Aja

This show is AWESOME. I, too, am mystified that there seems to be almost no promotion. I had a health issue last year that meant I couldn't work for five months, and I basically watched EVERYTHING. That's how I just sort of ran into season 1, which blew my mind. I seemed to be the only one on the planet who was watching, though. Nobody I knew had even heard of it. I was SO EXCITED when season 2 came out! I really hope this amazing show and amazing actors start getting some serious kudos. One of the things I find the most fascinating is the storytelling. There is so much left out, so much to infer. I think that maybe, for me, the lack of a "good guy" to "root for" is way more than made up for by the more-questions-than-answers narrative style--I'm just endlessly intrigued. What is Shiv's attachment to Tom? Don't know, but it's clearly real, and it's clearly strong, as we saw on the beach. What exactly is Logan and Marcia's story? And where is she now? Did Logan and Rhea ever actually *have* an affair? What were the Roy kids' childhoods like? Where is Connor's mother? How sick is Logan, exactly? How much of his behavior is stroke-related? How savvy *is* Greg, exactly? I got the impression that he probably told Kendall about the documents sometime after the ride back in the helicopter. Kendall said something like "you can go to the bathroom, I'm not going to jump out the window." It didn't seem like they were plotting anything together right then. But who knows, really? Whatever Gerri and Roman's connection is, I absolutely love it. I love that she's his total Domme, I love that Roman got genuinely bristly at the thought of Logan having sex with her, I love that they stick up for each other in front of Logan, I love Roman's psychotic marriage proposal to her, I love the two of them plotting together--while perhaps not the "good guys" to "root for", at least it's something real and genuine amongst all the backstabbing and disloyalty. All of the Roy kids are giant pricks, but they're also all severely damaged in ways that we can only imagine. We get glimpses--the smack on the mouth, the endless emotional manipulation by their father, the three younger siblings' cold, unfeeling mother--but my guess is all of that is just the tip of the iceberg. They all do and say things that make them extremely hard to like--and then you see how broken they are. So it's nice to see at least one of them experiencing genuine connection and trust. I hope we don't have to wait until next summer for season 3!!

AGREE. Boy, Mum is a piece of work too. Kendall wanted to confess to her and she just bailed on him. I understand the instinct to want to come clean to Mother, but in the end I'm sort of glad he didn't. Something tells me she wouldn't exactly have been a beacon of loving support. I don't know how much more Kendall can take. At least he has a little affection from Naomi. Rhea is pretty shameless. Did she just essentially tell Shiv she's screwing Logan while simultaneously setting Shiv up? Damn. Looks like Marcia's about to get a few more scenes!

Yeah, I thought the same -- backstage it was "we want to condemn and move on!", but in front of the people, it's "the last thing we want to do is condemn and move on..." These are not scrupulous people. :) I really want to know Marcia's deal. She was so pissed at Logan all throughout Tern Haven, but now she seems back to her old self. I do think there is a strong bond between Logan and Marcia, though--during the last episode, when Nan called the after-breakfast meeting with everyone and Marcia didn't show up, Nan asked where she was and Logan said "Oh, she's taking a walk" and Nan said "She is a credit. You know, most men of your station go for women of a certain...type." Translation: You could be nailing a 20 year-old supermodel if you wanted to, but you actually have an age-appropriate wife, what a credit to your character. Logan looked like he was about to get up and storm out right then and there. And this episode, he seemed relieved when she promised to stick by him. Logan really seems like he's losing it. Chasing down Nan's car at the end was really desperate. How sick is he, exactly?

I have to digest more, but I, too, was struck the most this episode by Kendall's immediate and strong reaction to Roman getting hit. I also noticed how Roman repeatedly turned down Mr. Moneybag's coke offer in the bathroom. Also: lol to syphilis being the Myspace of STDs. And I was howling at the whole Tom/Greg "We're listening" conversation on the nature trail. I'm already impatient for next week!

