Sentient Meat

The actors are so much better than the over the top material... it's like they've tried to make a campy Empire version of Emergency, and though it is never boring, sometimes the show's absurdity just takes you out of any genuine emotion. They should slowly reel it back in and keep some of the outrageous, exciting story lines, but tone it down enough to keep the characters and back stories believable. I've enjoyed the whole exploration of Peter Krause's character and the bonding with Kenneth Cho's Chimney. Connie Britton deserves a better love interest... the younger man plot line was fine but that character is just terrible. Athena and Hen should have had a relationship instead of the lame stories about their respective spouses... I have such a love/hate feeling towards this show... but I've enjoyed some of these recent episodes where they played it like a regular drama.

This show feels like watching only the torture scenes from Game of Thrones with no interesting characters or witty banter to break up the monotony. I still have no idea what the plan is or was, and the show was so bad this whole season that I didn't have the energy to rewatch or even read recaps. It was so laughably poor that I thought maybe they got Tommy Wiseau to guest direct and write in honor of the release of the Disaster Artist. The montage of close ups in the sewer weren't cool or artsy, but comically silly like the outtakes of a straight to video movie from the eighties. I think Dwight is the only character I care about right now. Fuck the writers for making me suffer through 8 hours of this not to mention the entirety of Fear the Walking Dead. Even The Talking Dead rambling on in the background while I write this is pissing me off.

I don't get why Lauren didn't grab a pole and golf her half of the idol out of the fire. I don't know of any rule that prevents that, especially considering its unprecedented nature. I don't want him to win, but if Ben can squirm his way to final three, he deserves it at this point.

I've only watched the pilot, but I think the show is brilliant so far... it feels like vintage era Woody Allen/Neil Simon with a feminist twist... and Rachel Brosnahan is a revelation. Watching her reminded me of when I saw Michelle Pfeiffer do the Fabulous Baker Boys after only knowing her from Scarface... you knew she was beautiful already, but what an actress as well. The only criticism I have which is the one I normally have for any fictional portrayal of the world of stand-up, is that the routines themselves aren't funny. This worked well with the husband who wasn't supposed to be very good, but not so much with Midge's part (As I said I've only seen the first episode, so maybe her material is great by the end) However, the dialogue is terrific and it feels very distinct and period appropriate in comparison to the Gilmore Girls, so kudos to Amy Sherman as well, Also, no way does that schlubb leave that woman in real life. Excited to see the rest of it.

Not a banner episode in the franchise... Dealing with budgetary problems... already done to death in Grey's Anatomy... if you want to go there, why not deal with something real like the political ramifications of cutting health care, the effect of the ACA on patients, you don't even need to take a side, but just present something real and tangible. Choi and April have fast forwarded to the second half of Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage. No honeymoon period... just already fighting with each other. If you want people to root for a couple, you need to show some good moments for awhile... this is Romcom 101, writers. I can't tell what they are doing with Reese and Daniel's dynamic... at first I thought it was going somewhere specific, but it's beginning to feel half baked. Agree with what was said above about the vegan woman... it started out interesting and then the forced epiphany scene was terrible. It seems as though they are slowly transitioning Robin's character out as I haven't seen her in a few episodes. Maybe the actress is just working on another project... maybe they are setting up a love triangle thing with Connor's rival, but it's odd that she's been reduced to an off camera character. Anyway, with so much happening in the real world, people forced to cut off medication because of insurance woes... you'd think there would be a goldmine of issues to discuss beyond generic issues.

At this glacial pacing, the next season will be a reconstruction of the final hour of battle from 16 different perspectives... one episode devoted to each person's real time view. I mean it's kind of like this already, but I imagine it even being more dragged out. Whoever writes this is just cut and pasting Yoda's syntactical patterns onto Jadis and I don't know where they are getting Eugene's lines from but they've gone past the point of eccentric into SNL like parody. Just find any old writer at the academy retirement home and give them something to do for God's sake... anyone who wrote old episodes of Mannix or the Partridge Family could do better job than this, it's just shockingly poor. I love this show, but whoever is running and or writing this is killing it.

