gesundheit

I assumed it would be eventually, but I'm glad Phoebe's affair is finally connected to the main thread about family violence. It had seemed like a corny add-on to what was otherwise such a lovely show. I can't remember all the names but I was also glad to see how they depicted Ry falling prey to another controller and how easy it is for that to happen, when the new one seems like a rescue from the old one.

I've really enjoyed it, too, and I thought I'd be miserable about the 90 minute episodes! But I felt like I knew more people and there were more reward challenges (as opposed to reward/immunity combo challenges) and the editors had more time to show us the funny moments. And we got the whole opening credits back! It's also been interesting that I think they genuinely mean it when they keep talking about how much they all like each other, but that's yielding jury members who are more bitter, not less. Seriously, what was that? How was it going to throw off anyone from thinking he's looking for an idol? Is he normally naked on the raft??

That was a bummer, and I guess now I have to shift from rooting for a great underdog player to rooting for the great player I was resisting due to her frontrunner status/team (Julie). Now if Julie had booted Austin, that would've been magical. And would've been a near perfectly-constructed episode narrative arc, too, what with the the whole Dee/Austin thread throughout. I hope everyone quickly realizes Dee is putting on a whole show.

It was definitely an odd choice of letter to give to her. But maybe they don't have a choice and just give them whatever letters the families/friends provide? I don't honestly know. (Tonight some of the voiceovers made it sound like some of them got multiple letters.) If I were her mom I doubt I'd write her that letter, too much risk of exactly what she did -- announcing on television that she cut off her mother. Just seemed like information a little too sensitive to be working through in that forum. I know they talk about personal things on this show all the time, but this felt darker.

Still wondering/worrying if there's something bigger that just hasn't aired yet, which would explain why they focused on it earlier in the season

I had some discomfort around that as well -- it always bugs me when someone says "not my real dad" about the person who adopted and raised them. That's definitely her real dad! I'm glad she has a wonderful relationship with her bio-dad, but it's just a little uncomfortable. Of course we don't know what additional context they edited out, so my thinking "okay so he knew the whole time and obviously had no interest in partial custody or, worse, tried for it and was denied for a very good reason??" is based on the most meager of information. But I admit my immediate instinct is always to get my hackles up a little bit at "not my real dad/not actually my dad" language. But again, who knows. I agree, I think she's probably doing the best thing possible for her game -- if her alliance of 5 does manage to vote out everyone else, then it's two pairs and a tie-breaker left. It's much more likely that the two pairs will then divide up somehow and try to keep Emily in their side of 3 for numbers.

Oh wow, I had completely forgotten about that! Of course they put her name out there!

You were definitely not the only one! I was so worried! Ultimately though, that was fun as hell. I liked Kellie, but as others have said above, it's so rare that it's that big a shock to someone. I should've known when they focused on her saying Jake had started playing too hard too early, especially with Jeff acting so performatively mystified that Jake thought it would be unanimous. Great to see the auction back, including really gross stuff! Why, Austin, why??

Agreed - I was disappointed too, but Katurah really made the safer choice. Given that the whole thing was riding on Austin flipping his vote with zero reliable proof that it would actually happen, had she voted with Kaleb and Jake, she would've risked getting kicked out herself or alienating all her allies if it went to rocks. Hoist/petard/etc. She made the right choice even though the result is a bummer. In doing the flash-forward about what it would look like at tribal if their plan went through, however, it became extremely obvious the plan wouldn't go through, so the editing there was a real wet blanket on any actual suspense.

Not sure where in her body there was room for that tapeworm!

It's also really really bad that she leveraged this for a major promotion and made someone else complicit in the cover-up as well. It's not just about that knee-jerk instinct to protect family, that part is only human. But the rest is ugly.

I was surprised -- I hadn't even heard! I think they just wanted to suggest that technology had advanced, even just a few years. I feel like this is the problem with all of them so far (I've only seen the first 3 of the season) -- we see where they're going but they take so long to get there and then when they do? Bam! It's over.

