HurricaneVal

My prediction for next week is: Liz finds the idol and uses it, and whoever she voted for will go home, and it will be either "Kynsey" or "Been" and the chance at a power move to get out either Q or Maria will be wasted. Because she is that lame. Speaking of misspelled TC votes, as we were up thread, I read an interview a while back that misspellings, little decorative touches like hearts or flowers, or writing the name really big or really small were done so when the vote was obsessively dissected back at camp, you could clearly identify your vote by how you wrote it. Smart players changed it up each time so as to not piss off jury members. Of course, some players are just flat out dumb, so some misspellings could just come from that.

Good lord. Venus couldn't read a room even if she had an audio guide and a cheat sheet. Charlie needs to get out from under Maria's shadow. If she wins final immunity, she's going to cut him like she's The Machete. I don't really see what was wrong with the way Maria chose the pizza eaters. I mean, other than deliberating too long which seemed mean, but was really just her being indecisive over what would be best for her game. When everyone else dropped out but Liz and Q, Rock-Paper-Scissors seemed fair to me. The complaints back at camp were unfounded--other than Liz, they chose to step out. Speaking of Liz, I'm now in favor of her making it to Final Tribal Council. Not because I think she deserves it, but because she's so unhinged that I want to hear her FTC campaign speech, and her whiny, defiant answers to the jury's questions. Unfortunately what I think will happen is that Maria or Q--whichever wins final immunity--will have her make fire with Charlie, and she'll just sit there staring helplessly at her twigs and coconut fluff while Charlie industriously goes about building his fire and popping his flag.

That's exactly what it felt like to me. Like when you watch old shows in reruns on Nick at Nite or TVLand or ION, and they suddenly jump from the sequential progression from seasons 1-3, then go to season 7, episode 8. That said, I think we can all fill in the blanks how we want, which may have been on purpose by the writers. For instance, Bob continuing at MaxDot after selling to Goodwin was actually part of the deal. Goodwin didn't have the money up front like the other company did, so it was a structured sale, with Bob staying on while Goodwin was paying in. The smile on Goodwin's face when the company was finally his was great. As was the smile on Bob's face when he was so happy for Goodwin. I actually am fanwanking that Abishola didn't go to Johns Hopkins. I think it was enough for her to have been accepted. That soothed her ego. I think she went to med school right there in Detroit, at that fictional university that was Bob's alma mater. She did that because she realized she was happy where she was, and she could still pick up per diem shifts nursing at the hospital when she wanted. Her finishing med school in seven years makes sense too, considering she probably had a lot of the pre-reqs completed from her nursing degrees. For some reason, choosing peds came as a surprise to me, I figured she 'd go for thoracic surgeon, or neurosurgery. Douglas growing up was a surprise to me, but Christina being an anxious parent was not. Both outcomes were in character though. Douglas had sparks of maturity throughout the series, and Christina could be amazingly competent yet still filled with doubt. Kemi and Chukwuemeka and the food truck? Eh. Yeah, the bickering was unsettling, but Chukwuemeka was always such a pushover that I kind of liked that he's pushing back now. Of course, I think it was all an act, since it was acknowledged everyone was in line because they loved to see them bicker. Chukwuemeka is probably still a pharmacist, he just does the food truck during the lunch shift. I'll be his mom takes over the dinner shift so the bickering can continue and keep the money rolling in! Did anyone catch that Dele's NY apartment looked a whole lot like Abishola's brother's apartment? I think that was a nice nod to familial similarities. I actually like Dele's hair, but would have preferred it didn't quite look so much like a wig. The whole conversation between Abishola and Dele was gold. But I agree with @mammaM, the line about getting a job to buy the "friend" some pants was the best line ever. So long, Bob ❤️ Abishola. You were a fun show to watch.

Tunde's moustache is giving me life.

Was that Toni Braxton, or was that Cher? Pop stars can't all stay young, but they don't all have to have the same procedures so they all look alike. Her personality did shine through though, so it was a nice cameo. My favorite part was Malcolm taking his shot with Toni, Toni Braxton, and getting shot down. Then Calvin being proud of Malcolm for taking his shot, but also gleefully pointing out Malcolm got shot down, and Malcolm's sheepish but proud grin. That was well done. My nerdly self should prefer Marty, but Malcolm is my favorite. That actor is fantastic with the small actorly moments. And? Can I just say how happy I am the writers/producers avoided the "OMG, it's twins!" TV trope. Which is very dated in this day and age. Edited to add: and also the TV "sudden early birth in an unexpected place, and naming baby after person who unexpectedly participated in the birth" trope by changing from naming the baby Daphne to Toni. It was bad enough they pulled the "sudden early birth in an unexpected place" trope.

Wow. I mean ... OMG. Wow. Fantastic episode. Just so much packed into it that I have so much to say that my commenter is just jammed stuck. Everybody was awesome, every character had a moment, the writers deserve a raise and awards, Rebecca Wisocky knocked it outta the park, but everyone else was a rising tide that lifted that boat so give 'em all Emmys, but make Rebecca's bigger for this ep. This is so my favorite show.

