rozen

Gia Gunn at least came across as truly oblivious and delusional, which made her entertaining. Kimora is living definition of a BB Queen who thinks her flotation devices make up for lack of...everything else. Mad that I put Farrah on my drag fantasy league team instead of Drag Baby Valentina. Her sidekick was hilarious, loved it! Courtney Act made it to the final three being swim suit fish most of the time, so I'm not going to pummel Farah and Kimora too hard for not knowing now to 'sew'. But girl, you better know how to super glue the hell out of some shit! Like...put a starfish over your hooha, make some std jokes, this is not rocket science! Which is why Trinity won. Her idea wasn't that imaginative, but she committed to both characters and thought things out very carefully. Her confused face as Princess Aquapussy while she waited for the WTD punchline was *priceless*. What does she mean she 'finally' won a challenge? This is the second challenge! Is there a secret Drag Race fight club we're not seeing? Sasha Velour is too earnest, needs to show a she can just do something silly without trying to get all Art School about it. The thing that annoyed me most about Kimora this time was that she had A GREAT IDEA. Like, c'mon. A flipped Cinderella tale about a princess who was entranced by the mystery man with a golden banana, but then midnight struck and he ran out...leaving her with nothing but the banana peel to try to find her true love. Bob/Bianca/Ginger/Katya would have annihilated that idea, resuscitated it, then killed it again. The contrast between Aja's instagram/snapchat/whatever posts and her real makeup is like a SNL routine. OMG, her makeup is so busted. She should get a job as a photoshop artist, I bet the Kardashians would hire her based on her own portfolio.

Exactly what I was thinking. He's probably been doing this their entire marriage. Hell, he might have even been faking some of them to go find women exactly like Jane when he was feeling guilty about Celeste's bruises. Bonnie's perspective as an "outsider" was critical here. She assessed the violence happening in front of everyone's eyes with an objective eye. The Greek chorus has shown their disdain for Celeste and Perry's goopy, lovey-dovey, perfect marriage all season. You know what other people's reaction to their dust up probably was? Good, finally a crack in their stupid perfect marriage with stupid perfect twins. Instead Bonnie saw a frightened woman running away from a physically imposing man, and was bound and determined to make sure she was ok. I also found it telling she was willing to go it alone with her five foot nothing self and not even bother to convince Nathan to back her up. Renata went up so many points in my book for immediately leaping in there trying to fight Perry off, even though she knew nothing of the situation. I kind of expected her to run to safety and call the cops, considering how much of a baby she was about the eye poke. She was the oldest of all the women and dove in their multiple times to try to save Celeste. The murder sisterhood is adorable, please go away awesome Lady Cop. I buy that Bonnie could knock him down the stairs with a running start. He's off balance from fighting four women while beating the crap out of his wife. Just as importantly, tall people's balance is all messed up when they're crouched that far down. A shortie with a yoga-strengthened core can mess you right up.

