Amethyst

I may not have explained that clearly. I don't think Violet is insane because of her era, she's insane because that's her nature. Saying that's how she needed to be back then is an excuse because her era is long gone. She just can't (or won't) evolve with the times. The Jessica/Jason thing gets dumber every time I think about it. Sookie was right; Jessica could have just called her instead of using Jason as a liasion. How about "Sookie, you need to come over right away. It's about Bill." Simple as that. Like Sookie wouldn't drop everything if something had happened to Bill. Using Jason instead was so unnecessary and serves only to fuel the Violet-on-a-rampage plot.

Same. I have no pity for her. Sarah doesn't care about what her actions have done to others, just herself. She's had the cure for the past six months and only decided to act on it when the Yakuza came after her. That means lot of the deaths that occurred from the Hep-V attacks didn't have to happen. Good on Amber for seeing through her bullshit immediately. Dumb as Nicole is, I can't blame her for wanting to leave Bon Temps. Sam is the only reason she's staying. But the place is just insane and they have a child to consider. This episode felt so draggy and middling, but at least it's finally progressing on the inevitable Hep-V cure. I thought the lawyer's office was going to be a secret vampire health clinic or something. Are there really no others lawyers that can help vampires? Way too much focus on Violet. I don't care what era she's from, the girl's unhinged. Here's hoping she gets staked, and soon. Something tells me the Tara/Lettie Mae plot isn't going to be resolved until the very end. Sigh.

I thought about that as well. That's a poor image to present, especially to a tourist. Maybe she's in a supervisory position. I wasn't crazy about the backsplash either (very plain and generic for someone obsessed with details), but I let it slide, because it was clearly the only victory she got in the house.

I tried and got bored pretty quick. They keep hammering that Genevieve is a single mom now and is doing all the work herself, but she still has way more to spend in a home (in NY no less) than most people do. I don't mind Genevieve, but I was never crazy about her shows. Did the husband in the Chicago episode seem really territorial or was it just me? Assuming the shower is tall enough, Is it that hard to buy a rainfall showerhead, instead of basing a house search around it? I would have gone with house #3, but 2 wasn't bad. It definitely had more space. On a particularly shallow note, what was going on with the wife's hair? It looked bleached to death.

You're right about the spoiler, Jjrmt. I took a closer look and it wasn't Jessica. So nevermind about that theory.

Good point. He's probably a carrier now. I don't see Hoyt and Jessica getting back together in the end. When Sookie and Eric spoke last week, I didn't see them as them potentially hooking up again, rather just reconciling after their shitty breakup. That's what I'm thinking will happen with Hoyt and Jessica. Things ended badly for them, and the writers probably don't want the series to conclude with them still at odds. And in some way or another, Hoyt could even give Jason and Jessica his blessing to be a couple and move on, like he has. Just like they're pushing Sookie/Bill, they're really pushing Jessica/Jason as endgame. That's my theory, anyway. While I understand Nicole's reaction to the party, I can also understand why the people of BT would grieve that way. After all the crazy shit they've seen over the years, they're also celebrating the fact that they're still alive. They've survived Maenads, werewolves, vampires, evil spirits, witches...the list goes on. Nicole is right; this stuff does not happen in other towns. But the residents of Bon Temps are used to this by now.

Exactly. They can't have Lafayette cheerfully play up a gay stereotype time after time and just now claim that it's been an issue. I personally believe being treated like the gay clown would bother Lafayette, but there have been no scenes to imply that, because deep character development doesn't fit in with the soapy, campy nature of the show, and on those rare occasions it does happen, it usually goes to someone else like Sookie, Bill, or even Eric. Despite Lafayette being a fan favorite, they clearly don't know what to do with him. There's been no real motivation for him to do anything since Jesus died; he's just been drifting in and out of plots aimlessly, saying a clever quip here and there, but nothing memorable. It's a credit to Nelsan that he elevates the shitty material they give him. There have been some plots that have added nothing to the show (the Ifrit, the crazy lady who was murdering shifters, werepanthers, so much of that vampires being trapped in the compound last season, etc) that they could have given Lafayette something to work with. But no, they're content to keep him on the sidelines being "sassy" and ultimately do nothing.

