Blakeston

We already got confirmation that Valentin's friends were the robbers when Gaitok recognized them at the fight. However, Laurie being aware that they're the robbers may end up being important to the plot.

I was so happy when Zion pointed out that it would be dangerous for them both if Belinda didn't take the money. I'm glad someone on this show has a sense of self-preservation. You're not going to find it in Saxon, who chose to go to that party knowing fully well that Greg/Gary knew he screwed Chloe. You're not going to find it in Chelsea, who let Saxon into her room. And you're not going to find it in Shritala, who was happily watching those movies with Sam Rockwell's character, when she should have called in her security guards a long time ago.

It really is It really is incredible how much less likable Barbara is than she was in season one. She was by far my favorite character back then. I think the writers found it difficult over time to wring humor out of Barbara being competent and wise. So they played up her ego and her withering contempt she sometimes showed to the younger teachers. And now she almost seems like a different person. A much nastier one.

The Matt Bomer character isn't working for me at all, and I think the casting is a significant part of it. I'm guessing that there are three reasons why he's there: 1. He's one of the few out gay actors who's a "name." 2. There's an assumption that audiences won't tune in unless there's eye candy. 3. The makers of the show may have felt that a character being this naive and ditzy is more believable/palatable if they're younger. Obviously Betty White played a very ditzy, childlike character very believably in her sixties. But I think this show is really giving me a sense of just how much talent it took to pull off that balancing act, for both Betty and the Golden Girls writers.

Bruce told the patient about the risk of chronic pain, but then said, "You're young and healthy, so you'll be fine." I'm not a medical professional, but it sounds to me like a violation of medical ethics to effectively tell a patient that they won't get side effects, particularly if it's an experimental procedure. I know we're supposed to Bruce as a loveable goof whose ego is just a little too big for his own good, but I find him to be an insufferable toxic narcissist (who isn't particularly funny). And of course the writers are putting him front and center, because for some reason almost all comedies nowadays revolve around toxic narcissists.

The threat of revealing the truth to his family would have carried more weight. That wasn't guaranteed to work, but it was absolutely pathetic that Gaitok didn't even try.

The characters can definitely be cliquey (particularly Melissa and Barbara, who bring out the worst in each other), but everything they've ever said about Morton is justified. He's a hardcore misogynist (his worst fear is being on a plane flown by a woman) who's straight-up cruel to small children. The way the characters sometimes crap all over Janine and Jacob, and Ava's barbs directed toward pretty much everyone, are a lot more troubling to me.

Gaitok could have said, "I know you took it, there's video footage, and if you don't want your family to find out you stole it, and you don't want to get arrested, you'll hand the gun over right now." It might not have worked - Tim might have just run back to his room and shot himself - but it would have at least been a decent effort.

When Fabian said they couldn't contact the authorities because Greg is a guest, I wanted to scream at the TV, "No he isn't!" He and Chelsea just have a home near the hotel, right? I get that Belinda probably doesn't realize that, but I would think that Fabian would know whether this high roller was actually staying there or not.

I fully support Piper in her efforts to explore Buddhism and get away from her awful parents, but she handled that absolutely terribly. She lied about the thesis, she effectively told her parents that the whole point of staying at the monastery is to reject their values and get new ones, and she called her father's career "bullshit." I don't think she really has people skills at all.

I'm not at all surprised that the show is coming back. (They never called the season three finale the series finale.) But I'm absolutely shocked that Sudeikis is coming back. Everything I'd heard around the time that season three ended suggested that he was completely done with the show.

If this was real life, I would put a lot of money on O'Shon's mother being extraordinarily narcissistic (like Ava).

Ava’s Black/Zach and White/Wyatt exclamations have been good for laughs. But I’ve never understood why she would be surprised by Jacob having a Black partner - or by Zach having a white partner. If Jacob had a white partner, THAT would have been surprising.

I was worried that Jacob was going to proclaim his love for Zach, so I was relieved when it went in another direction.

In the Inside Episode 4 feature, the actress who plays Mook strongly suggests that Mook sees Gaitok as a romantic possibility, but only if he proves himself to be sufficiently ambitious. I don't like the way she's stringing him along in case she wants him. And I don't like the way he's mooning over her like someone half his age. They're not a compelling romantic storyline for me at all.

I can’t imagine them revealing that Sritala is Rick’s father (or mother, for that matter). Mike White is smart enough to know that there would be a huge controversy if he gave the role of a half-Asian character to a white actor. (See, for example, how thoroughly the movie Aloha was trashed for featuring Emma Stone as a half-Asian woman who looks very white.)

Something about the librarian just rubs me the wrong way. I would never have expected Ava to take that weird power move lying down.

This was confusing. Krystle - the woman who recently paraded around the children with the words "slut" and "whore" emblazoned on her wardrobe - is now some book-banning reactionary? I mean, it happens in real life, usually when people become religiously born again. I was surprised that they didn't give us an explanation like that. My guess is that because Raven Goodwin's star is rising (starring opposite Travis Kelce on Grotesquerie), and she's clearly talented, Quinta and company wanted an excuse to bring her back, and they didn't concern themselves too much with consistency. I thought the conflict was resolved way too easily. Off the top of my head, it would have been a lot more believable that Krystle would do a 180 like that if she found out that her daughter secretly read the book, and it gave her confidence.

Chelsea seems downright stalker-ey. The whole "if you get me killed, I'll find you every time we get reincarnated" thing was just creepy. I'm not sure if she'd be acting this way around Rick if he wasn't bankrolling a life of extravagant travel. That said, I think she's perceptive enough to realize that he has a decent side.

Or Colby could have said to Ron, "You keep staring at my neck. Is there something wrong with it?" I could see Ron, in that situation, not wanting to lie.

Would it really look bad to wait until an appropriate time to tell the guy about the thing on his neck? That seemed like a contrivance. It wouldn't make any difference to his health if they did the scans before or after the concert. I don't expect a show like this to be completely realistic, but this one was just over-the-top, particularly with the staff somehow being able to bill dozens of procedures to one patient. This show owes an enormous amount to Scrubs, and Scrubs managed to be a lot funnier while also depicting the life of a resident pretty accurately. If you're going to give up that realism in order to be completely outlandish, it should at least be in the service of some great humor. And this was more cringey than funny, IMO (especially re: everything that came out of Bruce's mouth).

Someone pointed out after the first episode how the Ratliff kids looked like the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" monkeys at one point. There's definitely some primate symbolism going on with that family. The way Lochlan stared at his brother's ass, seemingly with lust in his eyes, makes me think there's more going on than just looking to Saxon for guidance.

Are you referring to Walton Goggins? He wasn't on Perry Mason.

I suspect that Bruce is the easiest character to write for, and so we're going to see a lot of him, even if it doesn't make sense for him to be there.

Tonya was on the phone with Portia in season two when the two of them pieced together that Greg had set Tonya up to be killed. If Portia had gone to the police and told them what she knew, Greg would have been in deep trouble. But the season two finale gave the impression that Portia wasn't going to blab. The young British guy had warned her that the consequences would be dire, and Portia wasn't going to put her life on the line to avenge the boss who drove her nuts. If we're meant to believe that Greg collected Tonya's millions scot-free, it's outrageously dumb of him to hang out at a White Lotus, even one halfway around the world.