Chapter 38-1

[HardKor]

Okay, so I finally got to listen to the episode. (I hate my internet!)
I'm pretty sure my thoughts have all been pretty much detailed here by various people, but here goes anyway:
The first thing I noticed, since I was being mindful of the chapter title, was that the first scene with Datu, Hope, and Tanya had them all really drive home the idea of "We've got to stick together." And what happens right after that scene? We go to Saul and Victor getting ready to leave. I see what you did there, KC. Drive home the importance of unity only to force a wedge between the party. That's some good stuff right there.

I am really surprised that Saul and Victor were able to go off as easily as they did without revealing what's really going down. I just know that the longer it takes for everyone to find out why they left, the bigger of a mess it's going to cause. I'm thinking this might end up being a mid-season reveal that ends up ripping everyone apart.
And good for Riley, being the only one to notice that something smells fishy about this whole deal. Someone needs to stir the pot here and drag everything out in the open.

As for CJ, she may have hid her motivations well but she's still splitting up the group over a grudge, when she ought to be trying to bring everyone on board and getting them on the same page. She likes to bark orders and basically fill the vacuum in power by being the one to yell the loudest. And sure, she got Michael on board because she's got him convinced that she knows her shit (which, in all fairness, she does). But at the end of the day, what happens when people start really disagreeing with her. It's just a fact of life, not everyone is going to agree with you. So what happens when people start questioning her plans? I think we've seen a good amount of evidence that she's got a "my way or the highway" approach. You can say what you want about Michael's leadership style. And he was always a reluctant leader at best. But he did try to build a consensus for his decisions. I don't think CJ's very good with the PR aspect of leading.

Anyway, it's late, and this may be turning into a rant, so I'm gonna leave it at that.