[S01.E06: Departures]

41 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

Shane didn't murder anyone. He defended himself against an unknown intruder in his room, a person who had just taken a dump on his clothes. He only realized it was Armand after he'd already stabbed him. And Armand's actions are all on him, not on Shane. Wealthy guests at upscale resorts throw "man-baby tantrums" all the time, and management's job is to deal with it professionally. Armand's death is nobody's fault but his own.

And yet she chose to stay with him.

We know that, Rachel does not. All she knows is the one night she leaves him to his own devices he somehow ends up killing the man he's had an ongoing feud with their entire honeymoon. And he seems only mildly irritated about it. Hence, why from the character's POV Shane is looking pretty sus and not worth pissing off right now.

[S01.E06: Departures]

12 hours ago, Traveller519 said:

I read Rachel's decision as being one out of fear as much as anything. "I can be happy" said through the most strained emotional output.

She's looking at the prospect of needing to execute a divorce from an obsessive sociopath who has just faced no consequences for killing someone she knows he had a grudge with ms she asked him to leave alone. That seems terrifying 

Thank you, exactly. The man-baby tantrum she just criticized him for resulted in him murdering the guy. And Mommy in Law pulled all the strings to get her kid out and returning home in under 24 hrs without a peep from local authorities. Can Rachel withstand that kind of firepower if she tries to divorce Shane? Can her career? She'd probably have to move continents to even find a job waitressing after Shane's family is through with her. And while Shane has a reasonable explanation for said murder, he doesn't seem to be anything other than mildly annoyed by it and as a spouse I'd find that majorly sus. 

Wow, Tanya was really like "oh she did such a great job, so I tipped her 40%, aren't I generous?" and the parting shot was Belinda had to be grateful. Tanya called her a friend, but shoved that big envelope to directly shut her up and prevent an honest conversation about the narcissism and manipulation she displayed. The irony is that if Belinda hadn't worked so hard to jump start Tanya's remaining brain cells, desperate Tanya probably would have kept her pockets open and Belinda would be an independent businesswoman. 

[S01.E05: The Lotus-Eaters]

On 8/9/2021 at 10:53 AM, CarpeFelis said:

I suspect Shane was just biding his time, because the nastiest thing he could do to Armond would be to let him think switching the rooms was enough to get Shane off his back and then call his boss and get him fired after checking out.

I’m wondering whether Mark had some huge inheritance or something, because he did say last episode that he bought the bracelets with his own money.

Agreed. I know Armond dug a lot of pits for himself, but honestly Shane's characterization make me think he would *always* have done this even if Armond provided impeccable service to make up for pineapple-gate. Armond was not on his A-game by any means, but I think a lot of his small roadblocks were perfectly reasonable because you would assume at some point the dude would get distracted by his incredibly new hot wife while on his honeymoon! 

I can see Kai getting off with a slap on the wrist if only because the Mossbacher's probably don't want the press attention. I do think Paula is about to get express ejected from the inner circle, though. And Olivia will be left miserable because she won't have someone stuck in an unhealthy power dynamic for her to continuously abuse and be her dedicated audience.

[S01.E04: Recentering]

On 8/5/2021 at 7:55 PM, Arynm said:

I think Rachel got sucked into the lifestyle that Shane was offering and kind of glossed over the gross parts of him that are now really showing. She is carrying a Goyard bag (the green one) which is over a grand and I am sure she didn't have the cash to buy that without him.

I still have no idea who is going to die.

I think she was well aware he was garbage, but planned to use him and his family as a leg up in the competitive NY journalism arena with the idea they would increase access to important people to write puff pieces on (like Connie Britton's character). Now she's realizing they consider her a pure bred show poodle that they bought for a steal.  "Haha, my son married someone who used to *work*, isn't he saint? We're so down to earth, haha!"

[S01.E02: New Day]

On 8/1/2021 at 10:11 PM, PsychoDrone said:

Putting the family in a one-bedroom suite is drama for drama's sake.  It's contrived and doesn't make sense.  I make way less money than a CFO and have been getting suites, with multiple bedrooms for my family, in hotels that are nowhere near as expensive as the one they're staying in.  Even when my boys were small, and we stayed in one room, they never slept in a pull-out sofa.

