Blakeston

And what he said about the dog not being able to feel anything (like love) makes me think that even the animals Michael intended to be there are basically imaginary, too.

I live in the DC area, where Tatianna regularly performs, and it's been really remarkable to watch her progress over the years. For a while, I've been telling people that Tatianna's performance skills had increased considerably, and sometimes they seemed very reluctant to believe me!

It honestly wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that she's been in therapy for years and years. The thing is, she's probably the type who just wants therapy to be an extended discussion of how victimized she's been (while enjoying having a captive audience of one to listen to her talk about herself). And she'd probably go through a whole slew of therapists until she found one that would coddle her and feed her ego, instead of asking difficult questions, or challenging her treatment of others. Speaking of which, has she ever shown any concern for how her behavior toward other season 4 contestants made them miserable? Or has it all been about how she came across, and how tough that's been for her? Roxxxy, to her credit, acknowledges that she was awful to Jinkx. But I've only heard Phi Phi talk about her it affected her. Her comment about Sharon being the one to throw her under the bus spoke volumes.

I don't think the voters are unwilling to recognize shows from the four major networks. This wasn't a great year for the networks at the Emmys (although Kate McKinnon is on NBC), but in very recent years they had no problem giving multiple Emmys to Jim Parsons and Allison Janney - or with throwing Emmy after Emmy after Emmy at Modern Family. I think the shows with the biggest obstacle are the ones on the CW. The lack of a nomination for Rachel Bloom was one of the biggest mistakes they made this year, and they've refused to recognize Jane the Virgin (or Veronica Mars, back in the day). If network shows are at a disadvantage, I think it's because of how many episodes they make. I don't think the voters generally take into account that the writers for a show like The Good Wife had to create more than twice as many episodes as some of the other contenders.

They've been doing the lipstick messages. Without them, we would never have gotten "It's not personnel, it's drag" written on the mirror! (The other queens left messages, too - they just weren't as memorable as Alyssa's.

I would be a lot more sympathetic to Michelle's "we can't give these contestants free passes" thing if the judges didn't regularly give people free passes for far worse reasons. Like Phi Phi getting a free pass on the weaker parts of her performance and outfit, because she's good for drama.

Was it just me, or was Phi Phi really not that great in the challenge? Also, her first look on the runway was horrible.

I think it also shows that they didn't watch Margo Martindale's performance on The Americans, either. I think a whole lot of the voters in these categories vote based on "Hey, I like that person," as opposed to thinking about their performance. Peter Scolari's nomination got far more attention than any of the other guest acting nominees, just because of him being a replacement - and while I'm told he was very good on Girls, I wouldn't be surprised if that attention had a lot to do with why he won.

Adore had to lip sync twice, and both times she was put up against a fierce lip syncer - she knocked off Trinity K. Bonet and Joslyn Fox. I think it's one thing to hear him talk in his usual voice, and another thing to hear the "Hi-eeee" voice.

The thing is, while Rebecca fits a lot of Jewish stereotypes, and takes a lot of pride in Jewish culture, it doesn't seem like she practices the religion. And she may not even believe in it. She's very much a secular Jew. While there are certainly some exceptions, Jews who are laser-focused on marrying other Jews tend to be a lot more religious than she is.

They seem to have typical private firm clients, like Calvin, and those guys who overheard Rebecca call them the "stupid clients" (who wanted to buy an expensive property). It just isn't a particularly impressive private firm.

If she'd been arrested for having a large stash of pot hidden away somewhere, I can't imagine the MCC honchos (who were looking for any kind of dirt they could get) would bring up the "not even half an ounce" of weed, but fail to mention the big stash. This sounds like a case of the writers deciding on the specifics of her crime without caring whether it fit the sentence they'd established.

She also said that she was going to smoke the rest of her stash, in a fairly short period of time. So I can't imagine it was that much. And so far as I can tell, when it comes to federal mandatory minimum sentences for possessing marijuana with intent to sell, the only one that's longer than 6 years for a first offense is for people caught with 1,000 kilograms or more. Or 1,000 plants or more. And it appears that for a mandatory minimum of 5 years for a first offense, she'd have to have been caught with 100 kilograms or more, or 100 plants or more.

They never gave us any indication that she was charged with perjury, or that she got extra time. That would be a major ordeal. Also, all Piper did was say that she didn't remember long-ago events well enough to say for certain that Kubra was there. It would be extraordinarily difficult to get a perjury conviction based on that. If they mention in season 5 that Piper was convicted of perjury three seasons ago, and sentenced to extra time in prison, without the audience being given any clue that it happened, I'll be very annoyed with the writers. Poussey told Judy King that her father was a major. But he must be a general now, because Caputo referred to him as one. I can't buy that he was a major when Poussey went into prison and rose the ranks that quickly. So I'm assuming that Poussey was talking about the rank her father held when she was a child. Regarding Poussey's sentence - I agree with those who think her six-year sentence sounds extremely unrealistic. In fact, I don't buy that she'd face even two years in a federal prison just for trespassing into that location and having some weed on her - unless a) it was a huge amount of pot, and b) her father hung her out to dry, and she was stuck with a public defender. (And I have a hard time believing that the gentle, loving father we saw in her flashbacks would do that).