COUSIN! LARRY!! APPLETON!!! I'm only a few minutes in, but that just made me audibly squee! ETA: Another stellar episode! I could still be on a Mark Linn-Baker giddy high, though. Gosh it was great to see him! I really, REALLY wish we could have seen Connor getting drunk and offering him the state department on camera, but alas. Yeah, the Pierces suck. Nan's little "have a drink with us, Rosa! Aw, she never treats herself!", I'm-besties-with-the-help song and dance was condescending and shitty, and re-emphasized when she took the applause for the roast at dinner. But it set the tone right away. I think the Roys appeared uncharacteristically uncomfortable because they were. It probably isn't very often that they run into people who are their financial equals, and in this case, holding something that they want/need and can't necessarily get with a snap of their fingers. I will admit, my heart started beating a million miles a minute when Kendall started up the helicopter. Well done, show. I also gasped when Shiv let it all out at dinner--holy crap, that was one of the most uncomfortable moments of television I have ever seen. I did laugh at Tom afterward, though -- "That was the most Roy thing I have ever seen! It's like I got a quart of Roy injected into my eyeball!" Of all the loathsome people on the show, I loathe Gerri the least. She's sort of becoming my hero. Logan's right-hand woman and Roman's domme--maybe she really will walk away with the whole thing!

It has been so long since I loved a show this much. There is SO MUCH GOING ON ALL THE TIME. Thank goodness for these forums. I definitely noticed the difference in the height of the glass wall at the end, but I didn't even think of the significance! I have no idea what anyone's motives are. It's so fascinating. I'm not even sure about Greg anymore. He seemed pretty happy to readily accept a cushy job at the network he had such a moral problem with up until that point. Was that his whole aim in the first place? Was that what he was saving that document leverage for all along? Greg and Tom are quite a pair. I have to confess, I was glad to see them "make up" at the end, even though it was twisted. They're much better together. "I accept your blackmail!" HAW! This was the first time in a while that I've seen Kendall express anything. He was so heartbreaking with Shiv. He's been so cold and zombie-like, especially in the Vaulter episode. He's really broken inside. What the hell is Logan's motive there? Payback? It seems so cruel. Roman must have a thing for older women. He said something about wanting to nail Marcia in the last season. So he only gets off on humiliation? I REALLY want to know what their childhoods were like. I am SO ON BOARD for Connor's presidential run. Yes, I do believe they're going there. I'M ALL IN. That is all.

Just jumping in here because I'm currently watching this whole series on Amazon Prime. It was one of those shows that, while it was airing, I thought it was hilarious, but I never actively sought to watch it for some reason. I hereby revise my opinion: this show was BRILLIANT. GENIUS. GOLD. MUST-SEE. I haven't caught this many belly laughs from a traditional sitcom since Fawlty Towers, I don't think! What they do with Sally's character is particularly amazing, I agree. (From the pilot: "That brings up a very good question. Why am I the woman?" Dick: "Because you lost.") There was an ep I watched recently where Sally gets mistaken for trans and doesn't realize it until the guy sees her naked at the end and is shocked that she's a woman. I know the 90s wasn't exactly the 50s or anything, but that was still pretty edgy! Kristen Johnston was pure magic in that role, with her effortless fluidity from hardcore warrior and weapons expert to being obsessed with shoes and staring at the phone waiting for a man to call her.

