Blakeston

Penelope was absolutely right to object to the restaurant check. Doing so in a less public way would have been preferable, though, under the circumstances. I'm glad they're acknowledging that she'd be making very good money as a nurse practitioner in California. Interesting that even in an episode that's ostensibly about meeting Alex's girlfriend, they still end up focusing more on Elena.

Motel 6 and Super 8 Motels are the best-known ones I can think of. Johnny, Roland and Stevie are clearly aiming for a different type of customer than those chains, though - people who want a unique, "enjoy the local charm" kind of experience. My point is that if what they're going for is a really unique, "enjoy the local charm" kind of motel experience, mass-producing hundreds of them is a strange choice. Especially when they can only point to one motel they've successfully turned around that way. Johnny Depp is down on his luck compared to his glory days, but he hasn't been literally homeless anytime recently, living off of the charity of a small-town mayor sparing him a motel room. What happened to the Roses is really exceptional, especially considering that Moira and Alexis have both been celebrities. We know that David had an apartment in New York for a while (although he was at home when the mansion was raided - whether he was visiting or had moved back is up in the air). I don't recall there ever being an official reference to where the mansion was located.

If you're expecting any kind of consistency from the judges re: the contestants' fashion choices, you're going to be sorely disappointed!

If a man pulls up to a woman standing on a street that's notorious for hookers, in the middle of the night, and he uses a line like that, it's probably because he's afraid it might be a sting, and he doesn't want to say anything incriminating.

When you pick up a woman in the middle of the night on Nebraska Ave., your "line" is probably something more like, "How much for a blowjob?" I think it's just easier for her to say that she wasn't hooking, and it was just a chance encounter.

The documentary really should have been a lot clearer about that being the primary and not the general election. If Carole was a teenage sex worker, that doesn't make me think less of her at all. But her absurd "I was just walking down the street, and he needed someone to talk to" story says a lot about how little she can be trusted.

There might not be any physical evidence, but from the series it sounds like her husband announced his intention to transfer his assets away from her, and then shortly afterward he mysteriously disappeared - after leaving a letter with someone he trusted, that basically said, "if I disappear, that means my wife killed me." It's not enough evidence for a criminal conviction, but I think it's enough evidence for the court of public opinion.

My guess is that they

One of the many things about Carole's story that's implausible to me is that she claims that she'd never even heard of Alzheimer's until her husband allegedly went downhill. She says Alzheimer's "wasn't a commonly used word." In the mid-to-late nineties? Are you freaking kidding me? I was a kid then, and I'd known what Alzheimer's was for many years. It was an extremely well-known disease. Even if we accept what she says as true, that means she knew her husband was severely mentally incompetent, and she knew that he was illegally flying planes, and she never did jack shit to stop him beyond supposedly scheduling a doctor's appointment. There is no way she wanted that man alive. I'd bet that their attraction to women made them even more appealing to someone like Joe. With Travis, it sounds like the drugs were the main reason he stayed. And considering how much meth John must have used to have such busted teeth, I'd bet it was a big part of him staying, too. It wouldn't surprise me if both John and Travis are/were at least somewhat attracted to men. But hell, there's no shortage of women who shack up with men out of desperation, despite having no real physical interest in them. They may have been their situation, too. And as gross as most of us find Joe, he had access to large sums of money, drugs, motor vehicles and firearms (which John and Travis seemed to really enjoy). And he had a cult of personality surrounding him. And he gave them access to exotic animals. And he probably convinced them that they would be trophy husbands, rather than having to work. All of those things are huge elements in attracting young, impressionable people. Especially when they live in an area with very little to do, and very little economic opportunity. Anyway...what happened to the 12 or so large cats that Joe brought with him when he fled his compound? Does anyone know?

Brita has denied the allegation. I think if Sherry had tried the denial route, it wouldn't have worked. There were a bunch of people who came forward, and lots and lots of people have heard her claim to work with the non-existent "Allison Mossie."

If she adopted a teenager, that makes more sense to me. That seemed very thrown much thrown together at the end - by the way, I have a new heir now! And I know I was pushing you to get married and give birth, but you looked unhappy talking to that one man, so never mind! I think they could have used at least six episodes. We barely got to see Madam Walker actually enjoying her newfound wealth. I guess the idea was just that she tinkered with the basic formula to give it a better smell? In real life, they were both using an old formula (petroleum jelly and sulfur) that had been around for ages. It seems kind of unfair that the miniseries presents it as Madam Walker "stealing" something from a rival.

I think they're very much choosing to portray Brita as the villain. That shot of her looking peeved when Crystal was told that she looked like a Polynesian princess? We were definitely meant to enjoy that. A lot of the time when someone comes on this show and plays up their bitchiness, I suspect they're doing it for the cameras, in the hopes of staying around longer. I wouldn't be surprised if that was Dahlia's (unsuccessful) plan. But in Brita's case, I really don't think it's a strategy. I think she's really arrogant enough to think that she's being likable. I can't stand Sherry, but I think her win was justified. In addition to being a solid Harvey Fierstein impression, her timing and delivery were pretty much perfect. But man oh man, do I hate Sherry's makeup. She looks (appropriately enough) like a sinister, nose-less monster. And not in a comedic, "look at how bonkers I am!" kind of way, but in a horror movie kind of way.

Is anyone else disappointed that they didn't show us Lydia and Leslie's adventure in Cuba? Maybe there will be flashbacks? I hope they don't just gloss it over. I feel like Max is probably coming back at some point this season - probably once Penelope has found someone new. It would be weird to focus this much on him if he isn't going to be back.

If Chrissy lives as long as Darlene Cates did, she's got 30 years left. Someone her age and her size, who's healthy enough to film a TV series, is extremely unlikely to die within a few years. I think any kind of early death for Kate, even if she dies of something completely unrelated to her weight (like dying while saving someone from a fire), would rub a lot of fans the wrong way. I think the writers want to avoid the whole "fat people have short, tragic lives" trope.

My biggest issue was the way she was blatantly eye-fucking her girlfriend while performing in front of a crowd, and her husband was standing there. People had to be careful back then! I think they could have accomplished the same effect by having the husband notice a quick glance between the two. I guess they were trying to make a point about how free-thinking and ahead of the times she was, but they could have done that without making her completely reckless. Maybe it's just me, but Fairy Mae didn't look like a child in need of adoption to me. She looked like a stunning young adult, and with her being Lelia's model, I assumed the two were lovers.