Donny Ketchum

I think it was that, plus Ramsay was still pissed off at Katie for nominating herself last week.

I was referring to your statement about people getting rewarded with castings on reality shows after acting horribly. Both Natalie and Nadiya ran the gamut for that in TAR21 and TAR24, no matter how much entertainment value they had. I agree with this. Last season, Spencer had most of the Brains' confessionals since he had the most animated personality of them all, and he didn't win, either.

Then what does that say about Natalie and Nadiya's casting? ;)

Seems like every single time we think the women have ditched all of their weak links, new ones keep emerging. First Janai, then Denine, then Kalen, and now Katie fucks up everything left and right and deservedly goes home because of it. And Roe turns out to be not much of a prize herself, either. Are LaTasha, Sade, Ashley, and Jennifer seriously the only four truly competent chefs on that team? Meanwhile, Sterling is thrown under the bus despite only having one bad service (and not even this current service!) while they have Steve, who's fucked up two, and Santos, who's fucked up quite a bit but still avoided the chopping block somehow! I'm almost positive that he's not getting tossed next week. I think he's being moved to the women's team to even up the numbers with Katie gone. I agree with Ramsay's frustration. I see no obvious winner from either team. Sade, LaTasha, and Jennifer seem like the best of the women, and . . . I don't see any breakout stars among the men. Sterling and Aaron seem like the most competent, but even they have their own stumbles.

That would explain why Gwen didn't have that big of a smile on her face when she chose her. After that, I'm pretty sure both she and Blake were hoping that the other would be chosen. I bet she dumps her even if she's better than her opponent in the battle rounds.

I'm stunned by how many women choose Blake. When the battle rounds come along, and they're up against a man, Blake's gonna pick the man even if the woman wipes the floor with said man. On his team, the only chance a woman has is against another woman, and the only time a man has to worry is against another man. Similarly, I worry for the men who picked Gwen. With her playing the "girl" card with so many girls, I think she'll automatically pick the woman over the man in the battle rounds even if the man clearly beats the woman. Pharrell and, despite how little I care for him, Adam are the only two coaches I can see being gender-neutral with their team members.

Speaking of Brett, how the hell is he still part of the main cast? As Ward is now, he's totally useless. And what's more, how's B.J., who's been in every episode since his introduction and whose character has come to gell very well with the team ever since, still on recurring? They added bland, boring Nick to the cast, but passed over Trip?! WTF?!

Gotta ask again. What are food scientists?

Different strokes, I guess. I thought it was brilliantly done. Billy acted circles around James. Easily.

"Is it possible to be a DiMera and a decent human being at the same time?" Oh, Eric. How soon you forget Lexie. And Chad on his better days.

I see. And two more things. I don't get why she killed Molly, the vet, to try and achieve this. And what was she saying as she was hauled off? The farther away she got, the less I could understand her.

And yet . . . Marge was still more remorseful and guilt-ridden over that one action she took than Sami has ever been over any bad thing she's done over the years. :-P Thank you, Lastwaltz! Yes, I, too, blame the writers more for her recent actions than the character. It's angst they really don't need. Though if, down the road, they start having Paige learn the secrets of her own family, too (and J.J. learns them, as well), I could roll with this.

Doesn't mean I'm going to stick around to read it. And I'm not.

 It does! Thanks! :)

Before everyone starts jumping on Paige AGAIN, how do we know she made the full leap based on one talk with Kayla? She could've just figured out Kayla was his nurse and nothing more. Meh. Whatever. It's like talking to brick walls. You people can trash her all you like. I'm maintaining my membership card to her fan club.

Well, don't forget that Rumple has things in his shop from people whose deaths or disappearances he didn't have anything to do with, as well. So it's not a far cry for me that neither Charming nor Hook put the pieces together. On a side note, is anyone noticing Michael Socha's name in the starring portion of the credits? Does this mean Will/the Knave is crossing over here down the road?

I enjoyed the episode greatly. Fast-paced, a lot happened, and I continue to enjoy Elsa and Anna on the show. And I found it absolutely adorable when Emma said, "Cool. . . . Pun intended" to Elsa and she responded with a wonderful little smile. Also liked that she had some time with Charming. I liked the David/Anna flashback scenes, and I enjoyed Bo Peep. Did not see it coming they'd make her a villainess. Looking forward to the Snow Queen next week! :)

I suspect that's why Val tried to rally the Coyopa women, too, in the premiere. For that very reason you said above. Unfortunately, it seemed like Baylor was almost eager and desperate to prove what society thinks as correct rather than the contrary.

There was also Joseph & Monica struggling with carrying the pots in Thailand in TAR9, as well as Duke & Lauren being in trouble in Vietnam TAR10. There was also the preview of Mika & Canaan and the waterslide in Dubai in TAR15. In all of those cases, the teams in question were indeed eliminated after being hinted at as being in trouble.

As I said on Friday night, I hope the injury one of them seems to get does take them out next week, whether by them withdrawing like Dave & Connor in TAR22, or just by them being too slow to move at the tasks and coming in last naturally.

"Ill-Bred" reran last week, and I'm still confused, even after seeing it three times, as to what Paige's motive was supposed to be. Or what she was even trying to do. What was she going for?

Did you see what Dennis was wearing at the starting line? A button-down collared shirt rather than an exercise/fitness-based shirt like the other teams. Once I saw him wearing that, I pretty much figured they likely wouldn't be that long for the race. I guess it was a Roadblock revolving around . . . something. But there were some teams I didn't see with those at all, so I wonder what was going on. But the editing out thing? Why, they couldn't take away from Bethany's inspirational storyline of only having one arm, the teams' struggles on the punts, Michael & Scott's Boston mentions, or the various meltdowns of Brooke, Nici, and Isabelle, could they? No, sir. They couldn't.

It is. I've never seen one given so openly or blatantly.

I guess that odd musical cue when Kuvira was introduced in last season's finale really did hint that she'd play a big part this season. It was indeed a good premiere. I enjoyed the time jump, and seeing how everyone's changed. And little Rohan is walking now! Cute! Was I the only one who found Kai and Opal getting ambushed and robbed so soon after that guy refused Kuvira's offer way too convenient? Wouldn't be surprised if it was done by the bandits Kuvira spared earlier in the episode in exchange for their freedom and lives. I do hope Korra can put herself back together. Unlike most her, I quite like here and want to see her battle back to what she used to be.

This is actually the main reason why Micronesia and One World, for all of their faults, are two of my most favorite seasons of this show. We had two strong, unbreakable women's alliances stick together till the end of the game, resulting in an all-female F4 in Micronesia and an all-female F5 in One World. I'd even say Heroes vs. Villains had a mostly loyal alliance consisting predominantly of women, with the sole man pretty much the goat and thus an inconsequential part of the game, anyway. Please note that I'm a man, but I easily root for women on this show a lot more than men, and this game being harder for women is the main reason why. As for Baylor sinking the women this season . . . I go back and forth between wanting her to get a clue about her standing and wanting her out for what she did. Either option sooner rather than later.