gesundheit
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Posts posted by gesundheit
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On 1/4/2024 at 6:50 PM, shelley1234 said:
Natalia is a better person that I would be if I was her. The grace and forgiveness she has shown to Michael is not somethign I think I could do.
I wonder if her feelings changed once she will have watched the episodes. And how he is still manipulating and lying to discount his part in what happened to her. How his lawyer was painting Natalia as the problem over and over again. That she was violent. That she was overly sexual. That she was manipulative. Michael's lawyer works for him, so he is working on his behalf.
I hope Natalia continue to find peace and the answers she seeks.
And maybe she was! Maybe she did have weird sexual obsessions and maybe she did physically act out! It would make sense with her history. But none of it changes the caregiver culpability. That's the saddest part, is that there's this subtext that if Natalia did even a handful of the things they've accused her of, it justifies the abuse in some way. It doesn't matter!
On 1/4/2024 at 8:47 PM, MagicEyes said:Also I want an explanation for why her adoption by the Barnetts happened so quickly. It's all very suspicious.
I think everything that comes out of Michael's mouth is a lie, which in a way makes things easier because we don't have to wonder whether it's true or not. Has he ever said anything that turned out to be true?
I think your second paragraph here is probably the answer to the first! They mentioned in the second season at some point that the Ciccones didn't legally relinquish their ties to Natalia until about 6 months after the Barnetts picked her up. It wasn't quite the quickie adoption Michael tried to make it sound like.
I can't stop thinking about Michael saying in season one that this mental institution just gave her back to them, insisting there was nothing they could do and that she was a danger. As if.
On 1/7/2024 at 2:17 PM, shelley1234 said:Also, one more comment about Michael's slimeball of a lawyer. He seemed so much more like he was Kristine's lawyer. Spinning Kristine's dolling up Natalia as an innocent bonding between mother and child. Basically calling a 8 year old child a dirty, dirty whore. Saying that whenever Natalia goes, chaos follows as a way to blame her for bringing on her own abuse.
You'd think as Michael's attorney he would turn his attention to attacking Kristine and the abuse she inflicted on Michael and Natalia. But nah, he has little to no interest in that. Interesting choice when Michael keeps saying they both have the same monster, but Michael's attorney keeps emphasizing the monster in Natalia.
Also, I found on a reddit thread that he was suspended for 6 months in 2014 and also disciplined in 2007 for misconduct. So he seems like the best and most awesome attorney ever.
In a way he is also Kristine's lawyer, since acknowledgment of Kristine's abuse implicates Michael's complicity, so the (legal strategy) story is that it didn't happen, that Natalia was an unmanageable presence, and Michael just did the best he could in impossible circumstances.
And yes, absolutely a slimeball!
I think the awful apartment neighbor also got pretty cruelly exploited by this documentary. I have no doubt they didn't disclose to her that there is definitive proof Natalia was a child at that time, and so of course her immediate reaction to a video clip of someone she'd known only as a creepy and problematic adult is going to be based on the long-held understanding of that person she's had for over a decade. If she was given all the information and had time to process it before that, then I stand corrected, but considering this show's approach I highly doubt it.
This was such a deeply unethical documentary that I feel guilty for watching it, but now I'm just sucked in and will continue following the story. I'm still mystified as to why she can't get her legal age changed back? That has to be in the works for inevitable civil action. I can't believe Michael is still resting on "but she didn't grow at all in the years she lived with us" -- she has dwarfism! She didn't grow in height but she obviously grew in other ways. And he'd seen her once she reached adulthood, that physical change is not something that happens between 22 and 33! (Don't know why I'm looking for logic from that man.)
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On 1/13/2024 at 9:07 AM, TexasGal said:
I assumed Hegarty was retired since he’s driving Uber or whatever. Just for extra money? But he seems pretty high ranking. That was confusing to me.
I wondered too. Side-gig-slash-money-laundering front? Or maybe he was used to some previous nefarious cashflow that he doesn't get anymore and had to take this on because he was living even outside his very good high-ranking means?
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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.
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6 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:
Can't believe the finale is next week! I've really enjoyed this season, though I think that's another UO. There's some thing I wish they'd change about the show and go back to how a few things were, but I understand why that can't be the case. The cast has been a good one, with a lot of interesting characters, 180 turnarounds, votes, quits, and bitter exits.
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.
1 minute ago, GenerationX said:Jake's exhibitionism made for one of the most bizarre idol finds in show history.
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??
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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.
