#olivia coleman deserves an award for this expression alone

[bairdthereader]

The women at this dinner are SO. DONE.

Tori, who has anticipated the dynamics at this dinner all along and has pegged David immediately as the slimeball he is, is clearly wondering how she got sat between these two massive male egos. She's armed and ready for her confrontations with David (perhaps even looking forward to them just a tiny bit?) when things take a turn for the worse. Protective older sister mode activated.

I debated adding Jane here, but she's reacting to the posturing and conflict between the men just as much as Tori or Sarah, so she deserves to be included. She spends the meal deflecting, changing topics, trying to keep the conversation in safe waters. She silently but visibly disagrees when Charlie downplays his rugby abilities (thank you, someone, for acknowledging he's not actually that bad!). But when Nick finally confronts David, her face shows dread. Anyone who's read Alice's cannon knows Jane has a complicated family history riddled with conflict, and her instinctive fear shows clearly in this moment before she realizes that Nick is going to handle this problem gracefully rather than violently.

And Sarah. Having seen how lovingly she navigates life with Nick and how sensitively she helps him with his problems, we can only imagine that she has to have been pushed to the absolute edge by her time with Stephane to react the way she does here. I'm not even getting into the second half of the argument after Nick leaves the table--that's a whole other post--but Sarah is completely comfortable placing the blame squarely where it belongs, even in front of company. Sarah Nelson, putting men in their place left and right.

Leading ladies, indeed.