gesundheit

This was one of those rare occasions that I saved the episode to rewatch. I want to watch Jessica's field piece again and again. I honestly almost burst into tears the first time through because the situation is awful, but now that I've worked through my fragile ladyfeelings I want a chance to see her be awesome again. She really is their best hire in so long, I'm always shocked when I'm reminded how young she is. She is on the ball.

Allow me to give you the good news: he only feels like the main character because of where you are in the series. Soon enough you won't be feeling like that at all! Very much an ensemble, with different people in the foreground (and receding/gone) each season/arc. I'm also in the middle of S2 in my current rewatch. I think every other time I was just so enamored, but this time I really did feel it took till halfway through S1 to find its legs. Omar is a big part of that. And then episodes 1.10 - 1.13 are a sequence of some of the most gripping television I've ever watched.

I was positively gleeful! I was so sure someone Maggie was going to be forgiven/redeemed/whitewashed, or at least mourned/grieved if she did die. This was a massive relief for me. And gory, too! Thanks, art directors and visual effects folks, that was awesome! Because it's creepy and funny and weird, is my guess. I mean I've got a Brewer Bias, to be sure, I think she's dynamite and I love how AHS uses her. She was far and away my favorite thing about Coven. This show is such a weird mix of phenomenal actors and very, very limited ones. For me, the show sometimes works really well around the limitations (Brewer, some of the freaks, etc) and really horribly around others (Roberts, Sidibe). That business in Coven with Ax Man was some of the most tedious stuff for me to watch, so I wasn't feeling warm about his return. It was blissfully brief, and did give us the perfect, perfect moment of Jimmy getting his lobster hands back. Giving Stanley the Meep treatment was fantastic. Major drawback: they now all have to live and work with him. (Though with Dandy as the new owner, that won't last long anyway. I just mean in terms of their decision-making.)

Happens to some. Not all. Personally I'm fine with Sherlock keeping 100% sobriety on the show and fine with him sticking with 12-steps, but I continue to appreciate that they presented a few ideas that were less absolute/AA-dogmatic. Speaking of, I must not have been paying close enough attention to the episode with the blogger. My understanding was that he just posted pieces of wisdom that Sherlock shared in meetings. My understanding (which includes many years and different venues of experience) is that it's not a violation. If I hear someone say something wise in a meeting, I can say it outside of a meeting. I just can't attribute it. Obviously you can say things outside of meetings that were said in the rooms -- otherwise 12-step-speak wouldn't be so well-known in contemporary culture. Much of what's considered AA canon is not actually in any of the literature. That said, did I miss something? Was he actually sharing Sherlock's stories or offering up possibly-identifying information? I was a little puzzled by that one.

Yeah, what was that? It was like Bobby's hospital room scenes were filmed separately from the others. I was so grateful Laurie didn't give birth at the Civil War re-enactment and that, in fact, her labor scenes were mercifully brief. I was dreading the usual sitcom birthing tropes. I miss Bobby already.

Get it, Mrs. Marin! What a refreshing thing to have a May-December situation in which both characters are over 21. I guess there is a power imbalance here, too, since Jason is her boss, but at least it's not immoral and illegal in every way like our other featured May-Dec romance. (Poor Pastor Ted, I know, but come on. He's dull.) I wish. I wish I wish I wish. But fandom is way too in love with that awful pairing, I think we're stuck with them and this is just another obstacle to "strengthen" their relationship in the end. You know, like his illegal and disturbingly invasive stalking of her and her friends. I want to live in that world! Is that typical? I'm still paying off loans for going to the university where my dad taught. Also really, if it were A, why would Aria have gotten rejected from all but one school and then gotten wait-listed at that one? I am kind of dreading everyone on the show freaking out about Ashley/Jason when they all think Aria/Ezra is peachy.

Does anyone know anything about Yahoo Screen? Is this something we have to watch on the website, or is Yahoo Screen available to streaming devices like Roku, etc?