 

 

It makes sense if this is Connie Britton's character's (Tanya?) way for forced engagement with her family. If left to their own devices, neither of her children would see her face the entire vacation unless it was to moan or complain about some inconvenience they want her to drop everything to fix. She seems very into what families "ought" to do even if she herself is incapable of truly disconnecting and being present with her kids or husband.

[S13.E07: Bossy Rossy Ruboot]

Denali and Rose keep being A+ professionals and Ru keeps being "meh whatever". That they kept Kandy on stage to praise her for her performance and look but sent Denali to stew backstage is pure producer manipulation and I did not enjoy it. 

I really wish we could have had double winners with Olivia and Symone. They both did so well and both of their looks were such awesome bits of Black girl nostalgia. 

Elliott turning his nose up at the more timid performers and then waltzing out to do....that was a choice (*Tatianna voice*). Tina's humor is really just not for me, but at least she went for it.

I thought Lala was going to get Elliot when they when they started playing that song but Elliott really did that. I felt that competitive Texas spirit while Lala felt more joyful but disconnected from the song lyrics. He's toast if he doesn't figure some shit out by next week, though. Not that I care because *gestures at two T's social media*.

[S01.E06: All-New Halloween Spooktacular!]

3 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

All of that would be fine, except literally the only thing Hayward has done since he's been on the scene is poke the wasp's nest until something worse happens, and in this episode he had the people who were actually trying to solve the problem (Monica, Jimmy, Darcy) kicked off of "his" site. Monica's his co-worker, if a subordinate one, Jimmy works for the FBI, and while Darcy might be private sector she has a doctorate. It's not like they're just nobodies or newcomers, but you'd think they were with the way he acts towards them. Who died and left him in charge when all he does is exacerbate the situation?

I would add that he acts like he wants Wanda back in the Raft with a shock collar around her neck, and if you're right about him trying to re-fashion Vision into a superpowered guard dog, then it isn't really the power thing he's having a problem with. It's superpowered people he can't control. Just like Thunderbolt Ross, he's fine with them as long as he can keep them on a leash.

I mean, the way he's acting is not unlike how world powers treat hostile developing nations with nukes/nuclear capability. I don't agree with it, I just find it highly realistic that he wants absolute capitulation or to nuke it from orbit with no middle option.

[S01.E06: All-New Halloween Spooktacular!]

1 hour ago, Luckylyn said:

Agnes continues to be at the exact right place at the exact right time.  I thinking she was play acting for Vision to further push him against Wanda.

Agnes could be bad, but I'm starting to suspect she's a little like Monica. Aware that she's trapped and desperately working all available angles to try to achieve autonomy. Agnes plays the role of the cheesy neighbor perfectly, perhaps in the hopes that Wanda lifts some of the heavy mindwipe on her. Then she tries to make a run for it when she thinks Wanda will be heavily distracted, such as orchestrating an entire town through the motions of Suburbia Halloween.

Hayward is a jerk, but honestly if we'd seen the widescale massive destruction that the Avengers have caused (purposefully or inadvertently) over the years there would absolutely be large swaths of people who hate their guts. The Avengers forced people to face the idea that they are not alone in the universe, and, not only that, they are hopelessly outgunned. I can absolutely see lots of people used to wielding power going "enough" especially when some washed superheroine decides to work through her grief by (seemingly) taking an entire town of innocent people hostage. Sure he almost certainly has a nefarious plan to make Vision into a robot supersoldier or something. But I don't find the blind seething hatred of "powered" people unrealistic .

I think Pietro is the bad guy. He's absolutely goading her over and over into making poor decisions and all his deflections about their past gaslight her about her own choices. "Why don't you remember?" "Where's your accent?" "You know the folks you love are already dead" He appeared the SECOND Vision was making Wanda start to question the ethics of what she is doing ("the man is in pain"). The only positive thing he says to her all episode is that the way she's running Westview is 'ethical'. 

[S05.E10: Nemesis Games]

Watching Drummer flip on other Belter ships while basically one-handed was pretty badass. Glad she showed her training with Fred and finally made the tough but necessary choice. Oksana and co were full of judgement, but I bet a dollar they are going to take that free ticket Drummer punched for them by letting their crewmate die on Marco's ship. I think they're really underestimating that being under Marco's thumb was survivable because they were hiding under Drummer's skirts. Good luck out there and good riddance.