Hmmmm, so Epstein is stuck in a tin can that can go at unbelievable speeds, with enough fuel for *weeks* he said. And we just saw an example of a human consciousness influencing the protomolecule's function. Methinks his tin can rocketed out of our system and into something else, that used him as a template, maybe. I think Johnson's actions make total sense in the context of his life experience. He got his Butcher title because Earth politicians decided to snow him into murdering hundreds of innocent Belters. To make a statement. That's it. They posed no real threat. I think he's well aware that the only 'ally' Earth will ever trust is one they can bring to heel immediately, as evidenced by their treatment of said Belters, and their relentless attempts to hinder Mars from reaching it's full potential. Fred Johnson could put on a halo and Earth will never trust or forgive him for prioritizing Belters over them. Better to have insurance than trust, insurance is easier to get, in any case. I also think Holden is an idiot and Naomi is making a smart play. This obvious, childish, standoffish stance is immediately going to get Johnson sniffing. He's a soldier. He's a neutral axis between two hostile entities. Literally everyone would probably like a chance to nail Johnson to the wall. He's probably got an incredibly well-honed nose for bullshit, and Holden's not even bothering to try. Naomi getting in with his Belter assistant gives them at least some chance at accessing info on what Johnson is really up to. He's got some of the smartest engineers there are building a vessel capable of transporting, what, a thousand people, into an entirely new solar system. The OPA was going to disarm those nukes, all Naomi did was make sure the bonus points go to her and the Rossie crew. Holden is like that Earth General, who quit on principle, rather than play the game and minimize the damage. And, just like the Earth General, Holden has no leverage upon with to make such a stand. So yea, I'm on team Holden is Stupid Right Now. Holden is also dumb because running to nuke their sample is exactly something Johnson is watching for. He'd just be tying it up with a bow for him. Also, his assumption that there's nothing to be found on Venus is kind of dumb considering how resilient they've already seen that stuff is. Annnnd, everyone and their gramma is about to jet over there, so I doubt they're going to find a bunch of smashed asteroid and Belter corpses. I'm starting to get irritated how everyone fusses at Amos for overreacting, and raising an eyebrow at his odd statements, but are expressing no interest in getting to know him better as a person. Maybe Naomi knows all his backstory, but the rest of the Rossie crew doesn't. And Amos doesn't seem to be shy about his past, he brings it up in passing conversation without any apparent trauma, so why not pour out a drink and get to know the guy? He's trying, at least. Alex is the soft-hearted momma bear of the bunch, so I guess he'd take it more personally than the rest. Yea, those UN marines were clearly getting lit up by something and were running for their lives. Weird that there was absolutely no way for the two to communicate. You'd think there would be some sort of 'neutral' surface comm so they could interact if something exactly like this happened. All the rest of Gunny's team got taken out by perfect faceshots to the helmet, so that alien thing def picked her to survive on purpose. Creeeepy.

Yea, but he basically punched her out of the coma will the smell of a delicious electronic nuclear weapon. And then she had to re-process all the horrible shit that's happened to her, then figure out exactly what she is now, and then figure out how to use her new position as the Eros engine. I think it's fair for that to take a minute or two.

Well...if you assume she also has the information of every living being consumed on Eros, she actually has a pretty good idea of how Miller has been pursuing her across the solar system. The protomolecule did gobble up that creepy spy who was recording everything all the time, after all. Heck, the way the protomolecule is like a seek and destroy missile for anything electronic may mean she has access to data well beyond that.

Hmm, thoughts (never read the books). Pros: The protomolecule can be influenced by it's initial infected person, possibly if they are strong-willed enough. This "seed crystal" can be negotiated with, at some level. Cons: Creepy evil scientist/politician are going to use this info to try to create living nuclear warheads. More Cons: Julie said she couldn't completely stop Eros as she "couldn't stop the work" which means the protomolecule is still operating under some hard-coded routine with a personality draped over the top of the apparatus. More More Cons: What if "the work" is completely unaffected by the fact she just atomized herself on the surface of Venus? What if she just gave it more material to work with? I know this is going to turn into a standoff between Earth and Fred Johnson because they'll think he was playing them. But I feel like he and the Rossie could totally send whatever data files that kind of ship generates to show they burned at high G, and the health reports showing they almost killed themselves. To show they made a good faith effort to keep pace with Eros. But, I'm sure nothing logical like that will happen because drama. Mormons are going to be in a tough spot. Yea, he stole your ship, but he did it to smash an asteroid that just tried to annihilate Earth. Pretty tough to stand there and be like "but our journey was like wai more important, you're fired!" I wonder if Julie subsumed Miller before they crashed into Venus. I'm sure the protmolecule still exists, at some level, on Venus. I wonder if she can recreate him and herself and they can frolic in low atmosphere together for all days.