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10 minutes ago, jsm1125 said:
Does anyone else side eye the fuck out of production for delivering Katurah’s mom’s letter to her, when she had previously cut contact with her? I’m convinced that’s why she was in a bad state during that immunity challenge, and don’t buy for a second it had to do with the water or the challenge itself.
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.
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9 minutes ago, sara416 said:
Yes! I know dehydration and lack of food can mess with your head, but given his earlier problems I really thought something terrible was going to happen. Can medical step in even if people don't ask for it? I wondered that after the second time he passed out. It seems like they should, because something more serious might be happening than whatever he thinks it is.
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
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11 hours ago, North of Eden said:
Kendra is just so gross...I didn't like her already but listening to her gush on about her S-Donor put me off. In my book anyway, your father is the man who put food in your mouth for 18 years, wiped your nose when you needed it, and kept a roof over your head.
1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:I feel like we're missing some vital info in the Kendra story about her dad. Like, why didn't he ever try to contact her? I don't know but that story was just off.
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.
1 hour ago, seacliffsal said:Oh, and I meant to add that many seemed concerned for Emily in the Rotu + 1 alliance and I think she is actually in a good position. As they near the end one pair will target the other (Dee/Julie vs. Austin/Drew) and Emily could be the swing vote. She may actually get further due to being the potential swing vote. Or not.
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.
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10 minutes ago, GenerationX said:
And just like that Austin's amulet is an idol.
Oh wow, I had completely forgotten about that! Of course they put her name out there!
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3 minutes ago, hendersonrocks said:
And am I the only one worried Jake was having an actual seizure or stroke at tribal when he was struggling to find words, given his episodes shown in prior episodes?! Goodness.
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??
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On 11/9/2023 at 2:48 AM, LadyChatts said:
I'm sad Kaleb was voted out as I really liked him, but I don't get why people are mad at Katurah over it. Kaleb and Jake did it to themselves. She either sticks with two guys she thought were allies that openly told her they not only were keeping a big secret from her, but actually helped in preventing her from finding out about Bruce's idol-or flips to a trio of people she doesn't know that well (and she even said it). I don't know if she thinks this puts her in a better position with Belo or what. And I still don't think that Jake's re-vote plan was going to work as well as he thought. Even if Austin thought Julie was expendable, I doubt he would have wanted to face Dee's wrath.
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.
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Not sure where in her body there was room for that tapeworm!
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On 11/2/2023 at 10:40 AM, txhorns79 said:
I think if it was found out a reporter had edited or removed footage they had taken while filming an event in order to cover up a friend or loved one's crime, that reporter's credibility would be destroyed and they would lose their job. I sympathize with Bradley's problem, but what she should have done was give the footage to another reporter at UBA to handle the editing and reporting. To me, that's really the beginning and end of it.
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.
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On 10/27/2023 at 8:58 PM, benteen said:
Was glad to see the dedication to Manny Coto at the end.
I was surprised -- I hadn't even heard!
On 10/30/2023 at 5:00 PM, tennisgurl said:Why did they bother coming up with a new pandemic and not just set it during covid?
I think they just wanted to suggest that technology had advanced, even just a few years.
On 11/2/2023 at 12:43 AM, Mattipoo said:The ending was a little rushed but I really enjoyed it overall.
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.
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4 hours ago, Nashville said:
Actually, J being on the outs was telegraphed somewhat at the beginning of the previous episode - when stfu was grilling the others over who threw a vote at him:
- Dee: “I wrote down Sean’s name.”
- Julie: “I totally voted for Sean.“
- J: <buries face in arms>
Almost certainly purely editing, I’m sure, and in actuality it may have been J taking one for the team - because even if (as the women were trying to play off) Sean had written stfu’s name down, somebody else had to have thrown a vote Dee’s way - the scene still emphasized J being tagged as odd person out.
1 hour ago, bankerchick said:If I had to spend an extended period of time with Kendra, Bruce and Sifu and their ridiculous mugging, I'd quit too.
As for J's ouster, it was unanimous. We saw her bad strategy by taking the blame for the Sifu vote, which was not hers, and she pissed off Austin over the sandwich, which he made sure everyone knew, thus outing her amulet. Plus her supposed alliance-mates Dee and (blonde lady whose name I don't know) quite eagerly floated her name. Sometimes you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, and sometimes you're an easy vote because people don't like or trust you.
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!)
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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.
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On 10/27/2023 at 12:04 PM, mirandroid said:
This one was dumb. Like what was the point?