In big brother, they would cover tattoos if it had someone's likeness or some sort of copyright violation like a band's logo or lyrics

I'd say the best way would be for them always to have a native form of nutrition, such as the coconuts or mussels... or fish nearby. That way it still keeps within the spirit of the show without putting them in danger. But having this parade of product placement feasts... Outback was one if I remember... makes it feel more like Big Brother in Paradise. Which is fine with me... I'm a fan of big brother... but they shouldn't call it Survivor anymore.

Yeah, I don't want people to be in danger of starvation... in some of the earliest seasons it seemed like they actually were... but all the drama such as players sabotaging the rice is mostly gone, because you can just win a reward challenge in a couple days. This season seems especially generous... I remember when they were glad to have an eating challenge just to get protein. And the food auction was a big deal!

This season has had so many reward challenges, they might as well start calling the game Outdoor Big Brother. All of the old school Survivor aspect seems to have gone... maybe they needed to do this because it was getting harder for them to cast who they wanted... but the danger of any real hardship seems to be gone this year. I don't hate Chrissy as much as many do here... she genuinely seems to love the game and her arrogant talking head segments aren't much different than Devon's except hers are paired with a typical alpha personality so they seem much worse. I think Ben would also be a bad sport if he got burned like she did. This being said, I don't want her to win because she seems already rich and gotten her way her entire life, but I won't be mortified either. After viewing the first episode I wouldn't want Dr. Mike anywhere near my junk any more than I'd have a gypsy body repair guy work on my car. I could see him justifying it by saying, I was paranoid and I didn't want to go home with my idol in my pocket... but acting like it was part of a master plan really made me lose faith in his judgment. Mike went to Brown and Simone went to Harvard and Columbia... makes you wonder about the Ivy League screening process. I'm sure they are very bright and good at standardized tests, but I'm amazed at the lack of common sense and emotional intelligence. Devon is shiny because he has olive skin... his coloring is unusual because you don't normally see it with light colored eyes. I don't know why people say they dislike the season... I liked almost every player in some way this year except for Cole... and he was great in challenges. Only thing bad about it was that some good players got booted early, but that's because even people who you'd normally peg as not too sharp actually were.

I still like the show but I agree that it's flawed. It's not prime era ER or St. Elsewhere, or even Grey's Anatomy but even Grey's is a shadow of its former self. All hospital dramas have workers sleeping with each other, not simply because I'm sure this happens it most hospitals like any other large workplace but because the budget of shows doesn't allow sprawling narratives and casts that can explore detailed back stories outside of the main set. The reason HBO and Netflix are so much better than most network shows is because people pay subscriptions and they run almost at a loss just to gain more market share. Also they don't have time or censorship restrictions like regular television. These days with shrinking ratings, primetime shows are almost run like daytime serials. Unless you are independently wealthy like Seth McFarlane and make a labor of love like The Orville you are only going to get a drama with these limitations. However, despite all this I think its main problem is that two of its female lead characters are beautiful but not great actors. (Natalie and April) Maybe three if you include Robin but probably Reese is the only one of the younger women that stands out for me and they have her as the third or fourth plot point option when the show probably would do better if it was centered around her. Maggie or Sharon are better actors, but sadly you cannot drive ratings with older average looking characters. Same goes for Daniel. The male characters overall have better actors portraying them, and Nick Gehlfuss wasn't the problem so much as Halstead was a terrible character, but they've fixed most of his narcissism for now so this is why I place any Manstead dislike on Torrey. The jury's still out for me on Choi/April... agree that it was rushed and came out of nowhere but maybe they can salvage it somehow. April's relationship with the football player was boring... so I'm hoping Brian or the writers can help raise Yaya's game and make it into something more interesting. Unlike Torrey, I think Yaya's maybe capable of more than the dull, gloomy character she's portrayed so far. Finally,I don't know why they keep saddling Reese with these goofy men... she deserves better than third string comic relief. Why not have her help Latham informally with his Asperger's and date him instead of Noah? I know the age gap is a lot, but those two would be way more interesting and they are both my favorites right now.