Fred Johnson's actor seems like he's low-key channeling Vincent D'Onofrio's take on the Kingpin. He's like a walking grenade with the pin half pulled. He seems like a man desperate for redemption, so I have to grudgingly accept that Miller shooting first and asking no questions was probably the best choice before Johnson took Ebil Scientist out of gun-range permanently. That scene was a perfect example of why having a bunch of guns and minimal brains is always a bad idea. Hand back the entire data processing center with no restrictions? Are you stupid? The man probably could probably seal himself in a bunker and emergency call in a fleet of stealth ships in the time it takes to sneer "Earther". I love how Johnson just stood there, slack-jawed, staring at Miller while he fired a few more rounds into the corpse for good measure. Crazy, meet other crazy. Shit, Amos should watch his 6, because I'm pretty sure Miller is just waiting for an opportunity to blow his brains out, too. That's a guy who takes his Arya Stark murder list very seriously. Not interested in Naomi and Holden, but I suppose they made it almost a dozen episodes since the last 'sex in spaaaaaaaaaaaace' scene, so I can't get too irritated. The actors have almost negative chemistry though. Amos is supposed to be her murderous adopted son, but they honestly make more sense together to me. I never read the books, so I don't know what Naomi is supposed to be like. But the fact she is so...perpetually unphased by Amos's attempted murders and the carnage around her while keeping a jolly personality to get on with everyone is perturbing. Makes me think she's crazier than all of them if she has to roll up her sleeves and take care of things herself. Jingoistic, head strong arrogant Martian hurtling towards Earth. Perfect spark for the current powder keg. Excited to see what comes next.

If it drags on like this, Bjorn will be irritating. But I'm willing to watch him regress a little. I mean, his character honestly never had time to indulge in this kind of childish behavior because it would get him killed. Now he's more secure in his position, and his mother is out of danger (and just punk'd his great expedition by taking her vengeance). He's secure enough to have a delayed adolescence, I don't find that too out-of-character. And if he's stupid with women? Well, he takes perfectly after Ragnar in that regard. Nothing will be more awkward than Ragnar giggling and stuffing his face while proposing to Lagertha that he take Aslaug as another wife. Those boys have been running a train on Margerethe for a while, and she's still not pregnant. So she either has some mystical fail-proof method of birth control, which means she will get pregnant by Ubbe alone when the time comes, or she's barren and there are no legitimate children coming anyway. Haha, game over Aelle. Just emphasized what a badass Ragnar was to hand himself calmly over to a horrible death. You were no king, Aelle. Aethelwulf...bro, I dunno. He deserves a tavern full of mead after that.

Ok, there's the Gisla from the last season. That was great! Rollo wouldn't love a woman who didn't try to beat the shit out of him for going AWOL for year(s). Siggy would have tried to cut his balls off. It was funny how he took it, like 'yea, I earned this, get it all out.' He did the 869 version of buying a Ferrari when you hit 50. Spoiler's the rest bc it got too long >_<

Man, Ragnar and Lagertha were truly made for each other. They both have superhuman patience when it comes to exacting revenge. Lagertha did truly care for Kalf, but the score said she had to kill him, so she did. Ecbert is the only man besides Aethelstan who's come close to understanding Ragnar, but the score says he's got to die, so Ragnar has put the wheels in motion. The best part is that both of them straight up tell their opponents the hammer is coming ("I will kill you" vs "A larger and greater strategy") and their frenemies just don't listen. Aelle is a dumber than a horse turd, but at least he immediately understood when Ragnar made the boar statement (nice switch around to make it come from Ragnar and become a menacing warning instead of a victorious gloat). Aelle's actor did great work when he put the hot poker in and Ragnar stared him down, you could see he seriously questioned if Ragnar was even human or just an avatar of violence. Ragnar really wanted to believe in the self-determination theory. At least the Seer gave him some (false, imo) consolation that he may have been wrong. I totally forgot part of Ragnar's predicted death was a blind man seeing him. That had to sting. Yes, Ragnar deserved ever bit of that. But, yes, it was pathetic as an army of terrified men vented their frustration on the broken memory of their greatest enemy. It would be one thing if it was a ragtag army of peasant folk enacting their revenge, they were weak and defenseless when the Vikings made their lives hell, but it wasn't. I swear, if he had remained manacled but simply had a spear in his hand half of them would have run away rather than face him. Ragnar looked completely despondent right before the pit drop, until he saw Ecbert and then he rallied for his man! True love. Also, how the hell did Ecbert walk that far and *not* get robbed or murdered outright? Sorry, totes don't believe Ivar will get one over on Lagertha. If anyone understands being consistently underestimated, it's Lagertha. She's been playing chess for decades and he's just moved up from playing checkers. Whens she's old and tired, Lagertha may let him sneak up on him, but not before. Even then, he'll have to go through Bjorn and good luck with that. Love the continuity that Ivar was still seasick as hell when he tumbled off that boat. He's going to fight all of England, but first, he must defeat the ocean! TF better get that damn Emmy. Him, and The Americans, this is their last shot too, get it together, academy! I mean, the scene where Aelle hesitantly approaches his cage, talking shit about revenge, and TF just rolls his eyes over to look at him like "oh here we go with this asshole" was academy award-level acting.