Holy WOW, MRS.P! Thank you so much for sharing this. I am so sorry you're going through all this, and I am SO glad you got your mammogram when you did. A friend of mine--younger than I am--is going through the exact same thing. She's an artist and did a really great piece for Wildfire, an online magazine. Have you seen Wildfire? It was a great place for me through my diagnosis and treatment (a link to my friend's article): https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/hot-flashes/2018/11/28/clever-costumes-for-bald-people I got super lucky with my diagnosis--SUPER lucky. I hadn't had a mammogram in probably two years (COMPLETELY irresponsible considering my family history.) I had zero symptoms, felt no lumps, nothing. I was in pissed-off-from-being-fired, zany-job-interview-montage mode. But it was already in my lymph nodes. I'm so happy to hear about everyone going to get their mammograms! Yay, sisters!!! I was completely blown away by how friggin' COMMON it is. Once I was diagnosed, I got on the phone with my recruiter to tell her to call off the job search for now, and she said "Oh, I had it three years ago, you'll be fine, don't worry." I told my landlord (who is this young whippersnapper baby property mogul type dude) that I got this diagnosis and didn't know what was going to happen and he was like "Oh, my mom had it last year, you'll be fine." My very first day of radiation, I went into the waiting room and my neighbor's girlfriend was sitting there. "Oh hi! You too?" I live in Minneapolis, y'all, not Mayberry. But the good news is, I was also pretty blown away by what they are able to do these days with early detection. Thank you so much for all your messages! I so look forward to getting back to normal, starting a new job that I can grow to both resent and become weirdly co-dependent about, and re-joining the Duggar eyeroll festivities here! @MRS.P, thank you again for sharing, and I'm sending all the love and healing vibes to you!!!!

THE ITCHING IS UNHOLY. Can confirm. But yes, it sounds like your great aunt's situation is very similar to mine--which means she's going to be just fine! ❤️ ❤️

Thank you so much, everyone! ❤️ Check out what happened. I got fired from my job in October and received a month's severance, so I thought I'd be a responsible adult and get my health checks done before my insurance expired. Dental cleaning, full physical, mammogram. And then, while frantically trying to find another job and with exactly three days of health insurance coverage left, they called me and said "Yeah, so there was a problem with your mammogram." I said "Please explain to the problem on my mammogram that my income is currently $00,000.00 annually, and I have three days of health insurance left." The problem on my mammogram didn't care. And then life became this weird prism. At first, I was in total shock. I sat for a few hours just letting it sink in. "I have no income. I have no health insurance. I have no spouse, no children, no family. And I have cancer. Okay. I understand one cannot be lucky all the time, but....really? Alllllll righty then. Super. This is just super." I was horrified. All my friends were horrified for me. Even my doctors were slightly horrified because I'm only 43 (but it may be worth mentioning that breast cancer is so prevalent in my family that most of the women were like "oh, it's only in one boob? Lucky!") And then the prism turned slightly. Turns out I was at stage 1, but like JUST BARELY. I was straddling the edge of stage 2, and it wasn't until after my first surgery that they definitively decided it was stage 1. What if I hadn't gotten fired? Would I have gotten a mammogram? I doubt it, you guys. Who knows when I would have finally found the time. And then the prism turned slightly again. I live in Minnesota, and in Minnesota, if you have zero income, zero health insurance, and breast cancer, by some raging Euro hippie miracle, the state will cover all of it. Everything. If I'd still had my job with its "great" health insurance, how many thousands of dollars would I have had to pay? Who knows. More prism turns. Because of the early detection, I did not have to do chemotherapy. That was scaring me more than anything, because I'm pretty scrappy and figured out how to support myself for six months via unemployment insurance and the draining of a retirement account, but chemo would have put me out of the running for a year, and no amount of scrappiness would have been able to save my apartment, my car, everything. Over the Christmas holiday, I was waiting for a test result that would determine whether or not I needed it. If you get an 18 or higher, you need it. YOU GUYS, I GOT A 17. A month and a half of radiation commenced. Radiation is no picnic, but it's nowhere near the devastating effects of chemo. I re-started the interview process during radiation, and a week and a half after radiation finished--last Friday--I got a job offer. So you see, Friends, what appeared at first to be one of the worst logistical situations one could find oneself in actually was the vehicle that saved my life. I almost feel like I should play the lotto? Sisters, get your mammograms. Don't be scared. Make the time. And if anybody here has any questions about it or is nervous or maybe you find yourself in a situation that makes you think "Hey, that Aja chick from the Small Talk thread has been through this, I wonder if she would offer support and advice if I DMed her." Yes, Aja would. 100%. ❤️

Thank you so much for the welcomes backs! ❤️ I missed this forum! Part of the reason I was gone was because I came down with a case of the breast cancer & had to deal with a bunch of kee-rap. But I'm okay now! Get your mammograms, sisters! ❤️ ❤️

Hi Small Talk thread! I've been away so long, and I missed you guys! Just wanted to drop in and say that! Guess who *still* gets e-mail notifications from North Love Baptist Church when their services go live? *this gal*

I've been away for months and I come back to...OMG...WAIT FOR IT....long birthday messages written in Evangelicalese. Joshua. I am disappointed.