I read something that said Shelley dressed up like the teacher's dead baby, which is why he had such a visceral reaction. That went over my head, but I was also doing several other things while "watching" since it wasn't holding my attention.
Oh wow, I missed that completely. I kept waiting for some reveal on why there was such a big reaction to that.
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12 minutes ago, RedbirdNelly said:
Sean was a real surprise. The show really doesn't work if people start treating it as a roughing it retreat where you have the option to leave whenever you get what you think you need from it.
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.
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15 hours ago, Snazzy Daisy said:
Why the writers need to destroy Chip’s character like this? Why can’t he be a loyal, dependable friend to Alex without that unrequited love BS? He is her person.
This show continues to underutilize Tig Notaro, just like what they do with Shari Belafonte.
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.)
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12 hours ago, dizzyd said:
This has just not been an uplifting season so far. I can’t respect the quitting and the shitty game play from the 1st 4 lulus.
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.
10 hours ago, North of Eden said:Anyway on a positive note, I was worried about Emily until someone pointed out she could actually be the swing vote. I don't like Drew but appreciated his hand gesture refuting Emily when she said she didn't help as much. I do wish she hadn't been so honest to tell them she was on the outs on LuLu. I didn't see any advantage to sharing that.
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.
9 hours ago, Steph Sometimes said:I like Dee, but I don't know if that Sifu vote will do her any favors. Hopefully, she and the other women stay tight.
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.
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3 hours ago, Mermaid Under said:
I would like to take this opportunity to nominate the actors who played perpetually empty-eyed Jay Royce, and his girlfriend Scabby Face Unfortunate Bangs for BAFTAs.
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.
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8 hours ago, akiss said:
I know it's an unpopulat opinion here, but I like this show for what it it. I thought this episode was really well done. I'd love to see what happened with Alex and Chip.
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.
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1 minute ago, Skooma said:
The thing is this Survivor was already filmed and in the can way WAY before the writers strike and the panic rush of the networks to fill in all the extra minutes in their fall schedule.
That is why both Survivor and The Amazing Race expanded to 90 minutes this fall. Survivor didn't plan for 90 minute episodes going into filming this season thus they couldn't make immunity challenges separate on purpose for the extra time they didn't know they would have.
Ah thank you for that, I hadn't realized it was decided after the season was shot!
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8 hours ago, Steph Sometimes said:
I hope Kellie stays with the girls. Or does Bruce or Jake also have a September birthday? That would make it a really tough decision.
Hee! Ugh, the astrology stuff annoys me so much.
10 hours ago, North of Eden said:Finally, for the season presumably shot during the strike which would be next season there should be no excuse not to have reward and immunity separate as the episodes are now supersized.
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.
58 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:And, I am super happy that Jeff told them that one may not sit out back-to-back challenges and that the 'tribal council' reset is gone. I never knew it was a tribal council reset rule, but I am so glad that it is gone. Now the tribes will have to be more strategic about the sit-outs.
Must've been in the kitchen stirring my frozen dinner when he explained that -- what was the tribal council reset rule?
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S25.E01: Tunnel Blind
in Law & Order: SVU
· Edited by gesundheit
typo!
It's like I finally let go of my inexplicable aggression about Rollins's absolutely ludicrous send-off story, and then they bring her back "in action" just to annoy me more. Once again, has zero credentials to do anything but at best give a guest lecture or two in a criminology course, and yet she's a full professor at an extremely competitive university. Teaching a social science! How would she respond to peer review? Does she even know APA? What kind of assignments is she giving those poor students? And now Olivia actually comes to consult her as some Yoda-esque criminal expert/sage, something that never actually happened while she was a detective? (At the very least they could've had her teaching criminal justice, which would actually track. Criminology does not.)
This is what bugged me the most -- seems that they're doing it again, going with a season-long arc that we're repeatedly forced to check in on and then probably endure two-episode/three-episode arcs at the end of the season. Literally the opposite of SVU's appeal, which is that it isn't serialized.
In fairness, she only got one Emmy 18 years ago when both the show and the TV landscape were very different. This is not respected as a quality show in the field, just workhorse commerce at this stage. Points for endurance and longevity and giving east coast actors and TV directors a place to work when they need it.
Such awkward writing in this episode. Detectives would really just sit there speechless if a mother is demanding that they tell her what they're doing that she couldn't do? Name something! And then at the end? Tell her obviously that finding this other girl is good news for the search for Maddie because now they have information and a witness!
Oh and the NJ Olivia counterpart had Olivia's exact hairdo, which gave me a chuckle. Subtle!