Blakeston

In the first episode with Mr. Morton, Jacob was convinced that Morton hated him. We found out at the end of the episode that Jacob was correct.

I'm not sure why Melissa felt it was scabbing to pick up adults, but not to pick up children.

This was a strange one. RJ seemed like he might have serious depression, and/or some problems at home. It was odd that Jacob believed that finding an after-school club for him would be the cure for his issues. Although Jacob is apparently so mind-blowingly clueless that he continued to try chatting with the bus driver even after the driver forced him off the bus in a bad neighborhood. He's as savvy or as dumb as the writers need him to be in each episode, and it seems to swing pretty wildly.

The difference is that Paul isn't entitled and controlling in the way that Liz is, and he isn't nasty to his partner the way that Liz is to Derek. He wouldn't be snide to Black people who were justifiably angry that a white person cut in front of them, and then take it as a sign of validation when people on the internet called them out on it. He wouldn't threaten to kick Claire's ass for making too much noise. He also doesn't demand to be in charge of people who he has no business being in charge of.

What seems inaccurate, then, is that there are so many people in independent living (or, at least, so healthy that they should be in independent living), and so few in assisted living. It came across like they have a bunch of people in independent living, Gladys, and then the memory care unit. (And before long, Gladys was in the latter). Admittedly, some of the regular characters may have disabilities that aren't visible. But they all seemed to be living pretty independently.

I may be alone, but I thought Emily's grandkids were hilarious. When the one announced that he was going to make a sandwich for himself, and another one immediately took his phone out to record it because he knew it would be hilarious - that was one of my biggest laughs from the whole show. As far as realism goes, one of the hardest things for me to believe was that Didi didn't try to hush up what happened. Even if she was fine with her superiors knowing that a spy made it into the facility, it would be disastrous for the residents to find out. Can you even imagine the paranoia and accusations? It was in everyone's interest for Charles to leave without a fuss. With the exception of Gladys, the residents all seemed too healthy to be in assisted living. I wouldn't expect a TV show to capture that accurately, though. Speaking of Gladys, how did she get her hands on Helen's necklace? It's hard to imagine that Helen would have left it out in the open, and it's also hard to imagine that Helen would have allowed Gladys into her room.

I think I might have missed something this season. Louis and Alice were friends, then Jimmy saw them together and told Louis, "I don't want you interacting with my daughter or my friends." So Louis told Alice that they couldn't hang out, and Alice figured out that Jimmy was behind it, so she told off Jimmy. Then...Louis and Alice are friends again, and Alice is demanding that Jimmy reach out to Louis personally? Maybe I missed a scene in the middle of all this, where Jimmy tells Louis, "I changed my mind, it's fine for you to hang out with my daughter, but I don't want to be around you myself." Or a scene where Louis tells Alice, "I don't care what your father thinks anymore, so let's hang out." Also, how did Louis's co-worker's family/friends figure out that Louis killed someone? Did the co-worker google him, and then tell everyone, "Hey, the guy I invited over for Thanksgiving is guilty of vehicular homicide? If so, it was a dick move. That really should have been explained better. Other thoughts: I kind of hate that Alice's emotional blackmail basically saved the day. The physical attractiveness of Wendie Malick and Damon Wayans Jr. was commented on so much this season that if I were either of those actors, I would wonder if someone on the writing staff was stalking me. I suspect that they're setting up the groundwork for Summer to move in next season. I hope so - she's easily one of the funniest parts of the show.

I remember when Brian seemed like an actual human being, and not just a hodge-podge of over-the-top neuroses.

You mean Jimmy, right? I'd say Paul is very well-adjusted by the standards of therapists! Jimmy had a rough breakdown here, which wouldn't have happened if his daughter hadn't behaved like an entitled, insufferable brat. I get that teenagers are often bratty, but I really hope Alice gets called out on how completely out-of-line she was to try to guilt her father into giving therapy to the man who killed his wife.

The show should be called "Everyone Shits on Jimmy." I'm getting really sick of it. It's impossible to imagine what would happen if the characters treated Liz anything like they treat him. I think it's been three years since her mother died. Her last birthday was ruined by Jimmy being intoxicated.

Jimmy, if a woman tells you "my husband leaving me was worse than your wife dying," you should run screaming - especially if she knows that you have a teenage daughter who lost her mother. They really don't have anything for Sean to do, do they? Liz is back to yelling abusive things to her husband, and we're supposed to be happy about that, apparently. The best part was Derek as the morally good negotiator.

It was only yesterday, when I read this interview, that I realized that the makers of the show didn't know that this season would be the last one when they wrote it. I guess that explains why a few things got emphasized this season but didn't get much follow-through (like Joel wanting kids).

That was very sweet. I'll miss the show a lot. I was way too excited that we got a glimpse of a photo to see what Holly looked like!

Did the writers forget everything from season one about how horrific Sean's experience in the military was? He was absolutely hanging on to life by a thread because he was so haunted by it. Now he's wholeheartedly encouraging someone to enlist? Sure, whatever. If Brian and Charlie get chosen by a future adoptive mother, they need to move away and assume new identities before Liz can find them. One thing irritated me about that storyline - they would need the consent of the father, so shouldn't they be meeting with him too? Hollywood constantly forgets that anyone other than the pregnant woman has a say in these situations. They're mentioning Brian's conservative father a lot, so I have a pretty strong guess who we'll be meeting in season three.

Interesting that they cast a Latino actor as Jacob’s brother, when Jacob is pretty much defined by being completely whitebread. There was definitely a resemblance, though! Sorry, Caleb, I know you meant well (and that you’re not exactly an intellectual), but you still should have known that it’s a bad idea to tell Jacob’s students that he went to prom by himself.