Still team Lagertha. Maybe this is some long-planned heel turn, but imo when Lagertha is pissed she is pissed, she doesn't hide it. Her calm, measured, denunciations of Aslaug as the Evil Witch who Bewitched Her Husband sounds like politics at it's finest. There was literally noting in KW's delivery that makes me thinks Lagertha believes it for a second. Imo, she's simply consolidating power. Lagertha has to do two things asap 1) establish her stewardship of Kattegat as righteous and 2) establish Bjorn as the as the rightful son of Ragnar. She has to accomplish this while not undercutting Ragnar's judgement, which is essential in validating her family's rule in the first place. Painting Aslaug as an evil conniving witch accomplishes all these things. Ragnar's not responsible because he has been bewitched. Aslaug's sons are not to be trusted because they are witch-born bastards. And do you let a witch leave as she wishes with safe passage? No, you kill her. Calling her a witch over and over again feeds into Aslaug's own smug belief in her "visions" and will revive memories of Harbard who is correlated with misery for a fair-number of the childbearing women of Kattegat. I think Lagertha spent so much time angsting in the hills of her earldom because she would have to slander Aslaug's entire legacy to take Kattegat back. The fighting is not what gets to Lagertha, it's always been the politics. Couldn't figure out if Aethelwhatever was trying to get Magnus killed or help him. The "animals in the villa" comment made me think maybe he was trying to give the kid a headstart before Ecbert disposed of him. But then he told Magnus to announce everywhere he's the son of Ragnar, which sounds like a one way ticket to being butchered to pieces. Wait...maybe Magnus has been kept in secret? Maybe the son was cutting Magnus loose to make sure he bleats far and wide that Ecbert has been hiding the son of their most evil of enemies, forcing his father's hand in his judgement of Ragnar? Either way, you knew Ecbert was going to murder that nasty loose end once he knew for sure it wasn't his bestie Ragnar's son. Ragnar and Ecbert have such a strange relationship, the acting in those scenes was fantastic!