This episode was the cast and writers clicking along on all cylinders. As always, the Marty and Malcolm scenes are the best part, but the whole episode was great. I also love how the writers were smart enough to only imply that though it appeared Gemma and Calvin were teaming up, and Tina and Dave were teaming up, it was really Calvin and Dave who had teamed up and schemed off camera to fix the situation. The end with Gemma baiting everyone as she sat in the dunk tank at the carnival was classic Gemma, but then when the ball went to Malcolm, the look of horror on her face paired with the knowing smile on Malcolm's face was truly awesome as he casually tossed the baseball in the air, then pitched it straight at the target. Loved the callback to Malcolm's baseball career and expertise.

I nearly shouted "Hodgins! Who's the King of the Lab!" when that actor showed up as the Elon Musk stand-in. I also loved that the nerds really won the day, since the IT Troll proved to be pivotal in the investigation, and his shot at interrogation was awkward actorly gold, and Tim McGeek gets to be interim director--a role he took with zero dissembling and great confidence. Loved the callback to the original episode with Air Force One. Nicely done. The montage of former NCIS players was missing a few....no Abby? No Ducky? No Jenny Shepard? No Gerald?

The seed for Goodwin to buy the company was nicely planted in a prior episode where he mentioned that he would take his portion of the money from the sale of MaxDot and start his own business. I thought right there, why doesn't he just buy MaxDot and run it? He already knows the business and has relationships with the suppliers and vendors...but then I shrugged and thought "Maybe making compression socks isn't exactly Goodwin's dream." Abishola was utterly charming when she was swanning about, all happy to be rich with that big smile on her face and the inability to feel her toes.

Hunter gives me weird vibes too. I mean, it is perfectly fine to choose a different path in life because you found your passion. I applaud that, in fact. However.....it appears to me from the glimpse we got inside his house where it is less of a home and more of a storage facility for all his Survivor challenge props, methinks his change in careers was more about picking a job which could accommodate his Survivor obsession. I think the high demand and high stress career as a doctor wouldn't leave Hunter much time to reproduce and train on the challenge props, and he probably couldn't get his colleagues or patients to try them out with him. In teaching, he can use his Survivor obsession and his props and mock challenges as a way to engage the kids. Win-win for Hunter! Actually, this is also a win for Hunters hypothetical and now nonexistent patients. All I can think about is that Phoebe's replacement OB/GYN on Friends who was obsessed with Fonzie, and how Hunter would have been like that, only with Survivor.

I got curious, so I googled and found By-the-Bucket, an Arizona restaurant chain that serves spaghetti, uh, by the bucket. The follow-ups where everybody seemed to have leftover spaghetti in their fridge cracked me up. Georgie is so sweet with Mandy that it makes me sad for him that the inevitable divorce is coming in the future. He seems genuinely happy--but honestly, Mandy doesn't. Mandy taking a moment for her dad to walk her down the aisle was sweet.

I think that Tim turned a little contemplative focus on himself when he stood there in the challenge and started doing shout-outs and mentioning other players family members. That's the point when folks realized that Tim is not only a physical threat, but he is a major social threat. He has made relationships with people to the point that he knows their families. We certainly hadn't seen much of that in the broadcast episodes, but evidently he made connections. Though, we really haven't seen much of Tim up to now. I'm kind of sorry to see him go, I didn't realize how connected he was. That was also a bit of a nasty smile that Liz got on her face when Tevan floated a Soda vote. I don't really like Liz, and I can't really put my finger on why, but that smile was creepy. Q has really become completely insufferable. I used to like him when he was trying to coach Bhanu, but something about making the merge has gone to his head. Kenzie--to me--has had a turnaround since the merge too. Before, I was kind of tired of her, and thought she was annoying. She seems to have calmed down and grounded herself since then, and is starting to look like a contender. This season has been all over the place. I can't really get a handle on it.

@Katy M....I think you mean Mandy and Georgie here. Unless this show is taking a really outre and risque turn. She did lust after Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing, who greatly resembles Georgie, sooooo...... 😆🤣😂 I liked the little interactions between Georgie and Sheldon, both of them feeling violated by the actions of others who thought they were doing things for their own good. Mandy's dad cracks me up.

I love Hettie. She was killing me last night. So was Sass. And Isaac, and Thor, and Pete. Oh heck. That was a great episode. The part I loved best was how Trevor absolutely couldn't help himself and gave his little brother the wet willie that caused Jeremy to lose the game, and thus evict him from the B&B, even though Trevor was so happy to see him.

I'm totally cracking up at the +1 Alliance. Tiffany and Maria as two of the +1s are all like "Oh. OK. Huh." I'd actually really like to see Tiffany and Maria and Kenzie get together as a power trio. Maria's reaction, in particular, just about made me spit out my wine. It was actually almost a recoil, so methinks she doesn't really care for Tim, and doesn't want to be associated with him. I run hot and cold on Venus. I think her assertiveness is fantastic, but I also find her a bit snotty. She's young though, she's got time to learn how to read a room and temper that attitude from snotty superiority to confident authority. Q is getting a big head. That's too bad. I was hoping he was going o be an exception to the rule that strong males get a taste of success and become raging assholes on Survivor.