BonnieD

I assume they're heading in the direction of no romantic couple at the end. Rebecca has given lip service to finding herself as a solo person yet she's still looking for a "one and only" kind of romance. Should end with her being finally TRULY content to be alone. I'd like that.

Speaking of periods. How annoying that Toby was all flustered when telling Kate. He seems like a modern enough guy he'd simply say, "hey, your niece is having her period. I think she needs your help." It's so old-fashioned to have male characters go all embarrassed and fumbling when "lady things" are mentioned. Hate it, show. It's outdated! I've liked and felt bad for Miguel since the beginning. Not easy being a late addition to a family, especially the Pearsons. I'm glad to finally see some of his back story and struggles. Agreed, the writers really overdid the "His own kids HATE him!" scene. It was ridiculous. As so many scenes are in this show, the point is hit with the subtlety of an anvil on the head. I feel like the writers have little confidence that their audience will get it if they use a more delicate hand. Personally I am invested in the Vietnam storyline and eager to see where they go with it. I suppose this show is too middle of the road to make it as dark as I would anticipate. It is network TV after all. Guy should quit immediately. He is not being allowed to do his job. I hope the story goes an unexpected route and Randall fails miserably at the polls rather than moving up the political chain to run for President some day. He is not good politician material, is too blunt, too unwilling to compromise, too honest, all of which are great person qualities but once you're in the arena, you can't accomplish your goal without bending and compromising. Sad but true fact which I'm sure many idealist politicians have learned.

I was very interested in the emotional aftermath story. After spending a life acting and believing a certain way, one doesn't instantly change. Leah's crusade to expose the church could easily become unhealthy for her in the aspect of being driven to DO SOMETHING at all times. That insane work ethic was instilled early and could be nearly impossible to shake. While a strong work ethic is great, the inability to ever let up and relax is problematic. Down time, play time, is a good thing. The part about screaming abusive words at children to teach how to not react--or maybe to react by digging in and growing hard and emotionless--was an enlightening bit.

I'm not completely rude, just very curt. "I already have a religion. I'm not interested." Shut door. Ignoring knocking or doorbell ringing is not an option IMO. For one thing my dogs will go nuts until the person on the doorstep goes away. But I also think the "visitor" needs to be sent packing in no uncertain terms. I'm glad they covered the JWs and hope to see more specials about other cults and fringe religions included on Leah's show. She can morph the original show into exposing the unpleasant truths about any or every religious organization. I'd keep watching.

I realize this is not a "catch me up" thread, but I stopped watching show after last year's disorganized mess. Of course I saw ads for the countdown to "Rick Grimes's last episode!!!!" but I refused to start watching again. Can someone just please tell me in a thumbnail sentence the circumstance of his death? And is it a verified death or one from which he can return if they so choose?

I didn't feel like the episode was filler. Through her nephew, Rebecca sees herself. And through his cahoots with Nathaniel, she sees her own stalker behavior reflected. I believe each episode brings her a baby step closer to changing her own ways. Baby steps with a lot of slidebacks in between. Also I've wanted to see Paula dealing with the effect her own bad behavior has had on her family for a long time. Finally treated to a view of what happens when you neglect family at the expense of feeling "needed" by your messed up gal pal. Paula is also baby stepping her way to change. I really don't mind the side characters and stories at all.

Ha! Good call. I forgot about that. So martial arts is okay with Beth but boxing not because it's considered more of a contact sport? Although at the end, the entire family is on the couch enjoying the sport together. Show geography (almost any TV show you can name) is not real life geography. People can suddenly be across country in a heartbeat. Expense? What expense? Travel time to, let's say, Australia. What travel time? Let's not even go there about time of day--when one character's story arc is happening in daylight and another one's at night, or one day versus several days. To me, that nonchalant attitude about time/space for the sake of plot points the writers want to make is just lazy lazy writing. Set a frickin' timeline and stick to it. Details matter. Consider the cost of travel (and amount of time it takes) and make it believable to the viewer. Think about living expenses for the average person and make your characters worry about finances like real people do! *end rant*

One of the things I came here to post! They can't continue living at the level they're at without fresh income. How long can they live on a severance package? I don't buy that the job search wouldn't be top priority for this family for at least one of the two breadwinners. Maybe they're going to make Deja get a job and support them. I understand they wanted to make the point about smiling at your opponent when he's thrown a good punch, but really dumb! to let him know you plan to win Korea town. I have to say, adding in the Korean angle made the political campaign storyline marginally more interesting to me. Even though the set up is highly unlikely. Plus hot new campaign manager is a plus. I don't recall any mention of Kevin's new gf being a documentarian last season. Did they mention it? Pretty sure they added it just so she'd have a perfect reason to travel along with him on this roots journey. Glad they finally gave Kate an opportunity to be a strong shoulder for someone else and to admit out loud that she's been too willing to be taken care of all her life. This is a new Kate I can get behind. Sidenote: I fully expected that dog to eat another rock when Toby let him off leash LOL.