I wasn't cool with that either, but Lafayette's speech about basically being the gay clown of Bon Temps is completely unrelated to what happened between him and James. That speech was a long time coming, but he directed it to the wrong person.

THIS. Him being lonely doesn't give him permission to fuck someone else's boyfriend.

I'm not crazy about the flashbacks either, regardless of whose past they're discussing. I was more interested in seeing how Ginger was introduced than 80s Pam and Eric. Bill's don't offer much either, but something I do like about his is that those flashbacks usually refer to an ancestor of someone from Bon Temps. This week it was Jane Bodehouse's, and he was running a bar, of course. Besides that, they can get rid of them. James and Lafayette are great together, but I didn't like how Lafeyette acted like he was entitled to James because he's lonely and wants to settle down. It's not like Jessica has been keeping him from being with someone and she had a right to be mad. But it doesn't matter since she's already moved on to Jason. And Arlene is moving on, too. Terry's been gone six months, and already they have a new guy for her. Keep forgetting that people can't stay single on this show. Major props to Willa for calling Eric and Pam out on their bullshit. They abandoned their progenies and I'm glad she said it. And this explains why Willa was so eager to protect Lettie Mae and the Reverend; she felt she owed it to Tara. Too bad Tara is gone and we can't see these two having awesome adventures. Can the Yakuza kill off Sarah already? This whole plot is keeping Eric and Pam away from Bon Temps and it's boring.

I can't get over how disturbing that NWA casting call is. It even has it's own grading system. Unbelievable.

Yeah, if I was moving overseas, the last thing I would want is an Americanized house. I can understand the wife wanting a nice kitchen, considering she was in the house all day, but the first house IMO would have been the best choice. It had everything they wanted. It seemed like the realtor could have gotten the price down to an agreeable rate. IA. I can live with a lot, but that would be a dealbreaker for me. Especially if my business revolves around food. I wouldn't want people having digestive issues in the same room as where I'm cooking. At least the room has a window.

Yeah, humorous 90s fashion aside, I wasn't a fan of Pam and Eric this week because they both came across as really shitty. From Eric casually screwing over the flight attendant to the flashbacks with Ginger. They already treat Ginger like their flunky, but now that we know how bright she can be, Pam stealing her idea just feels unnecessarily cruel. Pam and Eric have always been arrogant and self-serving, but there's usually a charm to it. This time, it just felt like Pam did it just to hog all the glory, and naturally, Eric sees no problem with it. And now, they've glamoured her so many times that any real intellect or sense Ginger had has been glamoured along with it.

I was mistaken; I just read that Kenya did die; her body was seen at the foot of the steps when Eric was feeding on Rosie.

Yes, Kenya was with them, but I think she escaped with the rest of the vigilantes. They basically threw a few bombs in the bar and took off. Pretty sure Rosie didn't make it; Eric was feeding off of her when Pam found him. Glad they killed Vince. Didn't like him, didn't need him around.

That was a good episode. The Eric flashbacks were a bit out of place at first, but it was nice to know how Fangtasia came to be. Poor Ginger, never getting the credit she deserves. The emotional resonance of Hoyt, Jackson, and Terry's reappearance was strong. I nearly cried when Arlene was dying. Glad she didn't. What was that look between Eric and Sookie about in the end? Was she upset because he didn't return with a vampire for Arlene to feed on?

Same here. The Atlanta episode was so funny because you had Bill Hader and Keegan Michael-Key being voiced by Jenny Slate, who has a very distinct, girly voice.

The Nellie Bly segment was the best. Perfect mix of acting and drunkenness. Even Derek was laughing at the bathing suit bit.

This, so much. "Neutered" is the perfect word to describe Eric's state, and he hasn't been the same since that relationship ended. The amnesia angle was cute for a few days, but it went on forever. When Eric actually asked if they could make love in the magic bed in the fucking woods, I was done. The past few seasons, they've been trying to humanize Eric by introducing people who were close to him, like Nora and Sylvie. But that only emphasizes just how much they screwed up the Sookie/Eric plot because Sookie was what humanized Eric. Just...ugh. I can't even say that romance crashed and burned, because it never took off. Eric and Sookie weren't together when he was in his right mind, and now too much has happened for them to go back.