I heard that, too. It's just funny to me, though, since even as soon as the next episode, there are TONS of details people wouldn't catch but Simon's attitude from that point on was basically, "Screw 'em, they'll put the pieces together eventually!" which I loved. (It's probably also why four years went by between the time I first watched Season 1 and then decided, yes, it's worth it, I'm going to start over and go all the way through. But what a payoff!)

I'm rewatching after a few years and this go-round (4 or 5, I think) I find myself really curious to know how Omar makes his friends. I'm in Season 2, so we do see that he and his boyfriend meet the girls they work with when they spot them basically doing what they were planning to do, so joining forces makes sense. But outside of those two, how does he link up with people? I'm not saying this is a flaw of the show, to be clear! I just wish it were a perfect world and we could now watch short films about how Omar met and got together with, say, each of his boyfriends. Also, that was a really hot love scene he had in early Season 2! Who is that actor who plays his fella? He looks familiar. Does he play Fin's son on SVU? Am I making this up?

I just started a re-watch (I think it's my 4th or 5th?) and am about halfway through Season 2. I do have to say for newbies: you cannot really even begin to agree/disagree with the critics/viewers who call this the best show of all time until you have seen Seasons 1-4 in their entirety. It is the sum total of those seasons that lead everyone to those superlatives. (And of course everyone will have their own opinion and they will vary -- but just throwing out a suggestion to those who are partway through and thinking, "Well, this is good, but why all the BEST EVER comments?") (Season 5 is fine. It's just not great or necessary.) I will say that on this viewing, Season 1 was not as great as I remember it. I think the last 4 episodes of the season are phenomenal television, but it took longer than I remember to find its way. I think the fondness is more about the ground it laid for stories that were so brilliantly told later on. It cracked me up that in S1 there are actually flashbacks and slow motion scenes set to cool music. That's so anti-The Wire!

Oh, the whole condemn-y, condemnier, condemniest bit was stellar. Jason Jones calling the new guy Aasif was spot-on. I certainly hope Jon doesn't needle Rubio much about that silly water thing. Jon's a better comedian than using years-old material that certainly wouldn't rattle Rubio one bit. Like Jon, I would like Jimmy Carter to adopt me. He's just such a comfortable, safe, home-y presence.

I agree. It was a breath of fresh air when Joan told him it's not an ala carte program, but he said he thinks it is. For many people, it is. And has to be. That is indeed the dominant thinking in the U.S. and in the 12-step program, but there are many alternatives to this. And many people who go GA are able to drink moderately or who go to AA are able to smoke pot in moderation, etc, etc. Sometimes it really is the specific substance, and not "addiction to all things potentially addictive." Others opt to stay on the safe side, and just stay away from anything that could lead to trouble. Point being, it's nice that the show is starting to acknowledge that there is more than one point of view in addiction recovery. I really loved the personal side of this episode but thought that it took time away from the mystery, which got kind of sped over at the end. If only it were on FX, they could've given it 6 extra minutes! And probably a lot of nudity. Heh.

Maybe Desiree wasn't in the direct line of fire.

Well, Paulson's only half-gay. But of course she's playing both Bette and Dot, so double it up! I think it was a somewhat bland character so I don't ever think she would've been exciting. But Emma Roberts made her a whole lot worse than bland.

Right? This bugs me. All of a sudden she gets to save the day? No, she's the one who infiltrated the damn group in the first place to get this whole ball rolling. Good for her for growing a conscience but I really hope they don't all just shrug it off.

I was absolutely delighted when I heard Jamie Brewer's voice coming out of that puppet. What a great way to use her this season! She's so awesome. I was equally delighted that we did not see Emma Roberts until the very end. Wow, Jimmy was really easily persuaded to let Stanley chop off his hand. And really dim to think that both of them being missing didn't indicate foul play. I think I missed part of the backstory, maybe somebody can help me out. Was Marjorie ever a real person who now manifests in his mind as the dummy, or is that just all she's ever been?