Whoever told the writers or producers that we liked characters wandering around blithering like LARPers should be smacked upside the head. This is the Walking Dead, not Critical Role... and what may have been charming initially in small doses is really taking me out of the show. This episode was like playing a boring shooter video game, where your players had to walking through endless corridors, looking into every room. The problem is that there are no establishing shots to explain the context of anything, so all dramatic tension is reduced to a guessing game. A well crafted show would let the characters know the numbers and placement of the enemy so you would know whether to feel nervous or not. Instead, this played like someone flipping a coin, where if you opened a door you might be as likely to find something as not. What I always loved about the show was the characters, and the occasional suspense sequence... not this poorly executed action show that aspires for an artsy quality but instead comes off as silly. Thank God I enjoyed Stranger Things and Mind Hunter this month because this show has been a severe disappointment so far. And one last thing, just because you change the person showing mercy from Morgan to Jesus, doesn't make your idea any fresher. It's still recycling the same debate... try something new next season.

The FBI didn't care about Holden's lie until Agent Smith mailed them the tape, forcing the protocols into place. We are talking about an agency connected to a government not far removed from a bombing campaign in Cambodia that killed thousands of civilians and was a catalyst in a genocide that killed 20% of a nation's population. They were laughing at the situation until someone forced them into action. This show reminded me of Plato's allegory of the cave, in that everyone except Holden and the serial killers are incapable of seeing beyond the comfortable parameters dictated by the construct of a seventies mentality where many viewed the Bradys and the Waltons without the slightest hint of irony. They cannot yet imagine the scope of abuse in an institution such as the Catholic Church, so of course they cannot see that this tickling is anything other than harmless child's play. Wendy is a brilliant woman who comes across at first as somewhat daring because she is brave enough to be gay at a time when it was much more difficult, but she like the FBI is mired in the conventionality of her systematic approach. This what I thought her reaction to the tuna was about, she performs her experiments but may not like to really look at the true nature of the data. Similarly, Tench seems to be playing a perfectly decent man, and many here have praised the flawed "realness" of his character, but he is also like the others very limited in spite of his relatively liberal mind for that time, completely sublimating his issues with his wife and his autistic child by playing the cliched role of that time of the distant father who buried himself in his work and golfing. He can see that the distant father is a consistent trope in the development of a serial killer's rage, yet somehow he cannot apply this lesson to himself. Ultimately, even bright,, intuitive Debbie cannot accept this version of Holden that has been molded by his epiphanies although it is unclear whether this was caused by the distance formed by Holden's metamorphosis or the actual change itself. Remember that Holden is the one who allows the work to come into their bedroom when he becomes distracted by her clothing after dealing with Brudos. Instead of communicating his confusion over the issue with her, he creates a separation... which leads to her dalliance with the grad student. At this point, we only see Debbie through Holden's POV and she has become a subject, rather than a person in his mind. He doesn't even bother to fully communicate with her during their breakup, he analyzes the data, and determines she exhibits the outward appearance of someone who wants to separate. This of course, might be perfectly accurate, but like the chicken or the egg, we don't know at this point. I think it is a very interesting show. where hopefully the characters are only just beginning their journeys.

The way Jo treated Glasses made it hard for me to root for her and Alex to get back together. Nothing wrong with her not being attracted to him, but then stealing his surgery was just gross and bullying Maybe they'll put him with April since that seems to be over. Enjoyed the rest of it... it was good to see Teddy and Abigail Spencer. Glad they explained Amelia's condition because her character was making no sense at all.

