Sentient Meat

Of course it isn't bad to note this... it's only problematic if you note this believing one side was right and one side is wrong... one side is wearing a white hat and one side is wearing the black hat. Liz was programmed to do what she did, just like we are programmed to believe the political system is democratic and not the product of oligarchy or plutocracy that predetermines elections by using data mining to tailor political advertisements and news coverage. Liz actually does things... we sit and do nothing while our "agents of change" continue the status quo. The takeaway should be that Oleg is the closest thing to a hero... and Philip and Elizabeth are collateral damage like everyone else.

Whenever you feel the urge to get on your high horse judging either Philip and Elizabeth, or Stan and his crew... remember that we all voted for a President who dropped 26,171 bombs in 2016 and he's considered the nice guy of the bunch. We are all complicit in our apathy to these horrors... as we will sit in our comfortable chairs saying tsk tsk to the terrible things that both sides are doing thinking somehow we are above all of this and we sit watching Homeland and The Americans secure in the knowledge that we would never stoop so low. We all are Henrys living in our ignorantly blissful bubbles watching CNN/MSNBC/FOX which are all uniformly sanitized of anything which might be of discomfort to those living in the post Vietnam news era. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/america-dropped-26171-bombs-2016-obama-legacy I think one of the key moments when Elizabeth regains some of her humanity is when the artist teaches her to see. Normally, or perhaps I should say most people tend to view the world in left hemisphere terms. A face is an oval shape, an eye is a circle with a dot, a mouth is a straight line. The artist teaches Elizabeth to see random shapes of light and dark as opposed to preconceived symbols... Russia is not Tchaikovsky, borscht, and a TV show from the motherland, America is not McDonalds, Epcot center, Jordache Jeans... they are both filled with nuances of light and color far beyond those broad strokes, and I think the show's ability to show those shades from characters on both sides of the struggle was its strongest point.

Lennie James was really good in the UK show Line of Duty also. Last week's episode was perhaps the first episode I enjoyed since they had an all Spanish episode a season or two back... and then they possibly kill the first decent character the either franchise has produced in years. If he's not dead, it's going to take a lot more than a fishhook and fishing line to sew up that chest wound. Please keep Dharma and Garret... and enough with trying to make Madison likeable... just reboot without her.

What a horrible ham handed way for Dr. Charles to handle Reese's father. He knows the man is a brilliant sociopath so his solution is to try to take him on himself... Ridiculous And Reese who is a trained professional would fall for his manipulations. Ethan and April's manufactured crisis... stupid. April tells him to help his sister... and then when he does, she wants no part of it? Goodwin's crisis... boring and predictable. Will's proposal after Natalie finding out about his fling? Really poor timing and it came off as desperate and lame. When Connor and Bekker's moment was the highlight of the show... you have a show that badly needs some retooling over the summer.

So Charles has a moral quandary over giving Reese a heads up about her dad... but has none over breaking and entering into his property? I suppose the writers would say in the case of stopping murder you can do more, but I think that writing is inconsistent regarding his character.

Why does this show get such terrible ratings? I think it's pretty interesting... especially the parts about how a musical production is made. The teen drama part is pretty mediocre, but I think the behind the scenes insights take it to a higher level. It's better than Glee for me personally. If it gets another season they should end with a live musical performance like they've been doing with all the classics the past few years.

I'm not Indian but I thought the same thing... I wonder if they'll have an antebellum Civil War Django Unchained zone too. Then again, if you go into the past... whether it's Raj land, or Samurai land, or Westworld... it's always going to be problematic for anyone who isn't the male ruling class. I saw a cable going from Abernathy into Bernard, so I assume he tried to upload the file to himself... I'm just not sure if he was able to finish, or if he got a corrupted version of the files.

But she didn't improve... she got worse and attacked Sigourney Weaver's character. At any rate, I don't mean to spoil everyone's enjoyment... I think it is a lot simply a matter of taste. I remember watching What About Bob? which is a film about a psychiatrist who can't get his annoying patient to leave. Many people I know love that film, and I find it frustrating because I would just tell him to get out... maybe people who are not assertive find it amusing or cathartic to watch. I didn't know the story about a Martin and his wife, but I did get that feeling towards the animals. The little dogs were all very cute, and I would have enjoyed them in another type of show.