Really, I held it together until that final "Dammit." Then I cried.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

OMG YES. That's definitely the cleanest ghetto in the city, no doubt!! And the least crowded! When I lived there during the 90s, even wealthy parts like Vomero had trash piled six feet in the air along all the streets. Life got in the way so it took me a while to finish the series. I read all three books a couple of years ago and lost my mind entirely. I wouldn't shut up for months about how it was the BEST THING EVER WRITTEN and Lila Cerullo is the GREATEST FEMALE CHARACTER EVER WRITTEN and Elena Ferrante is THE DOSTOEVSKY OF OUR GENERATION and seriously, I could not shut up. So I was wary about the show. I just didn't see how it would be possible to do the books justice on screen. As another poster pointed out, so much of the depth and feeling in the books come from Elena's descriptions of her feelings about Lila, the neighborhood, her parents, etc...and one of the most brilliant things about the books, to me, was that at a certain point, especially when Elena gets older, you slowly realize that you're seeing this whole story from her perspective, but she is not necessarily the most reliable narrator. WELL. I was NOT disappointed! First of all, I was GOBSMACKED to learn that neither kid-Elena and Lila nor teenaged-Elena and Lila were professional actors. What!!!!! And I was pleased to see that the more brutal parts of the book (Lila's dad throwing her out the window and breaking her arm, the casual violence of family life, Donato's sexual assault of Elena) were not left out. They're ugly, but it's not possible to write honestly about Neapolitan culture without them. In Naples, and actually a lot of Italy, women are absolutely thought of and treated as possessions. Possessions to be cared for and "spoiled" with pretty things, but also very much expected to to do exactly as the men in her life--father, brother, husband, whatever--tell her to do, with violence to be expected as a matter of course if she does not. And this is as recently as the 90s, when I myself married one. My ex's family wasn't as extreme as the families on the show, not quite. My ex would never have dreamed of physically assaulting me. But the attitude was definitely there. And I, a Scandiavian-heritaged, born-and-raised American girl was TREMENDOUSLY unpopular with the family when it came to these matters. I knew plenty of girls like Lila, fierce and brilliant but trapped in their roles. Stuff like that still definitely exists. And ISCHIA. Won't you please indulge me for one minute while I verbally orgasm over the Ischia episodes! Apart from the last five minutes when Donato turned into Mr. Grabby. (Again--extremely typical. "I love you and can't live without you and only think of you" is Neapolitan-dude for "I absolutely must possess and control you." Note how Marcello is egged on by Lila's rejections--it's not love, it's flat determination to get that little bitch under his control.) We as high school kids used to take the ferry to Ischia for the day just to hang out and watch the yachts and the rich people. One time, a woman who looked alarmingly like Nella pulled us (there were three of us) into her little trattoria off a side road and force-fed us linguini and clams and rhapodized non-stop about how darling the American kids were. No matter how idyllic a film depiction of Ischia might be, I assure you--it is thousands of times more idyllic in real life. You know, I really haven't spent a whole lot of time being sad about missing my life in Europe, but I think I'm about to start. *runs away sobbing* ETA: I'm so thrilled they're at least doing the next book, it looks like! Freakin' YAY! For those who have not read the books, trust me--we have barely scratched the surface of the amazing, happy, heartbreaking, wonderful and horrible trajectory of the lives and friendship of Elena and Lila!!