The scene of Naomi dying while in free spin and then getting rescued was beautifully shot. It was so claustrophobic and disorienting, even better than a similar scene in Gravity. If Marco hadn't been such trash and driven Naomi to despair and cynicism, I'm pretty sure she would have single-handedly rebuilt the Belter state. She is that tenacious.

The angry hobgoblins were finally fed up and ate someone, huh? I wonder how long it will take for people to realize what happened?

Skeleton vertebrae ship is everything I ever wanted, please more immediately and thank you!

[S13.E05: The Bag Ball]

Watching Kandy melt down over getting the tiniest of reads makes me think what an apocalyptic mess she would have been if she'd had to untuck with the S1-S3 girls. "I don't care for some of you, but I will admit y'all turned it this week" was truly the softest backhanded compliment possible. People have been comparing Kandy to Silky, which imo makes no sense because Silky actually had great faith in her skillset. Kandy's desperation for affirmation and attention reminds me more of Eureka...but Eureka was actually a strong drag queen which made her histrionics feel so unnecessary. Kandy is going to be in for a big surprise when she gets critiques again, but I can almost guarantee the next thing for Michelle is tearing into her makeup for coming across so uneven and muddy on stage.

Mik's win felt like producer riggery, but one that kind of makes sense. This was a challenge truly designed for Gottmik to shine, a 100% fashion queen moment. I think producers want to get a win under her belt because Gottmik really just doesn't have any sort of stage presence in the production numbers, and those tend to ramp up at this stage of the competition. 

[S05.E09: Winnipesaukee]

Starting the official Hutch fangirl club, taking applicants! When she screamed for Amos so he would come back for her, I was so anxious. But they reached an immediate tacit agreement for him to flip her so she could keep fracking firing with a bullet in her back! Unlike most viewers, I've been pretty meh on the whole cross-country adventure featuring Timmy & Peaches, but this episode was quite fun.

When Naomi fell to the ground and saw the frayed wire she looked so much like Filip. They did such a great job casting her and Marco's son.

[S13.E04: RuPaulmark Channel]

Both sketches were so awful, I had to fast-forward to the few snippets that weren't terrible. What a poor showing where a committed character and a funny pronunciation of "flag factory" could win the day. I can absolutely see Rhianna emailing her designers to figure out a du-rag train for her next red carpet appearance. 

I never want to see them in the bottom, but dang do I want to see Denali vs Symone. Whoever went up against Denali in ice skates may have scored the only lipsync win against her for the season. 

[S13.E02: Condragulations]

The minute Symone started skipping and those beautiful braids started swaying to the beat, I knew she'd clinched the win. I love her and hope she goes far in the competition.

That entire routine was a hot mess. The choreo was trash, the lyrics were forgettable, and they didn't even have the decency to be in sync. Everyone looked SO STIFF, especially Tina Burner. Gottmik doing the drunk white girl sway in the back made me LOL, but does not bode well for her future performances. Kandy running her mouth about how badass she is and then flailing around after missing a step was just too funny.

Speaking of which, all I could think of was "hit dogs will holler" as she ran back and forth dragging Elliott with 2Ts after she threw a little shade Kandy's way. The only insult they could come up with was "we won" over and over again, but unlike Bianca they're not funny. Elliott actually stuck it to them a few different ways and seemed much quicker on her feet than most of them.

[S01.E06: Sundance City]

It feels like Whitney's forcing herself to keep up these youthful 'sexy' antics so she's doesn't lose to a younger replacement. How you get them is how you lose them, etc etc. They destroyed two marriages and are reviled by all their former friends, so she has to prove their love is passionate and perfect. 

Heather needs therapy, not a hookup. She seems like someone that would start up something casual, but then be hurt in 2 months if the guy didn't want to marry her.

I interpreted Mary's comment a little differently. She acted as though ignoring what her cousin does outside of work is charitable, so I wondered if the cousin was shunned from the cult church, or her life choices were not considered appropriate by her family.

[S02.E08: Chapter Sixteen - The Rescue]

It's silly, but during the Mandalorian sibling squabble all I could think was that The Armorer was freaking OP. Look how much better Mando's armor looks compared to everyone else? Even Ms. I'm Retaking Mandalore, Bo Katan.