I can appreciate the performances by the actors who play Penhale and Mrs. Tishell... you can tell they'd be quite good in a pure sitcom format... but they are so unbelievable in the context of a dramedy that they take me out of the show. I think if the show was written as a straight sitcom, they'd work just fine. The writers could have written Mrs. Tishell as a tragic, but still sympathetic character... that is how Martin is written, though they almost lost me when they did that horrible scene with the ribbon presenting ceremony at the school. Mrs. Tishell has zero redeeming qualities... she's rude to everyone but Martin, she was terrible to her husband, obsessively jealous. I can see how John Marquez is funny, he just is a broad, two dimensional character surrounded by more fully fleshed out ones. I don't mind the "tosser" scene with the young girls because I look at that as a distant offshoot of the Greek chorus device, and they only use it once per episode. But having to cruelly move the dogs several times per show just isn't funny to me. He's a brilliant surgeon who wouldn't put up with it... he'd put them in his car and take them to London if necessary.

Bert Large, Joe Penhale, Mrs. Tishell are three of the worst characters I've ever encountered in decades of tv viewing and it's unbelievable how the British find these people funny. I do like Martin, Louisa, Martin's Aunt, Al, and Morwenna as well as Portwenn itself so I've kept going... but it beggars belief that anyone with a functioning IQ could find the repetitive gags of the dog, of Bert and Joe's bumbling, and the misogynistic portrayal of Mrs. Tishell entertaining in the slightest... it makes me question how a nation that makes so many brilliant shows can tolerate this year after year. I expect the final season to be more of the same with hopefully at least a decent finale but it was hard going the past two seasons.

So barf composed of mac and cheese and sardines must have special qualities that mist otherwise excellent soldiers and make them suddenly unable to outrun or trace an out of shape coward. Good episode other than that... but I don't know how Daryl suddenly lost his basic ability to track.

Erin should date Abetemarco not her boring ex who no one even remembers his name. Jamie and Eddie should've been married long ago... it's no longer interesting the will they or won't they dragged on for eight years. Danny should date that woman advocate for her son as they share the loss of a loved one bond. Odd couples create new fresh storylines...

I respect your empathy, but that woman could've snapped that baby's neck if she wanted. I get that Charles might have been able to successfully intervene and I understand that ideally you would patiently wait for the woman to relent... but time was of the essence and the baby needed its drugs. If she was not holding the baby, I could have justified talking her down for hours but she was, so I didn't mind the subterfuge in that context.

I have no problem with what Reese did... maybe I've watched too many episodes of Survivor or Big Brother, but the baby's safety was paramount... she can spend some pro bono time counseling her afterwards if she feels guilty. I have more of a problem with what Maggie did as otherwise any nurse could get it into their head that they could do that... I like Maggie, and hope she only gets a slap on the wrist, but I get that one. Out on the road... sure, do a crike... inside the hospital... nope. I also have a problem with what Manning did... Like that she has a heart... but you can't really have doctors playing FDA just because they feel like it... she can go work for wherever Steve Jobs sought help, if she doesn't like traditional medicine. Wonder if doctors help each other out using facetime to do surgeries in real life.

But genocide is not the answer. It's practically speaking the safest solution... but you should at least try to reform the ones who showed him good faith by cutting them loose. I by no means said he should surrender to Negan... I said he should avoid becoming him simply to avoid more complicated solutions.

To be free to become another form of Negan? I get that they are all living in extraordinary circumstances, forced to live in primal conditions and make choices that no one in a civilized society should have to make, but even Negan with his terrible, fascist system that mirrors other modern dictatorships where free thought was sacrificed for security sees the value of humans as resources if nothing else. Morgan and Rick's journey somewhat mirrors Cormac McCarthy's the Road where a man and his son attempt to negotiate a post apocalyptic landscape and while the father loses his humanity out of devotion to protecting his son, the son still retains the innocence that has been lost. The sons are like flash drives that contain a reboot to what remained from the world before and the fathers can only think of what will protect them and have done so at the cost of their own humanity. What good does it do to avenge your son by killing Negan, if you have become a form of Negan yourself? The easy thing would be for the writers to have Rick kill Negan in a blaze of glory with Lucille reduced to a coil of wire and ash... but instead they have gone somewhere unexpected by explaining Negan and Rick's transformations as a natural evolution wrought by circumstance. I haven't enjoyed the prolonged 16 episodes edging session to which the writers have subjected the audience, but I finally get where they are going and it actually might be interesting.

The episode was a win for me if only because Jadis went back to a normal hairstyle and conventional speech pattern. Thank you, writers... now if you only can do the same at some later point with Ezekiel. Moving epiphany when Morgan answered Rick that he saved him because "his son was there", and then Rick had to look at himself in that anvilicious mirror. I'm not sure though that he had yet got it when he and Michonne exchanged I love yous... but hopefully it finally hits him after the letter. Endless repeated cycles of vengeance are the cause of so many much misery and war... doesn't matter who's right or wrong... at a certain point it just needs to stop. If this show only gets that point across, then maybe it will all be worth it.