Lagertha's always been about her family, so this move makes sense to me. If Ragnar ruled Kattegat, I could see her trusting him to make the smart choice for transition of power amongst his sons. But he's gone on a death wish last mission and Asslog will, of course, do everything in her might to see that her idiot sons get everything. Even if Aslaug screwed him out of his birthright, Bjorn wouldn't have the heart to fight his brothers for it. So momma and wifey have to step it and do it themselves. Good on Torvi for trying to lock shit up for her hubby and kids instead of waiting to let those meatheads take over and screw things up. If Kattegat even exists long enough, as Lagertha pwned the whole area in one day with one earldom. Aslaug has clearly been coasting on Ragnar's reputation to keep things safe and orderly and the wannabe King of Norway is coming for them, eventually. It's been what, 20 yrs, since Ragnar took over as king? Kattegat is the weakest, defensively, it's ever been even while overflowing with cash. Someone needs to step in and rule the roost of the Lodbrook family wants to stay in power, and Aslaug sure as hell wasn't doing it. The slave girl honeypot was one last example of how incompetent Ragnar's other sons are. That trap was so obvious, it felt like a test, and they utterly failed. At their age, Ragnar was pulling a double-cross on his King while managing Rollo's murderous ambitions. And Bjorn was literally navigating between two different assassination plots with ease. Ragnar wanted lots of sons, but it appears all of them but Bjorn are uniformly trash when it comes to anything other than putting an axe in someone. I kind of love that Rollo knew none of the Viking crew would believe him if he asked them to wait a night while he sent for a more complete map and a historian to explain the route to them. Just threw their asses in the dungeon to buy himself some time. Did he say his youngest was named Siggy? That would make me kind of happy. Gisla was never that stupid before, why did they regress her to a 18 year old trophy wife? I feel like last season's Gisla would have articulated all the reasons why leaving your entire duchy behind to go raiding with a bunch of Vikings who hate your guts is a bad idea while throwing her tantrum. Instead she's acting like she didn't spend the 1st year of their marriage repulsed at his Beserker Viking existence. Whoo, Ragnar is going full martyr, huh? It was kind of sweet to watch Ivar interact with his father and see that he's just a man. And getting affirmation from Ragnar about his legs is just what he needed. I felt so sad every time he kept trying to antagonize Ragnar into telling Ivar he was a burden. He must really hate himself. That smug asshole facade is hiding a lot of damage. Ivar murdering people in the night was awesome and like something straight out of a horror film. No one expects to get cut down from the ankles, go get e'm Ivar!

Kattegut was, frankly, a shithole the first time Ragnar went all out raiding and he ended up having the whole town snatched out from under him. Even with Lagertha's help, he had ended sacrificing at least one warrior per square meter of the place to get it back. Now, Kattegut is rich is hell, no way there aren't hal fa dozen earls and wannabe kings sniffing around at all times. Having some of your best soldiers stay home to protect the roost is just smart business. I'm sure Harald has left behind a bunch of warriors to start shit the minute he and Bjorn have sailed out of view. And everyone else would be happy to pile on just to get a shot of looting a sliver of Kattegut's riches. Which is not helped by Ragnar literally giving out the entire treasury of France as if it were lollipops. That alone could fire all the calamities that Ragnar allegedly brings to pass.

Oh, poor little Ivar. He paid all that gold for the Viking armor and weapons kit of his dreams and it's got his balance all screwed up on those crutches. Also, were those metal crutches? Geez, that boy must have hands made out of elephant hide. The gloating little rat brother can die, his slave lover is literally in fear of her life and all he wants to do is crow over Ivar not being able to get it up. None of those boys love you, girl. Shoulda picked up a shield, jumped on the ship w/ Wannabe King of Norway, and hoped for the best. Handing out all that gold and Ragnar could only pull together three boats to raid all of England? And he had to watch Bjorn sail off with his boats and his mates, and his friends. He should have just let Rollo kill him 8 years ago, this shit is just embarrassing. I wonder if we'll see Rollo now that he's old and Frenchified. Be interesting to see if there's any of Viking Beserker Rollo still left in him. Ragnar continues sucker punching people right in the feels on his AA-esque apology tour. Aslaug's actress was *great* in that scene, going from pure revulsion of having his dirty hand on her face to confusion, to validation, to suspicion and finally just plain resignation. TBH, that is something I've never given Aslaug credit for, all her kids are momma's boys and yet they still love Ragnar (sort of) despite all the shit he's done to her. They certainly don't dislike Ragnar *because* of anything he's done to her, which is a feat. Oh, yea, I had almost forgotten Lagertha is someone who will carry a vengeance to the ends of the earth. But then again, Aslaug seems to be a precog so we'll see who comes out on top. What was going on with Aslaug at the end? It almost seemed like she was having a miscarriage, but that doesn't make any sense?

Oh, I think Ragnar is totally manipulating Floki and Lagertha, he hit them both right in the gut with what they always wanted to hear, and then left without arguing further. It may be because he's very depressed (and hence the attempted suicide), but it is very counter to standard Ragnar behavior when trying to get something he wants. I am suuuuuper suspicious.