FYI: long pig noun a translation of a term formerly used in some Pacific Islands for human flesh as food.

It's literally impossible. blossoms are at beginning of summer, fruit are in fall. They were probably bare trees and the design dept attached both blossom and fruit because they're dumb.

Kiernan Shipka has grown into acting ability I never felt she had as a child in Mad Men. She really is doing a fine job. And if you want to see her stretch even further and go way darker, check out this horror gem for Halloween: THe Blackcoat's Daughter. I'm not easily horrified by horror movies but this one was verrrry unsettling after a long slow burn. I imagine what she will discover is that her parents were working on ways to merge the witch and mortal worlds in perfect harmony without any need for a Dark Lord. Thus the importance of winning over Sabrina to the Satanic side. One niggling but super annoying complaint. As usual, my pet peeves in fantasy are when the "real" parts aren't depicted in a true to life way. Apple orchards do NOT have blossoms and fruit at the same time. Do these people know nothing about how the fruit is actually formed? Did they all flunk biology? Do they even bother to think about it? Also, the ancient tree was clearly not an apple but some sort of live oak with apples hot glued onto the branches LOL. Such minor things aside, I thought episode one was fun and I'm looking forward to the rest,

Political campaigns always make for bad storylines IMO. ( ie. Parenthood when can't-even-recall-character's name ran for some office right after having survived cancer AND with a new baby in the house.) I know shows want to keep viewer interest with high drama, but there's nothing wrong with letting things breathe a little and finding "drama" in smaller, quieter moments. Randall finds dad, loses dad, loses job, melts down numerous times, becomes a stay at home dad, adopts a child, becomes a landlord, and decides to run for office. Rushing pell mell from topic to topic is totally unnecessary. It becomes a matter of checking off boxes. Like the writers in their brainstorming sessions throw a dart at a board full of IMPORTANT TOPICS and dole them out to the characters. For me, it's the quiet, heartfelt bits--like everything concerning Miguel this week as he tries to care for the family like he knew his friend wanted him to--that really touch me. There is so much that could be mined in Randall's life as a stay-at-home dad with a brand new adopted daughter. Not need to throw in politics just for the sake of making statements. Right now I'm most interested in Kevin and the Vietnam story. I imagine something really bad went down i that his messed up brother was a part of, something along the lines of the My Lai massacre.

Here here! The worst part of every season for me is hearing the THEME underscored over and over by Jeff. So very annoying and ridiculous as clearly every human has a mixed bag of stuff inside him or her. Even when I kind of like the theme--ie. the generational divide which actually interested me--I still hate that the point is driven home ad nauseum. Makes me wince iin annoyance. Agreed, idols are as plentiful as weeds and as easy to find. That's just annoying. Why-oh-why didn't the guy just shove that rock down his pants and keep searching along with the other two? Unless one of the girls spotted him as he found it, there's no excuse for sharing the news. People keep doing that and it almost always comes back to bite them. NEVER tell anyone that you have an idol, no matter how much you think it might strengthen your alliance with them. I've wondered for years how interesting a snowy/cold environment would be. No bikinis, just slugging it out with the environment. Maybe not as much fun as we think. There is something great about the viewer being taken on tropical vacations every season.

Don't you know that there's real life money and TV money? In so many shows the $$$$ seems to be raining from the sky on average families. See Parenthood for a prime example. There would be a few episodes worth of talk about financial troubles and next thing you know the entire clan is going on some sort of road trip that would require skimping and saving. Sort of like the babies or pets that only show up when it is convenient to include them in a plot and are never wailing and whining and demanding attention at any other time. *sigh* Oh to live the TV life. Somehow it's easier to accept magic in a show than it is to accept the unlikeliness of the "real life" aspects.

Just have to say how hilarious I thought it was that Zahid's "roommates" were his parents. I got a huge kick out of that reveal. I know he's only meant to be comic relief but his character is very welcome and I like how they've expanded it.

THANK you! I absolutely turned laundry duties over to my kids when they were in about fifth grade or so. A monkey can do it. Kids don't seem called on to do household chores by lots of parents. I do not approve. I'm not finished with the season yet, but liking it better than the first so far, perhaps because the characters are well established now. I've never been a fan of JJL's acting but that's ok. There's always a character in every show you feel ambivalent about or are even turned off by. She's it for me. I'm all in for another season!

