Blakeston

If I was masturbating on camera for strangers, I wouldn't even consider hiring a security person to come to my home and be near me while I did it. IIRC, when the word "ravishment" was used, it was mostly John Waters's character and the customers, when talking to the authorities. I could buy that they'd want to sugarcoat the business they participate in.

I was surprised that Denali was praised for the hair in her first runway. It really did make her look like Smurfette - and not in a good way. Kahmora is lovely, and her dresses are lovely, but I'm not as blown away by her visually as the judges are. A lot of the time, she just looks like a generic rich lady. And I'm not always crazy about her styling, either - those dark roots didn't work with that wig, IMO.

Plus, there's a big difference between shutting a relative out of your life, and wanting them to rot in jail. Nothing the parents did seemed that horrific. It seemed like Laurel was just crushed underneath the pressure of being the child of a prominent family that was set in their ways. That's the only explanation for why she would choose to run away with nothing but bus fare.

If this had been about extreme police brutality, I would have believed it, whether it aired before or after George Floyd's murder. The federal government stepping in to handle a simple possession charge is rather different. If they wanted to show us that the police railroaded Laurel, they should have shown the cops planting enough drugs in the apartment that it would be considered intent to distribute. That I would have believed no problem.

I have no doubt that the police and the medical system would be harsh toward Laurel. But a child can't be put up for adoption by the state without paying any attention to the birth parents. There are legal procedures in place about that. And while I have no doubt that there have been many unjust sentences to black women with public defenders, a five year sentence on the other side of the country for mere possession doesn't make sense. Why would it be federal? The writers could have addressed this. They could have included a scene where Laurel is pressured to terminate her parental rights and she gives in out of guilt. They could have mentioned other charges. But instead they lazily put together a narrative that didn't fit.

Laurel serving five years in California for a possession charge (and never being told a thing about her baby, despite it being surrendered to the authorities) is a huge contrivance that we probably shouldn't think too hard about. My question is, why? Why not just say she served six months to a year in Pennsylvania? What difference would that make to the plot?

Sorry, writers, but you could not convince me to like Laurel. She chose not to get any kind of medical attention for her son after he was born, just because she didn't want to get a dirty look from a doctor. And then after her arrest, she refused to suck it up and deal with her father - resulting in her being out of commission for five years, even though she knew William and Randall were out there. Also, the "she couldn't do anything because she was in prison" excuse doesn't hold, considering that she made no effort to contact William or Randall after she was released. "She was punishing herself" isn't a very good excuse, either. She didn't just punish herself. She allowed William to think she was dead all those years, and she ignored her son's existence. It would be one thing if she knew that Randall had been adopted by loving parents, but she had no clue if he was living in an orphanage or on the street or what have you. She was a deadbeat mother who ran from everything, despite knowing fully well that her family had money that could transform her child's life if he was living in poverty.

We didn't hear the entire speech Randall gave in the video, but we know he got into why William was so important to him (because of course he did). He must have given enough identifying details about the circumstances of his birth for Hai to connect the dots.

Randall was born in '80, and she was released in '85, so she served the whole sentence or very close to it. None of it makes much sense.

What was with Randall's flabbergasted response when he learned that Hai considered Laurel the love of his life? He knew that Hai was with her when she died. Had that possibility not occurred to him? I think maybe Randall has some racial biases of his own he needs to deal with.

It's downright bizarre that Kate seemed to have so few friends growing up. If your brother is the most popular kid in school, and he adores you, he's going to make sure that you get included socially, and there are going to be a lot of kids who treat you nicely because of your association with him. Nothing about Kate was so unusual that she wouldn't be able to have multiple friends. She was chubby during periods of her childhood, but so are a lot of kids. Her interests and style were fairly mainstream, and she seems to have had a decent sense of humor.

Ru must have been bothered by all of the (totally earned) criticism she got for her constant overpraise of Silky in season 11. So now she's making Ross play that role with Kandy (so they can justify keeping the drama queen around as long as possible). "Okay, so her makeup is bad, her clothes are weak compared to everyone else's, she screwed up the choreography badly, and we can't understand what she says, but her obnoxiousness makes her a star!"

This is helpful, thanks. So she withdrew the money from the offshore accounts, then mixed it with stripper money and deposited it in her own bank account. What I'm left wondering is, what was the point of that if she was going to withdraw it from the bank account and keep it in her locker?

I'm worried Ru is on her way to Michael Jackson-ing her nose.

The more I think about it, the more grossed out I am by the message the writers sent with Kate's story. "If you have an abusive ex, you should track him down and confront him when he isn't expecting it, and let him know how much power he had over you for years, and blame your poor life choices on him. You can cap it off by telling him how awesome your life is now, and he'll just stand there, slack-jawed, as it dawns on him that you're a strong, independent woman who's truly over him, as evidenced by you spending four hours in your car just to let him know you're over him."