I don't think anyone's saying that she was killed specifically because she's gay or black. But it's unbelievably common for TV shows and movies to kill off queer female characters - especially when they aren't white, and especially when they're in happy relationships. And especially this year (I don't want to spoil any other shows, so I won't mention which ones they are.) I get why it made sense for Poussey to be the one to die, but I also think it's unfortunate that we have yet another example of this trope.

I'm not sure he was braindead. He was knocked out, and then regained consciousness (until Alex killed him). It wasn't really possible to determine how aware he was. But even if Lolly had outright killed him, it wasn't necessarily a good idea to tell her that. Lolly did the right thing in saving Alex, so let her live without the burden of knowing she'd killed someone.

She told Diablo she was joking about killing the woman's husband. I'd say it's become downright rare to learn in the flashbacks what actually led to someone going to Litchfield. The flashbacks with Maria, Soso, and Lolly didn't show us why they're in federal prison. And with Maritza, it's possible she was arrested in a stolen car, and it became federal because she crossed state lines with it - or because she was part of a larger car-stealing operation - but that's just a guess. Even if she was charged with elder abuse, I wouldn't expect that to be a federal charge. I think the flashbacks were meant to show us how Blanca responds to obnoxious authority figures - and what led her to criminality.

I doubt they're keeping Piper Chapman on the show just because she's based on Piper Kerman. Even if there's some sort of strange contract requiring them to continue using the character, they could just let her be in the background, instead of giving her so much screentime. I think the writers are genuinely interested in the story of what happens to a privileged, sheltered white lady when she winds up behind bars. And it's pretty rare for a series to jettison its main character - I can understand if the powers that be are reluctant.

Do you mean max? I don't recall her ever being in SHU. I had the impression that she got back on drugs when she was in max, shortly before she was transferred back to minimum security. And that it presumably happened because the visit with Luschek brought up so many issues that she fell off the wagon. I'm not sure she has any legitimate reason to be bitter toward Luschek, though. So far as I can recall, she asked him to help her smuggle heroin; he went along with it; then she kept some for herself and hid it in his stuff. So when the guards searched his stuff and found the heroin, he revealed that it was hers. Why shouldn't he tell the truth in that situation?

I agree that there are a lot of aspects of this storyline that simply wouldn't make sense in real life. And they've made a big deal about how "This is a scenario that can really happen in American politics; isn't that nuts!?!?" when promoting this season, so I think it's a significant flaw. But I'd say there's some ambiguity regarding whether Tom would be able to hold the Oval Office for 12 years. The Constitution says: "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once." So if Tom James remains Acting President for 4 years, he might be able to claim that he wasn't acting as president for a term to which some other person was elected president. I have no idea whether that argument would actually work, but it at least gives the writers a leg to stand on. Which is more than they have re: the reality that James wouldn't be able to select a veep. And that the House vote wouldn't be a one-and-done deal.

I think there was a conscious choice this season to make the previews more spoilery than they used to be. In addition to showing us William contaminating himself, there was also the episode that ended with Elizabeth asking the Center to attempt to get Don's code some other way - which was followed by a preview where Gabriel tells her the attempt failed. I have to wonder if FX decided, "With these ratings, we need the previews to hook people in any way possible."

Stan's reaction was tone-deaf and weird, but I don't think he was being particularly bro-ish. His tone wasn't, "My son is gettin' some from your daughter! He da man!" It was more like, "Oh my god, our kids like each other, if they get married that means we'll be even closer BFFs, right?"

Is Aderholt really that stupid, that he would think it was appropriate to offer William a Coke, at that moment?

Also, if the House ends up in a stalemate, then the Senate's pick for President would become Acting President (rather than president). Which means s/he wouldn't be able to appoint a veep. So while it's possible that Tom James could wind up in the Oval Office after Congress decides the election, Selina couldn't be his vice president. I'll be annoyed if the show goes in that direction, because it wouldn't make sense - and the makers of the show have made a big deal about how this all could actually happen.

I took Paige's comment to mean, "Stop treating me like a kid. You don't get to shut me out after killing someone in front of me." I didn't take it as Paige morally condemning Elizabeth for the killing itself. That's not to say I agree with Paige. If she doesn't want to be treated like a kid, she should stop acting like her parents' reluctance to share classified information with her is the equivalent of not letting her go to prom.