It was nice to see Katee Sackhoff again, but somehow Bo Katan felt super flat, her girl sidekick too. When Boba was like 'lol whatever Mandalore is glass' she should have been pissed, but her reaction was so mild? Mando comes in holding the one item she desperately needs in her one true quest to save her people and she looked like she had heartburn while Moff Gideon was gloating. That one Mandalorian way back in S1 that was busting Din's chops about taking jobs from the enemy for Beskar had more passion than Bo Katan's had this whole season. 

I agree with Ahsoka's idea of letting The Child's powers just fade and forget the whole training thing, but it's clear that enemies will never stop coming unless a Jedi steps in. And I guess his blood is chock full of Midichlorians (sp?) and Gideon is probably not the only bad guy who knows it, so Grogu's stuck in Skywalker Bootcamp*. 

Tiny detail, but if Gideon's crew is so barebones they should have known immediately that the pilots of the Nerd Researcher's ship weren't right. Also, who has the nerd now? The pilot was talking him up like he was super essential personnel, so is anyone going to come looking for him?

*Also which creepy person is getting regular force-sensitive blood transfusions? Is it a Sith in terminal condition, or someone trying to biohack themselves?

[S01.E05: Ladies Who Lunch]

1 hour ago, Marley said:

Mary sucks and is so weird. She invited Jen to kick her out I guess lol. Her facial expressions annoy me. Also she is a grandpa fucker lol. No one is jealous of your weird arranged marriage and fucked up thieving church.  Just because he is your step grandpa doesn’t make it not weird you married him.

Mary invited her so Mary could look nice, get everyone nice footage for the show, and receive an apology. Jen failed pretty much every checkbox. The hilarity (not) of Jen frantically digging up new reasons to have an issue with Mary in her crusade to be a champion of all African Americans. If the 7-11 comment really bothered she wouldn't have been hanging out with Mary enough to be triggered by the hospital comment. 

Jen confuses being black adjacent and having a rough childhood with being "authentic" in some way. Mary is highly class conscious and feels no moral obligation to empathize with The Poors because they probably aren't eating a proper macrobiotic diet and deserve it (\s). Jen's continuous attacks are absolutely out of resentment and jealousy and Heather gaslighting Mary about it was so Karen 101. In conclusion, Jen and Mary are both insufferable in opposite and incompatible ways and Jen refuses to just shut up and fake it like Mary is clearly trying to do.

Meredith's husband clearly has no respect for her career aspirations and seems like such a pill. I would have thrown him into a snowbank like Lisa did with her husband's watch.

[S01.E04: Roaring Emotions]

4 hours ago, NYCFree said:

Once I noticed that Meredith had a Drew Barrymore lopsided way of talking, I can now tell them apart.

I’ve thought that Jen has been putting on a massive show for the cameras, but during the fight, when I saw her eyes become surrounded by red, I realized she may genuinely be bat shit crazy.

The drink glasses had piled up in the shot by then too, so I think she was legimately completely shitfaced by the time her one-hubcap carriage arrived to take her home.

[S01.E04: Roaring Emotions]

If anything, the death champagne comment made it very clear that Mary has no filter and Jen getting so worked up over the 'hospital smell' comment is even more ridiculous. You can be mad that whatever Mary thinks immediately comes sailing out of her mouth, but getting mad over one specific comment is really such a waste of time when it's clear this is a lifelong personality trait. 

Jen's drunken cursing went above and beyond any crime that Mary has allegedly committed...yet here's Jen crying about how special she is and no one appreciates her. If we were being square, Mary should have invited her just long enough to throw a drink in her face and tell her to leave. Jen was carrying on and on about Mary insulting her family, but has no response or apology to calling someone grandpa f***** repeatedly? She absolutely wanted to own the oppressed brown woman making her own way storyline. She is so tilted that Mary is sitting there richer than her with a doting grandpa husband and kids that seem to actually enjoy speaking to her. 

I dunno, Heather told Jen she's a disaster to her face so I think she just reads everyone regardless of whether they're present or not. She's not a nice person (I don't think any of them are), but she would actually be entertaining to hang out with as a superficial acquaintance. So Heather gets the highest points from me thus far. 