I dunno, it seems Ivar's brothers respect him because if he had two working legs he'd whup all of them. Ubbe sighted that deer head three times before his "look away while holding my arm steady" bs, Ivar looked once and was just as precise. He's just as accurate at axe throwing as Sigurd, and he can't counter weight with his body. He held one position with his sword to a stand still. Ivar is viking as hell, his lack of motility is a goddamn tragedy. He's a shit, but at least he's not a devious shit like Rollo so I'm not mad at him. If he could walk, he would've cut Ragnar down in the first episode in a bizarre display of filial piety. I wonder what secret mission Lagertha is planning? The contrast of her rolling around on the hillside with Astrid and looking like a stone cold goddess for Ragnar was hilarious. I wonder if her scouts told her Ragnar was coming and she had Astrid stall him while she got ready? I think it meant a lot for her to hear Ragnar say he wished he'd never left the farm. Floki has straight up waited his whole life to hear those word. I thought he was die of a stroke then and there. Helga is a saint for loving a man who always kept half of his heart for the one who got away. If Aethelstan and Floki had been women, I feel like viewers would have gotten the spurned lover aspect of it much more easily. Floki's actor has altered the character's accent quite a bit, it threw me for almost all their scenes together. It's interesting how Ragnar has held the love of so many amazing and talented people, and screwed them all.

I was behind, so got to watch Charley bring the fire and ice in back to back episodes. My main takeaway was man is Davis screwed without her running assist for him anymore. She's a goddamn shark, and she was a shark in love in that girlish way that makes you go all out for your spouse, and he wrecked it. Charley is literally never going to love like that again and Remy was just setting himself up for heartache if he thought could get even a fraction of what Charley gave Davis. I have thoroughly enjoyed ice cold Charley and if these menz (Ra included) can't handle the icicles they don't deserve to experience her greatness! Couldn't care less that Micah may be slightly scarred by this. She's taken a half dozen shots protecting him from everything and all he's done is whine and flip flop on how he feels about his Dad. He hates him now? Sure, whatever, in two months when Davis is back in top he'll love his Dad again and be mad at Charley for keeping him away. 15 years old is the definition of emotional turmoil, he'll survive. Why would Calvin take Nova someplace where his cop friends go? They both need to go at least a couple parishes away so neither one of their respective crews see each other. This is some Montague vs Capulet shit, it's not going to be resolved because y'all woke up one morning deciding to screw around like respectable people. Ugh, Earnest, ugh. So he wanted Charley to drop everything and come get his farm in order so it would be tidy upon handoff to knuckle-headed son to screw up? I don't think he can own the farm anyway because of his probation right? He needs a boss signing a time slip, I don't think he can write his own and say it's good. I don't necessarily disagree with Darla's attempts to build Ra up as a man, but he always applies her advice in the most petulant way possible and I'm not sure she sees that. She seems a little like a shark, too.

I dunno, I couldn't even be mad. The interview is set, and has been announced in the newspaper. It's a big deal, and probably coming soon if it's on the front page. And Nova didn't give Chantal any indication that she was preparing, or even had a plan. Imo, Chantal is a "doer" and immediately brought all her apparatus to bear to get her girl together. Now, maybe Nova does has a plan for staying on point as compared to her last radio interview, but that's not what she told Chantal. She just told her to back down and that Nova would do things "her own way." Her own way was a debacle the first time, and that response would drive someone with a clear mission and drive crazy. Chantal didn't need to be doing all of that, but Nova didn't need to go throw it all out either.