About three hours ago I let out a scream because I was just taking a casual gander at what's up in HBO Series Land and WHAT DO I BEHOLD! I read this series about two years ago and would not, COULD not, shut up about it for months. Easily one of the top five best things I ever read in my whole life. I never in my WILDEST DREAMS thought anyone would be crazy enough to try to adapt the whole thing to the screen. (They're going to do all three, right? RIGHT??) Here's why else I'm going to be an annoying blithering idiot from here on in: part of the reason I loved the series with unbridled passion is because I lived in Naples. Daddy-o was military and we landed in Naples when I was fifteen. When I was sixteen, I met the Neapolitan dude I would end up moving in with at 18 and marrying at 26 (and divorcing at 38). So I lived there a while, man, and it's crazy. And beautiful. With no shortage of crazy. Or beauty. And Elena Ferrante nailed Naples, like, down to the protons. TOTAL masterpiece. I just can't tongue bathe it lavishly enough! It really helped me retrospectively understand my insane in-laws, too. Because like, I'm Scandinavian. Imagine a pasty Norwegian standing there amidst all that chaos looking bewildered. That was me! I am SO SO SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS SERIES!!!! It's only been two episodes but I think it's beautifully done so far! I'm sure it helps that Elena Ferrante is involved. SHE IS A GENIUS OF THE WRITTEN WORD. (Cannot tongue-bathe enough.) One nitpick and then I promise not to be THAT GAL anymore...at least I'll try so hard...I promise...but IN THE BOOK (so sorry in advance...) (not a spoiler, but tagging it because I do reference the book) It's a trip to hear the dialect spoken so strongly too---ahh, brings back a lot of screamy Christmas Eve dinner memories! I wonder if they had to subtitle the really heavy dialect bits when it aired in Italy? Dang am I excited! For a Norwegian!

Which made her sound, quite frankly, insane.

I'm not seeing how "in God we trust" leads to "dehumanize everyone who isn't exactly like me" or "lie, bully, spit acid and judgement from my internet pulpit every day." I'm also not making the connection between "In God we trust" and "forcibly convert everyone to Christianity." As usual, Cathy will need to elaborate A LOT more before I have any idea what the fuck she's talking about. But she doesn't like that. She just yells "Jesus!" and covers her ears and runs away.

"It's our national motto" is like "because it's in the Bible." Yes...and?

He got him a Cross Church LAWYR.

He thought he was going to bag a Duggar girl, ride the money train while pursuing his "missionary" dreams, AND have the entire world collapsing in admiration over what an awesome Jesusy role model he is. I think he's more bewildered about the lack of back-pats than anything else. Mommy conditioned him to expect a continuous stream of approbation for being such a morally superior Jesus soldier. He is, therefore, convinced beyond all certainty that he's morally superior, but doesn't have any real idea why. He just parrots fundie propaganda and then, when asked to unpack a thought or clarify anything, he can't. He has no real understanding of his own beliefs or why he even has them (see: wildly fluctuating and opposing viewpoints on everything from murder to using children to further agendas to blatant lying and deception and on and on and on.) He gets angry and lashes out at all of the tiresome idiots who don't seem to be able to understand the basic premise that he's better than everybody else, and so his neverending stream of judgments do not apply to him. That's powerful conditioning to overcome for someone who isn't at all bright.

I've been putting it off, but I think this might actually push me to join Twitter. My handle will be something like "transgenderisamyth" and it will be high performance-art passive aggression. "You tell them, Derick! Honestly, didn't they see the part about where you want to have coffee with Jazz? And how you repeatedly state over and over that you have some kind of job? It's amazing to me how people think they can just make all these assumptions based on...what exactly?? Blessings to your sweet family that I know everything about including what the bed you sleep in looks like!!"

Poor Booooooooooob. All those years of isolation tactics for naught.

O, but I remember the innocent days of yore when we actually got quite indignant at someone for making up wild, perverted, unsubstantiated rumors about poor Josh that couldn't POSSIBLY be true. I wish so hard that Derick had a brain because, if he's really in a huff about is treatment from Boob and TLC, we could be his greatest allies. Idiot.