I wasn't talking about Miranda Otto... I'm talking about the woman he recruited from the university this season, I think she played a guard in Orange is the New Black. I think Claire Danes can be attractive and would do very well with the average population but they seem to pair her up with handsome leads every season like Carrie from Sex and the City would have men much more pretty than her throwing themselves at her feet.

I agree on a practical level that what she's doing to Franny is terribly irresponsible, but on an emotional level... assuming no one gets killed or permanently maimed along the way, when she's an adult Franny will probably appreciate how much her mother loved her, and be moved at the level of Carrie's dedication to try and do both things. Remember, she went through the phase of acting like her daughter didn't exist, and now that she's built a bond with her and in a chaotic state of mind, she's gone too far in the opposite direction. I remember years ago, asking some friends if they had to choose between saving their child's life and the rest of humanity... who would you save? I was surprised by how a few were so ego centric that they would choose their child over the rest of the world. Let alone the sheer psychic and emotional damage you would cause the child by forcing them to grow up in a hopeless world with no people, knowing that your parent killed everyone... isn't that just pure selfishness? Every time someone signs up for public service, they are not only risking themselves but the well being of their family... if not in the extreme case of people trying to directly kill your family as revenge, but simply by inflicting the constant worry that one day they might pick up the phone and discover you are dead. Whether it's as a soldier or spy, this is the type of sacrifice these people make... and putting aside politics which have put us in some very questionable wars... most of the time it is a very honorable thing. I think this is part of what the writers are exploring, the cost of trying to do the right thing. Sure it would be great if Carrie had a loving house husband who could protect Franny while she's saving the world... but she doesn't so improvising and exploiting the good will of her sister's family is the only play she has. It's not a tale about irresponsibility but about impossible choices imo.

Scott Speedman looks like a cross between Derek and Meredith... or if he were younger, he could be their child. Loved the scene with Kepner and the Rabbi... hopefully this is the end of her unhappy/self destructive period.

I meant when De Niro was young not now of course...As far as Saul goes, I thought the Russian expert was pretty deep into middle age... she's heavy set so maybe I'm wrong and she's a lot younger. I don't mind the awkwardness of the scenes themselves... I have trouble believing that she has the power to manipulate many handsome men with her overwhelming charms. I think Danes works as the ugly duckling type... I don't think she works as a femme fatale type... YMMV. Remember, I like the actress... just think they should take a different angle with the character. Like I think Maggie Gyllenhaal was great in Secretary, but poorly cast in The Dark Knight. JMO

For me Claire Danes is like the female De Niro of acting... at least the young Bobby anyway... she's a reasonably attractive woman like De Niro is a decent looking guy, who absolutely kills it when doing the dramatic scenes, like the revelation scene with Saul, but all her lovemaking scenes range from uninteresting to cringeworthy... and I'm talking all the way back to Brody. Seeing as she's an executive producer, maybe she insists on putting in plenty of lovemaking scenes with men with whom she likes to work, maybe the showrunners feel like she is incredibly alluring, but while I thoroughly enjoy watching her outsmart the world as well as her incredible portrayal of bipolarism, I mentally check out when she has her obligatory tryst with which ever tortured soul of the season has decided he can't live without her. At least De Niro has the sense to minimize these type of roles and work in his wheelhouse. Personally, I'd rather watch Saul hook up with his Russian expert, or see her involved with Max then act like she's some female James Bond who men cannot resist. Gal Gadot... sure, Claire Danes, not so much.

Kandyse McClure... Kalu's patient turned possible love interest played Dualla on Battlestar Galactica.

The lead character reminds me of House if he wasn't good at his job and decided to slum it as a school nurse in Toledo. Hopefully, at some point he actually finds a way to teach them something, because although I get how he's exposing them to real world subjects that nerds might not discuss... no matter how bright they are they still need to cover the material. House worked as a character because he actually helped people at the end of the day.

If I were Charles, I would trust Reese enough to conspire with her. In other words, I'd say... Sarah, I want to tell you something but if you expose me it could potentially ruin my career. Especially as he already did the ethical thing by reasoning with him in the context of his illness, and pointing out how it was to his advantage to tell her about his psychological condition. Once the dad screwed him over, (which was predictable, given his illness) Charles should give her a heads up, and sleep like a baby afterwards. Sarah would distance herself emotionally, treating him as a patient in her mind, and still be able to help him should she so choose given her specialty and his condition... but at least she wouldn't be blindsided and hurt once again if she knows what she's dealing with. Maybe she would be too distraught to keep up the charade to protect Charles... but I think she's proven that she's tough enough to handle difficult situations. To me it's no different than giving a colleague a heads up if someone had an infectious disease and knew the person didn't want to disclose it. Technically it's wrong, but I wouldn't care as my friend's safety would be more important than that rule in my book.