gesundheit

Agreed. When I saw the previews for next week I was so annoyed. If you're going to leave, leave. Otherwise just take a break. We already know she doesn't move back in and make up with everyone, but we still have to watch another episode about Becky. It's weird how joyful it is to watch an episode without conflict, I don't know, watching everyone try to be kind and patient and supportive but also have fun and acknowledge weaknesses, it's kind of balm for the soul (as much as TV can be) in these times. (Or maybe that's hyperbolic and it's just comforting, but damn does comfort feel good right now.) Wouldn't work if these weren't people we were familiar with and had seen in conflict ages ago, but I'm pretty happy just watching nice people enjoy one another.

Yeah, I feel like they're exaggerating this storyline a lot to make a point. Unfunny racial stereotypes are the only comedy they do in those scenes and of course the dude running it plus everyone else is just dying laughing at things even proud racists wouldn't find funny. I feel like the point of this might be that in the entertainment industry you sometimes find yourself an accomplice in the worst kind of representation just to get your foot in the door, but being the show that this is, I assume it'll have some idealistic twist where they all quit and get rewarded for it. It's kind of hard to lock into these scenes (possibly because the GT writing staff is not made up of comedians?).

Ah, okay, it was Prosper being brought into the Hollywood/Vi pod that I had missed somehow! Thanks for the info. Also last week Darla took her mask off for her virtual bridal shower while Charley was standing right behind her (or the other way around? I can't quite remember) and it was just an odd little moment. By and large, though, they're a million times better than any other TV show that's acknowledging the pandemic.

I feel like Nova is quoting thinkpieces rather than talking to people she lives with. The writing is off for her, I don't know how RW could make that conversational. It's a didactic show, but they typically fit that stuff in more organically. I'm curious if someone newer wrote the actual episode script, their credits aren't as clear as some others are. It's also possible that DuVernay or really any of the higher-ups had written those essays back over the summer and fine-tuned them till putting them in a script (very understandable). As in, picked the dramatic circumstance after writing out the points. Where was RA and Darla's honeymoon? I couldn't catch where they were supposed to be or if they'd mentioned it last week or something. They seem to have dropped all the indoor masking, or maybe I just can't keep track of which characters are in other characters "pods!"

The silliest part of this is that she had no idea how it was going to look when it aired. She didn't walk out because she saw the way an episode framed it (edited, characterized, lacking in depth), she walked out because of an actual conversation that she had with friends. We didn't see that conversation unedited and without TV framing, sure, but she obviously understood what would inevitably happen with the raw material she'd just handed over on a platter. And why in the world would anyone else have walked out with her? The rest of them were on the same page! Yes, thank god Becky is here to lift up the veil and explain to us that it isn't real! We had otherwise been so confused. Reality TV exposed, at last!

And Kevin did backtrack on that a little and apologized to Becky for coming down too hard on her about the travel-bragging, saying he's all for understanding different cultures through travel if you're able. But I think it was just that she was bringing that into the argument so much as if it were "the answer" that it sort of reframed all her previous mentions of it. It was all just very hard to watch, obviously edited together in ways that revved it up, but it was just such agony to watch. I could definitely see all her defense mechanisms dialed up to 11 so she probably could not even physically have listened if she'd wanted to. But it was just torture to see even her closest friends begging her to stop and then even Kevin trying to show her some grace and she just kept digging in farther. On a shallow note, I'm bummed that her departure means we likely won't get any more info on the way-back Becky dirt (fling with producer, booze bottles blurred out of most Becky shots, etc). If we were ever going to.

The cringe! My lord. She is just unreal. Yes, honestly she had some cluelessness at 24 that is expected of one's early 20s, but also a level of empathy and curiosity that you hope would've led to a more enlightened maturity by now, it's just really disappointing. And then the utter pomposity of "I've just grown out of this, they haven't" as an excuse (it's only 10 days!!!). And then to tell Norm his friendship with her is not real, their offscreen friendship that has developed entirely separate from reality television for the better part of 3 decades. And honestly, I'm sympathetic to being hypersensitive, it's a nightmare. But again. 10 days. Just admit you're oversensitive and listen. That was awful. The hell was that even supposed to mean? Julie was so lovely, trying to remind everyone of the agreement they made, trying to be the diplomat. And Heather fighting that good battle -- finding that line between being joyful and fun while also recognizing the realities of the world. And Eric was right, they knew what they were getting into this time. Of course they were going to play back those conversations.

That's how I remembered it -- that they did have talking heads, one-on-one interviews, etc. But not that confessional room to just stop by anytime (or on a mandated schedule, however they work that per show) alone.

Oh interesting, I thought they said they didn't have them at all. I'm not surprised I have no memory of it, though! Only saw the original season right when it aired and then maybe one marathon of it the next year over a weekend or something. That must've been specially opened for the cast, definitely doesn't seem like the type of establishment that would've been open back when they shot this season! Eric seems maybe a bit nutty but in a sweet, harmless way. While Becky seems a similar flavor of nutty but with a totally opposite effect.