Eric didn't want to be a maker, either. Pam forced his hand; either he turn her, or watch her die. So it wasn't like he had the instinct, he did it because he felt he had no choice. And Tara wasn't just Pam's progeny, she was her lover. It's odd that Pam could barely muster up a tear for Tara, considering what Tara was supposed to mean to her. The writers can't stress how important the maker/progeny bond is just to gloss over it in the end, especially with a main character.

Where was she? I missed that part. That was so disappointing. They spend the past six seasons waxing on and on about how important the bond between a maker and their progeny is, how much stronger it is than humans and their children, but Pam drops the ball on it because she's too busy looking for Eric. It could easily be interpreted that Pam was playing Russian Roulette was because she's lost without Eric, not because she was mourning Tara. And Eric doesn't give two shits about Tara because he's too busy moping about his existence. I'm kind of hoping Tara returns and haunts the shit out of them.

Welp, farewell Alcide, vampire Matt, and Maxine Fortenberry. Alcide deserved better, but at least he died thinking Sookie loved him. And he reconciled with his father, too. This show is all over the place. Don't care about Sookie and Bill's excellent adventure, the disgusting Violet, Sarah/Noomi and her newfound spirituality, and Eric's long lost love. Ugh, Sylvie was such a non-entity. And Eric's 80s look just had me rolling my eyes. Although he is a secondary character, I really like the Reverend, particularly his scenes with Willa. They're a nice, grounded presence among all the crazy shit going on. Why do they keep showing those promos for Jessica's diary with James, when they're clearly on the outs? Wondering if some of the diseased blood made its way into Sookie's bloodstream after all. It was shown running down her face when she was crying over Alcide.

I enjoyed Megamind too, Tabbyclaw. What's Your Number? was a lot funnier than I thought it would be. It's a great Sunday afternoon movie.

For me, it was the opposite. I liked Sif in the first film, but she didn't outshine Portman to me, and she wasn't supposed to; they're entirely different personalities. I didn't see Jane as being limp or muddled at all, and she was plenty assertive in her own right. I thought she hit a great balance between the excitement of meeting an alien vs. the pragmatic scientist she was. I would have loved to see Jane and Sif actually having a conversation or hanging out without the cloud of the stupid love triangle in the way. The majority of the complaints I have heard was that Jane was in the way of the more-natural Thor/Sif pairing, since that followed the mythology, and Sif was more popular. And Branagh confirmed that Sif did have feelings for Thor in the first one, (although it was far too subtle to make any kind of dent) so that only fed into the hype. I guess what bothers me is that even if Thor and Jane didn't have any chemistry, that doesn't mean Thor and Sif automatically do. Portman didn't have a problem with playing Jane, she was upset because Patty Jenkins was supposed to direct the sequel and pulled out or was fired. The details aren't 100%, but Portman was pissed. I'm thinking that the lukewarm reception towards Jane in addition to the switch in directors were why she wanted out. But it didn't matter, she was contractually bound, and she was pretty vocal about that, too.

For the most part, I agree. I actually like Sif, but the constant Jane hate in favor of Sif has really put a damper on that for me. I don't think Thor and Sif have any more chemistry than Thor and Jane, because Thor has made it clear that he has no romantic interest in Sif at all. They're not following the comics right now where Thor and Sif are together. There haven't been any implications that he sees her as something more, and any scenes of a love triangle in the sequel was ditched for time. Although I am not complaining about that. Love triangles are such a tired trope, and I would rather see Jane and Sif on the same side instead of fighting over a guy. I would find it annoying if Thor ends up with Sif, because again, there's been nothing that implies he feels that way for her. And Thor has been in three films now, and Jane is the only one he's pined for. I think one reason Jane gets all the hatred is because Natalie Portman was so vocal about not wanting to return to the franchise, and that soured a lot of viewers on the character. But I like her and Thor together; they're a sweet couple. I do think that Jane was more impressive in the first film, though. I can appreciate that in the midst of the craziness, Jane is still a brilliant scientist who was trying to get shit done. In the sequel, she's completely reliant on Thor and is in damsel-in-distress mode for most of the film. I would have liked to see her getting acclimated to Asgard, but again, stuff was cut for time. They could have added on an additional 30 minutes to the sequel and it would have helped immensely. Give Jane something to do, flesh out Malekith more, etc. TDW is actually the shortest Marvel film to date, and it shows in the editing and cuts. Here's hoping for a director's cut.