He agreed to the “nudity” in Not Another Teen Movie because it wasn’t even real nudity. You still don’t see his bare ass.
And I doubt a man your age was jerking off to that.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | May 9, 2020 7:32 PM
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Chris Evans is good in this.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | May 12, 2020 11:30 PM
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He was naked in that movie with Anna Farris.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 49 | May 12, 2020 11:48 PM
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R49 the ass shot was a double
by Anonymous | reply 50 | May 12, 2020 11:53 PM
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In the present court room scenes, they talk about the mother in the past tense. So I’m guessing she’s dead.
POTENTIAL SPOILER
Plus as per Apple’s leaked internal memo to production staff at Apple TV, bad people can’t be seen to using Apple products. The only two that haven’t used them So far is the pedophile and the Asian school boy. So clearly the Asian boy is the killer.
by Anonymous | reply 51 | May 12, 2020 11:56 PM
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R50 well that's disappointing.
by Anonymous | reply 52 | May 13, 2020 12:12 AM
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R51, it was Rian Johnson who revealed that about his movie Knives Out, the other murder mystery with Chris Evans and Jaeden Martell.
by Anonymous | reply 53 | May 13, 2020 12:43 AM
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I've really been enjoying it. Some great acting by both of the leads, although I did have to laugh at someone who is a d.a. handling a potential murder weapon with his bare hands.
by Anonymous | reply 54 | May 13, 2020 12:52 AM
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I can't imagine anything worth spending the money on Apple TV.
by Anonymous | reply 55 | May 13, 2020 12:53 AM
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R55 Apple has been giving away a free year when you purchase any device.
by Anonymous | reply 57 | May 13, 2020 1:03 AM
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If you don't know how to watch everything for free by now, you're hopeless.
by Anonymous | reply 58 | May 13, 2020 1:32 AM
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Only allowing the good guys to use apple devices is completely the sort of logic Apple would use. Totally believable that they would mandate this without any wider thinking of how this would impact story telling.
by Anonymous | reply 59 | May 13, 2020 1:46 AM
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It hasn’t been a problem for the past thirteen years, since it looks like no one figured it out before Johnson revealed it. It’ll really just affect mysteries where the identity of the villain is unknown.
by Anonymous | reply 60 | May 13, 2020 1:56 AM
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Most movies and shows only use Androids anyway.
by Anonymous | reply 61 | May 13, 2020 1:59 AM
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R60 I am referring specifically to Apple TV produced content - not about promotional consideration for other shows / Movies.
by Anonymous | reply 62 | May 13, 2020 2:11 AM
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You should you check out Mythic Quest, OP! It’s truly hysterical
by Anonymous | reply 63 | May 13, 2020 2:13 AM
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Stealing is not my idea of getting stuff for free.
by Anonymous | reply 66 | May 13, 2020 5:52 AM
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Streaming isn't stealing.
by Anonymous | reply 67 | May 13, 2020 5:56 AM
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Streaming without paying is stealing, unless it’s a trial or promotion.
by Anonymous | reply 68 | May 13, 2020 6:03 AM
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Just torrenting the first episode to see if you'd like this boring shitshow first, then buy it if you would. It's so moribund and comatose like Michelle has sucked the life out of it.
by Anonymous | reply 69 | May 13, 2020 6:20 AM
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Really, R69? You go to all the effort to download the torrent, then pay?
Anyway, you can’t buy it. It’s for Apple TV+ subscribers.
by Anonymous | reply 70 | May 13, 2020 9:06 AM
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It’s Friday... you know what that means... NEW EPISODE
by Anonymous | reply 72 | May 15, 2020 4:27 PM
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Does Michelle Dockery use an American accent? How good is she at it?
by Anonymous | reply 73 | May 15, 2020 4:41 PM
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R76 me too. I look forward to watching it every Friday. Although today I didn’t get to, so tomorrow lol.
Still haven’t seen the new episode of Mrs. America
by Anonymous | reply 77 | May 16, 2020 3:07 AM
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I imagine the mom was mentally packing her bags the moment the shrink told her that the kid doesn't have the murder gene, which is apparently only inherited from the mother's side, but has all the other sociopath DNA stuff he could get from his father's side. She can leave the mess of a family life and start new somewhere else without all the dark baggage of her husband and son.