This has nothing to do with gender at least as far as I'm personally concerned. I'm a dyed in the wool socialist... so I'd say the same about a male character. I'm rooting for Daenerys's vision of the world... although I'm worried after watching her torch the Tarlys.

They are not mutually exclusive desires... Sansa although she has grown and matured in many ways... still would have some of the old Sansa inside her. Perhaps Arya was overly judgmental but why would the writers raise this point, if it meant nothing?

Because she wants it for position and material wealth, and Dany despite her arrogant manner, wants to make the world a better place as does Jon. I like Sansa, but she's like a typical Washington politician in that respect.

Do you all think her burning of the Tarlys foreshadows that she's not the end game of the show? At least in terms not becoming the final ruler of Westeros?

She better... :)

Jaqen H'ghar owes Arya a full refund from his University of Phoenix quality creeping academy. Outsmarted by Little finger? So disappointing.

Sansa and Arya had their differences, but nothing to foreshadow killing a sibling. I'm not sure that Arya would kill Theon... let alone her blood relative. As I said, her look seemed one of envy... that Arya was a truly liberated warrior queen... like Daenerys or even Cersei in her warped way. But maybe it's simple sibling rivalry... but I think it's a reach to think Arya wants to kill her or (as the other poster wondered) that she wants to kill Brienne I don't even think she'd try to kill the Hound a second time unless he attacked her first. Arya usually has very sound reasons for who she wants dead... unlike Cersei's which tend to be more personal. My original theory was not... I was responding to someone who disagreed with my other take.

I like Sansa... but I was trying to find a plausible explanation other than petty sibling rivalry why she would be looking at her that way. Maybe she just is envious that she can fight... but there was a reason for that look even though we don't know yet what it is. I was hoping it was something noble.

I think Sansa was awakening from her Queen of the North fantasies and realizing that Arya, not her should be the ruler of Winterfell. At least I hope all that was misdirection and the years of hardship and maturing doesn't lead her right back to the petty squabbles that they had as children. Of course they put Littlefinger right next to her to make us think that... but I'm hoping they work together. Tough choice for Tyrion... choosing between a better world for Westeros and saving the only he family member he loves. I think his action was a reasonable and sympathetic one... don't help either and pray for the best. I thought Jon and Daenerys were cousins but they are Aunt and Nephew... I suppose by Westeros standards less creepy than Jaime and Cersei, but I find it hard to believe they will stay together. Still it looks as fate will throw together at least for the short term as Davos pointed out Jon noticing her heart, as well Jon listening to her analog checklist of her philosophical compatibility points. I wonder what happened to the gold... is it all a melted pile? I suppose it weighs a ton, so no one is likely to steal it. Great episode.

I don't get why they don't make the unedited versions available on Hulu or YouTube... I get if Fox only gave them a limited amount of episodes... but this is a montage show disguised as a regular competition. The Voice and X-Factor formula is a tried and true method that works if you actually use it... but all you did was show highlights and gut it beyond recognition. You could save your show if you would just commit to the changes instead of fake them. Still looking forward to the live shows... but no wonder you keep bleeding ratings.

I also saw the show as a cross between Justified and Breaking Bad... except this show used its location much better than Justified and didn't feel as though you could've shot it just as easily on one of those old Gilligan's Island type sets. Also Laura Linney played a much more likeable version of Skyler, where you could empathize with her feelings of isolation in the marriage and I was pleasantly surprised he ended up working on his marriage instead of hooking up with the restaurant owner or one of the girls at the strip club. My main pet peeve was that there were too many plot holes and over the top incidents that forced you to almost constantly suspend disbelief. The electrocution, the fake out baptism, the Carl Jr. vs. Mexican cartel standoff, plus the psycho FBI agent were some of the highlights of many unbelievable moments. But still it had a lot of likeable, nuanced characters that elevated it beyond Sons of Anarchy territory. I'll definitely watch it, if they make more seasons.