But this is just it -- we knew that her closest allies were against her, but not why. Those women were considered by everyone else to be an extremely tight alliance, so it seems way too early to be turning on each other. I imagine very few people will want to work with Dee or Julie after seeing what they do to their closest allies. Even if they did find her annoying or knew she'd ultimately turn on them. On the other hand, I can see why Dee might be eager to get rid of J so that Dee herself never gets exposed for that Sifu vote. (She's lucky J didn't announce it on the way out!)

I have to say, the fact that it was only Lulu at TC before the tribe mix-up means that I didn't really have enough time to get clear on the original members of the other two tribes. So now all this talk about Reba vs Belo means nothing to me, because I have no idea who was on which tribe. I can't keep the "who knew who and was aligned before" components straight. I'm with all of you who didn't understand why everyone was so anti-J. Bummed to see her go, but I guess better her than Kaleb, because that moment was a sheer delight.

Oh wow, I missed that completely. I kept waiting for some reveal on why there was such a big reaction to that.

That's what really cracked me up -- his build-up narrative to the "vote me out" request framed it like it was some social justice/self-actualization revelation. Hilarious. It'd be one thing if something about this experience & isolation made him realize he was ready to reject the Mormon tenets he was raised with and come out or something, but nope, he just wants to be able to Zoom from Ponderosa with the man he already married. A week or two earlier than he otherwise would've.

Agreed on Chip, I hate this "in love with Alex, sad boy" subplot. Also agreed on Tig Notaro, but I hope this episode is an indication that she'll have more to do soon! (Regarding Shari Belafonte, I have to say that even though I was a Hotel viewer back in the day, I'm not sure I'd seen her in anything after that until her recent recurring General Hospital role, in which she was... awkward, let's say. So I was nervous to see her here, but she's acquitting herself nicely when they do use her.)

Just miserable. And I think there really needs to be a rule against asking to be voted out. No. Just quit, don't use up a TC on that nonsense. Folks are welcome to just not put up a fight when they're on the bottom, but otherwise I think they should just have to quit the old-fashioned way and make the producers have to pivot to make an episode arc. I think it may make her an appealing ally in that she doesn't automatically go back to her Lulu teammates after the merge. In other words, as an ally they might get to keep her. I hope she finds a way to spin it. She could say she thought Sean may have been putting on a show to then play an idol and vote her out or something, so she had to just randomly pick someone else to vote out to stay alive.

That scene where Scabby Face Unfortunate Bangs told Jay she was jumping ship was incredible -- imagine being told by her that you need to get your life together.

I do think this season is better than last season, and I also find Alex an interesting character. Can't say the same for Bradley, though, or her thoroughly unconvincing queerness. And the brother coincidence was outlandish even for this show.

Ah thank you for that, I hadn't realized it was decided after the season was shot!

Hee! Ugh, the astrology stuff annoys me so much. I was bummed when I heard about the 90-minute episodes, but the one silver lining was that I was sure it meant going back to separate challenges. No such luck thus far. Must've been in the kitchen stirring my frozen dinner when he explained that -- what was the tribal council reset rule?

I'm definitely not sure, I could've just been making assumptions because the scenes were back-to-back

He was definitely working a program, he had his 30 day chip from NA. I was a little uncomfortable about the dramatic choice to have him request to stay with his wife and, the very night she stands her ground, he falls off the wagon and dies. I know it wasn't the intent, but a shallow read of it could feel like she should've let him stay. Obviously she shouldn't have, and I'm giving too much credence to a simplistic takeaway. But it still stuck in my craw a little. I agree that this was better than Dopesick. Uzo Aduba and Taylor Kitsch were the real standouts in this, I think -- interesting since they never shared the screen. Aduba just crushed me. The coda at the end with Subconscious/Ghost Uncle beating the crap out of Richard and then the silly graphic of the Sackler name crumbling to dust were entirely unnecessary, but otherwise I think in particular these final 3 episodes were really strong.

Best episode so far (#3 was a bit much with all the fast-cut montages set to loud music). But I hope the next time we all sit through a piece of storytelling about this, there's a new and slightly happier ending. It's just torture to see every moment of hope and know it all ends the same way. Unrelated: people on TV are constantly getting rid of out-of-control people by putting them in cars to drive. "You're so high you can't even fasten your seatbelt! Here, let me help you with that so you can drive through this town where all our loved ones live and drive!"