Ugh, I can't with Aunt Vi staying in Charley's wallet and parenting choices. Yes, continue criticizing the only Bordelon child with the actual freaking means to keep this farm afloat and fighting against the Landrys for wanting to pass on that advantage to her son. I have no patience for insecure family members who don't want future generations to outgrow them. Charley is surprisingly uncouth with her own family, but she was correct. What has Aunt Vi accomplished that allows her to overrule Charley over what school is best for Micah? Vi knows well and good that she's stewing in her own failed potential, and good on her for taking the High Yella owner for all he's worth to fix that. But how many decades did it take her to get here? Chantal was already daydreaming how she and Nova were going to be written up as the Woke Black Powercouple of 2016 in the history books. Her bulldozer-style was doomed to turn Nova off at the start. Though Nova could have at least tried to redirect her and still take advantage of what Chantal was offering. Having a team of activists with PR experience helping you draft talking points for an interview is a good thing. Nova got thrown very easily in her first radio appearance on her articles, it's clearly something that doesn't come naturally to her. But Nova always wants to be the shining star, she doesn't share. Ralph Angel can take those delicious tears somewhere else. He's screwed up just about every day since he's been out, he knows he has no business having custody of Blue. What if that convenience store clerk sees him? He's one ID away from going to lockup, and then where will Blue end up? And who knows how long it would take Vi to get custody of him again? I know he feels emasculated between Blue, his parole, and his inability to support the farm. But he needs to start somewhere else, that won't endanger his own child. Pretty privilege is the shit, because is that actor was not as fine as he is, I would hate Ra so much more than I do. Micah is so easily lead, lol. I wonder how interested she will be after she has a few instagram pictures showing him off, and the resulting upshot in popularity. She seems like she'd turn her nose up as his corniness if he was anyone but Davis's son. That last scene was deep. Yes, you all better come together and fight! Open your own mill, Charley! Though her family will probably stay in her damn pockets about that too.

The vibe of that ru-union felt so...off to me. It felt awkward and nasty. It felt very disjointed and disconnected, maybe they had to edit out a lot of stuff? Ru explaining all the ways that he's the best, and showing off his emmy, before bludgeoning Phi Phi's character to death with it, felt especially over the top. Phi Phi can't do shit to Ru or Ru's brand, but Ru probably just crushed what few bookings Phi Phi had coming in. Like, put a sourpatch candy in his empty seat and move on. Ru talking about all the careers he has launched, and how it's his true passion, made me think of all the Queens who said Ru doesn't want shit to do with them unless the cameras are rolling. And how much of a dispassionate asshole he was with Shannel, who just wanted a little affirmation. I dunno, the whole thing just made me sit awkwardly, like my patronous, Katya, was doing!

Total Michaela fangirl right now. She did what needed doing for about five minutes, then gave Hannah a hug and a good job once it was over. Hannah was over-compensating on the table puzzle, and didn't respond to Michaela's initial, softer, instructions not to "move so big." She had no business being on the puzzle in the first place, but I guess she had to be rotated in this challenge due to the rules. If someone has a better vision of the puzzle than their teammate, the teammate should take the backseat to make sure they finish as quickly as possible. Also, if someone had had a panic attack from literally sitting down, I, too, would be inclined to tell them to just stand there and let me handle it. Michaela saying she wanted to protect the millennials was a pretty good answer, imo. She clearly didn't give two shits for FigTayls, and probably own't shed a single tear when she sees that Figgy is gone. But she didn't say she wanted the power couple broken up, but put it all in context of the team. And it catalyzed the desired result for Gen-X AND the millennials and everyone is probably going to quietly thank her for it. Her creeping up to find that idol party was hysterical. She knew something was up. That's another thing I like about her, she's always playing the game. "Go look for dead coconuts?" Boy bye, everyone should have tailing those guys, Wu style, for information. But instead they were laying up at camp, complaining that they're hungry.