Lisa is now Worst Karen because of her incessant request to run her oily ass fingers all over the artwork. I feel sorry for that gallery owner having to put up with her bullshit because Meredith probably didn't buy anything. It was just staging to make her look fancy/cultured. 

[S01.E03: Everybody Needs a Switzerland]

On 11/21/2020 at 10:44 AM, Keywestclubkid said:

Jen GIRL....... did Marys makeup artist from the first episodes talking head do yours in this one? that blush was HARSH what the fuck were you thinking 

 

And Meredith's son with the annoying fucking Paris Hilton baby voice and inflections sounding like ur bored with life  ....Her vagina wasn't in your face she was faceing away from you doing her mini kicks against the back of the couch .. he is annoying as fuck just talking (and why does he get a talking head?) now hes gonna try to be on some high horse how dare she act like that  bullshit shocked shes acting what way in front of grown ass adult children? you arnt 13 ur fucking 21 ugh .... I am gonna hate everyone in her family already lol 

To be fair, 20s blush *was* often harsh AF. That part actually felt accurate, the figure hugging outfit did not. Fascinating to see that no matter how old or rich you are, the desire for sexy Halloween parties never dies /sarcasm. 

Ditto to Meredith's son being over the top. I'm sorry, but being gay does not give you free license to feign disgust at women's bodies. His announcement that he is a grounding influence right after joking about calling in their maid just to clean up Meredith's failed attempt to make a cocktail was something else. He's hogging screentime from women who are far snarkier and more entertaining than him, which I suspect is what's driving his dislike of Jen coming over so often. How is he supposed to craft his own storyline with Jen shouting about hookups and hospital smell, etc?

Mary's story about her arranged marriage just squicked me out even more than I already was. I seriously wonder if grandma and Roger Sr were predators/sex traffickers and this forced marriage was to ensure Mary can never testify against him about what went on in the cult under his and granny's leadership.

I don't know what makeup team came in for the talking head with Heather in the green dress, but she needs to bring them back. The semi-nude, strong brow, slicked hair look is on trend but is not flattering to her at all. She's probably still accustomed to trying to camouflage her boobs from when she was a Good Mormon, but the outfits she wears make her look boxy all over, which she is not. Her talking about how she worked so hard to shove herself into the box only for her husband to quit anyway just made my heart hurt so much. 

[S01.E02: A Snow Mountain Of Trouble]

Trying to judge Whitney vs Lisa is impossible because they are both Karens to the extreme. Whitney was passive aggressively signaling that she politely accepted Lisa's basic b*tch tequila as a free advertisement only for the bartenders to trash her house. Lisa is angry because she only provided so much free product to advertise but then Whitney turned around and insulted her "brand" right in front of the cameras. It was a failed business transaction that they both look the worse for. Perhaps Lisa slightly more so because if your tequila is *so* popular and you're *so* well connected why are you outraged at being out 500 people's worth of alcohol?

Meredith having to swan in during her own alleged birthday party to tell Jen it's inappropriate as a hostess to be screaming and cursing only one room away was hilarious. I don't think she was planning to have "secretly separated" as her storyline. She looked very angry her husband brought it up and he looked like he got drunk as an excuse to air her out on tv and maybe guilt her into giving him another chance. Her forced cheers with the next round drinks to get him to stop talking about their phones did not feel like it was for the cameras.

Heather and her buddies showed up to actually ski while the rest of the brigade came to take a cute photo op before grabbing cocoa. That felt like such a send up to every teenage "Mean Girls" style movie ever. Heather's obvious insecurity over dinner was the perfect garnish on top. She should roll her eyes and let it go, but I totally get why she can't drop the fact Lisa still wants to act holier than thou when everyone is airing out their business for ratings on the same damn show. Ultraconnected rich housewives that can get into real exclusive Sundance parties don't need RH, honey stop lying to us.

[S04.E10: War]

12 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I feel like I saw Camilla's speech differently than others here.  I didn't see a hissy fit.  I saw Camilla finally telling Charles why his scheme will not work.  She knows it is not the right time for Charles to attempt to divorce Diana.  She's known for a while that it won't work, but this is the first time she spelled it out.  Her speech is also some major foreshadowing for the events we will see in season 5.  Charles took it completely the wrong way and lashed out at Diana.  