The spoiler deduction of who the murderer might be, at r51, is hilarious.
by Anonymous | reply 78 | May 21, 2020 7:33 PM
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Man, I would've slapped the kid so hard for posting the murder story only a few days after the murder happened and keep it a secret until it came out in the trial.
by Anonymous | reply 79 | May 22, 2020 10:16 AM
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Has Jaeden presented dong or even armpits yet?
by Anonymous | reply 80 | May 22, 2020 11:24 AM
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Would it be too obvious for the grandfather to have hired the hit man (who is stalking the family) to pressure the creep into admitting the murder to get the kid off the hook?
by Anonymous | reply 81 | May 22, 2020 5:23 PM
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I feel like mom is about to run away. She clearly can’t handle this pressure.
Chris Evans is doing a phenomenal job. Very impressed with him.
Jaeden is terrible.
by Anonymous | reply 82 | May 23, 2020 12:59 AM
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R80 He's fifteen, you pedo!
by Anonymous | reply 83 | May 23, 2020 4:23 AM
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R82 Jaeden got acclaim from The New York Times and others. His role is very difficult and he's doing a fine job.
by Anonymous | reply 84 | May 23, 2020 4:24 AM
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He speaks like he is 5 years old. He can’t deliver a line without sounding like a toddler. He also has one facial expression.
by Anonymous | reply 85 | May 23, 2020 4:31 AM
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I want to strangle that little shit so bad. The parents are pretty decent, and yet he drags them into more shit by keeping secrets that come out in the worst possible times. Of course there would be almost no story if the kid would've come forward right away and had the smarts to not post that admission of murder or murder fantasy.
by Anonymous | reply 86 | May 23, 2020 8:10 AM
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Has anyone else watched the finale? I didn’t predict that ending, but it still makes perfect sense from what the show established about the characters, so it never felt like a cheat, which is always the danger when something shocking happens. Still, I’m not quite sure I was satisfied.
by Anonymous | reply 87 | May 30, 2020 3:53 AM
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R87 I haven’t yet. Will in a bit. I was out all day.
by Anonymous | reply 88 | May 30, 2020 4:01 AM
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SPOILER ALERT for ending
It made no sense that the climax of the entire examination before the grand jury was the DA’s trying to get Andy to say that he thought the crash was intentional, and his insistence that it was an accident. He was not there. His opinion may be crucial for the future of the family, but it would not be crucial to the grand jury. I can’t imagine any prosecutor attempting to charge Laurie with attempted murder under these circumstances.
The scenes in Mexico were harrowing. I kind of wish Jacob killed that girl.
by Anonymous | reply 89 | May 30, 2020 5:29 AM
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I don’t know what I was expecting or hoping for an ending, but this was not it for me.
by Anonymous | reply 90 | May 30, 2020 7:38 PM
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I didn’t know this was based on a book. They changed the ending from the book...
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
In the book Hope is found dead and Laurie finds blood on Jacob’s shirt. He dies in the car crash.
by Anonymous | reply 91 | June 1, 2020 3:46 PM
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I’m vindicated! The momentum of the story demands Jacob kills the girl. The TV version pussied out for a hopeful ending, even going so far as wiping out Wendy’s memory of the crash.
by Anonymous | reply 92 | June 1, 2020 4:54 PM
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r92
I thought she was faking it but I do know that memory loss of an accident is very common
by Anonymous | reply 93 | June 1, 2020 7:59 PM
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Loved the season, but the finale was so underwhelming. To me it fell apart (reading the spoiler about how the book ends, I understand why). The whole interrogation set up made no sense to me (why interrogate the one person who wasn't in the car when the driver is still alive? Why not wait with the investigation and interrogation until the driver is cleared by her doctor? Why was a jury present at that stage of the investigation?).
The ending reminded me of the lackluster ending of the TV miniseries adaption of J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy.
Sometimes it's better to go with the expected than underwhelm the audience with the unexpected cop-out twist ending.
by Anonymous | reply 94 | June 3, 2020 10:26 AM
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The biggest crime for me in the final episode, and maybe the whole series, was when Laurie said she was going shopping to buy some speedos for Evans, but then we never actually got to see him in them, despite all those scenes at the beach. Unforgiveable.
by Anonymous | reply 95 | June 4, 2020 5:15 PM
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I just started this. It’s incredibly hard believing the a child of Evans and Dockery would be such a mousy looking loser.
by Anonymous | reply 96 | September 20, 2020 1:22 AM
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Also, isn’t this plot basically ripped off DL Fave “The Bad Seed”?
by Anonymous | reply 97 | September 20, 2020 1:28 AM
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Many hot people have unattractive or mousy kids.
R97 not at all...
by Anonymous | reply 98 | September 20, 2020 1:44 AM
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