This was what I disliked about the first installment, no time to see the development of the friendship between girls and Laurie. It was just sort of foisted upon us as a fact. I did think the show got better in the latter half. And I liked this Bauer better than Gabriel Byrne. He seemed like a good match for Jo, less patronizing and paternal and annoying (minus the bit about pulp fiction being horrible pap that will destroy civilization as we know it. I write romance novels so when intellectuals sneer it hits too close to home) I just returned from a trip to New England which included touring Orchard House, the Alcott's family dwelling for a couple of years, just down the road from the family's best friend and benefactor Emerson. Until then I hadn't been aware there was yet another version of Little Women. This one did not really move me. I almost turned off after the "mellow out" anachronism, and didn't care for Hawk's characterization of Jo at all. But I watched it all so i guess I must have liked it well enough. Next up, I understand a release of Little Women set in modern times is about to be foisted upon us. WHY????

I turned it off and deleted it so quick I never saw the scene hidden in the end credits. Getting pretty tired of shows and movies that do that. I had to drag it out of the trash can to watch, and then the scene wasn't worth it. My first question, which i figured would be answered better by reading the book and seeing her pov, is why Camille went along with her mother and allowed herself to be poisoned. To sacrifice herself for sis is not a good enough reason. To gather intel so she can prove this is going on is a tiny bit better. I understand her severely screwed up relationship with Mom might make her fall in with her wishes because perhaps she feels she "deserves it", but that isn't a good enough reason either. With her sister in danger, Camille's behavior is just bizarre. I need to see inside her head. I wasn't shocked by Amma being the murderer. I called Alan early on, then changed my mind several times and even considered Amma at certain points. Did not call accomplices though. By the end montage it was obvious a twist was coming so how could the reveal be shocking? What shocked me was how pure white those fake teeth were. Way to go props dept. creating the fakest looking human teeth ever!

Can't find the post but someone mentioned not realizing Amy Adams could do dark drama. Check out this very good movie, Sunshine Cleaning from 2008: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862846/ Also, I can't imagine how they're going to wrap all this up in one more episode. This is only an eight episode drama right?

I can see him believing he's helping her confront her past because he had no idea how extremely traumatic it was. I immediately thought that too, and could only surmise that maybe she didn't do all the cutting. She was talking with John about how his little sister bit people, including him. Maybe the carving on her back was done by her little sis as a way to vent? Maybe Camille asked her to and told her what words she wanted there? I'm buying into two separate killers, the later one mimicking the former. And considering John's sister probably bit her ear, Ashley's as likely a suspect as anyone for that murder.

Here's my guess about the Kid's "touch". It unlocks and enhances whatever seeds are already within that person so in that respect he is maybe more like a catalyst than straight up Evil with an evil agenda. So the bad prison cellmate who has a "cancerous" personality is abruptly riddled with real cancer. The poor, well-meaning guard was already depressed as hell about conditions and his inability to effect any change so the touch set off violent urges that would normally not have gone beyond the realm of private dark fantasy. Maybe devil boy identifies as neither good nor evil but is simply a mindless force contained in a human body.

I can add some insight here. Just borrowed the book on interlibrary loan because I didn't want to buy it. The story is very specific about a lot of 70s up and coming comics who hung out and worked together at The Comedy Store (Mitzi Shore is the real woman's name) and the Improv. The characters in the show are definitely invented and composite types more than anything else. The book spends a lot of time describing how the comedy scene migrated from NYC to LA due to the Tonight Show relocating there. Tells a few personal tales about the various comedians, and in the last part digs into the strike and the founding of a comedians' union over several chapters. There is a suicide late in the book. I won't say more in case you decide to read it but no it isn't Freddy Prinze although he is mentioned too.

Just looking forward to all the characters ending up dead or in prison at this point. There is no redeemable person in the entire case and that includes J, who i won't cut slack just because he's young. After those two dumped the dementia lady off at a bus stop a few episodes ago, my last hope for some spark of a soul was extinguished.

THANK YOU! It drove me batshit that she went straight to the impossible--ramming the door with the car--before trying every other option to open the door. Locks, keys, de-icing with hot water, finding an ax or sledgehammer and battering it down,. Anything but that ridiculous ramming. Which I know was meant to represent her inner turmoil finally raging out but still. And this: I hope you're being sarcastic about the latter half of the sentence. Of course you can drive without a carseat. A law and reality are two entirely different things. Hide baby on the floor wrapped in a blanket or whatever it takes to get across the border into Canada. This entire season has been a buildup to what I imagine will be an eventual revolution. I keep waiting, thinking every week that things are finally going to start to happen. But they don't. Ready now for June's escape to Canada and the planning of an invasion/rescue squad.

IMO the show became too convoluted for its own good. This felt like an ending to me so I'm going to pretend it is and delete from DVR.