Yup, this is Charles throwing a tantrum because he's realized he's stuck, and the more momentum Diana gets the more stuck he becomes. Camilla was just a convenient excuse for him to lash out.

[S04.E10: War]

On 11/16/2020 at 4:00 PM, Lamima said:

Then, episodes later, the queen has to schedule luncheons with each of her children to see who is her fave and she requests a 411 from her staff on each of her kids (what they are doing and what they like cause she doesn't know them). But the holiday episode tried to portray them as a down to earth fun loving family who were close. Just not adding up to me. ARe they unloving, cold, stuffy, formal, antiquated....blah blah blah? Or are they fun loving, jovial, joking, caring tight knit down to earth? And were the Thatchers stuffy formal snotty bores? She was always cooking and ironing and doing normal things the queen would never even dare to do. 

They're superficially friendly and if one step is put wrong then turn into a collective iron wall of judgment. That's why they're such a frightening shark pit of a family. The Thatchers were portrayed as stodgy but straightforward to the point of brutality, even to their own children.

[S04.E07: The Hereditary Principle]

I guess I'm the odd one out, this episode only made me disdain Margaret more. Her outrage was 100% driven by her own narcissistic worries about her diminishing standing in the family and awareness of her own mortality. She didn't do anything for them, didn't even go in to meet them, just threw a tantrum at her mother before returning to boozing her life away. I laughed at her demanding more work and thought Elizabeth should have handed Margaret some nonglamorous jobs with commoners and watch her balk. 

[S01.E07: Chapter 7]

I know I shouldn't, but I laughed so hard at the shot of Emily scrabbling on the ground after the coffin, screaming "just put me in there, I don't care anymore!"

So Birdy is exactly as disgusting as I thought she'd be. I don't agree that her decision was pragmatic at all, she could have gotten to the next town and at least checked what her options were. What if passing pedophile decided whatever price she thought they'd agreed on wasn't enough? She didn't even put herself in a position to try to protect Alice if things passed whatever piss poor bottom line she has. She just looked up at the sky and waited for it to be over. Jeez, what if Birdy specifically sent Alice into that field to act as bait for her "woe is me, a put upon mother" act? I wish she'd been trampled to death at the graveyard stampede.

Pete was already angry enough at himself, having Perry pour grease on the fire drove him the rest of the way out the door. He'll feel even worse when he realizes losing Seidel gave him a one-way ticket to stab-palooza. Was there no cleaner way for Ennis to deal with that? Isn't there a locker of confiscated guns he could borrow or something? That entire scene was super harrowing. 

If they could snatch a junkie mother for baby Charlie, wouldn't that imply she wasn't shooting up enough to kill a kid (because presumably she was breastfeeding herself)? 

I appreciate Drake's thirst for justice, but how many black police officers are there in the county for him to be announcing himself all over town like this? Sending his wife out to his aunt's may not be far enough.

 

[S04.E10: Lowkey Lost]

Spent this whole episode at various levels of jaw dropped! They crammed every dramatic twist possible in this episode. I wish it would have been spread out more throughout the season so it could build up. 

The Tiffany storyline fell flat for me, sorry not sorry. I think it's because Derek and Tiffany's actors are just so...bad? It was obvious where the writing was  going, but neither actor has the range to make their super short scenes leading up to this actually have a large enough impact for this resolution to feel meaningful. Tiffany had her weave out, but she still looked way too cute for a "I'm broke down and tired" scene. I needed Viola Davis in HTGAWM level stripped down and busted looking.

Andrew finally realizes that he and Molly are just going through the motions despite having nothing in common. It was so sad to me that he clearly spends so much time listening to every nuance of her life, to the point where he can nail her colleagues based on descriptions alone, when you know damn well Molly probably doesn't even remember his co-worker's names. 

Next season better start with her profusely apologizing to Issa. It's so gross that Molly is only willing to act like a human being once she's dealt a failure and needs her emotional crutch again. I hate her character at this point and wish Issa would just find new friends. 

Wow, Lawrence. Wow, Condolezza. If Corolla didn't want him to feel trapped, she could have just said nothing and acted like she got IF on her own. I hope Issa dumps him, don't choose every struggle, girl.