Nova needs to sit the entire hell down. Presuming to take Charley's son whenever she feels like it (without permission) is strike one. And she wants to take him around while she actively deals weed from her car in broad daylight (while living in a heavily policed area)? Strike Two. Doing so while screwing a married man? Strike Three. Thinking it's her *right* to do so after literally stealing $10K from Charley and refusing to even admit wrongdoing? Go to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $500. She's out saving the world and can't even bother to call her Aunt back when she's worried sick for Nova. And apparently they had to drop everything to come save her ass the last time she did so, and she can't even admit that it was worrying, or even an inconvenience. I can't even with her. Charley was an ass for forcing those men to work after Prosper told them to go home. She hired Prosper for a reason, why does she always think she knows more about farming than literally everyone if they don't say exactly what she wants? Good luck finding someone to work the fields after that stunt. She didn't have to do anything but help put two boards up while her family had the luxury of running around getting things prepared. Those workers may not have. Hollywood talked about how his wife had no family, but it looks like he doesn't either. Both he and Darla are desperate to get inducted into this family! Remy too, does he even have a job? He's hot, and Charley's lonely, but she doesn't know nearly enough about him to be diving into a rebound relationship.

I really liked this episode, and there were plenty of screwed up undercurrents to munch on. The final image was creepy as hell, maybe because I've been watching Mr Robot too much*. They are one malfunction, or cyber attack, away from having "heaven on earth" turned into the exact opposite. How do you suss out a malfunction in a digital copy of a human soul? Can you correct it? Do you simply eliminate the buggy ones and pretend it never happened? What legal rights (exactly) does a cyber citizen have? Can you clone one of the cartridges that houses them? If so, what rights does a clone have, I mean it's not the "real" thing, right? I can imagine the game executive from the second episode absconding with a few of these to test his VR software ad infinitum, no worries about the person dropping dead on you while still behaving neurologically like a human being. What's to stop the hackers from the 3rd episode becoming even more adventurous and pursuing rich "bad guys" well into their digital afterlives? I also found Yorkie's adamant love of San Junipero just moments after upload suspicious. I mean what, really, is to stop this company from forcing compliance on all these digital residents, getting them to ensnare and draw in visitors to commit to the real thing? This can't be cheap, and you can enforce good PR through all your customers with no one being the wiser. And what's to stop one's children and grandchildren from deciding the maintenance cost for eternal retirement is too high, and deciding to pull the plug on them? I found it equally disturbing that even in this Uber Tech future, LBGTQIA is still so distasteful that women still spend their whole lives hiding it, and their parents will shove them in a hospice to rot for 40 years rather than face it. There was lots of upbeat 80s music covering it up, but this episode (imo) is one of the most screwed up of the first four. *And have read Surface Details by Iain Bank, which had a sideplot with the same idea, but digital hell.

Whoo, that Katya v Alaska stare-down after Alaska stated her case and got nothing was fabulous. And Katya was great in that lip-sync again, and burned the runway. What does it take for them to let her win? Maybe she didn't sign whatever devil's bargain Rolaskatox did and they're terrified she'll actually trim the fat? Her and her mother are priceless and I love it. Alyssa knows her career is more than this competition, she was on there to increase her exposure. I think Alaska lost the plot on that, what is being the AS2 winner going to do for her that being the sardonic barbie-bot everyone (previously) loved wouldn't? She surely gets paid more as an American Apparel Ad Girl than what she would get as a winner. I really don't get what she was thinking there, at all. Roxxy is useless and has stolen spotlight from queens who were better, and needed the exposure more, like Tati. She may be nicer now, but I literally don't care because she's being hauled like driftwood by her buddies, clunking witless survivors in the head, and causing them to drown. Whatever parts of being a drag queen she excels at (which must be a lot, because everyone throws their panties for her), it's not anything that translates on tv so there's no reason for her to be there. Blah, Detox. Blah.

I would say most gamers could identify every NPC of a game they play, by sight if not by name. By the time people have enough money to shell out for Westworld, they probably know the game inside out. I'm sure there are other high-tech mechanisms that let outsiders know who is human and who is a host, but I could also buy that people can recognize the characters of what is probably the most acclaimed "game" on Earth. Anthony Hopkins' character totally wants his synths to gain sentience. He laid it out while he was watching his newest creation be printed, "we're as good as we're gonna get." He wants to usher in Humanity 2.0 and is hiding behind disheveled brilliance to make it happen. I think his scientist underling is also in on it, as he gave some sort of message to Dolores's dad as he marched, sobbing, into cold storage.