1. Holy crap that piglet was cute. 2. Tampa! Barb! (at least in mention) 3. Thank goodness it won't be a season of pregnancy hi-jinx with the birth as the series finale. 4. Thank goodness the pregnancy won't keep them from wine. 5. That speakeasy was awesome. 6. Speaking as someone who did not know/understand it was a Matrix parody, that sequence actually really worked for me as a standalone. Weird. 7. Good for Jules for not jumping for joy that she's going to get stuck raising that kid. (Although really, when your kid gets together with your best friend and you actually encourage it, you maybe didn't start out with the greatest game plan.) (Sorry, I like lists!)

So how early did they celebrate Christmas in order to leave enough time for this episode to be cut, edited, and released? I know Louisiana is a warm climate, but folks were in tank tops! Right? She's certainly gorgeous (looked like a pin-up girl in that shot with the lollipop), but I can't imagine anyone in that family ever having shown interest in the pageant circuit! Hilarious. The photo of Perry and the pup in the body shop was a little odd to me -- everyone freaked about how hot Perry looked, but... wasn't the dog supposed to be the main feature?

What a phenomenal episode. And I hate to say it, but after seeing their fight with all pretenses dropped: I'd prefer they end the marriage. They both have a right to be upset with each other but their issues aren't temporary, they just aren't well-suited for each other.

My DVR cut off before it was over!!! I'm enraged. (And I set the DVR for 3 extra minutes for the replay, so I will live. But until I get home from work? OUTRAGED!) My favorite was Gloria Steinem just sort of wandering in front of the camera like she had no idea where she was going. And generally nobody having a clue what they were singing. Huckabee was 100% there. He and Spitzer were the guests that surprised me the most. I used to work for a casting company that did early-days casting for The Daily Show and also the whole run of Strangers with Candy. Stephen was our biggest trooper, he came in to read for practically everything we got from industrials to feature films. He was such a great guy to have in the room. We were over the moon when he got his own show. (Sure, sure, he wouldn't remember me anymore because he's a LEGEND but it's still neat to think about having been around him in the early days.) I was bawling this morning (when I watched it. I'm not crazy, I didn't just wake up crying about a late night show.) I did a seal clap when they cut to Pussy Riot. Can the Nightly Show start immediately please?

Holy crap, Naomi Grossman was fantastic in this episode. Great, now Maggie's a "good guy" even though she's totally culpable in Ma Petite's death. Which I'd probably not really mind if Emma Roberts were decent at the acting thing. Now it just means more Maggie. Maggie the "hero." No thanks.

Just checking in. How's everyone holding up? Are we fortified and hydrated? I almost feel like staying up to watch it in real time but I am way too old to stay up till midnight on a Thursday.

Reed voted for Jaclyn because he thought she deserved 2nd place more than someone he hated. People vote "against" someone they hate in Survivor pretty much in every FTC of every single season. I had no more problem with Missy than I did with Reed, but all's fair in voting on a reality show. I definitely don't think choices people make on competitive reality shows should have to reflect on what kind of human being they are in real life. Their show personas were both pretty annoying but it's just weird to me to make a jump from that to what kind of human beings they are.

Keith, maybe? Well, I've lost a good bit of the iced tea I was drinking. Thank you! Well, it's depressing that that's the reality, but it's not that unusual. It's why visibility matters a LOT. Just think of all the barren girls out there who, had she won, would have realized that they, too, could go on a reality show and win a million dollars so they could afford to buy a really expensive baby!!!

I totally agree. There are many ways to advance in this game and you go with your strengths. His wasn't strategy, it was challenges and being super-helpful around camp and generally being Mr Congeniality. And considering how little he knew going in? Good for him. Totally. That wasn't some impassioned accident. Just as he was criticizing the legacy of her Survivor "character," he was creating the legacy of his own. He's thrilled today that everyone's talking about it and thinking it was overkill. I'd bet money that even before the game started he planned to make a dramatic FTC speech if he wasn't going to be in the hot seat. Who knows, he might've had a future "villains" season in his head.