It's so funny because I see Kevin all the time as a talking head on news/opinion shows and every time I do a double take. "Kevin Powell, like Real World? Nah. But yeah?" and it always takes me a few minutes to remember the last time I thought the same thing and then googled it to find out it really was him. Maybe this time I'll actually retain the information!! He's awesome. And yes! Julie and Heather were both cracking me up. I love how Julie's still starry-eyed about the city even though she could be just as jaded as anyone who had the time there that she did. And Heather is just all joy and love. I love that they genuinely aren't used to the confessionals, that wasn't a thing. So it feels less staged when they realize they're being filmed.

She was terrible. If this had been scripted drama, I would've criticized it as overwritten. "Nobody who has half a brain would talk over him every time like that while accusing him of not letting her finish," "No thoughtful, reflecting human who lived through last year in this country would be this obviously clueless," etc. But nope, she was just a caricature of the white chick who "doesn't see color." I'm sure the editing made it even worse than it was but she didn't let him get a word out and sounded like a person who's never done any reflection. Andre was really the MVP. First, he was trying so hard to disrupt the tension of her John Lennon nonsense with his "hey sure I mean obviously it wasn't really him but I get what you're saying, it's like someone writes the song through you" and she did not take his gift and just dug in. "Nope, John Lennon was a man, having conversations with me." And then later in his confessional when he was like "if John Lennon's ghost were going to appear to someone, why the hell does she think it would be her ass?" I love Norm, but what? He was trying to give himself diarrhea so he could go in Becky's toilet? No.

This really felt more like it just scratched the surface. Also, Evan Rachel Wood said she watched a pedophile win a Golden Globe and had to walk out, but who was she talking about? Kevin Spacey? It just felt kind of odd to bring that up as a big deal but not talk about it -- even with Todd Bridges they just flashed back to him talking about it previously. Truly heartbreaking to see Cameron Boyce so wide-eyed and hopeful. He must've passed just a few months after shooting those interviews.

I really liked this series as a piece of art, I appreciated that it didn't try to adhere too closely to a story that's already been covered. And I was grateful the writers and Peet really made the character their own creation. I'm still not quite sure why they left out the boyfriend, though, that seems extremely important - not just to draw a better picture of the fact that Betty was at least putting on a pretense of moving on, but of the crime discovery itself. Were there any interviews about this series that helped explain that (apologies if they were discussed for earlier episodes, I had been shying away from online discussion because I assumed much of it would indeed focus on reality vs this version and I really wanted to appreciate this version on its own merits first). Hopefully people bothered to watch this, I'd love to see Peet and Slater get some award nominations for their excellent work.

I liked how they illustrated that Mateo really was damn good at his job. I'd kind of assumed that, just that he was too much of a snob to ever not be good at something. Really have no clue how his story will play out though.

That was such a beautifully classic Jackie moment. Metcalf is brilliantly funny. I know it's silly but I still haven't adjusted to David being a dad. I was so jarred when Harris referred to him as "Dad" that it took me a minute to figure out who she was talking about. He still just seems like that teenager we knew.

This was a worthwhile topic but unfortunately, as has been Black-ish's wont for a while: they had to overwrite and simplify it by writing the other characters as cartoonishly ignorant to make it work. This show once did subtlety and nuance really well and I miss it.

Is there any way to watch the final season in the US? (Legally, that is)

Yeah, that was kind of assy. Plus, it was clear it was spur of the moment (no ring, no planned proposal, etc.) and that's rarely a good thing.

Just finished this morning. I thought it was a really good season but that final moment was horrible. Nobody needs her to be there, and it's back to the absurdity of her teflon situation.

It started early on when they had her doing little physical comedy bits in the mermaid dress thing. Was that season 2? They really thought they had a comic genius on their hands. But yes, it got really over-the-top in seasons 8-10. Totally insufferable.

It really does feel like a binge show. Since it's also running same-day Hulu I imagine a chunk of people will just watch it all at once when it's all said and done. If Fox doesn't renew it I wouldn't be at all surprised if Hulu just takes it over next year.

I love watching them do comedy -- in fact most of them went on to do exactly that (Garth, Priestley, Green, Ziering) pretty damn well. And honestly, as much as the show always thought Tori was hysterically funny (she wasn't) she's pretty good at the comedy when playing herself. I think Carteris and Doherty were really the only ones who didn't do comedy long-term after the original series but so far they're handling it really nicely. (Though this is reminding me of the Tori/Jennie sitcom Mystery Girls, in which Tori had to play the comedy and Jennie was the straight man. It was awful.)

Her whole "I've been upset with them before but I still treated them like family!" nonsense got a massive eyeroll out of me. Yes, people screw up and people disagree. But what she did wasn't a screw-up. It was fully premeditated, was years in the making, and deliberately cruel.

Most critics got screeners of the first two episodes and they all said he's mentioned in the second one as well. It sounds like he's very much not forgotten in the season.

This show would be pretty darn pointless if everyone were portrayed as a great person and there were no conflicts.